Samhain at Glastonbury........ a dialogue, a meeting and a Ritual invite

Welcome back to the tale Seeker, I hope you are following the story and finding something within it that resonates with you're experiences, I'm telling it as it occured, as I saw it through my eyes, this is what happened, what I felt and the conclussions I am able to draw, although please feel free to debate the meanings with me, I welcome honest and open debate and of course all feedback!

Anyhows, back to the tale!

After getting the messages that I shared here with you ysterday, we walked on to the Chalice Well itself, stopping to spend some time communing at one of the seats above the Well, where I began a 2 way dialogue with the Lady (which is something I have always been able to do, now if you are not Pagan you are probably wondering what I am on about, whether I am fully compus mentis or not, but anyone who is attuned can hear the voices of their Gods, all they have to do is open up and listen. Now, whether you personally believe the voices are from an external powerful Deity, from a facet of your own mind that you are externalising in order to be able to work through any given 'issues' or whether it is something else entirely, or even any combination of the above, that really matters not to anyone else, its what matters to the individual that matters and nothing else!)

The Chalice Well, another borrowed picture!

The gist of the conversation was that although it is ok to want to do something, the intent in itself isnt always enough, that instead of wanting we should be doing, and on asking whether this was in Magical or Mundane life, the answer was both! It seems that the desire we both have for living a totally self sufficient ecologically sound lifestyle on our own smallholding, in an earth sheltered home is something that we could be doing more to work towards! Slap on the wrist dutifully received my Lady, information received, and no need for the big stick ........yet!!

The Waterfall, another borrowed image!

Leaving the Chalice Well we descended through the Gardens, following the path of the water, filling our bottles at the Lion pool, lighting votive candles for our Beloved Dead at the Sanctuary, passing the healing pool until we reached the main area near the Gift Shop and Vessica pool.

Vessica Pool and flow form, another borrowed picture.

Whilst soaking up the atmosphere at the beautiful Vessica pool I turned around to see Heather and her husband Andrew walking down the path towards us, que girly squeals and big hugs all round! We were all very glad to see one another, and all agreed that there was more than coincidence in the meetup, as Lee said, 'The Lady works in mysterious ways!'

After catching up and a quick trip to the Gift Shop (I picked up a lovely set of earrings and a charm for my bag) we decided that we'd all squeeze into the MINI and go for a look around Glastonbury together, Heather and Andrew visit very regularly, so know a lot of folks and where to go, so the chance of spending some time with H and exploring the shops with an expert was just too good to pass!

The Entrance to the courtyard where the Goddess Temple is located!

After going into most of the shops in Glastonbury (including a few we hadnt spotted the day before) H asked us if we'd been into the Goddess Temple, which we hadnt, so leaving Andrew behind (he has his own beliefs which we respect and give thanks that he is understanding of H's own spiritual life) the 3 of us ascended the steps up to the Goddess Temple.

The Goddess Temple, Glastonbury, located above the StarChild shop (another fab place for all your herb and incesne needs)

On entering it was to be welcomed by Robin, one of the Temple Volunteers, who showed us where to leave our coats and shoes, then ushered us into the Temple itself, the only space in the Uk specifically dedicated to the Goddess.

Inside the Goddess Temple (borrowed image)

After passing through the veils we entered the main area, making our observances at the altar and then settling down to soak up the environment and commune with the Lady. The atmosphere is amazing in there, peaceful, tranquil, balanced, but full of power, the sort of atmosphere I have only ever before encountered when in a sacred space out of doors before, which did challenge my preconceptions a bit as generally I do prefer to work out of doors nowadays (it wasnt always the case, we had a Craft Room set up in our first house, a converted loft that was painted and decorated with love by us both and enjoyed to its utmost!). I can safetly say that for myself I came to realise that the Goddess true home in the Uk is Glastonbury, that She resides here, and is most evident in the Chalice Well Gardens and at the Goddess Temple, each of which honour her in their own ways, both complimentary to one another. She is present in every area of the Uk, of that I am certain, but nowhere is the focus and power of what has been acchieved in Glastonbury equalled in my experience by anywhere else in the Uk!

