Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darling readers!   For this week’s Femme Fatale Friday post, I have decided to write a bit of a companion to Tuesday’s post about Sleeping Beauty as the most Faery of fairytales.   This one will focus on the connection between Morgan le Fay and Maleficent, which I wrote about in an old post about the connection between Sleeping Beauty and the Arthurian legends.    I also did a video on this subject for my YouTube channel.   I will be deepening my analysis here, as I have found a deeper meaning for the reason I feel such an intense connection to this story, and will be utilizing an epiphany that I recently had regarding this as the basis of my analysis!

Now, I know that this will be at least a partially divisive topic, as I am comparing a Goddess to the Dark Faery from Sleeping Beauty, but I am doing so most respectfully and reverently possible!   There may also be people that simply are confused by my little epiphany that explains why I am doing this post at all.   I will start by explaining that when I was writing my post about Sleeping Beauty as the most Faery of fairytales I began to get this nagging sensation that there was an even deeper analysis to be done.   Then I remembered my previous post and video comparing Arthurian legends to the fairytale.    It was at this point that it all clicked into place that my love of this fairytale can be seen as an allegory for my own spiritual journey!

If we view Maleficent as the Disney and fairytale stand-in for Morgana, especially if we factor in the way she is portrayed in the subsequent films Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, we can see a more well-rounded image of how Morgana may appear to devotees.   Morgana is a Goddess who is a Faery Queen who rules over the Isle of Avalon.   She has long been portrayed as a villainous figure herself within the Arthurian legends, as the malicious half-sister of Arthur who plots the downfall of Camelot for years before retiring to Avalon.   Her last appearance in the Arthurian legends is to come to collect King Arthur as he is dying after the battle of Camlann to ferry him off to Avalon, where he will be healed and await the day when his country needs him the most, hence him being the “Once and Future King.”   This slightly confusing portrait of Morgan as both a villainess and also a benevolent healer is much in line with how Maleficent is seen in the first Maleficent film.   She begins as benevolent, as did Morgan, then turns to treachery because of pain and betrayal, as did Morgan, finally she ended up being the benevolent savior, as did Morgan!   Many people often see Morgana le Fay as only the evil sorceress of the Arthurian legends, forgetting that she does help Arthur at his time of death, which I feel is congruent with Maleficent’s original portrayal in the cartoon where people only see her negative aspects!

Morgan is not only the benevolent healer, although that is at the heart of her nature, she is also a fierce challenger of the status quo.   In many ways, her attempts to make Camelot fall, are simply a way of challenging Arthur and his Knights to prove they are worthy to be granted their positions.   This is her action as a Goddess of Sovereignty, the testing to see if someone is worthy.   We see this throughout Celtic culture, with Faery women and Goddesses in particular.   How does this relate to Maleficent?   Well, in the Maleficent films, we see her as a protectress of the Moors, essentially her Faeryland (or her version of Avalon, if you will).   She challenged the Kings to protect her home and her people, and also acted as a Sovereign figure of sorts, as her wings being stolen is what granted Stefan Kingship, even if this was not him winning her test, but instead betraying her trust and their old bond for his own selfish means.   She placed the curse upon Aurora in order to challenge the child, even if she did not realize this at first.

Much like Morgan deciding to challenge Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, after initially intending to just attempt to scare Guinevere to death, she challenged him based on seeing his potential to be a true Knight.   In the case of Maleficent, she realized Aurora’s potential as a Faery Queen to rule over the Moors!   She is initiating Aurora through her cursed slumber.  After all, sleeping curses in fairytales can easily be interpreted as times of great transformation taking place during the enchanted sleep.   It is Maleficent’s kiss of motherly love that awakened Aurora because her challenge had been complete and she had transformed into the woman she needed to be in order to complete her destiny!

This nicely mirrors how Morgana works as a challenger and transformational Goddess, both in the legends and for those that feel her call today.   Whether or not you believe in Morgan as a Goddess, or see her as simply a mythic figure, the parallels between her transformational nature to Maleficent are difficult to ignore.   Morgan is also a psychopomp, leading the dying to final rest, but this also means she can lead the living to greater transformation, just like an enchanted sleep can.   In this way, those that feel the call of Morgan can be seen as Aurora-like, being put through tests that will bring about spiritual growth and transformation!   This is why I called the Sleeping Beauty story and allegory for a spiritual journey at the beginning of the post!   

Finally, I want to go over some more basic comparisons between Morgan and Maleficent.   Both have an association with Dark Wings, Morgan is described as being able to transform having wings to fly on at will in Vita Merlini.   Both have associations with crows, as Maleficent has her familiar Diaval and crows and ravens are sacred to Morgan.   Both also have connections with dragons, as Maleficent can transform into a dragon and Morgan originated from Welsh folklore and we know that dragons are associated with Wales (the Welsh flag even has a red dragon on it)!    Lastly, the fact that Maleficent can shapeshift at all further cements a connection to Morgan le Fay, as that is one of the prime powers we know her to possess from her oldest literary depictions!

I hope that you have enjoyed this deep dive into how Morgan and Maleficent are connected.   Do you see the connections between the two?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely Maleficent artwork.   I found the image on https://comicvine.gamespot.com/maleficent/4005-33980/.

Tarot Note: I have launched a page where I offer tarot and oracle readings for those of you interested in these services!    I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon!  Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/

Further Reading

• Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth
• Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
• Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• Maleficent (2014)
• Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)