Journal of the Companions of the
Chalice Well
Issue No. 35 • Autumn 2012
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Editorial
Pilgrimage is on the increase. All around the world, almost unnoticed by mainstream media,
people are waking up, hearing a call and travelling to sacred sites. Santiago de Compostella,
Iona, Machu Picchu, Walsingham and Glastonbury – all seeing increasing numbers of visitorpilgrims making their way, searching, questing – what Rowan Williams has called ‘a whole
new generation of pilgrims.’ What are they searching for? To break away, to cut through ‘the
clutter of institutions’ and to find a deep peace; to enter into the mysteries. A note goes out
from these places and many others like them around the world, and as 2012 reaches its last
three months there is a quickening in the air. As Sir George Trevelyan was fond of saying,
‘Affairs are now soul size.’
Within the landscape in certain places there is still a transmitting resonance. At Chalice
Well it is still felt strongly. Some have suggested it is because Chalice Well water originates from
the planet’s original store of virgin water, unpolluted, as it was at the beginning of the earth.
Thus it still carries the original blend of energies that were intended for the development
and evolution of this planet. 24,000 gallons a day run down through the gardens and flow
out under Chilkwell Street and on through the Abbey into town. Waters of life, waters of the
spirit, waters of Aquarius.
We will gather at the Well on 12-12-12 at mid-day and for our Wheel of the Year meditation
on 21-12-12 at the moment long awaited. We will be together in the silence and open our
hearts to the future. Afterwards there will probably be a story and a song. At our conference
in June Ervin Laszlo pointed out that our generation is the first in history that can decide
whether it’s the last in history, but also that our generation is also the first in history that
can decide whether it will be the first generation of a new phase in history. He said in his
workshop, ‘We have reached a watershed in our social and cultural evolution.’ The time is now.
Within the pages of this issue you will hear about the conference and many other
remarkable happenings from summer 2012. Britain hosted the Olympics and it was not a
mess or an embarrassment or a disaster (as so many writers about 2012 predicted) but an
explosion of celebration, achievement, unity and idealism. The organiser of the Opening
Ceremony, Danny Boyle, who placed the Glastonbury Tor at the centre of his show wrote,
‘There is a belief that we can build Jerusalem, and it will be for everyone.’ Within days Nicholas
Mann and Philippa Glasson had written a tremendous piece explaining some of the depth of
this and we include it in this Chalice. Symbolism and myth play a large part in, and often
potentise, the spiritual world. Thus we have contributions from a leading yew tree expert
Allen Meredith about the Holy Rood and the Yew Tree and from Juliet Faith about links
between the Turin Shroud and Glastonbury. To bring us back to earth and the Chalice Well
Gardens Ark Redwood has written a piece about robins.
So once again we would like to thank all Companions for their continuing support and we
hope to see you in the coming months or even beyond 2012! Next year will mark 100 years
since Alice Buckton came to Chalice Well (1913-1944) and we will be aiming to honour her
life and work during 2013.
Paul Fletcher
Front Cover Quotation by Lao Tzu (approx. 6thC BC)
Back Cover: Buddha Relics at Chalice Well. Photo by Tony Arihanto
The Chalice Well Trust is a registered charity, founded in 1959 by Wellesley Tudor Pole and a group of friends. It
is dedicated to preserving the ancient spring and surrounding gardens as a living sanctuary for everyone to visit and
experience the quiet healing peace of this sacred place.
The Trust welcomes donations to maintain Chalice Well and gardens including Little St. Michaels retreat house, and to
further its work. Voluntary contributions towards upkeep are therefore greatly appreciated. Any person who wishes to
support the Trust’s purpose by making an annual subscription may be registered as a Companion of the Well.
For further information contact: The Chalice Well, Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DD UK
• 01458 831154 • [email protected] • www.chalicewell.org.uk
Registered Charity No: 204206 Published by The Chalice Well Trust, Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DD, UK
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News From The Well
Despite one of the wettest Somerset summers on record many of our events since April
have been blessed with warm and dry weather enabling our visitors and pilgrims to enjoy
themselves. The full moon concerts have suffered worst with a few wet and cool evenings
being appreciated in typical stoical fashion. On May 6th Sudha and Tarisha gave a wonderful
concert on the lower lawn before a good crowd while the June full moon saw Carole Isis from
America entertain a full marquee with her inspiring folk songs. July and August concerts
featured Jay Ramsay and Friends and Zoe Spencer battling bravely against the elements to
appreciative but small gatherings.
Companions Day this year was on Saturday 2nd June and featured an excellent talk in
the morning session from Ned Reiter, a long-established practising herbalist in Glastonbury
and former President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists. With great insight
and humour Ned led us through the history of herbalism and humanity’s relationship with
the plant kingdom. In the afternoon Andrew Johnson, another of Glastonbury’s practising
herbalists gave an experiential world café workshop on the healing power of plants, particularly
those we can see in the Chalice Well Gardens.
The next weekend was the Unity Conference (see later in this issue) and then on 25th July
Caroline Wyndham led an inspiring Love and Thanks to Water around the Well, attended
by about 70 people. On the 11th August we held a Children’s Day ‘Celebrating the Future’,
the first time we had specifically opened the gardens in a welcome to the young ones and
this featured Bee Home making, Face Painting, Forest School, a Gamelan workshop, an
Imaginarium, Pumpkin potting, Tai Chi and Yoga, Tree Lore and special origami ‘thank you
boats’ in which the children recorded their messages to water which were later placed in the
Vesica Pool. Children had to be accompanied and looked after by parents and well over 500
people attended the day. There’s a special big thank you to all the volunteers who made the
day such a success, and to all the children whose experience of Chalice Well may stay with
them for the rest of their lives. There is a fuller report and photos on our website.
August Bank Holiday brought our annual three-day Healing Weekend and despite dire
weather reports the Saturday and Sunday were largely warm and dry. An extensive selection of
healing was available for taster sessions and most were booked out over the three days.
Back in April we were contacted by the Maitreya Project that travels the world with the
Relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist Masters. The relics of 42 Masters including the 2,600
year old fragments of the Buddha have travelled to over 67 countries. Now they wished to
bring their blessing to Glastonbury and Chalice Well.
Natasha Wardle co-ordinated this and it was agreed (because Healing Weekend was taking
place simultaneously) that a marquee would be placed in the Cress Field thus situating the
relics between the Tor and Chalice Hill and close to the Well. Tudor Pole had spoken of the
echoes of this vale with the hidden Wesak Valley in the Himalayas and so it came to pass that
in 2012 Chalice Well hosted the Maitreya Project from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th August.
The relics included more than 500 tiny pieces from at least seven collections and 500 other
pieces from 29 Buddhist teachers, reaching back to ancient times. Visitors, of which there were
many, were given the opportunity to be blessed. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the director of the
project, believes the relics bring peace and kindness into people’s lives. On the Friday evening
about 100 people were welcomed by Co-Chair of the Trust Peter Derbyshire and an address
was given by the Mayor of Glastonbury, Ian Tucker. Throughout the weekend there was a
steady flow of pilgrims up Wellhouse Lane to experience the relics.
