Avalon Blog – 1

Hi Friends,
Thank you so much for all your good wishes for my journey to the UK. It has been a rocky few days, that’s for sure! About an hour before we landed in London, a stewardess informed me that my fanny pack with all my money and credit cards had been handed in to lost and found at JFK airport! Bummer! I landed with no money, although I had my passport with me. Phew!
What to do? As I walked to baggage claim, someone grabbed me by the shirt, saying, “Ivan!” It was an old friend, and he lent me enough money to reach my destination by bus. Another friend lent me enough money to live on until my fanny pack was delivered to the door… thank you Fearn for arranging that for me…
The real intent behind this journey is to finish writing my book. Imagine my horror when I found that my laptop didn’t work! It got a virus, which messed up all the commands… another bummer! I took my laptop in for repair, and they seemed to get it working OK in the shop, but immediately I tried to use it where I was staying, it ferked up again. After a week of problems, I wondered… is it just a result of something crazy happening where I am staying? I tried it in the computer shop, and it worked OK there. I tried in in an internet café, and it worked there… I tried it again where I was staying, and it messed up again. So… it is fine, unless I try to use the wireless where I am staying. OK…
So all is well. I am writing and the Awen is flowing. I am meeting old friends, and am reconnecting with the spirit of Avalon again. I climbed the Tor at sunset a few days ago, and today I walked with my friend Peter up the Ebbor Gorge, an awesome climb up through a gorge to an amazing cliff where the buzzards fly. I am including a photo of the Tor taken from Ebbor today. It is very atmospheric, and misty…
Although my physical home is in Vermont, my spirit home has always been here at Glastonbury. The Tor is the locus mundi, or the world pillar, of the Celtic lands and is the home of Gwynn ap Nudd (pronounced Neith), the god of the Underworld. He leads the Wild Hunt, collecting the souls of the recently dead and guides them to Tir-na-nog. There is a portal in the side of the Tor, which is the entrance to the Underworld. The souls of those humans who are being born are also moving through the Tor, towards birth, but in the opposite direction to the dead.
Brigid is the patron goddess of Glastonbury, and she had a small chapel where she greeted visiting pilgrims. It has been a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years, for the landscape is sacred. I feel very blessed to have such a connection, and it is a very special time for me here.
I will write and send updates from time to time. Thank you for being my friends, and I wish you a wonderful winter. I do confess, half the time I have spent here I have been walking around in my T-shirt. The other half has been stormy, and I have been remembering how wildly elemental Glastonbury sometimes is. Very exciting
Gotta go. Love you, and hugs all round.