Speaking with the Gods: Omens in a Modern World

Stephanie Woodfield

It’s been one of those days. It feels like I’ve been running late for everything. My alarm didn’t go off in the morning, and I scrambled to get to work on time. One problem after another cropped up at work, and I left an hour later than usual. And because of that I’m both distracted and rushing to get home and change, because the friend I was supposed to meet after work for drinks has been waiting for me for the last twenty minutes, wondering where I am. The narrow roads that lead to my house in Connecticut twist and wind through the landscape, going up and down hills and valleys. But they are familiar to me, and I know just where to turn. I know the shape of every curve and barely need to think about it as I drive. And I drive a bit on the fast side, just wanting to get home and meet my friend.

Then there is a loud caw and the sweep of black wings as a large crow swoops down and flies in front of my car, its wings brushing the hood. I am both startled and terrified that my car will collide with the crow. My patron goddess is the Morrigan, the Irish personification of battle and sovereignty whose favorite form in her myths is appearing in the shape of a crow or raven. I briefly wonder what happens to you if make your patron deity’s favorite animal roadkill. I conclude that it can’t be a good thing and slow the car down to a crawl. I’m the only one on the road that I can see, but I also know that the Morrigan is a goddess of prophecy, and she and I have a long-standing agreement about omens. Something isn’t right. I need to pay attention.

The next curve goes up a steep hill, and when I get to the top, going five miles below the speed limit, I see a woman frantically trying to push her car to the side of the road. Taking a deep breath, I realize that if I hadn’t seen the crow and slowed down, I would have hit the car or the woman, or both. It’s the worst possible place for a car to stall and she knows it. I pull over and help the woman push the car onto the grass, shaking a little with the knowledge that I came very close to having a potentially horrible accident. The woman calls a tow truck, her car safely off the road, and when I finally get home, the first thing I do is pour an offering on the Morrigan’s altar and breathe a grateful “thank you.”

Omens are an everyday part of my life. At times they are things I seek, when I ask a particular question and look for guidance. Other times they are things I do not expect, like the crow flying over my car and making me slow down. But they always end up being exactly what I need at the time, even if I don’t know it yet. The majority of the time the Morrigan is referred to as a goddess of battle and sovereignty, but as with any deity, there are many layers to her nature. Seeing the future and delivering warnings and omens to the gods or favored mortals plays heavily in the Morrigan’s stories, and today she is no different. You don’t have to work with the Morrigan or a deity connected to prophecy to be able to receive omens, but my dedication to her has taught me to look more closely at exactly what omens are and how I can learn to speak with the gods through them.

So what exactly is an omen? How do we know with certainty when we receive one? To put it simply, omens are messages—messages that have specific meaning to us. Most of the time we get very caught up in exactly what the omen we receive means and forget to look at the most basic part of the process. If an omen is a message, then it is coming from somewhere. It could be from an ancestor, a friend or relative who has passed, a spirit, or a god. It’s a conversation. It’s communication with the unseen at the most basic level. And it’s not a one-way conversation, or at least it doesn’t have to be.

Omens are simply one of many ways we can communicate with the divine or other beings. We ask questions, and we can set up specific guidelines as to how we receive and recognize messages. In many ways this makes the messages we are given more impactful.

Omens are simply one of many ways we can communicate with the divine or other beings. We ask questions, and we can set up specific guidelines as to how we receive and recognize messages. In many ways this makes the messages we are given more impactful. If we ask the universe to provide an omen in a very specific way, then when it occurs we are more likely to pay attention to the message. If you have ever used a pendulum, you are familiar with the idea of establishing certain protocols in order to receive a message. You have to set up rules. When the pendulum swings this way it means “yes,” and when it swings that way it means “no.” When we look at receiving omens as a two-way conversation, we can also set certain boundaries and ask for specific things. We don’t have to wait for the universe or the gods to send us messages in random ways. We can set the stage for how we wish the communication to happen.

When I started working with the Morrigan, I noticed early on that she would send me messages through her crows. I then became very interested in bird augury and researched different methods used in different cultures. Most of the systems I found were either extremely complicated or very vague. Each culture had its own guidelines and rules for what the different types of birds and their actions meant. Essentially the different cultures had told the gods what kinds of signs they would recognize as being legitimate messages. So I treated bird augury very much like using a pendulum. I specifically asked for crows flying toward the left to indicate a “no” or negative answer or something negative in general and for crows flying toward the right to be “yes” or a positive answer. And when I started asking questions for signs, this was very much how the answers came.

