Holy Thorn Tree Glastonbury -a lesson in healing

             Holy Thorn tree before the attack

Under cover of darkness on Dec 9th the Holy Thorn tree on Wearyall Hill in Glastonbury was vandalised by someone cutting off all the branches at a height of about six feet from the ground. This senseless act of vandalism has shocked the local community and people around the world. As no-one has been caught by the police it seems to me to be pointless to try and guess at the motive for such a shocking act of violence. Instead I want to focus on a couple of positive observations.

If you dont know the significance of the tree, legend states that Joseph of Arimathea arrived here by boat in the middle of the first century to found the first Christian church in England. He is reputed to have stuck his staff into the ground and it sprouted leaves and grew. So there has been a middle eastern thorn tree growing in Glastonbury for nearly two millenia. Although many reports on the internet call the tree 2000 years old, it is actually a descendent of the original tree taken from cuttings. The famous Glastonbury and Arthurian writer Geoffrey Ashe in his book 'The Landscape of King Arthur' says that this particular tree was planted on Wearyall Hill in 1951. An earlier ancestor growing on this spot was attacked by Oliver Cromwell's men during Britain's short period as a republic, but the tree survived.

My point is that this act, terrible though it is, has not killed the tree because cuttings have been taken, it may resprout from the standing trunk and there are other descendents growing elsewhere in Glastonbury. It is much more resilient than one single act of violence can destroy.

                 Vandalised Holy Thorn tree

Fountain International propounds a wonderfully simple method of directing healing energy to your local community by choosing a focal point and spending just five minutes a day sending love and healing towards that point and visualising it radiating out into the surrounding community. I twice set up Fountain groups in English cities when I moved there. On both occasions within a week of us starting to send light and love to the chosen focal point a senseless act of vandalism occurred there. I saw these as thoughtless expressions of anger by sick people for whom the new light at this place was too bright to bear, and rather than accepting this gift of healing energy they tried to destroy it. We continued and no further acts of aggression occurred, in fact both places started to feel much lighter and more uplifting, even the man with the 'End of the World is Nigh' sign started smiling and then laid down his sign.

In recent times the holy thorn tree had become a focal point of healing energies demonstrated by the numerous clotties or prayer ribbons tied to the railings around the trunk. Let us maintain our positivity and continue with the healing work. Those in need who want to be healed will avail themselves of it, those who are too damaged to see their need will move away from the intensity of the light. Bless them!

The Dance of Yin & Yang

The dance of yin and yang, positive and negative, masculine and feminine is ever-present in nature and the universe at large. Nothing can exist without its complementary opposite to keep it in balance; summer/winter, day/night, hot/cold etc. The ancient sacred site builders recognised this in constructing their ‘temples’ by harnessing both the energies of heaven and earth. Stone circles, pyramids, cairns and cathedrals were all built on top of powerful currents of earth energies whilst also receiving cosmic energy by being placed on raised ground or having stone antennae. Even within each of these energies there are twin complementary threads such as the Michael and Mary energy currents that weave their way around the St Michael leyline. Many books have been written on such things, but today I want to recall an aspect of the Arthurian legend because it is so relevant for our lives today.
   
Situated just thirteen miles inland (as the magical crow flies) from Arthur’s legendary birthplace of Tintagel, lies Dozmary Pool. This is the reputed home of Nimue or Nineveh, the Lady of the Lake. In reality its nothing like its Hollywood image, lying on the treeless expanses of Bodmin Moor. However it is a numinous place that invites you to go within and meet the Lady for yourself. It’s recorded that it was she who gifted Excalibur to Arthur along with some advice that has mostly been ignored. She said “This sword’s name is Excalibur and it is very powerful even being able to cut through steel”. Most of us have heard this part of the story but she went on to say something even more important, “but the true power lies not in the sword but in the scabbard. Whosoever wears the scabbard shall never bleed to death of his wounds – guard it with your life!”

The sword of course represents the yang or masculine power, the seat of kingship, of logical thought and direct action in the world. The scabbard or protective sheath that ‘holds the blade’ is the yin or feminine power, that of insight, intuition, connection to source, the true lifeblood of our spirituality. This is what needs to be the guiding light in our lives supported by the yang action out in the world. The symbolism of the chivalrous knight risking all to do the bidding of his ‘queen’ is another allegory for the same thing. Shakti Gawain put it very well many years ago saying that our inner ‘feminine’ or our connection to spirit knows best what course of action to take at any time, and that our inner ‘masculine’ is then great at putting that plan into action. Applying both aspects in their respective areas of expertise brings us into a state of dynamic equilibrium or health. Of course, all of us, men and women, have both aspects within us although we haven’t been taught that. Our inner feminine has been ignored by our society and religions have transferred our true power to god or even the church.

The world has passed through ages of intolerance, ignorance, rationalism, and material pursuit. As we are now emerging from this long painful journey or dark night of the collective soul, the memory of who we really are is reawakening within us. The keys are shown to us through the myths and legends handed down through the centuries. We can unlock the secrets of the ages, and discover the true Grail within ourselves. In this way we shall not die of the wounds inflicted on us by life but rather awaken to our true nature.