White Rose of Avalon

Legend

  • Vivienne or Nimue: By Any Name the Enchantress of Merlin

    For this weeks’ Femme Fatale Friday I have chosen to take a brief look at the deadly aspect of Vivienne, or Nimue, the Lady of the Lake that became the undoing of Merlin!    No matter which of her many names you call her by, it is evident that in several versions of the Arthurian…

  • The Influence of the Mabinogion and Arthurian Legends

    For today’s post I would like to take a brief look at how the tales of the Mabinogion became influential to later tellings of Arthurian legends, inspired real monarchs (especially during the Wars of the Roses), and how those historical monarchs inspired more modern fantasy (namely Game of Thrones, or in book form A Song…

  • My Top 5 Favorite Vanessa Redgrave Costume Drama Roles

    For today’s post I would like to do a count down of my favorite roles played by Vanessa Redgrave in costume dramas.    All five of these films are worth watching, and some are even masterpieces in my opinion.   Without further ado here are the top five costume drama roles portrayed by the great…

  • 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…

  • Birds as Emblems of Goddesses

    For today’s post I have chosen to discuss the birds that are sacred to my four favorite goddesses!    These goddesses are Aphrodite (Venus), Freya, Rhiannon, and Blodeuwedd!   All of these goddesses have bird associations, that make birds sacred to them in some way. First I would like to look at Aphrodite.  The Greek…

  • Priestesses of Aphrodite

    For today’s post I would like to take a brief look at what it meant to be a priestess to love goddesses in the ancient world!   In ancient Greece and Rome, priestesses in honor of Aphrodite and Venus (respectively) were a bit unlike those honoring other Greco-Roman goddesses.   Priestesses of Aphrodite-Venus were vessels…

  • Five Welsh Celtic Goddesses

    For today’s post I want to look at five of the most important Welsh Celtic goddesses.    This list contains five goddesses that appear in the Mabinogion.   I have mentioned all of them before, two of them I have written about more than once!    Today will be a countdown of these goddesses that…

  • Guinevere as Arthurian Adulteress

    Welcome to the first ever Femme Fatale Friday here at  White Rose of Avalon!    For this first post in this themed Friday series I have chosen to discuss a figure I have talked about often on this site, Arthur’s wife Guinevere.    Today I want to specifically look at Guinevere’s role as an adulteress…

  • Faerie Tale and Legend Inspired Beauty

    As someone who has always adored Arthurian legend, Pre-Raphaelite art, faeries, and mermaids, I have been inspired by each of these things, in the way I dress and use beauty products.   Mermaid, faerie, and Pre-Raphaelite art all covet long and luscious hair (of course, to be fair faeries can also have short sassy hair…

  • The Green Man

    The Green Man is a figure in Celtic lore that is the spirit and protector of the forest.   He is a figure greatly associated with Beltane and Summer Solstice rights.   The spirit of this nature deity (or possibly elemental spirit) is ancient, but the term “Green Man” was not coined until 1978, by…