The British Mystery School of Avalon

Dear Friends

This annual ceremony was inspired by the discovery of the extraordinary alignment that occurs on the island at Winter Solstice sunrise, when the rising sun can be seen rolling up the Tor from the Mound on St Edmund’s Hill. At this turning point in the Great Year, the Winter Solstice sun is also conjunct the Galactic Centre – an alignment that will not be repeated for 26,000 years. The ceremony on the Mound was designed to attune us to this awe-inspiring event.

Over four years, a dedicated team of celebrants made offerings to the Divine Powers, to Avalonian and British guardians, and to the ancestors. Many prayers were offered to the central fire. Finally on the morning of December 21 2010, a full-moon eclipse linked the Galactic Centre with its opposing point near Orion (the Galactic Anti-Centre). The year that followed has been an extraordinary one for our global society, and we believe that our work in holding this ceremonial space is complete. We know that the Glastonbury community has great love and respect for sacred ceremony in the spirit of our distant ancestors, and we trust that other ritual practitioners will now step forward to facilitate Winter Solstice gatherings on the Mound.

Deep peace of the circling stars to you

Nicholas R. Mann & Philippa Glasson

Last Year's Talk:

The Current Winter Solstice Galactic Alignment

The Astronomical reality behind 2012?

An observer anywhere on the Earth, looking at the Sun on the Winter Solstice, 21 December 2010, will have been looking toward the intersection of the Milky Way and the ecliptic, the path of the Sun, Moon and planets, visualized as two planes meeting at an inclination of about 60°. This intersection of the solar system with the Milky Way occurs in two places: one on the cusp of the Sagittarius and Scorpio, and the other on the cusp of Gemini and Taurus. These constellations plus eight others trace the zodiac, the ‘road’ of the Sun, Moon and planets as they move around the sky. (NB We refer here to the visible constellations in the sky, not to the tropical zodiac as used by Western astrology.)

Winter Solstice 2010

These two crossing points link us with the Milky Way in another way, for the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads lies near the centre of our galaxy, now known to contain a black hole. On the other hand, the Gemini-Taurus crossroads points away from the galactic core towards the ‘galactic anticentre’—which we could construe as the universe in general. So the two crossroads form an axis that in theory could have been oriented in any direction, but is in fact aligned to and away from the centre of the Milky Way.

Now, due to the slow precessional movement of the axis of the Earth, rather like the slow gyration of a spinning top, the time of year when the Sun is upon either of the two crossroads moves around a 26,000 year cycle. As mentioned, we are now at the time in this cycle when the Winter Solstice Sun is upon the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads, and the Summer Solstice Sun is upon the Gemini-Taurus crossroads. The Winter Solstice Sun now points toward the heart of our galaxy. As the time the Winter Solstice Sun takes to move over the crossroads is very slow, this event is occurring over a number of years but we are in the middle of that period right now.

In many ancient and indigenous traditions the Winter Solstice marks the critical time of new beginnings, of death and rebirth. So the fact that the Winter Solstice Sun is over the centre of the galaxy right now seems highly momentous.

In 2010, however, those who observed at the Sun at the Winter Solstice could also have seen the eclipse of a full Moon, which occurred diametrically across the sky on the Gemini-Taurus crossroads, the current place of the Summer Solstice Sun. In visual astronomy, an eclipse like this indicates an alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon. But in 2010, because of precession, this alignment included the centre of galaxy, the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the Gemini-Taurus crossroads and the galactic anticentre! The eclipse therefore tells us when the alignment is exact. There will be not be another eclipse like this for 13,000 years. It seems impossible to imagine any other linear alignment in the heavens including such a comprehensive range of celestial phenomena.

If we imagine the great circles of the zodiac or the galaxy as the arms of a great bow, for example, then the alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon between their crossing points is like a taut string, ready to play or vibrate at frequencies beyond those associated with a ‘normal’ solstice or eclipse. The Winter Solstice 2010 alignment can be compared to a projectile made of light—perhaps the arrow of the archer Sagittarius, or the spear of the Celtic light god Lugh—hurtling through our galaxy, linking the Earth with the greater cosmos. So the lunar eclipse of 2010 has seemingly appeared like a cosmic marker of the alignment, telling us when it is exact, and better still, acting as a trigger or a release point.

The Crossroads in World Tradition

The timing of the end of the Mayan long count has prompted many of us to look more closely at the cycle of Precession, in which the stars appear to move slowly backwards in relation to the seasons on planet Earth. The growing understanding that our generation has arrived at a momentous point in the vast cycle of Precession has guided us to reconnect with traditions of ancient sky lore almost forgotten in the West.

