B. Imaginative Interpretations: Glastonbury and Arthurian Narrative

Various imaginative writers have developed the concept of earth energies in relation to the English countryside. Among these, Marion Zimmer Bradley has developed the conception of the mystical significance of Glastonbury in relation to the spiritual resonance of the Arthurian myth with particular vividness. It is within this tradition of the imaginative interpretation of the spiritual significance of Glastonbury as a geographical center that Maltwood’s interpretation of Glastonbury belongs9.

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9 Bradley has developed the Arthurian narratives within the framework of an exploration of nature spirituality anchored in questions of gender understood in relation to the dialectical relationship of opposites as constituent forces in society and the cosmos. She initiated this artistic development with The Mists of Avalon (London: Penguin, 1993) in which, for once, the story of the rise and fall of Arthur is told through the eyes of Morgan le Fay, portrayed as a priestess of the Great Mother, nature as primal creatrix, in contrast to her conventional characterization as the arch-villain and evil witch in contrast to the wise magic of Merlin, and continued with Lady of Avalon (London: Penguin, 1997) and others in the series. Her work in the Arthurian tradition and the fantasy/science fiction Darkover series places her in the same tradition as Ursula le Guin’s exploration of gender polarities and complementarities in The Left Hand of Darkness (New York: Ace, 1969)and of cosmic polarities and balance in The Earthsea Quartet (London: Penguin, 1993); Bradley’s work, however, mines particularly deep into springs of Western occult and possibly Tantric thought. Her work actualizes in fiction the insights of Gerald Gardner on relationships between feminine and masculine spirituality in connection with the cthonic powers of the earth, fundamental to his development of Wicca. Jeffrey Russell,A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans(London: Thames and Hudson,1980) would seem to provide a balanced assessment of Gardner’s achievement in relation to the relation to the history of ideas about the Craft.