I decided that I shouldn’t ignore such a powerful emotion, and so I drove past my home exit and instead drove towards my nearest hill in order to get an unobstructed and unpolluted look at the star from height. Being January and cold there was no-one else around as I sat in my power centreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. gazing at the captivating star. Using my phone’s StarWalk application I was able to identify the celestial object as Venus in conjunction with Neptune.

(source: Wikipedia)
As I went into a light dazed state of mind, directing my unfocused attention to the twinkling pair of objects above, I felt an energetic connection on two parts of my body. I first felt a tug on my heart chakra, which I opened. A flood of gentle, clear and pure loving energy seemed to fill my being. Then there was a tug on my head, but I couldn’t identify which chakra point that was connected with exactly so I opened them all to its influence.
I felt like there was a direct connection with me and the planets – the shining star’s radiance was filling me with a distant but powerful light. The Venus connection almost made me cry with its strong emotional content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU9SsTwY5nU

The Neptune connection had a less identifiable influence. However I felt an incredible emotion of a pure love. I sort of expected this in as much as I knew this was Venus’ influence. It was nice to have this echoed back to me later when I read an astrologer’s interpretation of this conjunction:

“Venus conjunct Neptune invokes the principle of ‘higher love’ — the kind that’s not beset by jealousy or possessiveness but which has an egalitarian, humanitarian spirit” (source: PlanetWaves.net)

That was exactly how it felt. A pure love not connected with sexuality or a single relationship, but a wider feeling of love and kinship with all things. Very unlike my usual traits!

Here’s something else that struck me. I have been getting all sentimental in the last few weeks – buying old movies of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. I love their dancing in particular, but I must confess that my wife and I have been enjoying their old-fashioned romantic plot lines too. This is VERY MUCH not like me. So not like me that my wife has commented on how I must be going soft in my “old age” and even saying “What’s happened to you?“.

Here’s another astrologer’s interpretation of the Venus-Neptune alliance:-

“Sentimental and compassionate, natives with Venus conjunct Neptune are easily touched by others’ kindness, music, poetry, dance, and most any art that evokes emotion.” (source: CafeAstrology.com)

Research since then has led me to conclude the following:-

a) I am being strongly affected by the movement and position of the planet Venus this year. More so than any year previously.
b) Whilst I am developing a certain ‘vulnerability’ and sensitivity to Venus’ influence, I am also being shown that this is a means of tapping into an “emotional content” that will become a part of my energy-working and hedge druidry later in the year.

I have a feeling that emotional content is going to be an energy signature that pervades my work this year.

Gwas.

Generally, what type of year it has been? Dis-jointed, slower than last year’s breakneck speed, measured, with lots of deep synchronicities. When I come to review the year I realise that I still made lots of progress on the various tasks that I was lead to perform in order to progress along my path of Druidry.

Below are the main topics that I have picked out from this year’s blog posts. I have tried to keep the explanations to a minimum, so have included links back to the original postings if you want the detail for each of the topics. What I thought was a quiet year has actually turned out to be incredibly packed and busy. The topics are in no order whatsoever, which kind of fits with the way that the year’s learning has come about – seemingly haphazard, but all threading into and through itself like some kind of cat’s cradle whose overall pattern will only be known when the final moves have played out.

26 topics I have been involved in this year:-

a) Healing – Most of the year has been spent developing healing skills, whether that was using remote energies, balancing the chakras, healing with the hands, or with crystals. I have realised that I am more attuned to healing places than people currently, but that is changing. The healing energies can be attuned to different colours for particular effects. To work with these energies I need to understand which “colour” is missing from a site and then call upon the energies of the local living entities to gather together to create this missing colour and thus heal the site. [related posts: My Five Healing Rays, Healing Rays Explained]

Also, in conjunction with my friend Mike, we created a new healing centre at The Bridestones in Cheshire. [related posts: A New Healing Centre]

Chakra colours, energy frequencies and healing may be linked

b) Re-discovering the bard - Discovered great new music (and that I like the new forms of folk music) at The Green Man Festival, and saw Roy Harper in concert in London. This year music has really connected with my heart and stirred great emotions. I have written more poetry this year than in other years too. [related posts: Green Man Festival, Roy Harper]

c) Astrological links to Venus, Orion’s Belt and Sirius affirmed at almost every site. Also Scorpius, astrological links to Arthur and the Great Bear constellation. The constellations of Serpens, Corvus and Perseus have been especially meaningful to me this year, guiding me along a very meaningful path from one end of an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies. to another. [related posts: Serpent at Castlerigg, Arthurian Archetypes of Corvus, The Berth and Death of Scorpius, The Three Stars of Fertility, Absorbing Orion at Lud's Church]

d) Viewing figures - The blog started the year at 100,000 views, and by now that figure has risen to over 216,000. We have seen a 66% increase in readership this year! [related posts: 100,000 views this year]

e) Moving into the Druid stage – This year has seen me begin to get the knowledge I have gained out into the world to share with others. I have done presentations and courses, and taken a more overt local political stance on issues such as the selling off of the local woodlands and by clearing up litter. [related posts: Small Circle and Big Revelation, Understanding Megalithic Sites presentation]

f) Book writing – Possibly the one dismal failure of the year! I cannot seem to dedicate sufficient time and energy towards writing a book. I still feel I don’t know enough yet to make the book as good as I would want it to be.

g) Orbs - The debate seems to be that either ’orbs’ might be entities, or they’re reflections of airborne debris that are reflecting via the camera’s flash (‘lens flare’). This year I have been excited about seeing them at significant place, but I know that they are only produced when the camera’s flash is on, thus making them a definite product of artificial light reflection. I now wonder whether the flash is required in order to make the orbs register on the lens. I am still intrigued that I am ‘called’ to take a photo of certain places, and that the orbs appear only in those specific places. [related posts: Just can't dismiss them, Winter Solstice celebrations at Nine Ladies]

Light at the end of the tunnel for trapped shades

h) Spirit release at churches. In conjunction with my friend Mike we have worked together to discover and release spirit entities whose presence has been adversely affecting the locations that they have inhabited. With every experience we have got more experience, and we feel more confident about our work. [related posts: Spirit Release en masse, Buried Alive, The Sorrowful Widow]

i) Ancestor energiesA term I have used to describe the subtle energy imprints left at a particular place of power (a power centre, perhaps) by our ancestors - those family connections from whom we are descended and have a genetic link to. – Beginning this year at Vale Crucis Abbey in Llangollen I have found a link to my ancestors’ energies. Later in the year I was told by the spirit of my grandfather that it would be beneficial for me to discover and recover those energies. This seems a very shamanic process, and it intrigues me. [related posts: The Healing Helper, A Grandfather's Message]

j) Chakras and sonics – finding the five chakras that are meaningful and useful for me, and how to activate them using vocal sounds [related posts: Vowels and Chakras]

k) Experimenting with magnetism and its effects on subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified.. Discovered that magnetism strongly affects the direction and quality of subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified.. This implies that electro-magnetic emissions from various sources would also affect subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified., and thus perhaps go towards explaining why sacred sites are adversely affected by overhead power cables and phone masts. [related posts: Bolton Abbey]

l) The importance of the double helix form - From Castlerigg stone circle and the Serpens constellation to Arthur’s Grave in Pembrokeshire the double helix formation has been prevalent this year. For me it symbolises the union of the red and white (female and male) subtle energies. Of course, the formation is also to be found in the structure of human DNA. I found that I was in some way affecting my own DNA using subtle energies when I was at a particular sacred site when a specific star’s energy was available in the sky. [related posts: Arthur's Gave and the DNA Chamber, From Berth to Death]

