Geoffrey Ashe
Avalonian Quest
London 1983
Stron 287, format: 14x22 cm
Książka jest używana, niewielkie przybrudzenia wewnątrz obwoluty, stan dobry plus.
Over the past few decades, Glastonbury in Somerset - England's 'ancient Avalon' -has attracted ever-increasing interest. Tourists pour in to visit its ruined Abbey, rich in Christian and Arthurian legend, and to climb the Tor, the strange hill above the town. Thousands assemble here for the annual church-sponsored pilgrimages. But many others come for mystical or occult reasons, seeing Glastonbury as a focus of spiritual power.
In this, his second book on the theme, Geoffrey Ashe surveys what has happened since he wrote King Arthur's Avalon, and considers how Glastonbury ought now to be regarded. He starts by showing its real and surprising importance in the religion, politics, culture and literature of England. A new scrutiny of its best-known legends - those concerning Joseph of Arimathea and the Grail, and King Arthur's burial - proves that these remain mysterious, and the explanations favoured by scholars need radical re-thinking.
After reviewing the speculations of modern mystics, the author notes the conviction felt by many people that this was a sacred site before Christianity. He presents the results of his own field-work, disclosing the likely truth: that a huge ritual maze once encircled the lor, and its remains are still traceable. Despite some support from archaeologists, this theory has never before been fully worked out. Instances of the same maze-pattern in other countries, two or three thousand years old, offer fresh clues to the far-off background of Glastonbury's mythology. Here alone in Britain, perhaps, a great pagan sanctuary comparable to Avebury or Stonehenge became a great Christian one.
However wide-ranging, the discussion never loses touch with present realities -the town, its people, its visitors and visionaries. Glastonbury emerges as a place that is subtly, powerfully alive, with a distinctive future as well as an astonishing past.
Contents
Illustrations 7
Acknowledgments 8
Preface 9
Part One: Questions
1. The Extraordinary Place 13
2. Beginnings in Half-Light 21
3. Beginnings in Daylight 43
4. Joseph and Arthur 54
5. The Saint, the Grail and the Thorn 76
6. Resurrection? 98
7. Way-Out 112
8. A Remoter Background 131
Part Two: Answers?
9. The Terraced Track 153
10. A Notable Temple 168
11. Ariadne's Dance 182
12. A Point of Origin? 202
13. Sacred Mountains 222
14. Towards Sanity 245
Appendix 256
Notes 267
Bibliography 274
Index 281
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