The Land Near the Dark Cornish Sea

206 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 The Land Near the Dark Cornish Sea: The Development of Tintagel as a Celtic Pilgrimage Site Amy Hale ‘Celtic’ spiritual tourism and pilgrimage has always been a feature of the Cornish tourist economy, but its relevance has increased in the past decade, especially as Cornwall has started to acknowledge its Celtic heritage and promote its Celtic cultural resources 1 . For some, Cornwall’s Celticity is mainly a matter of Cornish ethnicity, but for others, primarily tourists, it has a spiritual, rather than ethnic implication. In 1993, John Lowerson described the quest for a metaphysical ‘Celtic experience’ that brings many people to Cornwall. Lowerson identifies Cornwall as a key site for spiritual Celtic tourism, along with places like Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, and Iona, all of which are also sites for more permanent communities which have settled in order to pursue spiritual interests 2 . Lowerson defines the New-Age tourists, as those who have a desire to escape from urbanity, are interested by preChristian Celtic religion, mythology, early Celtic Christianity, or the occult, and pursue those interests with a sort of ‘neo-antiquarianism’3 . This would certainly fit the profile of a spiritual visitor to Tintagel. Here, I will survey a number of historical threads of esoteric activity and influences that have converged to create an interrelated complex of pilgrimage sites in the North Cornwall area surrounding Tintagel. I will then examine the ways in which these seemingly disparate threads of magical activity become coherent, as Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 207 the umbrella notion of ‘Celtic’ spirituality engulfs a variety of late twentieth century British esoteric trends. North Cornwall and the area around Tintagel village in Cornwall is often said to have ‘a mystical feel to it’. In fact, this ‘mystical feel’ is probably one of its major selling points as a tourist destination and in fact, any one of a hundred websites will refer to it. Within Cornwall, it is one of two geographical centers of spiritual tourism, pilgrimage and alternative religious activity, the other being West Cornwall where the highest concentration of megalithic monuments in the territory is located. Although Tintagel castle provides the focus of much of Tintagel’s tourism, sites of mystical importance near the village of Tintagel are not confined to the medieval ruins of the fortress on a rocky headland. The neighboring villages of Boscastle, where the Museum of Witchcraft is located and Bossiney near St. Nectan’s Kieve and the Rocky Valley mazes, also attract their share of visitors. In a sense, the three areas on the North Cornish coast create a geographical complex of sites that are functionally quite interrelated. That this group of sites is in Cornwall makes particular sense, given how that entire territory has been constructed by generations of holidaymakers as a sort of Celtic Otherworld; familiar yet exotic, and a place where you go for life changing transformation.4 In considering the reasons behind Tintagel’s origins as a British mystical center in the twentieth century, the obvious first answer is the relationship between Tintagel and Arthurian legend, which parallels the reasons behind Glastonbury’s emergence as a pilgrimage site. The implication of Arthur as a figure in nineteenth and twentieth century British esotericism is complex, multifaceted, and outside the scope of this article. Yet in many ways the early twentieth century mystical interpretations of Arthurian legend have now been submerged in the development of North Cornwall as a site of contemporary esoteric pilgrimage, which includes other phenomena and symbolism as well as Arthurian based mysticism. In some cases, the stories of the individuals and developments that laid the groundwork for activities in ‘mystical Tintagel’ have long since disappeared, leaving multiple layers of history and esoteric activity which are often not able to be unraveled by the visitor because they have not been included in histories or heritage interpretations of the village. Nevertheless, the variety of symbols 208 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 represented in the North Cornwall area is not incongruent. We understand that Arthur, Goddess worship and the Museum of Witchcraft occupy the same semantic space, but why is not always immediately clear. Over the past eighty years, Tintagel has had the ability to stay relevant within the major trends and discourses of British esoterica, incorporating such themes as Goddess worship, ley lines, and Wicca. Tintagel, like Glastonbury, is a site that both encompasses and is emblematic of modern Celtic spirituality in Britain. Tintagel and Arthur Certainly it is Tintagel castle’s longstanding association as the birthplace of King Arthur that inspired the development of the whole area as a tourist destination and a site of esoteric pilgrimage. Now, Tintagel, both the village and the castle itself, is a fascinating mix of symbols and images. The drama of the castle perched on the headland seems to contrast with the tourist kitsch that threatens to overwhelm the village. Those who are drawn to Tintagel for spiritual and aesthetic reflection are often frustrated with ‘King Arthur’s Car Park’ and the proliferation of Arthur-based tourist shops, where one can purchase pewter Merlins, hastily glued to chunks of amethyst, as well as all manner of Celtic jewelry, scarves, wood carvings, and books. Some even take offense at King Arthur’s Hall of Chivalry, which was originally built for the most noble of purposes, but unfortunately now has a rather undeserved reputation of being nothing but a tourist trap. Tintagel’s fame arguably began in 1136, with Geoffrey of Monmouth’s medieval