The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘aura’

It’s not often that we encounter like-minded folk on our travels – even at stone circles. When we do it is always a pleasure and rarely a chore. On Saturday 20th November Kal and I headed out to Derbyshire again. Kal had come back for a weekend of fun and frolics, so I put a stop to all that by insisting that he accompany me to some special places for old times’ sake, and because it was a full moon. We chose Nine Stones Close, Doll Tor, Bakewell Church and finally Five Wells chambered cairn. This post will discuss the serendipitous outcome of the Nine Stones Close visit.

I apologise now for my lack of detail. I tend not to store facts and figures these days – I don’t see that they have much use – and so I won’t be able to tell you the names of those involved, nor the details of their social interactions, nor many other details that one might consider to be the normal amount of information gathered from a long discussion. Didn’t get any of that. What I did retain was the interesting stuff, and that’s what I’ll report in this post.

For this trip I had taken everything including the kitchen sink. I knew that I would need incense (and I had stacks of it) and for some reason I felt I needed to bring crystals. So I brought around three different collections which all have different purposes. I also dug out a set which Kal had mistakenly left with me and I was determined to give them back to him, which I did. This set was a chakra balancing set of stones with a varied assortment of useful crystals. When we met I explained the mistake and Kal accepted them crystals back again.

A Casual Query

As we walked up me were hailed by a man in a wide-brimmed Australian bush hat with a south midlands accent. He asked if we were local, to which we replied we weren’t, but nevertheless I asked him to ask his question – we might be able to help. He said that he thought there was a hermit’s cave roundabouts and would we know where it was? We did indeed know, having been up there recently having found the cave eventually. Despite visiting many times we had only found it after being a bit curious and wandering way out of our way – thankfully it was a kinder month than November and we were rewarded by finding the cave and some significant other places that were power centres for us to work in should we ever need them. So we directed the man and his two young lady companions (nice work if you can get it, eh?).

We headed on up to the stone circle…

Kal dowses his favourite circle

We did some preliminary dowsing and discover that today is a good day to do some work. As usual I spent a lot of my time in my particular 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 ‘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., and found that I could do some meditation to find out more about which direction I should take my research into spirits and death energies. Kal indicated that he would be working with his favourite tree but instead of it being him healing the tree, this time the tree would be involved in healing him! Most mysterious, and I hope he posts as to what that was about.

I lit some incense and began to prepare to do some meditation, but the group of three arrived interrupting this wok before it got started. We got talking – the girls attracted to the nimble toned physique of Kal (he wishes), whilst the middle-aged gentleman was lumbered with me. I soon identified from his terminology that he was a pagan of some variety and so I mentioned druidry and he responded positively. This was followed by a lengthy account of the Scottish sites we had both visited – he telling me about the wonders of the Orkney Isles, and me responding with my limited repertoire. He recommends that I visit during the Midwinter Solstice. A lovely idea, but it’s a long journey, even from the North of England. One day.

Meanwhile Kal was offering the girls some of his newly re-acquired crystals. Moments later one of the ladies (did I say girls? I was being a gentleman) came over asking her male friend to identify the crystal. He almost said “Lapis lazuli” and I helped him to recall its name, but Kal interjected – “It’s a blue sodalite.” The lady almost fell backwards exclaiming, “That was the crystal that Chinese healer told me I needed to heal my throat.”

For Kal this was a meaningful coincidence – getting the crystals this day, then the lady picking the perfect one out. It was certainly fortuitous.

Our unexpected guests

Kal did some energy healing work with the nearby tree (this time it healed him) and I finished my meditation at my usual stone in the circle. Then I picked up my staff, which I had propped up in one of the stone’s long grooves) and I went to stand in the “unusual” stone’s aura. Which is the unusual stone? Well, it’s the one that we initially picked up bad vibes from, and which seems to have a strong connection to Robin Hood’s Stride – the nearby sandstone ridge. This particular stone is also a funny shape, being wider at the top than at the base. Standing there I got a mental picture of bright aquamarine or topaz – a sort of phosphorescent bright green with just a hint of blue. I tried to meditate again, this time asking whether there was anything else I should be working on – the answer was “Merlin”.

As I stood by the unusual stone I was quivering with energy and asked Kal to dowse me. He found that the energy I was receiving was a new form of energy! We haven’t yet found out what that is or what it might be for. I went back to my power centre and sealed the energy in like a battery storing it for later use.

Charging my staff

Now we headed off to nearby Doll Tor. Luckily now we are familiar with how to get to and park at these places. Kal was wittering on about how marvellous he felt and singing a single note of awe at regular intervals. I advise him he should stop before he got a staff rammed down his throat! What the hedge druid gives with one hand, he takes with the other. Balance, see?

Gwas.

