The peace garden; holding silence, stillness and
Sacredness. Heavy with prayer and time. A sense
Of being out of step with the world;
In another place. The well and its water drawing
People in to rest and heal in its tranquility.
-Jen Farrant
I have been coming to the Chalice Well, and the surrounding area since I was 17 and it holds a great deal of memories for me. Aside from my best friend from school, my oldest and longest standing friend lives here and I love this place.
From the Chalice Well site:
Chalice Well is one of Britain’s most ancient wells, nestling in the Vale of Avalon between the famous Glastonbury Tor and Chalice Hill. Surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards it is a living sanctuary in which the visitor can experience the quiet healing of this sacred place. For over two thousand years this has been a place where people have gathered to drink the waters and find solace, peace and inspiration.
At present we work with the theme of ‘Many Paths, One Source’ to welcome all people of goodwill to the gardens throughout the year. We also mark ‘the wheel of the year’ at regular intervals with events of celebration, silence and meditation, and conversation. This includes an evening programme of music, poetry and performance throughout the summer months in our candlelit gardens.
I love the idea of many paths and one source, being open and welcome to all. I’m getting to the point where this is what I believe about religion and this is the light for me, the central source. People take different routes, with their own books, ceremonies and ways of doing things, and that’s what makes it so beautiful.
The water from here was used in my hand fasting ceremony (five years ago now), where my officiates mixed the ‘red’ water from here and the ‘white’ water from the White Spring just around the corner. The officiants talked about how the two waters couldn’t be separated, and like the water molecules we were now entangled. They went on to talk about entangled particles, because my husband is a science man and we are both very geeky.
Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance – instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole. – Wikipedia definition
Isn’t that sweet? The theme for our wedding was robots and ivy, mixing the geeky and the spiritual! We were even featured in Offbeat Bride!
Chalice Well is beautiful, with many resting points for quiet meditation and contemplation. I wish I had the time to go back again while I was down here. Never mind, I am back in this part of the country in October and I am hoping I will be able to visit again.