bestseller The History of the Kings of Britain, in which he identifies the place of Arthur’s conception to the craggy promontory. The History… was one of the most influential and widely read works of the Middle Ages in Europe 5 . Geoffrey’s translator, Lewis Thorpe states that ‘the results of Geoffrey’s History in 1136 were immediate and striking. . . it has had few, if any equals in the history of European literature’ 6 . According to Geoffrey’s account, King Uther Pendragon had fallen in love with Ygerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. During a banquet at Pendragon’s castle in London, Uther showered Ygerna with attention. This did not please Gorlois so he left Uther’s gathering hastily, which so offended Uther that he vowed to ravage Gorlois’ lands. Uther and his men went to Cornwall, and Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 209 Gorlois left Ygerna at his castle at Tintagel, while he hid at his fort Dimilioc, which lies about five and a half miles south-west of Tintagel. When Uther arrived he consulted Merlin about how to have his way with Ygerna. Merlin gave Uther a potion that would alter his appearance to that of Gorlois: They then set off for Tintagel and came to the Castle in the twilight. The moment the guard was told that his leader was approaching, he opened the gates and the men were let in. Who, indeed, could possibly have suspected anything, once it was thought that Gorlois had come? The King had spent that night with Ygerna and satisfied his desire by making love with her. . .That night she conceived Arthur, the most famous of men, who 7 subsequently won great renown by his outstanding bravery. Although in Geoffrey’s version Arthur was only conceived at Tintagel, most writers since have made Tintagel Arthur’s birthplace, and even his residence.8 In truth, Geoffrey may have only been Tintagel’s best-known publicist, for the site was most likely recognized as a center of some prominence far before that. The archaeological record of Tintagel indicates some sort of settlement on the headland from the fifth and sixth century A.D. Archaeologist Charles Thomas theorizes that the presence of pottery remains originating from the Mediterranean and North Africa indicates that Tintagel was the stronghold of the post-Roman kings of Dumnonia 9 . Thomas also argues that Tintagel’s significance was retained in folk-memory which contributed to local legends placing Tintagel as the seat of Cornish kings 10 . The ruins of the fortress that are visible today originate from the first major medieval settlement on the site, which was begun c. 1230-40 A.D., by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and reached the height of its prominence during the thirteenth century. Charles Thomas suggests that Richard chose the site perhaps because he wanted to capitalize on its legendary associations with Arthur.11 Although Tintagel has been connected with Arthurian legend since the twelfth century, the contemporary interest in its associations with Arthur begin in the Victorian era. In 1819 the distinguished English landscape painter Joseph Malord William Turner completed a romanticized sketch of the castle, 210 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 capturing the image of a truly British vision of Arcadia. Parson Hawker of Morwenstow, famous for ‘The Song of Western Men’, better known as the Cornish anthem Trelawny, spent his honeymoon at Tintagel in 1823, which inspired the love of Arthurian legend which he was to share with Alfred Lord Tennyson later in his life. It also inspired the poem The Quest of the Sangraal, written forty years after his first visit and considered by Tennyson to be superior to his own ‘Idylls of the King’.12 However, it was Tennyson’s Arthurian works of the nineteenth century that ultimately had the most impact on Tintagel. In 1832 Tennyson published the earliest of his Arthurian poems, ‘The Lady of Shallott’, but he was already considering the idea of an epic Arthurian poem at this time.13 In 1848 Tennyson visited the eccentric Hawker, and the two toured Tintagel. Ten years later, the first version of ‘Idylls of the King’ was published containing an account of Arthur’s birth which Tennyson placed in Tintagel. Along with the reprinting of Malory’s Morte D’Arthur in the early years of the nineteenth century, ‘Idylls of the King’ awoke the popular interest in Arthuriana in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century, and which became a cultural preoccupation that has never really dissipated. Until the 1880s, Tintagel was a sleepy remote village, known as Trevena— only the headland was called Tintagel. However, the influx of poets, painters, and writers forever changed the village. For centuries the economy of Trevena was based on agriculture and slate-quarrying, but in the 1880s boarding houses and hotels, such as King Arthur’s Arms and the King Arthur Hotel, were built to serve the newly developing tourist trade.14 In the 1920s and 30s Arthuriana was to take on a new profile in Cornwall with several distinct yet oddly interrelated events boosting Tintagel’s profile, and laying the groundwork for the influx that was to later occur. Although Tintagel has been an inspiration for artists and poets, which helped to boost the romantic appeal for tourists, Tintagel has also been serving British esotericists for almost as long. The development of Glastonbury and Tintagel as sites of spiritual pilgrimage is similar and linked. Tintagel is almost like Glastonbury’s little sister. It is not nearly as commercial as Glastonbury in its trappings, yet it has its share of shops catering to spiritual Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 211 tourists, dealing in esoteric books, candles, jewelry, tarot cards and incense, along with almost anything imaginable with Celtic designs on them. It is this story that is not