The Hedge Druid

Kenmare – County Kerry, Ireland – 21st June 2014

We roll into town with clear instructions – the stone circle is just on the edge of the town, down Market Street. That’s true but for some reason we decide that the street designated as “market” must be the one with all the shops on it. Well, that was foolish! A long walk out and back means that we start the day off grumbling about how to put a sign up to name your streets in small Irish towns. We haven’t wasted much time, and soon we find the pristine, manicured stone circle at the end of a well-kept hedge-lined path. It feels like we’re walking on to a bowling green!

Bowlers on the Green

The circle is composed of beautiful stones – not too tall, but equally spaced, regularly sited, and overall the circle is impressive. The stone monument is enclosed on all sides by shrubbery, and on one side by tall trees. Other singular trees make themselves known too – a blackthorn and a hawthorn stand in solitary silence on the left-hand side, as though waiting to be noticed by the interested observer. I notice them. I’m interested.

Kenmare stone circle bowling green

There are a few others who have ventured out to the circle this special Summer Solstice morning – a young lady sitting at the far side, and an older lady who is wandering around watching what everyone else is up to. Tourist? Interested party? We find out later that she’s interested in all things “heritage” and is from the United States. Well, the odds were in favour of that, really!

Having dowsed to see if there is anything to do here – luckily getting a positive response – I ask to be taken to the starting point. I am taken on a huge inwardly-winding deosil spiral that takes me from weaving betweent eh outer stones to a point on top of the plat stone in the centre. I guess I have to sit here? I sit facing the solstice sun and just allow me aura to be cleansed of the modern world’s detritus. As this is Ireland and we’re in a small town it only takes a few seconds to be cleared and ready for the next stage of the adventure.

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Unknown Sacred Place Ireland

Just when you thought it was safe to go home. This is why I don’t like to go on tours. Unless of course it is one of ours. It is with one hundred percent conviction that I can say that sacred pilgrimages do not conform to timetables or to pre-ordered site visits. For almost six years we have made hundreds of journeys and not a one has conformed to a preconceived timetable. It fluctuates constantly.

So it was that we were half way back to our lodgings when we felt/spotted a place off to the side of the road and up on a hill. Both of us turned our heads to follow it as we drove by and then looked at each other. It was comical. “Let’s have a look” we said to each other. Reversed the car and found a place to park.

It was a bit of a bugger to get to and wasn’t helped by the fact that the sun had vanished leaving behind a soft red haze. As we climbed up the slope to the stones I asked a few questions and determined that Gwas was here to learn something, whereas, for me, there was work to be done.

I asked whether I needed to prepare? The answer was yes and so I was taken to the back of the stones to a place that was suitable. I spent some moments in preparation and then was taken to the front and slightly to the side of the stones.

Grabbing the Sun

What to do I pondered. Did I need to cleanse the site as I had at the Priory earlier this evening? No. What then? After a few minutes of introspection the answer came to me. This place needed to be re-energised.

Feeling around for the Genius Loci, I found it and connected with it. How should I energize this place? I asked. You know, when you are just vaguely staring at nothing and then you focus and see the answer to a question that is on your mind staring you in the face? Such it was. I looked into the distance and saw the remaining light of the settled sun.

Grab the sun and smash it into the stones

That was the message, loud and clear from the Spirit of the Place, so I did it. Looking out across the water I sent my thought over and beyond the horizon. Looped it around the sun’s energy, drew it back and slammed it, with the force of a sling shot, right into the stones. What a powerful feeling! No wonder the Solar (power) chakra is named and associated with the Sun.

Phew! That felt good! I can see why people can become power crazy, it is intoxicating. I wondered whether I needed to do it again, I was quite happy to. But no, the work was done. The energy I had brought in would sink into the ground and re-light this sacred place.

As I settled myself and took control of myself I realised that in a minor way, I had done something similar to what Caileach had done at the priory. Interesting. Why could I do this and not that? Maybe because the priory had aeons worth of darkness to cleanse?

I traversed the stones, almost to create a barrier so that the energy would be retained within the place and was done. We got back in the car and continued on our journey back to our lodgings.

