The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘Modern Druidry’

A bit of a break from the reports of visiting ancient sites and dowsing. In this post I want to tell you how I found my own sacred grove. As a fledgling druid I have got to a stage in my training where I want to be free to experiment with the suggestions that I am reading and hearing from other people. I have my own ideas about what it means to be a druid too, and now I need somewhere that I can be free to try these things out. A place where I can feel totally alone, uninhibited and yet within a protective space. I’m looking for my Nemeton, my sacred grove. Yesterday I found it. Here’s how that came about.

For many months I have been driving past a hill on my route to work. It has been catching my eye many many times. Sometimes I have not been able to ignore this impulse, and I have had to stop off on occasion to go for a walk, either away from the hill, or up past the hill where there is a defined path regularly used by walkers. No-one seems to go up the hill, however, because it if fenced off with barbed wire, and covered in bracken and undergrowth. I too have been content to wander all around it for several weeks. It “just so happens” that I have been spending more and more time in that area for “no apparent reason”.

Yesterday, on the way home from work I felt an urge to stop off. Occasionally, and particularly when the sun is out and the day is fine, I get these urges to stop off. Usually I go dowsing some question that is in my mind, or a topic that I am working on at the time. This evening I stopped the car at the usual place and wondered if I should take my dowsing rods. “Not tonight” came the response in my mind.

For some reason I walked up the side of the hill, along the path taken by walkers. I passed a field in which I knew there was a solitary stone that emanated bad energies, and I made sure I walked around its area of influence before I got up onto the side of the hill that provided lovely views over my local area. I stopped, admiring the view, then began to look for a way into the fenced off part of the hill. I soon found an animal track, and noticed that the wire was a bit looser where the animal track entered the hill’s sparsely forested side. Squeezing myself carefully under the barbed wire I began my ascent through swathes of bracken, climbing upwards all the time towards the summit. I found it was easier to follow the animal tracks – clearly they knew the best way!

I got to the top of the hill and found an old oak tree with a long low branch that was positively inviting me to sit on it. So I did. There was no view to speak of here, because the trees all around obscured it. So, I thanked the tree for offering a seat to me, and I pushed on, heading towards the heart of the hilltop. Only a few minute’s walk and I was in an area that was both wilder and yet lighter than the other parts of the hilltop. A vaulted canopy was created by some very old oak trees whose top branches formed the slightest roof. Beneath this canopy was a wide space, almost like a natural church aisle. I stopped to look at it, resting my back against an oak tree that formed the ‘font’ of this natural church. I marvelled at this formation, and began to wonder if this was a place where I could find some freedom and peace? The Sun was behind some clouds at this point, and there was no wind, so it seemed incredibly peaceful.

I stood up. I projected the thought out into the wood, “Am I welcome here?” – to which a crow in a nearby tree top cawed a response. “Would I be permitted to use this place as my sacred nemeton – my place of free expression?”, I asked to the trees and any nature spirits that might inhabit the area. A wind blew up out of nowhere and rustled the tops of the trees in response to me. I have become more accustomed to the signs that Nature gives now. I knew this was a positive response, but I wanted more assurance. I called out to the elements to confirm this, asking them to show me a sign if they agreed with the trees. A gust of wind blew stronger now, visibly shaking all the trees on the hilltop, then going completely silent again. At that moment, as I looked up imploringly to the sky, the sun moved out from behind a cloud. A shaft of sunlight streamed through the trees and threw a spotlight into my ‘church’ illuminating its length, and then the sun faded behind a cloud again. There was no delay between the asking and the receiving a response – it was within seconds, that was what was so astonishing.

I had my answer. This was my place to work with druidry and natural magick. Permission had been granted. I thanked the trees, and everything that had got involved in that decision, and I followed a more natural path down the other side of the hill. Going home I felt utterly contented now. I had a special place to work, one where I felt I could be truly free in Nature. Let the summer days be long and fruitful!

Gwas Myrddyn.

Fledgling druid.

I have been spending some time writing an article for the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids web site: www.druidry.org. They graciously invited me to write about any subject I wished, so long as it related to druidry, and I chose to write an article about the crossover between dowsing and druidry, as I see it.