always as accessible as that of the impact of Tennyson, but it may have actually had more impact on the village and its development. Tintagel and the Archangel Michael On 17 August, 1924 Tintagel was visited by philosopher Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), whose theories about Tintagel’s original function contributed to the area’s mystique and reputation, although his theories are mainly lost on the public today. Steiner was a well-known Austrian occultist, mystic and philosopher who promoted a Western, Christ-based mysticism over that of Theosophy’s Eastern based teachings. He was the founder of Anthroposophy, a spiritual system designed to elevate human consciousness to a more universal spirituality. Toward the end of his life, Steiner lectured in Torquay and London about the former role of Tintagel as a center of spiritual importance. Steiner believed that ‘Arthur’ was not a personal name but a priestly title, and that Tintagel was an ancient center of learning dedicated to studying planetary phenomena and communicating the knowledge of the cosmos gained by the megalithic monument builders.15 Instead of merely being the birthplace of Arthur, Steiner viewed Tintagel as the home of Arthur and his twelve knights, each of whom represented a sign of the zodiac. The most important role of the ruling priests of Tintagel was to direct chosen souls to more fully experience the spiritual world. Steiner believed that the Arthurian priesthood was essentially a solar cult doing the work of the Archangel Michael, who, like Jesus and Merlin, was a solar entity administering the Cosmic Intelligence. He was a localized, Celtic articulation of a universal phenomenon. That Steiner would link Arthur with a solar cult, essentially making him a British manifestation of a solar deity, would not have been unusual for the time. The Reverend Edward Davies in his 1809 Mythology and Rites of the British Druids argued that Arthur was a solar hero, and the idea received quite a bit of literary response throughout the nineteenth century. In the latter half of the nineteenth century the works of mythologist Max Müller were quite widely read and very popular with the European public. Müller’s theory of solar mythology argued that because the movements of heavenly 212 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 bodies must have been a main preoccupation with early societies that all mythological systems were invented to explain these phenomena. Thus, the symbolic origins of Arthur were interpreted as an aspect of a Celtic solar deity. It is quite likely that Steiner’s views about Arthur’s status were a continuation of popular mythological theory at the time. Steiner argued that Tintagel, as a Michael site, would play a central role in regenerating the human spirit in the Michael Age. Inspired by Theosophical beliefs and the C.G. Harrison’s 1896 collection of essays The Transcendental Universe, Steiner believed that in November of 1879 an event on the astral plane caused the Age of Gabriel to end, and the Age of Michael to begin.16 This new Age of Michael would help foster the realization of God’s vision and revitalize spirituality worldwide. Although this esoteric interpretation of Tintagel is not exactly apparent to visitors today, its status as a spiritual hotspot probably owes quite a bit to these initial theories, particularly with the reinterpretation and reinvigoration efforts of Wellesley Tudor Pole. English esotericist Wellesley Tudor Pole is today probably most well known for his development of Glastonbury’s Chalice Well Gardens in 1959. An advocate for Steiner’s theories about the role of Michael in the spiritual life of Britain, Tudor Pole made the connection between Glastonbury and Tintagel as sites which had links with both Arthur and Michael. However, in the post WWII period, Tudor Pole wished to rejuvenate Britain’s sacred sites by advocating a new era of pilgrimage, which he felt could help speed up earthly evolution, and help secure Britain’s place as a spiritual world leader.17 He called for an emphasis on sites that had been dedicated to St. Michael and suggested that pilgrims begin with St. Michael’s Mount near Penzance, and then travel through Tintagel to Glastonbury Tor, also dedicated to St. Michael. Wellesley Tudor Pole’s spiritual vision certainly had nativist overtones. In addition to his interest in Arthur and the Joseph of Aramathea legends about bringing the Holy Grail to Britain, he also considered St. George as a manifestation of the Archangel Michael, reinforcing England’s position as a potential spiritual beacon which would help to rejuvenate a deflated and war-torn Europe. Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 213 Cornwall had a particular role in this transformation. Although today St. Piran is generally considered to be the patron saint of Cornwall, Piran is actually the patron saint of tinners (and drunkards). St. Michael is the patron saint of Cornwall, which puts Cornwall in the forefront of British spiritual development in the Michael Age.18 That Tudor Pole would conflate Michael with the English icon St. George in Cornwall in 1951, the same year that the Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow was founded, has a certain irony. Tudor Pole believed that St. Michael’s Mount was a power nexus for all Michael power sites in Britain. What is interesting, is that Tudor Pole believed that Tintagel was a key stop for the Michael pilgrimage in Britain. Also ironic is the fact that although Steiner and Tudor Pole believed that Tintagel was the home of the preeminent Michael priesthood in Britain, there are no sites dedicated to Michael in Tintagel. Without doubt the Michael pilgrimage had taken hold by the late 1950s. Ithell Colquhoun writes of her own Michael pilgrimage in her 1957 mystical travelogue of Cornwall The Living Stones. 