Kal Malik

Still the first day of our Summer Solstice outing in Ireland. On our return through Ballinskelligs I stop off to phone home and see how things are. Standing on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean I watch the sun drifting lower as I chat to my wife. It is a beautiful scene, and I remember how powerful it feels to be next to the sea. At the moment it is calm and clear, but I remember when it rages how impressive it is too. As I finish my call I stand by the shore shifting large round pebbles with my feet – this day isn’t over yet. There is more to do, I feel. Today I am feeling the solstice energy, and I want ot make use of it. I go to re-join Kal who is waiting patiently in the car. We drive back off towards Eightercua again, heading back to the hotel in Kenmare.

Golf course or sacred site?

The sun is dipping and the light is fading quickly now as we leave Waterville behind us and climb the hill. On our right we see Skellig Bay Golf Course. Its entrance looks like an abandoned car lot. Then suddenly I see a line of tall stone on the ridge just above the entrance. What is that, I ask? We get excited about the possibility of one more site before the end of the day, and so I take the chance to drive off on to a track which runs alongside the gold course, and I park up. We walk back to the entrance in eager anticipation. Is it a folly? Decoration? Or a real site?

Looking to Waterville at sunset

There’s a welcome chill developing in the air after the long day’s warmth, and without appropriate extra clothing we decide we should act quickly. We’re so “on fire” this evening that we simply have to see what these stones are all about, and we rush up the slope to investigate them.

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Coom Tomb

With some astute navigation we had arrived at the final sacred site of our first afternoon/evening in Ireland. We had visited a couple of sites so far and the experiences at each had been overwhelmingly fabulous. I was eager to see what could be learned here.

As is usual I asked whether there was anything I can do for this place? The answer was no. This place was more for Gwas than for me. But I smelled Caileach in the air and so expected that something would be in it for me too. Asking whether I needed to prepare in any fashion gave a response of no.

I hoped that I didn’t need to crawl into the depths of the tomb and was relieved when the rods concurred. Not that I minded, it’s just that the last time I crawled into a cave in Ireland it was into the belly of a Dragon! Fortunately, as the picture shows, all I needed to do is get close to the tomb entrance. As a side note, in that picture, Gwas is actually inside the tomb!

The spirit of the place (Genius Loci) was very accommodating in helping me understand things. It told me that with the Water Element I had been given the ability to peer into the depths of things, situations, issues, beings and problems.

Coom Tomb – Kal

Wow! I thought and immediately began to mentally go over what I could use this ability on before I was cut short, “you have to cultivate this ability” warned the spirit. “The Earth Element you have already gained, can be used as an anchor when you plunge into the depths.”

I bet you are asking, “where does this knowledge come from?” From the Genius Loci of course – ha ha

As I rested my back and got more comfortable. It was actually quite comfortable there. Both Gwas and I agreed that we could have spent many minutes enjoying the energy of that place. However I wasn’t to be left in peace. Caileach made her presence felt.

Just as a side point. Here in Ireland my experience of Caileach is slightly different. Whereas in other places it is as if she appears. Here it is more like she is always here, and just opens a door way between us. Interesting…

“Tomorrow you must join with your Energy Double and peer into its depth.” She commanded. Okay, I said, with a whole hint of “I’m not too sure about that…”

“But, ” Her voice was like a bell being struck, “You must have me with you!” I felt her stare burn into me, “Do not do it on your own!”

And the door way faded. Silence and the darkness of the night settled over me.

Kal Malik

June 20th 2014 – Coom Wedge Tomb, Ballinskelligs, Iveragh Peninsula, Ireland

We drove about an hour around to a different headland to find Coom Wedge Tomb. It is difficult to spot from the road, but it can be found by going down a small lane which appears to lead to only a few distant farmhouses. In a field on the left you will see the tomb, but parking is also difficult. As I have come to expect whenever I want to abandon the car in a place where no-one else can pass, then you can guarantee that someone will turn up who wants to pass. They did. Twice! Come on! There are only two buildings in that part of the whole island! Yet, at that moment I needed to park two residents needed to pass. I ended up parking almost in the field!

Did the tomb’s profile once mirror the distant island?