26,000 years ago, when the heavens were (almost) in the same place as today, Paleolithic man embarked on a new and intense phase of cultural activity. 13,000 years later, when the Winter Solstice Sun lay on the Gemini crossroads and the Summer Solstice Sun on Sagittarius, marked the end of the last Ice Age, when warmer conditions made it possible for the next stage in humanity’s journey to occur. 6,500 years on, when the crossroads rose due east and set due west at the Equinoxes, the agricultural revolution begin. So what is the meaning of the return of the Winter Solstice Sun to the Sagittarius gateway and the Summer Solstice to Gemini today?

Esoteric wisdom on this subject was held in ancient India, Egypt, and the Americas; it seems also to have been known to the shamanic peoples of the far North. Greek and Roman writers still saw the crossroads of the Zodiac and Milky Way as portals for the soul, although in the last two millennia only a handful of Western mystics have referred to this knowledge, notably Dante Alighieri and Jacob Boehme (in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Gemini gateway is his access point to the heavenly realm of Paradise).

For the Maya, the two crossroads of the Milky Way marked the two heads of their creator god Itzamna. The part of the Milky Way in the vicinity of Sagittarius was seen as the entry-point to their underworld (xibalba be); in the opposite side, in Gemini, were positioned the cosmic hearth stones, the place of creation, represented by three of the stars of Orion. The Mayan Maize God traveled from xibalba be to this part of the sky to be reborn.

The Mayan story of the Maize God parallels the Egyptian story of Osiris’s rebirth in relation to the stars of Orion. After his murder by his brother Set Osiris ascends to this regenerative place in the sky with the magical aid of his sister-queen Isis, who is identified with Sothis-Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and harbinger of the fertilizing Nile flood that made the crops grow again. In the Egyptian paintings of the processions of stars (or decans), Sirius is placed just behind Orion, and their two star-boats point towards the nearby Gemini gateway. In Egyptian tomb-paintings, the only two star groups occupying boats on this side of the sky are Sirius and Orion. On the opposite side of the sky, one other major decan was depicted as a boat with a red star on its prow. Egyptian archaeoastronomers have now agreed that this boat represented the stars of Scorpio Sagittarius and the bright star Antares, heart of the Scorpion. In the Dendera Zodiac, the Sun god Re, holding a scepter, is depicted seated in this boat.

So sky-boats were only depicted by the ancient Egyptians at the two gateways of the zodiac. The Maya also saw travel along the star road as involving a boat journey.

At these crossroads in the sky, an especial journey along the Milky Way was possible or necessary.

In Vedic thought, the area of the Milky Way near Taurus and Gemini is regarded as the most auspicious portion of the zodiac. The Gemini area is marked by the nakshatra or lunar mansion called Mrigashira or the antelope’s head. The deer is one of the most ancient forms assumed by the mother goddess, venerated as such by Siberian shamans. Indian tradition relates that it is here that the nectar of immortality is generated; this is Soma, the drink of the Gods, identified with the Moon and with various sacred plants. On the other hand, the opposite side of the Milky Way, and the surrounding signs of Scorpio and Sagittarius, was regarded as dangerous, possibly due to its association with the arrow of Sagittarius and the poison of the scorpion’s tail. Associated with the nakshatra of Mula, the root, the Sagittarius gateway is ruled by Nirriti, a goddess of destruction, death and decay akin to Kali. She is sometimes seen as a feminine form of Rudra, the storm God and bowman. But in Vedic hymns it is Rudra, as an aspect of Shiva whom one invokes to avert calamity. Shiva has the ability to drink poison and transform it into nectar.

Scorpio and Sagittarius and the ‘mortal’ Milky Way portal may spell difficult karma or worldly challenges; but they can also bring spiritual gains. The scorpion is linked to the Kundalini force, the serpent fire or dragon, while the arrow of Sagittarius can represent the Kundalini in its aroused state, as a weapon for the Gods. Both Kali and Rudra-Shiva are the deities who protect and guide the Yogis, so this gateway can seemingly open the door to higher states of consciousness, but only if we are willing to pay the price, by separating ourselves from the mundane world and the enjoyment seeking of the outer creation.

However, we must remember that what is nectar at a worldly level may be poison at a spiritual level and vice versa. Soma as the nectar of the Gods can be poison to mortals. The ordinary human nervous system cannot easily handle this force, like the awakening of Kundalini. The Soma-poison opposition reflects a message found everywhere in the lore of the Milky Way: the milk of heaven is only occasionally offered to mortals. Normally they are barred from taking it, unless they have developed special divine qualities within themselves.

