Avalon

Not last weekend but the weekend before I went to Glastonbury. It was wonderful to spend some time in that magical place; to attach to the legends of Avalon.

I did some real shopping. I am not one for shopping usually. I tend to buy all that I can on the Internet and only go round actual shops when I have to. Glastonbury is different, the energy of the place is different, the shops are not high street clones but real shops. The sort of shops there used to be; the kind that you almost expect to 'up and fly' to somewhere else while you are browsing round the shelves, or to have a secret portal in the changing room. I had a whale of a time. I bought a new dress, lot of books and bits! In fact I am going to return before Yule to do some more shopping, this time for friends.

I just love StarChild. I love the smell - it is jam packed with resins and incense, candles and the most exquisite goddess figurines. They have tree essences and herbal smokes, big bell jars full of potions, remedies and proper old fashioned herbs in wooden drawers. It is a delight.

I also tried the Speaking Tree - which came highly recommended by Exmoor Jane. Well! Heaven or what! The place groans under the weight of esoteric and spiritual books,stacked as high as the ceiling, all reasonably priced and offering a galaxy of undiscovered worlds.

Green Man and Goddess was up to its usual standard as was the Magick Box and I was a very happy wierdy woman by the end of the trip. Glastonbury is the place to be a woman. There were women everywhere and it felt good. Now as you know, dear readers, I like my men - but there was something amazing about being in Avalon, a place where Goddess is revered and very much alive.

I went to the Goddess Temple, it sounds very grand - in reality it is a small upper storey room, modestly furnished but it is a place of very real femininity and in that is real power. The walls are adorned with art that represents female beauty - real women, not stick thin poor wasting waifs adapting to the expectations of the fashion industry, but big women with bellies and breasts. Young women, old women, all shapes and sizes and colours. It is a truly wonderful place to be. At the one end there is the altar to the Goddess and those that choose to spend time in that place do so in silence, with respect.

It is tranquil - serene - liberating. No men to tell us what we should be doing or thinking, no great male God telling us our bodies are sinful and we are the devil incarnate, no one interpreting or reframing anything! It is a place to be; without any external trappings. I went in twice. Both times, once I had sat down in that space, I needed to cry. I could feel the deep primal wounding rising uncontrollably - the wounding of constraint and control - but here it had no power and in that space I wanted to sob and sob until all the tears were shed. Then to be at peace, in that female place. No sin, no judgement, no pressure. It was beautiful and peaceful.

I mused on how I wished the old stories of Avalon were true. I wanted to know it was all real, historical, scientific fact; The mystic isle that was the centre of Goddess worship, that slipped out of synch with reality when the Christians came and disappeared into the mists. I so wanted it to be fact, to know that the priestesses had once wound their way up the Tor in ritual, or that the Lady of the Lake did indeed part the mists with the ancient incantations. Then it struck me, if the historical facts did not bear this out then the collective attachment to the legend of all those that passed through this beloved place made it real - in the imagination, on the astral plane - call it what you will. The legend, the place - was an archetype for the reality, the symbolic representation of a Goddess place, a place where women were not enslaved. I breathed a deep sigh and fell still - content.

Every woman needs to visit - and celebrate!


PS: I am really pushed for time, with my exam coming up - I am so appreciating all your comments, and I will be reading and commenting on all your blogs soon. Hugs.