Several weeks have now passed since I stepped foot in Glastonbury. I had intended on writing about my pilgrimage much sooner, but upon arrival home I was whisked away into a furious scramble of performance preparation and drilling choreography. I will be blogging about that as soon as I can catch up!
The last time I was in the UK, I was there with family and while I was able to visit some of the sacred places I had wanted to visit, it didn’t have the impact of a week-long sacred pilgrimage. This year I was incredibly lucky to be able to travel to the sacred isle with several amazing women. Many who I had never met before. It was hard to prepare for this trip and besides packing and being sure I had all my ritual items packed I was ready to go!
The flight was long and uncomfortable, but I arrived in London quite safe. I chose a hotel that was not close to the airport and really regretted that! I was tired and unfamiliar with the London underground but after asking about 20 different people I found my way to the hotel and flopped down and took a nap. I arrived a day early to spend time with family and had intended on spending much more time than I was able but unfortunately I had to switch my hotel at the last minute on the way home forcing me to forgo other family visits. I guess there is always next time!
I was very happy to arrive a day early as the extra sleep was much needed, and it gave me time to adjust to the time difference. This extra sleep came in very handy as I was going to need it the following day. I woke up on Friday morning very excited and frantic that I wouldn’t get out to the bus in time. I made it and was greeted by familiar faces and friendly new ones! The ride to Glastonbury started off with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, not long into our trip the bus broke and we ended up on the side of the road stranded for a few hours. Lucky there were a few apple and hawthorn trees to stand under and there was plenty of time to get to know everyone. Soon the new bus came and we transferred to it and off we went again!
We arrived in Glastonbury several hours later than we had hoped, however there was still time to venture out to the Chalice Well garden and say a quick hello to the Chalice Well. After there was some quick unpacking and then out to the field by the Tor for an opening ritual. After the ritual we went back to our rooms and quickly packed lunch and then made dinner. By the time it was all finished it was close to 11pm. I was so glad that I had arrived the day before and had that extra sleep because we were to be up and on the bus by 3am the next morning!
The next morning was frantic as we all rushed out and onto our bus. We all made it on time and headed to Stonehenge for our Sunrise ritual! Now I have been to Stonehenge many times, we have also had private access to Stonehenge however, nothing beats having private access at sunrise on a cool misty morning with other magical women. We began ritual and processed into the stones. I kicked off my shoes and dug my toes into the ground as we circled around and chanted. I wouldn’t say that anything particularly profound happened however it was a powerful experience and I can say that being barefoot while in the stones with others chanting was amazing. It was the perfect start to the trip and it really drove the energy for the rest of the pilgrimage.
After Stonehenge we visited West Kennet Long Barrow and Salisbury Hill. I will admit by the time we reached this part of the trip I was exhausted but enjoyed exploring the Barrow and chanting with the other ladies. I am not a big chanter in my own practice and it seemed as if this was going to be the core of much of the work we were doing on the pilgrimage. I attribute chanting with air and it is the element I am least connected with. So this was an interesting twist and I felt that it could open up areas that had been blocked and drew me close to the element of air in general. It was a nice change to work with an element that I am not naturally drawn to! After visiting the Barrow we headed to Avebury. This was the first time I remember visiting these stones and I marveled at how large the stone circle was and enjoyed the little town that was built in the center of the circle. At this point we were all pretty exhausted but we headed back to Stonehenge to visit the museum as it was closed when we had first visited. After that we all headed back to Glastonbury and I went right to sleep!
This is all I have time to write for now, but there is so much more to tell! In the next few days or possibly weeks I will continue the tale for there are profound moments and divine bliss to write about and express so stay tuned!
If you would like to know more about Annwyn visit her website at www.WaterWitchcraft.com
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