White Rose of Avalon

Morgan le Fay

  • The Connection Between Arthurian Legend and Sleeping Beauty

    For today’s post I want to do an analysis of something that I felt inspired to write about.    I have this theory that you can interpret the story of Sleeping Beauty as being a variant on the archetypes found in the Arthurian legends.   Specifically the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty has characters that…

  • Igraine: Mother of Arthur

    Today I would like to look at the figure of Igraine, who was the mother of Arthur in the legends.    She is an important figure, being the mother of the great king, however many tales tend to gloss over her entirely.    She is the archetypal mother queen who bore the Once and Future…

  • Guinevere and Morgan as Aspects of the Goddess

    For today’s post I want to take a look at the Arthurian figures of Guinevere and Morgan Le Fay as aspects of goddesses.   Guinevere can be seen as the flower bride and light goddess, while Morgan can be seen as a darker aspect of a death goddess.    This can also explain some of…

  • The Elizabeth Woodville and Guinevere Connection

    For today’s post I would like to discuss the connection between the legendary figure of Guinevere and the real queen Elizabeth Woodville!    This may seem a bit far fetched, but given the prevalence of Arthurian legends during the medieval period, many real royals would take inspiration from these legends.    Elizabeth Woodville’s daughter and…

  • Fata Morgana

    A fata morgana is a type of mirage seen by sailors.    It appears like a mystical structure just above the sea, and it appears quickly.   The reason I want to talk about this particular type of mirage is the origin of its name.    It is named for Morgan Le Fay, and in…

  • Gawain and the Green Knight

    The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval one (14th century) written by an anonymous author.   The title was interestingly only given centuries later.   It has since been translated by many great poets and scholars!    This summer, the much awaited film (that was supposed to premiere last year…

  • Morgause: Mother of Mordred

    Morgause is one of the sisters of King Arthur in the Arthurian Legends.   It is her, instead of Morgan Le Fay, who is given to be the mother of Mordred in the earliest tellings.    I have discussed Morgan as Mordred’s mother previously.   Morgan and Morgause tended to get conflated as time went…

  • Morgan Le Fay as Morrigan

    Morgan Le Fay can be seen as an Arthurian take on the Irish Celtic goddess the Morrigan.   The Morrigan is a death goddess and a war goddess.    She was often associated with battlefields and warriors.    The Morrigan was a crow goddess who was deeply connected to this bird, which makes sense given…

  • The Uses of 3 and 9 in Celtic Belief

    The Celtic beliefs placed a large amount of significance on the numbers three and nine.    Both numbers appear in many different myths and symbols within Celtic culture!    The number three is the triple goddess, maiden mother and crone, that is utilized in some variation by most ancient cultures.    The number nine is…

  • Camelot: The Musical

    In 1960 Lerner and Loewe premiered a new musical entitled Camelot.   The musical was based on the successful Arthurian novel Once and Future King by T.H. White.   On stage the role of Arthur was originated by the great Richard Burton, and the role of Guinevere was originated by Julie Andrews.  On an interesting…