Our Wheel of the Year events have all been well attended this year and continue to bring
the blessings of silence around the Wellhead. We hope you will enjoy the accompanying
photographs over the following two pages.
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In other news we have bid farewell to our frontline worker Natalie Norton-Ashby and we
welcome Nicky Sander Jackson as her replacement.
For those of you who have noticed a set of brush-heads in the bay tree over the Well, this
is to prevent the pigeons from sitting in the tree and causing damage to the Vesica lid. Ark
came up with this solution after the amount of pigeon activity increased earlier this year and
therefore we would like to assure you that the brushes are not part of some ancient ritual!
Finally, on Thursday 9 August we hosted a ‘Summer Evening in the Garden’ for our
volunteers, staff and trustees. It was a social time, a way for the Trust to say ‘thank you’ and
an opportunity for us to get together. A beautiful sunny evening, there was fruit punch, and
some delicious canapés on offer. Paul Fletcher, Trustee and Archivist gave a really interesting
Sudha and Tarisha Full Moon concert
in May (photo by Gareth Lovelock)
Andrew Johnson in the afternoon
of Companions Day (photo by
Tony Arihanto)
Marquee, afternoon of Companions Day (photo by Tony Arihanto)
People giving their love and thanks to water (Photo by Gareth Lovelock)
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Ned Reiter at Companions Day
(photo by Tony Arihanto)
Carol Isis singing at June
Full Moon (photo by Gareth
Lovelock)
Esther Danmeri leading the Gamelan workshop at
Children’s Day (photo by Natasha Wardle)
Forest School at Children’s Day (photo by Natasha
Wardle)
Children with boats at the Vesica pool, Children’s Day (photo by
Natasha Wardle)
talk about Alice Buckton. We were then able to enjoy further
refreshments and experience the ambiance of the gardens, which
definitely have a different type of ‘magic’ in the evenings. A good
time was had by all.
Example of Buddhist relic
in the marquee (photo by
Natasha Wardle)
Chalice Well Lodge is once more available to Companions this year as a Winter Let, from November
until March. The Lodge affords the chance to be close to the Chalice Well and has access to the
gardens outside of opening times. If you are thinking of moving to Glastonbury the Winter Let
enables you to research the area. If any of you would like to take this opportunity to spend more
time at the Well, please contact Simon on [email protected] for more details.
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News From The Garden
by Ark Redwood
Well, what a year this has been! At the time of
writing it is pouring with rain, with the likelihood
that it will continue like this for the rest of the
day. In other words pretty normal for the
‘summer’ of 2012. The warmest period was the
month of March, during which time a lot of
people were confidently predicting a droughtridden scorcher with not an umbrella in sight!
How wrong we all were! Apart from a few
infrequent days when the sun did shine, this has
been the soggiest year most folk can remember.
In fact, according to the Met Office it was the
rainiest April for a hundred years, the wettest
June since 1860, the dullest since 1906 and the
coldest since 1991!
However, despite all of the above, the garden
hasn’t fared too badly, apart from plants being
buffeted by the wind or flattened by the rain,
necessitating more staking and propping up. I’ve
been especially pleased with the Long Border,
behind the Gatehouse. I have given it a lot of
(photo by Jo Laxton)
attention after its redesign earlier this year, and
have focussed on providing it with as much colour as I could squeeze in. The daisy theme has
meant that, during the occasional days when the sun did peek behind the clouds, many
beneficial insects honed in on the display, as this family of flowers, being composite, contains
much more nectar to attract
pollinators
than
other
plants. The border has
looked like a vibrant
kaleidoscope buzzing with
bees and hoverflies, and
cheering the eye with its rich
palette.
The
Smoke
Bush
(Cotinus coggygria) , also
situated in the Long Border,
which I had cut back
hard last year is sprouting
vigorously again, although
this time I will be training
its regrowth in order to
structure its shape so that
it will cast much less shade
Ark by the long border (photo by Julie Davies)
than it used to. I will do so
by pruning out any shoots produced low down on the tree, thereby raising the canopy. It will
take another year or two until it reaches the desired shape and height, so bear with me!
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In the Main Borders, between the Lion’s Head and the Well, we have had one casualty
with one of the box balls, along the pathway, succumbing to blight. This is a serious disease,
and the stricken plant had to be removed and burned in order to prevent it spreading.
Fortunately, there appears to be no sign of it having affected any of the other box plants in
that area, including the recently installed box hedge in front of the Lion’s Head. This is a fairly
recent phenomenon in Britain, having first appeared about twenty years ago, probably from
imported plants. Gardeners and horticulturists are still coming to terms with how to deal
with this disease, along with a host of other equally nasty alien organisms which have crossed
the channel in recent years. I won’t be in a hurry to replant with another box until I am sure
the area is free of spores, so forgive me if it looks a little lop-sided for a while!
The lovely roses (Rosa ‘Aimant’), situated in the Car Park area, have for many years suffered
badly from blackspot, so this year I have planted chives at their base. This is an example of
companion planting in that the chives, (which are a member of the onion family), contain
high quantities of sulphur, which is a natural fungicide. So I’m hoping that with the addition
of a few more plants over the next year or so, this problem will be overcome. Fingers crossed!
Finally, as we come to the close of this memorable ‘summer’, let’s hope we get some sunnier
days this autumn. If September and October favour us with a prolonged ‘Indian Summer’ it
won’t be too long before we forget and forgive the rain and clouds for featuring so strongly
during this hallmark year of 2012.
Orchard News
Wet weather leads to a poor harvest; All-day Apple Day on
October 6th
The abysmally wet weather during blossom time in April-May ensured very poor pollination
for many varieties of apple and now we can see the results in a very meagre apple harvest with
many trees in the Chalice Well orchards actually devoid of any significant fruit. ‘Earlies’ such
as Discovery have barely 50 apples on 5 trees; less than 5% of last year’s crop and many other
varieties also have little or no fruit.
The bees have also suffered in the orchard – the busy pollinators were grounded by the wet
weather for much of spring and early summer and failed to build up their colonies and stores
of honey. As a result beekeeper Tom Done has very little honey available and few healthy hives.
In Buckton’s Orchard there’s better news for some later pollinating apples – varieties such
as Worcester Pearmain; Ribston Pippin; King of the Pippins, and Ashmeads Kernel all seem
likely to produce average amounts of apples for juicing and eating. The Laxton Superbs and
the unidentified apple tree at the back of the Retreat House are actually bucking the trend by
having a very productive year.
Overall it looks like we’ll have less than 20% of last year’s crop. After last year’s bumper
crop we’ll be lucky to get back 200 bottles from Hecks and we will have to take special measures
to ensure there are actually apples to pick at this year’s Apple Day on Saturday October 6th!
English eating apples are likely to be scarce and expensive this year.