 The Goddess Hall, a new building procurred by the Goddess Temple when they found the Temple not large enough to accomodate everyone that wished to attend their Rites.

After spending some time in quiet reflection and lighting a candle in her honour we left, being smudged on the way out by Robin, then made our way outside to meet up with Andrew. After the experience H asked us whether we had decided what we were doing that night, whether we were going to the Chalice Well Rite as we'd half planned, (an outdoor Rite, bonfire, food and a band playing) or whether we were going to go the the Goddess Hall Rite instead, which is where she was going. It took no time at all to realise that whichever we did was fine with the Lady, but having not worked in Ritual with H for 2 years we both felt it was something we wanted to do again, and after experiencing the Goddess Temple it also felt right to go and see how they would construct their Samhain Rite, so we agreed to meet up at 7pm at the Goddess Hall and said goodbye to one another.

I shall end the Tale there for today, and continue with it later, as the next portion is a large one describing the Goddess Hall Samhain Open Rite, which was moving, skillfully executed and did honour in her Name!

The interior of the Goddess Hall, with some of those responsible for it!

Dark Dreams
Suzanne

Continuing the reasons a bit more............. A fortuitous set of circumstance, or something more?

So, lets explain things a bit further, not only to allow the Seeker who is reading this to understand more, but also for myself to work through the experiences and see what comes from my pondering upon them!

Sometimes this blog will be in the form of a diary, sometimes it will be more of a place to air my thoughts, a kind of personal journal covering numerous aspects of my life, both spiritaul and mundane, sometimes merely somewhere to come and rant n rave, and at other times a place to share my more creative work, my hopes are that it will be somewhere others may find inspiration and that I can work through my thoughts, anyhows, we will see how it goes!

So the start of the blog, the resumption of my writing and hopefully some other aspects of our Crooked Path all come from our recent trip to Glastonbury (we got home last night), which was booked by Lee as a surprise Wedding Anniversary treat (10 years married on Samhain!) We stayed at a BnB on a smallholding, about 10 miles outside Glastonbury (as we would both love to have a smallholding Lee thought it would be a good idea to visit one, which it was), travelling down on Saturday and going straight to Glastonbury before we went to the BnB later on. Our plans were to visit Glastonbury on the Saturday, possibly return on the Sunday for another look around, then explore some of the local area and possibly try and do some photography!

I didnt manage to stop and get a piccy of how it looked in the rain, with the storm lashing down, but this borrowed piccy shows something similar, but no where near as heavy a downpour as we were greeted with!

The Lady had other plans for us though! We had a good trip down in bright sunshine, about 3 1/2 hours from Manchester to Glastonbury, via Bristol (the Sat Nav told us there was a hold up on the lower M5 so took us through Bristol and onto the A and B roads, the upshot of which was we were treated to a fab view of the Tor as we came over the hills towards Wells!) As the Tor came into view it was shrouded in black clouds, with a heavy downpour falling. As we reached the Car Park in Glastonbury the clouds cleared, the rain stopped and we were bathed in sunlight once more, a fortuitous start!

Stock image of the High St, I didnt manage to get the cameras out once whilst we were down at Glastonbury, so please forgive my blatant use of images from the web, its not normal for me to neglect the camera, but this weekend wasnt about photography, even though we thought it may well have been, it was about something else entirely!

Making our way into the High St we started to look around the many shops, as it was our first trip to Glastonbury we didnt quite know what to expect, but having been practitioners for many years and having been into many Pagan shops before, we thought we'd be fine.......... but the sheer volume of choice, the different environments and the incense, added together with the general energy of the Tor (a definite place of power) meant we were reeling by the time we'd been in 3 or 4 shops, overdosing the senses with all manner of good things!

