St. Michael’s Mount: From Christian Folklore to New Age Mythologies

Abstract

St. Michael’s Mount, a small, tidal island in Mount’s Bay, close to the south-western tip of the English county of Cornwall, is both a highly picturesque tourism attraction and a place that has become associated with various aspects of Christianity, Christian folklore and, more latterly, New Age mysticism. While the island was a centre for Christian pilgrimage in the 12th-14th centuries, at a time when it was closely associated with St. Michael the Archangel and the Benedictine order devoted to him, several other religious and spiritual associations are more recent. One notable folkloric tale, which arose long after the Order had departed, concerned the manifestation of St. Michael on the island. This was also influential in a more modern folkloric connection, that of the island being located at the intersection of two “leys” (lines of spiritual power): one English one, running north-east from St. Michael’s Mount to Bury St. Edmunds, and one international one, running south-east from Ireland to Bethlehem. These aspects are discussed with regard to the island being a nexus of various mythical and spiritual aspects within historical, popular cultural, New Age and tourism contexts. The article identifies how associations can accrete around locales and suggest them as spiritually infused in a broad and somewhat “fuzzy” manner that facilitates multiple affective and representational engagements with them.

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