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| The White Spring, Shrine to the Lady, Glastonbury, UK. |
It is a great disappointment to me that I will not be attending the GLASTONBURY GODDESS CONFERENCE this year as I had planned, as I have to have a surgical procedure, and had to cancel my plans to go to England. The Conference begins on Tuesday, July 28. But I will always remember when I went to Avalon in 2011, one of the most magical times in my life, and profoundly imbued with the presence of the Numina of this sacred and ancient Pilgrimage, the Lady of Avalon. How wonderful, and transformative, the Conference was for me. I wish that same magic to any who are fortunate enough to attend this year.
THE CHARGE OF THE GODDESS
I Who am the beauty of the green earth
and the white moon among the stars
and the mysteries of the waters,
I call upon your soul to arise and come unto me.
For I am the soul of nature
that gives life to the universe.
From Me all things proceed
and unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices,
for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.
Let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion,
honor and humility,
mirth and reverence within you.
And you who seek to know Me,
know that seeking and yearning will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.
by Doreen Valiente, as adapted by Starhawk
I copied below one of my posts from 2011, remembering that time with great gratitude. Also, at the bottom of this post, an interview with Kathy Jones, the founder of the Glastonbury Goddess Conference, from a series of interviews called "A Gathering of Priestesses" with Gloria Taylor Brown.
7/26/2011
"The island of apples Avalon which men call “The Fortunate Isle” (Insula Pomorum quae Fortunata uocatur) gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them."
Geoffrey of Monmouth
I stopped at the Roman Baths at Bath en route to Glastonbury, and saw the above, snapping a picture. Truly, I felt like responding to the synchronicity with a "Here I come!". "Avalon" meant the "Apple Isle", and I thought of so many wonderful legends of the apples of the Goddesses. And, of course, Marian Zimmer Bradley's famous book "The Mists of Avalon".
So walking a few days after arriving, I felt naturally drawn to a bough of apples hanging over a wall, and went to help myself to a few of them.. Right where I reached for an apple was a little niche in the wall - and someone had left a polished amethyst there, with a wire on it so it could be worn on a cord.
I'll take that as a blessing!
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| Photo by Tony Howell (www.tonyhowell.co.uk) |
