The Hedge Druid

Sunday 30th May – Hill of Slane 

In the latter half of what had been a busy Sunday (and a full weekend, really) we were on the hunt for two final places to visit. The first needed to be somewhere suitable for working on the third eye chakra (or ‘brow’ chakra as it is also known) and then we would go back to Tara to work on the crown chakra. I say “we”, I mean “me” because Kal had his own quest to do, and that didn’t really involve working on the chakras. I’m sure he will explain in good time. For me, the third eye chakra symbolised the concept of mystical vision, whilst the crown I believed to be linked to higher intelligence. 

As we had found before with Four Knocks, sometimes our dowsing took us to the right area (town, village) but not the exact location. Same here. We were directed to be in Slane (even though we had visited it the previous day and vowed never to return because it had nothing we wanted to see, or so we thought). The dowsing rods, combined with the iMegalith app on the iPhone [get me - I'm a  techno-pagan!], took us back to Slane. It directed us to a small barrow (or ‘souterrain’) in a field. We parked, took one look at the “leprechaun hole” that we would need to squeeze through (thorns, hedge, barbed wire) and gave each other a knowing look. Oh no! Not that again! Lesson learned on this occasion. We retreated back to the car to see what else was around the area. 

I found a web site that mentioned Slane Abbey but we couldn’t find any directions. Oh well, let’s just drive up the lane we were on and turn around and maybe go somewhere else entirely. So, we drove a few yards up the hill and within ten seconds we saw Slane Abbey sitting on top of the hill as it opened out before us. How convenient! 

Approaching Slane Abbey

The information on the Mythical Ireland web page included information about how the monastery was once the kingdom of an Irish King called Slaine, a Fir Bolg (giant warrior). Other sites recount the written description of Slaine as an Irish King of the domain of Leinster:

“Slaine, whence the name? Not hard to say. Slaine, king of the Fir Bolg, and their judge, by him was its wood cleared from the Brugh. Afterwards, he died at Druim Fuar, which is called Dumha Slaine, and was buried there: and from him the hill is named Slaine. Hence it was said: Here died Slaine, lord of troops: over him the mighty mound is reared: so the name of Slaine was given to the hill, where he met his death in that chief abode.” (Source: Edward Gwynn – Metrical Dindshenchas, vol 3. Published, 1925)

Note “the Brugh”, as in the “Brú na Bóinne“, the name of the surrounding Boyne Valley area which incorporates the Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange sites among many others. From his perch atop the Hill of Slane the King had an unparalleled view of his kingdom for many miles around.

The Slane Abbey tower

 OK, history lesson over. Slaine was an ancient Warrior King who was reputedly one of the race of giant Fir Bolg who are supposed to have been an early invading race that conquered Ireland. That sets the scene quite nicely for what was to come. None of which I knew about before it happened, by the way. All I knew was that the place was supposed to be the home of some bloke called Slaine, former King of Ireland. I didn’t want to read the information board’s detail – this chakra work was supposed to be using the third-eye chakra! Surely intuition was the order of the day?

Hedge Grump

Whilst Kal went off immediately to the smaller part of the ruins, I acquainted myself with the layout. There was the tall bell tower that signified the abbey ruins on one side, and this incorporated a graveyard with a stunning view of the Boyne region north of Dublin for as far as the eye could see, until it reached the Wicklow Mountains I presume. On the other side of the abbey was a smaller two-storey building that the information sign told me was once a library. I decided to start by dowsing for which place I should go to first. As soon as I pulled out my dowsing rods a Scandinavian kid stopped me, “What are you doing?” he said in a heavily accented sing-song tone. “Nothing.” I responded with a scowl that was not open to interpretation. Normally I would provide an explanation, but today I just couldn’t bear explaining everything from scratch. Time was a-pressing, I felt, and things needed to be done here. Tough luck, kid!

The Bell Tower at Slane Abbey

Neutralising trauma

As I walked into the bell tower I could hear the stark cawing and twittering of old and young crows above. There were clearly a number of nests above and so I watched for falling “debris”. There was a pungent smell in the enclosed space too – the smell of rotting flesh. I looked down to see several fledgelings squashed flat into the gravel floor – a most bizarre sight! I was shocked and horrified for a moment, but then my druid self took over and I realised this was part of the cycle of Nature. However, at the very least I could do something more gracious then to leave them rotting beneath their parents. I dowsed for a suitable resting place nearby, found a stick, and then carried each bird over to the impromptu grave. When all three had been transferred I began to pile up rocks making a small cairn over them. Much better, I felt. Kal watched this funereal process in muted wonderment sporting a puzzled look. I explained to him, “It’s something I have to do.”  It didn’t explain much! This is the “sticky” side of being a Hedge Druid. The unpleasant mixes equally with the pleasant. Balance is the optimal position.

As I completed my task and returned to the bell tower the crows above went into a flurry of squawks. I guess I had been observed during that clearing up process, but I wouldn’t be pout off from it – it had to be done, if only for the sake of other visitors to the site. Now I had neutralised their remains under rock, and dispelled any negative energy that had been locked into the ground. This is something I do with road kill too. If I spot one by the side of the road I mentally neutralise any remaining energies by envisaging a double helix of alternating spirals of energy. I have dowsed what effect that has and to my surprise I found that it neutralises negative energies left there by the trauma of a violent death. Try it yourself – it costs nothing to do and keeps the roads clean of negative energy spots that might accumulate at accident black spots!