m) Tracing the great North-South ley lineThe term used by many British dowsers to describe an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies.. It is easily confused with ley and therefore its use is not recommended by dowsers. from Arbor Low to Christchurch. This was part of my work to discover whether the energy leys that Kal and I had dowsed at Arbor Low were real, and if so how far they travelled. I found that there was a strong case for an energy formation travelling in a straight line due North-South from Arbor Low and terminating at Christchurch in Dorset. On a similar tack I traced an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies. through Paris which linked several key monuments. [related posts: The Strange Attractor, A Spring Ritual at West Kennet, Encounters with an Earth Spirit, The Leys of Central Paris]

n) Dealing with ghosts, shades, psychic attacks and dark energies. This year has seen a move from relative skepticism to near conviction about the existence of sentient invisible entities. I have had dealings with remnant human energies and non-human entities whose energy forms I can only dream of. These entities have manifested themselves in my consciousness as thoughts distinct from anything I recognise as my own, but more tellingly they have manifested as physically-felt symptoms such as visible movements, light forms, feelings of pressure and movement, and even as far as nausea or cranial tension in their presence. These can always be explained away as something else using complex and tenuous explanations, but the simplest explanation is that such entities exist. [related posts: Bamburgh Castle ghost, Vampire Shades, Ghosts,Shades and Spirits, Hexham and the Psychic Attack]

Psychic attacks cause sleep disruption

o) Re-Connecting with my elementals - this year saw very little interaction with the Elementals, yet it was important for me to “check in” with them, and reconnect in order to maintain the relationship I had established with these Nature Spirit forces. This involved me choosing the right crystals to work with them as well (e.g. work at Ennerdale Water and at The Rollrights) [related posts: Juggling with Water Spirits, Receiving the Elements at The Rollrights]

p) The blooming flower. During the Spring Equinox in Cumbria I was given the image of the flower unfurling. At the time I took this to mean that I needed to work on obtaining the ability to grow plants better, but it was subsequently pointed out to me that it could signify my own blossoming spiritual progress. I think the latter explanation turned out to be the correct one. [related posts: Water Spirit of the River Esk]

q) The Hawk of May – this year I met with and gained the assistance of two new spirit forms. One appears in the form of a hawk and appears whenever I am on the correct path to spiritual progress. The other is a Celtic healer who is guiding me through the process of learning healing of the landscape and now the healing of people too. The discovery of The Hawk in the Landscape – a landscape figure that became a reality for me when I traced it over a map of Cheshire was one of the more interesting finds of the year, especially as I had dismissed the Glastonbury Zodiac landscape figures as having no use for me. I have now had to re-evaluate the concept and realised that the landscape figures are only meaningful to the person who makes them appear, and who quests to find them. [related posts: Remote Dreaming at Lud's Church, Meeting the Hawk of May, Cheshire Hawk Landscape Figure, Hunting the Hawk of May, The Yew Tree Speaks, Connection With The Hawk]

r) Arthur – instead of Merlin (so last year!). What are the differences between these archetypes? Merlin is a symbol of taking on magickal power. Arthur is a symbol of taking on responsibility and leadership skills. This year I have been primarily involved in taking responsibility for my work, and in turning my work outwards to face the public instead of working within myself. [related posts: Arthur's Seat, Berth to Death, The Samson Stone, Arthur's Stone, Camelot, The Tor and the Healing Thorn, The DNA Chamber, Arthurian Archetypes]

s) Animal totems for this year – Hawk, fox, seagull and badger. Each has been a guide along my path this year, showing me the way at various times. [related posts: Connection With The Hawk, Meeting the Hawk of May, The Lost Mound, Lammas 2011 on Anglesey]

t) Learning psychometry – the art of psychically interacting with the energy within objects to obtain information from them. [related posts: Druid Divination, Psychometry and Deviceless Dowsing]

u) Understanding the way that standing stones work with ley lines to split them out into male and female energy forms. The male is then directed towards a particular site that requires male energy such as a hill, fort, or some other male feature. [related posts: Clulow Cross, Anglesey Autumn Equinox, Samson Stone, Lammas on Anglesey]

v) Caves and hobgoblins – Finding that a cave shapes the aura and condense the information held within the aura such that it is more easily absorbed and retained. I also found that there are deep earth energy spirits in some caves that can be appeased by feeding them! [related posts: Closure at Thor's Cave, The Park Wood Hobgoblin, Hobs Thirst Cave]

w) Green Man Festival and its links with The Rose Line from Edinburgh. This needs further investigation to definitively prove its existence energetically. There are clear historical links, but I want to find out to what degree the energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies. line is still active today. The festival is right on the line, and I intend to go back to the festival next year to dowse the line’s influence in the festival, or vice versa. [related posts: Arthur's Seat and The Rose Line, Green Man Festival]

Green Man on Rose Line

x) Creating wards and glyphs in Alderley Edge. I will find out soon how successful my protection work has been for the tree that I worked with. [related posts: Parc Le Breos, Creating a Ward]

y) Apports as a means of teaching the energy student a lesson in focusing on their work! I was taught a lesson when my wedding ring went missing twice and ended back up in the same coat pocket. A definite lesson in paying spirit forms attention! [related posts: The Apporting Ring]

z) The Elemental Masters of Tinkinswood – Finding their presence at a sacred site was interesting enough, but dowsing how they worked together taught me a valuable lesson about the way that sacred sites may have been used in ancient times. [related posts: Elemental Masters at Tinkinswood]

Summary

Looking back, even though the year has felt dis-jointed and slower than usual, I have actually done an amazing amount of work and have progressed far further than I had imagined. Looking forward to next year now with renewed vigour! I have had several messages from different sources who are all anticipating that my work with healing sites and people will be called into use in 2012. Of course, if that happens, then I will be blogging it all for you to read.

Thank you all for spending your precious time with us this year. We look forward to another intriguing year of learning, living and loving.

Gwas.

Of course Tarot cards are symbols, symbols of some human psychology, and there are levels of interpretation required to make something meaningful come out of a reading. Yet, whenever I have done it, and I can count the number of times still on one hand, I have been flabbergasted, nay overwhelmed by the pertinence, the serendipity, the degree of coincidence, however you want to term it. It was spot on. Whether for me, or for someone else. I have been told that I “have the gift” with the cards. Well, so did Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die” and look what happened to her! (Actually, what did happen to her, I can’t remember….?)

'Pick a card..any card ...(except that one)'

Why Druids should use Tarot

Good question. Sounds like a statement but it’s also a question – why should druids use Tarot, or any method of divination? Well, the druid revivalist culture seems to purport that there is some historical precedence for a link between forms of augury or divination and the druid class. The Romans (and where would we be without the Romans, with their aqueducts, laws, sewage systems….etc) included instances in their reports of Britain about the scrying and divining abilities of the druids.

Don’t let history (even if it was dubious political history) be your only guide, however. There are other sound reasons to adopt a form of divination. Is dowsing not a form of scrying, of obtaining knowledge from a gnostic source, that can easily be turned towards divination tasks too? Indeed it can. The humble dowsing rod can be used for many purposes, but the further away from dowsing in connection with the land the less credible the results feel to me. This may be a personal thing, however, because I admit to having used dowsing for divination, even if the results have always seemed less reliable and more likely to change. But then, that’s the future for you – always changing!

I use tarot card when I need a bit more information about a subject than I could sensibly get by dowsing. For example, if I wanted to know about the intentions of a particular Nature spirit I could begin to formulate a whole list of dowsing questions, or I could try to commune with the spirit in order to see if I could obtain some images that might help me decide on that. A far safer, more reliable and much faster way would be to hold the idea in my mind and draw some tarot cards to help me form a picture about the subject.

