The Matter of the Chalice Well Madonna
Why the Madonna and Child statue was removed from Chalice Well Gardens, and why we should care
In the last week or so a Glastonbury-shaped corner of the Internet has lit up with activity. In fact, it has become incandescent. At first, the reason seems innocuous enough: the removal of a statue of a seated Madonna and Child from the Chalice Well Gardens. But this act, for many reasons, has provoked outpourings of dismay, anger, confusion and frustration; currently close to 3,000 comments on the Chalice Well Trust’s Facebook page and an online petition. Some have called the response an over-reaction, particularly when the combined energies of those involved could be put to better use campaigning against more urgent real-world problems. For what it’s worth, this is my view on why the scale and strength of protest is both valid and necessary.
Background
For those who are unfamiliar with it, Chalice Well Gardens comprises the property and grounds acquired by spiritualist and mystic Wellesley Tudor Pole, located at the foot of the valley running between the Tor and Chalice Hill. On one valley side, the White Spring rises; on the other, within the bounds of Chalice Well Gardens, rises the Red Spring. It is a relatively small garden, but charged with an intensely numinous atmosphere. Excavations in 1961 uncovered various finds suggesting a long history as a place of sanctity. Like Glastonbury as a whole, it is now a focus for modern pilgrimage, attended by thousands each year. Many have undergone profound spiritual transformation while meditating at the Wellhead, listening to the spring waters cascade into the Healing Pool, or sitting beside the Madonna and Child sculpture, which is often adorned with flowers and other votive offerings. Except it’s not there any longer.
The Chalice Well Trust was founded in 1959 to ‘preserve and safeguard it for the public good in perpetuity’. Its charitable objects also include: beautifying the well and its surroundings; advancing religious and spiritual activities; and encouraging the study of the sacred through the arts (I am paraphrasing; the full objects are here.) The trust espouses a ‘many paths one source’ ethos, supposedly welcoming pilgrims and visitors of all spiritual paths, faiths and beliefs.
Reason #1
One reason made public by the current trustees for removing the Madonna and Child sculpture is that, in its original form, it was created by Eric Gill. The original work was commissioned in 1928 by Father Francis Burdett, and now resides in Glastonbury Abbey, where it’s been since 2011. Eric Gill is problematic for some because, as revealed in a biography by Fiona McCarthy in 1989, Gill’s personal diaries tell of the sexual abuse he inflicted on his two eldest daughters, his incestuous relationship with his sister Gladys, and various unsavoury activities conducted on the family dog. Some might remember the hammer attack on Gill’s Prospero and Arial sculpture at the BBC by protestors in 2022, who claimed it was a ‘paedophile’ artwork. In a further message by the Chalice Well trustees, they claimed the statue re-traumatises survivors of sexual abuse when they visit the garden and see it.
Whether art should be censured, or censored, because of the moral decrepitude of the artist, is highly debateable. Some in favour take an ethical position: the artwork should not be promoted because the artist, by his / her actions, has forfeited any status or acclaim previously enjoyed. Another is more abstruse, but seems to suggest that the artwork is somehow tainted; as though the deviant mind that guided the hand of the artist folded his / her corruption into the artwork at the point of creation.
Those opposed to the suppression of art that is in some way deemed ‘offensive’ would point to the fact that the art is an abstraction, a representation of life, not life itself. And that the process of enjoying art is not a moral test, but an act of subjective, aesthetic engagement. In the words of the American Civil Liberties Union:
A free society is based on the principle that each individual has the right to decide what art or entertainment he or she wants — or does not want — to receive or create. Once you allow [an organisation] to censor someone else, you cede to it the power to censor you, or something you like. Censorship is like poison gas: a powerful weapon that can harm you when the wind shifts.
Degas, Picasso, Gaugin were all fairly unpleasant human beings, but we acknowledge the separation of the art and artist; the former has merit on its own terms, regardless of the actions of the latter. Closer to home, in 2014 Marion Zimmer Bradley – author of the acclaimed The Mists of Avalon, which has become hugely influential in the Glastonbury Goddess movement, was exposed as a child abuser by her own daughter, and accused of being a serial rapist. So the Chalice Well trustees, by their actions, have embarked on an impossible task: policing the boundaries of art and morality. By their own standards, all copies of The Mists of Avalon must be removed from the Chalice Well bookshop in perpetuity.
In reality, what is offensive to one person is perfectly acceptable to another. But those who experience distress and discomfort are generally more vociferous in their complaints, making it harder for censurers to resist. What makes the Chalice Well trustees’ decision very hard to justify is the fact that their Madonna and Child is a copy, sculpted by Indian master mason Ganesh Bhat that, in his own words, ‘was carved completely out of devotion to the spiritual goddess and her child. She signifies Nature, Life, the Earth.’ It has no connection with Eric Gill, beyond resembling the original work. Also, its removal flies in the face of the trust’s objective to encourage the study of the sacred through the arts. Bhat goes on to say:
The trustees promised me that the statue would always stay [in its niche]… I feel hurt that they have moved her because of the firm promises I received. Before removing her to the woods they could surely have consulted me? She should not be out in the open. She needs shelter and also to be on a platform, not getting wet all the time.
