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Glastonbury

Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury, in the county of Somerset in South Western England, has been a place of sanctity and pilgrimage for at least several thousand years. Glastonbury Tor (just called 'the Tor') with its single tower, dominates the area sticking up well above the flat Somerset Levels, which are at, or a bit below, sea level.

It is not sure when the Glastobury area was first occupied. The Sweet Track (dated 1380 BCE) the oldest marsh walkway known. It's far from Mere. The first people we know occupied Ynys Witrin, or the Isle of Glass, were the Celtic Druids. It is said that Glastonbury (at that time a small cluster of islands rising above the submerged Somerset Levels) was the location of one of three Druidic perpetual choirs. The other two were said to be on the islands of Anglesey (North West Wales, where the Druids made their last stand against the Romans), and Iona (further North, off the West coast of Scotland, where St Columba brought Catholic Christianity to Scotland). These eternal choirs made music twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. They were literally enchanting the land.

According to tradition, in 37AD, Joseph of Arimathea, the man who provided Christ his tomb, came here. He set foot onto Ynys Witrin on Wearyall Hill, where he plant-ed his Jerusalem Thorn staff and rested his feet from the long journey. The staff took root, and it is said that a scion of that tree still grows on Wearyall Hill to this day

Glastonbury Abbey

This chapel marks the site of Joseph of Arimathea's original church, the first above-ground purpose-built church in all of Christendom. Glastonbury is the only place that claims King Arthur's grave. It was found in the the Abbey cemetery - to the right in this view.

The Celts had a deity named Easus who died and was supposed to come back to life. When the Druids heard about Jesus from Joseph of Arimathea, they saw the return of Easus in the story, and they gave Ynys Witrin to him. It was here on the site of the Mary Chapel where Joseph built the first above-ground Christian church in all of Christendom.

Notice that the arches are Romanesque - half round.

On the wall of the Mary Chapel, to the right of the door above, are the words:

Jesus
Maria

Historians say this Mary is the Blessed Virgin. Mythtorians say it is Mary Magdalene, the name of the street that runs in front of today's main gate to the Abbey.

The Gallillee is the section below the right hand tower above. The Gothic arch in the door at the top of the stairs of this building to the right frames the rest of the Abbey.

The Gothic Arch came after the Romanesque arch, and is made with the top half of a vesica pisces.

Bligh Bond at the Abbey

In the first part of the twentieth century, the Anglican Church hired Church architect Frederick Bligh Bond to do a dig at the Glastonbury Abbey.

His discoveries were amazing, including the unexpected Edgar Chapel at the head of the Abbey (in foreground). His success was due to a series of automatic writings in which Bond communicated with a thirteenth century monk, who spoke to him about the layout of the Abbey and grounds. Unfortunately for him, Bond wrote about this communication in a book called The Gate Of Remembrance, published in 1918. He very quickly lost his job and was not often hired as an ecclesiastical architect after that. Bond also designed the vesica pisces lid on the Chalice Well.

The Egg Stone was discovered by Bond in the Edgar Chapel, the building behind the High Altar. It was clearly a pagan item - much like an omphalos (navel) stone. While the Church didn't want to leave it where it was found, it was too powerful to be thrown away, so Bond tucked it away behind the Abbot's Kitchen.

The Chalice Well

Here you will find a place of beauty, peace, and healing. Spiritual Pilgrims of all kinds have come to this special place from time immemorial. The waters of this holy well are known for its healing and for it's connection with the Earth Mother, the red waters of the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England. This is a visual visit up through the garden to the Chalice Well, known locally as the Red Spring, or the Blood Spring. There are so many special places to visit in this garden. Here are some of the high points along the way. Welcome again to the garden and the Chalice Well. May you find what you seek here.

The head of the well is at the top of the garden. The first spot you will reach at the bottom of the garden is this vesica pisces shaped pool that has Chalice Well water flowing in to it through a series of flow forms. The vesica pisces is a sacred geometrical symbol in which the circumference of one circle goes through the center of another identical circle. The bit in the middle is the vesica.

The Vesica Pisces is the sacred geometrical figure of the last two thousand years. Extend one end of the Vesica and you get a fish - the symbol in Roman times that you were a Christian. The top half of the Vesica made the Gothic arch. It is a symbol that comes up again and again in these gardens. It is one of the five major sacred geometrical symbols. If the radius of either circle is one, the major axis of the vesica is the square root of three.

The vesica picses is not only sacred to Christians. It is an important symbol for many spiritual paths. Just up the hill from the Vesica Pool, on the right next to a door in the wall, is an old yew tree that has grown apart at the base and then grown together again about six feet higher up. This vulvic shape is sacred to the Goddess, and many visitors see these waters as Her blood spring.

The next area of the garden is called King Arthur's courtyard. It has long been a place of healing. The pool on the right is a shallow one now, but in the nineteenth century, it was much deeper, allowing for total immersion. It is now a place of quiet contemplation with the sound of the falling water creating a soothing background.

