The Healer Morgana

Welcome back to Morgan le Fay Week at White Rose of Avalon! For day five of Morgan le Fay Week, I have decided to discuss Morgan as Healer.   This aspect of Morgan le Fay is actually the first one we see in her literary history.   In Vita Merlini, Geoffrey of Monmouth described Merlin bringing Arthur the to Blessed Isle of Avalon to be healed by Morgana.   In this telling Morgana is the chief amongst nine sisters who are all great healers and Faery Women.

Morgana is described as a Healer in basically every literary iteration.   We see her as a Healer when she collects Arthur after the final battle of Camlann and takes him to Avalon in order to heal him.   I also described this incident in my Queen of the Shadows post as her acting as a psychopomp, so I must clarify that she can be embodying more than one of her aspects at any given time.   In this case, she is both a psychopomp Death Goddess as well as a powerful Healer!

The knowledge of herb lore and magical healing abilities that are attributed to Morgan shows her in a more positive light.    We see the continuing from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s interpretation of her on through Chretien de Troyes, who made Morgana Arthur’s sister for the first time but still had her as a healer.   Later on, she becomes more and more of a villain but is still known for her knowledge of herb lore.   This is interesting as it also can show a darker aspect of Healer archetypes.   The opposite of the Healer would be the poisoner.   Someone with Morgana’s knowledge of herbs could just as easily utilize that knowledge to poison and kill as to help and heal! 

Healers do not necessarily need to know this level of herb craft.   A Healer can be an energy healer that works with the aura and chakras to balance a person out.   We see this prevalently with crystal healing and Reiki.   Morgana is a Healer energetically and psychologically as much as she is a Healer in the physical realm.   We must acknowledge Morgana’s ability to heal in all of these ways.   She can help you if you are physically ailing, but also if you just need emotional healing.

I hope that you have enjoyed this short analysis of Morgana as a Healer.  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Morgan with Arthur after Camlann.   I found the image on https://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/344morg.htm.

Further Reading

• Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth
• Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
• Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory