Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings!   Blessed Autumnal Equinox to all, as today is the technical Equinox date this year!    In honor of the holiday I am doing a post focusing on the Disney Sleeping Beauty film and how it can be related to the Autumnal Equinox, as well as a discussion of the Divine Feminine archetypes present in Aurora and Maleficent.    This is a post that I was inspired to write a few months ago, but I wanted to wait until the actual season of Autumn since it is so entwined with this time of year.    

After the time jump in the original 1959 Disney Sleeping Beauty film, we see that the forest in which Aurora is living, under the name Briar Rose, is obviously an early Autumn time frame due to the glow of the colors.    In fact, this is cemented by the knowledge that this Sleeping Beauty forest was the basis for the Autumnal forest in Frozen 2 in 2019!    This early Autumn setting of the bulk of Sleeping Beauty tells us that Aurora’s birthday was in that liminal time frame.   Further relating to the Faery nature of Maleficent and Aurora is the fact that the liminality of the beginning of the Season of the Witch is held within the lush Autumn forest beauty of the woodland dancing scenes!    

In this way, we can say that Aurora was likely a Virgo sun due to her birthday being set in early Autumn.   In particular, she would be a September Virgo, who would celebrate her birthday around the Equinox, similarly to myself, although I did not make this observation because my own birthday is on September 8, making me a September Virgo, it just so happened to work out that way.   This also makes today’s post an excellent companion piece to yesterday’s post on Virgo as a Priestess and Healer!   

At the end of the day, both Aurora and Maleficent live in the liminality of the Autumnal Equinox due to their film being set at that time of the year!    I have been associating fairytales with the Spiritual Journey for quite a few years now, giving a deeper perspective on why I adore fairytales so much, and I did an entire post a few months ago on the connection between Maleficent and Morgan le Fay.   Maleficent is a tester and initiatrix bringing people into a deep wellspring of knowledge, while Aurora is a maiden who goes through a transformation that grants her sovereignty through the knowledge she gained within her magickal slumber!   That is the Divine Feminine aspect of Maleficent and Aurora.   The realization of the time frame of the setting of Sleeping Beauty enhances the aspect of the tale being all about the magick of transformation and portal times of the year!  

I hope that you have enjoyed this short Autumn Equinox post about my thoughts on Aurora, Maleficent, and this holiday.    What do you think about the Spiritual Journey aspect of fairytales?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a gorgeous artwork based on the Disney Sleeping Beauty forest scene!   I found the image on https://www.pinterest.com/pin/375487687656450453/.

Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those 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 Watching/Reading

• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• Maleficent (2014)
• Maleficent Mistress of Evil (2019)
• Spinning Straw into Gold by Joan Gould