London 2002

My mother was in town for Mother's Day and so we decided we would go to Stonehenge because it's something that she's always desperately wanted to do. Of course, she was allergic to London and too sick to go, so I ended up using the tickets a few weeks after she had left. At 8am I was on a mini-coach run by AstralTravels and we cruised through Stonehenge, Glastonbury and what used to be the ancient Isle of Avalon and Avebury.
It was a tour filled with talk about druids, King Arthur and magicians and I loved every minute of it.

The stones contained this calming aura about them and for moments after the rain, I stood in amazement simply staring at them... What a wonderful beginning for a Sunday

The ancient Abbey of Glastonbury, or what's left of it.
This is the Abbey where Guinevere (wife of King Arthur) was said to have gone after the Arthur's death. The two are said to have been buried here and, indeed, graves were found which supposedly attest to that fact. Glastonbury has always been known as the Christian center of King Arthur's court... after Avalon was lost in the mist.

Glastonbury Abbey is situated in a large field which contains ruins of the entire sacred grounds. Included in these ruins/buildings is the old kitchen for the priests which contains a display of what it would have looked like back in the day. On a table rests a variety of herbs and foods with this fantastic warning sign...
Remember - Feast Not!!

I was so excited when I saw this marker that I nearly fell over. There's no other story which fascinates me more, and I was in heaven as I walked around the grounds..

There were AMAZING roses growing around the Abbey and I sat and smelled them for quite some time

Next, we plowed off to the Glastonbury Tor, site of the ancient Isle of Avalon. The postcard I got goes as follows:

The Legend of Glastonbury
Joseph of Arimathea is believed to have buried the Chalice used at the Last Supper in the Chalice Well at the foot of Glastonbury Tor [see pics below]. He thrust his thorn staff into the ground on Wirral Hill and the distinctive Winter-Flowering Thorn Tree took root. On the site where the Abbey ruins now stand, he built a church of daub and wattle and there made the first conversions to Christianity in Britain [see pics above].

That's me!!
Consequently, I lost my umbrella on the bus... sigh, I loved that umbrella.

The Chalice Well is kept within the most amazing garden I might have ever been in...

I bought a container to get some nifty well water after reading about its healing properties and whatnot. I came home and let it sit for a while and the amount of separation between the actual water and all the minerals in it was actually kind of nasty. The legend, though, goes as follows and taken from the official handout from the ticket lady:

The Legend of the Chalice Well
Joseph of Arimathea, the great-uncle of Jesus, brought with him to Avalon the Chalice of the Last Supper (or possibly the two cruets containing Christ's blood and sweat from the crucifixion), which he then deposited under the sacred hill from which the blood spring ran...
The healing power of the waters is not in its mineral content but in a subtle vibratory force that is released when the water leaves its subterranean home and interacts with the forces of earth, air and light above ground. A few drops in a wine glass, mixed with any other natural drink and taken 3 or 4 times a day has been recommended as an ideal way to use the water for healing purposes.

Off to Avebury which is a site with the highest concentration of crop circles as well as its own stone formation. The circle for this rock formation, however, is HUGE and takes up a few blocks in radius.

The funny thing about Avebury was that you could go right up to the stones but there were sheep EVERYWHERE as well as an abundance of Sheep Shit which was tricky to avoid. I got pretty close to them and couldn't, for the life of me, stop thinking about Foot & Mouth disease... hehe

All in all, it was the most excellent day I could remember in a long time. I learned all kinds of nifty things about King Arthur, druids and sheep poop. It was a magical experience, and I only regret that it wasn't longer (even though we were gone from London for almost 11 hours). My holy water is safe and the last time I drank some, I felt strangely content and happy with life - there must be something else in that water :)
Long live Avalon and its mystery!