Introduction
What would you risk to become the person you were born to be? Where would you journey? How far would you walk to reclaim the priestess path that leads you through the depths of the soul’s shadow and reveals to you the height of your inner illumination? What tools would you pack to help you along your pilgrim’s trackway? Who would you choose as your companions on this ever-unfolding journey?
Imagine with me, then, a place of women’s healing. An island of women defined by their wisdom, praised for their knowledge, and sought after for their skills. A sisterhood bound in the spirit of service to the Feminine Divine—a service which manifested not only in the maintenance and perpetuation of the college temple Avalon may have been, as well as in care and respect for the self. Visualize what life may have been like living in community with like-minded and empowered women. Imagine the ways their lives unfolded as they embraced the cyclic harmonies of nature as the template they emulated in both their communal and inner spiritual lives.
Reflect upon the lessons we can glean from meditating upon the Holy Isle of Avalon as many believed it to be. Was it a historical place? An element of a lost Celtic myth about a blessed Otherworldly island which produced everything it needed of its own accord? Perhaps it was a British reflex of the enclaves of shapeshifting oracular women healers we see in the lore and legend found in other Celtic lands? And what if Avalon never existed at all outside of literary tradition and artistic imagination? Perhaps none of this is as important as what the essence of Avalon represents in the soul process of today’s seeker who resonates with the Holy Isle and feels called to her shores, be they literal or metaphorical.
What if we each, like the island of Avalon, were a complete and whole entity unto ourselves? What if we could provide for our every physical, emotional, and spiritual need? What if we could harness the gifts of our inner resources and achieve our life’s greatest potential to the fullest? What if we honored our deepest wisdom, embraced our ability to transform our lives and our circumstances, acknowledged our power to heal ourselves and, by extension, our communities and even the planet? How would our world be different if we embraced other women as our sisters, instead of comparing ourselves to them and competing with them? How differently would we see ourselves if we truly valued all that which makes us women, and entered into aware and honoring relationships with our family, friends, and lovers? What would we reflect out into the world if we placed the goddesses at the center of our lives and consciously adapted a lifelong practice that aligned us with the great natural cycles turning around and within us?
What if we lived our lives as if Avalon existed in the here and now, dwelling nowhere but within us, as steady as our heartbeat and as close as our next breath?
The practices presented here build upon the work shared in my book Avalon Within. They are part of a system of spiritual discipline that aims to guide the journeyer on a path of self-discovery, to build a strong and lasting connection with the Holy Isle, and to foster a true and meaningful relationship with the Celtic British goddesses honored in the Avalonian Tradition and beyond. Although inspired by Celtic legend and Welsh folklore, these tools are not ancient, nor have they come out of traditional practice. While we seek to honor Brythonic culture and the deities worshiped by our spiritual ancestors, it is important to acknowledge that little is known about the beliefs and practices of the ancient Celtic Britons, and because the stories of the figures we honor as divinities were written down in the medieval period when Britain was no longer Pagan, they are nowhere identified as gods. And so by necessity, although inspired by what lore we do have, the methods and framework is presented in these pages is of modern origin. I can only hope that there is some small spark of Awen that informs and dwells within the work. For while the practices and systems of correspondences are new, they are intended to be vehicles to help us touch what lies deeper within us. These are tools to help us move through layers of time and bridge cultural differences so that we may better connect with the ancient divinities, spiritual guardians, and innate wisdoms which, taken together, comprise the fabric of Ynys Afallon—the Holy Island of Healing.
So let us begin the next phase of our journey, and explore the mysteries of the Otherworldly Cauldron of Healing that dwells within Avalon’s keeping. We will begin by looking to the past in order to examine the literary traditions of Avalon as a place of healing and rebirth. We will be introduced to the Avalonian Cycle of Revealing, a modern lunar system which is keyed into the prominent energies of the thirteen moons of the year, and, using the language of the modern Avalonian Tradition and its relevance to the priestess path of the contemporary seeker, we will explore the corresponding energies of the goddesses of Avalon. We will do so by delving into their myths and legends from a psycho-spiritual perspective so that we may better understand the lessons they hold for us and the examples they have set for our own spiritual revelations. Along the way, we will explore ways to come into relationship with our herbal allies in order to solidify our partnerships with them as they act as companions on our deepening journey, and we will seek out the wisdom of coming into alignment with lunar rhythms as they cycle both around and within us.