Working at the White Spring can deliver experiences that will leave you shattered or bring you to a state of absolute bliss. Sometimes it seems like there is no in-between. The spring brings a full spectrum of experiences. Some of which are often life-changing.
This has been my experience of the place. It has left me shaken and crying and, at other times blissful. Since I started “Keeping” at the spring I have worked hard scrubbing floors, cleansing the place, processing prayer requests, and holding crying people (for various reasons). I have made lifelong friends and several enemies who do not like women in places of spiritual authority. I have endured countless rumors, violent verbal attacks, and one Bard who thought he could get rid of me with the power of his guitar and voice singing the song of my demise through the metal gates. It has been a wild (almost) 2 years.
I have also set about to make some positive changes which include adding Social Media and moving to an online booking system (in progress). When I was named Ceremonialist I added more rituals for the community to enjoy. I have also recently started a small collective of women Keepers at the spring. I named this little group Women of the Well. Currently, our only function is to gather right before the Sabbat to clean, dress, and bless the seasonal altar.
Since I began my sacred service at the spring, the Seasonal altar has been sorely neglected. Day after day, season after season it sat with nothing seasonal on it. So I decided it was time to make a change and honor the Seasons and the Seasonal Altar. This goes back to the old well-dressing traditions. A few days before the Sabbat we set out with our baskets to wildharvest local plants, herbs, and flowers in season. This is usually from Dion Fortune’s old place, (where I now reside) Chalice Orchard, or from the hedgerows that surround the Glastonbury Tor. We then come back, and sort out what we have, clear the altar, cleanse the altar with White Spring water, and begin to build it back again.
The Summer Solstice Altar that we created was spectacular! Roses were in bloom and placed on the altar. The wildflowers were beautiful and it was so lush! I wish I could have taken a photo to show you but Photography is strictly forbidden in this sacred space.
Summer Solstice at the spring was blissful. I had a good friend visiting, the altar dressing went beautifully and so did the ritual I hosted inside the spring. Once the ritual was over my “shift” at the spring was over for the day and I could sink back and just enjoy the space. A few Keepers and I chatted about trying to keep the spring open to sunrise. We did not quite make it. However, we did make it to 2 am before we decided to head home and curl up in bed.
There is almost always a fire out in the courtyard on the sabbats. We usually light the fire after the ritual and spend the evening sipping mead and having excellent conversations with other Keepers, Spring Family, and all those who come for a visit.
Summer Solstice was one of those blissful days at the spring. It was a day that makes all the rough patches totally worth it. Something happened that night (or maybe morning) that moved me to tears and brought almost 2 decades of magical work to a blissful peak that day!
Three Witches on the Sabbat
My hair was down, I was wrapped in a light pashmina, my feet were bare, and I was riding a blissful wave of “just a little too much mead” It was about midnight and I was walking around the spring. It was a moment when I got to fill my cup, I was visiting the altars, connecting with each and the energy of the spring. After a while, I wandered over to the Season Shrine. I sat on the wooden bench across from it. My back leaning on the damp wall behind just staring at the beautiful work that the “Women of the Well” had created just a few days before. The flowers were still bright and fresh and hadn’t started to wilt. The large piece of clustered amethyst sparkled from behind the greenery and the little fairy and goddess statues left by patrons peeked through the flowers.
I didn’t see the three young witches come in, but I watched as they exited the “Shrine to the Faery King of Avalon” and headed towards the Seasonal shrine I was sitting in front of. They were young women, somewhere around the age of 18 is my best guess. They carried with them a few candles, a sage bundle, and other items I did not see. They gathered around the seasonal altar and began to do their work. One of them turned around to look at me and give me a little side eye (as they should! I was a stranger after all) but they decided that I was ok and they would do their ritual with me sitting behind them.
They had no idea that I orchestrated the building of the Summer Solstice altar with the Women of the Well. They had no idea that I grew many of the roses that were placed on the altar or that I tended it regularly. I just sat and watched as they whispered their incantations and lit their candles. Tears came to my eyes. The work I had done there was honored, appreciated, and being used by three young witches.
It blew my mind a little bit. I know it is simple, but to just see it in action by three young women who found it mystical, magical, and all prepared just for their use was a moment I will never forget. At that moment all the things that I had gone through to make it to that point and to create this offering of love to the spring and these three young women was worth it.
What an honor it is to serve in a public water temple. What an honor it is to build that altar. What an honor it is to create something of use for the community. What an honor it is for those three young witches to use the space. What an honor it is to be in service in this way. It is everything I had ever hoped and dreamed for.
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