The Hedge Druid

Bryn Celli Ddu: Monday, March 16th 2009

I don’t know what possessed me to go the almost 75 miles to Anglesey straight after leaving work last night. It’s not something a sane person would contemplate, but I was on my motorcycle and felt an urgency to get there before the sun set. Sunset time was scheduled for :

Date: 16 Mar 2009 / Sunrise: 06:28 / Sunset: 18:22 / Length of day: 11h 54m 42s

I arrived at some time close to 6:30 pm and walked to the mound in the slowly-forming twilight. I spent about ten minutes inside the mound dowsing for places to sit, and what the strength of the energies were at that time of day (although I had no previous marker to base that on). I soon came to feel that I wasn’t in the right place and decided that I should leave my stuff inside whilst I went outside.

In the open air I felt colder but more relaxed. I dowsed for the best place to sit in order to meditate and was directed by the rods to the top of the mound. There I sat and began to switch off. For some reason I was facing West. For some reason I was staring at a bright star which seemed to be the only one in the sky – certainly the only one I was noticing.

As I stared at it I noticed something unusual : there appeared to be three points of light to this star, and they formed a shape. I stared more intently. Yes, definitely a shape. A white shape with crescent horns protruding from the upper left hand side, and the two smaller points of light forming a forked ‘tail’. It reminded of the white horse of Uffington in reverse, for some reason:

I blinked and blinked again. No, still there. I got my camera phone out and took a picture. Zoomed in I could see it through the lens, but after taking a picture the result showed nothing but flecks in a grainy dark sea. Still the image remained prominent in the sky. Was this a sign? I determined to memorise the shape and set about emblazoning it on my retina and into my memory. This was, I felt, why I was here. From the top of the mound I could feel undulations of energy pulsing upwards through me. This was special, I thought. I knew there was some connection I had with Venus at the moment, and so I dowsed whether this was Venus I was seeing. Yes. Then this was even more interesting. After ten minutes the cold really hit me and I decided to get along home like a sensible person. I left a gift of tobacco and my thanks, then rode home with freezing hands but high spirits.

Picturing Venus

When I got home I immediately knew I had to capture the image that was still so vivid in my memory, but also I had a desire to know more about this star. Which zodiac sign were we in at this point in the year? Pisces was giving way to Aries – we were on the cusp. I have no concept of the relevance of that, but it did seem to me that the image I saw had elements of a horns atop a fish-shape. Noteworthy, but nothing that made me have any greater understanding of a significance at this stage of my development. Here’s the shape I drew trying to capture the area of light that the star was spanning:

Why had I needed to ride out to Bryn Celli Ddu? What was the reason for needing to go there?At the time I had no clue. Now I understand why – it was so that I could use that shape later in the week when I was to visit a stone circle above Penmaenmawr at the Vernal Equinox, but that story will be posted soon enough.

Why was that star so visible from that place – because it’s so westerly? Venus was the last element of twilight this night. It felt magical dowsing my way to the top of the mound and I could feel energy being pulsed up through the top where I sat, perched over the western edge. All I could see was Venus. All I could look at was that bright star. And then I saw three points. Then a pair of horns bent upwards from the main bright point to form the symbol pictured above and below. It stayed in that formation and shape and intensity until I left. As I looked back it had returned to a single point and other stars were beginning to make themselves seen more clearly. I had been there at just the right time to see Venus at her most distinct, and she showed me something of herself. I asked if it was a symbol for me, a power glyph or something like that. I dowsed a strong yes when I asked whether I could use it for energy work. I nearly dropped the rods! Use it for what!!?

Venus: her names and symbols

Venus, the Morning and Evening Star, is forever associated with love and relationships. I was interested to find out how Venus had been named, represented and revered down the ages so I started a little research going. I drew the symbol I had seen many times, and in as many ways as I could muster. Here’s a close representation of what I saw. Venus is often seen as a diamond shape, or a crescent due to her relationship with the light, my symbol was not like that.

The Venus symbol seen in the Western twilight a week before the Vernal Equinox

So I began hunting around to see what other symbols Venus had been represented by – was my symbol something traditional, or something just for me to represent her by? I scoured the net for information. Venus was the planet that orbited the earth 8 times in the time it takes our planet to orbit the sun 5 times, I had heard:

“...if Venus orbits the sun 13 times while the earth does 8 times, then Venus must pass us 5 times during those 8 years.” (John Pratt’s Astronomy site)

Venus’ 5-time passing is also the reason why the pentagram is one of her symbols, as depicted below in a diagram from a masonic text. Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM) often depicts if five element system by a pentagram in a circle.

The pentagram has a great deal of sinister and occult history associated with it, as does the Morning Star and Evening Star references. Lucifer, the fallen angel, is often considered to be The Morning and Evening Star, however, that designation is also held by many other pivotal characters such as the Greek Hesperus (or Phosphorus), the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the goat-headed Baphomet beloved of the Masons, and also Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Venus has many names, and those are just her written historical names.

Venus and Astrology

Venus is the ruling planetary influence of the astrological signs of Taurus and Libra. From Wikipedia:

“Venus is the modern ruler of the 2nd and 7th houses, but traditionally ruled the 5th and 12th houses – the 5th house of play and the 12th house of self-undoing! Unsurprisingly, Venus is said to have ‘joy’ in the 5th.“

The astrological interpretation of her influence recently (i.e. going into retrograde motion) is that she brings the possibility of undoing your own comfort and pleasure within your relationships, and despite my wish to completely ignore this element of astrology I have to confess that under her influence in the past week I have alienated a friend and had a blazing row with my wife! Anyone who knows me well knows that this is not something I am particularly prone to, and it has certainly taken me by surprise! I am still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge this aspect of Venus, however, so let’s move on.

I have five stones in my Venus crystal layout. Coincidence, of course. I dowsed for clearer answers: the crystal layout is specifically for capturing the energies of Venus whilst she’s passing. When she moves away then I’ll need other crystals and other geometries for whichever other sympathetic energies are nearby. Don’t know what yet – some luminary. Could be any!

The Moon on that night was waning gibbous heading to the New Moon. Pretty much like in the picture of the Taurus symbol above.

Gwas.

Follow something you don’t believe in until you do.