The Hedge Druid

This year I had a couple of strange experiences while on holiday in the Isle of Wight. One of the most memorable was when M and I went to Ryde town. A lovely seaside resort, and it was a nice sunny day. We only wanted to look around a bit, and when we found the Tourist Information place M picked up a flyer for the Appley Tower folly – a tower built right on the edge of the esplanade, peering over the sea.

Appley Tower, Ryde

As we browsed the store for crystals that felt ‘right’ the lady behind the counter began to talk to us. After a few minutes we were talking about subjects beyond the usual tourist talk about weather, holidays, and the like. I mentioned we were planning to visit a standing stone on the island and dowse it, but she warned us, “Last time I was there the energies felt bad.” We were only buying a few quartz crystals and the like, but she selected a rather nice red coral-looking crystal slice and said, “You should have this too – it’s a present from me – it’s good for working with the heart.” I thanked her, of course, and then she gave some small crystals to M saying – “That’s for purifying water – it will solve your problem.” M looked stunned. Only a few days earlier at home we had been considering buying water from a supermarket because our tap water was tasting funny. When M mentioned this the lady smiled and said (rather cryptically), “Yes, that kind of thing will happen more and more.” Then she looked directly at me sating, “As you get more into your work you will find you give up more things.”

At the time I thought this was a strange statement given how little she knew about me. As we left with our purchases we saw the poster on the door of the basement to the tower, “Psychic Readings”. Aha – perhaps this lady had something about her and knew more than we thought? Still it was marked down as “an unusual meeting” and left at that.

Who can see the future?

Which brings me to my point. Months later, despite trying the water-purifying crystals but to no effect we had all but forgotten about these “prophesies”. However, I made the decision to give up smoking, and so far it had been a complete success. Nothing too coincidental there, except that it was a definite move towards a more healthy and pure lifestyle. I had been “warned” many times during my meditations that my energy work was being compromised by smoking, but I had ignored it until one day when I just decided that was it. From that moment, I haven’t smoked again.

Next it was coffee. Kal had given up coffee many times but I loved it so much that I had never even considered doing that. If I wasn’t drinking coffee I was supping those caffeine-based stimulant drinks. Then, again, one day I just woke up and decided that I wouldn’t be doing that any more. Same as smoking – suddenly I cut it out without any problems. Just stopped. It felt like an act of willpower, and I was pleased to be able to do it without ill effects.

Only this week it struck me what I had done. Had I not followed the path that the lady in the tower had outlined for me many months ago? We now drank pure water, didn’t smoke, and I didn’t drink coffee any more. M has just given up drink too. What the heck is happening to us? Is this a consequence of growing older, or something to do with the increasing energy work that I’m doing? Did the lady in the folly tower shop really foresee what we were going to do? And what’s next? Will we stop eating sugar? Red meat? Where does this end?

Yet, I can fully appreciate now that having a cleaner healthier body really does aid my energy work. I have more energy, more time (for some reason), and my sleep cycle is a lot more regular. This spiritual path of druidry has so many strange twists and turns that my life is almost unrecognisable from where I was only three years ago, yet I love life more now than ever.

Gwas.

Getting purer and stranger.

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