19 Her focus was only on the Michael sites in West Cornwall, but she does acknowledge the wider spread of sites dedicated to Michael sites throughout Cornwall. Although Colquhoun describes the sites well, she provides little in the way of mystical interpretation, nor does she indicate what rituals or meditations may have taken place along the way. In 1987 Cornwall County Council developed a St. Michael’s Way pilgrimage route which is purported to be part of a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, but it only covers sites in West Cornwall. It seems quite certain that Tintagel’s association as a site for Arthur as British solar deity was well established in the British esoteric community by the late 1950s, and groups and individuals with occult leanings would probably visit the site with that understanding. However, the association with Michael now seems mostly lost, although the interest in Michael sites in Britain, Cornwall in particular, connected by the Michael ley line continues to develop. Alfred Watkins, who popularized the theory of ley lines in 1921, theorized that significant sites and monuments throughout Britain were connected in a travel network by a series of straight lines. They have since become a key feature of British New Age belief, which has adapted Watkins’ theories to suggest that these sites are actually placed along some sort of 214 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 magnetic or energy currents running underneath the earth’s surface. The Michael ley line is believed by British earth mysteries enthusiasts to be an energy current which aligns a number of sites dedicated to St. Michael in a straight line from the east coast of England, through the South Western peninsula and Cornwall. Tintagel is not on the Michael ley line, but is still believed to be a ‘power site’ .20 King Arthur’s Halls of Chivalry There are other areas in Tintagel which have been the focus of esoteric activity. In 1928 custard magnate Frederick Glasscock, a Freemason, purchased what was then known as Trevena House and in 1929 began rebuilding the house into the King Arthur Halls of Chivalry. It was certainly a massive undertaking: the halls are substantial and fitted entirely with Cornish stone. It holds a very large carved granite throne for Arthur and two round tables, one entirely of granite, onto which are carved the shields of each of Arthur’s twelve knights. In the front room of the Hall, several Pre-Raphaelite paintings by William Hatherell portraying scenes from Arthurian legend are displayed. The seventy-two intricate stained-glass windows in the PreRaphaelite style by Veronica Whall, (daughter of Christopher Whall, master of the Arts and Crafts movement) are incomparable. In addition to the stone work, the mural-sized paintings, and the stained glass, Glasscock also amassed an impressive collection of very rare manuscripts and literature dedicated to Arthurian legends and Welsh and Irish mythology, much of which is still on display in the hall, and is possibly one of the best private collections of its kind in Britain. In 1932 the Halls were completed, and in 1933 the Hall was formally opened by the Bishop of Truro at a ceremony which over five hundred people attended. With the international publicity of the opening of the Halls coupled with the increase in Arthurian related tourism, it is no wonder that the Western Morning News reported local displeasure with the Cornish scholar Henry Jenner’s attempts to discredit Tintagel by claiming that it could not possibly have been an Arthurian site.21 The Halls were a significant manifestation of the Arthurmania that swept Britain in the late 1920s and really contains all of the visual hallmarks of that craze. It quickly became a significant attraction in Cornwall and must have influenced Cornish antiquarian Hambly Rowe’s Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 215 decision to hold the 1930 Arthurian Congress in Cornwall. As much as the Halls brought attention to Tintagel, they also had the effect of promoting other Arthurian sites in Cornwall, such as nearby Slaughter Bridge in Camelford where according to legend the final battle between Arthur and Mordred took place . However, it was not Glasscock’s intention to build a tourist trap. He loved Tintagel and was profoundly moved by its landscape, which inspired much more noble intentions. He intended to found a worldwide order along the lines of Freemasonry dedicated to reintroducing the ideals of chivalry to society. It is not clear whether or not his proposed society was in any way inspired by Steiner’s influential lectures five years prior to the start of his project. If that was the case, there is little direct evidence of that now. Nevertheless, Glasscock had clearly designed a complex system of symbolism for the initiates of his society, The Fellowship of the Round Table, which is reflected in the stone shields and stained glass windows placed throughout the hall. Glasscock assigned each Knight of the Round Table a specific shield with a symbol on it and a set of attributes to which the initiate must aspire. These shields, with the attributes of each knight, are portrayed in stained glass panels lining the hallways of the large building. Unfortunately, the accompanying rituals and regalia are not available. According to the site’s guidebook, Glasscock started the Fellowship in 1927 and had over 17,000 members worldwide22 . Sadly, Glasscock died in 1934, a year after the Halls were completed, and the Fellowship ceased in 1936. It is not well known whether or not the Halls were ever a focus for much esoteric activity. They have been held in private hands and not open to the public until the early 1990s. However, the Halls immense focus on Pre Raphaelite style art and themes is congruent with certain ways in which the spiritual aspects of Arthurian legend were visually