GLASTONBURY

The town of Glastonbury, at the heart of the county of Somerset, is one of the best-known places in England. Its historical and archaeological importance is out of all proportion to its relatively small size. Its fame rests chiefly upon myths generated ages ago which link the place to Joseph of Arimathea and King Arthur. But it is also celebrated for the ruins of its ancient abbey church, the Iron Age lake villages of Glastonbury and Meare and the Glastonbury Festival.

History of Glastonbury

In the dark times of pre-recorded history there are legends of The Isle of Avalon as the place of the dead. A sacred burial ground and later a druidical college. Legends tell us of the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion of Jesus and as we move into historical times we see the great Benedictine Abbey of Glaston dominating the town. Through archaeology we can see something of the early history of Glastonbury. The Tor and some of the surrounding land was an island joined to the mainland by a narrow peninsula. The island was surrounded by tidal marshes which gave good natural protection.

In Neolithic times there were people living in Lake Villages near the island but there seem to have been few if any resident inhabitants. The island appears to have been treated as sacred place from the earliest days.

In the middle ages we see Glastonbury emerging as great center of pilgrimage. The reason for the importance of this small town in a remote part of Somerset was partially the ancient tradition of the Isle of Avalon as a sacred site and partially the Christian history and tradition personified by the great Benedictine Abbey. The heart of the Abbey was the Abbey Church where the choir monks lived a life of prayer complemented by writing, teaching, illuminating manuscripts, caring for the sick and poor and looking after the pilgrims visiting the monastery. These activities were supported by the secular work of the monks and the managing of their land and farms. All this was in turn supported by the town - by the shopkeepers, farmers, craftsmen and professionals of every kind.

From what might be thought of as the conventional point of view Glastonbury is a small Somerset market town. A few Bronze Age and Neolithic artifacts have been found on the Tor but we do not have much solid fact about the place before about 600 AD when we learn of a wooden church established in Glastonbury. Later in about 950 AD we see written history emerging with St. Dunstan building a new Abbey around the wooden church. By the Middle Ages this had become the great Benedictine Abbey the remains of which can be seen today. Glastonbury was one of the wealthiest Abbeys in the land, its Abbot playing a major part in the ruling of England.

This great monastery drew pilgrims from afar, kings, princes and ordinary people. These pilgrims found in Glastonbury what they were seeking spiritually and brought with them wealth which was donated to the Abbey. The Abbey grew in strength and prosperity as its possession of lands and property increased. Around this Monastery grew up a thriving town supporting the activities of the monks with local builders, butchers, bakers and merchants and services of every kind.

With the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, The Abbey was closed, the monks were pensioned off and disbursed. The lead was removed from the Abbey Roofs and the buildings were left to sink into decay. The town, its main purpose destroyed, sank quietly into its own backwater and faded from the political scene.

Glastonbury then had to find a new purpose. Over the years it developed into a market town and more recently a center for processing sheepskins. Both these activities have now ceased but Glastonbury is beginning to find a new life as a Somerset tourist town. All in all, Glastonbury is a town with unusual shops where you can buy cream teas and visit the interesting ruins in the park-like gardens of the Abbey.

Geology, Myths and Legends, Spirituality, Sacred Sites, Healing

GEOLOGY

The Town is dominated by the Tor, a natural hill, which can be seen for miles around rising out of the flat levels. Some say that the Tor was formed by the waters of what is now Chalice Well. Millions of years ago the iron rich waters of this spring seeping down through the soft sandstone gradually formed a hard dome like crust. As the softer stone was eroded by wind and water over millennia of years the iron hardened stone of the Tor gradually rose above the landscape. In time the low lying land around the Tor was flooded by the seas leaving what was virtually an island in a marshy inland sea.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

This Island set in its inland sea has been held to be a sacred place for millennia and myths and legends abound. There are the myths of Avalon as a special pagan and Celtic site - a place where long before the Christian era the sacred was worshipped and seen in every spring and stream - in every tree and hill. The home of the bountiful mother goddess. A place where the cycles of the year and its seasons were honored and celebrated. A place which was one of the great Druid centers of learning.

The Christian legends claim that Jesus' uncle, Joseph of Arimathea , was a metal merchant and on one of his voyages to the lead mines of the Mendip Hills he called in at the port of Glastonbury. He brought with him his young nephew Jesus and they stayed for a while. Some legends say that there was more than one visit and that Jesus built the first simple Church in Glastonbury with his own hands. Other legends claim that Jesus came to learn from the Celtic Druid Priests of the mystery school on the island.