A friend of mine uses what she calls the “rule of three” as her protocol for omens. Whether it’s a specific item, symbol, or name being mentioned, when she comes across it or hears it three times, she recognizes it as a sign. Similarly, her sister also has a particular protocol for receiving messages. She asks to find feathers, and will often find feathers crossing her path in unexpected places at just the right time.

What protocols you ask for are up to you. Be as creative as you like. One thing you should consider is whom specifically you are asking for messages. If you ask for guidance or a message from a deity versus an ancestor, you may want to establish specific protocols for each situation. For example, I would not ask to receive a message from the Dagda through crows or bird augury. As one of the Morrigan’s sacred animals, the crow makes sense for her. The Dagda tends to help me remember the joy in life and not to take things so seriously. He has a comical side, and messages from him tend to come in the form of laughter or moments when the joke is on me but I can still laugh at myself. If you are asking for a message from a deceased loved one, you may want to choose something that had special meaning to them or makes you think of them. Omens also don’t have to be something you receive in the physical realm; they can also be found in dreams, or, if you practice journey work, you can encounter them in the astral realm.

So what happens when you ask a question and all you get is silence? This doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong. When this happens to me, it’s due to one of three things: I’m not asking the right question, I already know the answer, or certain events have to happen before the answer will be clear.

So what happens when you ask a question and all you get is silence? This does happen. Don’t be discouraged. This doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong. When this happens to me, it’s due to one of three things: I’m not asking the right question, I already know the answer, or certain events have to happen before the answer will be clear. When our questions are not clear, it’s difficult to get a true answer. Try asking the question in a different way. Don’t make it overly complicated; be specific and simplistic if you can. Don’t ask open-ended questions.

This may sound obvious, but it’s important to recognize that you may already know the answer to your question. When I first started using bird augury, on one occasion I doubted myself and the answer I received to a question and thought, “Well, I see crows all the time. Maybe that was a coincidence.” More than likely this was because I hadn’t liked the answer. So I asked my question a second time, specifically asking for a second omen to confirm the first. Well, I went from seeing crows all over the place to seeing none whatsoever—not in trees, not anywhere I drove—for about a week. Then when I finally did see a crow, it confirmed the answer I had been given previously. It was like the Morrigan was tapping her foot and saying, “Oh, so you don’t believe me, huh?” She had already given me an answer. I just hadn’t trusted it.

There are also times when your question can’t be answered yet. While I think there are some things in life that are just meant to happen, I still very much believe in free will. Our choices influence our future, and that future is an ever-changing thing. Sometimes if certain events or choices haven’t happened or been made yet, there may be no clear answer to your question. This can be frustrating. If my question is met with silence, then I may shelve the question for a while and ask it again after some time has passed.

While we can set certain protocols for receiving omens, there are times when we will receive messages even though we haven’t asked a question, such as when the crow flew in front of my car. It followed the protocol I had set up, but I hadn’t asked a question. I wouldn’t have known to ask a question in the first place since it was a situation I was unaware of. When you open yourself up to the universe and the gods and they know you are listening, they will start speaking to you. When omens come to us in this manner, they are usually things that are hard to ignore or explain away.

When a friend of mine and I were creating rituals for a retreat honoring the Morrigan, we were discussing certain ideas over the phone. We felt a little stuck and were not sure what direction to go in. As we talked about one particular course of action, I heard a crow call out as it passed by the window I was sitting next to. Then I heard another crow call, this time through the phone’s speakers. My friend and I were stunned. We had both heard the two crow calls, moments apart, and on top of that it was also the middle of the night. Crows aren’t active after nightfall, and that was the only time I’d ever heard one after dark. We both recognized it as a message and went with the idea we had been talking about when the crows put their two cents in.

So the next time you want to receive a message from the gods or spirits, don’t pull out your tarot cards. Wherever you are (in your car, in front of your altar, etc.), take a deep breath, pose your question to the gods, and tell them in what manner you want them to respond. You may be surprised at how quickly they answer.

Stephanie Woodfield is the author of Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan and Drawing Down the Sun: Rekindle the Magick of the Solar Goddesses. Stephanie has been a practicing Witch and Priestess of the Morrigan for over sixteen years. Her articles have appeared in SageWoman magazine and The Portal and on the Witches’ Voice website. She is one of the founding members of Morrigu’s Daughters, an online sisterhood dedicated to the Morrigan. Visit her blog, Dark Goddess Musings, at http://darkgoddessmusings.blogspot.com.

Illustrator: Jennifer Hewitson

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