At the Heart of the World

by Francesca Aniballi (Italy)

I didn't expect to find Great Britain

I met Natalia in a stuffy B&B in Glastonbury, a small rural town in Somerset considered as the Meccah of New Agers and Goddess worshippers. Before leaving Bristol, out of curiosity, I had signed up for a few talks at the Goddess Conference -- an annual summer event where people who follow "the way of the Goddess" can interact and take part to workshops and seminars -- except that once I got there I avoided collecting my ticket for the event and opted for an archaeological tour of the Glastonbury Abbey premises and museum instead. That early August morning, as I was having breakfast in the B&B common hall, from the threshold Natalia smiled with her green eyes and lovely dimples. As she approached the table, she said hi. In a few moments, we decided it would be fun to spend the day together: something had clicked between us. We left the room full of dusty Buddha statues and sizeable amethyst chunks and walked into the cool morning air. Natalia led me to the Goddess Temple downtown. I entered with a mixture of apprehension and excitement. I was scared and attracted at the same time. We sat down on piles of velvet cushions. The walls were light violet and a huge painting of a goddess with flowing hair and a gree tunic hung from the wall, behind an altar decorated with several tealight candles. I learned that the temple was dressed in shades of green because the seasonal theme was abundance. I counted seven people: two young men, one of whom was lighting a candle, three women probably in their thirties and a mother with her little son. Light streamed in from the big window next to the painting. On the long side-wall hung antlers and wooden masks. In the centre of the rectangular room stood a lean, white-haired man wearing a blue poncho, "smudging" sage with a white feather, that is, letting whorls of sage smoke spread all around the room. Visitors kept coming in. Nobody was speaking. Everybody trod lightly, wearing colourful socks. As I eased into the strange, soft atmosphere, I listened to my heart-beat and relaxed. My breath became regular and deep. Silence had its unusual music as I contemplated scenes from my life up until that moment, parading in my mind's eye. People I had seen as self-absorbed at first became radiant before my eyes. It felt as if we were in the know about what was going on then and there at the very "heart of the world," as Glastonbury is known in esoteric circles because of its natural earth energies. It was a strange kind of listening, attending to the Silence, holding my whole life in my intentions, while focusing on the moment. We stayed for a long time, maybe two or three hours. When I stood up to leave, I looked around again; there were no precious objects, only natural and coloured decorations, such as plants, stones, flowers. Yet, the room was filled with light waves, like an invisible high tide of energy: all of us, as well as the objects, were floating in it. When I stepped out of the temple, the grey English air all around enveloped me once again. I was still at peace.