Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is an exploration of my two most beloved Goddesses, Morgan le Fay and Blodeuwedd, and the Faery species they are most connected with! Now, both of these two Faery Queens are associated with many different types of Fae, but I chose one species of Fae to focus on for each Goddess for the purposes of this post. These two types of Faery Women work as a balance to one another.
MORGAN LE FAY & BEAN SIDHE (BANSHEE)
~So, let’s start with Morgan le Fay and her connection to the Bean Sidhe, more commonly known as the Banshee. Banshees are Faery Women, whose name literally translates to “Woman of the Faery Mounds” or “Faery Woman”. Banshees famously are wailing women of Irish lore. They scream to signal the oncoming deaths, specifically of certain Irish families known to have a Banshee attached to their family lineage. Now, Morgana is famously a Welsh Celtic and British Faery Goddess, but she has long been viewed to be possibly the same Goddess as the Morrigan, but there is a lot of debate over the possible connection between the two. I am not going to go into the debate here, as I have addressed my views before. Why I bring up the possible connection between Morgan le Fay and the Morrigan is that the Morrigan is often seen to be the Queen of the Banshees! The connection between Morgan le Fay and Banshees shows the importance of her Shadow and Underworld Queen aspects, as well as her Psychopomp nature. Just as the Banshee signals and warns of Death that will soon come, Morgan le Fay is a midwife of Death, for she is always the one to ferry Arthur to Avalon as he is dying after the Battle of Camlann!
BLODEUWEDD & LEANAN SIDHE
~Now, let’s talk about Blodeuwedd and her connection to the Leanan Sidhe. The Leanan Sidhe is a Faery Woman of Irish folklore, like the Banshee, and her name means “Faery Lover”. Leanan Sidhe is a species that is most known for granting inspiration to artists and poets through sexual relationships. When the Leanan Sidhe would leave her human lover, he would waste away from longing for her love. Now, I see Blodeuwedd in this light because love is at the root of her story, she was made to be the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes but grew to be unhappy with her marriage. She went on to fall truly in love with Gronw Pebyr who was the Lord of a neighboring land. This would lead the two to plot to kill her husband in order to be together. After a failed attempt on the life of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, Blodeuwedd would be turned into an Owl and Gronw would be killed by Gwydion. Blodeuwedd has a connection with the power of love through both the light side of love with Gronw and the dark side of love with Lleu and attempting to kill him. This shows a connection to the energy of the Leanan Sidhe in her ability to bless as well as curse lovers! Interestingly, Banshees and Leanan Sidhe are very connected by being Irish Faery Women with power over humans, one to predict death and the other to gift inspiration. I have also stated in the past that I view the Leanan Sidhe as connected to the Faery Lover aspect of Morgana, and while I still find that true, I also see her as very connected to Blodeuwedd with the similarity of the tale of the Welsh Goddess and the myths surrounding this Irish Faery!
~It may seem odd that I chose to feature Irish Fae Species here instead of sticking to the Welsh, given both are Welsh Goddesses. However, the beliefs in Faery remained very common in Ireland up until the early 20th century and therefore we have much more folklore about the Irish species of Fae. There are many crossovers between Irish Fae and Fae of the British Isles in general as well, with the Washer at the Ford being very similar to the Banshee, only she washed the clothes of warriors destined to die instead of screaming. In my mind, I am simply using Irish terminology for Fae which I believe exists throughout the British Isles, and likely the world over in one capacity or another! I hope you have enjoyed this short post about the connections between Morgan le Fay and Blodeuwedd and two species of Faery Women. What is your favorite Faery association with Morgan and Blodeuwedd? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely artwork of a Leanan Sidhe and a Knight. I found the image on https://the-demonic-paradise.fandom.com/wiki/Leanan_Sídhe.
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 Reading
- Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty by Jhenah Telyndru
- Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
- Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth
- A New Dictionary of Fairies by Morgan Daimler