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On a side street off the High Street of Glastonbury — between crystal shops, esoteric bookstores, and small cafés — stands a building that gives nothing away from the outside. And yet, the moment the door opens, something shifts. The air carries incense. The light changes quality. The noise of the street disappears. Pilgrims from across the world cross that threshold wearing the same expression: the look of someone who has just recognised something they were searching for, without knowing exactly what it was.
The Glastonbury Goddess Temple is the first Goddess Temple to be officially recognised as a place of worship in the Western world — and probably the first in at least fifteen hundred years. It is open to the public every day. Entry is free. And it is one of the most significant living sacred spaces I know.
I serve there as a Melissa and celebrant Priestess. This is what I see when I walk through that door…
What Is the Glastonbury Goddess Temple?
The Glastonbury Goddess Temple is a living place of worship dedicated to the Goddess — not a museum, not a wellness centre, not a spiritual gallery. A Temple in the most precise sense of the word: a space held continuously sacred, tended by an active community of Priestesses and Priests, open to anyone who wishes to enter with presence and respect.
It stands at 2-4 High Street, Glastonbury, Somerset, England, and is open to the public daily from 12:00 to 16:00. Entry is free. What you enter is a space of prayer, meditation, and genuine encounter with the Goddess — not a ticketed attraction, not a curated experience designed for passive consumption. Many people arrive out of curiosity and stay far longer than they planned, sitting in silence with something they cannot immediately name but recognise as real.
The History — Kathy Jones and the Birth of a Temple
The story of the Glastonbury Goddess Temple begins in the 1980s, when a community of people — guided by Kathy Jones, writer, Priestess, and spiritual teacher — began gathering in Glastonbury to reimagine and relive the spirituality of the indigenous British Goddess. The intention was not to reconstruct an imagined past, but to bring to life a broken tradition, working from the fragments that Celtic mythology, Arthurian legend, and the sacred landscape of Somerset had preserved across centuries.
In 2003, the Glastonbury Goddess Temple was formally recognised as a place of worship in the United Kingdom — a historic act with few precedents in the modern Western world. From that moment, the Temple has been open daily, maintained by an active priestly community of Priestesses and Priests of the Goddess who rotate in daily service as Melissa.
Kathy Jones developed over time what is known as the Wheel of Avalon — the sacred calendar of eight seasonal festivals, each presided over by a specific archetypal face of the Goddess — and a system of priestly teachings that continues to be transmitted with full continuity today. It is within this lineage that I trained. The work of the Milan International Goddess Temple, of which I am Founder, carries this same transmission into Italy and into the international community of the Avalon tradition.
Inside the Temple — What You Will Find
The interior of the Glastonbury Goddess Temple is intimate and carefully held. Altars dedicated to the archetypal Goddesses of the Wheel of Avalon are arranged around the space, decorated according to the season currently being honoured — different each time you visit, always rooted in the mythological and ceremonial cycle of the year. Floral offerings, sacred images, the quality of attention that a space carries when it is genuinely tended rather than arranged for display.
At the centre of everything, always burning during opening hours: the Flame of Avalon.
A purple candle, lit continuously whenever the Temple is open, kept alive by the Melissa in service. To call it a decorative detail would be to miss it entirely. The Flame of Avalon is the living heart of the Temple — the uninterrupted presence of the Goddess in the sacred space, the thread of light connecting every visitor, every ceremony, every prayer spoken within those walls to something far older. In the Avalon tradition, tending this flame is a sacred act: the same gesture that Priestesses performed in the Temples of the Goddess thousands of years ago, carried forward without interruption through the hands of the community that holds this space.
There is always at least one Melissa present during opening hours — a community member or Priestess or Priest in service whose role is to tend the space, welcome those who enter, and be available to those who have questions about the tradition. The role of Melissa is not a formal institutional position: it is a genuine service, offered with full presence. As a Priestess of Avalon and Melissa of the Glastonbury Goddess Temple myself, I can tell you that this service changes you — the practice of holding sacred space for others, consistently, season after season, is one of the deepest forms of spiritual work I know.
The Goddess Hall and the Goddess House
The Glastonbury Goddess Temple is not the only space connected to this tradition in the town. A few minutes’ walk away, on Benedict Street, stands the Goddess Hall — a larger space used for seasonal celebrations in person, public events, and ceremonies when attendance exceeds the capacity of the main Temple. It is here that the great rites of the Wheel of Avalon are held for larger gatherings, and where priestly trainings and other programmes of study and practice take place.