After the crucifixion, Joseph is said to have returned to Glastonbury (around either 37 or 64 AD) with a small band of disciples and to have settled here establishing the first Christian Church in Britain. He is said to have brought with him the Holy Grail, the cup of the last supper, and to have buried it somewhere on Chalice Hill.

The Church that Joseph established grew into the Benedictine Monastery of the Middle Ages. Because of the legends of its beginnings it was held to be the "holiest earth in England" and was a place of pilgrimage for kings and commoners alike.

There are the stories of Glastonbury as the mythical Isle of Avalon, with its links to King Arthur, his knights of the round table and their search for the Holy Grail. Arthur is said to have been brought to Avalon by boat, by the nine fairy sisters , the "Morgens", after his last great battle and to have died on the Island. Even the monks of the Abbey supported this legend claiming to have found in the Abbey grounds the grave of Arthur and his Queen Guinevere.

Apart from the legends Glastonbury's has retained a reputation as a special earth-sacred site where many leys meet, come together and diverge, connecting with the other power centers of the world.

This entwining of Christian and Pagan myths and legends can be confusing. But whatever beliefs one may hold there is no doubt that many people feel that Glastonbury has very special energies - that it is a notably "thin" place where the veil between the material and spiritual worlds is tenuous. The effect of this "thinness" is to amplify the personality traits of all who visit. It is said that one feels more spiritually aware and caring and loving - at the same time ones dark side may also be more pronounced.

Ancient Wisdoms

"Ancient Wisdom" is the concept that there are certain ancient spiritual truths that underlie all religions and belief systems. Different people in different places and at different times have found particular beliefs appropriate to their local conditions but they are all reaching out to the same Deity by whatever name it is known.

The Ancient Wisdom holds that there is a Spiritual world that is one whole, that cannot be measured by today's science but which is nonetheless real, that each one of us has a spark of this Divine within us and can make direct contact with the Divine. Our life's purpose lies in knowing and understanding that the Divine is the Ground of all being. An awareness of the Divine needs to be present in every aspect of our lives and is not just something we think about in a Church on Sundays. It is held that with acceptance of this understanding comes peace, fulfillment and embodiment of the Divine.

At the turn of the Century and again in the nineteen sixties this awakening to Spirituality started to gather momentum. A wave of discovery of Eastern teachings was followed by a burgeoning of encounter groups and books on spiritual and ecological subjects. This was the time of Flower Power, hippies, the Beatles and the Maharishi and his teaching on Transcendental Meditation.

Today a growing disillusion with the purely material world has lead to the rapid growth in the number of people who want to live in a way that incorporates Spirituality in their everyday life. It is a reawakening that has occurred spontaneously to many different people all over the world. It is these pilgrims who are looking to find ways of widening their spiritual experience and who are drawn to places like Glastonbury.

SACRED SITES

Hindu philosophy holds that as humans we are beings of Mind, Body, Emotions and Spirit, all of which interact and affect each other. A person is only fully healthy if all aspects are in harmony.

The Ancient Wisdom maintains that the earth itself is sacred and is indeed a living being. This ancient belief has recently been revived in the books on the Gaia hypothesis. This view holds that the earth is similar to us in that it has chakra points and linking meridians. These chakra points, where the meridians or energy leys meet, have a very special energy which it is held can be experienced by humans and detected by dowsing.

We find these energies in many places but where they are particularly strong we frequently find what are known as Sacred Sites. These are places, such as Avebury , Stonehenge and Glastonbury, where the energies have been honored and worked with over the centuries.

HEALING

Glastonbury has long had a great reputation as a place of healing. Pilgrims came to the town for healing in the Middle Ages. In the 18th century the Waters of Chalice Well became famous for their curative powers an d Glastonbury was renowned as a Spa town. You can still see the old Pump House in Magdalene Street where people from far and wide came to drink and bathe in the healing waters. The waters of both the Red Spring at Chalice Well and the adjoining White Spring still have a reputation for their cleansing, healing and transformative qualities.

Glastonbury today

Glastonbury's legends and its reputation as a sacred site and a place of healing has lead to it becoming known internationally. One of the strong influences has been the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's book The Mists of Avalon. The combined effort could be thought of as a rebirth of the Spirit of Glastonbury. There are no longer Benedictine Monks but instead a wide variety of men and women recreating the spiritual heart of Glastonbury, but this time in a manner appropriate to the dawning of the 21st Century.

So there is emerging in Glastonbury a new economy that is running beside the conventional economy. The newcomers have set up shops, healing and teaching centers, cafes and specialist B&Bs. They offer all kinds of therapy, training courses, specialist events, seminars and conferences. In the town center fully a third of the shops cater for the alternative and pilgrim market.