Morgana La Fey is a pretty iconic figure in the Pagan community as I've noticed and I'm no different in my fascination with her story. I mean, considering the name that I go by, I should think that much would be obvious! Hahaha! I especially like to hear the tales that show her to be a priestess of the Goddess instead of the evil sorcerer that she's always portrayed as. I think that where Morgaine is concerned, she was painted up in such a horrid light because she was a strong, empowered woman in a time when women were still generally thought of as chattel and property and society was extremely patrifocal. And with the Christian religion in the midst of its takeover, it wasn't uncommon for anti-women sentiments to be spread that portrayed strong women as being possessed of the devil and other such nonsense.
I saw the movie "The Mists of Avalon" when I was about 17 or so and I loved it but only in recent times have I gotten to actually read the book where I discovered just how much the movie lacked in comparison. It didn't portray Morgaine as this perfect, infallible person. Marion Zimmer Bradley portrayed her as a very realistic character complete with her own flaws and frailties as she worked through her struggles and challenges, turning away from the Goddess and then learning to find her way back to Her and to claim her place as a Priestess of Avalon.
I also read "Lady of Avalon" for my Goddesses & Women of the Ancient World class and it, too, was an interesting book. I still liked "The Mists of Avalon" better, but it was definitely interesting to see Ms. Bradley's vision of Avalon's history right on up to where Viviane became the Lady.
All in all, I would recommend Ms. Bradley's beautiful books to any Pagan looking for some great fiction spun from well-known folklore.
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