Pilgrimage in Glastonbury
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An Avalon Anthem

12/15/2016

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This song is a collective effort by several people and we offer it in the spirit of uniting our hearts and voices, sharing and celebrating together the healing, love, beauty and belonging of our very own special Glastonbury community.
The development of the Anthem. . . 

The inspiration behind the Anthem was to create a community song that reflected the beauty and spirituality of Glastonbury, a song that could serve to bring our community together. A song through which we can all express the many gifts we can offer to  the world and brings us all together in our community activities, our festivals, our schools and in our everyday lives.
 

Dr Lynne Sedgmore CBE has been coming to Glastonbury as a pilgrim since 1989, got married here in 1994 and moved here in 2010. So when Morgana West, co-founder and manager at Glastonbury Pilgrim Reception, had a powerful dream about creating a new song for Glastonbury and asked her to produce the lyrics, she felt deeply called to do so.

Both Morgana and Ananda O'Kelly helped to further develop the words. The music took longer via a classical version, then a guitar version until its culmination into a  beautiful choral score written by Sally Pullinger for the Avalonian Free State Choir.
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Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable

8/21/2014

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By Morgana West

Currently in the process of exploring the setting up of a Glastonbury Cooperation Circle, affiliated with the United Religions Initiative, I was delighted to once again visit Ammerdown Centre, a Christian retreat and conference centre near Bath; my purpose to meet with individuals who are very active in bridge-building work. The visit has personally inspired me to further our work that celebrates the Unity that can be found within Diversity, right here in Glastonbury. The last time I was at Ammerdown was in February to participate in Celebrating Planet Earth where Leaders, Founders, Writers, Movers & Shakers within the Christian and Pagan communities had been invited by Ammerdown to join together and converse with the intention of building bridges between differences, in celebration of their common love of the Earth. I was delighted to once again be heading to a venue whose work has gained an international reputation. 


PicThe Glastonbury Unity Candle int he Sanctuary
Since 2007, our own Centre has been supporting and welcoming people of diverse beliefs to Glastonbury and it is now recognised that there are more than seventy spiritual paths upheld in this small, but interesting, market town in the south-west of England.  It has long been a personal dream of mine to be able to create a neutral but sacred indoor environment, not affiliated to any one belief; a space in which people could share their own spiritual understandings and religious beliefs in an atmosphere that gives honour and respect to the diversity in the world around us.  This concept became a reality in 2014 with the development of the Sanctuary. The support and encouragement we have received since the opening of this space within our Centre has been more than we dared have hoped for.

Glastonbury 2012: Unity DayThe Unity Bowl at our Unity event in 2012
Our work also involves taking things one step further by pro-actively encouraging and supporting people of good heart and intention on their own path through life. Most of us know only too well that there is widespread agreement in that bridge building can be successful in helping to reduce prejudice and hostility between different groups, propelling people into living peacefully alongside each other. In a community such as Glastonbury, where diversity is both flourishing and glaringly apparent, many of our visitors often remark on the kindness and love that is, at times, quite palpable. As expected though, where harmony and love is shining a very bright light, discord and hate can be found in equal measure. After all, as human-beings, full of complex contradictions going about our human-doings, we often find ourselves facing the challenge of a need to become consciously aware of where we are placing our focus and of how our actions might be contributing to the ‘whole’. The legend of the Holy Grail has a high profile here, believed by many to have been hidden in Glastonbury, it's predecessor in the stories, the Cauldron of Ceridwen. Many come in search of its 'truths' and it is a well-known 'secret' that the 'hiding place' is within each and everyone of us, we are the Grail, we ourselves are the Cauldron.  It is our own thoughts, and deeds that allow the Light to shine forth out of our own vessels and it is of our own actions we are reminded to frequently ask the question;
     "Whom does the Grail serve?".


PictureUnity Candle & Town Council
Recognised as being open to all paths, Glastonbury Reception Centre has been described as a 'living bridge' that connects across secular and spiritual communities and spreading a harmonious message is, we feel, an important part of our role. Support, understanding and acceptance of those of good intent, regardless of faith or spiritual beliefs (or those with none) underpins all our work. Building bridges between diverse beliefs is at our core; our aim to show how we can acknowledge and respect each other, even if we don’t necessarily agree.

