I'd heard about the ley lines in Glastonbury many times, and also felt the powerful energy in the town whenever I've visited, but, if I'm honest with myself, there ends the extent of my knowledge and understanding on the subject. Anxious to find out more, I headed over to Glastonbury to meet with Mano Warren, a healer who lives and works in the town, and whose recent work has concentrated on the ley lines, or earth-dragon energies as Mano likes to call them, in the Glastonbury landscape. After explaining the concept of the energy lines, and how they relate to Glastonbury, Mano took me to the places in the town where the energies are the most powerful. You can listen to Mano talking about the earth-dragon lines, as well as listening to the tour of Glastonbury that Mano took me on, by clicking on this audio link: What are ley lines or earth-dragon energies? According to Mano, the earth, on a planetary scale, has a number of major channels or super-highways of power which are made up of subtle, electromagnetic energies which are not visible to ordinary sight. These channels can be seen clairvoyantly, sensed as feelings through the body, or dowsed with hazel twigs or metal rods. They have been known since ancient times - the mythic symbolism for them was the serpent, snake or dragon. As these highways of power encircle the earth, they sometimes meet - these are the special places in the landscape which are recognised as sacred sites (eg Stonehenge or Avebury), because their energies are so powerful on the spiritual level. Earth-dragon energies in Glastonbury So, how does all of this relate to Glastonbury?
 | | Earth-dragon line map of Glastonbury |
Mano explained to me that in their book, The Sun and the Serpent, Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst had dowsed the precise pathway of an earth-dragon line, which runs from Cornwall to East Anglia, passing through Glastonbury on its way. Their careful dowsing has revealed that the line is actually made up of a double track of two snake-like channels - one of the energy channels having a masculine charge (called the Michael line after St Michael), and the other energy channel having a feminine charge (called the Mary line after St Mary). These energy channels are a bit like the poles of a magnet. Mano further explained: "What's interesting about Glastonbury, and what I feel makes it so powerful, is that this double line crosses itself in three places in the town, creating an area of ground of the full polarity of energy. "If you go and stand on these spots, you get a balanced energy message from the earth, which is often a feeling of peace or balanced harmony." The crossing places in Glastonbury The places where the double line of energy crosses itself in Glastonbury are the Abbey ruins, the Chalice Well gardens, and the Glastonbury Tor (see the map above). As I wanted to experience the feeling of standing on these crossing places myself, Mano took me on a tour, to show me exactly where they are.
 | | The gateway to the Abbey Retreat House |
The first place the lines cross is in the Glastonbury Abbey, between the High Altar and King Arthur's and Guinevere's tomb. The Michael (masculine) line sweeps through from Glastonbury High Street across the Mary (feminine) line, and they merge together near the High Altar in the Abbey. Mano believes that at least some of the monks must have known about this merging of energies when they positioned King Arthur's and Guinevere's tomb. "In a sense what the monks were doing, then, is putting the masculine and feminine together," Mano said, "the married couple, if you like, together in their tomb, as a symbol of the marriage of the earth energies just a few yards away." Standing in the spot where the energy lines cross, I had such a wonderful feeling of calmness, peace, and relaxation. The Abbey Retreat House The next point where the Michael and Mary energy lines merge in Glastonbury is the Chalice Well gardens. However on our way there, we detoured to the Abbey Retreat House on Lambrook Street, which would have been the Eastern entrance to the Abbey.
 | | The carving of the cross on the gateway |
Mano showed me some old carvings on the gateway, one of which is a cross, with two cruets, which could have been a coat of arms for Joseph of Arimathea. Mano told me that according to legend, the gold cruet would have carried the blood of Christ after the Crucifixion, and the silver cruet would have carried his sweat. In alchemical terms, the red blood is a masculine polarity, and the silver, the feminine. On the other side of the gateway is a dragon. "What I'm understanding is that the carvings are saying 'there be dragons below'," Mano explained, "because the Mary line has been running all the way through the length of the Abbey and comes right through this gateway - so, someone must have known about that!" You can listen to Mano and myself talking about the earth-dragon energies, the crossing spot in the Abbey, and the gateway to the Abbey Retreat House by clicking on these audio links: The White Spring on Wellhouse Lane On our way to the Chalice Well and the second crossing point of the Michael and Mary energy lines, we decided to make another quick detour - this time to the White Spring which is on Wellhouse Lane, just a few yards away from the Chalice Well.
 | | The entrance to the White Spring |
Mano explained that this would have been a Victorian reservoir, and that the White Spring used to be a water source for the town of Glastonbury. We were really lucky that we could go inside, as it isn't open for much of the time anymore. We just happened to be walking past when someone opened it up. The reason why Mano wanted to stop off here was to tell me about the masculine and feminine polarity that is here too. Going back to alchemical terms, the water from the Red Spring in the Chalice Well gardens is full of iron salts which give it a reddish precipitate. If you leave it in a bottle for a while you get a red-coloured deposit at the bottom. It used to be called the Red Spring, and the Blood Spring before that, so here is the alchemical symbolism of the masculine energies at the Chalice Well. The White Spring is full of calcium salts, which give it a creamy-white precipitate if you leave it standing - this reflects back to the alchemical symbolism of the feminine power. King Arthur's Court in the Chalice Well gardens
 | | Inside the White Spring |
So, after a couple of detours, we finally made it to the Chalice Well gardens. The crossing point of the energy lines is in the part of the gardens called King Arthur's Court. Here, there is a waterfall and a healing pool - so very much the water element, which is traditionally connected to the flow of emotions - ie love. "What I'm understanding is that these three crossing places in Glastonbury of the male and female energies are like a mirror in the earth to our human bodies," said Mano. "You can see where they cross in the centre of the Abbey as being like the centre of the belly - this is how I've experienced it. Now, we've moved up the line, and the same two lines are crossing; they're on a higher octave - I sense them more in the heart." The strange thing was, that as Mano was saying this, I was actually stood with my hand on my chest, as I could definitely feel the higher frequency of energy in that area. I got a chill down my spine at that point, as it was more than a little bit freaky! Mano continued: "So, we've got a message from the earth of that balanced polarity again - the masculine and the feminine energies, this time focused more strongly in the heart. Taking that analogy a step further, the crossing point on the Tor would relate to the head."
 | | Mano in King Arthur's Court in Chalice Well |
Unfortunately, we didn't have quite enough time to visit the crossing point on the Tor, but Mano explained that, after leaving the Chalice Well gardens, the lines snake around in a very complicated and extraordinary way, round the mound of the Tor itself, going up to the top, and then coming down its side. They don't cross on top of the Tor, but on its lower flank. You can listen to Mano and myself talking about the White Spring, and the Michael and Mary energy lines in the Chalice Well gardens by clicking on this audio link: | 
