The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘alderley edge’

We have been having a run of dry but cold weather. It almost felt like Spring was close at hand, and besides we couldn’t contain ourselves any longer. Some of us have already got quests to do, you know? I was on my quest to discover the Sword and Shield. At the Spring Equinox I had found The Shield. I created/discovered it at Valle Crucis Abbey in Llangollen. In combination with the four other sites I visited that day it was formed in my mind, and its purpose became clear – to assist the healing of energetically-damaged sacred sites.

Now I was on the hunt for The Sword part of that pairing. To that end I had received a vision in Alderley Edge that indicated this sword could be found at a sacred lake. The sacred lake in question was undoubtedly the same lake where there is a mythological association with The Lady of the Lake and the giving of a magical sword – that lake was Llyn Tegid, or Bala Lake. At first I thought it might be Llyn Brenig, but dowsing revealed a better ‘fit’. I didn’t yet know what the purpose of obtaining this energetic sword might be, but that could be determined afterwards. The focus was now on getting it.

To that end I had identified a useful starting point via the aid of map dowsing. Llanycil church next to Bala lake was an ancient sacred place, since converted or at least marked with a church. Llanycil Church is no longer in functioning use. It would appear that, for at least the second time in this place’s history, the religious order has been overshadowed. One may say that the wheel has turned back on itself in some ways, at least that was how we felt as we pulled up in front of it in the handy lay-by opposite on the Bala Lake main road.

Llanycil church entrance

As so often seems to happen on my outings around Wales I found that a place that I visited was dedicated to St.Beuno. This character seems to crop up at so many of the places that were once pagan sacred sites. I tell you – that man got about a bit considering there were no cars or good roads in his time! Somewhat amusingly, his name could be translated into English as “Bono“. Interesting parallel here – it is said of Beuno that:

“”on the seventh day of Easter he had a wondrous vision” (source: Wikipedia)

A calculation using this year’s Easter date would be around 6th April This visit was a couple of days after that. Close…..close enough to be interesting.

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When the weather has been dry for several days in England then it would be rude not to go out into the world and see if you can feel the forces of Nature at work. Not wanting to be rude Kal and I gave a large part of our eating and drinking time over to a journey to our favourite magical woodland – Alderley Edge. It was the first visit of the year, and although it was definitely not Spring-like weather yet, at least it was dry and had been for days, which meant that we could walk around without fear of falling foul of a foot of mud and slutch.

As if our wont, we had to have a question to be working with in order to make the experience bring true reward (yes, wandering around aimlessly can be its own random reward, but if you want to make steady and sure spiritual progress then you need a mission, a plan, a guided meditation). For my part, I had questions about my recent work with The Sword and The Shield. I had managed to absorb some energy into my shield stone and this was very satisfactory. Now, I wanted to know about the Sword aspect. What was it, and how could I go about obtaining it so that I could fulfil my healing potential using these two magickal symbols and their associated energies.

My research into the figure of Galahad had shown that he had encounters involving a sword and a shield. For Galahad they were to be found like this:-

• The Sword of Spirit - a sword drawn from a rock
• The Shield of Faith -  a shield found at the altar of a white abbey

Galahad or Arthur pulling the sword from the stone?

Well, that was all to plan so far. I had found a white abbey (Valle Crucis), its ancient altar location, and had transferred the energy of the “shield” into my shield-like stone, and was now able to use that to quickly protect and retain energies for sacred sites. My thoughts thus turned to The Sword. Drawn from a rock? Really? Like Arthur’s sword, Galahad also had to draw a sword from a rock?

Who owns the sword?

Last year I had been doing some research into Gawain. During that year I had some experiences, particularly on Iona, the led me to believe that the Sword is identified with the Will. This is especially true in magickal work. However, was the sword that I would work with this year related to Galahad, Arthur or Gawain? It was a confusing picture! Did it matter? Could the dowsing rods sort it out for me? Or maybe a tarot draw?

The dowsing rods were able to help me divine the answer. It is Galahad’s Sword that I am to find and work with.

“Sir Galahad survives this test [being sat in the Seige Perilous seat], witnessed by King Arthur who, upon realizing the greatness of this new knight, leads him out to the river where a sword lies in a stone with an inscription reading “Never shall man take me hence but only he by whose side I ought to hang; and he shall be the best knight of the world… Galahad accomplishes this test with ease, and King Arthur swiftly proclaims him to be the greatest knight ever. ” (Source: Wikipedia)

Now, on to the Alderley Edge tale, where I find out more answers than I bargained for!