The Lion's Head under the Glastonbury Tor

The Chalice Well is nestled at the base of the Glastonbury Tor. You can see the tower on the Tor through the trees. Below the tower is the Lion's Head, where pilgrims are welcome to drink of these waters. It is always a place of special prayers and personal ceremony. The tree above and to the left of the Lion's Head is a holy thorn, scion of The Holy Thorn Tree (Crateagus Monogyna Praecox) that Joseph of Arimathea brought from the Holy Land. It is a special thorn because in late October and early November, around the time of Samhain, the Celtic time of death and rebirth, this tree, and others like it around Glastonbury have both berries and flowers!

Holy Thorn with both Blossoms and Berries

It is as if both birth and death, flower and fruit can happen at the same moment. The Holy Thorn truly reflects the spirit of the Samhain, the Celtic New Year. There are two Holy Thorns in the garden - one is next to the Vesica Pool, and the other is the tree in the centre of the picture above - just above the Loin's Head. This blossoming and berries are still happening at the WInter Solstice when the Mayor of Glastonbury cuts a branch or two from the Holy Thorn in St. John's Church yard, and sends it to the Queen for her breakfast table on Christmas morning - again, a time of birth.

This garden is a place of transformation. Just a short stroll above the Lion's Head is the goal of our pilgrimage, the Chalice Well itself.

The vesica pisces on the lid of Chalice Well was designed by the excavator of Glastonbury Abbey, Frederick Bligh Bond, resident archaeologist of the Glastonbury Abbey in the early 1900's. It was given to the Chalice Well as a thank-offering for Peace in 1919, and ideal symbol for Universal Peace, by friends and lovers of the Well and of Glastonbury, representing every type of thought, Eastern and Western among them. The Chalice Well Trust carries on this philosophy today, and the gardens are open to individuals of all spiritual paths. The vesica pisces clearly symbolizes this.

The waters of the Chalice Well have never been known to fail. It was the only source that kept on working through the drought of 1921 -22. Under Bligh Bond's lid, 25,000 gallons of water gush upwards to the surface of the Earth every day filing several human-built small-room-sized subterranean chambers. For millennia, both Christians and Pagans (as well as followers of many other spiritual paths from other lands) have come to this holy place to seek healing, new visions and renewal. Come visit the garden yourself, taste the water, and take time to be in the silence and enjoy the beauty. This is but one of the sacred places on the Isle of Glass where you can experience the Spirit of Glastonbury.

Tor means "natural hill." Some say the Glastonbury Tor is actually a three-dimensional labyrinth. My feeling is, if you see it, it's there. If you don't, is isn't.

We end up where we began on this all too brief tour of Glastonbury, at the Tor. This 518ft high natural hill dominates the Somerset Levels and the hills that contain the Levels. It has Druidic, Arthurian, Christian and other spiritual connections. Go there on any Celtic Cross-quarter day - there will be people celebrating on the Tor. I have been there for many seasonal celebrations. One full Moon-eclipse-and-see-the-comet heavenly light show is particularly memorable. At times like this there are usually a hundred souls up there celebrating with the drumming, chanting and other activities, it is quite powerful.

Running up from St Michael's Mount near Penzance in South-Western Cornwall, there is a narrow geomantic corridor that runs for a few hundred miles to the North-East through a number of significant sacred sites including the Tor and the edge of the Avebury stone circle, and a large number of sites and churches dedicated to St Michael. With a level horizon, this alignment points to the rising Sun on the Celtic Cross-quarter day of Beltane (May Day), and the setting sun on Samhain (Halloween).

John Michell first proposed this 'Michael Line'. Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst dowsed it and found that it was actually two sinuous lines - one was yin, the other yang. They called them the Michael and Mary lines. This geomantic corridor, and the Michael and Mary lines converge on the top of Glastonbury Tor. It is at the top of the Tor where Glastonbury connects with the rest of the world.

This connection can be felt at all times of the day or night. One of my favourites is in the evening at Sunset. Many pilgrims walk up the Tor at that time. The entire town benefits from the energies of this magical sacred space, and it radiates this spiritual awareness, love, readiness for change and openness to alternative thinking and living out into the rest of the world.

If you are planning to visit Glastonbury, be sure to get a copy of Palden Jenkins ley map called The Ancient Landscape Around Glastonbury. A wonderful ley map of the Glastonbury and a great overall view of this magical pilgrimage town. A must have map if you plan to visit Glastonbury. Glastonbury: Gothic Image Publications. ISBN 0 906362 66 0. £3.99

This is the end of our MAG tour of Glastonbury.

There are a number of other sites that focus on Glastonbury. Here are some:

Isle of Avalon is the Glastonbury Alternative website. It contains numerous web pages from "The Glastonbury Archive" and "The Knowledge Bank," both resources Glastonbury ideas much by Glastonbury authors, to a guide to the millennium, several guided tours 'round the Land of Avalon, a good astrology section, and "Avalon Articulates" (an e-zine), and much more. IMHO, the best site for alternative Glastonbury.

Mystical-WWW is Mell Paul's wonderful site. This has a section is devoted specifically to Glastonbury - all the sacred sites, a history, and a special emphasis on Arthurian connections. This has much solid information.

Welcome to Glastonbury. A good site for when you come here for the first time. Good on the practical stuff - how to get here, where to stay, shopping, business directory.