Geoffrey Ashe and John Dalton to open 4th Apple Day
This year’s Apple Day on Saturday October 6th will have all the usual afternoon activities
popular with children and families – storytelling in Buckton’s Orchard on the slopes of Chalice
Hill with Martin Faulkner and Tim Bates (2pm) followed by apple picking in the lower part
of the orchard (2.30) and then we’ll carry the harvest down to the Lower Gardens where Ark
and Mike and the volunteer team will supervise the crushing and pressing and tasting of the
fresh juice using Mark Pennick’s crusher and hand press (3.pm onwards)
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Apple Day 2012 will start at 11.30 with adult-centred talks, music and activities in the Lower
Gardens and Chalice Well’s 4th Apple Day will be opened by our most famous neighbour,
Avalonian and Arthurian writer Geoffrey Ashe MBE, who lives at Chalice Orchard opposite
the Well. Geoffrey will give his own unique Apple Day talk and will be assisted musically by
virtuoso Glastonbury Harpist John Dalton.
At 12 we’ll have a talk and question session from Barbara Lakin who is co-ordinating
Fruitful Schools South West’s School Orchard Scheme in Somerset in partnership with
Garden Organic and Common Ground. She has used graft wood from Chalice Well to graft
new varieties for children to plant in new school orchards, such as Crispin in Street and
Ansford School in Castle Cary.
12 noon will see the beginning of two sheep displays up in the Tor Orchard with Chalice
Well Shepherd Joe Joseph – the second is at 1pm and this is followed by the usual afternoon
programme of storytelling, picking and pressing from 2 pm onwards.
At 12.30 we’ll be offering an Orchard gardeners’ question time - please bring your
questions about apples, orchards and bees. A panel of experts led by Orchard Mentor Les
Davies MBE and Barbara Lakin and Beekeeper Tom Done will be available to respond to your
queries and interests.
Refreshments will be available in the Lower Gardens. Please come and join us to celebrate
the orchards and the harvest.
Pruning and orchard management courses with Les Davies mbe srlm
Chalice Well’s orchards will once more be the chosen site for practical hands-on pruning
and training on the Somerset Rural Life Museum’s pruning and orchard management courses
run by our own Orchard Mentor, the legendary Les Davies MBE. The next course will be on
Saturday February 2 at SRLM – contact them for bookings and information.
For £50 you can sponsor new tree planting in Bucktons Orchard to mark Alice
Bucktons centenary year in 2013
10 suitable sites for new young apple trees have been identified and marked out in Buckton’s
Orchard on Chalice Hill and we are inviting companions to sponsor new trees and cover the
cost of stakes and tree protection cages for each new tree planted in honour of Alice Buckton.
The cost for each planting is approximately £50 per tree and all sponsors will be
acknowledged by The Trust. The trees will be planted in early 2013. To make a sponsorship
donation for apple trees contact Orchard keeper Anthony Ward at Chalice Well by December
1st if possible.
Anthony Ward
Unity Conference Report 2012
Over the weekend of 9th and 10th June Chalice Well hosted its second major conference following
on from 2009’s Many Paths One Source. This time there were five main speakers with each
afternoon offering a variety of workshops. It was billed as ‘a conference about the future, a future
created by all, for all’ and provided an opportunity for us to take time out and imagine what life
would be like ‘living in unity’.
The Conference opened on Saturday morning with a keynote speech by the Co-Chair
of the Trust, Joanna Laxton, who set the note for the weekend by saying, ‘The conscious
understanding of our interconnectedness and inter-dependence in every sphere from
universal to everyday, from etheric to physical fields, is a state we need to understand, so that
humans can together forge new ways of being. The increasing number of shared world events
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transcend boundaries and shed light on this growing
consciousness – who can forget that moment Earth
was seen hanging like a blue jewel in space?’
Natasha Wardle then lit our Unity Candle, which
took its place on the stage in the marquee alongside
the Peace Flame lit from the embers of Hiroshima, the
Chalice Well Perpetual Flame and the Glastonbury
Candle. Gareth Lovelock then asked us to consider
‘Why Unity’ and gave examples of the challenges facing
us on the road to unity. Natasha sang a Tracy Chapman
song with the theme of unity before introducing Flo
Aeveia Magdalena to the stage.
She introduced us to a Hawaiian prayer: ‘I’m sorry,
Please forgive me, I love you, Thank you’ and we began
to co-create unity in the moment by saying this out
loud. Flo encouraged us to feel it, to connect with the
Spark of Light, the place of origin, the soul’s blueprint.
She then led us on to the concept of unifying our light Flo Aeveia Magdalena on the first morning
base with our carbon base and showed us an example of the Conference (photo by Tony Arihanto)
of how ‘to be’ in that space by entering a sacred place
within each of us. With this exercise/ experience she gave a practical example of how each
of us can experience unity by going within and she closed with a blessing from her book ‘I
Remember Union’ that ends ‘And so it is. Peace in our garden’.
The former Mayor of Glastonbury, Bill Knight, then told us about his vision of Unity in
Diversity in Glastonbury and the recent coming together of many spiritual paths in the town,
followed by a short talk and film from Tim Knock explaining his and Sophie’s (Chalice Well
Trustee) work with the Peace Dome and Flame at Glastonbury Festival and elsewhere. We
then observed the Silent Minute after a brief description of its inception and work through its
founder Wellesley Tudor Pole.
Then before lunch came one of the real
blessings of the weekend when Ervin Laszlo
delivered nearly an hour of his experience about a
new world view that would be necessary for living
in a new era. By telling us about his personal
journey from famous concert pianist to scientist to
founder of the Club of Budapest and the World
Watch Institute Laszlo was able to take us from
Einstein to Alfred North Whitehead to Ilya
Prigogine and through to the latest findings of
particle physics ‘now we have to reinvent ourselves
– this is the way systems evolve’. By working
together and co-existing a new natural system will
emerge. The biosphere is coherent, the galaxies are
coherent and he reminded us that at present we
have identified 10500! Only a handful of these are
capable of giving birth to LIFE. ‘Life is not an
accident. Evolution is not by chance.’
Laszlo pointed out that the 2001 Noble Prize
Laszlo speaks to the conference (photo by
for Science affirmed that living systems have
Tony Arihanto)
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quantum coherence and that the microscopic quantum system occurs in our living tissue.
He then linked these scientific concepts with ancient Hindu philosophy, which explained the
ultimate reality. ‘All the equations of physics, the logic of the universe are contained in the
ancient wisdom.’ The journey, so far, has been from blue-green algae to our present culture
and Laszlo pointed out that we are still connected to this cosmic information pool.
He then proposed that the Big Bang theory held by current scientific thinking was more of
a Big Bounce that repeats itself and pointed out that Indian teacher Vivekananda had described
this beautifully. Leading us gently through the concepts of ‘Akasha’ and ‘entanglement’ and
the work of Stanislav Grof he posited a positive future if we can get to grips with the tendency
of homosapiens to act like a cancer on the biosphere. Now we are at a critical tipping point,
approaching a world population of 7 billion, so Laszlo argued that we had better develop a
new orientation. We have to become a conscious, loving crew of Spaceship Earth. He stressed
that we do have the new technology, the money, the intelligence, and the VISION. This is what
Laszlo calls the Akasha Paradigm – a holistic, integral worldview, sustainable, dependent on
each other. He closed by saying ‘the salvation for humanity is here. Go and spread it’.