For the month of March the article is available for reading on the OBOD forum called “Discuss Druidry” : http://www.druidry.org/board/dhp/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35441.

As soon as the site archives the article next month I will add it to the Articles page on this site. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts on the subject of the inter-relationship between dowsing and druidry.

Gwas.

Section 3. Tree Spirits, Elementals and Death Energies

This is such an important set of topics that I feel I have to provide some context and background information on them. How, exactly, did we get from the position of not believing in spirits of any kind at all, to having contact with tree, elemental and death spirits, all within a year? Well, it was something of an experiment that wasn’t supposed to work that worked, and which then caused a complete reversal in our understanding and belief system involving the world of energy.

This year we have gone into areas that we never thought we would need to delve into. Kal became embroiled in an interesting spiritual life choice: to become a “Spirit Walker”, or to choose the life of an ordinary person. By making this choice to become a Spirit Walker (as he terms it – i.e. one who walks with the presence of spirits) he has chosen a path that he would not have carved out for himself, as it involves becoming used to the energy formations of death. Even though his choice is made, I know he is reluctant to accept this. Nevertheless, it is an area that we now are engaged with to some degree. I will leave him to summarise this in the final summary post of the year, as it has been exclusively his work.

Kal’s other development this year has been to finally overcome his inability to communicate with trees. Now he has become their friend, to the point where his first contact at an ancient site if usually with any nearby tree. I have also retained this connection, but have not sought to develop it much further yet. It has been enough for me that I have overcome my reluctance to speak to Yew trees, for fear of what they might reveal, being associated with death, rebirth and transformation, as they are.

Influential book

My greatest development this year has undoubtedly been in the area of elemental spirits. Kal has a tentative relationship with his death spirits - I have developed a relationship with earth, air, water, fire and aether spirits. Obviously, I don’t say that kind of thing lightly. One doesn’t simply come out one day saying “Today I recognise the existence of spirits.” Such a development has been a progression from my work with the spirits of trees. Once I understood how to communicate with trees I could attempt to contact other sentient entities. During my researches I had read of the possibility in the book “Walker Between The Worlds”. I invited any sentient spirits in the area of a benevolent nature to enter into my wooden staff that I leave perched against an apple tree in my garden. I forgot about having made this request for several weeks, then one day I just really noticed the staff – standing against the tree – making itself known to me. I grabbed my dowsing rods and began to ask questions. The result was my first encounter with a spirit of the elements,(although she insisted that she was not a being known as an ‘elemental’, she was a spirit who had command of the air element – altogether different, apparently).

Having made an initial contact I went on to contact three other elemental spirits, and now my ambition is to foster and work with those relationships in the next year to see what can be achieved for both my ambitions and theirs. One spirit, however, was different. It dowsed as an aether spirit, and came about in a different way. Again, prompted by the Walker Between The Worlds book, I attempted to initiate contact with my “spirit guide”. Another concept I had great difficulty in accepting, and was highly sceptical of, but I was curious too, and eager to learn what did and didn’t work in this magical world of spirit. One deep meditation later I had made contact with an entity in a dark cloak who would never show her face. I dowsed the alphabet to determine her name, and since then she has been my constant companion in my magical journeys and at sacred sites.

So, this year, both Kal and myself have done a volte-face on such topics. We still deplore the sensationalisation of many of the so-called proponents in this sphere of magical working (you all know such people – Derek Akorah and his ilk, who prefer to be ‘entertainers’ rather than researchers), but we have had to come to terms with the presence and guidance of some sentient entities that we had previously dismissed and deplored ourselves. What a curious world this is!

Here are some things we have learned about spirits and spirit energies of all kinds:-

3-1. Guide Spirits: I have obtained the assistance of five spirits: four elementally-based spirits, and one that is what can only be described as “an ascended master”. They can be contained in a set of crystals chosen for the purpose, and invoked during natural magic to assist with elemental-based energy work, or with vision quests and guidance on the path. These spirits operate in a hierarchy of sentient energies, despite my protestation to the contrary. I now have to retract that. I have used dowsing rods and tarot cards to determine this, but have not continued the investigation beyond determining that there IS a hierarchy.

