Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. For today’s blog post, I will be discussing Well Maidens and how they relate to the Summerlands, the Otherworld of Arthurian Legends! To begin, I will have to share the dark story of the pain inflicted upon the Well Maidens.
The Well Maidens of The Elucidation famously retreated when they were raped, and their Golden Cups were stolen. This event was proof that men had violated and disrespected the Land, Nature, and the Fae Realms. So, the result was the land becoming a barren Wasteland, and that is why the Grail Knight had to one day heal the land. You see, the men, a human King and his Nobles, were the ones to commit this atrocity, thinking that they could use the abundance that the Well Maidens once offered freely at their Sacred Well in the Forest, for their own gain. They were sorely mistaken, because breaking a Faery Compact is always going to have severe consequences!
Now, I share this dark part of the tale because it is the set-up to discuss where the Well Maidens retreated to. We know that the remaining Well Maidens retreated from the human world and went back to the Otherworld, where they would be safe. In particular, the Otherworld in Arthurian legend is represented by two places, the Isle of Avalon and the Summerlands. While the Isle of Avalon is protected by Mists and requires an Avalonian Priestess to access, the Summerlands were much more easily accessible. It is the Summerlands that you may accidentally find yourself in when you are on a hunting trip or a Quest.
Since the Veil between the worlds is very thin in the Forest where the Well Maidens served the people, they could easily slip through and back into the Summerlands! Of course, from there, they would have used their magick to make sure that they would be protected from ever having to go through the ordeal they just faced again. That is another reason why the land became a Wasteland, it served to protect the Well Maidens! We learn that the Well Maidens and the Faery Knights who protected them went on to live happy lives. They bore children, the daughters becoming the new Well Maidens and the sons becoming new Faery Knights, and they awaited the arrival of the Grail Knight. For it is the Grail Knight who would go on to heal the Wasteland!
This knowledge was likely entrusted to Grail Maiden after Grail Maiden, for she was the one who took care of the Grail as the Grail Knight was awaited. So, yes, the Well Maidens found their safety and protection in the Summerlands. Then, once the Wasteland was healed, the compact between humans and the Fae was reaffirmed, allowing them to once again slip between the human world and the Otherworld at their own free will.
I hope you have enjoyed this examination of the Well Maidens and the Summerlands of Arthurian legend. What is the most fascinating aspect of the Well Maiden story in your opinion? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Grail Maiden card from The Arthurian Tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews. I found the art on https://www.foolsdog.com/decks/arthurian-tarot/.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
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