represented in the 1920s and 1930s. The revival of interest in King Arthur during this period was associated with both British mysticism and the emerging Anglo Catholic movement, and the themes of Arthurian art conveyed both elements. Primarily this manifested in depictions of the Grail quest, but also in depictions of the divine feminine and in Grail angels, which responded to the growing 216 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 popularity of Spiritualism throughout Britain, a movement characterized by communication with the dead through use of a medium.23 Although the Hall of Chivalry did not serve the society for which it was initially founded, it has served the Freemasons. Glasscock was a Freemason, and in 1952 the Freemasons took over the lodge, and continue to use it to this day. As the iconography of the Halls is overtly more quest oriented with its focus on chivalry and knights, it has an implicit, if not explicit, relevance to an initiatory order founded on the idea of revealing mysteries in the course of spiritual development. However, Tintagel is actually also home to a CoMasonic lodge, as well, and one consisting only of women. According to documents in the archive of Ithell Colquhoun, the Lodge was called Lodge of the Holy Grail #5 and was certainly active by the early 1960s. It appears to have had a supplementary purpose related to Arthurian spiritual research in addition to traditional Masonic functioning. The bylaws of the Lodge state that the central purposes of the Lodge of the Holy Grail were: 1. To make research into the symbolism and legend of the Holy Grail and Arthurian Tradition. 2. To endeavour to attain to perfection in ritual. 3. To endeavour to apply in daily life the ideals set forth in the 24 Quest of the Holy Grail. Residents of Tintagel say there is still what they refer to as an active ‘women’s lodge’ which meets occasionally in a village hall, and not in the Halls of Chivalry where the men meet, although it is not known if they have retained their Arthurian researches. Today, the Halls are a popular tourist attraction, although they do not feature prominently as a site of particular spiritual focus. The connections between Glasscocks’ Fellowship of the Round Table, and Freemasonry form a part of Tintagel’s Arthur-focused esoteric history that still exists, yet is not overtly apparent today. The Museum of Witchcraft It is difficult to reconstruct the state of esoteric pilgrimage to the Tintagel area in the 1950s, but based on Ithell Colquhoun’s 1957 description of a Tintagel pilgrimage and Wellesley Tudor Pole’s work toward promoting Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 217 Tintagel as a spiritual center, we can guess that it certainly must have formed part of the tourist trade, even if a relatively small one. The Museum of Witchcraft was most likely initially established in Boscastle because of its proximity to Tintagel. Now the museum reinforces Tintagel’s reputation as a mystical center. The Museum of Witchcraft has been in Boscastle since 1960, after having moved several times. Cecil Williamson, who established the museum in 1948, initially purchased the Museum’s collection in the Isle of Man in the 1940s. He may have purchased some of the artifacts from Gerald Gardner, founder of modern Wicca, who was also living in the Isle of Man at the time. According to Williamson’s accounts, he relocated the museum in Windsor in the early 1950s, and then claimed that representatives from the Royal family quietly paid for him to relocate somewhere far from Windsor Castle, although the current curator and owner of the Museum, Graham King admits that this cannot be verified. It is not initially clear why Williamson chose Boscastle because there do not seem to be any particularly prominent legends associated with witches from Boscastle although there are certainly modern witches living there now. The answer may actually be quite mundane. Prior to that time, the attraction was one of several in Cornwall owned and operated by Williamson, including the Museum of Sorcery in Tintagel, which may have contained some of the collection now at Boscastle. Correspondence with Ithell Colquhoun from the late 1950s and early 1960s shows that Williamson was involved in a number of tourism enterprises, including the Museum of Smuggling, House of Cats, House of Shells, the Hangman’s House and the Witches’ House.25 It may be that Boscastle’s proximity to Tintagel made sense for the development of Williamson’s most enduring attraction. It is clear from the signage made for the Museum of Sorcery that Williamson connected witchcraft with a legacy of Celtic magical practice in Tintagel, made famous by Merlin. The sign says ‘Proof that Sorcerers are active today can be seen at The Museum of Sorcery’. Although the Museum of Sorcery in Tintagel was short lived, the Boscastle attraction has remained popular simultaneously establishing and reinforcing a legacy of witchcraft and sorcery in the North Cornwall area. 218 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 For people who believe that modern Witchcraft is a continuation of preChristian Celtic religion, the museum’s existence in Boscastle is perfectly consistent with the esoteric interpretations of the Tintagel area that have emerged throughout this century. A ‘witchy’ theme now pervades the village. Paul Broadhurst’s popular shops in Boscastle specializing in New Age books, incense, candles and Celtic art serve to draw together in one building the seemingly disparate yet connected threads of modern Witchcraft, NeoPaganism, pre-Christian Celtic religion, and Arthurian legend. Tintagel and Spiritual Tourism Tintagel today is probably the first stop on the modern pilgrim’s route in North Cornwall, followed by the Rocky Valley Mazes, St. Nectan’s Kieve and the Museum of Witchcraft. A recent visitor’s center