Let it be said, however, that tarot and other forms of divination are powerful tools. They should only be used sparingly. Over-use leads to a strange way of thinking, and I have met people who think they are just short of divine themselves because they can use these tools. Or they won’t step outside their house in the morning until they have done a layout to determine whether it’s going to be a good or bad day for them. This is clearly madness. But that’s how power affects some people. Use powerful objects sparingly and with a certain trepidation called respect.

Examples of original Rider Waite tarot card designs

A Case Study

I did a reading for someone recently (under protest – I have hardly ever done this because it frightens me to get involved in other people’s lives). I made sure that I knew nothing at all about the situation, only that there were two people involved directly, and that an intolerable situation had developed. That was all I knew. When I had dealt the cards I took them away to write up my reading of the way they had come out.

When I delivered it the person who I was reading for was startled – they said it was very very accurate indeed.  The person involved came back to me after a few days saying how accurate everyone who knew of the circumstances considered the reading, and the interpretation to be. This included a friend of theirs who was someone well-versed in the Tarot (you wonder why they were not approached for a reading instead!). This was quite nice because Tarot readings are not something I do regularly, only when required or cajoled.

Doing the reading seems to have really made a positive difference to this person’s life quite quickly by affirming things that friends have been advising for a long time, and the person looks visibly relieved to be working through the situation with new insights. This made the whole thing worthwhile. I probably won’t do that again until next year now.

More resources

Here are some links to useful tarot resources that I have discovered. There are many more, these are just some I have used myself. Take them, leave them, disbelieve them – up to you.

1. This explanation of the Celtic Cross layout was useful to me
2. This set of cards is standard, and recommended for a plain reading with no ‘slant’ : Rider Waite cards
3. The Druidcraft Tarot is a set I find useful for dowsing myself or druidry-related subjects.
4. A page that explains the basic meanings of all the card in a typical pack

I am trying to make this fit into my current task of “making magic manifest” and I think it qualifies. Do I get an extra credit? ;-)

Gwas.

In order to organise our thoughts Kal and I came up with some questions the answers to which we hoped might summarise the way that year has gone for us – what were the bits we expected, what exceeded our expectations, and which things arose to meet us on this path that we didn’t anticipate? Here are my answers to this year’s questions.

What did I think I was going to learn?

1. Whether specific periods of the year are more energetic than others, and whether those periods align to the calendrical eight-fold year.
2. How stone circles work in terms of their energy
3. Whether specific geology affects the energetic responses from sites

By the summer of 2009 I had already established to my satisfaction that there was a difference in the strengths of energies at the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. I was sure that there was more powerful sun energy (i.e. stronger male energy) at the Summer Solstice. The Spring and Autumn Equinoxes were very similar in strength, and were a balance of male and female earth energies. At the Winter Solstice the male energies were very weak, as was the Sun. The female energies fluctuated only in relation to the strength of the Moon and the input from nearby trees, again weaker in Winter.

Determining any objective means of measurement was difficult, as our own energy levels seemed to be a factor in how well we could dowse or do energy work at a site, however a scale of measurement (strength from 1-10) seemed to work for the purposes of obtaining some data that could be compared between sites. The solstice and equinox dates depended upon the quality of the Sun to determine the amount of additional energy was at the site compared to our visits to them on other dates.

The Celtic Festival dates (Lammas, Beltane, Samhain and Imbolc) in between those times were much harder to figure out. These dates seems to depend upon the position of the Moon for their effects upon ancient sites., rather than the Sun’s effect. I will be posting much more on this soon, complete with a table of the relative energy levels at various sites dowsed this year.

Further theories have emerged concerning the operation of energies at stone circles and other sites too. See the Earth Energies and Ancient Sites Summary posts for details on those.

We have kept a weather-eye on the geology of sites whilst dowsing this year. It started for me in Carnac when I discovered that the stone rows were placed along a shelf of rock quite different from the surrounding geology of the rest of the nearby coastline. We have concurred with the popular dowsing theory that geological faulting is important to the situation of ancient sites, as is often the presence of water, but we do not wholly agree with the necessity of water (or a ‘blind spring’ formation) being present at all ancient neolithic sites. Some major sites such as Stonehenge and The Rollright Stones do have this water formation, however, and we think these popular sites may have led to the popularity of the idea amongst the dowsing fraternity that such a formation is necessary to a strong energy site. We do not find this to be true.

'CARNAC: Des Pierres Pour Les Vivants' by Pierre Mereaux

What’s been the surprise?

1. Crop circles being designed by some intelligence beyond the confines of this planet – expected them to be of human design and manufacture.
2. The energetic and healing potential of running water – Pistyll Rhaeadr and Viktor Schauberger convinced me of this at different ends of the year. At Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall my wife’s twisted ankle was healed in minutes. Later I read Schauberger’s theories on the properties of water and I understood how this could have come about.
3. A spiritual pilgrimage being worthwhile doing, and not some soulless religious historical trail as I had imagined it to be.

1. Astrology - There is a correlation, a link, between the relative positions of the stars and a human being. My natal chart is stunningly accurate in assessing my personality traits. Kal and I have also discovered that we are energetically linked to particular planets – Kal to Mercury and myself to Venus. We are more energetically ‘loaded’ or ‘charged’, and more energy work is possible, when our respective planets are visible. I have tracked this since the beginning of the year and have each dowsing response confirms this.
2. Elemental beings and cloud sylphs – I see some this year on four separate occasions and each time I was stunned by the effect – this was no mere simulacrum. Seeing faces in the clouds must be the third and conclusive qualifying factor in any signs of madness developing – that much I do appreciate, but nevertheless, they have been present at quite specific times of high energy.

What’s been disappointing?

That I have managed to really stuff up some potentially good magick work. It’s down to focus, attention and retention. Sometimes I get distracted and lose it, and that really annoys me, because I instantly know I’ve messed it up. In particular the way that songs stick in my head – I must learn to make use of these repetitive refrains instead of allowing them to detract from my connection with Nature and the natural energies.

What has taken me in a new direction?

There has been a general trend this year going from only dealing with absolutely rational subjects and trying to be very objective in terms of the dowsing, and by the end of the year this had changed dramatically. What happened was that, every time we dowsed a subject or a line of enquiry that we were sure would be proven to be irrational nonsense we ended up finding something within the topic that actually had a viable and sensible basis. For example, tarot cards – seemingly nonsense when we approached the subject, but then turned out to be spookily accurate and often useful to reveal information that dowsing couldn’t provide.

We were then led through many such subjects, each more esoteric than the last, and were able to obtain something useful at the core of each branch of study. If we had plotted the course at the start of the year we would never have followed that path, because we would have viewed then endpoint as so absurd and different from where we started that we would never have started the journey!

