Behind the human guardians of this ancient land stand the wild guardians of Inis Wen, the ‘white isle’ or Britain. These are the pre-human, primordial beings who possess the power of the animal and elemental worlds. Sometimes gigantic, sometimes dwarfish, identified with the wilderness, the rivers, hills, mountains, forests and constellations, the indwelling spirits or genii loci of archaic Britain gradually came to assume distinctive forms, names and particular locations.
The wild guardians, when encountered, often have fur and horns. They sprout leaves, shun clothes, and are one with nature. They may appear as the totem
animals of the land. As representatives of the heart of Inis Wen, the white animals - the white horse, the unicorn, the swan, the white hart - symbolise its core energies of spiritual healing and renewal. Beside and protecting them are the more ferocious forces symbolised by the boar, the bear and the eagle. At the same time, the wild guardians flank the more human and recognisable powers of the Dark and the Light King, the Dark and the Light Queen: Gwynn and Arthur, Morgan and Guinevere. While through all these energies, attuned to the highest wisdom of the land but also to its deepest wildness, is the presence of the great magician, protector and guide of the Isles of Britain, Merlin.
When viewing the British Mysteries through the lens of the Avalonian tradition, we find that alongside Arthur, the ‘bear king,’ and often identified with him, is Gwynn ap Nudd, the ‘white son of night.’ In Celtic myth, Gwynn is one of the three great astronomers of Britain; he is in command of the fairy beings who reside in Glastonbury Tor, his castle and an important entrance to Annwn, the Otherworld. From there, every Samhain, Gwynn rides out as leader of the Wild Hunt accompanied by the Cwm Annwn - the so-called ‘Hounds of Hell’ - to guide the souls of the dead into the Otherworld.
King Arthur is said to have entered the Otherworld through the entranceway upon the Isle of Avalon, and there, legend says, he is not dead, but sleeps, awaiting the hour of his greatest need.
As British psychopomp and ‘Wild Huntsman’ Gwynn also appears in the guise of the constellation of the hunter, Orion, that rises over the Tor in the winter months. He beckons to the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, the ‘dog star’, that rises soon after him.
As early as the fifth millennium BCE, astronomers on the Isle of Avalon would have watched Sirius rising progressively further northwards along the back of the Tor. This slow stellar movement, known as the Precession of the Equinoxes, is shown by the 26,000 year cycle of the Pole Star. British astronomers would have been able to forecast the date, in approximately 3150 BCE, and lasting for 50 years on either side,
when the rising of Sirius would occur in the same place as the rising Winter Solstice sun - the steep northern flank of Glastonbury Tor. The Mound on Windmill Hill was seemingly built to view and mark this event, as were New Grange in Ireland and Stoney Littleton long barrow to the north of Glastonbury. See the Astronomy of Avalon page.
3100 - 3200 BCE marked a watershed in the Neolithic Age and ushered in an era of temple building on an unprecedented and extraordinary scale - not just in the British Isles, but across Europe, Egypt and the Near East. This was also the beginning of the 5125 year Mayan cycle or ‘baktun’ that is due to end on Winter Solstice 2012 CE. The event marking the end of this baktun - the alignment of the Winter Solstice rising sun with the Galactic centre - will be defined by the Mound-Tor alignment in Glastonbury at dawn on December 22, 2012.
The ancient observatory upon the Isle of Avalon can thus help us to align to a stellar event that will be similar in magnitude to that of 3150 BCE. Mythically and symbolically, it can help to awaken powers of true sovereignty and leadership that will be vital to prepare Britain for the immense challenges of the coming decades.