is careful in its presentation of the history of the area and in integrating the Pagan viewpoint and relevance to the development of the village over the past century. This not only shows a great deal of tolerance and insight, it acknowledges the historic (and possibly also the economic) contributions of the wider esoteric community. There is certainly a good trade in Pagan and spiritual oriented merchandise, with a number of shops dealing specifically in books, accessories, and jewelry for the alternative spirituality market. The Pagan Federation regularly holds its Devon and Cornwall conference in the village or in neighboring Boscastle, and there are certainly hundreds of tours specializing in Sacred Sites, Paganism and New Age religions which feature the area as a focal point. In the past decade, spiritual tourism in Cornwall has become more refined and more significant, despite the fact the tourism officials are rather reticent to capitalize on the market for esoteric tourism that exists. Although the comprehensive tourism strategy document written in 2001 specifically mentions the variety of Christian related tourism opportunities in Cornwall, esoteric or Pagan based tourism is completely absent from the document, despite the wide variety of independent tourism operators worldwide who offer esoteric based tourism experiences in Cornwall26 . In fact, the Solar Eclipse of 1999 drew perhaps thousands to Cornwall for rituals and Pagan festivals, but very little of this was acknowledged in the press, and these events certainly were not promoted by the Cornish Tourist Board. Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 219 Interestingly, there was a set of esoteric, almost millennial beliefs linked with the Cornish eclipse worldwide that claimed that the time and place of this eclipse was so significant, that it would herald the second reign of King Arthur.27 One might think that Tintagel would have been a center for eclipse activity, but it was not in the line of totality. Nevertheless, individual tour operators and tourism promoters are working to reach new niche markets, and pilgrimage and spiritual tourism is considered to be very desirable because it often attracts ‘high spend’ tourists. So what do people hope to gain by coming to Tintagel today? In many ways Tintagel is a logical next stop from Glastonbury for the westward traveling pilgrim wanting to explore the mysteries of Britain. It is also a site for ‘earth mysteries’ enthusiasts such as Paul Broadhurst, Hamish Miller, and John Michell who claim that Tintagel is a power point situated on a ley line, which simplifies yet refines the theories of Steiner and Tudor Pole, and integrates the site into a more relevant and manageable British esoteric framework. Paul Broadhurst, who has probably written the most comprehensive work on the mystical associations of Tintagel, still argues in the same vein as Steiner that Arthur was the earthly embodiment of a Celtic solar deity, a hero priest king and the twelve segments of the Round Table represent the Zodiac demarcated onto sacred energy points in the landscape.28 He maintains that pilgrims who visit the points can benefit from the energy there through celebrations at appropriate times of the year. At Tintagel those times would have been the summer and winter solstices, since Arthur is believed to have been a solar deity, and the solstices are the longest and shortest periods of sunlight during the year.29 Again, this seems to be a refined and more contemporary interpretation of Tintagel’s importance, one that will resonate with a variety of Pagan and earth-centered beliefs systems. Now Tintagel castle itself seems mainly to be a place for reflection and meditation, less for ritual and offerings, which are more apparent at the neighboring sites of St. Nectan’s Kieve and the Rocky Valley mazes. The primary site of ritual activity in Tintagel is probably Merlin’s Cave beneath Tintagel castle. Merlin’s Cave is actually a focal point for revelation and ritual, as it is supposed to be a womb like place to connect with essential 220 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 feminine energies. Paul Broadhurst believes that Merlin’s Cave near the castle ruins is a potent area for psychic experiences and visions. He reports having had one there himself.30 This belief is echoed by a wide variety of tour groups that come to the area specifically to meditate and to experience inner revelation. Rituals done at Merlin’s Cave often symbolically focus on the womb like aspect of the cave and often contain an element of ‘rebirthing’ where one emerges from a ritual or meditation as if born again.31 Some 19th century texts place Merlin’s Cave as the place where Arthur was washed up on the beach and found by Merlin, which supports more contemporary interpretations of the cave as a place of individual rebirth and transformation. This excerpt from a ritual travel diary compiled by Jim and Sherry Husfelt describes a visit to Merlin’s Cave on August 10, 1999, the day before the solar eclipse in Cornwall. Here we can see the themes of the divine feminine, individual revelation and transformation : We were asked to enter his cave with respect. Following the footsteps of the Faery Queen, who was formerly guided by the purple serpent, we walked into the mother’s womb. To my knowledge, none of us was blessed by any mythical guidance, but we each met with our own female within on a self-guided journey. The ocean and the cave worked in unison to remind us of the female power. Quietly merging with the stonewalls, the female aspect of our humanness presented herself. The flow of humans around us was like a river that pulsed to the depths of the cave, touching the rising tide and then surging back out again. As Pilgrims, we too surged out of the cave, but as we burst into the light of day, we gave birth to our