TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008 GLASTONBURY This Incredible
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
GLASTONBURY
The Chalice Well
This incredible well is the center of the regional mystery of the Holy Grail. Did Joseph of Arimathea bring the grail and bury it deep within the well waters? Or was this an older site – a pagan site dedicated to the Goddess, the Earth Mother, whose sanctuary the early Christians associated with their own sacred legend?.
The exquisite ironwork design on the interior well cover was constructed by the amazing Hamish Miller, the dowser, who is also a blacksmith and jeweler. We will be meeting him later on in our journey to learn the secrets of dowsing from a master!
I did an early morning tour of the Chalice Well Gardens, before the tourists and day trippers arrived!
Apple tree
Vesica Pisces pool
Hawthorn tree, with yews behind it
Garden path
Cobblestone and Trellis path
After a hearty vegetarian breakfast provided by the Rainbow’s End, Mara led us on a tour of the garden. She told us that this was a popular healing retreat especially during the Sixteenth Century, the reign of Elizabeth I, when the queen’s doctor, John Dee, came here for the waters.
Pool where Dr. John Dee immersed his patients to heal
The pool was also popular during Victorian times, where people made special excursions to come and “take the waters”, although there is another famous place in Wiltshire – the town of Bath – which had been used since Roman times as a healing resort.
Vesica Pisces
Mara teaching by the Vesica Pisces Pool
The Vesica Pisces is a geometric shape that has been known since the ancient Greek Pythagorean mathematicians. The design consists of two connecting circles of the same radius, which creates a third almond shape from the shared area between them. Vesica Pisces means “Bladder of the fish” in Latin, for the central shape is fish-like, which made it a popular symbol among Christians. It is also called a mandorla in Italian because the center portion is also shaped like an almond.
The Vesica Pisces theme is recreated throughout the Chalice Well Gardens, and is also available in fine jewelry. I have found Vesica Pisces jewelry at Renaissance and Dickens Fairs, Scottish Games, as well as various shops in Glastonbury.
According to the Pythagoreans, the dimensions of the body of the Vesica Pisces amounts to the square root of 3, a magical number. The Christian community associated the design with Christ in his capacity of the holy fisherman, and the New Age community interprets the symbol as yonic, or female genitalia, heralding the dawning of the Return of the Goddess. Again, this symbol, like Glastonbury itself, blends many diverse communities into a living whole. The spear through the circles is said to represent the lance that pierced Christ. I see it as another powerful symbol of the Glastonbury area – the Tree of Life. This image could also be seen as a Western version of the Chinese Yin/Yang symbol, representing male and female energies and the central area where they blend and become one.
Mara led us to a very powerful spot in the gardens – the Lion Fountain, which has a faucet from which many people drink of the healing waters. There is a ceremony where we pour the waters out in gratitude before we quaff the liquid.
Gathering at the Lion Fountain for water blessings
Merlin, under the red stream of water
A Levantine Hawthorne on the grounds of Little Saint Michael, scion from the original on Wearyall hill.
Apple orchards up the hill beyond the gardens
Shrine of the Mother within the gardens
There are two sacred streams of water in this vicinity, both having their source under Glastonbury Tor. The Red Stream, which in some traditions is under the guidance of Morgan le Fay, who was most likely a priestess of the ancient Mother Goddess to which these precincts were once dedicated. The high chalybeate (iron) content of the levels this water flows through colors its environment red. Red is often associated with the Goddess.
THE WHITE SPRING
The other stream, called the White Stream, also originates under the Tor, but at a different level, going through deposits of calcium, which leaves a powdery white residue on the areas it flows through. This spring is dedicated to an ancient deity – Gwynn ap Nudd, who is the leader of the Wild Hunt – associated with winter and death. White is often associated with the God.
These two springs are separated by a mere lane, Well House Lane.
The White Spring courtyard
Door to the White Wellhouse
It has been said that the Golden Age will come again when these two magical streams of water are allowed to meet and flow together as they once did eons ago.
GLASTONBURY TOR
After visiting the White Springs, we trekked up Well House Lane to the entrance to Glastonbury Tor. The climb is not too long or arduous if one is in reasonably good shape. We had members in their 60’s and 70’s who made it with no problem.