3-2. Connecting with trees: both Kal and I are able to connect with trees, to retrieve stored history, have questions answered, and to receive empathic responses in answer t our enquiries. Sometime we are shown visions, or given emotions that correspond to affirmative or negative responses to our questions or intentions. When deep connections have been sought then the presence of a voice can emerge through our thoughts, and internal dialogues begin, sometimes in our own voices, often in voices that are quite definitely not ours. Knowledge of things unknowable to us otherwise can result from these interactions – and this in particular is some kind of confirmation that it is not all thought-play or invention. Facts that are testable are often delivered to us, and we can then check them. They always turn out to be true. This is, clearly to us, some form of more wide-ranging and more ancient knowledge source. The trees are very wise and know many things that we don’t. Their counsel is balanced and meaningful.

3-3. Healing trees: Kal and I can also heal trees that have diminished auras, using techniques similar to those we learned to re-attune geopathic stress in houses or at sacred sites. We have re-established auras (nemeton fields of living energy) by clearing blockages much like the process of acupuncture.

3-4. Cloud sylphs: Never thought that the unusual cloud formations sometimes seen were anything other than unusual cloud formations – then I had a face loom out at me from the sky when I was communing with Nature under an old pear tree one day, and it blew me away. Since then this has happened several times, and each time it is incredibly overwhelming. They are there if you choose to look for them and to recognise them. I notice this has only happened since I got in touch with an Air Spirit, though.

3-5. The spirit of ancient mythical figures can be contacted through visits to the sites associated with them. For example, Dinas Emrys, long associated with Merlin, produced contact with an eagle that dowsed as being the spirit of Merlin. I will be trying this out at other associated sites in the near future to check it again.

3-6. Yew treescan be communed with to learn lessons concerning rebirth and transformation processes in your life. I have contacted several different yews over the course of the year, and each one was able to show me the potential for a transformation. The actual process of transformation always seemed to be something that I had to create and make happen, though. Despite their proverbial connotations of death and morbidity, I have found my connections with yew trees to be nothing other than profoundly moving and rewarding. I have come away from the experience feeling entirely relaxed and peaceful. For me, the yew tree represents peace, and they are not the fearful monsters that I expected. Quite the opposite.

3-7. Site guardians: Communing with some ancient sites involves asking the permission of the genius loci – the site guardian. Not all sites have one that is accessible to me, but where I have felt their presence and have dowsed for their permission, I was often able to obtain it (not always at the first attempt, though). Once permission is obtained an interesting experience is guaranteed. I found that the site guardians, when worked with appropriately, guided my experience through intuitive suggestion, and if I responded appropriately then a chain of such intuitive responses could be followed leading to a rewarding experience spiritually or intellectually.

This year has been the year for contacting and communing with spirits of all kinds for both myself and Kal. We have gone from neither of us having any belief whatsoever in any form of spirit, to a healthy relationship with spirits of all sorts. Let me qualify that a little – I think that by November, 2008, I was beginning to think that trees as living entities may be contacted in some way, but that was the start of it, I would say, and not much was done after that until 2009.

I would not say that we have opened the floodgates wide to these things. Instead we have been measured, and have trodden very cautiously and with a great deal of preparation before we attempted to open ourselves up to such an experience. Caution is still our watch-word, and we still analyse the experiences carefully to ensure that we have not just been fantasizing. The line between creative mental thought-forms and an interaction with nature spirits can be a difficult balance to strike, and we do not always get it right, I am sure. However, every experience we have is scrutinised for similarities, methods, structure, pathways and known psychological phenomenon to try to clear out the genuine encounter from a daydream, as far as that is credible to do so.

Gwas.

There’s a really pithy and poignant article on the idea of disengaging from news on Philip Carr-Gomm’s blog at the moment. I highly recommend it as a means of finding your true path. One of the may methods you should consider is to ignore news sources, and his post and quotes explain why.

See: http://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/no-news-is-good-news/

Gwas.