female aspect. This sparkling new feeling glistened like the salt water meeting the sand, washing 32 the tiny pebbles clean. Furthermore, tour groups which focus specifically on the Goddess or the divine feminine will often feature a visit to Merlin’s Cave.33 Tintagel and Celtic Cornwall One of the primary reasons that the above histories of esoteric Tintagel fit together is because they are implicitly, not explicitly, acceptable as ‘Celtic’ Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 221 phenomena today. Despite what the academic criteria for ‘authentic’ cultural and historical Celticity may be34 , a wide range of phenomena embraced by esoteric practitioners worldwide are believed to be the survivals of an ancient Celtic spiritual inheritance. Although this has not always been explicit in the history of esoteric Tintagel, it is certainly the semantic thread that holds it together today. ‘Celtic spirituality’ is an umbrella phrase that can embrace a wide range of spiritual activity that practitioners associate with a real or imagined ‘Celtic’ past.35 It can include such diverse groups as Neo-Druids, Wiccans, Celtic shamans, New Agers, New Age Travellers, Goddess worshippers, New Age Christians, and Pagan eco-warriors. Although Arthur’s Celtic credentials should be clear, some of the other constructions of Celtic Tintagel may not be as evident. A core belief of contemporary Celtic spirituality is the belief that the Celts were unusually close to the earth. This belief alone encompasses a variety of popular suppositions about pre Christian and early Celtic culture, including the belief that because the Celts were supposedly nature oriented that they were also a Goddess worshipping culture. Although Celtic cultures certainly did have Goddesses, they were not primarily Goddess- focused. Ironically, although Steiner originally touted Tintagel castle as the site of a solar God community, the same site today is most visited as a place where one can connect with divine feminine energies in Merlin’s Cave. The Goddess associations of the Tintagel area are also supported by the nearby Rocky Valley mazes, which are believed to be survivals from a Goddess focused Celtic culture. Cheryl Straffon, a leading writer about sacred Goddess sites in Cornwall writes of them ‘Mazes are a very potent example of a special spirit of place and they have traditionally been used as passageways into the meaning of the Goddess, leading the seeker deeper into the mysteries of the self.”36 Ley line and ‘power site’ theories are also important to practitioners of contemporary Celtic spirituality because they emphasize the perceived relationship between ancient people of Britain, particularly the Celts and the landscape of Britain, as well as the theory that Britain itself is actually alive and imbued with divine ‘energy.’ According to John Michell, who repopularized Watkins ley line theories in the 1960s with a New Age spin, the Druids worked a complex form of earth magic with this energy, which is 222 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 most highly concentrated at sacred sites such as holy wells, and megalithic monuments. This is clearly consistent with the picture of Tintagel as an inherently holy place promoted by both Steiner and Tudor Pole. Michell claimed that Druids developed these magical techniques in systems involving tree and nature worship and divination.37 Likewise, modern witchcraft also fits neatly under the Celtic umbrella, as part of the religious narrative of Wicca is that it represents a number of religious survivals from pre-Christian Celtic religion.38 As a result, although the Museum of Witchcraft may have been initially located in Boscastle out of convenience, today its proximity to Tintagel reinforces the area’s overall association with an imagined Celtic religious inheritance. Again, Cornwall is an appropriate location for such an attraction. Not only is Cornwall a Celtic territory, within Britain it is considered to be a place that is slightly backward, unusually superstitious, and a place where there may still be people practicing the ‘old ways’.39 Indeed, folk collector Robert Hunt believed that superstition was a function of Cornwall’s Celticity. That the Cornish were Celtic accounted for their ‘backwardness’ and superstitious nature, both of which made their folklore inherently more worthy of study: I have possessed the best possible opportunities for gathering up the folk-lore of a people, who, but a few generations since, had a language peculiarly their own,—a people who, like all the Celts, cling with sincere affection to the memories of the past, and who even now regard with jealously the introduction of any novelty 40 and accept improvements slowly. Although the Museum itself does not have a variety of artifacts from actual Cornish folk practice, thematically it is suited to the ways in which Cornwall has been constructed as a Celtic territory. Conclusion Although the development of Tintagel as one of Britain’s foremost sacred sites has rested on the sites’ association with Arthurian legend, the way in which it functions for pilgrims, and the way in which that site’s inherent sacredness has been interpreted has often been resultant on wider trends in Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 223 British esoteric thought. Currently its association as a site for Celtic spirituality allows for a variety of activity and belief, which is nevertheless perceived by visitors as coherent within a Celtic framework. As a result, Tintagel can stay relevant as a sacred site, even though the ghosts of former beliefs and theories are still present in the cultural landscape. Notes 1 Cornwall County Council, Cornwall Heritage and Culture Strategy (Truro: Cornwall County Council, 2000). 2 John Lowerson, ‘Celtic Tourism: Some Recent Magnets’ in Cornish Studies: Two ed. by P. Payton (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994), 131. 