Pilgrimage to Glastonbury - Part 2

Wearyall Hill can be viewed prominantly from the Tor and it is to this spot that I walked next, following the path down the Tor past the White spring and Chalice Well gardens. Wearyall Hill is a spectacular spot with views toward the levels and the Tor as well as down upon the town of Street, now known for Clarkes Shoes. Upon the hill is the famous Glastonbury Thorn, according to legend sprung from the staff of Joseph of Arithmathea who visited Glastonbury in 63AD in an attempt to bring Christianity to Britain.( The idea of the sprouting staff has links with Shamanism and also lends itself to the imagery of the Ace of Wands in the Tarot). The thorn is said to bloom at Christmas and in Spring and is reknowned for its possible associations with Christ's crown of thorns and also Joseph's bringing of the Chalice or Holy Grail to Glastonbury. The original Hawthorn tree was cut down and destroyed by the Roundheads, but not before cuttings were taken and these planted around the town including in the Abbey Gardens. Whatever the truth of this legend today, it stands alone on brow of the hill blown and blasted by winds and decked completely with ribbons and healing votive gifts. I left my own ribbon as an offering and breathed in the special atmosphere of this wonderful natural spot. It certainly is magical with its direct view toward the Tor behind. This hill was once an island on the pilgrimage route to the Tor when sea levels were higher and the levels were wet and marshy. The idea of this sacred pilgrimage by boat up the River Brue around Wearyall Hill on the south side really captivated my imagination and increased my vision of the mystical nature of this place as the Isle of Avalon.

Upon the crown of the hill, I came face to face with a wild rabbit about to escape into the bushes but in time for me to get very close and feel a sense again of how strange it is that on these journeys one always has moments with animals or birds. I spent over five minutes very close to the rabbit who didn't seem bothered by my presence. Rabbit is a burrowning creature and in our Priestess of Kernow Wheel would most likely be associated with Earth in the North, but also has obvious associations with Easter.

''Rabbit (Coinean) and Hare (Gèarr) are symbols of fertility, intuition, rebirth, promise, fulfillment, and balance. He is the Goddess’ creature and represents the Moon, night and dawn. is also associated with abundance, rebirth and release and is symbolic of the ‘tween times, dawn and dusk. Their motions were used for divination. They’re also associated with transformation, receiving esoteric knowledge and intuitive messages.Read more: http://paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/rabbithare_tricksterfear_caller#ixzz0V3q3sjSS

I continued my walk down hill, through a copse of Horse Chestnut and Beech with shiny conkers and copper leaves strewn across the path, towards the river Brue across the main road through some of what is now an industrial estate to Bride's Mound. A wooden gate announced it had been erected by the Irish 'Friends of Bride' and here at last I felt a deep connection with Goddess and my own muse, Brigid. Bride's Mound is very unassuming and really now only a mound of long grass, bramble and bracken, but here I could again feel that direct association with an older landscape where this was once an island used by pilgrims from Wales and Ireland as a stopover vigil retreat before passing along the processional 'Perilous Way' or oak causeway to Avalon. It is a very peaceful spot, meditative and still, apart from the sound of birdsong. The site is dedicated to Bride, St Brigid, Brighde, who stayed here at the oratory of Mary Magdalene in 488AD. Two stone chapels were built and dedicated to her here.Legend also says that a community of women lived on Bride's Mound after the visit of St Brigid and a perpetual fire was kept there. In 2004 the flame from the perpetual fire at Kildare was brought back to Glastonbury, where it is kept alive today awaiting the restoration of Bride's Mound. A stone marks the site of the well and I was aware not only of the amount of hawthorn trees in the area, but also of one bedecked in clouties leaning over a small stream.There was an original holy well here, but it has since been lost and all that really marks the spot is the tree and a stone some distance away in the field. I spent a while there in my own reflective meditation thanking the goddess for guiding me to this special place and imagining myself as a pilgrim in vigil here in ancient times gazing toward the Tor beyond. There were a number of feathers on the top of the mound in a circle showing how well visited this site is and how rituals are often performed here. It felt like a special journey and I had not visited here before...now my relationship with goddess and landscape was really starting to create a web of links and synchronicites.

Blessed bexx