Goddess Retreat at Chalice Well
- a review by Katinka Soetens
In May 2003, I had the privilege to be able to go on Kathy Jones’s
Goddess Retreat, which is held yearly at Chalice Well. Not only
was it a real luxury to be able to take 5 days away from it all,
on a proper
retreat (ie, no phone calls, emails, or much contact with the outside
world), but Kathy facilitates time connecting to the Goddess, within
the magical energies of Avalon, found in the landscape of Glastonbury.
There were 7 of us on the retreat, all women, staying in the beautiful,
comfortable Little St.Michael’s and being fed fabulous organic
food cooked for us by wonder woman, Nicole Messier. This was in
itself a complete joy, but in addition we had access to the peaceful
and magical
gardens, including before and after closing times, which became
an absolute highlight, as during those times a powerful opening
and deepening
to the energies of the Goddess happened for me.
On our first day, we walked into the centre of the Glastonbury Tor
Labyrinth, the 7 levels of which correspond to different energies,
elements and charkas. I particularly enjoyed level 1 and Banbha’s
earth energy, and feeling the wind on level 4. We repeated a mantra
as we walked, or prayed in our own way (I sang silently to myself),
and really felt different as the journey continued. It was strange
and somehow familiar, to be going up and down, in and out, all
at the same time. In the center, we got to a clump of thorn and
elder trees,
where between the roots, nestles an egg stone, a boulder, a gate
to the underworld, and one of the gateways into Avalon. We prayed
and
left our offerings here, and returned to the Challice Well gardens,
all of us feeling tired, excited and subdued at the same time.
The next days were spend communing with and opening to the Goddess,
sharing with each other in the lovely Garden Room, where we created
a beautiful communal altar to the Goddess, and coming to that quiet
space of surrender, the center of balance within ourselves, where you
can really be touched and transformed by the Goddess.
On our journey, Kathy offered each of us a healing session or a psychic
or tarot reading, mine being a healing of an old grief that was in
much need of transformation into love.
We spend much time quietly walking the gardens; singing, praying,
cleansing and opening up to the Goddess and our true selves. Unexpected
things happen to us all ((I glimpsed a Morgen behind an apple tree
on Chalice Hill.) We sat by a sacred fire at night, in the drizzle,
and laughed as we told each other a story full of mirth and sisterhood.
We had time to meet the Goddess as my Lady of Avalon, Goddess of the
Bloodwell, Lady of the White Spring.
I had such a strong sense of being in a different place, of being
in Avalon, and had visions of priestesses moving around me, in this
place that once was their home and heart of the sacred isle beyond
the mist.
On the fourth day, Lynn,Guardian of Challice Well, came to talk
to us about the Blue Bowl, and gave us some specially prepared water
from
the White and Red spring to anoint ourselves with. We spend time
meditating in the Upper Room with the Blue Bowl, both as a group
and individually;
a very moving experience which left us all quiet, including over
the, otherwise chatty, lunch. It gave me a clear appreciation of
the need
and value of a ‘vow of silence’, and it was strange that
all of us, though on different paths and at different places within
our self, felt very similar on this day. In fact, the gardens which
otherwise are such a peaceful place in the hustleand bustle of Glastonbury-life,
now seemed unbearably crowded to me, and I couldn’t wait for
closing time, so that they would be ‘just mine’ again.
That night I found my prayers flowing out of me, out of this stillness
inside of me, and experienced really feeling like a vessel for Her
energy.
On our final day, we walked out of the labyrinth by going back to
the center and reversing the walk from the first day. This time level
1 felt difficult and heavy to me, and level 7 was a fun-filled mountain
goat-like climb. Again we said mantras or prayed and took stock of
all we had found and learned, gained and let go off, during our time
on the Goddess Retreat. None of us really wanted to leave, and I
think part of me will stay there in that magical dimension, to be
tapped
back into when revisited in my mind, meditated upon, or revisited ‘in
the flesh’ when I return to Challice Well. Thank you Kathy for
such a fabulous 5 days that have felt like an initiation to me. Perhaps
I’ll even get the chance to come on the Retreat next year, unless
all who read this jump at the chance of experiencing their own journey
to the Goddess in Avalon and book up Kathy’s Goddess Retreat
2004.
Blessed be,
Katinka Soetens