3 Ibid. 4 Amy Hale, ‘Whose Celtic Cornwall: the ethnic Cornish vs. Celtic spirituality’ in Celtic Geographies, ed. by Harvey, Jones, McEnroy, and Milligan (London: Routledge, 2002). 5 Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, trans. by Lewis Thorpe (London: Penguin Books, 1966) 207. 6 Ibid, 28 7 Ibid, 207 8 Charles Thomas, Tintagel: Arthur and Archaeology (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd 1993), 24. 9 Ibid, 87. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 18 12 Piers Brendon, Hawker of Morwenstow (London: Anthony Mott, Ltd. 1975). 13 Paul Broadhurst. Tintagel and the Arthurian Mythos (Launceston, Cornwall: Pendragon Press, 1995) 31. 11 A.C. Canner, The Parish of Tintagel: Some Historical Notes (Middlesex: Friary Clark Ltd. 1982), 79. 15 Rudolph Steiner, Karmic Relationships, Esoteric Studies Volume VIII (London: Rudolph Steiner Press 1975, 1924), 31-45. 16 Rudolph Steiner, Foundations of Esotericism (London: Rudolph Steiner Press, 1983, 1905), 234-5. 17 Wellesley Tudor Pole, ‘Preparing the way for the New Age’ in ed. by anon. Michael Prince of Heaven: Captain of the Angelic Hosts (London: J.M. Watkins, 1951), 29. 224 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 18 Wellesley Tudor Pole, ‘The Archangel Michael: leader of the angelic hosts of heaven’ in ed. by anon. Michael Prince of Heaven: Captain of the Angelic Hosts (London: J.M. Watkins, 1951) 9-13. 19 Ithell Colquhoun, The Living Stones (London: Peter Owen Limited, 1957) 186195. 20 Broadhurst, Tintagel, 157. 21 ‘Comment’ Western Morning News, 10 June, 1933. 22 Don Hutchinson, One Man’s Dream: The Story of King Arthur’s Great Halls (Tintagel: Sword in the Stone Publishing, 1999). 23 Christine Poulson, The Quest for the Grail: Arthurian Legend in British Art 1840-1920 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999) 135. 24 Anon. ‘By Laws of the Lodge of the Holy Grail #5’ n.d. 25 Letter from Cecil Williamson to Ithell Colquhoun, 6 October, 1963. 26 The Objective One Partnership. Objective One Tourism Proposal, (Truro: Objective One Partnership 2001) 19. 27 Joseph E.Mason, ‘Solar Eclipse 1999-Final Quest for the Holy Grail’ <www.greatdreams.com/eclipse.htm> [accessed 15 October, 2003] 28 Broadhurst, Tintagel, 96 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid, 150 31 For examples see Ron Baker and Robert Baker ‘ Journey to Mystical England’ <http://childrenoflight.com/england.htm.> [accessed 15 October, 2003] and SacredSites Tours <http://www.vibrational.com/sacredsites.htm> [accessed 15 October, 2003]. 32 Jim Husfelt ‘The Myth of the Sacred Millennial Journey of the Archangel Mikael (Michael), The Holy Grail and the Marriage of the Sun and Moon: the Total Solar Eclipse’ (1999) <http://www.divinehumanity.com/media/ The%20Myth%20of%20the%20Sacred%20Millennial%20Journey.htm > [accessed 1 December, 2003]. 30 For examples of women centered and Goddess tourism at Merlin’s Cave see The Spiritual Sanctuary website <http://www.spiritualsanctuary.com/ england_pilgrimage.htm> [accessed 1 December, 2003], Soluna Tours <http:// www.solunatours.com/wst-eng301.htm> [accessed 1 December, 2003], and Purple Mountain Tours <http://www.purplemountaintours.com/avalon.htm> [accessed 1 December 2003]. 34 For a survey of these arguments see Amy Hale and Philip Payton ‘Introduction’ in New Directions in Celtic Studies ed. by Amy Hale and Philip Payton (Exeter: University of Exeter Press 2000) 1-14. Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 225 35 Marion Bowman, ‘Celtic spirituality’ in New Directions in Celtic Studies ed. by Amy Hale and Philip Payton (Exeter: University of Exeter Press 2000), 69-91. 36 Cheryl Straffon, Pagan Cornwall: Land of the Goddess (St. Just: Meyn Mamvro Publications, 1993) 44. 37 John Michell, The New View Over Atlantis (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995) 80. 38 For details on the role of the imagined Celtic past in Paganism and Wicca, see Hutton, Ronald. Triumph of the Moon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) also Bowman ‘Celtic spirituality’, 79. 39 The Cornwall Tourist Board website suggests that folk beliefs and practices in Cornwall not only still exist, but that some have been practiced continuously since the Bronze Age. For an example see <http:// www.cornwalltouristboard.co.uk/heritage> [accessed 1 December, 2003]. 40 Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England: The Drolls, Traditions and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (Lampeter, Wales: Llanerch Press, 1995, 1865), 23. 226 Journal for the Academic Study of Magic - Issue 2 Trafficking with an ‘onslaught of compulsive weirdness’: 1 Kenneth Grant and the Magickal revival Dave Evans T he British occultist G. Kenneth Grant (1924- ) has been variously applauded “It’s hard to name another single living individual who has done more to shape contemporary western thinking with regard to Magic” 2 - and slated, with his sanity doubted: “a schoolboy gone berserk on brimstone aftershave” 3 - throughout his 50 year literary and magickal career. This article will briefly outline his early influences; literary output, examine some seeming factual and historical anomalies within his narrative and describe some of the broad influences that he has had on modern magic. Grant had read very widely on occultism and Eastern philosophy by his early teens 4 , and had been using his own personal magical symbol inspired by a powerful dream vision, since 1939 5 . Since it was wartime, Grant volunteered for the army at 18, expecting to be “sent to India where I had hopes of finding a guru” 6 ; which as Moore remarks, shows “a grasp upon conventional worldly reality that was at best precarious” 7 . However Grant developed an unspecified medical condition and was invalided out of the service aged 20.