Researching subtle energies via dowsing has led us to many new areas that we had previously cordoned off or refused to accept. We have been forced to re-visit several concepts that we had initially ridiculed, as many of us still do. New subjects that we have found some value in, against our expectations:-

1. Astrology – showed me that the position of the Sun, The Moon, and more unexpectedly, the Planets, have an influence on certain people. I am affected by Venus, and Kal is affected by Mercury, for instance.
2. Tarot cards – provided us with information about the attributes of things.
3. Crop circles – revealed a connection with Nature and with some form of higher intelligence that informs the patterns and is attempting to transmit meaning to us
4. Elemental spirits – I have been contacting and working with elemental spirits, sentient entities whose knowledge of their element allows me an increasing level of control over air, water, earth and fire.
5. Ascended Masters – the most difficult of all to accept, I have made contact with a former human being who has been through the enlightenment process, and who is now available to assist me with my own work. I am still very wary of “channelers” and the whole concept of former human spirits being involved in any of this journey – it fills me with suspicion. We will see where this goes. So far I have no actual reason to call any of this field into question, but it’s early days and small steps.
6. Death energies – in other words, ghosts. Again, very very difficult for us to accept in all its aspects and with all its common associations in our culture, but something of the past human can remain for whatever reason, and Kal in particular has the ability to work with these forms of intelligence and presence. I have dowsed the remains of several prominent humans and their energies remain in place and influential at burial sites.
7. Magick – the idea that one’s interface with and understanding of the world can be influenced through a process of alteration of one’s energies and the use of surrounding energies has been a revelation. This is how I describe Natural MagickThis is a system of belief that is often defined as being the appropriation and re-use of naturally occurring forces for the purposes of healing, transformation, communication, or a host of other subtle effects. The natural elements of the magick can also be seen by the under-pinning concept that the use of these forces should be co-operative rather than coercive.. It has been a tough year going from not being able to allow myself to label the activity as magick, to the acceptance late in the year that I am in fact doing magick. All year I have been calling it “Energy Work”, and I sometimes still hide behind this label.

I must stress how difficult it has been to accept all of this. Kal and I pride ourselves in being very open-minded, and yet still these concepts have been incredibly difficult to accept. We, even now, baulk at the way such concepts are commonly understood and represented in our culture. We still retain a certain amount of skepticism and difficulty in dealing with these areas of our lives. We are both highly aware of how mad it makes us sound, and yet the evidence to us is incontrovertible, and essential to progress. Denying this stuff would be to seriously curtail our ability to learn about subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified. in all the forms we have detected it. It would, of course, be very easy to stop at this stage and simply remain everyday dowsers, but we both feel there is more to be leanred by pushing the boundaries and working across disciplines.

Which avenues of investigation have I closed off?

At the moment I wouldn’t say I have closed all of the following research areas off, rather that I have got no requirement at the moment to use them, or plans to investigate them further at this stage. They were all interesting experiments and have all proved to be of some worth, even if I feel no need to work on them further right now.

1. Chakra colours are informative as a barometer of a tree’s health spectrum, but we have not found any other value
2. Time Wave Zero – not exactly closed off, but kind of forgotten about. Reading the graph produced until 2012 at the beginning of last year I made a prediction that October 2008 would see the start of the slump – the day Gordon Brown announced a recession. I also said that the slump temporarily turns back up in November 2009. We have seen that too. Looks like McKenna has been accurate with his mathematics, but I have lost interest in aspects of divination. The future is none of my concern, as is history. I seek knowledge from beyond history and applicable beyond the foreseeable future!
3. Healing accident blackspots – decided I’m not much of a healer yet. Have not felt much of a calling to do this kind of healing. May re-adopt it when I know more or feel more compelled to do so.

What I have gained in terms of power/magic/knowledge?

This year I gained the assistance of five spirits, which can be categorised according to the schema of Jac D Hawkins’ series of books as: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Aether. These sentient beings have already begun co-operating with my work, and I hope that with their help I can take the concepts I have learned so far and move way beyond the dabbling I have done so far, and begin to work more profound changes in a direction of my choosing.

So much knowledge gained! Not necessarily in the areas I expected. I think the most difficult thing has been dealing with all those esoteric subjects that I had decided were worthless, and discovering that almost all of them have SOMETHING of worth in them, but that this worth needs to be discovered, extracted and protected from the madness that surrounds it.

In terms of power, I think I have moved from the BIRCH beginner stage, where I could do very little and where every little thing I did seemed hugely significant, up to the YEW intermediate stage. In this stage my energies have moved from a single thread to a double helix of threads. My ability to work with and to feel energy has increased tremendously, as has the speed with which I can connect to Nature. I am no longer surprised by magic and its effects, rather I take delight in it now. I would say I am on the beginning of a road of exploration of this magical world, and have most of the tools that I need. All I need now is guidance on how to use them appropriately to achieve aims. Oh, and some aims would be helpful too!

What might I have lost – innocence, sanity, etc?

I’ve lost my motivation to work with others. As the year has progressed I have become more isolated and “hedgey”. Although I still highly value the input of others into my work, and still enjoy working with you, Kal, I have seen nothing to convince me that anyone else’s input into this work is of value to me, or that anyone else knows better than I do what it is I should be doing. Isolation is, of course, another step towards the label “loner” that always seems to accompany the psychological profile of a serial killer. Certainly wouldn’t look good on my CV, but then I no longer care for CVs, I have a rather different “vitae” to live.

Absolute single highlight of the year

No surprise really, but the visit to Glastonbury consolidated all my ideas about what magic could be, and what effects it could have upon me. I changed from that visit onwards – there was no longer any doubt that this was a path worthy of following, and that it could have profound effect upon me if I took all the factors into account and worked with my intuition. All things seemed possible, and yet I had no idea what was going on – just that I needed to follow whatever arose.

Possible thoughts about what I might be doing next year – some places, things and experiences.

• I’d like to re-visit some stone circles and confirm their geometry, probably the Penmaenmawr set of circles.
• I’m going to visit Moel-Ty-Uchaf again and do some energy work involving the crystals/elemental spirits.
• Glastonbury again at Summer Solstice. Was it a one-off, or can it be done again, using this year’s “path” instead of last year’s?
• Make deep in-roads into writing my book on the Glastonbury Pilgrimage, to be added to by this year’s visit.
• Visit all the stone circles in England and Wales that we haven’t been to yet – mainly concentrating on South Wales, Devon and Cornwall.
• Work with sigils I have found, and find one for each site I visit, to determine what use they may have.
• Befriend a nearby yew tree and work with it deeply to find direction and purpose for my magick work
• More work with tumuli this year – they seem to be everywhere and we often overlook them – what are they, why were they built, what energetic purpose do they have? Work with earth spirit to work out how to use earth energy.
• Work with a strong water source to find out how to use water energy.
• Work with an air elemental on controlling and directing the wind when I need to. Understanding air energy generally.
• Work with a fire spirit to understand how I can use the fire energy of the sun and flames to generate change, passion and motivation.
• Work much more strongly with an aether spirit, trying to achieve co-operation.
• Back to Dinas Emrys during the Autumn season when the gnats are not there.
• Explore and meditate in caves with fire, including sea caves, possibly around Anglesey.
• Determine whether astrological symbols derive from a site’s energy sigils.
• Some questions that need answering:-

1. Is the geology of the rock at ancient sites important to their function?
2. Does the action of water and iron produce a GMF?
3. Which sites are beneficial to both Kal and I at the same time?
4. Did the knowledge of how to build the stone circles travel from East to West or vice versa? Or is this not important?

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Gwas Myrrdyn. 2009.

This is the fourth in the series of posts that review the findings of this year. In this particular post I am discussing the relationship between earth energies, human energy fields and the wider cosmos.

I have used the classification of ”astronomy” to describe the information I have discovered (of course, ‘re-discovered’, or ‘uncovered’ would be more appropriate terms) that relates the movement of the major planetary bodies of our solar system to the energy fluctuations in our remaining ancient sacred sites. Very little “astrology” comes into it, really, except that we describe the influence of such bodies upon ourselves.

4-1. Star energies : These types of energy include the influence of planets, which have more effect than we had realised. At the beginning of the year we discovered that “star” energies are also being drawn down into stone circles, just like sun and moon energy. Later we discovered that it was the energy of specific major planets that was being drawn into the circles, or cast upon them. In particular I found a couple of instances where the energy of Venus was being used, and this was at stone circles where the design of the circle itself was based upon the sacred number of that planet (see table below).