Glastonbury Tor
Path to the Tor
Tower dedicated to Saint Michael
When I had visited in 2003, the tower dedicated to Saint Michael on the top of Glastonbury Tor was under scaffolding and we weren’t allowed inside, and I was delighted to get a clear view of it on this trip. It is a magnificent structure.
One of the most significant carvings on the tower is a section depicting Saint Brigid milking her cow. The Saint was said to have founded a chapel in Glastonbury, which was called Beckery. The chapel and its well are long lost in all but folk memory, and there is a movement to resurrect the area, which is now buried under a car park.
St. Brigid milking her cow.
St. Michael with his scales
Wearyall Hill from Glastonbury Tor
Looking up the Tower
The weather was very changeable, sunny one moment, overcast the next, and at one point the rain drove us into the building, where we dowsed for the center of its “Michael/Mary line”
Me, dowsing
Inside, looking up
It was difficult to pull ourselves away from this ancient building and its panoramic view of Glastonbury and beyond. But there was another treat for the day – a visit to Gog and Magog, ancient oak trees that might have once been a part of a Druid grove of oaks. Here, Mara and one of her Avalonian priestesses, JoAnn, performed a ritual to honor the trees.
Meditating under the trees
Gog and Magog, ancient arboreal sentinels of the land:
After a long visit with the trees, we walked back to the town, and several of us peeled off for a drink at the nearby Rifleman’s Arms!
We didn’t stay too long, because we knew the Rainbow’s End staff had another magnificent meal waiting for us, and we weren’t disappointed!
Bardic Journey
White Spring of Gwynn ap Nudd Red Spring of Morgan le Fay
Drink if you will, from the Drink if you will from, Ancient White spring the ancient Red Spring, Of Gwynn ap Nudd of Morgan le Fay, The Underworld King of the Chalice wellspring.
He whose shadowy realm She whose realm, Is under the Tor, which Is under the Yews, Can only be gained Whose sap bleeds red, By the hidden cave door. As the waters run through.
Rider of the Wild Hunt Mistress of Avalon, With his hounds, Cym Annwn whose apples are healing. White skinned, red eared, Teacher of magic, They howl at the dark moon. And mysteries revealing.
Wild ride on his lean pale horse, Morgan’s blood water, Gwynn gathers the souls of the brave Reddened by iron, Returning to his underground realm, Flows through the matrix, through In its underworld sojourn. The glistening stones of his hoary cave.
Drink if you dare, travelers all, Nine holy maidens From the waters under the stone Guard the spring’s well And leave behind in the rocky hall And all who partake Your skin, blood, sinews, and bone. Fall under its spell.
For the strange waters flow white Gwynn weds Morgan, Through bedrock of calcium. Deep in the earth, The stirring pale waters that Where the red stream meets white, Bring death’s stark welcome. In the Cauldron of rebirth.
Gwynn ap Nudd, Morgan le Fay In Glastonbury Of Glastonbury Herne of the Hunt, Lady of the Lake Under Windsor’s great Tree Of Three time Three. Arawn of Annwn, Morrigan of Eire By the breaking Welsh Sea Queen of the Bean Sidhe Lord of the Dead Queen of Ghosts Will you come for me? Will you come for me?
Web Resources:
Hamish Miller: http://www.hamishmiller.co.uk/
The White Spring: http://www.whitespring.org.uk/
Red Springs: http://www.welcometoglastonbury.co.uk/2007/11/chalice-well- gardens.html
Glastonbury Tor: http://www.glastonburytor.org.uk/
History of Glastonbury: http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/avalon-history.html
Definitions:
Vesica Pisces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesica_piscis or, http://www.halexandria.org/dward097.htm
Books:
Avalon’s Red and White Springs, The Healing Waters of Glastonbury, by Nicholas Mann and Philippa Glasson, Green Magic Press, Sutton Mallet, 2005 A perfect book to help us understand the sacred waters under Glastonbury, and their historical, folkloric and spiritual significance. I’ve heard Mr. Mann speak on two occasions, and he is an expert and brilliant speaker on the mysticism of this area.