Reason #2
A second reason given by the trustees for the removal of the Madonna statue is this: that, as a result of their ‘many paths one source’ ethos, statues that could be perceived as belonging to a particular spiritual path should be removed. The trustees claim that the garden is not multi-faith but rather a neutral space, united only by Nature; it should be free of ornamental symbols. This rather odd statement has resulted in the removal of not just Ganesh Bhat’s sculpture, but also an Angel statue and a Gaia statue (the latter two have subsequently been restored to their original locations.) But the garden is in fact steeped in esoteric and religious symbolism:
The vesica piscis, which adorns the wellhead and numerous other locations in the garden, and is embedded into the design of the Vesica Pool, is variously symbolic of: the separation of the Pythagorean Monad into the Dyad; the unity of opposites; the vessel or vulva receiving the wand or kteis – the very act of creation
The Red Spring itself, symbolic of otherworldly waters gestating in the womb of the earth and coming forth at the point of manifestation to heal and fructify
The Chalice or Graal; its symbolism is so extensive as to make it the preeminent icon of the Western Mysteries
Judging by the Trustees’ explanatory comments, we must assume that they perceive the Madonna and Child sculpture as belonging to a Christian path. That may be so, but to censor it on this basis is to discredit the memory of the Trust’s founder, Wellesley Tudor Pole, whose personal brand of esotericism was steeped in Christian symbolism and who placed the unifying, evolutionary force of Christ / Christos at the heart of his belief-system. It should also be noted that the form of the Madonna and Child sculpture in question is sufficiently unorthodox for it to be widely regarded by pilgrims as a universal representation of motherhood; an embodiment of the mysterious fertilising power of the female to bring forth life; and a celebration of the nurturing and beneficent aspects of the divine feminine. The ‘mother and child’ is an archetypal image found in numerous religions and, as such, is a symbol for all peoples. Unsurprisingly, the collective removal of all representations of the divine feminine from the garden has resulted in quite legitimate accusations of patriarchal repression.
On the subject of the garden as neutral space, free of denominational symbolism, nothing more need be said on the matter beyond this message from an interfaith minister and Harvard divinity school fellow, submitted to the ‘Our Lady’ online petition:
Radical inclusiveness and embracing many paths actually requires that many of those be included and acknowledged. The removal of all symbolism does not accomplish that goal. What it accomplishes is rather the inverse, which is secularism. Secularism fails to acknowledge the Holy at all. It is a horrible substitute for inclusion and is actually the least inclusive of all paths, because it excludes the Holy in all paths.
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A final consideration is the energetic impact of the statue’s removal and / or relocation. The entire Chalice Well Gardens is a Mysterium; a finely calibrated, talismanic configuration of sacred spaces. They work in concert to provide for pilgrims a theophantic circuit where each station affects the individual according to its purpose; whether a deep sense of peace and stillness, or a powerful visionary experience, the hortus genii conspire together to bestow healing and wisdom to those who need it – as does Glastonbury at large. What has become very clear from the moving messages posted in response to the Madonna and Child sculpture’s explusion is just how powerful a sacramental object is has become. Either because of the level of intense veneration it has received, or the virtues of its indwelling spirits (or both), the sculpture has transcended its material form to become a powerful conduit, an intermediary. Its exile will likely affect the garden’s careful balance and flow of energies, and also deny pilgrims the numinous qualities afforded by the sculpture’s positioning in that specific space within the garden; a space that, until recently, had been its home.
Why We Should Care
Why should we care about the removal of a sculpture from a modest garden in a small town in Somerset? As mentioned at the top of this post, some regard the whole matter as a storm in a teacup; a massive over-reaction, especially compared to the many and terrible injustices in the world.
We like to think that Glastonbury is somewhat separate from the world-at-large; a sanctuary and refuge with a higher purpose; a unique place that dances to a different beat and operates to its own set of rules. We can be idealistic about the Holy Island because, even through the grind of day-to-day life, it has always leaned towards Utopianism; it embodies the promise of a spirit-centred community where the land, its human and non-human populations, co-operate towards, and co-create, its unfolding destiny. We believe, or intuit, or simply know that it is a preeminent spiritual centre; the locus of the Western Mystery Tradition and a place of initiation. This is evident in the myriad religions, belief systems and traditions that Glastonbury plays host to, perhaps representing the highest concentration on the planet; certainly in Britain. Each rubs up against the other daily yet, despite this huge diversity, the condition is generally harmonious. This is because the over-riding principles maintaining this careful equilibrium are tolerance and respect. The actions of the Chalice Well trustees do not acknowledge these principles, and this is evident to the thousands of individuals who have responded with dismay at the Madonna and Child sculpture’s expulsion; they recognise that the act represents a turning-away from Glastonbury’s lofty ideals, no matter how slight.
The modern world is characterised by autocratic cabals inflicting their agendas on the populace, and this – in microcosm – is what is taking place at Chalice Well. The vast majority of folk wish for the statue to be reinstated in its original location. The trustees have resisted, and instead placed it beneath a tree in an inaccessible meadow; as such, they have overstepped their roles as guardians and custodians.
In 2023, the Chalice Well Trust generated over £500,000 in revenue, primarily from donations and entry fees. Without our support, the trust would not exist. It is a sad indictment of their agenda that they will likely only listen to reason when revenues are impacted. Therefore, the best action we as pilgrims can take is to stay away from the garden, difficult though it may be.
After all, if Glastonbury cannot resist the incursions of autocracy and vested interests, where can?
Finally, a quote from Wellesley Tudor Pole taken, ironically, from the Chalice Well Trust’s own website:
There is no power on earth that can withstand the united cooperation on spiritual levels of men and women of goodwill everywhere.
Updated to include new comments from the Mother & Child sculptor Ganesh Bhat: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/qLHFykDPbXFGnjmm/
Intresting how this all kicked off just after the wonderful walk you led. We must have cooked up something.