4-2. Sacred Numbers : There is a relationship between the planets within our solar system and numbers. This correspondence was obtained by dowsing for this relationship. The number relates to an association between the number and the planet, and that correspondence has a link to the geometry of sacred sites and their dedications. For example, a site dedicated to the goddess ‘Venus’ is found to have a structure that is based upon the number five.

Here is the list of correspondences:-

          1 = Moon
          2 = Mars
          3 = Mercury
          4 = Earth
          5 = Venus
          6 = Jupiter
          7 = Saturn
          8 – Uranus
          9 = Neptune
        28 = The Sun (7+6+5+4+3+2+1)

4-3 Planetary Influence: I learned this year that Venus has an influence over my energetic being. When it is present I am “stalked” by the white light of its presence (seen physically by some people), and am drawn to sites that are in some way connected to it, either geometrically or energetically. Kal is influenced by Mercury’s presence.

4-4. Site ‘alignments’: Some sites are solar-dominated, whilst others are lunar. I react well to lunar sites, whislt Kal feels better at solar sites. Balanced sites suit both of us. Sites that are aligned to the sun have dominant male energies, whilst those that are aligned to the moon have female energy in abundance. No sites that we have found so far are predominantly aligned to any specific star, constellation or planet. In 2010 we will check this more thoroughly, however, as it’s not a question that often gets asked.

4-5. Astrology: My astological natal chart is incredibly accurate in describing my tendencies and characteristics. It goes wrong when the topic is broadened to “how my type of people” think and feel, but when it refers specifically to me, and describes the influence of specific planets upon my birth, then it would seem to me that such tendencies have indeed been “stamped” into my very core, and are still being exhibited some 40 years later.

Gwas.

The first inkling I got that today was going to be different was actually late yesterday. I had been making arrangements with a colleague in a nearby office for us to meet up for lunch. She is part of my extended team, and this was a chance to meet the rest of her colleagues and make some valuable connections that might help me in my work, as they all have many more years experience than me. We had been Instant Messaging each other yesterday afternoon and somehow, during the course of the conversation, she hinted that she was a witch. Only hints, mind you, but it made the prospect of today’s meeting more interesting. Was she in fact a witch? Or just enjoyed all things ‘witchy’? Perhaps today I would find out.

That in itself set the scene for the day. In the morning it was raining steadily – not a good omen, as it would make travel less enjoyable. I set off to work on the train and arrived at the office only to realise I hadn’t got my usual cigarette lighter with me. Never mind, there was a colleague in the office who smoked too – he would have one. For the first time in two weeks he wasn’t in today. Never mind, I could ask someone in the designated smoking room for a light. I double-checked my bag – did I have a spare lighter in there? After a thorough search I concluded that I didn’t. I began to rehearse the German phrase for ‘Have you got a light, please?’ – ‘Haben Sie feuer, bitte?’.

In the middle of the morning I got up to go to the smoking room. I’ll just double-check my bag again. The first pocket I went to – there was a lighter! Eh? I had really searched it before, but here it was – straight into my hand. Odd. I gave it not a second thought, but went upstairs for a smoke. The smoking room is full of people sitting alone at tables or in small groups, and rarely if ever does anyone approach anyone else. Today, as I sat down a man approached me saying, ‘Haben Sie feuer, bitte?’. My eyebrows raised and I smiled to myself. I was going to say that! No-one had ever approached me before in the whole two weeks I had been there. Today – someone asks me the same question I was going to ask them!

I confirmed the arrangements for lunctime and joked with my colleague that, as it was now sunny she must have magically affected the weather for our meeting. She responded that a witch never tells her secrets, and I chalked that up to our previous discussion where the word has been mentioned before. Coincidence, I thought.

Midday arrived and I set off on the shuttle bus to the nearby building, a few miles away. I had never seen my colleague before, but a couple of weeks ago I had looked her up on the staff directory and thought to myself then, ‘You remind me of someone.’ I regretted not having refreshed my memory again before I left, and I hoped that she would recognise me as much as I recognised her, and that we would somehow meet up alright. I sat staring out of the bus window trying to remember who she was similar to, and then it came to me – her hair was like Kate Bush from her ‘Wuthering Heights’ era, when she first emerged onto the pop scene. That’s who she reminded me of! I sat back, satisfied that I should just look out for someone who looked like Kate Bush, and I was sure I would recognise her. Ten seconds later the German radio station that was playing stopped chattering, and with a jolt my ears pricked up: what was that introductory refrain from? Which song? The opening lines blared out in the confines of the small quiet bus:

“Out on the wiley, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green
You had a temper, like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy.”

(Kate Bush - ‘Wuthering Heights‘, 1978)

I smiled a broad smile. Coincidence number two! Already today was shaping up to be a magical day. I took that as a good omen, and sure enough I met my colleague without any trouble, and we shared a lovely lunch time eating, walking, buying presents for my colleagues back home, chatting and meeting her team. I didn’t mention anything about her possibly being a witch though – it didn’t seem the polite thing to do – perhaps I was mistaken, and she was just using it as a symbol of her empowered femininity? Anyway, I left it unspoken. Later that afternoon I messaged her again thanking her for her hospitality, and again she dropped hints of things ‘supernatural’. Now I wasn’t imagining things!

Later in the day I was heading back to the apartment a few miles away from the office. A short train ride away. That gives me just enough time, sitting at the station and on the train, to read another few pages in the excellent book ‘Spirals: Patterns of Existence’ by Geoff Ward. I have nearly finished it now, so I picked up at the point where I had left off yesterday where he was talking about C.G.Jung and synchronicity. Aha, so of course it was uppermost in my subconscious this morning. I read about Jung and Wolfgang Pauli, who was trying to find a scientific basis for dream synchronicities and worked with Jung on the concept. Then suddenly the text changed tack. Now it was talking about Astrology, and not your Sun Sign tabloid daily guff about meeting talk dark strangers and making career choices, but as he termed it ‘serious’ astrology. Ward made a statement that really resonated with me, he says, talking of Dr Percy Seymour’s book ‘The Science of Astrology’ (2004) :

‘Seymour’s challenging view is that ‘serious’ astrology… is an attempt to understand our own internal schedules formed over long periods of time and which we inherit genetically. He thinks that the fluctuations in the geomagnetic field synchronise the internal biological clocks of the foetus which control the moment of birth. The ‘tuning of the foetal magnetic antenna’ is carried out by the inherited genes, and this to some extent will influence personality characteristics. The positions of the planets at birth do not alter what we have inherited genetically, but instead ‘label’ our basic inherited characteristics of personality. Cautious support for Seymour’s ideas has come from an unexpected quarter – no less than Richard Dawkins…’

Well, well. Dawkins. Arch-enemy of all things mystic. Is there any clearer sign of convergence between science and mysticism?

That quote was as far as I got when the train stopped and I had to put the book away. As I walked back to the apartment something was nagging me about that passage. It seemed awfully familiar….oh yes – I had written a draft in preparation for my fourth part of the year’s summary of findings only last night. In the draft I had written a paragraph about how this year, one of the most startling findings for me has been to discover that planets have an influence on myself and Kal. They actually affect our behaviour, and determine what activities are going to be more beneficial for us. I’m not going to spoil the draft post, but needless to say I had left it at that point, wondering how on earth I was going to explain that. How was I going to be able to justify that I had suddenly become a believer in astrology? From having rubbished it all my life, to now saying, ‘actually, there’s something quite profound in it.’