The ancient traditions concerning the Milky Way raise many interesting questions. The Scorpio-Sagittarius side of the Milky Way marks the galactic center and a black hole—a place of inter-dimensional meeting. Why should this be an underworld entry point in Vedic and Mayan thought? This can be explained at least in part in that it is an area of karmic rectification and soul-judgement. Connecting with it may be seen as beneficial for us spiritually, but not necessarily materially.

Today the Winter Solstice is in conjunction with the ‘poisonous’ side of the Milky Way. At the same time, however, the summer solstice—and the lunar eclipse of December 21 2010—is in Mrigarshira around 5 degrees Gemini: the constellation of the Soma. Humanity is being offered a great spiritual opportunity as well as a serious challenge. Will we aspire to the spiritual blessings of the Soma, or will we be overwhelmed by the poison of our worldly obsessions and unsustainable lifestyles? So far, we are polluting our planet and inadvertently choosing or invoking Nirriti from all the possibilities available in our four dimensional world. For this the retribution of gods like Rudra cannot be far behind.

A version of this article was given at the Gatekeeper Conference in London 2010.

	Events 2011
	WINTER SOLSTICE FIRE CEREMONY ON ST EDMUND’S HILL
	Dear Friends This annual ceremony was inspired by the discovery of the extraordinary alignment that occurs on the island at Winter Solstice sunrise, when the rising sun can be seen rolling up the Tor from the Mound on St Edmund’s Hill. At this turning point in the Great Year, the Winter Solstice sun is also conjunct the Galactic Centre – an alignment that will not be repeated for 26,000 years. The ceremony on the Mound was designed to attune us to this awe-inspiring event. Over four years, a dedicated team of celebrants made offerings to the Divine Powers, to Avalonian and British guardians, and to the ancestors. Many prayers were offered to the central fire. Finally on the morning of December 21 2010, a full-moon eclipse linked the Galactic Centre with its opposing point near Orion (the Galactic Anti-Centre). The year that followed has been an extraordinary one for our global society, and we believe that our work in holding this ceremonial space is complete. We know that the Glastonbury community has great love and respect for sacred ceremony in the spirit of our distant ancestors, and we trust that other ritual practitioners will now step forward to facilitate Winter Solstice gatherings on the Mound. Deep peace of the circling stars to you Nicholas R. Mann & Philippa Glasson Last Year's Talk: The Current Winter Solstice Galactic Alignment The Astronomical reality behind 2012? An observer anywhere on the Earth, looking at the Sun on the Winter Solstice, 21 December 2010, will have been looking toward the intersection of the Milky Way and the ecliptic, the path of the Sun, Moon and planets, visualized as two planes meeting at an inclination of about 60°. This intersection of the solar system with the Milky Way occurs in two places: one on the cusp of the Sagittarius and Scorpio, and the other on the cusp of Gemini and Taurus. These constellations plus eight others trace the zodiac, the ‘road’ of the Sun, Moon and planets as they move around the sky. (NB We refer here to the visible constellations in the sky, not to the tropical zodiac as used by Western astrology.) These two crossing points link us with the Milky Way in another way, for the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads lies near the centre of our galaxy, now known to contain a black hole. On the other hand, the Gemini-Taurus crossroads points away from the galactic core towards the ‘galactic anticentre’—which we could construe as the universe in general. So the two crossroads form an axis that in theory could have been oriented in any direction, but is in fact aligned to and away from the centre of the Milky Way. Now, due to the slow precessional movement of the axis of the Earth, rather like the slow gyration of a spinning top, the time of year when the Sun is upon either of the two crossroads moves around a 26,000 year cycle. As mentioned, we are now at the time in this cycle when the Winter Solstice Sun is upon the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads, and the Summer Solstice Sun is upon the Gemini-Taurus crossroads. The Winter Solstice Sun now points toward the heart of our galaxy. As the time the Winter Solstice Sun takes to move over the crossroads is very slow, this event is occurring over a number of years but we are in the middle of that period right now. In many ancient and indigenous traditions the Winter Solstice marks the critical time of new beginnings, of death and rebirth. So the fact that the Winter Solstice Sun is over the centre of the galaxy right now seems highly momentous. In 2010, however, those who observed at the Sun at the Winter Solstice could also have seen the eclipse of a full Moon, which occurred diametrically across the sky on the Gemini-Taurus crossroads, the current place of the Summer Solstice Sun. In visual astronomy, an eclipse like this indicates an alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon. But in 2010, because of precession, this alignment included the centre of galaxy, the Sagittarius-Scorpius crossroads, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the