We had an enjoyable time looking in all the wonderful shops, soaking up the atmosphere and generally playing 'spot the xtian' instead of the usual spot the pagan! Some purchases were made, and some heartfelt longings for other items put into our hearts, a fantastic day! By 4pm we were completely sensory overloaded, so decided to head off to the BnB, check in, relax and go for a meal to mull over our experiences.

Hill View Farm, another 'borrowed' picture!

We Stayed at Hill View Farm, a lovely 4 star BnB on a smallholding about 7 miles from Glastonbury itself in Wedmore, Ashton, a good base for exploring the locality, lovely and quiet, with lovely people running it. On arrival it was to find we'd been upgraded to a larger room and that there was a lovely slice of cake and mug of tea waiting for us, definitely a place we'd stay at again! Staying outside of Glastonbury was Lee's idea, as we both really would like to have a smallholding ourselves his thoughts were to get to see what they were like locally, and I have to say, not only did we do that, but also having the separation from Glastonbury itself worked well for us, we were able to visit when we wanted, but were able to escape and put some distance between us and the atmosphere if we wanted or needed it.

After a lovely meal at the Lamb Inn at Weare (great wholesome food, tasty, hot and plenty of it for a very good price) we returned to the BnB and popped Lee's laptop on, to check Facebook (dont ask me why, but we were 'told' to do so) On posting a status update saying we were in Glastonbury it was to find a pretty quick reply from a dear friend and Coven sister, Heathwitch, our former HPS, who was also in Glastonbury!! We hadnt seen H for 2 years to the day, the last time we met was at her Samhain party and Rite in 2008 (when she wore a fab 'Wicked Witch outfit, complete with full green bodypaint), and she immediately asked if we'd like to meet up? Lol, well, synchronicity such as this is something that doesnt happen often, it felt to us all that there was more to it, a message that we were receiving loud and clear from the Lady, 'I'll knock you're heads together if you don't LISTEN!'

We had planned to explore a bit more of the area on Sunday, before returning again to Glastonbury on the Monday to make some additional purchases before we came home (Man, Myth & Magick, The Goddess and Green Man, Lilith, StarChild,so many lovely shops with soo much lovely Pagan orientated things, I could spend an absolute fortune if I wasnt careful!), but after hearing H was in the area our plans changed, it was time to meet up! We posted back to H our mobile numbers, then said we were planning on going to the Chalice Well Gardens that morning and possibly staying for the lunchtime Samhain Rite, but didnt get a reply from her, so set off anyway and hoped that H would ring us and we could then arrange where to meet!

Borrowed picture of the Meadow at Chalice Well Gardens

We arrived early at the Chalice Well Gardens, to find that it was free entry before 12am (as it was Samhain), so after making a donation we made our way first to the meadow where we sat and absorbed the atmosphere and spent some time communing.

Borrowed Picture of the View of the Tor from the Chalice Well Gardens Meadow

 I started to hear the whispers of a voice touching my mind as we gazed at the view or the Tor from some of the seats placed there for meditation. The whisper was that of The Lady, making contact with me for the first time in a while, I got the distinct impression She was glad that we were here, in the place that is Her home!

Borrowed Picture of the Exit from the Meadow and the walk through the bower of trees.

As we walked away from the Meadow towards a walk under a Bower of trees I got a strong message, images and voices, overlapping one another, I shall recount them for you here to draw your own message from them!

'I am the Mother, from whom all that exists flows, for without Me there is nothing, Fear me for I am the destroyer, Love Me for I am the provider, I nourish and nurture, I bring change and growth but also death and decay! Worship Me in all My Glory and Might, Cower before My awesome power, Take comfort in My dark embrace, Draw Power from Me when you have a need, but never ignore Me!'

'I am the Horned One, I plant the seed from which all grows, for without me the Mother is barren and life cannot exist! I am the Hunter, the protector and the Horned One of the Forests and green places, I am He who is cut down so that all life may continue!'

 I shall stop at this point now, and continue the tale later, thanks for visiting Seeker, thanks for reading so far and bearing with my poor ramblings!
Dark Dreams
Suzanne