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Stream of Thoughts

Wisdom is a gift that one accrues through the passage of time and the deluge of experience. Given that, as one travels back into ones own history one will find the lack of this ambrosia. I am of course such a one and have spent much time healing and balancing past lacks of wisdom. This has been no mean feat in and of itself and I have completed that task to my own satisfaction.

Still, there is one person whom I would like to, in-person, deliver a message. The last I heard, this person had moved to Athens, Greece. Thus I was curious as to whether my upcoming quest to Delphi in Greece could include a search for this person. Since my journey is an energetic one, it only seems fair that I should determine an energetic answer to my question,

• “Should I seek out this person”?

This question inspired a journey to the nearby wizards wood, Alderley Edge. I arrived in the late hours of the afternoon and was not surprised to find that it was raining heavily and the paths were muddy. Nothing unusual for a mud walker. Dowsing rods in hand I determined a path to a place where my question could be answered. About fifteen minutes later I was standing on a shelf overlooking the valley of Cheshire. The rods had twirled into a spiral indicating the questioning spot.

I wondered whether I should literally dowse the question above. Or should I seek an answer through meditation. Perhaps a mixture of both? So I decided to do a meditation first. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift with the spatter of rain. Like sitting by the side of a gentle flowing stream and examining the leafs (thoughts) as they float by. I saw an image of the person’s face float by several times and in several guises (memories). The images were faded and old, some were black and white, like old pictures. Was I being told not to dig up the past?

It was time to get more defined answers. So I broke from my seclusion and brought the dowsing rods to bear. Should I dig up the past? Was the first question that I asked of them and got a soft yes. This surprised me as I was expecting a no. Well, in that case the above question was answered by default right and just to confirm I asked the question, “Should I seek this person on my trip to Greece?” To my surprise the answer was No. What was going on?

I should dig up the past, and yet not? What kind of duality was this? Then my thoughts went back to the images in the river, what else was being shown? Time, that was what came to mind and I asked, “Should I seek this person at another time?” The answer was Yes.

Curious. I came here to find an answer and what I’ve found is another puzzle. At least my task for the moment is clear. Delphi is my destination and nothing should interrupt it.

Kal Malik on a path to 2013

I envy Gwas, he seems to be able to get his quests completed in short order whereas I seem to be collecting them. Maybe he envies me for having such a fine collection? In any case, it was time to take stock. Here are the quests or beginnings points that I have on my map…

1. Phoenix and the Philosophers Stone (Seeking the philosophers stone)
2. Blue Book of the Emerald Dragons 9 separations (gained on a recent visit to the Emerald Isle)
3. Wand Making (Remember this one from about 3 years ago?)
4. Energy Double and Greece (needing to follow my energy double to Greece and Delphi)
5. Being a native of America(don’t know what I am supposed to do with this one)
6. My message (Getting my message out there)
   

   The Wizards Wood

Wow! That is a lot of quests right? It’s not as bad as it sounds. #6 is going well with some radio interviews and getting my message out there. The others though seem to be stagnating, or are they? Surely intuition should decide, right?

Armed with this list of quests I headed towards the only site that came to mind. Alderley Edge. The wizards wood, where I had been named Magician who creates his own world oh so many (well, okay 4) years ago. I arrived there late in the morning and immediately got my dowsing rods out. Was this the place to ask questions and get answers? Yes (hmmm surely I should have asked that before driving the hour to here?). I walked through the wood following my rods and finally arrived at the fake stone circle. What? Here? Yes. Weird! Time for some questions.

Missing the spiral

Was there some kind of order to how I should follow these quests? Yes. Now then, my feelings had been that I had been stuck because I had needed to go to Delphi in Greece to kick start them. Having said that I asked which quest was first on the list?

• The answer I got was1. Seeking out the Philosophers stone.

I was surprised, what about Greece, Delphi. Surely that was the first? The starting place, the place of genesis? I asked several questions around this topic and came to a sad conclusion. I had missed the boat! Delphi had been the first place to go, but the time for it had passed, I had delayed too long and now I had to await that spiral to come again before it would be worth my while to go. Could I discover how many weeks, months, years that would be? No.