On each afternoon there was a choice of workshops, both with the Conference speakers
and other contributors - Conscious Evolution: Meditation and Mindfulness lead by Sabrina
Dearborn and Sophie Knock; Personal Wisdom: Using your Story by Jacqueline Redmond;
Creative Writing – a Diary of Unity by Polly Hall and Julie Davies; and One Vision: Living in
Unity by Gareth Lovelock. These proved to be stimulating and successful and gave conference
participants a chance to engage in a more intimate way.
On Sunday morning Glennie Kindred brought our focus back to nature and this
wonderful earth by taking us on a journey to experience unity through our relationship with
the earth. We gave thanks for the wonderful interconnected Web of Life that we are all part of.
Through breathing exercises and visualisations
Glennie helped us expand into unity. She told the
conference ‘we are living in unity already – there is
no separation other that what we create ourselves.
We have only become disconnected by our own
beliefs and conditionings. But we can change.’
Glennie touched on the Harmonic Convergence of
25 years ago and pointed out how much has changed
in the last quarter of a century, both in the outer
world and deep within each of us. She showed us
various symbols - the earth from space, the caduceus
(alchemical symbol of healing and unity) and then
passed around bowls and bags with small pieces of
wood in them. Each person chose a piece of wood.
Glennie then explained the cycles of the year and the
eight major festivals of the wheel and linked us to
our small pieces of oak (the tree of the summer
solstice), a tree that is highly symbolic and potent
Glennie Kindred on Sunday morning (photo
and has as many roots below ground as branches
by Tony Arihanto)
above. She then took us on an inner journey to meet
an oak tree and rest in a perfect moment of love and unity. As part of our healing with the
planet she encouraged us to go out into nature, both during day and night, take off our shoes
and fully experience the natural world. We have to learn how to listen and to be still. ‘Choose
to see life as an interconnected web of unity. Choose to live with an open heart and a kind and
generous spirit.’ Glennie finished with a song ‘I am the source/I dream the dream/I am the
spark/ Creation lives in me.’
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Jo Hoare followed with a brief introduction to Tongo – ‘the easiest healing project in the
world’. Then Steve Nation enchanted us with his
‘Living on the Cusp of an Age of Synthesis’ highlighting
emerging signs of unity – personal, local and global
that blend the esoteric and the practical. Steve paid
tribute to the Chalice Well as a setting for this
conference: ‘the beauty of the gardens, buildings and
symbolic objects cared for by generations of gardeners,
crafts people, staff, trustees, custodians, volunteers and
Companions. Nestled in all of this are the stories of
Magic that echo through the gardens, the Well and the
surrounding Isle of Avalon. I am thinking especially of
the inner richness of the life of WTP, his affiliation
with the Forces of Light and his impact on the world.’
This session really got down to the emerging new
models of unity and enlightened us about some of the
more positive spiritual work being carried out at the Steve Nation during his talk (photo by
United Nations. (We will be including more of Steve’s Tony Arihanto)
talk in Chalice 36 at the beginning of 2013).
Participants enjoying themselves (photo by Tony Arihanto)
Satish Kumar (photo by Tony
Arihanto)
Finally Satish Kumar hit the stage running with a
dynamic presentation about our inter-relatedness that
brought energy and laughter into the marquee. On Sunday
afternoon the workshops were followed by an uplifting
plenary that was closed by Co-Chair Peter Derbyshire’s
summation of an incredible weekend:
There had been a ‘clarion call’ to move from exploiting
the planet to co-operating with it. We had learned and
been reminded to connect with our soul seed every day
and to see that any sense of separation is an illusion. Peter
reminded the audience to hold the positive words that Dr
Laszlo gave us: ‘We’ll get there!’
Steve Nation led us in the new version of the world
prayer ‘The Great Invocation’ before the Chalice Well Unity
Candle was presented to Steve who had agreed to take it
to the Spiritual Caucus at the United Nations in New York
(where it was re-lit on June 21st).
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The Holy Rood and the Chalice Well Yew
Allen Meredith
There is a legend that says that Joseph of Arimathea once journeyed to Britain and as a
merchant traded for tin in Cornwall. On one
of his visits he brought the boy Jesus and on a
much later visit he returned to Britain bringing
with him the Holy Grail which he buried at the
place now called Chalice Well. Of course these
are stories, but in such things as legend and
myth, there are elements of truth.
In the early 1960’s, during archaeological
excavations led by Dr Philip Rahtz in and
around Chalice Well, no chalice was found but
perhaps more significant, bearing in mind the
holy rood, a Yew stump was discovered at a
depth of some 12 feet. Scientific examination of
this wood proved it to be a living tree around
300AD. I have wondered about the significance
of this and its possible link with the legend of
Joseph of Arimathea.
Not long ago I visited the Chalice Well and
had what might be termed a revelation. So
powerful was this that I could not speak. In that
instant, I knew beyond doubt, the origin of the
Yew wood discovered at Chalice Well.
The Prophecy
To say that Jesus hung on a tree may sound outrageous to some people, yet before the reign
of the Roman Constantine, in the 4th century, all
earlier records state quite clearly that Jesus was
hung on a tree. We should ask the question – did
Constantine replace the tree with a cross for
his own political purposes as well as to make a
clear separation from the old religion? Joseph of
Arimathea would certainly have been aware of the
Old Testament prophecy: that the Messiah would be
hung on the tree that would lift the original curse.
This act was the ultimate sacrifice.
A branch from this tree would have been
the most sacred of all things. Joseph had clearly
understood that the tree might be destroyed. On
knowing this he obtained a branch from this tree
that would not only have acted as a staff but also
a powerful form of protection for his journey to
Britain. He planted it at a sacred spot. There it took
root and grew into a substantial tree until it was
cut down. Many centuries later, a surviving piece
of wood from this tree was discovered during the
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archaeological excavations around the Well. It was held for a time at Taunton Museum. From
there it mysteriously disappeared as mentioned in ‘The Sacred Yew’ by Anand Chetan and
Diana Brueton. It was eventually recovered and now is safe under special protection.
The story of Joseph burying the Holy Grail near to the Chalice Well may not be so fanciful
if the so-called Holy Grail was actually a branch from the ‘Tree of Life’, the branch that Joseph
had thrust into the ground and which later took root. On observing the piece of Yew wood,
in Taunton, we could quite clearly see axe marks and only further investigation might throw
some light on this. It is worth noting that Yew trees did grow in the mountains of Lebanon
during the time of Jesus and there are legends of Yew branches being brought over to Britain
from the Gardens of Gethsemane during the Crusades, which when planted grew into trees.
One of these still survives at Rycote Manor in Oxfordshire. There are also several legends
concerning 5th and 6th century saints planting a Yew staff similar to Joseph’s. One such staff
grew into an enormous yew tree at Llanerfyl in Wales.
The following story illustrates how important such staffs were in the time of the saints. On
a journey to Jerusalem, Saint Teilo, Saint David and Saint Padarn were presented with gifts
from the Archbishop of Jerusalem but the most precious gift of all, a staff, was given to Padarn
and at the time was thought to be the most honoured gift that could be made to an individual.
In an early medieval Welsh verse this staff is described as follows:
‘Much accomplishing, much loved, it gives protection,
In holy power reaching the limits of three continents,
No other relic can be compared with Cyrwen, (the name of the staff)
A wonderful gift – Padarn’s staff.’
