Enchanted by Morgan le Fay

I have long held a fascination with Morgan le Fay, the half-sister to Britain's "once and future king" (Arthur), whose brief tryst with Lancelot of the Lake saw her turn her back on her inheritance, her calling and seemingly spend her life wandering without any true meaning or purpose.  Yet, despite all that, there is something alluring about her.

The Morgan le Fay we often hear about today, the evil sorceress who appears largely as the bane of King Arthur's existence, stems from the Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. Hailed as the greatest piece of English literature to have emerged from the Medieval era, Malory's version consisted of 21 books, commencing at the ill-fated meeting between Uther Pendragon, the King of Britain, and Gorlois, the Duke of Tintagel, where the king become infatuated with Gorlois's beautiful wife, Igraine, and ending with the death of King Arthur from a wound inflicted upon him by his own son.

Prior to Malory’s interpretation, Morgan le Fay first briefly appeared in Vita Merlini (also known as The Life of Merlin) written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in c.1150 CE. Here, Morgan was one of nine sisters who lived on the magical island referred to as the island of apples, “the Fortunate Isle”, or Avalon.  According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, she was renowned for her knowledge of healing through the use of herbs, her beauty and her ability to shapeshift.

In Marion Zimmer Bradley’s 1987 novel, The Mists of Avalon, Morgan becomes Morgaine whose goal is not to usurp Arthur from his throne, but to bring people back to the worship of the goddess as opposed to the new religion of Christianity. Despite being a flawed character, in particular in her inability to find happiness and peace, Morgan is often considered to be somewhat of a role model for people who wish to reclaim their power.  Modern goddess-centric followers also see Morgan as a great healer, the mother of time, and even the matrix of life itself.

Morgan le Fay is one of the 13 "darker" aspects of the goddess that I talk about in my latest book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms.  It is through understanding the stories of these more challenging aspects of the divine feminine that we find ways to gain healing from past trauma, release from fears, or even acceptances of the "unacceptable" aspects of our own selves.

Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms can be pre-ordered from mid-June 2020 through John Hunt Publishing web page as well as through Amazon US, Amazon UK, Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and the like.  E-book versions will be able for pre-order from July 2020 with the physical release scheduled for March 2021.