Philosophers Stone

Returning to the Philosophers Stone I asked whether there was anything to learn as to how to go about this quest? After a while and many questions I came to the answer that I was already on this quest. Side note: Over the last couple of months I have been perusing everything on energy that I can find. From New Age (er…) to Sufism, to Native American beliefs, Eastern Shaminism (the proper books). Not to mention Religions (there is a lot of useful stuff here if you can get around the righteousness)

This deep research has been to bolster my understanding of personal energy and to inform my theory and practical energy framework. apparently this has also been following the path of the philosopher’s stone. Okay, I don’t mind killing two birds with one stone. But there is more.

My Message

Further dowsing revealed that the philosophers stone was related to my message too. So my message was/is a close second. It sounds quite reasonable now that I look at it like this. Of course I need to know before I can teach. Doh! Anyway it was nice to see that my thoughts of being stale wasn’t the case.

So could I garner any more about these quests? Yes. The third quest to consider was the Becoming a Native of America. This was a surprise as I don’t even know what to do for this quest. Surely I was just to be one? Apparently not! Great (sic) now I have something more to worry about.

I asked a lot more questions about this but wasn’t given any useful information. A whole lot of no, no, no! Fair enough. It seems that there is a temporal component about such dowsing. The more into the future that you go the more un-dowseable it is. Makes sense.

Foundations

Root Energy Centre

So where am I standing? Well, my focus should be on the alchemical secrets of the Philosophers Stone at least for the coming months. This I feel will be feeding into my message. Which will have something to do with being a Native American. How? I have no idea.

On the way back from the wizards wood I was feeling happy. I reflected on the feeling and the answer came from my own research.

The Root energy centre is one that is concerned with the question Where Am I? When it is energised and balanced the person has a deep understanding of where they are in life. It seems that I had found that place. As an aside the Root is also one that is associated with foundations and it is curious that over the last two months I have embarked on a personal quest to bring my estranged sister, brother and sister and their sub-families together. A monumental quest in its own right.

Kal Malik – grounded!

Mid-June 2012

There is a curious spirality to the path we wander when we follow the Flow of the Universe. As many observant and wise people have pointed out Creation seems to be based upon the spiral, so it should come as no surprise to followers of this path when subjects come cycling around to meet them again and again. As Kal has described on several occasions, each turn of the spiral ought to be a little higher, and therefore when the spiral comes around again one finds that one is meeting it at a different level. Such was the case with my task described to me as “See like the Hawk of May“.

Here are the related posts:-

• Connection with the Hawk
• Hunting the Hawk of May
• Meeting the Hawk of May

When I sat in Alderley Edge forest I asked my teacher and guiding spirit whether there was anything else I needed to work on for the coming weeks until Midsummer’s Day. I thought that I might have done enough by all the work that I had done in Ireland to recover my ancestor energies. It would seem that there’s always something else to learn, and I was offered another skill improvement task should I wish to take it on.

I got the message that I needed to “See like the hawk!“. I thought this seemed rather familiar and even chimed with recent work I had done with the spirit of Bran. My initial interpretation was that this could mean that I should practise remote viewing, and this was reinforced by subsequent images of Dinas Bran and seeing through the eyes of Bran. Seemed logical. When I tried to call a hawk in the forest later that day it should have been a sign that I heeded when none appeared to answer my call.

Gwalchmai – The Hawk of May – as I see him

A few days after I had the urge to connect with Gwalchmai. When I considered this call I realised that it was the last week of May. As Gwalchmai is The Hawk of May then the call began to make more sense – was there something I needed to learn from the hawk spirit? Maybe the Bran imagery had been conjured up by my own mind in response to the request to see like a hawk and my initial thoughts of remote viewing?

I biked out to the place that I knew I had connected with Gwalchmai before. The afternoon was stiflingly hot. Even in my new lighter bike jacket and jeans the sweat leaked from me and I gave thanks that the long walk to the power centre that I used to connect with Gwalchmai was shaded all the way. A little oak tree marked the place and I sat ready to meditate. When I was still I felt a connection but no information was forthcoming at that moment. I stated my request to know more about seeing like a hawk and then I lit some incense in celebration.

