The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘air spirits’

After spending an oxymoronic fortnight of exhaustion and relaxation in Canada it was a relief to finally be flying home. Much as I love visiting other countries, there really is no place I feel better than my home islands of Britain. Before I reached home soil, though, I had a relay race to go through – Calgary to Seattle, Seattle to Amsterdam, and finally Amsterdam to Liverpool. That would get me close enough to get a taxi home.

I was mentally prepared for the flight. Having been outside watching the solstice lunar eclipse the night before I was looking forward to a long sleep on the transatlantic portion of the flight. As we settled into our central seats (I have long legs, so this is the worst place for me to be sitting) M looked across at the couple with the toddler and raised her eyebrows at me as if to say, “That looks like trouble.” I whispered to her, “I think it’s going to be okay, the parents look quite responsible.” I’m sure they were, but it didn’t stop what was about to happen!

For five and a half hours!

For the next five and a half hours the toddler wailed. Incessantly. And I mean WAILED. Bawled at full volume, occasionally lapsing into prolonged sobs in order to catch breath before starting at full bore again. Using the various entertainment mechanisms – film, radio, games – you can sort of shut that out for a while. Then it really starts getting to you. I don’t care who you are – five hours of someone else’s child at full volume will make you go crazy.

What was the parents’ response? “Shhhh!” and soothing pats. Well, that ought to do it then! When that failed to quieten the boy down they….just did it again! Huffing and sending daggered glances in their direction I hunkered down into myself to try to read the book I was wading through. The book was about Elementals, but I wasn’t making any significant progress because I couldn’t concentrate with the yowling going on near to me. I looked again at the cover – Elementals – wasn’t there something I could do about this if I made contact with some helpful entities? I smiled. Let’s see what happens!

They're up there if you look for them

I went into a light trance by going deep into my own head away from the noise of the airplane cabin. In that space I was free to push my aura out into the air surrounding the plane and to begin to call for the assistance of any nearby air elementals. I presumed there might be some, but it was done rather in hope than expectation.

I felt a slight change in the atmosphere even though I was still deep inside my own head – the sounds around me seemed if anything even more distant, and though I came back to a sort of wakefulness my focus was so intent upon the baby that I heard and saw little else. I began to draw upon the air outside and to bring it into the plane in the form of “bandages” or threads of soft air. I began to wrap the toddler in those bandages in a spiral fashion from below its feet to above its head and back down and around it again, circling all the time anti-clockwise – the direction of soothing, the direction that removed the active elements out of a situation. Importantly, all the while I was sending energy from my heart chakra along these threads as they wrapped the baby into a cocoon of loving energy.

At the same time as I was doing this binding I called upon the air elementals who may have answered my call and asked them to wrap themselves around the child, the soothe and cuddle it, and to reassure it that all the noise and strangeness was normal and that everything would be okay. This was in complete contrast to the way I had initially approached the situation, and I had to get over my feelings of annoyance.

As I finished this ritual and came back to waking consciousness there was already a change in the behaviour of the child. The loud wails were becoming more intermittent, as though punctuated or interrupted by something distracting. Then the wails subsided into the low murmured sobs. Another half minute later the child went completely quiet – much to the surprise and relief of the mother who was still cradling the toddler and still trying to get her “Shhhhh”s to work.

For the rest of the flight the baby made no noise at all. Even when we came into land and there were changes in air pressure and landing gear being extended the most that the child did was a faint murmur of discontent. Something had worked some magic and for the first time ever I felt that it might have been me!

As I left the plane I gave thanks to the air elementals for their assistance, and I dis-engaged and dismissed all my energy from the child, Job done.

Gwas – learning new skills every day.

One of the skills that ancient historians attributed to the Vates of the Druid class was the ability to divine the future from a number of unusual sources. One of the sources that doesn’t involve disembowelment and which would therefore be considered to be relatively acceptable to the modern druid is bird augury – acquiring knowledge from the observation of the flight patterns of birds. Some modern druids take this system a little further, reading signs of the future flow of the universeTo join with the flow of the universe is to follow a natural progression in tune with Nature’s own direction of development. Religion has called this concept “following the divine will”, but then has proceeded to make it a law, rather than a useful option for personal and communal progress. from the historical symbolism inherent in the type of bird. A good example of this is a recent OBOD seminar which can be read here.

I have noticed that I am beginning to recognise the interventions of birds, especially when I look to them for direction or advice on how to progress on my path. Whilst reading Jaq D Hawkins‘ book “Spirits of the Air” I came to realise that I could categorise the types of interventions and characterise each, in terms of what it signified or portended for me. Of course, one remembers the times when the event subsequently took place, or the right outcome happened – but then, that’s the trick of birdwatching!

So far I have identified relatively few birds that seem particularly significant to me. The wood pigeon‘s call reminds me of a time when I came across a tramp sleeping in some woods in the grounds of a large stately home. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his look of sad discomfort and the feelings of helplessness and pity on my part. The tramp’s discomfort was a mirror opposite of my own feelings of comfort and security in those woods, or in fact, these days, any woods. For me, then, the wood pigeon’s call signifies COMFORT. It makes me smile when I hear it’s trill. It’s also strangely hypnotic for me. Often I am lulled by the continuous warble, and when I imitate the sound in forests it’s like the forest enjoys the fun of my attempts, and the mood lightens even in the densest depths.

