ABSTRACT

Glastonbury is an unusual place. A small market town in the southwest of England, it has become a centre of alternative spiritualities in the UK. As a consequence of its historical associations and its unusual topographic features, the locality has developed as a centre for pilgrimage, in its broadest sense. People have visited this place for their own spiritual reasons, drawn, in the main, by its reputation. Some remain, some continue to come, others leave, disappointed, having found nothing. It is a place which delineates the varying and various trends in contemporary alternative spirituality: a place which provides indicators of these trends, be they Christian, Buddhist, pagan and Wiccan, New Age and, more recently, Sufi.