I rose and walked back along the shaded path. As I was high up on a ridge of sandstone rock I caught occasional glimpses of the fields below through the trees. When possible I began to look at the distant fields and a revelation came to me in snatches, like the patchwork quilt of farmed fields below:

1. Seeing like a hawk meant changing my perception
2. The hawk climbed up on high to get a good aerial view
3. From a lofty position he was looking for the tracks left by passing animals which shone like silver in contrast to their backgrounds.
4. Because his prey travelled by the trails he could use the tracks to follow the food to its home. The more trails converged the more likely the prey was congregating at the end point.

I could see how this related to energy. I needed to learn to spot the silvery trails of energy from on high, from a vantage point. When trails converged so the place would be a special place with strong energies. This sounded much more in keeping with a quest that I should be following to learn a new skill.

I thanked Gwalchmai for the revelation and burned the rest of the sandalwood incense to clear my presence. Seems like I had another skill to learn before the Midsummer Solstice. Would I get a chance to practise this before then?

Gwas.

View through Alderley Edge from a magickal spot

This is crazy. If you could see the posts in drafts…Gwas and I are so far behind in our posting and yet we’re knocking out about 1 every two days. Gosh! This is just a short one. The weather over here in the UK has been in the late 20′s (centigrade). So even though it wasn’t a special day in the calendar, we couldn’t resist but go out into the sacred land.

Gwas hadn’t been to the wizards wood in a while and so that was to be our destination on this warm early evening, Alderley Edge. We meandered around the forest becoming re acquainted with the Genius Loci of this magical place.  After 30 minutes or so our destination became clear to us (we were following an intuitive path). Last year, I think, I found a place at the wood that connected to the Earths root.

This was the place that our intuitive wanderings had led us to. We reoriented ourselves a little because of the seasonal drift of the energies and each settled into our own beneficial places to commune with that great wood.

I was perched on a ledge with my back to the rock un focusing myself from daily thoughts and concerns. I let my mind drift down into the roots of the earth and let what was there drift up. My journey is a curious one to me and I guess that was on my mind. I wondered why I was on it and indeed whether there was a why. A message fluttered up from the Earth. It’s because of your roots. I thought it was myself talking to myself until the next sentence came into my mind. You made a promise to yourself when you were a child.

Whaaaaat??? Where had that come from? And why? I tried to garner more information, but nothing was forthcoming. Tha was to be it for this fine sunny evening. But what a stinker of a puzzle. I moved over to another outcrop where Gwas was completing his commune and dropped the message on his lap. He was as puzzled as I was. Still there you have it. The reason of this blog and my journeys is…

Because I made a promise to myself  when I was a child.

Dear Universe, thanks for the enlightened knowledge…Not!

Kal

The Wizards Wood

Can you believe it? Gwas is off adventuring in the land of the Sun on this fine Beltane festival. As he is the one that usually sets an agenda (I improvise). It was up to me to create a celebration on my lonesome. Finally the side-kick gets to play on his own (queue maniacal laughter).

When?

Beltane falls on the 1st of May however what I have often found is that there is a personal note to festival days. Thus I like to go with feeling as well. The 1st of May was a day of rain here in the UK. Maybe it was the weather or not, but I definitely didn’t feel the energies of Beltane in the air. Nope.

Work kept me awake to the early hours of Wednesday the 2nd and I was still typing when the light came in through my window. Ah yes! Definitely today. So I grabbed a list of places that I had written down before hand and dowsed as to where to go.

I started with Sacred Sites in Derbyshire…No no and no! Then Northern Wales. Nope!. I tried being more open with my criteria…Would I go north, south, east or west. This proved more fruitful and I ended up with a location of Alderley Edge. The sun hadn’t hit the horizon and I was off for that mystical wizards wood.

An hour later I was walking through the mystical wood and getting muddy. But the sun was out and the day was going to be special. You can just feel it sometimes.

Cleansing

Oak at Nine Stones Close

Incense has been our standard format when it comes to Beltane or indeed fire element requirements but this time I really wanted to light a fire. A proper one! There are a few caves in Alderley Edge and my intention was to use one of those. I dowsed the paths for a suitable place and unfortunately the rods took me to a place that I recognised. It was the place where I had connected to the Earth a couple of years ago. But not a cave.

So it was to be incense? I asked the rods No. What then a fire? No, not here anyway. So I went through my mental list of activities and reached the conclusion that this place was to clear out old energies and ground myself. Obvious really since it was the place that I had connected with the Earth. Doh!