Our Centre has an ethos of Unity through Diversity but this is not to suggest we feel all faiths and paths are the same, or that they should be. It is an expression which has been in use for thousands of years and in essence, can be seen to imply the working together of all aspects of a community without losing the special personality and beliefs of the individual projects and people involved and we acknowledge that diverse beliefs and practices can present complex and difficult challenges creating chasms that often-times are difficult to bridge. However, rather than focus on the discordant differences, our own goals are to create ‘spaces’ where tolerance, understanding and co-existence can be found, demonstrating how together, we can live well, whilst remaining different. Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. So says the inspirational Kenyan proverb extolling the power of Unity. 

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It is with this in mind that I am in the process of developing a Cooperation Circle, (CC), affiliated with the United Religions Initiative (URI). The URI is a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities and the world. Cooperation Circles (CCs) are the heart of URI. They are independently organised, self-governing and self-funding and I think it is fairly safe to say that our own organisation fits within the remits. You can find out more about URI and CC's at the bottom of this post.

A weekend that was heralding the autumnal chills, once again saw me heading towards Ammerdown Centre , my purpose to meet with Karimah Stauch, the European Coordinator of URI. 

PictureUnity Candle at the Harvest Show
Autumn is a time of harvest and celebratory occasions, not only of that which the land has given us but also a period in which we are offered the opportunity to consider and ‘gather in’ all that we have sown and nurtured throughout the year within our own lives and the positive differences we might have brought to the world around us. It is also a time of endings. The sagacious ones amongst us will be thinking also of the necessary new seeds that need reaping and nurturing over the winter months, until the ground is once again ready to bring to fruition the bounty necessary for our ongoing nourishment.

My journey towards my destination takes me through fields and woodland and, whilst the radio informed me of a whole village of killings and the women and children kidnapped in Northern Iraq, my sadness, already profound over the atrocities that humans can perform on one another, deepened further in the autumnal energies. I thought about the tortures that will be inflicted onto those souls until they convert from their own religious beliefs. As I drew closer, reflecting on my own work in the name of harmony and peace and all that might have been 'harvested’ in its name this year, thoughts of pointlessness and hopelessness, like the autumnal mists that settle over the low-lands of Somerset and cloud our ability to see into the distance, whispered despondency into my spirit. 

PictureKarimah Stauch and Morgana West
Ammerdown is a remarkable place in a beautiful setting, nestling in woods next to a Stately Home, surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens and parkland and I have been fortunate to have visited on a few occasions. As my speed slows to the required five mph on the long driveway, its soothing calmness sweeps over me. Since opening in 1973, it has developed into an internationally respected centre with a special focus on interfaith dialogue, peace and reconciliation. Karimah, the person I was here to meet, had arrived, along with others, in a very packed minibus in order to participate in Three Faiths Encounter, an event where, for the past twenty-five years, people of Jewish, Islamic and Christian faiths have converged to talk, share, discover each other’s worship and learn from each other. Their theme this year, ‘Who Is My Neighbour?’ brought regret that this was not my reason for being there.

PictureSheik Bashir, the Unity Candle and Morgana
Karimah was attending, not only under the mantle of her own faith, but also in her role as URI Coordinator along with two other URI CCs: The German Muslim-League Bonn CC and URI Germany CC. I was very appreciative that she had been willing to take some time out to chat with me about the organisation and allow me the opportunity to bring to her an awareness of some of our own work here in Glastonbury. Her welcome was heart-warming and my instincts have nudged me to say that our paths will once again cross in the future. Others attending the conference were also willing to take time out and chat with me. Rabbi Michael Hilton, a Reform rabbi of Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community and writer, author of ‘The Christian Effect on Jewish Life’, Sheikh Bashir Dultz, the spiritual leader of the German Muslim-League and co-founder of global URI and its branches and Peace Ambassador Tatomir Ion-Marius, World Peace Prayer Society representative, all re-stoked the fire beneath me, evaporating the mists of earlier and encouraged me to forge ahead in creating the Cooperation Circle.

