MORGAN LA FEY
And other stories
Morgan la Fey was the name given her by one of the medieval writers of the King Arthur stories, I don’t remember which one, Chretien, Geoffrey, one of those guys, but she was Arthur’s half sister, whom Arthur didn’t know about. She was involved in the old religion, and after Arthur declared for Christianity, became an enemy. She seduced him, and bore a son Mordred, who eventually was Arthur’s betrayer, some say murderer. Arthur of course was severely wounded during his last battle, but never died, and was carried away to Avalon by three women, one of whom was Morgan, who by this time regretted her misdeeds. There he lies in suspended animation, awaiting a call to come back and save his people from some future catastrophe. Morgan also may be immortal, also waiting for a reason to return. She has been portrayed as a queen, a warrior, a witch, an evil temptress, a victim, a loving mother, a devoted sister, scheming manipulator, a goddess. She is one of those women often found in Celtic lore who is both mortal and immortal, good and evil, seen and unseen, and ultimately as a force of Nature, perhaps most like the fog and storms of the British Isles. She is always partially obscured, never seen clearly.
THE ABDUCTION AND RANSOM OF MORGAN LA FEY
This marble and cedar version of Morgan was displayed for a while at the History of the World gallery on Camano Island, in the yard out back, with a few other sculptures. One night the place was vandalized by a group of teenage boys. The cedar log was pushed over, and the marble bust was taken. It was the only thing taken. The police were called but of course they didn’t find anything, and after several days, gallery co-owner Karla Matzke decided to take matters into her own hands, and began to actively seek out the vandals, questioning some of the neighbors and many of the young people she knew on the island, and then she advertised a reward. Everybody she talked to denied knowing anything, but she persisted, and finally someone told her to look in a ditch along a certain road, and sure enough, there was the marble bust of Morgan, all beat up and scratched, but intact. Karla brought her back to the gallery and paid the reward to the person who gave the tip. ( I think it was the dad of one of the boys she had suspected.) She called me, and I brought her home and refinished the marble.
FINTAN’S GIFT
The branch from a mystic tree that grows the fruit and leaves of three sacred trees in one: oak, apple, and hazel.
Fintan was a very old man, like thousands of years old, and when asked by the Kings of Ireland to settle a dispute, he tells this long story about all the history he has witnessed, and in the course of that saga, he produces this branch, which another old guy, named Trfoingel Treochar, gave him long ago. It is like a token of his right to carry the history of his people, symbolizing the strength of the oak, the nourishment of the apple, and the wisdom of the hazelnut. [One episode in the listing of his past lives is when he was a salmon who ate the hazelnuts that had fallen into the river, thereby gaining all the knowledge of the people of Ireland.]
The Marble Bowl holding the sacred branch appeared to me in a dream, several years ago, before I had read much about Celtic myth and history, and was one of the reasons I became a serious student of these things. I didn’t know what it was, I had been seeking a way to put some meaning in my sculpture that would be genuine, some connection to the tribal consciousness that I was beginning to become aware of. My search for my heritage continues, and as images become clear, I try to give them form. The marble bowl holding the sacred branch was one of those images. I carved it as soon as I recognized what it was, and stumbled upon the story that explained it right after. It is made of Carrara marble. I had thought it should be set up on a tripod of bronze or forged iron legs, but never got around to doing that part. I think it is a vessel containing some secret that I haven’t yet understood. It now resides on Guemes Island, at the home of good friends.