“The Isle of Fruit Trees which men call the Fortunate Isle (Insula Pomorum quae Fortunata uocatur) gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country.”
- Vita Merlini
Though no longer an island in the 12th century, the high conical bulk of Glastonbury Tor in today's South-West England had been surrounded by marsh before the draining of fenland in the Somerset Levels. In ancient times, Ponter's Ball Dyke would have guarded the only entrance to the island. The Romans eventually built another road to the island.[73] Glastonbury's earliest name in Welsh was the Isle of Glass, which suggests that the location was at one point seen as an island. At the end of the 12th century, Gerald of Wales wrote in De instructione principis:
What is now known as Glastonbury was, in ancient times, called the Isle of Avalon. It is virtually an island, for it is completely surrounded by marshlands. In Welsh it is called Ynys Afallach, which means the Island of Apples and this fruit once grew in great abundance. After the Battle of Camlann, a noblewoman called Morgan, later the ruler and patroness of these parts as well as being a close blood-relation of King Arthur, carried him off to the island, now known as Glastonbury, so that his wounds could be cared for. Years ago the district had also been called Ynys Gutrin in Welsh, that is the Island of Glass, and from these words the invading Saxons later coined the place-name "Glastingebury".
“Avalon is said to be the most sacred spiritual place in all of Britain and the keeping place of the Holy Grail. It is the place between the world we live in and the otherworld of Annwn. Avalon is considered to be an omphalos, or a center where one can cross between worlds. Also referred to as the “navel of the world”.”
"Yes, there are other places sometimes referred to as Avalon. It's like Avalon is a consciousness, not so much the name of a physical place. As a consciousness, it is the combined wisdom of the Magdalene-Essenes and the Druids; it is an ethereal realm of peace, beauty and magic that lies beyond the mists of the ignorant mind"
- Channeled by Claire Heartsong
