Glastonbury Myths and Mysteries

Glastonbury, England landscape

I didn’t realize Glastonbury was more than just a music festival site until I met Antón Ponce De Leon Paiva. He is the Peruvian man that Shirley Maclaine wrote about in “It’s All In The Playing,” referring to him as an investigator of UFOs. When Antón was a young man, he was taken blindfolded to a hidden village in the Andes, where elders taught him ancient secrets of the Incas about life on Earth and elsewhere.

I met Antón in Cuzco, where he was giving a talk on sacred sites, and he described Glastonbury as one of the most powerful energy vortexes on the planet.

Glastonbury has been known as a sacred place long before the dawn of recorded history. Ancient Celtic religious leaders performed rituals there, and legends tell of tunnels leading into the realm of the elves and fairies. Glastonbury is also associated with Jesus, King Arthur and UFOs.

Dominating the skyline is Glastonbury Tor, a 170 meter (550 ft.) hill. Some say it was man made, an engineering accomplishment to rival the great pyramid of Egypt. Certainly it was sculpted by human hands — a labyrinth pattern was cut into the hillside during the Neolithic era.

Glastonbury Tor

On top of the Tor is St. Michael’s Tower, all that remains of a church built in the 14th century and restored in 1804. There have been several reports of mysterious lights seen above the Tor. A local policeman saw “eight egg-shaped objects … hovering in formation over the hill” and another observer reported “several green and mauve lights hovering around the tower.” A colleague of mine, Martin Gray, slept in the tower one night, during which he saw “the interior of the tower radiantly aglow with a luminous white light.”

A Christian legend says that, when he was a child, Jesus visited Glastonbury with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. Lyrics to the hymn O Jerusalem, by William Blake, echo the story: “And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s pastures green…”

It is also said that Joseph returned to Glastonbury with the Apostle Philip in 37 c.e. Joseph supposedly leaned on his walking stick, which took root on Wirrall Hill and grew into a thorn tree, which bloomed every Christmas until Puritans chopped it down in the17th century. Joseph and Philip are credited with building the first Christian church in England, on the site where an abbey was later constructed.

That abbey was destroyed by fire in 1190, and during the clean-up, two ancient coffins were discovered, which were believed to contain the remains of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. A lead cross in one of the oak coffins was inscribed, “Here lies the famous King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon.”

ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

A more recent abbey built in the 13th century was destroyed in 1539, on orders from Henry VIII, and its ruins now make a popular background for Instagram pictures.

You could take a photogenic selfie there next June, if you join our small group on a Spiritual Odyssey of England. “A Magical Tour of Merlin’s Britain, from Stonehenge to Cornwall” is happening June 6 – 15, 2023.

Here are a few other amazing sites in the U.K. you could visit…