The name of the staff means holy might, white, miraculous power and force. All these
things are meant by the name ‘Cyrwen’.
A note on the saying ‘touch wood’ (meaning God’s Tree)
I wonder how many people realise the simple phrase ‘touch wood’ probably dates back to
Druidic times and originates from the Sanskrit ‘Deva Daru’, literally meaning ‘God’s Tree’. It is
a long-held belief in the foothills of the Himalayas
that Deva Daru referred to a special Yew. It is also
worth noting that originally the Brahmins used a
mixture made of yew paste, to mark a spot in the
middle of their foreheads.
So when we inadvertently say what is supposed
to be a superstitious phrase, ‘touch wood’ at the
same time as physically gesturing to touch wood,
we are simply acknowledging God’s Tree or the God
Tree. It is remarkable that ‘touch wood’ has survived
from several millennia ago, and shows no sign of
dying out. Out of all the superstitions commonly
held, it appears that ‘touch wood’ is one of the most
frequently referred to on an everyday basis.
These themes are more fully developed and
explored in the forthcoming book ‘The God Tree’
by Janis Fry, researched with Allen Meredith and
published by Capall Bann. This is now available
through Amazon and will be formally launched at the
Chalice Well Meeting Room on October 18th 2.30 –
5.00pm (all welcome).
13
The 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony:
a Glastonbury Perspective
By Philippa Glasson & Nicholas Mann
Ex Terra Lucem
The strongly mytho-poetic character of the
London Olympics opening ceremony made
a huge impression on its spectators and
television audience; especially it seems upon
the British nation. It has given those of us who
work with the inner energies of Britain - with
its soul - an opportunity to take the energetic
temperature of the nation, as it were. What can
we learn from the diverse elements of history,
myth and popular culture that were mixed into
Danny Boyle’s cauldron of inspiration - a cauldron that only became fully manifest at the
culmination of the ceremony, when it was set ablaze by seven young athletes?
From the opening film sequence, which took us on a high-speed journey along the River
Thames from its main source in the leafy Cotswolds, it was clear that there was a strong
elemental and devic influence upon this visionary spectacle. Boyle’s overarching inspiration
for his ‘Isles of Wonder’ production was Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, where a cast of noblemen
find themselves shipwrecked on a magical island. Just as that play begins with an impression
of drowning, so the camera rose up from underwater at the river’s source, then followed a
dragonfly along the stream, through glistening woodland and pastoral meadows, before it
began to rush towards London. It dived underground once again as it turned off the Thames
and hurtled towards (the other) Stratford, site of the Olympic stadium in East London.
Through this inventive opening Boyle connected the urban environment of the stadium with
the rural heart of the land.
He also invoked deep powers of water and earth. As the ceremony unfolded it was to be
revealed how much economic use the British nation had made of these elemental energies,
especially what immense powers of fire and light had been accessed through the nation’s
exploitation of the deep earth: hence the ceremony’s allusion to the original motto of St
Helen’s, Ex Terra Lucem, “from out of the Earth, light,” which referred to the rich vein of fossil
fuels mined under Lancashire. Our nation’s long-term support and protection by the element
of water, including as a former imperial power, was more implicit, but this was symbolised by
the arrival of the Olympic flame by boat, after a high-speed journey up the Thames and into
the river Lea (aptly named after the Celtic sun God Lugh.)
But of course the focal use of Glastonbury Tor was the unifying mythic element in the
production. It was imagined here as the constant emblem of a pre-industrial British paradise,
but also as a locus of hidden earth energies. This seemed to confirm that Glastonbury continues
to occupy a central place in the nation’s imagination, perhaps helped by the long-running
success of the Glastonbury Festival. Boyle’s Tor was crowned with an oak tree - the ancient
symbol of the land and of the axis mundi, and we might also say of the pre-Christian religion
of the Druids. Through the Tor, the ceremony was obviously referencing the ancient British
church, with its legend of Jesus’ visit (reinforced by the opening performance of ‘Jerusalem’),
but also the local legend of Avalon’s sleeping King Arthur—as well as Glastonbury as a focus
for youth culture, with all that additionally implied of the alternative and otherworldly, the
magical and mysterious.
14
As if to confirm the Tor’s visionary significance, it was on its lower slopes that the actor
Kenneth Branagh as Isambard Kingdom Brunel recited the words of Caliban’s dream from
‘The Tempest’: ‘the isle is full of noises...’ The dramatic Age of Industry sequence that followed
(‘Pandemonium’) began with workers emerging from the top of the Tor, which was thus
revealed as an opening to the hidden chthonic energies of the whole land of Britain. Yet it
was also the Tor that eventually became the site where the flags of all competing nations were
planted, along with the Olympic flag itself.
As the green and pleasant land was rolled away, replaced by tall chimneys that spewed
smoke amidst the din of machinery, it seemed clear that Boyle was celebrating what the
Industrial Revolution had given us while lamenting its high cost. Was he also asking questions
about its longer-term implications, hinting at the environmental consequences and our
ongoing enslavement to the riches we have mined? He was certainly referencing Tolkien in
the forging of the single golden ring that rose to join four others to complete the Olympic
emblem. But in succeeding sequences he was clearly celebrating the benefits that our wealth
has brought us, in the form of a welfare state, a thriving popular culture (including music,
film and wonderful children’s fiction), multiculturalism, dynamic protest movements and
incredible scientific innovations, represented by the invention of the World Wide Web. British
humour also got a look in - showcasing our post-imperial willingness to laugh at ourselves.
But here Boyle stopped. He had shown us the material and creative benefits - including the
ongoing party - that followed our exploitation of these vast riches, but there was no imagining
of what might conceivably come next for our nation.
Of course the event’s final focus was on the global ‘coming together’ made possible by
so many nations’ participation in the Olympic ideal. But in that last part of the ceremony
Boyle’s mythic theme returned, and Caliban’s dream was invoked once again, in the song that
accompanied the last stage of the Olympic flame’s long journey to London. The seven young
athletes who ran so gracefully around the stadium to become the final Olympic torch-bearers
could be seen perhaps as symbolising the seven rays or colours of the sun, for it was they
who ignited the 204 copper ‘petals’ that then transformed into, first, a glowing circle of fire
and then, as the petals rose up in layers, a vast fire-flower that closed to form a central pillar
surmounted by a cauldron of fire.
The event’s symbolism as well as its spectacle, music and humour evidently resonated
deeply with the British audience. We recognised ourselves in it all, and in some way we all
connected with the soul energies woven so deftly into Boyle’s vast canvas. So, in sum:
1) The Tor and its complex symbolism has been openly acknowledged as a pivotal landscape
in this island—a location emblematic enough (like the traditional mound of sovereignty) to
hold the flags of all the Olympic nations.
2) The quasi-magical, life-transforming power of the British imagination has likewise been
honoured and acknowledged, illustrated not just by Blake, Shakespeare and Elgar but by film
and TV, children’s literature and popular music. And Boyle showed too how our imaginative
power and originality also encompassed quirky comedy and scientific invention (in the forms
of Mr Bean and the www).