My preliminary dowsing indicates that there is something here for me, and that it is related to my ancestors. I am beginning to use dowsing as a means to confirm or refine the intuitive response that I am developing related to sacred places now. I would say that I feel it is an ancestral place for me first, and then the dowsing allows me to dig a little deeper and get re-assurance of these ideas.

I need to climb inside, so I find the only gap that will feasibly fit me and I wriggle into it, much to Kal’s amusement. Inside I lie down and despite the hard stony floor it is incredibly comfortable. Perhaps it is, relative to hours of driving on bumpy, twisty roads!

Inside the chamber I close my eyes and get connected. I feel like there isn’t the usual type of Spirit of Place here. Instead the spirit of place is an echo, a remnant of my own ancestors and their energies. Somehow, this is my chamber, it has housed people connected to me at some time. It knows about me already. Is this what happens when one is bearing the Black Dragon’s protective wings?

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Ballinskelligs Abbey

It was our second sacred site on our Summer Solstice (2014) trip to Ireland and already it had been a learning experience (see post 1 and 1,5). I had completed 50% of what I had come to do here and wondered what more magic was to be had. Yet, you know, almost one hundred percent of the time our sacred journeys surprise, delight and take us to the next level.

Our next stop was at an Abbey that overlooked an estuary. As we walked into it both Gwas and I sensed that there was something energetically amiss. We both asked the same question, is there anything wrong with this place? Yes was the answer and the further questioning revealed that it was my lot to fix it.

Speculation: Gwas and I often wonder whether we choose the sacred place or the place chooses us. We have had many occasions when we have had to work with a place. Did the place summon us? You tell me!

As I wandered around the place, trying to connect with the Genius Loci I also got answers to questions that came to mind. This place had been in a bad way for aeons. It was a place that had been dedicated to Caileach. A good question to ask before blundering in like a dumb-ass is…

• “Is it holistically good for me to change the energies here?”

This is subtly different from the action oriented statement, “let me act in the greatest good for all” which assumes (ass out of u and me) that you have to act. What if doing nothing is how one should be acting?

Ballinskelligs Abbey – Estuary

As is the case most of the time, there was a place that I needed to prepare and once this was done I was ready. I asked the rods where I needed to be and they took me in a tight spiral back to the same place. I couldn’t recall the last time where the preparation place was the same as the place of work. It didn’t feel right. I asked whether I was prepared to do the work? The answer was Yes. I asked whether I needed something to do the work? Yes.

Ah…crystals, incense, other magical accoutrement? No, no and no. That was a bit disappointing. What was the answer then? I wandered the site, rods held loosely in my hands. Awaiting my intuition. Then it came to me. I needed extraordinary help? Indeed, I needed Goddess help.

You might ask how I came to this answer. I don’t know. Most of the time we spend many minutes eliminating answers until the rods answer yes to a question. Other, rarer, times the answer just ‘pops’ into our minds – this was one such occasion.

I felt around this answer for a while until I realised that I hadn’t got it exactly right. Caileach needed my help! Wow! Okay It seemed that it was a task that neither of us could perform alone. Indeed it was that she needed a conduit, me, to cleanse the site. I don’t know about you, but I am not the most trusting of people when it comes to the being that is Caileach! Not after the Ice Dragon betrayal only a few months ago.

I disconnected from her for a few minutes to make my sanity checks and ensure that all was well. It was. Okay, I sent the thought out to her, let’s do it.

Ballinskelligs Abbey – Sun

I was taken to a place where I could look out onto the water and then something amazing happened. It was truly epic in its scope. Caileach drew in the Sun…

Oh! Such poor words to describe the indescribable

Her breath was so deep, that I was lost in its fathoms. I felt that it was because of the Water element that I was adding to the mix that lent power to its depth. But I am telling you. It grew in both scope and depth equally.

I am one of the most ego-comfortable people I know. Having a belief that we (humans) are on a par with other beings. Until I am reminded by such an experience of how twig stick like we really are. Ha ha ha. Be still my sinking ego.

And then came the storm…howling wind and fire smashed into my crown, I swear it knocked me to the floor. Like a torrent of meteors it smashed into and through me into the ground. I had a vague sense of trying to follow its path underground, but it was too much for me.

