Walking the Pathway of the Stars
Dear Friends
Most of you will know me as an astrologer, but I’m also really a pilgrim at heart. Connecting with sacred sites and walking pathways between places of spiritual significance has always been a great passion of mine. So when I first discovered there was a circle of astrological figures embedded in the Glastonbury landscape back in 2007, it was just too much to resist, and through some remarkable serendipity, a path opened up for me to move to this strange and wondrous place. And as I began to walk the land and connect certain places together - poring over ordnance maps, with star maps superimposed over them - I realised that the origin of pilgrimage itself could be rooted in a weaving together of heaven and earth, and that there was a way of following the pathways of the stars through walking the land.
Glastonbury is a place of magic and mystery, where myth and history intertwine. With its claim to be the ancient Isle of Avalon, the founding seat of Christianity and the heart chakra of the world, with its sacred springs, Grail legends and crossing leylines, Glastonbury is no ordinary place! And since the 1920s, it has also been home to the landscape star temple, known to us as the Glastonbury Zodiac. This extraordinary artefact of visionary geography, originally discovered around a hundred years ago by the sculptor and esotercist Katharine Maltwood, comprises twelve zodiacal effigies spread majestically around an eleven mile circle in the Somerset countryside. And it is guarded by a thirteenth figure out to the west in Langport, a ‘Girt Dog’, reminding us of canine figures like Anubis, Cerberus or Dormath, who protect the entrance to the Underworld.
The Zodiac figures can be traced on an ordnance survey map, sculpted in the landscape partly by Nature’s own hand in her rivers and hills, with roads, trackways and field boundaries also delineating the figures. Numerous names, such as Wagg (on the dog’s tail) and Fisher’s Hill on the Pisces figure, mesh together with local legends, spookily conforming to the zodiacal pattern with remarkably coherent examples of synchronicity, adding mystery and intrigue to the scheme.
In 2009, together my friend and colleague, Anthony Thorley, I founded The Alchemical Journey, a twelve-month adventure around the year, which involved a monthly pilgrimage into each of the twelve figures of the zodiac in turn, walking the paths of each sign in their appropriate season, whilst in deep reflection on their astrological and mythological significance.
The Glastonbury Zodiac Milky Way Pilgrimage
In the year 2000, Anthony Thorley and his wife Celia Gunn, discovered the Glastonbury Zodiac’s Milky Way trail, which stretches across the Sun’s ecliptic path of zodiacal constellations in the landscape as it does in the heavens. Starting at Lamyatt Beacon, near Bruton, and ending at High Ham, close to Langport, it is around 24 miles in length, and crosses through the heart of the Glastonbury Zodiac. The pilgrimage route carries the same astrological theme as the El Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. One of the old names of El Camino, is the Via Lactea, which reminds us that as we undertake the pilgrimage, we are following the path of the Milky Way, which is understood esotericlly to be the path that the soul travels between lives. In 2012, I walked the 780km pilgrimage to Santiago, and it was a life-changing experience that profoundly affected the way I saw myself and the world. It re-invigorated me and re-awakened the poetry in my soul, anchoring me more fully in my heart.
Like the Compostela route in Spain, the Glastonbury Zodiac Milky Way Pilgrimage features seven sacred sites that serve as planetary oracles, which we honour with a simple ceremony at each place. On the Camino they are represented as cathedrals, in the Glastonbury Zodiac as churches, several of which are built on the site of earlier pre-Christian temples. It is a profound and deeply moving experience to journey into the compostela, the 'field of stars'. The pilgrimage invites us into a field of synchonicity and wonder, healing and catharsis; an opening of the heart.
Through my wanderings, and my wonderings, I have come to understand the ways in which when we set an intention to walk a sacred path, and then enter into that journey with an open heart, all manner of signs and synchronous happenings can occur that can feel like we are receiving an answer to a prayer. That might be enough in itself, as it might help us to accept that something has changed, or is changing in our lives. Maybe it will help us to move through our grief if we have lost someone we love. Perhaps we are at a crossroads, and it could provide us with the guidance we need to make important choices, or to take that next step in our lives.
If you were to walk a sacred path at this point in your life where you are now, what would your prayer, or your intention be?
You can find out more about my work here: www.kairosastrology.co.uk
with love and blessings
John