I had even gone further, for last night I had gone to the online Astrolabe program and had let it draw up (or ‘cast’ I believe is the correct term) my natal chart. It even gave me a small reading explaining the influences of the planets on my behaviour. I had no idea why last night I would do this. None. And anyway, I was truly all prepared to pick fault with it, just as I had done with so many newspaper and magazine horoscopes before, except that I couldn’t! It was absolutely accurate. Completely me. Now, I’ve also seen that Derren Brown trick where he gives 12 people the same horoscope and because of the way it is written they all think that it is them to a tee, but this was different. There was very little generalisation, it was quite specific and certainly would not apply to anyone else I know.

So, another very major synchronicity. I had been “looking” for some way to explain my new stance on the subject without sounding superficial, and Mr.Ward’s book kindly provided it to me on a plate, just when I could make use of it.

Today has been a day of witches and synchronicities, and it has been hugely enjoyable. I hope all our days are just like this too.

Gwas.

p.s. Here’s one of my personal favourite Kate Bush clips.

Keith Critchlow’s Time Stands Still book says that Moel Ty Uchaf stone circle is geometrically configured based upon a pentacle shape. In other words, when it was designed and laid out the geometry used to create it was based upon five circles, with the stones marking the outer perimeters of those circles.

Critchlow associates the number five, and therefore the dedication of this stone circle, with Venus. Why? As he says on p.205:

“Venus, as seen from Earth, moves around us, looping in close five times in eight years before repeating the cycle…It was on the basis of this pentagonal archetype that we proposed Moel Ty Uchaf  may have been dedicated to the goddess ‘Venus’ or by whatever name the building community called this planetary archetype.”

The geometric pattern descrbed by this motion is pentagonal in nature.

Of course I was not prepared to simply accept this theory – as a dowser I intended to do some additional work to verify this correspondence between sacred geometry, number and planetary dedication. Venus, goddess of love, may seem like a Roman divinity, but to me, the Venus under discussion here was clearly the planet and its appearance as the Morning or Evening Star at particular times of the year. The calendrical alignments of stone circles has been proven time and time again by a continuous overlay of theories since the discoveries by academics like Professor Thom.

Before I had even read “Time Stands Still” I had found a strong Venus connection when I dowsed there in late 2008, but had no idea why such a correspondence was significant until I read Critchlow’s book. As soon as I read about the layout and the potential dedication of the site memories came flooding back to me – memories of how I had been called by some invisible urge to visit the site on 22nd October when, in a moonless clear sky, the Milky Way and all the stars were on display and I had spent several hours gazing in awe at them sitting in the stone circle, wondering what I was doing there. You can read about that experience here.

So, was Venus around on that date? I consulted the internet to find out, and found this on the AstroPlanet blog:

“Venus is the Evening Star for the entire month of October. Venus begins the month in the constellation Libra, the Scales, and on October 17th, moves into the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpian.”

At the start of October I had been spending time with a friend who has an ability to see energies around people as points of light. He had informed me that he had begun to notice just such a light perched over my left shoulder, above and behind, and he simply pointed it out to me. Intrigued, I had spent a while dowsing the possibilities of what it could be. After a week or so I had worked out that it was a planet – the planet Venus specifically. I tracked its presence for a few weeks and noticed that it changed position around me, starting off over my shoulder and moving around to about 90 degrees to me on my left side over that time. Unsure of what to do about this discovery, I didn’t think any more about it – until I got the urge to go to Llandrillo.

That night back in October 2008 I discovered the power of the stars, and their effects upon my ability to connect with the energies of the Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle. Now I realise there was probably another influence in effect that night – Venus. I notice that I needed to draw upon “love” energy in order to connect with the energies.

Wishing to discover more about the planets, sacred geometry and numbers I dowsed for the association between the planets in the solar system and their respective number in terms of the geometry of sacred sites, specifically stone circles. I came out with the following results:-

1= Moon
2 = Mars
3 = Mercury
4 = Earth
5 = Venus
6 = Jupiter
7 = Saturn
28 = The Sun (7+6+5+4+3+2+1)

Now, this does not correspond with Critchlow’s reading. He has a more classical interpretation which has the sun in the centre, whereas I have the Earth centrally placed. Also, in my scheme the Sun is the sum of all the other numbers. However, I find the result pleasing, and interestingly, Venus is five. I will now see how that corresponds with stone circles I have visited, and will include this aspect in future site visits. I am considering dowsing their geometry from pictures I have taken of sites, as I think that may be possible, but I would prefer to dowse the geometry on site – there’s something more “real” about being there.

Venus on Anglesey

There’s one final twist to this tale – another coincidence, another piece of the puzzle, another bit of information that I missed at the time, but which makes perfect sense to me now that I have done more research. That is the riddle of the Venus Symbol that I obtained from a visit to Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey. The post related to this visit can be read here.

So, again, where was Venus on March 16th this year? [note: this was corrected from 24th - 16th was the visit date, 24th was the date of the post about it]. Here’s an extract from another of those helpful astrological sites:

“In the evenings, you will see Venus slipping closer to the horizon, eventually merging with the Sun and becoming lost from sight toward the last week in March. Venus makes a conjunction with the Sun on March 27 and then begins the part of her journey as the morning star, which will become visible early in the mornings during the first week of April.

Venus making this transition in her sign of exaltation, Pisces, is especially powerful. Venus is the planet of connection, relationship, love and beauty and it is located in Pisces, Jupiter’s water sign, that represents the domain of universal understanding and wisdom.”  (source: PlanetaryInfluence.com)

What I had seen then, in the western skies whilst sat on top of Bryn Celli Ddu’s mound, had been the sliver of Venus’ crescent. Only now, after listening to Manly P.Hall’s excellent lectures on AstroTheology – The Zodiac and The Platonic Year –  do I realise that this is what I was seeing. Again, the first few minutes of his lecture caught my ear:

“We find in other parts of the ancient world (other than ancient China) the full and obvious knowledge that the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Persians, at an ancient time, knew definitely that the planet Venus was never visible to us as a complete sphere, but most often like a minute lunar crescent.”

This was all beginning to make sense. I was drawn to Bryn Celli Ddu one night, going there to contemplate why I have dowsed that I am being tracked by the planet Venus, and to find out why I seemed to have some kind of connection to it. As I sat on the mound I observed a strange star and saw a symbol, which I recorded. That symbol contained a crescent shape that was not the moon, which puzzled me at the time. Now I find that the shape was Venus itself!

So, bringing all this together I think I can now say that I do finally understand the Venus Symbol. I now understand that I am influenced by the position of Venus – its presence in the sky, and that this influence in some way affects my energy field, jst as I have previously discovered that the phases of the Moon do. I can also see that something was trying to tell me about this influence, because many things began to coalsce in a short span of time that brought together all of the evidence I would need to work it out. Of course, dowsing helped a great deal, as it always does, but meditation and listening to that intuitive call from “somewhere” meant that I was in the right place at the right time to experience what I needed to see and feel in order to gather this evidence.

For me then, sites that are dedicated to Venus, and thus, by implication sites that are geormetrically constructed using the number five, or pentagonal design, are sites that I seem to have particularly powerful energetic and meaningful experiences at. This I have now learned, and will begin to make use of that when I plan my visits to sites next year. I will now be asking – what is the geometry of the site? When is the planetary influence for this site most active? Just another aspect to working with these ancient marvels of engineering and astronomy to add to the growing list!

Gwas.

The original Celtic New Year begins on the night of the Full Moon closest to October 31st and November 1st. This year that will be Monday 2nd November. It is the time when the Summer was overcome by the Winter – often played out as the Solar Hero being overcome by a Dark Knight (see Mummer Plays).