The whole show must have taken less than a few minutes but felt much longer. Then, it was finished, done. I felt like a cinder and spent many more minutes sitting on the wall taking in the evening air and coolness of the water. Recovering my strength I wandered through the abbey and felt a very different energy there.

One thing you will realise about energy work is that it shifts the feel pretty fast. No slacking where energy is concerned.

I found the place where the fire had settled or rather the surface place. It was clear. Pure, was the thought that flashed into my mind. I asked whether there was more to do here? No. As Gwas finished his meal I got a few more answers from the Rods.

• It had been a combined effort but more on Caileach’s part than mine. I was the hammer, she was the wielder.
• Water element was needed to bring both depth and to cool me whilst the fire was being pushed through me.
• I had to have gained the Water Element before I could work with the Caileach at the abbey.

That last one was surprising and which again brings up the question of whether we choose or are chosen. That wraps it up for the abbey and this sacred place. We were done for our first few hours in Ireland and I’ll let you decide on the awesome factor. But as we drove home, we were not done. Oh no!

Kal Malik

In my last post I talked about how I had used the Earth as an Anchor so that I could gain the Depth of the Water Element as past of my Elemental Quest (that was a long sentence).

I left out (for the sake of continuity) an experience that I had within that one. When I first began to resonate with the Water Element I became overwhelmed, even though I had successfully anchored myself to the Earth.

Caileach had driven a stake into my consciousness with a command, “Use the Gift” What the heck was that? What Gift? And how was I supposed to use it?

I recall that it reminded me of Gandalfs advice to the Dwarves at the Gates of Mirkwood, “Don’t leave the path”.

As I struggled with the Water Element’s depth I sent a shout out to Caileach, “What Gift?” Imagine if you will, a troubadour hanging on to the horns of a bull whilst shouting for help.

“The Gift”, Caileach admonished, “The Gift”

I don’t know about your experiences with other beings (even humans in some cases) but the interactions can be exasperating. I suspect that it is because much of other worldly communication is lost in translation (pun intended).

My attention split. That in itself has to be a feat of enormous proportions because it wasn’t a dual split, but a four-way one.

1. I was attending the Water Elements depth that was suffocating me.
2. I was holding onto the anchor in the Earth
3. I was calling out to Caileach for help and understanding
4. and now I was being given instruction on the Gift.

“You are trying to balance out the energies of Earth and Water,” Caileach patiently instructed, “Don’t, you cannot balance them, you must ‘flow’ between them.”

If I didn’t have a look of puzzlement on my face then I certainly had one in my thoughts.

“You must flow between them” Caileach said again. Repeating the same sentence doesn’t add anything to…I began and stopped. Caileach had taken over my perception, I knew it because she let me know it. Again, wow!

It was as if she had grabbed my head and was turning it, but instead it was my ‘focus’ she had grabbed. I was seeing/experiencing the Water, then it was the Earth/Anchor then the Water.

Before I had tried to ‘balance’ the two in my mind. Now I was ‘flowing’ between the two. Is this the Gift I asked? Flow?

“No,” she responded, there was a pause, “The Gift, the Present, the Now, the Moment, the Point” She said, giving me similes.  Focus? I tried. “No,” Focus is what you are doing with the Moment.”

I kind of got what she was communicating. But within that experience I didn’t have time to consider it more. I ‘took’ control of myself again and replicated what she had done. I flowed between Earth and Water. One ‘moment’ I was resonating with Water, the next I was resonating with Earth.

And then, it hit me, of course. The “gift” like a gift, like a “present”, like “The Present”, like the “Present Moment”. I was shifting the Present Moment. What a lateral consideration!

That was the Gift that Caileach was talking about. But it gets more interesting. What she was saying is that I should use the Gift to move inside myself. Earth is a Root energy and Water is a Sacral energy. She was telling me to shift my focus, my present moment to MY root chakra and MY Sacral chakra instead of the Earth and the Water.

Hope I am getting this across clearly. Nevertheless it was a huge insightful moment. Expect to hear more about this “Gift” and “Flowing” rather than balancing.

Kal Malik