The Hedge Druid

I recently got the chance to scout around the countryside between Loch Tay, Crieff and Dundee. This is David Cowan’s neck of the woods – the Scottish earth energy researcher – so I was delighted at the prospect of visiting some of the megalithic sites in the area.

In this first part of a two-part report I visited some of the megalithic (and other sights) that may be of interest to earth energy students, or students of the arcane and esoteric – all of which are accessible in a day’s drive around the area near Dundee in Perthshire, Scotland.

Dundee Town

In dry dock at the Discovery Point (brown signs everywhere in Dundee pointing to it) is the RSS Discovery ship formed part of several polar expeditions by Captain R.F.Scott.

Interesting design inlaid into the floor outside Discovery Point, with the cardinal points guarded by four vicious-looking penguins. I thought the personification of the winds was quite traditional, along with the presence of the sun, moon and stars. Knowledge exchanged with the Phoenicians about navigation, perhaps? Certainly a knowledge of the movements of the stars and the moon must have been treasured information, as it enhanced the naval prowess of any country that could use it.

In the centre of Dundee, in the middle of the main shopping thoroughfare, you can find this fairly large dragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t. statue. It’s a magnet for kids who want to be ride it. It’s also close to the main banks, and so echoes the dragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t. statues that surround the financial centre in The City of London.

Walking from the central church in Dundee towards the Discovery Centre you may come across a newly-built wall. It looks very organic and yet intricately organised. It’s a delightful work of art, and more walls should look this good! Every so often a small decorative stone is featured, and the symbols carved hark back to quite ancient roots: the trefoil and spiral, for instance…

…or some Ogham script, the language created by the British druids, the tree alphabet…..

Cultural echoes of a past being re-discovered and reclaimed. It’s like we’re blowing the dust off our heritage, bringing it once again out into the light of day and exposing its symbolism and shape to a new audience who are more able to listen, even though the modern world has been constructed in such a way as to distract us, to obscure its significance, and often to simply annihilate it without trace. Like the Green Man the familiar foliage re-appears each year anew. That’s happening in Dundee. You wouldn’t have thought it was a prime candidate for an archaic revival!

Eassie sculpted stone

In the ancient church of Eassie village, just west of Glamis Castle on the A94, you can find the encased remains of a Pictish Sculptured Stone. It is one of many in the surrounding area (see ‘Fowlis Wester’ below). Pictish culture, so-called because their legacy of mainly pictorial, was around for the transition from a predominantly Celtic imagery and mythology to one that was a mixture of Celtic and Christian imagery.

This quote published on the Megalithic Portal site by C.Michael Hogan:-

“The appearance of a tree branch in conjunction with the cross on the Eassie Stone is taken to represent the sacred manner that certain trees were held in regard by the Caledonians. (Wise, 1884) The appearance of sacrificial cattle on the Eassie Stone is common to other Pictish Stones after the instruction from Pope Gregory to Abbot Melletus in 601 AD; that instruction permitted the Picts to sacrifice cattle at their ancient pagan temple sites, only if the sites were sprinkled with holy water and consecrated to the true God. (Bede, 731). A procession of ecclesiastics is also evident on the stone, a theme being common to other carved stones of this era. (Hogan, 2005) A portion of the Eassie Stone has been likened (Leslie, 1866) to a crouching warrior image (Kells, ) in the Book of Kells, potentially connecting this site to events at Iona, where the Book of Kells may have been produced.” {Eassie Stone entry on Megalithic Portal}

Not to mention the angels that stand sentinel perched on either shoulder of the stone like some kind of Angel and Devil figures as expressions of conscience.

Take a wee look at those symbols that are shown in the plaque above. A boar – a symbol used to denote King Arthur – is easily discernable. The other look more artistic. A crown, perhaps, with the two central swirls similar to the cobra symbols on Egyptian crowns? The symbol on the right looked to me like a geomantic map of the energy formations at a sacred site, but I’m sure it’s just a stylised squid or something.

A quick digression

In the churchyard itself there are lots of graves that still display their carved symbols of the hourglass, the skull and crossed bones, and the ceremonial vase used to contain a person’s ashes. Now, either there were a lot of pirates buried in Eassie (although it’s far inland), or these are masonic symbols. Some people do propose a link between the Templars and the Pirates, so when I say “charnal urn” you say “bottle of rum”, okay?

A strong link is often made by authors tracing the history of the masonic teachings between Scotland and France, a link of Knights Templar and Freemasons, Masons supposedly emerging out of the dispersal of the Templars. You may recollect we found such symbols on the graves at the church in Dyserth village too, in North Wales. One often finds Templar or Masonic symbols of bones, skulls, time markers, swords, unicorns, lions, dragons and shields emblazoned with simple crosses at ancient churchyards, usually where an ancient pagan church has been built over by a Christian replacement (always aligned East-West to follow the sun).