Gemini-Taurus crossroads and the galactic anticentre! The eclipse therefore tells us when the alignment is exact. There will be not be another eclipse like this for 13,000 years. It seems impossible to imagine any other linear alignment in the heavens including such a comprehensive range of celestial phenomena. If we imagine the great circles of the zodiac or the galaxy as the arms of a great bow, for example, then the alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon between their crossing points is like a taut string, ready to play or vibrate at frequencies beyond those associated with a ‘normal’ solstice or eclipse. The Winter Solstice 2010 alignment can be compared to a projectile made of light—perhaps the arrow of the archer Sagittarius, or the spear of the Celtic light god Lugh—hurtling through our galaxy, linking the Earth with the greater cosmos. So the lunar eclipse of 2010 has seemingly appeared like a cosmic marker of the alignment, telling us when it is exact, and better still, acting as a trigger or a release point. The Crossroads in World Tradition The timing of the end of the Mayan long count has prompted many of us to look more closely at the cycle of Precession, in which the stars appear to move slowly backwards in relation to the seasons on planet Earth. The growing understanding that our generation has arrived at a momentous point in the vast cycle of Precession has guided us to reconnect with traditions of ancient sky lore almost forgotten in the West. 26,000 years ago, when the heavens were (almost) in the same place as today, Paleolithic man embarked on a new and intense phase of cultural activity. 13,000 years later, when the Winter Solstice Sun lay on the Gemini crossroads and the Summer Solstice Sun on Sagittarius, marked the end of the last Ice Age, when warmer conditions made it possible for the next stage in humanity’s journey to occur. 6,500 years on, when the crossroads rose due east and set due west at the Equinoxes, the agricultural revolution begin. So what is the meaning of the return of the Winter Solstice Sun to the Sagittarius gateway and the Summer Solstice to Gemini today? Esoteric wisdom on this subject was held in ancient India, Egypt, and the Americas; it seems also to have been known to the shamanic peoples of the far North. Greek and Roman writers still saw the crossroads of the Zodiac and Milky Way as portals for the soul, although in the last two millennia only a handful of Western mystics have referred to this knowledge, notably Dante Alighieri and Jacob Boehme (in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Gemini gateway is his access point to the heavenly realm of Paradise). For the Maya, the two crossroads of the Milky Way marked the two heads of their creator god Itzamna. The part of the Milky Way in the vicinity of Sagittarius was seen as the entry-point to their underworld (xibalba be); in the opposite side, in Gemini, were positioned the cosmic hearth stones, the place of creation, represented by three of the stars of Orion. The Mayan Maize God traveled from xibalba be to this part of the sky to be reborn. The Mayan story of the Maize God parallels the Egyptian story of Osiris’s rebirth in relation to the stars of Orion. After his murder by his brother Set Osiris ascends to this regenerative place in the sky with the magical aid of his sister-queen Isis, who is identified with Sothis-Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and harbinger of the fertilizing Nile flood that made the crops grow again. In the Egyptian paintings of the processions of stars (or decans), Sirius is placed just behind Orion, and their two star-boats point towards the nearby Gemini gateway. In Egyptian tomb-paintings, the only two star groups occupying boats on this side of the sky are Sirius and Orion. On the opposite side of the sky, one other major decan was depicted as a boat with a red star on its prow. Egyptian archaeoastronomers have now agreed that this boat represented the stars of Scorpio Sagittarius and the bright star Antares, heart of the Scorpion. In the Dendera Zodiac, the Sun god Re, holding a scepter, is depicted seated in this boat. So sky-boats were only depicted by the ancient Egyptians at the two gateways of the zodiac. The Maya also saw travel along the star road as involving a boat journey. At these crossroads in the sky, an especial journey along the Milky Way was possible or necessary. In Vedic thought, the area of the Milky Way near Taurus and Gemini is regarded as the most auspicious portion of the zodiac. The Gemini area is marked by the nakshatra or lunar mansion called Mrigashira or the antelope’s head. The deer is one of the most ancient forms assumed by the mother goddess, venerated as such by Siberian shamans. Indian tradition relates that it is here that the nectar of immortality is generated; this is Soma, the drink of the Gods, identified with the Moon and with various sacred plants. On the other hand, the opposite side of the Milky Way, and the surrounding signs of Scorpio and Sagittarius, was regarded as dangerous, possibly due to its association with the arrow of Sagittarius and the poison of the scorpion’s tail. Associated with the nakshatra of Mula, the root, the Sagittarius gateway is ruled by Nirriti, a goddess of destruction, death and decay akin to Kali. She is sometimes seen as a