Some make it, some don't

I wandered around the rest of the graveyard admiring the view. Kal had wandered off again to go to the library building. I slowly joined him. He was lying in the courtyard on a square of grass, absorbing the sunlight of the bright late afternoon. As I joined him he pointed out that the sun had a corona around it – a halo of rainbow colours, and this seemed to excite him greatly. I couldn’t see it myself because I didn’t have any sunglasses and the sun was far too bright for me to look at, even askance. I gave up and decided to get on with my own work instead.

Halo around the sun

Slaine? Sign here!

As I was in a nice grassy space I decided to dowse for the signature of Slaine himself. Was there any remaining imprint of such a character, whether historical or mythological? I began to roam around the grass, asking the dowsing rods to reveal any energy signature for Slaine. The following pattern emerged:

Energetic formation at Slane Abbey

Apologies from my hasty scribble. You may notice that this shape is remarkably similar to the Cornu spiral – the sun sigil that can be traced by following the path of the sun through its yearly cycle (see this picture). As I traced and re-traced the shape, walking its curly length, something seemed to unlock something in the site and I found renewed interest in meeting Slaine face to face, as it were. I took my leave and set about finding the best place to do that using the dowsing rods. People were milling around now and I knew I needed somewhere secluded and dark, but where? Everywhere around seemed open and bright and next to a path of some sort that people were walking along. I trusted in the rods, and oh my word – did they deliver! 

I followed the rods along the edge of a wall in the library area that seemed to be going nowhere. Right in the corner of the room, however, an opening revealed itself to me only when I got within a few feet of the opening. It was a quiet, dark cubby-hole in which to sit undisturbed and without much daylight. This was perfect, so I began to clear my mind to see what would happen.

Nooks and crannies in the Slane Library

In the sensory-deprivation that the nook provided I was soon drifting into a low-trance state, trying to ignore the voices of the other tourists. It was difficult, but I traced the signature in my mind to try to assist with bridging the gap and making contact. My mind went dark with a blank nothingness, and then…

A large bearded and braided warrior appeared lunging at me, brandished a huge double-edged sword! Seeing his image all sorts of information began to flood into my mind. He was bloodthirsty and successful, subduing all around or slaughtering them. But he was tired of that, yet he couldn’t find any rest in the peace that this success had brought him. He was restless and angry still. He wanted something from me, and in return he would help me to boost the power of my third-eye chakra.

Slaine character from the 2000 A.D. comic

Slaine’s offer was that, if I could heal the bare white tree (a picture of which emblazoned itself in my mind) then he would find his rest and my task would be complete. Well, it sounded like a reasonable thing to be doing – healing a tree – so I agreed, and his image disappeared, leaving the after-image burned into my retina with the feeling of the word ‘ash’ there too. I put two and two together and came up with seventy-six – clearly I was looking for an ash tree! Over to me now, eh? I was on the hunt for a white ash tree. Not many trees on this hilltop, I noticed. I wonder where he was talking about and how far away it might be? I set off to find Kal to see what he was doing – maybe he’d seen the tree?

The White Tree

Kal was now sat on one of the library walls looking like he’d been contemplating the nature of the universe. We exchanged a brief update and I asked about the tree – no, nothing he said distractedly. I looked over the wall he was sitting on and nearly fell backwards! There it was! At the far edge of the hill – a copse of trees and at the closest edge of that copse was a seemingly dead white bare tree. Now things were getting very interesting…. 

The White Tree of Slaine

I strode across the field at the back of the abbey and stood beside the tree, trying to identify it from its remains. It was a lime tree. judging from its remaining few leaves, and was in desperate need of some fertilizer or something! The lower branches had tiny shoots of new growthbut they were struggling. Was this the white tree? What about the “ash” word I had been left with – where did that fit in? The branches were pale and almost dead, and it fitted the image I had envisioned exactly. I wondered as to what I could do, then an idea struck me. My staff was of ash wood and was imbued with healing energies that I had gathered from various places as I travelled around, most recently from Castlerudderystone circle and before that from The Pipers Stones. What if I touched my staff against the tree and transferred some healing energy into the ailing limbs of the lime tree? That’s what I did, coupled with me envisioning my own energy being drawn in from the trees and power centres around me, and then channeling that healing energy through myself into the tree. I did this for about a minute and then felt as though I didn’t need to do any more. I could see the tree leeching the energy into its furthest branch tips and that was enough.

View from Slane Abbey graveyard

I went back to the abbey to catch up with Kal again. I wondered whether I had been successful, and if so, whether Slaine had fulfilled his side of the bargain? Only the dowsing rods could tell me, so I went back to the place where I had dowsed Slaine’s signature. Walking the ‘S’ formation againI asked if I had completed my task – YES. Was the tree in the process of healing? YES. Would it fully recover? NO. Ah, so maybe I could only do enough to allow Slaine to rest – I don’t know. That was over to him now. Was Slaine able to rest now, I asked? YES, was the response. As I walked around the formation I felt a tingle – the kind of tingle that makes your hair stand on end. Something had happened, but I was only partially aware of the change.

As we left SlaneAbbey I was feeling ridiculously pleased with myself. Pleased at how this whole episode had come together; pleased at having solved Slane’s riddle of the white tree; pleased at having been able to deliver some healing to a tree; and pleased at having Slaine deliver on his promise too….and now I felt ready to go back to Tarato tackle the final chakra quest – the crown chakra.

Gwas.

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