It was late in the day when I pulled up at the small lay-by within plain sight of the huge mound that is Silbury Hill. To my left was my intended destination – to revisit West Kennet Long Barrow. I didn’t expect to have this opportunity again, and I didn’t know if I was ready to go further than I had before, but here I was, so I wasn’t about to waste this opportunity. Besides – as England were playing Croatia in a World Cup qualifying game there was every likelihood that the traffic and the site itself may be less busy than usual, and I would prefer to be alone to do what I wanted to do, which was to complete the experience of meditating in each of the five chambers within the long barrow structure and then see what happened.

As expected there were several other people visiting the barrow. It still amazes me that so many people want to visit these sites, even so late in the evening, because I arrived at around half past seven, as the sun was dropping low om the western sky, filling the area with a pleasing orange hue, contrasted clearly by the bright blue cloudless sky above it. The perfect time for the purpose I was beginning to form in my mind: I was going to see if I could finish the job I half started on my last visit – to go through the barrow’s chambers, meditating in each for the requisite time, to see what the result might be.

Before that there was some dowsing to do. I walked up the long shallow hill to arrive at the front of the barrow, out of sight of the remaining group of fellow ‘crusties’ who were perched on top in the barrow’s saddle, and began some preliminary questioning using the trusted copper rods:-

• Was it a good time to do meditation here? YES.
• Was I in the right physical, mental and spiritual frame of mind to do this work? YES.
• Was I correct in my previous interpretation of the purpose and timings of the chambers within the barrow? YES.

Going well, so far! Very encouraging.

• Would my work be enhanced by the use of crystals? YES – the stones I got from Callenish that I had been using recently were the best ones to use.

I asked whether the procedure was the same as I had worked out previously, involving a specific route up to a power centre on top of the barrow first? YES, and I should wait there until I felt a ‘calling’ to go into the chamber. Then the procedure would be:-

1. Cleansing myself of ‘external’ energies
2. Stating my intention
3. Getting permission from the guardian of the site
4. Re-energising myself
5. Undergoing a transformation process

Was I ready for this? Not really! I had no idea what I wanted to achieve yet, so I followed the rods up the right-hand side of the barrow to find my power centre on top, where I laid out my five Callenish pink granite stones around me in an unusual pattern, roughly circular. The route and location of the centre were exactly them same as on my last visit – every single step was the same. That gave me a level of confidence that my previous findings were accurate. Curiously, I would find when I got back that a kind gentleman from the British Society of Dowsers had posted in the forum saying that he had dowsed my initial findings and confirmed them as accurate in every respect, which was pleasing. Little did he know that I was about to confirm them in a very practical way myself!

I’m not going to reveal what my intention was that I finally formed. Everyone has their own path, and it’s not important to others what one wishes for. In the past I have had great difficulty thinking of anything to want to achieve. Perhaps this is a malaise of the modern world, but for me it was a tricky thing to find a balance between personal gain and the benefit of others – I wanted to achieve something in the world and not simply personal empowerment. Here was a potentially powerful tool that our ancestors had constructed and it must be respected, I felt. Whatever I asked for it would have to be something that would bring wider benefits. I thought of something, and formulated a clear sentence in my mind. Armed with that I felt ready. Well, not quite. I was nervous, and as the last visitors moved away I felt the need to relieve myself in the scrubland alongside the barrow. Hey, it’s a “call of Nature”, right? Maybe that was the signal to begin because then, alone on top of the barrow, I felt ready to go into the barrow and meditate….

About twenty minutes later I emerged. It hadn’t been the vision quest I had been expecting, but something had happened in there. I didn’t feel any different, but I knew something subtle had occurred. I asked the rods to confirm whether I had been successful – YES. Would I notice the difference immediately? NO – it would take several weeks for the change to take effect. OK. I was happy with that, and will look out for that. I may even report back when the change happens, because it will be the culmination of several years worth of effort if it works. I think I should document that if and when such an event occurs, don’t you?