feminine form of Rudra, the storm God and bowman. But in Vedic hymns it is Rudra, as an aspect of Shiva whom one invokes to avert calamity. Shiva has the ability to drink poison and transform it into nectar. Scorpio and Sagittarius and the ‘mortal’ Milky Way portal may spell difficult karma or worldly challenges; but they can also bring spiritual gains. The scorpion is linked to the Kundalini force, the serpent fire or dragon, while the arrow of Sagittarius can represent the Kundalini in its aroused state, as a weapon for the Gods. Both Kali and Rudra-Shiva are the deities who protect and guide the Yogis, so this gateway can seemingly open the door to higher states of consciousness, but only if we are willing to pay the price, by separating ourselves from the mundane world and the enjoyment seeking of the outer creation. However, we must remember that what is nectar at a worldly level may be poison at a spiritual level and vice versa. Soma as the nectar of the Gods can be poison to mortals. The ordinary human nervous system cannot easily handle this force, like the awakening of Kundalini. The Soma-poison opposition reflects a message found everywhere in the lore of the Milky Way: the milk of heaven is only occasionally offered to mortals. Normally they are barred from taking it, unless they have developed special divine qualities within themselves. The ancient traditions concerning the Milky Way raise many interesting questions. The Scorpio-Sagittarius side of the Milky Way marks the galactic center and a black hole—a place of inter-dimensional meeting. Why should this be an underworld entry point in Vedic and Mayan thought? This can be explained at least in part in that it is an area of karmic rectification and soul-judgement. Connecting with it may be seen as beneficial for us spiritually, but not necessarily materially. Today the Winter Solstice is in conjunction with the ‘poisonous’ side of the Milky Way. At the same time, however, the summer solstice—and the lunar eclipse of December 21 2010—is in Mrigarshira around 5 degrees Gemini: the constellation of the Soma. Humanity is being offered a great spiritual opportunity as well as a serious challenge. Will we aspire to the spiritual blessings of the Soma, or will we be overwhelmed by the poison of our worldly obsessions and unsustainable lifestyles? So far, we are polluting our planet and inadvertently choosing or invoking Nirriti from all the possibilities available in our four dimensional world. For this the retribution of gods like Rudra cannot be far behind. A version of this article was given at the Gatekeeper Conference in London 2010.
	The New Aeon
	The last few decades were a time of wonder and expansiveness for humanity. Incredible economic prosperity, new technological resources and increased levels of personal freedom offered millions of people, and Westerners in particular, the opportunity to live like gods. At the same time, we have been privileged to live in an era of extraordinary spiritual renewal, when many lost fragments of the ancient wisdom teachings are available to us again. But at last we are recognizing that we have not used these blessings in a wise and responsible way, for the good of the planet and all the life forms it supports. Since the beginning of the 21st century it has become patently obvious that the constant growth global capitalist economy is putting an impossible pressure upon the steady state eco-system of our beautiful blue planet. The evidence of global crisis is all around us. Yet despite high-level international conferences on questions such as carbon emissions and third world debt, despite shoring up our ailing banks and businesses, our leaders and institutions are caught tightly in the cogs of the money-making machine; they provide no clear guidance. This is a time, in other words, when we are in desperate need of men and women with true vision. The message being received from those who act as planetary guides is that this current era is rapidly coming to its close. The time has come when we urgently need to prepare for a new aeon, a new world. But to achieve this, the human race will have to give up the present world, that is, lose its current dominance over nature, and create a life in balance with Life on Earth. The mass of humanity will have to face the initiatory ‘ordeal of the abyss’ as it is compelled to relinquish a mistaken, materialistic relationship to earth and matter. This crisis of consciousness will increase in the years leading up to and beyond 2012/13. Our work is intended to support and strengthen those of us who have been receiving messages about the extreme urgency of this time. We will have to draw on our deepest sources of spiritual guidance if we are to navigate safely through the dangerous decades that lie ahead. To fulfill tasks of planetary guardianship and service, we will need to draw on the ancient wisdom of the hidden planetary elders, and work closely with the devic realms, which have been badly injured through our recent collective actions. Our work aims to clarify what you can do to help yourself and thus humanity return to the path of balance. Our work is designed to support you on your unique spiritual journey of dedication, service and self-initiation directed to that end. What we share is intended to help humanity walk through a major initiatory doorway, into a New Aeon.