3) Boyle also helped to reveal the British ‘nanny’ state as a mundane but very significant
manifestation of the nurturing and maternal power of the Divine Feminine, which was
embodied in this event by jiving nurses and multiple Mary Poppins descending from the sky
to dispel the forces of evil. Indeed, the Mother of our nation, the Queen herself, was shown
arriving in an equally dramatic and symbolic fashion. The caring creativity of the Divine
Mother was also invoked in the appearance of J K Rowling, currently our most famous female
storyteller, who read from ‘Peter Pan’ on the slopes of the Tor.
4) In addition, as was confirmed by the participation of the Queen in a comedy sketch
involving James Bond, Boyle showed us a post-war Britain that was no longer pompously
15
elitist, but prepared to laugh at itself. The modern British society staged in the NHS set and
the ‘Frankie and June’ montage of recent popular culture was no longer bound by deep class
divisions, but determined to be democratic, inclusive and multi-cultural - a place where the
people as a whole could be celebrated for their endurance, vitality, and good humour, and where
the values of inclusiveness and freedom of expression are now central to the national vision.
5) But what of Spirit? Was its appearance in this event restricted to Christian tradition (the
inaugural singing of ‘Jerusalem’) and a fictional gesture towards the Divine Feminine? Key
moments of memorial silence certainly stressed how important remembrance of the dead is
for a nation whose destiny has been shaped by the devastating losses of two World Wars. This
is a country that still remembers and honours the ancestors, that retains a close bond with the
departed spirits of the tribe.
Yet in the lighting of the Olympic flame it became clear that there is now a deep hunger
for a non-denominational spiritual ideal - one that can guide and focus all the energy and
exuberance at the heart of modern Britain, and help to link us spiritually with the rest of
humanity. The cauldron of flame fulfilled this need; as a 21st Century Grail whose symbolism
seemed to exceed the purpose for which it was lit. The seven young athletes who were to light
it ran around the stadium to the haunting words of a new ‘Caliban’s Dream’:
The rain passed above us in the garden of the world,
But a flame arrives to guide us
Past the gold between the anvils of the stars…
A flaring flame, hear it call,
Through the darkness, hear it call to us all. And start again.
Its beating heart comes again…
And the nations come to greet us,
Waving open arms like waves of golden corn.
Ever hear us, O Spirit of the World,
May your light be ever near us, always lead us from the dark,
Though we may fall,
We will fly, and with love, hear the call…
21st century Britain stands on the brink of a new
era - an era that even Boyle could not imagine. But
many of us can see that the Earth is beginning to
demand a pay-back for our exploitation of the riches of
this green and pleasant land - an industrial trend we
have exported to the rest of the world. The mineral
resources we have mined from our Isles of Wonder and of our beautiful planet - are finite, and of course we
are coming to understand the damaging effects of their
extraction and use on a global scale.
So will our children’s children be able to enjoy the
same material and social benefits, the ongoing mood
of popular festivity, made possible by the Industrial
and technological revolutions in which Britain played Danny Boyle’s artistic team on the ‘Tor’!
such a major role? Just as Boyle’s ceremony began by Photo Courtesy of London 2012 Olympic
acknowledging our creative co-dependence upon the Games Opening Ceremony Programme
elemental and devic world - above all, on the indwelling soul of our Isles of Wonder - so too
its culminating prayer to the Spirit of the World shows the deep yearning felt by Britain and all
of humanity at this time, as we appeal for guidance from the highest spiritual power.
Further information is available on www.britishmysteries.co.uk
16
The Robin, Britain’s Favourite Garden Bird
by Ark Redwood
The robin (Erithacus rubecula) is one of this country’s
signature species. It is a much-loved frequenter of our
countryside and gardens. With its mellifluous singing
and attractive appearance it never ceases to lift the spirits
of all who come within its radius. It features strongly in
our folklore and pops up on innumerable Christmas
cards every year. Every gardener knows that it doesn’t
take very long before its familiar shape appears next to
the spade, fork or trowel, searching curiously among the
turned earth for juicy morsels. Just sitting quietly in the
garden can be all that is needed to encourage this tame
little bird to come close, an experience many a meditator
has experienced here at Chalice Well. Many times people have come up to me extolling their
thrill at having had their close encounter of the feathered kind.
This apparent tameness is actually more to do with its bravery. For the robin is, despite its
soft appeal, a warrior bird, scared of no one. Its courage lies in its strong territorial proclivities.
It will fight fiercely any male or female of its own species were they to dare invade its home
domain. Sometimes these fights may result in the death of one of the combatants if resistance
is strong. Young robins tend not to be attacked due to their lack of the conspicuous red breast.
This safe period only lasts for two to three months until moulting occurs. Then the little bird
had better watch out!
Their song is very appealing to our ears, and its trills never cease to thrill the listener.
However, do bear in mind that what sounds wonderfully sweet and gentle to us, another robin
probably hears as a tirade of expletives aimed in its direction warning it to stay away, or risk a
confrontation. Of course, knowing all this is still not going to convince us that the subject of
this serenade is none other than ourselves. So don’t let me spoil the illusion with hard facts!
Robins feed on insects and other invertebrates, worms, seeds and berries. Given a relatively
stress-free life, (barring the odd scrap or two), they can expect to live for several years, with
the oldest recorded bird living to the venerable age of thirteen years old. Cold winters can
decimate numbers, and robins can often be spotted puffing up their feathers in order to keep
warm. They will often visit bird tables during the colder months, usually preferring to stay
under the table in order to mop up any fallen titbits, rather than perch on the top. One of
their favourite foods is mealworms and they will even take them from your hand if you stand
still enough.
It’s not easy to determine males from females as they are virtually identical. Although
some authorities suggest that one difference lies in the brown forehead – being ‘V’ shaped
in the female, and ‘U’ shaped in the male, though this is not always apparent. They seem to
disappear in July and August and are seldom heard. This is due to the annual moult when they
become much more retiring than usual.
Robins will often nest just about anywhere which might offer protection; any crevice or
depression will suffice. They will take up residence in holes in tree stumps or walls, hollow
objects such as discarded teapots and kettles, flowerpots, abandoned vehicles, even coat
pockets! Last year I even discovered one nesting in a little wicker basket on a shelf in my
potting shed! The nests usually consist of grass, moss and dead leaves lined with hair and
wool. There are generally two to three clutches of five or six creamy-white, or pale blue, eggs,
17
with reddish spots, with the first being laid in March. The incubation period is around two
weeks. Juvenile birds have a mottled brown appearance, which begins to look more like their
parents about two to three months out of the nest.
The name ‘robin’ is of fairly recent usage. The old name which prevailed for centuries in
this country was ‘ruddock’, an Anglo-Saxon word, in reference to its red breast. Our British
population is mostly sedentary, although some more venturesome souls have been known to
migrate to Spain and Portugal in search of warmer climes. In the winter the numbers are
supplemented by migrants from Scandinavia seeking the same. Robins can be found all over
Europe, except for the Mediterranean coast, and are also found in
the Azores, Canary Islands, parts of North Africa, and eastwards
into central Russia, Turkey and Iran. When settlers began to
colonise North America the first redbre�asted bird they spotted
was automatically dubbed a ‘robin’, but this much bigger thrush
(Turdus migratorius) is not related. (The robin used to be
classified as a member of the thrush family until relatively
recently, but nowadays it is classed with the flycatchers). When
emigrants settled in Australia and New Zealand attempts were
made to introduce this much-loved bird without success.
