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The Wookey Hole Caves, owned by the industrialist Philip Crow, "hold a malefic function" in opposition to what Glastonbury represents.<ref>Paul Cheshire, "‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in ''A Glastonbury Romance'' ", p.53-4.</ref> Likewise, Philip's ambition, is to modernise Glastonbury in opposition to his antagonist Geard's planned religious revival. Philip is associated with mining, a factory, flying, and plans to electrify Wookey Hole, "the caves of the Druids".<ref>''A Glastonbury Romance'' (1955), p. 51, quoted by Paul Cheshire, "‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in ''A Glastonbury Romance''", p. 56.</ref>
Eight pages of chapter 8, "Wookey Hole", were removed when the novel was reprinted in 1955, and some shorter cuts were made to earlier reprints in 1933.<ref>Paul Cheshire, "''Glastonbury Romance'': Cuts and Alterations to the UK Printed Texts 1932-1955". ''The Powys Journal'', vol. 27 (2017), p. 65.</ref> In the full version, a mythological parallel is established between Philip's descent into the Caves with Persephone Spear and the god [[Pluto]]'s<ref group = note>Pluto, ''Plouton'', was one of several [[euphemism|euphemistic]] names for Hades (Hansen, ''Classical Mythology'', pp. 162 and 182, citing [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 9.158–159. [[Plato]] says that people prefer the name ''Plouton'', "giver of wealth," because the name of Hades is fear-provoking ([[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' 403a; Glenn R. Morrow, ''Plato's Cretan City: A Historical Interpretation of the Laws'' (Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 452–453). The name was understood as referring to "the boundless riches of the earth, both the crops on its surface—he was originally a god of the land—and the mines hidden within it" (Fernando Navarro Antolin, ''Lygdamus: Corpus Tibullianum III.1–6, Lygdami Elegiarum Liber'' (Brill, 1996), pp. 145–146). As a lord of abundance or riches, Pluto expresses the aspect of the underworld god that was positive, symbolized in art by the "horn of plenty" ([[cornucopia]]),(Charlotte R. Long, ''The Twelve Gods of Greece and Rome'' (Brill, 1987), p. 179; Phyllis FrayPray Bober, "Cernunnos: Origin and Transformation of a Celtic Divinity," ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 55 (1951), p. 28, examples in Greek and Roman art in note 98; Hewitt, "The Propitiation of Zeus," p. 65) by means of which ''Plouton'' is distinguished from the gloomier Hades (Tsagalis, ''Inscribing Sorrow'', pp. 101–102; Morrow, ''Plato's Cretan City'', pp. 452–453; John J. Hermann, Jr., "Demeter-Isis or the Egyptian Demeter? A Graeco-Roman Sculpture from an Egyptian Workshop in Boston" in ''Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts'' 114 (1999), p. 88). (Wikipedia)</ref> descent into his [[underworld]] kingdom, with the goddess [[Demeter]]'s daughter [[Persephone]].<ref>Paul Cheshire, "‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in A Glastonbury Romance", pp. 54-5.</ref> The legend of Wookey Hole involves a witch being changed into a stalactite by a monk's holy water.<ref>Paul Cheshire, "‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in A Glastonbury Romance". ''The Powys Journal'', vol. 27 (2017), pp. 54-5.</ref> In the full version, the "'phallic' formations of the cave" are described as " 'memorials' of the Witch of Wookey's 'monstrous encounters' ",<ref>See '' A Glastonbury Romance''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1932, p. 236. </ref> which Penny Smith suggests are a reference here to the "myth of the castrating Mother" and Smith links this to the "cult of Cybele and her son Attis".<ref>"The 'Cave of the man-eating Mothers': its location in ''A Glastonbury Romance''". ''The Powys Review'', 9 (1981/82), p. 15. </ref> Philip, however, experience in the Cave " 'a sensation of power ... beyond anything he had ever known' ".<ref>Penny Sith "The 'Cave of the man-eating Mothers'", p. 16.</ref> Paul Cheshire notes that this energy is "phallic", and he points to "three superhuman forces operating on Philip". Firstly "the umbilical nerve within him vibrating in response to the nerves of the Great Mother" secondly "the [divine-diabolic]{{sfn|Powys|1955|p=21}} First Cause ... and [thirdly] ... Christ ... operating 'against him' ".<ref> Paul Cheshire, "‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in ''A Glastonbury Romance''", pp. 56-7.</ref> Later Geard visits Philip's "kingdom below the earth", where, according to Paul Cheshire, "the Witch" strikes "a '[[Dolorous Stroke|dolorous blow]]' against [his] Grail project", when he falls asleep and misses making "his great speech".<ref>"‘sub-human or super-human consciousness’ in ''A Glastonbury Romance''", p. 57.</ref>
*'''[[Glastonbury Tor]]'''
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