I leaned against the side of the cliff face and let my thoughts focus on the depths of the earth. I reached down into the roots and let the energies clear within me. Mere moments later I felt detached. Curious that really because it wasn’t the feeling I was aiming for. Nevertheless my work at this spot was done. Time for the fire, I thought.

So I asked the question, was I ready to light a fire? No. Gosh! More work to do. I asked was there more work to do? No. What? Was I done with Alderley Edge? Yes. Did I have to go some other place? Yes. Oh Ok.

Again, I went through the list of sacred sites and arrived at Nine Stones Close. Oh no! Another hours drive. Oh well so be it. The good thing about the drive was that the sun was bright as I headed towards it.

Wings

Robin Hoods Stride

If you don’t know, it had been raining for about 3 days here in the UK. The amount of mud in the fields going to the Nine Stones Close site was phenomenal. As per the usual when I got there I began by greeting the Oak tree. Me and that Oak have a wonderful relationship. It has taught me so much about over coming fears.

I spent some time with the Genius Loci until I and it got comfortable. I then wondered about a fire. So I asked the rods, where should I light the fire? Again no fire! What’s with the Beltane festival these days? What then, another meditation? Yes it seems. But not at the stone circle but across the rock wall and under the Oak tree.

I leaned against the tree and felt the sun on my back, nice and warm. My mind was on fire. I had brought along some wood kindling and fire lighters but was being thwarted in their use. As I tried to clear my mind I heard a squawking from above and three crows flew out of the Oak tree and headed towards a land mark called Robin Hoods stride.

Crows are, as you know, my totem so I felt this to be significant. So I forgot my meditation and dowsed for a change of venue. Would it be Robin Hoods stride? Yes. So off I toodled off towards the heights of the Stride.

Fire

It didn’t help that the fields and climb was mud splattered but whats a guy to do? Up I went and this time I went all the way up to the top (usually I get a bit wobbly knees). I had a feeling that this would be the place for the fire. I dowsed and YES finally it was time.

I dowsed and found a good energetic place to light a fire. A few minutes later I had a small fire going and I was sat so that I was facing the fire and beyond that the Nine Stones sacred site (though I couldn’t see it from my sitting position).

In magical terms fire is often used as a gateway to travel to the underworld. That is where my thoughts where whilst I was watching the dancing flames.

An aside: 2007 was the first time I have ever encountered an entity personally. I had observed what you might call entity behaviour before that time. But I had never been the subject of an entities attention. That is until 2006.

Many years before then I had gone through a process of creating an internal sacred space. This space that was totally within my mind was a controlled environment in that nothing from the outside could get in. It was perfectly protected. Visually speaking it looked like a clearing in a forest. Often there would be other beings in the clearing but it was understood that these were aspects of my personality or subconscious if you will. The overriding feature of this space, was as I said, security and protection.

Then one April 2007 it was invaded. At that time I assumed that it was a fire elemental. It not only prophesied great change in my life but also presumed itself to be the instigator of that change. It literally said that it would push me onto the path of fire.

That is a long tale in the telling, enough to say that it’s prophesy came true and I was indeed pushed along a path of fire. Since that time and this I have grown immensely and have come to the conclusion that that entity wasn’t a fire elemental, I now believe it was a phoenix.

I stared into the flames on top of Robin Hood stride and my thoughts wandered to the time of the phoenix. Recalling that thought brought visions of the phoenix back into my thoughts. Scary they were too since that time and that image is associated deeply with great pain. I shook the thoughts from my mind and stared into the living flames. There was no wind to disturb us and the only sound was of the occasional bird and the crackling of the fire.

As I practiced a new technique of breathing I had learned from my Native American friends I felt that something was drawing near. My thoughts flew to my Energy Double. But no it didn’t have that feel. I knew that it couldn’t be the phoenix that I had encountered years ago. It (she) had said that we would never cross paths again. So what was this feeling of coming together?

No amount of pondering drew the answer. All that it was and is (for the moment) is a feeling of me and something heading towards each other. The flavour of that meeting was to be fire.

I dowsed for the meaning of this feeling but got no connections. All I have is a sense of “soon”. I left the tor in puzzlement. What is the future holding now?

Kal Malik