Sacred Journey, Pilgrimage

Sarah in Avalon

Detach from all that is familiar. Be open to transformation.

On pilgrimage, you live outside time. Moving through space, you shake off old bonds, and a sense of freedom takes their place. You travel through the landscape, knowing you will be forever changed by the journey. Such a place is the Isle of Avalon, where this painting is set. In it, Mary Magdalene’s daughter, Sarah, stands on top of Wearyall Hill with Glastonbury Tor in the background. Joseph of Arimathea had landed there with his companions around 63 CE, “weary all.” A staff planted in the ground grew into the Holy Thorn Tree. Sarah is holding a blooming branch of the North African species. A Phoenician boat sits in the marshland, and the Tor is still a natural temple without a tower on top of it. The labyrinth carved track leading to the summit is a path of initiation. Under the Tor is the entrance to Annwn. In Celtic mysticism, this is the home of Gwyn ap Nudd and the faery realm.