It seems that wherever people from these isles travelled they A bird in the brush is worth…
wished to take this celebrated bird with them. I cannot think
of any other native species more loved than the robin. Certainly here at Chalice Well they
give such delight to visitors, and their tameness (or bravery!) never ceases to stir the heart
and enliven the spirit. However sad somebody may be feeling; whatever ills people may be
suffering; whatever guidance someone may be seeking, there is sure to be a message waiting
just a few feet away. All it takes is to listen, and be still.
A Few Words from Ann Procter
The robins at Chalice Well are very special and I have enjoyed many meaningful encounters
with them over the years. I was quietly sharing crumbs of my lunch with one of them during
the Unity Conference weekend when we were joined by a tiny, fluttery little fellow, very vocal.
He (or she) had a gold streak along the head. It was a Goldcrest, not a Goldfinch; much
smaller - the smallest bird in Europe according to my Bird Guide. If anyone else is blessed with
his presence, do try to catch him on camera.
A new perspective on the grail
Juliet Faith
Jesus said ,‘He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself
shall become he, and all the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.’
The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas.
Since researching and writing my last book The
Knights Templar in Somerset, a few years ago, I
became very aware that I had embarked upon
a quest.
This quest was to lead me to many incredible
and unexpected places in my home county of
Somerset, which were owned, and inhabited by
Knights Templar. I also became aware that the
18
The Hallows (photo courtesy of Ken Macfarlane)
idea of the Templars as ‘Grail Knights’, or as guardians of some ‘secret’ or ‘arcane’ knowledge
probably had some basis in reality.
The question that I continually asked myself was: ‘What was the Grail, was it a physical
object, or a spiritual revelation, and were the grail legends revealing or concealing something’?
My forthcoming book is the culmination of my recent research into the connection
between the Glastonbury, the Templars and the Grail. Many books have been written on
this subject, but I am suggesting a new perspective on the Grail, one that may account for
the legends that arose at Glastonbury, and also why, possibly, the Templars were regarded as
guardians of this grail.
Some of these ideas I will share with you in this article.
It was to the Mediaeval Grail legends that I turned, to see if they held any clues as to the true
physical identity of the mysterious Grail, and a short line written by Wolfram Von Eschenbach,
caught my attention: ‘the grail is a reliquary which shall henceforth be called a chalice.’1
This was strange indeed. I had never before heard the idea that the grail may have been
a reliquary, however, when I started to look further into the origin of the word ‘grail’, it
did indeed have other interpretations, the Mediaeval French Latin word ‘greille’ translates
as grille/lattice/trellis and the classical latin ‘cratus’ or ‘gradalus’ which translates as a large
shallow platter/container/dish, eventually became Graal.2 Certainly it appears the Grail was
not originally seen as a chalice in the way we understand it.
If indeed the grail that Robert de Boron alludes to had been a reliquary, then what sacred
artifact did it contain?
De Boron’s patron was a certain French nobleman named Gautier de Montbeliard.
Montbeliard was one of the crusaders present at the sack of Constantinople in 1204.
Constantinople was famed throughout the world not only for its amazing wealth and
beauty, but for its large collection of genuine and important relics, particularly those
associated with the Passion of Christ. These relics were housed at the treasuries of the Pharos
and Blanchernae palaces. Amongst the relics, the most important of all was the famous ‘Image
of Edessa’. This was a bloodied burial shroud, with an imprint of a bearded crucified man,
thought to be the image of Jesus. The relic reputedly still smelled of the oils and spices, with
which the body was anointed at burial.
Whilst in the treasury at Constantinople, scholars tell us the Shroud was contained in a
reliquary resembling a ‘large, shallow golden casket’. In fact crusader Robert de Clari, recorded
in his diary that the Shroud was contained in a dish!
It appears therefore that de Boron may well have heard tell of this incredible relic, and
its fabulous golden container from his patron de Montbeliard. One may also speculate that
Monbeliard himself was one of the crusaders responsible for its removal from Constantinople
at the fall of the city.
Perhaps this was the very object de Boron he was referring to in his writings?3
Did any of this have a connection with Glastonbury and its Arimathean tradition? I
turned to the High History of the Holy Grail, to try and find an answer. The High History is the
grail legend believed to be closely associated with Glastonbury and its environs.
There are 13th century fragments of a copy of this version of the legend in the Chained
Library at Wells Cathedral. These were identified by Professor James Carley. The fragments,
if not once the entire book, probably found their way to Wells after the dissolution of
Glastonbury Abbey. It is known that the Abbey Library held copies of the Grail Legends.
I was astonished by what I found, within. There were many references to a quest for the
1
2
3
Von Eschenbach, W. ‘The Romance of the History of the Grail’. (C. 1200-1210).
Currer-Briggs, N. The Holy Grail and the Shroud of Christ. (ARA Publications 1984).
Von Eschenbach also speaks of the Grail as the Keramion, which is a stone or tile. There was also a tile in the
Constantinople treasury, with an image of a man’s face upon it. See Ian Wilson’s book The Shroud, for further
information and sources.
19
mysterious ‘sovran cloth’ the tale tells us that the ‘cloth is of the most holiest, for our Lord God
was covered there with in the Holy Sepulchre’.
The quest to find the cloth belonged to Dinrane, sister of Percival, and it was her task to
cut a piece from it. The cloth was held in the haunted Chapel Perilous, and would at certain
times manifest itself raised above the altar, ‘She seeth above the altar the most Holy Cloth for
which she came thither.’4
This is strangely reminiscent of the ‘Byzantine rite’ for when the Shroud was in
Constantinople it was gradually ‘raised up’, near the altar in the Blanchernae Chapel so the
entire image of the crucified man could be seen upon it.5
Most scholars suggest that the Chapel Perilous, if it existed at all, was probably somewhere
on the site of Glastonbury Abbey. I have another hypothesis:
The one location in Glastonbury that has the title ‘Perilous’, is the Pons Perilis, the bridge
that runs close to the ancient causeway to Street.
Some local traditions tell that this was the place where Arthur returned Excalibur to the
Lady of the Lake. This was probably a folk remembrance from ancient times, of the offering
of a gift to the water deity or Goddess, in return for safe passage across the water.
Very close to the Perilous Bridge, lies the Island of Beckery, where archaeological
excavations have found the remains of an ancient chapel.
I submit that this could be the location of the Perilous Chapel, which in ancient times
would have been surrounded by bog and water. With mists and flickering ‘will –o-the wisp’
rising from the marsh gases, accessible only by water, it may indeed have been seen as magical
and possibly a perilous place to try and reach.
What better place to conceal a priceless relic, that perhaps was intended for the sight of
only a select few ‘Grail Knights’.
It is also notable that a woman, Dindrane, was allotted the task of cutting the cloth.
