Hail and well met, Friends, on this Autumnal Equinox.
As promised, I shall now regail you with the details of our tour of Stonehenge, Glastonbury, and Avebury.
Stonehenge:
Well, you've seen the pictures, you know the story. It's a pile of rocks that you can't get very close to. Nonetheless, the power of the place is undeniable even if it's crawling with tourists. The current theory is that it is a sacred temple of healing, and of course a magnificent calendar. It was made long before druids walked the Salisbury plain. Liz got some great shots (which once we load the old camera software in the new laptop, I'll upload--promise). And on to:
Glastonbury:
1) Our first stop was Glastonbury Tor, the high hill that stands far above the country side, with the remains of a tower atop. The climb was rather arduous for this asthmatic messiah and her intrepid companion. In olden times, a lake surrounded this mini-mountain, making it an island, or should I say The Island of Avalon of legend. The view from the top was simply amazing. To the West you could see the mountains of Wales. To the South you could see the ruins of Cadbury Castle, the true site of King Arthur's Camelot, and all around miles and miles of the green fields of the English West Country.
2) We then visited the Chalice Gardens, home of an ancient Celtic spirit well, and some lovely English gardens. The garden is dedicated to World Peace and offers many quiet spots for reflection and meditation. It also contains a spring that runs with reddish water. Which, when combined with the legend that Joseph of Arimatheia buried the Holy Grail in the vicinity, adds a bit of lovely lore about a healing spring. Of course, it could just be the high iron content in the water that makes it look red, but who am I to ruin a perfectly servicable local legend?
3) Onto to the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey which contains the tomb and remains of King Arthur. Upon visiting Arthur's tomb, I was overcome by the desire to kneel at his grave. I gave our ancient King my promise to do my best to help humanity overcome the challenges and dangers that are ahead. Although the ruins of the Abbey were splendid in their own right, we paid our homage to Arthur and quickly left to grab a bite at a local pub and do a bit of exploring of the wonderous town of Glastonbury, where I hope to move someday. We visited a few of the many occult shops there and Liz acquired a magick bracelet.
Glastonbury is the site where all of the ley lines in England intersect, and while we were in the pub, we had a brief (twenty minute) missing time incident. Liz looked at her watch, and then again five minutes later, and twenty-five minutes had elapsed. No, we weren't drinking.
4) On the way to Avebury, we passed Silbury Hill, which is actaully a man-made chalk pyramid as old as any pyramid in Egpyt. In the Bronze Age the top was removed to build a fort on top, and the grass grew over the rest, but in it's day, it most have been an extradinary site.
5) Avebury is the world's largest stone circle and henge (the henge is the fortified ditch around the circle actually). The town of Avebury sits in the circle's center. I prefered Avebury to Stonehenge, because you can walk right up and touch the stones. In fact, to our horror, our first site of the circle was a lady letting her dog pee on one of the ancient stones. Perhaps it was because you could touch the stones and feel the power in them and stand in the circle's center--but it felt much more powerful than Stonehenge. We both sat in the legendary Devil's Chair, a giant stone with a seat carved in it (pictures to follow). According to the story they made up to scare the Puritans, anyone who sat in seat lost their soul at once to the Devil.
Liz made a discovery regarding the stones. Someone had recently chipped a way a piece of one of the giant stones, revealing crystals inside (most likely quartz, but what am I, a geologist?). The tour guide was delighted. You can actually feel a magnetic-like force by placing your hands just off the stone. Awesome.
Alas, we had far too short a time on this tour and pledge to return...
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