by Demelza Fox
Morgan le Fey is the infamous bad-gal enchantress of the Arthurian legends, renowned for her powerful spell craft and delicious witchery.
Today, we see her mostly as a black-velvet wearing, spell-casting sorceress with fluid morals and an attitude to match her burning ambition.
But did you know that Morgan le Fey is so much more than “just” a witch?
Morgan le Fey (also known as Morgana) is a slippery old Celtic goddess who’s divine origins are always present in the Arthurian Mythos, yet hard to pin down.
There is no Arthurian tale without Morgana bookmarking the beginning and the end, and her calling cards all refer to ancient otherworldly Sovereign Goddesses of the Celts – like her rulership of a faerie otherworld accessed by crossing water or travelling into a lake, her stellar magic powers, and how as a powerful, magical women she doesn’t quite fit in the arthurian court, but refuses to relinquish her position and power.
Her character echoes that of other powerful ancient sorceresses like Circe and Medea.
Once we dive past Morgana’s intoxicating witchy veneer we discover a powerful tutelary Goddess who encompasses and embraces both the shadow and the light, who is a healer, lover and wise woman as well as magical sorceress.
So here are nine powerful aspects of Morgan le Fey:
1 Initiatrix of the Mists
Morgana is the shifting goddess who weaves the silver thread. She takes you and leads you on a pathway of her own devising.
We never know where she is leading us, or sometimes even that she IS leading us – her clever path is disguised by the mists that swirl about us.
It’s only when we look back from on high we can see her footprints guiding us. She is liminal, imaginal, shifting, elemental – a holy spirit who nudges us towards transformation.
2 Enchantress
Morgana is the fiery Enchantress, the one who casts spells with abandon and laughs wildly as she dances barefoot on the hillsides.
She is the Keeper of the Flame of Desire, and weaver of spells and charms. She is sensual innocence, passionate will and determination, and the drive to get what you want.
This is the part of Morgana who takes us on the human journey of desire, fulfillment, failure and success, and she encourages us not to take life so seriously!
She teaches us that desire is an evolutionary ladder to liberation, and that it’s ok to fail, have fun and be human beings with human needs and desires.
3 Faery Lover
Morgana is renowned for deciding and choosing her own lovers – in fact, this caused quite a mischief in the Arthurian stories as she kidnapped the hot knights and cheated on her husbands.
She is the intoxicating scent of seductive perfume that snakes through the hawthorn woods at dusk, calling you to surrender deeper and deeper into ecstasy.
Morgana holds the free, fecund sexuality of the Faery Kingdom here, both the danger and thrill of surrendering to pleasure. As a Sovereign Goddess of the Earth, she holds the initiation of sexual desire and the freedom to choose who she wishes and to hold power in relationship.
4 Healer
Morgana is renowned as a great healer. It was to Morgana that King Arthur was given at the battle of Camalan, to heal his wounds so he could return when Britain needed him the most.
Her sacred land of Glastonbury Avalon is home to two renowned healing springs, of which she is the guardian.
Healer, herb woman, midwife – she is all these things.
As Healer, Morgana is the Guardian of the Holy Grail and offers the cup of the Chalice so that we may become whole and unite the Masculine with the Feminine within us.
5 Sister
Morgan le Fey famously ruled Avalon as the head of nine sisters, working together to govern the summer land, each sister respected and honoured for her talents and gifts.
She was around at the time of the Round Table, which was gifted to King Arthur by her faery cousin Guinevere, so that power could be held equally by the many.
Morgana is the patron of women’s circles, shared rulership, and power-with rather than power-over. She teaches us how to honour and respect other women, and how to create healthy sisterhood in our lives.
6 Queen
Morgana is the powerful Queen of Avalon, ruling her spiritual kingdom, and she teaches us how to accept and hold power in our own lives.
As a Queen she challenges us to step up and claim our power, be the protagonist, and manage power with grace, generosity and nobility.
7 Wise Witch
As a wise witch, Morgana holds the wisdom from the full path that her wilful, passionate Enchantress self was walking.
She is the culmination of experience, and the one who walks the boundaries of this world and the next.
As a witch, she looks at the greater picture, and sees how the threads of life weave and intertwine with one another.
As a Witch-Queen of the Dead, she guards the mysteries of Avalon as the isle of the dead and transforms what needs to die. She makes decisions based on their ripple effect, and divines deep wisdom in the Samhain fires.
8 High Priestess
Morgana holds the role of being our own High Priestess, teaching us in the ways of spiritual devotion and faith in the Divine.
She is our spiritual guide on our journey to union and connection with the Divine Source, the keeper of the Violet Flame of Avalon that transforms and transmutes.
She is the leader of the mythical Priestesses of Avalon, who lived in devotion to the Great Goddess, and is a guide to women who wish to walk the path of devotion and the path of the Priestess.
9 Sourceress and Shapeshifter
This final aspect incorporates all her many talents and powers as described above and sees her as the SOURCE-ress, she who creates from her connection to Source, the One who is All.
She is Morgan le Fey, and she is the Great Goddess – she is Herself, and she is Everything at the same time.
We call her a shapeshifter because she goddess of many contradictions; an elemental, faery goddess deeply bound to this world, and yet also a sublime sovereign divinity of spiritual ecstasy.
She is both a witch who is fully dedicated to her own desires and amusement, and a priestess who holds space for change that will shift and benefit all humanity.
She is a healer who can curse, a Creator Sorceress who is also the Queen of Death.
At this Source-ress centre, Morgan le Fey is a goddess who teaches us about Power, Desire and Truth: the courage to claim and know our own power, in the material world and in the spiritual; the evolution of our soul’s pathway through Desire and our interaction with this holy physical world; and the never-ending quest to know and live our own spiritual authentic truth.
Morgan le Fey is so much more than just a goddess of spell craft – she is a high holy Queen of Avalon, a healer, a wild woman, a passionate lover, a priestess, an initiate of the shadow mysteries, and above all a deep teacher who empowers us to claim our power, look deep within and stand up for who we are in the world today.
IN CONCLUSION
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featured image by Mark Skeet via Unsplash