Walking the Milky Way
Dear Friends
Next weekend, I am leading the Milky Way pilgrimage across the Glastonbury Zodiac, which mirrors the path of the stars of the Milky Way when mapped onto Glastonbury’s landscape star temple. I’ve had a couple of people drop out this week, so I am able to offer a couple of last minute places at a signficantly reduced price, for anyone who might be able to join us at short notice.
The route we follow was discovered in 2000 by Anthony Thorley and Celia Gunn. As the way was revealed to them, they recognised profound correspondences in its landscape features, place names and sacred sites, which convinced them of its significance as a terrerstial mirror of the celestial journey of the soul between lives. It has long been believed that soul travels the path of the Milky Way between lives, and the two gateways of physical incarnation and spiritual ascension are to be found at the points in the sky where the Milky Way crosses the ecliptic, or zodiac circle.
Many pilgrimages, most famously the El Camino way to Santiago de Compostela, once known as the via Lactea, are based on the idea of walking the Milky Way, with its starry formation being mapped onto the earth in certain key locations. The observance of such a pilgrimage has long been regarded as a form of spiritual initiation, guided by profound esoteric wisdom. The Glastonbury Zodiac route carries many similar features to the El Camino pilgrimage across Northern Spain. For example, there are seven churches on Glastonbury’s Milky Way route, one for each of the seven planets, which corresponds to the seven cathedrals or holy sites that are venerated on the Camino. In 2012, I walked to Santiago de Compostela, following the via Frances route from the French Pyrenees, a five-week journey, and discovered that there were indeed seven cathedrals to be found along that route. I had already walked the Glastonbury Zodiac route three times with Anthony and Celia prior to doing that, so I felt well primed for the Camino!
As many of you will know, I have been working closely with the Glastonbury Zodiac for many years. Anthony Thorley and I ran a programme called The Alchemical Journey between 2009 - 2018, which included a monthly pilgrimage into the landscape zodiac figures. And I have been leading groups of pilgrims along the Glastonbury Zodiac Milky Way route myself through the Somerset countryside, with its enchanting green lanes, every year since 2014. And every year the pilgrimage reveals another layer of mystery and magic, as its potent medicine touches the hearts and minds of those embark on this unique quest.
with love & blessings
John