In the same area, the Goddess House — an independent space founded by Priestesses of the Avalon tradition — offers energy healing, shamanic healing, Goddess Healing, holistic treatments, oracle card consultations, private ceremonies, and sound healing sessions. If you are visiting Glastonbury and want a more personal and guided experience, it is the right place to look. The Goddess House represents the wider ecosystem of practice that has grown around the Glastonbury Goddess Temple over more than two decades — a living community of practitioners working within the same tradition.
The Wheel of Avalon — The Temple’s Ceremonial Heart
The Glastonbury Goddess Temple holds seasonal ceremonies for all eight festivals of the Wheel of Avalon throughout the year — Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. These are public ceremonies, open to all, held in Glastonbury in person and broadcast online for those who cannot be present.
I serve as a ceremonial Priestess for the Glastonbury Goddess Temple’s official online Wheel of the Year celebrations held in English — part of the Temple’s international outreach to the global community of the Avalon tradition. If you follow the Glastonbury Goddess Temple online and have attended these celebrations, you may already know my face.
For those wishing to experience the seasonal ceremonies of the Glastonbury Goddess Temple in person, I can advise on timing and accompany you as a guide during my residencies in Glastonbury. Each ceremony is a genuine communal ritual, not a performance: the same ceremonial structure that has been transmitted and refined within this tradition for over two decades.
Visiting the Glastonbury Goddess Temple — Practical Notes
The Temple is at 2-4 High Street, Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Open daily 12:00–16:00. Free entry. No booking required for individual visits. For ceremonies and special events, check the Glastonbury Goddess Temple website for the current calendar.
Come with the intention of a pilgrim rather than a tourist. Leave an offering if you feel moved to — flowers, a stone, a candle. Sit with the Flame of Avalon. Let the Melissa on duty know if you have questions. The space is designed for genuine encounter, and it responds to genuine presence.
Visiting with Me — What I Can Offer
If you are planning a pilgrimage to Glastonbury Avalon and want to visit the Temple and the sacred sites of Avalon with someone who knows them from the inside — who has trained within the tradition, serves in active role within the Temple, and returns here throughout the year — I am available during my residencies at the Glastonbury Goddess Temple.
I can accompany you through the Temple, the sacred sites, and the wider landscape of Glastonbury Avalon, offering a bespoke exploration and healing experience, and the depth of context that comes from years of practice within this living tradition. Contact me in advance to find out when I am next in Glastonbury and to discuss what kind of experience would serve you best.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Will I feel welcome if I am not a practitioner or a believer?
Yes. The Temple is open to all and the Melissa on duty is there precisely to welcome whoever arrives — whether you are a long-term practitioner, a curious visitor, or someone who wandered in from the High Street and is not entirely sure why. There is no expectation of belief, no pressure, and nothing to perform.
Is this connected to Wicca or any specific religious group?
The Glastonbury Goddess Temple is an independent place of worship within the Goddess spirituality tradition. It is not affiliated with Wicca, with any specific neopagan organisation, or with any political group. It is a Temple to the Goddess — open, non-dogmatic, and welcoming to anyone who comes with genuine respect.
I would like to visit the Temple when you are there. How do I make that happen?
Contact me through the Milan International Goddess Temple website and let me know your planned travel dates. I will tell you whether our visits overlap and, if so, whether I am available to guide you through the Temple and the sacred sites of Glastonbury Avalon during that time.
See you at the Temple,
Anna
Priestess of the Goddess and of Avalon
I am a Priestess of the Goddess and Priestess of Avalon, and the Founder of the Milan International Goddess Temple. I trained at the Glastonbury Goddess Temple in the United Kingdom, where I serve as a celebrant Priestess and Melissa of the Temple, and as a ceremonial Priestess for the Temple’s official online Wheel of the Year celebrations in English. I hold a PhD in Old Norse. My sacred tours and pilgrimages in Glastonbury and Milan are available for individuals and small groups.
Available for academic consultancy, media interviews, and documentary collaborations on the Glastonbury Goddess Temple, the Avalon tradition, and living goddess spirituality in the contemporary world — contact Anna.