Perhaps, representing the sacred feminine, she alone was one able to undertake this quest.6
The grail was taking on an identity other than a chalice containing Christ’s blood. It was
starting to appear that in fact the grail may have been a reliquary containing a cloth soaked
in the blood of Christ.
I now turned to the Arimathean tradition, so strongly associated with Glastonbury, to see
whether it contained any clues to support this theory.
One tradition tells us that Joseph brought two cruets containing the blood and sweat of
Christ to the town, however there are other earlier versions of this story.
Joseph of Arimathea has long been associated with Jesus’ burial and resurrection. The
gospels tell us it is he who provided not only the sepulchre for Jesus’ body, but also the burial
shroud. It would seem very plausible that after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Joseph would
take the cloth that contained Jesus’ sacred blood with him when he left the Holy Land.
An ancient Georgian manuscript dating to 500 A.D. and surely one of the earliest written
sources bears the words ‘but I Joseph climbed Holy Golgotha, where the Lords cross stood and
collected in a headband and a large sheet, the precious blood that flowed from his Holy side….’
Two cloths survive to this day as two relics known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, and the
Shroud of Turin. Both these artifacts (one a head cloth, one a burial shroud) contain blood
from the same individual. Could they be the cloths referred to in the ancient manuscript?
Perhaps it was not a chalice that Joseph of Arimathea, (or another disciple) brought to
Glastonbury, at the founding of the early church, but the Shroud itself. Furthermore, it seems
possible that a tiny piece of the shroud may have been cut and kept as a sacred relic either at
the Abbey, or more likely in a private family chapel. Certainly it is known that tiny fragments
4
5
6
20
The High History of the Holy Grail. Anon. Ed Sebastian Evans.
The diary of crusader Robert de Clari, recounts this ritual in Constantinople 1203, before the sack of the city.
Luke, H. The Return of Dindrane (essay). At the Table of the Grail, ed. J. Matthews.(1984).
of the Turin Shroud have been removed in the past for this very purpose
Abbot Henri de Blois, who was grandson of William the Conqueror, brother of King
Stephen, Abbot of Glastonbury, and Bishop of Winchester, had a genealogy connecting him
to the first known owners of the Shroud of Turin.
Undoubtedly Henri would have had knowledge of the Shroud, and it is most probable
that he had seen it.
At Winchester Cathedral he commissioned the building of the tiny Holy Sepulchre Chapel;
in this chapel was performed a special Easter liturgical
drama, which featured the shroud of Christ. Early wall
paintings in the chapel which date from Henri’s time
depict Joseph of Arimathea playing a prominent role in
the deposition, and also feature the full length shroud
being held up by an unknown man.
There is also a little known, but tantalizing and
more recent indication that there was once a ‘shroud
cult’ at Glastonbury. This is provided by Rev. Thomas
Escott, who writing in his book of Somerset History in
1908, relates that Joseph of Arimathea’s ‘portables’,
included ‘the linen, which had once covered the Divine
Body’… He also goes on to recall that: ‘In the present
writer’s childhood, diminutive fragments of this material,
were to Glastonbury, what pieces from the wood of the
cross are to Continental shrines.’7
Escott is generally agreed to be a reliable historian,
so it seems unlikely that he would simply have invented
this unusual childhood recollection. The question
remains however, where are those fragments now?
Could they still remain in the possession of some local
Holy Sepulchre Chapel, Winchester
family of renown, or were they sold at some point in
(photo courtesy of Ken Macfarlane)
time? Could these be the very fragments alluded to
which were removed by Dindrane in The High History of the Grail?
Certainly this information warrants further enquiry.
Finally we turn to the Templars, and their role in the Shroud/ Grail mystery.
It is now widely accepted by scholars that the Knights Templar were in possession of the
Shroud of Turin, at some time in it’s history.
The most likely time for this acquisition was the aforementioned 4th Crusade, when
Constantinople was sacked, and the Shroud and its golden reliquary vanished from the city. It was
around this period, that the various legends of the Holy Grail spread like wildfire across Europe.
Wolfram Von Eschenbach identifies his Grail Knights as Templiesin, who wore a white
mantle with a red cross, like the Templars.
Also not long after the sack of Constantinople a cult of the simulacra8 began to emerge
from Provence (where there was a large Templar presence) across Europe, and into England. It
was a cult that the Templars embraced, and were instrumental in spreading. It was a cult of a
mysterious face of a man with long hair and a beard. It would appear that this was probably the
same image that sparked the rumours of heresy, which eventually brought about their downfall.
With hindsight, and with recent documentary evidence that has become available from
the Vatican Secret Archives, it seems very probable that the face the Templars held in such
7
8
Escott, T.H.S. Somerset: Historical, Descriptive, Biographical. (William Mates and Son, Bournemouth,
Southampton and London, 1908). See also The Downside Review, July 2003 , article by Paul Ashdown P. 171.
Frale, B. The Templars and the Shroud of Christ. (Maverick 2011).
21
regard was the image of the face on the Shroud; which they believed
was none other than Jesus himself.
Vatican researcher, Dr Barbara Frale, has found evidence to suggest
that each Holy Thursday evening the Knights performed a special rite,
in which communion was received only in wine, the Holy Blood of Jesus.
According to Frale, this highly unusual tradition was peculiar to the
Templars, and may have been borrowed from some very early tradition.
The practice was un-known in the Catholic Church. The ceremony,
she says, ‘appears to be connected to the legend of the Holy Grail’. 9
The Knights’ regard for the Holy Face is evident from the fact that
every Templar commandery, in Europe was reputed to have had a
copy, either in the form of a painted image, or carved in wood or stone. Juliet’s new book will be
What is also known is that the Templars did not want the Shroud published in December
to fall into the hands of the Church, which is why they guarded the 2012
relic so fiercely, and would only let certain members of the Order
see it. Naturally rumours began to grow about the identity of this mysterious image, but
the Templars went to a heretic’s death rather than reveal the identity of their ‘idol’ to the
inquisitors.
It would seem possible that that the Grail Legends arose as a way to transmit the Shroud/
Grail story to those who could understand, but to keep its true identity hidden from the church.
For safekeeping the Shroud passed into the hands of certain notable families across Europe
who became its guardians. They were probably the families known in the legends as the
Grail Families, but in disguise of course! It remained in these safe hands until the 1983 when
ironically King Umberto of Italy, its last guardian�, bequeathed it to the Pope for ‘safekeeping’.
The Shroud now resides in Turin Cathedral, but is only infrequently on display.
‘He who comes to the table of the Grail will not remain un-changed’10
9
10
Frale, B. The Templars. Maverick.(2009).
Matthews, J. ‘At the Table of the Grail’. (Routledge 1984).
The Gift
by Jo Waterworth
I place my hope on the water
where it joins your hope, and his hope,
and hers, and theirs
and it becomes our hope;
a thousand candles swirling in the stream
carried by the current – some flickering,
some caught by rocks or weeds or willows
hanging over the bank –
but all these lights float away from us,
a flotilla of hope
becoming a larger light,
becoming a distant glow,
becoming a beacon,
becoming our gift to those who live
downstream.
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