This time sees the beginning of the Dark Half of the Year – a festival honouring the dead, and importantly forming a link between the energies of those who have been before us, and those of us here now. Samhain is a gateway between the worlds of the Otherworld and the Middle Earth, and becomes passable by the denizens of either world – the “veil becomes thin” as some describe it. It is therefore an opportunity to commune or communicate with forces in a much stronger and clearer way that at other times.

There is lots of miscellaneous information about various customs relating to this time of year, old and new, to be found here.

Playing with Fire

Samhain is a Celtic fire festival, so inevitably one should look for a sacred site or grove that will enable you to have a fire without causing a disturbance, if you plan to celebrate it in style. Leave the fireworks for the sham that is “Guy Fawkes Night” though!

This being a fire festival means an opportunity to obtain the co-operation of a fire spirit if you do not already have such a relationship. This will promote change in your life and ways, so you need to know if this is what you want, or make adequate protection against inadvertant change being wrought through your life by a rampant fire spirit!

Samhain is a time of feasting on the profits of the year – whether that be literal feasting on food, or consuming the fruits of our labours and learnings over the profitable summer months. It is a time to gather in the rewards of your experiences, reflect upon them, and begin the process of working them into your life over the Winter months to come, ready for the next Spring.

Energetically we see the male earth energies, and those living energies produced by the trees, begin to retreat back into the earth, their influence waning. The celebration of the rising female energy influence is encapsulated in the celebration’s coincidence with the full moon.

You’re My Venus

Astrologically, Venus is appearing in the mornings. Jupiter and Mars are also in attendance over Samhain. Other major planets such as Mercury and Saturn have significantly disappeared from the northern hemisphere just before Samhain.

I’m looking forward to visiting a sacred site that is out of the way, and which is associated with Venus and the sacred number five. Last year none of that would have made any sense – this year I have learned that such specifics will mean that I am at a site that is energetically at its peak, and full of magical possibilities for me.

Enjoy your Samhain celebrations, whatever you do!

Gwas Myrddyn.

Hedge Druid.

I don’t know what possessed me to go the almost 75 miles to Anglesey straight after leaving work last night. It’s not something a sane person would contemplate, but I was on my motorcycle and felt an urgency to get there before the sun set. Sunset time was scheduled for :

Date: 16 Mar 2009 / Sunrise: 06:28 / Sunset: 18:22 / Length of day: 11h 54m 42s

I arrived at some time close to 6:30 pm and walked to the mound in the slowly-forming twilight. I spent about ten minutes inside the mound dowsing for places to sit, and what the strength of the energies were at that time of day (although I had no previous marker to base that on). I soon came to feel that I wasn’t in the right place and decided that I should leave my stuff inside whilst I went outside.

In the open air I felt colder but more relaxed. I dowsed for the best place to sit in order to meditate and was directed by the rods to the top of the mound. There I sat and began to switch off. For some reason I was facing West. For some reason I was staring at a bright star which seemed to be the only one in the sky – certainly the only one I was noticing.

As I stared at it I noticed something unusual : there appeared to be three points of light to this star, and they formed a shape. I stared more intently. Yes, definitely a shape. A white shape with crescent horns protruding from the upper left hand side, and the two smaller points of light forming a forked ‘tail’. It reminded of the white horse of Uffington in reverse, for some reason:

I blinked and blinked again. No, still there. I got my camera phone out and took a picture. Zoomed in I could see it through the lens, but after taking a picture the result showed nothing but flecks in a grainy dark sea. Still the image remained prominent in the sky. Was this a sign? I determined to memorise the shape and set about emblazoning it on my retina and into my memory. This was, I felt, why I was here. From the top of the mound I could feel undulations of energy pulsing upwards through me. This was special, I thought. I knew there was some connection I had with Venus at the moment, and so I dowsed whether this was Venus I was seeing. Yes. Then this was even more interesting. After ten minutes the cold really hit me and I decided to get along home like a sensible person. I left a gift of tobacco and my thanks, then rode home with freezing hands but high spirits.

Picturing Venus

When I got home I immediately knew I had to capture the image that was still so vivid in my memory, but also I had a desire to know more about this star. Which zodiac sign were we in at this point in the year? Pisces was giving way to Aries – we were on the cusp. I have no concept of the relevance of that, but it did seem to me that the image I saw had elements of a horns atop a fish-shape. Noteworthy, but nothing that made me have any greater understanding of a significance at this stage of my development. Here’s the shape I drew trying to capture the area of light that the star was spanning:

Why had I needed to ride out to Bryn Celli Ddu? What was the reason for needing to go there?At the time I had no clue. Now I understand why – it was so that I could use that shape later in the week when I was to visit a stone circle above Penmaenmawr at the Vernal Equinox, but that story will be posted soon enough.

Why was that star so visible from that place – because it’s so westerly? Venus was the last element of twilight this night. It felt magical dowsing my way to the top of the mound and I could feel energy being pulsed up through the top where I sat, perched over the western edge. All I could see was Venus. All I could look at was that bright star. And then I saw three points. Then a pair of horns bent upwards from the main bright point to form the symbol pictured above and below. It stayed in that formation and shape and intensity until I left. As I looked back it had returned to a single point and other stars were beginning to make themselves seen more clearly. I had been there at just the right time to see Venus at her most distinct, and she showed me something of herself. I asked if it was a symbol for me, a power glyph or something like that. I dowsed a strong yes when I asked whether I could use it for energy work. I nearly dropped the rods! Use it for what!!?

Venus: her names and symbols

Venus, the Morning and Evening Star, is forever associated with love and relationships. I was interested to find out how Venus had been named, represented and revered down the ages so I started a little research going. I drew the symbol I had seen many times, and in as many ways as I could muster. Here’s a close representation of what I saw. Venus is often seen as a diamond shape, or a crescent due to her relationship with the light, my symbol was not like that.

The Venus symbol seen in the Western twilight a week before the Vernal Equinox

So I began hunting around to see what other symbols Venus had been represented by – was my symbol something traditional, or something just for me to represent her by? I scoured the net for information. Venus was the planet that orbited the earth 8 times in the time it takes our planet to orbit the sun 5 times, I had heard:

“...if Venus orbits the sun 13 times while the earth does 8 times, then Venus must pass us 5 times during those 8 years.” (John Pratt’s Astronomy site)

Venus’ 5-time passing is also the reason why the pentagram is one of her symbols, as depicted below in a diagram from a masonic text. Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM) often depicts if five element system by a pentagram in a circle.

The pentagram has a great deal of sinister and occult history associated with it, as does the Morning Star and Evening Star references. Lucifer, the fallen angel, is often considered to be The Morning and Evening Star, however, that designation is also held by many other pivotal characters such as the Greek Hesperus (or Phosphorus), the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the goat-headed Baphomet beloved of the Masons, and also Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Venus has many names, and those are just her written historical names.

Venus and Astrology

Venus is the ruling planetary influence of the astrological signs of Taurus and Libra. From Wikipedia:

“Venus is the modern ruler of the 2nd and 7th houses, but traditionally ruled the 5th and 12th houses – the 5th house of play and the 12th house of self-undoing! Unsurprisingly, Venus is said to have ‘joy’ in the 5th.“

The astrological interpretation of her influence recently (i.e. going into retrograde motion) is that she brings the possibility of undoing your own comfort and pleasure within your relationships, and despite my wish to completely ignore this element of astrology I have to confess that under her influence in the past week I have alienated a friend and had a blazing row with my wife! Anyone who knows me well knows that this is not something I am particularly prone to, and it has certainly taken me by surprise! I am still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge this aspect of Venus, however, so let’s move on.