I returned to my power centre to have a think. I sat quietly waiting to see what would happen if I could become as still in my mind as the air was outside now. A picture began to form after a few minutes peace. I saw Nine Ladies stone circle in my mind. A bearded man in a long white robe approached the circle from the moor side and stopped to touch the King Stone quite deliberately. In my mind I heard the term “Heel stone”, though, which is not a term I use, but I understood what was meant by it. Then the man went through all of the stages that I had just been through, but with slight variances. Those stages were

1. Touching the Heel Stone to activate the energy
2. Grounding or cleansing himself on the draining stone in the circle;
3. Walking around the circle clockwise three times stating his purpose
4. Standing in the centre of the circle, giving praise to the sun, moon, stars and the earth, facing north, south, east and west in turn
5. Sitting on a power centre in the circle to charge himself up and then receiving a revelation or inspiration

After this he stood and faced me and I knew that he was now in command of the energies of the stone circle. Now I knew what all this process was about – it was a generic process with slight variances to take account of the type of power place that the work was being performed at. I understood. And I knew that soon I would get a chance to try this out too.

Before I could, something was nagging at me – what was I giving in return for this knowledge? The nag got louder. I got the rods out again to help me, and after a short while I hit upon a positive response: I needed to give something of great value in return for my “gift” that I had meditated for. Well, that was something that I knew earlier cultures did – there are several lakes in North Wales and elsewhere that have been the site for votive gifts. Now I was beginning to understand why. Upon realising this I was restless to go, so I picked up my Callenish stones and packed to leave. All the while the sight of Silbury Hill was drawing me. The light was almost gone now, but there was a hint of lighter sky in the west which silhouetted the hill in a wonderfully dramatic way. Time for more dowsing, I reckoned, but that’s another story.

Gwas.

Putting theory into practice.

Uffington Chalk Horse: August 20th 2009

This is the second of three parts of a modern-day faerytale of George and the Dragon. In the first part I was meditating at Wayland’s Smithy and heard an instruction to “go for a ride”. I was in little doubt that this advice referred to the nearby ‘White Horse’ etched out in the chalk hills above Uffington village, and so I made my way there in the glorious August afternoon sun to see if I could work out where exactly I should be, and to see what would happen if I found the right place.

As I arrived at the top of the formation I couldn’t work out where I was relative to anything so I walked straight down the hill arriving almost immediately at two protruding straight lines. Odd! Looked like a mouth or something, so I plucked out the crab appleI had been carrying and placed it neatly between the “jaws”. I smiled – it looked like it was eating the little apple – a huge horse with a tiny apple. I could see other chalk paths now, but was careful not to tread on them. I moved fiurther down the hill and to the right, realising I was near the head. I was looking for the shoulder and flank, so I headed right and down.

Oddly, I didn’t use my dowsing rods to locate the spot. Instead I reasoned that a good spot to ride any animal might be the junction of the head with the back of the figure, and that’s where I went – straight to it. Conveniently there was a small man-sized hollow at just that point, and I made myself comfortable, lazing in the afternoon sunshine, welcoming the break from work and enjoying the view down the hill. From my vantage point three elements became apparent to me:

1. The ‘horse’ had a forked tongue

 2. The plainly man-made folds of the hill below me spread out like a wing…a dragon’s wing. 

 3. The small flat-topped hill that was enclosed by this ‘wing’ I remembered was called “Dragon’s Hill”

Then it dawned on me – this was no horse. Only from this particular spot could all of the three unusual aspects of this figure be seen from the right perspective to make this apparent on the ground. Faint memories of other people having said the same thing floated through my mind. From that moment of revelation onwards I could no longer see this unique feature as a horse again! Sure, there were other chalk horses in the area, but they looked like horses – in their proportions and their features. This elongated chalk figure was nothing like those carvings at all. It was uniquely different. For me this will now be The Uffington White Dragon.

Alton Barnes White Horse

 I meditated on this and tuned into the landscape, dissolving my sense of self into the sunlight, the winds and the view. Before long I felt the familiar surge of some inner notion and felt it connecting, becoming aware of the movement of nature, its interactions, and at the same time its one-ness. Such metap[hysics never comes across well in print. When it is felt, however, experienced – then its beauty can be appreciated. A semi-blissful state of mind, body and spirit – some days fleeting, others seemingly forever.

