Abstract

The Goddess People of Avalon, a young and flourishing religious community in Glastonbury (South-England), have been defining themselvesprincipally as a revitalization of the prehistoric worship of the Great Goddess. Based on fieldwork data of the author, the article offers an introduction into the religious tradition and ritual praxis of the contemporary Goddess People. Specifically, the analysis focuses on the ritual genre of Sacred Drama with its interpretationof the general and local history of religions. The variety of recursivity (as a reference to the past), which this ritual genre expresses, is examined within an analytical frame that has been developed for different forms of ritual dynamics. Particularly, the analytical concepts ritual transfer, adaptation, invention and ritual design are discussed. Within the lastyears, a change in the self-image and legitimizing strategies of the Goddess People has occurred: Whereas in their nascent years, they understood themselves as a reactualization of primordial spirituality, they tend to see themselvescurrently more as a newreligious tradition, inventing their rituals creatively and confidently. The article argues for the use of the analytical concept ritual design to describe this aspect of ritual dynamics. Thus, instead of evaluating the degree of originality of rituals from an academic point of view, the legitimizing strategiesof religious agents come to the fore.