We are almost saturated with media renditions of the common crow. They are prevalent in most sinister contexts, from sound effects to super heroes. For me the crow has come to symbolise KINSHIP. Generally, if a crow makes its presence known when I am scrying for guidance then I know that the thoughts of others are with me, and that I can tap into their wisdom and advice concerning directions in life. They help me make decisions, although the final say is always mine to have. The crow is also significant to Kal. Usually when I see a lone crow land near to me and look at me I know that this is a sign related to Kal.

Song birds as a whole seem to symbolise my family. That’s probably because I haven’t yet trained myself to differentiate their intricate identities. Nevertheless, when I hear their song my thoughts are tuned into my family. The appearance of this type of bird will alert me to imminent family contact.

Finally, there are birds of prey. Seeing one of these is always a special event, but their frequent appearance at moments when I am strongly connected to nature is uncanny. It is far too frequent for me now to think of it as anything less than a handshake, a sure sign, and thus birds of prey signify TRUST. I always feel immensely privileged and trusted when I am granted a meeting with these graceful creatures. Their majesty exudes from them, and they make ideal avatars for nature’s subtle assent. I also feel like I am within their protective circle when they cross my path, and I know they show me that I am on the right path with my actions.

Here’s is a summary of the characteristics I have been able to associate with some birds:-

1. Wood pigeon or Dove – comfort, companionship, direction of flight as indicator of event or place
2. Crow – friendship, group flight direction indicates path of a decision
3. Birds of Prey - magic, druidry, spirit of Merlin, right path, protection, apprenticeship

Gwas.

Watchin da boidies.

It was the evening of the new moon, July 22nd. I set about going for a walk in the small town in Germany’s Rhine Valley where I was stationed for two weeks working away from home. I set about exploring my new environment, seeing what the town had to offer by walking out towards the outskirts, past the old church dedicated to St.Lambert. Incidentally, the church has a spiral pattern formed in small tiles outside the church’s west-facing front door.

Then I wandered into the local park, past the thermal baths, and out beyond the rows of old people’s homes that formed the eastern-most extent of the town. I had no idea what compelled me to continue walking through the fields of crops, but something was pulling me onwards.

I was enjoying the late evening sun and relaxing after a day’s work. The sun was still warm and the apple trees that lined the wheat fields seemed to form a guard of honour inviting me onwards. I was looking for something, but I didn’t know what it was. Then I found it. In the middle of a field stood an old gnarled pear tree. The views of the setting sn that it offered made me sit down and snuggle into the tree’s welcoming root structure and I lay back and dozed amongst the rustling ears of wheat and the light buzz of fruit flies.

In the darkening sky I could see cirrus clouds streaking across my view, and the light dappled through the twisted branches of the old pear tree. I tried my hand at meditating, but the old pear tree was determined to prevent this, occasionally dropping a pear with a thud that startled me out of my trance – each pear getting closer to me! Soon I gave up and simply observed the sun descend through the trees that  bordered the fields.

 Have you every tried that child’s game of making shapes out of clouds? We humans can anthropomorphize almost any form into an animal or face, and it seems to be a psychologically innate feature of humans. But try it yourself – pick any day where there are clouds in the sky and try to see shapes or faces. Actually, when you try, you’ll find it’s rather difficult to get anything meaningful at all. I know.

I had been trying to see something in the clouds ever since I had taken an interest in air spirits that we call “sylphs” traditionally. It’s harder than it may seem.

One guy on the internet has a page that he claims shows bird-like or angelic patterns and he calls these sylphs, convinced that they exist in the sky, and that they are up there trying to deal with the ‘chemtrails‘ and air pollution that we humans throw off into the air. I had seen his site and was less than convinced at his evidence, but was intruiged by the idea of such forces of nature.

Perhaps cloud sylphs were on or in my mind. Perhaps the old pear tree was trying to tell me not to waste my time trying to meditate.

 Anyway, I stood up and began to walk back to the town slowly. For some reason I looked back, and upwards into the evening sky above the pear tree, and this is what I saw:

This photo doesn’t really do justice to the level of definition that this cloud had. Cameras cannot bring the level of differentiation oflight, shadow and depth that the human eye can.  If you struggle to see the face in the picture above, slightly un-focus your eyes to bring about more contrast. Move up and down a little. Watch it suddenly appear as clearly as I saw it that night. Now imagine it in three dimensions for the full impact.!

Let me tell you that I stopped, stared and then almost fell to the ground in disbelief. There, looking down from behind the tree, was a very clear face. By the time I realised that perhaps I should photograph this phenomenon it was already mutating slightly. But it held its form for several minutes, whilst all around clouds nearby moved slowly with the evening breeze. This form did not move or dissipate in that way. It simply evolved.

I had seen a cloud sylph. Yet again my world view was spun around and I was reeling with the implications. What a strange but fascinating moment!

Gwas.

Seeing things as usual