Some authors make a convincing case for these organisations being the receptacles of an ancient knowledge that has to be handed down through generations unchanged so as to preserve it. The organisations insist upon a belief in divinity, but not in any specific deity. Their history includes the building of round towers and churches on ancient aligned sites to the proportions of sacred number. In short – they retained and re-educated their members in some very old traditions that incorporated ancient deities that have been regarded as sun-gods and moon-goddesses. Quite pagan.

Some authors argue that these organisations were of an altogether different spiritual alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment., and that they are a boys club for the super-rich families and the well-connected to retain power over decision-making bodies. Sounds like a description of the ancient druid orders where rich kids would be sent to the druid colleges to be taught by a group of powerful men who were exempt from much of the law. These royal children were sent for an education in what is now called “The Classics”, but which back then would have been the Western Mystery Tradition.

Others say that the symbols simply mean something quite banal: an hourglass denotes a full life is vertical, a life cut short if horizontal; the cross-bones denote the mortality of man; the skull means…er..the mortality of man; the cross-swords that he was a warrior, veteran of a war; the urn denotes…er..human mortality encapsulated in a vessel of….er..hope of the resurrection into the eternal life. There you go – all easily explained. Unless you’ve read John J.Robinson’s “Born In Blood“, then things look a bit less arcane. (See also: Skull & Bones Society)

Some of the Eassie grave symbols:

There we can see an hourglass, crossed swords, a skull, a charnal urn (“bottle of rum!”) and crossed bones. This was repeated with only slight variations (some had fewer symbols) on many of the graves around the church. “3-2-1 – you’re back in the room“.

Fowlis Wester cross (not circle)

I say “not circle” because there is a circle somewhere up in the hills around Fowlis Wester, but I didn’t have time to find it. I satisfied myself with the sculpted stone that rests in the centre of the village.

This stone had very similar markings to the Eassie stone, and was in a very well preserved state, possibly because it’s a replica! The original in on display in the nearby church of St Bean’s, but the replica was interesting enough. The sculptor has used the bottom of the stone to represent the sea, and it is replete with human figures, animals (seals?) and a great decorated serpent. Very similar to how the Aboriginals of Australia depict the Rainbow Serpent.

Glamis Castle and Fergus Well

A fairy-tale castle is how most tourist literature describes it. Well, you have to think of some way of pulling in five coach loads of tourists in an afternoon. And that was just one firm’s coaches! Luckily they have a big tea room and toilet facilities at the back.

The grounds were superb, consisting of a “pinetum” (an arboretum of pine trees), a natural trail, a walled herb garden (currently being re-constructed) and a area where city kids can see what animals really look like.There’s also a free “museum” and video history of the castle, although some of the exhibits are a bit … tenuous. You get a mannequin sporting a royal dress from the 1930s next to a tableau showing a farmer on a tractor ploughing a field near some sheep. Still, when it comes to the royal history they’ve got some jazzy coloured carboard displays with gold lettering and pictures and everything. No expense spent, I mean ‘spared’.

There were some spectacular trees in the grounds, such as this very old sycamore tree:

Inside the tree were the ancient bowed branches forming a welcome shelter from the hot summer sun:

Some interesting things about Glamis Castle:-

1. It is mentioned by Shakespeare in the play Macbeth.
2. It was home to Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
3. A castle existed on the site 1000 years ago

Glamis Church and St.Fergus’ Well

Coming out of the castle ground you arrive at  Glamis village, with its churchyard and well dedicated to St.Fergus. The well is situated down a path alongside the church and is well worth searching out. You almost walk right past it, so keep an eye out for the sign on the wall.

As you descend to the river there is an air of calm, broken only by the sight of a swarm of gnats buzzing furiously over a part of the rover where it breaks into white horses on the pebbles and rocks on a bend. Also on that bend you will find Fergus’ Well. Not much to look at, but when I dowsed it there was a strong neutral energy coming out of it and flowing towards the river. A female line also emerged from the well and rolled along the river bank, following the flow of the water.

I have never seen gnats, even Scottish midges, swarm so furiously before. Exactly at the point where the neutral energy from the well intersected the river, and where the river was bring churned up by the stones. Somehow, those things are all related. I will have to watch the activity of gnats a bit more closely in future.

Kirkwynd, St Fergus’s Church, Glamis village

At the local ancient church I found more of those gravestone with the esoteric symbols carved on them. Yo ho ho! The church is also the repository for the departed Earls of Strathmore. If only they had lived to see their bottled water concept go global! A sculpted Celtic cross was found at the site during some excavation. The site is described as an early Christian church (probably). What were they doing with a Celtic cross, then? Ahh…borrowing it for good luck. A gift from the local pagan community, no doubt. Kind fellows.

There’s them there sim-bulls again. In part two of this blog post about the area around Dundee I go looking at some stone circles that reveal some fascinating aspects: a cup-marked stone that provides a central link point for several earth energy leys, and a beautiful circle with a tree in the centre.

Gwas.

Following the high road.