Before I left, I gifted a Glastonbury Unity Candle to Karima; this will return to Germany with her where it will be used in URI events. In return I was given a poster that reminds us of the Golden Rule, the ethic of reciprocity 
in that we should treat others as we would like others to treat us. The words on the poster are the maxims from many different beliefs around the world that reflect the Golden Rule, so known since the 1600's. However, the concept itself pre-dates it and can be found as far back as early Confucianism. (551–479 BC)

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Karimah Stauch, the European Coordinator of URI, Rabbi Michael Hilton, a Reform rabbi of Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community and writer, Sheikh Bashir Dultz, the spiritual leader of the German Muslim-League and co-founder of global URI and its branches and Peace Ambassador Tatomir Ion-Marius, World Peace Prayer Society representative and MW.
All over the world people of different beliefs tear each other apart with words and actions and no matter how great or small our peace work is as individuals, together we contribute towards greater understanding; in turn leading us closer towards reconciliation. Peace/bridge building between diverse beliefs and ideas has most likely been around since the third human joined the first two and my words here are nothing new, having been said by many before me. However, if our Centre and Sanctuary can become a circle of cooperation and our own work offer just one drop of nourishing water into an ocean of humanity then, no matter how hopeless or how pointless it sometimes seems to us as single individuals, together, we offer a considerable contribution into the seas of Harmony and Understanding. No matter how insignificant, as individuals, we belief our efforts to be, together we can be strong. Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. 



If you would like to find out more about the Glastonbury Communication Circle,
get in touch. 

Glastonbury 2012: A Celebration of Harmony and Healing. 

The Ammerdown Centre

United Religions Initiative

Cooperation Circles

World Peace Prayer Society
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New! A monthly meditation in the Sanctuary

6/25/2014

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The first one takes place on Friday 4th July
 - all welcome and suitable for everyone!

Contact us for more information. 
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A Glastonbury Peace Garden for Glastonbury in Bloom

3/12/2014

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Would you like to help us with a Peace Garden for 'Glastonbury in Bloom'?
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Glastonbury in Bloom has been overseen by Cllr. Alan Gloak who has given years of dedication to create the wonderful displays that we have enjoyed around the town.

Alan has now retired from this and the task is being undertaken by a newly formed sub-committee of Glastonbury Town Council. Morgana West, PRC Manager is on the team and on behalf of the PRC has pledged to sponsor a space for the summer. This space is the one at the front of St Dunstan's car park where we planted a Peace Pole last year. The Glastonbury Bench faces both ways and the flower beds either side have already been cleared in preparation.



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Glastonbury in Bloom has always followed a theme and the colours this year are the purple, white and greens of the Suffragettes: purple symbolised dignity, white purity, and green hope.

Our sponsorship is to plant up and care for the area throughout the year so if this is something that takes the fancy of any of the green-fingered Glastonbury community - or even those visitors that plan on coming for a shortwhile - do let us know. We shall be establishing a rota of volunteers with set times and periods for being on duty.


Interested? Contact us here...

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Ammerdown Conversation 'Celebrating Planet Earth'

2/5/2014

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Photo: Bruce Stanley
Glastonbury Pilgrim Reception Centre Manager and Co-founder Morgana West (sixth from right, front row)  spent the weekend of Imbolc  (31st Jan - 2nd Feb) at Ammerdown, a beautiful Christian Retreat and Conference Centre near Bath and open to people of all faiths and none with a special emphasis on dialogue, reconciliation and renewal.

Writers, Leaders, Founders and Movers & Shakers within the Christian and Pagan communities had been invited by Ammerdown to join together and converse with the intention of building bridges between differences in celebration of their common love of the Earth. 

Morgana says;

"Myths on both sides were explored and dispelled, insights were made and new-found respect and understanding blossomed. Warm friendships were forged out of the common bonding; new relationships were developed." 

"Imbolc belongs both to the Goddess and to St Brigid. I  have always felt that Brid's evolution from Goddess to Saint linked Pagan and Christian traditions in the same way as the Cauldron of Cerridwen and the Holy Grail were combined in Arthurian legend and that she acts as a bridge between the two worlds; successfully making the transition back to Goddess again for many people and with most of Her traditions retained."

"To attend this historic event, especially at Imbolc, has been an honour. 
 It was pure nourishment for my soul, unique in that it was something that could ONLY be done by Christians AND Pagans. At the simple closing ceremony in the chapel we gathered around the Brid/Brigid altar. I offered up a prayer asking that after we had all parted and returned to our own worlds, Brid's  light might shine brightly from within us all encouraging harmony, understanding and tolerance between people of all faiths and beliefs."
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Photo: Bruce Stanley
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