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Avalon - Geoffrey of Monmouth - Vita Merlini
Identifier
007136
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Avalon is the island featured in Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and the place where King Arthur was taken after fighting Mordred at the Battle of Camlann. Being an island where dead spirits are taken – where heroes go - the island has almost identical attributes associated with it as the islands in Greek myth. There is also a belief that Arthur will reincarnate as a new hero - Welsh, Cornish and Breton tradition all state that Arthur will be reborn to lead his people against their enemies.
The Arthurian legends seem to have been based on earlier Celtic myths, though whether these were base on Greek myths is not known. There is certainly a link, as Geoffrey refers to Avalon as the Fortunate Isles.
The spiritual nature of the island is further emphasised in Geoffrey’s Vita Merlini, in which he describes the enchantress Morgan le Fay as the chief of nine sisters who live on Avalon
A description of the experience
Alfred Lord Tennyson – from Morte d'Arthur
To the island valley of Avalon;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound
Geoffrey of Monmouth - Vita Merlini
The island of apples which men call “The Fortunate Isle” 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.