In The Voyage of Máel Dúin, a tale of an epic sea voyage written in Old Irish ca. 1000 A.D., the hero and his crew alight on an island...

Evidence that cats were a source of fear as well as reverence to the Celts can be found in the Welsh legend of Cath Palug, a monstrous...

Cath Palug or Kapalu, the giant cat that began its legendary life in early Welsh texts, became, eventually, a friend and ally of Morgan...

The most infamous black cat of Celtic legend was the Cait-Sidhe (‘The Fairy Cat’ – ‘sidhe’, pronounced ‘Shee’, meaning ‘fairy’),...

Cats were (and still are) seen as the most common familiar to witches, which older women practicing medicinal and healing crafts were...

How much do we adore our feline friends? I couldn’t be without our two beloved rescue cats who have been with us now for almost two and a...

Why was it deemed necessary – and why is it still deemed necessary – to demote, defame and demonise the all-powerful, magic-wielding...

The earliest portrayals of Morgan le Fay depict her as the ruler of a magical island, known as the Avalon, the Island of Apples. Here the...

Traditionally, the Celts did not celebrate the winter or summer solstices. Their religion focused on the central days of each season,...

Powerful sorceress. Wicked witch. Benevolent enchantress. Evil crone. Immortal goddess. Demonic villain. Feminist icon. High Priestess....

I first encountered Morgan le Fay when I was 18. During my first year at university, a friend lent me her edition of The Mists of Avalon....

Gorlois, Duke of Belerion, Morgan’s father – Kevin McKidd Igraine, Duchess of Belerion, Morgan’s mother – Romola Garai Sebile, Morgan’s...

a huge film buff (I did a postgraduate Master of Philosophy in Film Studies), and I love to image who I would cast as the characters in...

The beginning of the second novel of Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, The Hollow Hills, has a pregnant Ygraine, now Queen and married to Uther,...

Wolfram von Eschenbach’s 13th century Parzival and Heinrich von dem Türlim’s Diu Krône (‘The Crown’) both tell similar stories and with...

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST: Uther persuades the wizard Merlin to cast a spell to make him look like Gorlois. He enters Tintagel...

As the mother of Morgan le Fay and Arthur, Igraine is a crucial figure in Arthurian legend, but it is important to remember that she is a...

Jo-Anne Blanco writes about her writing process in creating her Fata Morgana series

Following on from my blog post about the Muryans I have done some research into Caelia, Queen of the Muryans. In the Fata Morgana Series,...

This week I thought I'd answer a couple of questions I seem to get asked a fair amount as an author. 1 - How do I overcome writer's...