In this moment I was focusing on Dragon’s Hill without purpose. It just fell into view. I saw the mound in motion – the twin dragons of male and female, the red and the white, intertwining, writhing. A curling column of energy launched from them upwards into the Oxfordshireair and fell towards me. I could see an egg shaped object inside its mouth as it fell into me in a sudden plunge and I felt the egg land in my chest. I could see it spinning in me – white, then gold, next time I looked it was white again, then gold when I blinked. What was this thing, I mused to myself? “The dragon egg - the golden heart.” I answered myself.

After the shock and the bliss state had worn off I seemed remarkably unperturbed by the whole event. I felt a little proud and excited at this. What could this be? By its tenuous link with perception it was clear to me that it was an invention of my mind, yet it felt incredibly physical too – like I was wearing it inside my chest. I practised not noticing it – yes, I could still operate in the rational world – no-one was staring at my white then gold chest, I wasn’t glowing or anything, and I still had my wits about me. 

I started to get up, and as I did so I saw a negative image of the Dragon’s Hill in my eyes – it looked like a stone circle. It  flashed momentarily then there was only a faint after-image. Too long in the sun! I told myself. Where were my sunglasses when I needed them?

A stone circle. A stone circle. Circle. Another kindly signpost. Would that be where I could hatch this “egg” – the golden egg? It felt like an episode of The Goodies! The Christmas Special episode of the late 1970s where everybody’s running is speeded up as they’re chased through various old children’s stories like Jack and the Beanstalk and the Goose That Laid The Golden Egg.

I went back to the car to check the maps. Stone circles in the area…stone circ…Avebury! Of course. It was late afternoon now. I would be there just as the light was beginning to sink to the horizon. Perfect timing, by coincidence. What an over-used word.

Gwas

Sliding down the scales of The Dragon

The phrase, “You shoudn’t judge a book by its cover” has never been more starkly brought into focus for me as when I received a copy of Philip Heselton’s “Secret Places of the Goddess: Contacting the earth spirit (1995)“. Bless Capall Bann publishing, their repertoire is excellent, but the covering artwork and styling of the book leaves a lot to be desired and made me feel quite nauseous!

Capall Bann have a range of fantastic books that I have already picked several titiles from and will continue to do so, for they seem to support pagan ideas and have a largely sensible and useful catelogue. A worthy pursuit, but please, ditch the toffee brown washed artwork!

At various points in the book Heselton refers to the possibilities of dowsing as a viable method of discovery of earth energies and of validating the presence of unseen forces in general. It wa only when I came to research Mr Heselton that I dscovered this excerpt on the Controvescial web site:

“In 1962, together with Jimmy Goddard and other UFO enthusiasts, Philip founded The Ley Hunters Club, a revival of The Straight Track Club (1927-1948) first founded by the earlier pioneer of leys … Alfred Watkins.  In 1965 to support growing interest in the club’s activities and findings, they also founded:  The Ley Hunter magazine.  Philip edited the first few issues of magazine from 1965-66, before handing it over to other members so he could concentrate on his University studies.”

Source: Controverscial web site

In “Secret Places” Philip Heselton takes the reader through a structured introduction to the fundamental naturalistic elements that form the basis of pagan understanding of the world around them. I won’t spoil the book, but instead I will urge you to read it. Whether a dowser or a druid the book has lots to offer in terms of explaining the power of place, the spirit of nature, and the ways in which anyone can begin to acknowledge, then work with those energies. Depending on how far you wish to take it there is something here for anyone interested in rediscovering the landscape around them, wherever that may be.

To give you a flavour of what you can expect I have reproduced the chapter headings, but thy do little justice to the uality of the material within them, and the very easy-to-read style that Heselton has adopted for his work. The chapter headings are:-

1. The Magic of Place
2. The Earth Spirit
3. The Wild Wood
4. The Body of the Earth Goddess
5. The Waters of Life
6. Spirit Paths and Holy Hills
7. Finding Our Place
8. Entering The Presence
9. Inbreath – Experiencing the Sacred Space
10. Outbreath – Responding to the Spirit
11. Embracing the Site

I hope that has whetted your appetite. If you regularly read this blog then I am confident that you will find that this book is an indespensible guide to your interests. It is also a good waymarker for where my own studies are heading, and accurately matches my own thoughts at every turn of the page. In many ways, this is the book I always wanted to write!

Gwas.

Guided by masters.