Glastonbury — K.S. Nikakis

What is the sacred? Where can we find it? And why do we need it? The pure notes of dawn's first birdsong; the spark of stars into the night sky; the setting sun's fiery path across ocean waves, can all make us stop, hold our breath, and know, deep within ourselves, we are in the presence of the sacred. For some people, the sacred is found within ornate buildings crowned with crosses, crescents or stars, spaces that bring them closer to their god. For others, the sacred resides in humbler temples or under the spreading branches of hallowed trees. Glastonbury has long been revered as a sacred space that, like all sacred spaces, elicits a sense of something greater, grander, and infinitely more meaningful than our everyday lives. In my wanders through Glastonbury's cobbled streets and over its rolling fields, I discovered the sacred was everywhere and often many-layered, with church built upon temple and temple built upon spring and so, in my meditations on its nature, I came to call it the Goddess, in homage to the ancient, over-arching, regenerative source of all things.