I have five stones in my Venus crystal layout. Coincidence, of course. I dowsed for clearer answers: the crystal layout is specifically for capturing the energies of Venus whilst she’s passing. When she moves away then I’ll need other crystals and other geometries for whichever other sympathetic energies are nearby. Don’t know what yet – some luminary. Could be any!

The Moon on that night was waning gibbous heading to the New Moon. Pretty much like in the picture of the Taurus symbol above.

Gwas.

Follow something you don’t believe in until you do.

Someone who is very energetic told me recently that they had seen a presence, a white light, glinting near me. This was not the first time it had been seen (several times in late February 2009), but after having witnessed it several times they decided to mention it to me. It was at what can only be described as one of the most incongruous moments that everything stopped, the light was pointed out, and I was left to think about what had just been said in a somewhat bemused state!

“I have a white light that appears behind me?” I queried. “Where behind me?” I was shown a spot about six feet behind my left shoulder and a few feet out – in my blind spot that occurs just beyond my peripheral vision. It was the kind of place that you see shadows from when you’re out at night, so I am familiar with that position (and you can read about that in my post called ‘Alone in the Dark – Part 2‘). I remarked that the distance at which this light was supposed to appear was about the extent of my nemeton field. I made very few further enquiries, vowing to pursue it further once I got home.

At home I dowsed it to find out what was going on. Here are the results of my first round of questioning:-

1. Was this person right about there being a presence behind me? – YES
2. Is this presence attached to me? – YES
3. Is this presence benificent? – YES
4. Is the presence a living entity? – YES. Not sure if that nailed down whether it was a dead spirit, so…
5. Was it once a living human? – NO
6. Has it always been with me throughout my life? – NO
7. Is it with me now? – YES
8. Can I learn to communicate with it? – YES
9. Would communicating together benefit us both? – YES

Now I was curious. The line of questioning was beginning to go beyond its existence, or its presence, and to move towards finding out how I get in touch with it. I wanted to know a little more before I started anything off.

1. Has this presence manifested as part of the work I am doing? – YES
2. Is it here to help me with my work? – YES
3. Is it a spirit similar to that described by many authors as a spirit guide? – NO
4. Does it have a name? – Maybe (the rods slowly twitched together without much force, indicating a so-so answer, or an ambiguous question that could have many answers).
5. Do I need to know this presence by name in order to work with it? – NO
6. Is it ready to communicate with me? – YES

Right then. I was ready to speak to it too. I decided to write this up while I remembered the answers, and then began my meditation….but I fell asleep every time I tried to connect to it! It seemed to want to communicate tio me in a sleep state, but I had too many questions that needed answering first! Energy levels too low to connect any other way, I reverted to dowsing.

So, Round 3.  Another twenty questions:

1. Is this presence still around me? – YES
2. Is it in the same position on my nemeton? – NO, now due West of me, on left hand side.
3. Is its placement relevant to communicating with it? – YES, now more difficult to do in its current position.
4. Is the source of this white light from a specific celestial body? – YES
5. Is it a planet – a star – a sun – a moon? – PLANET, and STAR. More recognised as a planet. Aha!
6. Is it from a star that is only visible for me at particular times of the year? – YES
7. Is the star Venus? – YES
8. Is the purpose of it being around me so I can learn? love? live? – LOVE and LIVE
9. Is there a sacred site in the UK that is dedicated to the form of this energy? – YES, lots of them. All of them? NO.
10. Can it assist me in removing geopathic stresses? – NO
11. Do I need to do something specific to invoke its powers? – YES
12. Can I command this presence by voicing an intention? – NO
13. Can I call upon this presence to help me? – NO
14. Is this presence commanded using crystals/thoughts alone/intention/will power/harmony/co-operation/questioning/reasoning/pleading/prayer? – CRYSTALS, INTENTION, QUESTIONING, PRAYER
15. Is it empowered by particular times of the year/month/day? – YES to all three. 8th-9th March 2009 is strongest, also between MIDNIGHT-SUNRISE, and influence is from FEBRUARY-APRIL.
16. Is this presence protective / healing / empowering / informative / other? -  HEALING, EMPOWERING, INFORMATIVE.
17. Does this presence have a human form? Can it take one? – NO, and NO.
18. Can the presence be connected to by my manifestations, or by a natural source? – BOTH
19. Is this presence linked to anyone I know who works with energy? – NO
20. Is the position of the presence related to Venus’s position in the sky? – YES

You may notice that I quickly formulated questions relating to celestial bodies, and included stars and planets? For the last month I have been driving home from work in the early evening, looking at the shapes of the trees as they silhouetted against the deep blue evening sky. It’s only the last few weeks that I’ve noticed that all the way home, right in front of me in the sky, repeatedly drawing my attention, has been a bright star. I wonder which one that is?

Off I go to the internet to find out about Venus – who she is, where she is, when she’s in conjunction, or at her zenith….

MARCH 8th 2009: VENUS goes retrograde

From the pompously titled but nevertheless informative “The Psychic One” web site:

“The Venus Retrograde (March 6, 2009-April 16, 2009)

This retrograde deserves a page on it’s own because of the powerful effects this one planet can create. I know one of your main concerns when calling me is about love, romance, friendships, and money. Well this planet effects all these subjects. When we think of a Mercury retrograde we think , schedules, transportation, computers and how we think. When Venus retrogrades it can stir up more drama then what Mercury and all the other planets combined when they go retrograde.”

Question 21. Is this presence’s power at its peak when Venus goes retrograde in motion? – YES.

Venus as seen from Berlin Feb – Mar 09

MARCH 8th 2009:  SATURN is in opposition (opposite side of Sun)

From NASA JPL site:

“March 2009:
Saturn is at opposition on March 8th. It rises at sunset, transits at midnight (at its highest elevation, best time for telescopic views) and sets at sunrise. Saturn’s ring tilt opens to 2.3 degrees this month, and the planet is closest to Earth and therefore brighter.”

If there’s two things I hate it’s beetroot, coleslaw and astrology. OK, that’s three, but if you only count foodstuffs as one category I can get away with it. Seriously, I don’t do astrology, or even astronomy at that. I have one book about constellations, and it’s a small reference book for idiots like me who don’t understand these things, or refuse to look into them deeply enough. So – Venus goes retrograde on March 8th, and Saturn is in opposition. ??? Apparently, it’s a time for relationship strife, for not buying a new wardrobe or house, and Saturn is swinging by for a closer look at us. ???

Here’s another prediction from Alan Oken (cheque book open):

“March 8: Mars conjunct Neptune at 24.50 Aquarius.
This is not one of my favorite aspects as it brings out the influence of the Sixth Ray very strongly. This augments astral currents and is very much an influence of the urge to martyrdom, i.e. suicide bombings and other acts of violence in the name of religion and devotion to idealistic doctrines. If this aspect is in close contact with your natal chart, take care that you do not give up your sense of personal power for the sake of yielding to someone else’s needs or demands. Addictions flourish under this contact.

March 8: Mercury also enters Pisces on this day, further diminishing rational communications. In addition, the Sun opposes Saturn at 18.23 Virgo/Pisces, an aspect that opposes authority and challenges social order.”

Believe me when I say I’m not about to get sucked into this particular black hole that is astrology/astronomy. Yes, it would appear there is some celestial significance to sacred sites, and to times of particular energy fluctuations brought about directly by the conjunctions of astral bodies. However, it’s a long and winding path to understand the heavens, and I’m not sure I need to just yet. I’m going to sit back and watch what happens around those dates, maybe dowse a bit, and report back. It seems as though there’s something specific I need to be doing. Now I need to find out what that is before March 8th.

Gwas.

Following the Evening Star