THE LOOPY BOX

On this spiritual path that I follow I get to meet some unusual people, and to do some very peculiar things. As part of the development of my druidic powers I leave very few stones unturned, and many of the things that I had previously closed off (in my figurative Loopy Box) have been unpacked again and re-examined. Kal and I have introduced this term “Loopy Box” to define all the things we believe are beyond our current ability to accept. The phrase I most often hear myself say is,. “Well, I never thought I’d say that I agreed with that!” Let me introduce you to another item from my Loopy Box – the psychic.

My friend Michael has many talents in addition to be a likable and jolly chap. He’s a good cook, a competent dowser and valued healer, and also has the ability to read auras and receive information from The Otherworld. So, it was my absolute pleasure to spend time with Michael and a lady called Maddy, who we had both initially met at one of the dowsing courses at Gawsworth Hall in Cheshire earlier in the year. Since then Michael and Maddy had been meeting regularly. Now they included my wife and I in the conversations too, and I want to report some of the highlights of this particular afternoon’s conversations and experiences.

Illuminating stuff

AURA READING

During our conversations Michael revealed to me that my aura was an unusual colour – turquoise. He also remarked that my wife’s aura was light green. Finding this information out I went away to find out what it meant to have a turquoise aura and discovered this information:

“In the Aura turquoise has not been   common, it  may be seen around  Poets and Mystics,  indicates a person with a seeking mind who is interested in almost everything, some may specialize in research of some kind, usually altruistic ,  to benefit humanity as a whole  analytical, insightful, good  counselors.” (source: Pjentoft.com)

It is also associated with the star sign Aquarius. This is a very apt description of me. I am an Aquarian by birth, and studied poetry at University. Now I might call myself mystically-inclined, and am very much a generalist. Recently I have begun to specialise in altruistic areas such as energy healing and earth healing.

I found this cool guidance for learning how to see auras, and I’m going to try it out:-

“Seeing the Aura

This exercise is designed to see Aura for the first time and/or practice seeing Auras. Choosing good conditions is important: not only you see the Aura better, but also to gain a confidence about what you see.

1. Situate the person in front of a very softly illuminated PLAIN WHITE background. A color background will change Aura colors, so you need additional knowledge about combining colors. Some combinations of background and Aura colors may cause misinterpretation problems.
2. Choose ONE SPOT to look at. The middle of the forehead is VERY GOOD. This is a location of so called Brow Chakra or the Third Eye. In some cultures (India) they put a mark on a forehead. Such a mark in ancient times could mean the invitation to look and see the Aura.
3. Look at this spot for 30 to 60 seconds or longer
4. After 30 seconds analyze surroundings with your peripheral vision, while still looking at the same spot. Continuing the concentration is most important. Resist temptation to look around. You should see that the background nearby the person is brighter and has a DIFFERENT color than the background further away. This is your own perception of the Aura. The longer you concentrate, the better you will see it. Remember, concentration on one spot increases your sensitivity by accumulating the effect of the Aura vibration reaching your eyes.”

(source: Thiaoouba Prophesy)

2012 and all that

We had a brief discussion about some concepts of the year 2012. Maddy and Michael were confident that the year would bring about a certain change in human consciousness. This is an idea that I have heard expressed many times in many forms before. I made my comment that I felt that the impending galactic 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. was probably more of an opportunity for aware people to make use of the energy available than an imposed global transformation, and I also introduced the guys to the work of Carl Johan Calleman and his theories on the nine-step evolution of consciousness.

If we all shout 'Snap!' we become enlightened

A month later I would read about the huge helix of unknown energy that had been detected at the centre of the galaxy – I wonder what that heralds? Here’s a link that that article - link.

I would refer you also to a Red Ice Radio interview with Barbara Hand Clow about similar subjects: BHC Interview. In that interview Barbara discusses her thoughts on the current position of human culture in relation to what she sees are the energetic changes taking place in the galaxy around us, and as they affect us on the approach to The Galactic Alignment.

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This is the last, final and ultimate post on this year’s Ireland trip. We only went for a weekend but it has generated so many posts because so much happened in the three days we were there! This is the last one, and probably the one that taught us the most valuable lesson, even though that lesson was once again a painful one. 

On the Sunday evening we had discussed what we should do the next day. Kal wanted to show me a bookshop he had discovered at Tara and said that I would be interested in talking to the proprietor. Sounded good, so that was our plan. Monday morning over breakfast I had forgotten all about that for some reason. Only later would the reason be known to me - by that time I had attracted the unwelcome attention of a leprechaun from Tara. I was no longer making sensible decisions, as the events of this day and Kal’s behaviour towards me would bear out completely. 

 

 
 We had trouble finding the village for starters. A seemingly easy route that would take us most of the way towards the Ferry Terminal at Dun Laoghaire, and yet we managed to make it very difficult to find. We parked miles away from the supposed location of the portal tomb, and decided to walk what seemed a simple route to access it. Again, nothing about this day would turn out to be easy. We walked up tiny tracks (barely roads) past houses that weren’t marked on my GPS map, and were always being diverted and lead away from our intended destination! How frustrating! We persevered, climbing over a gate to follow an overgrown track alongside a field lined by prickly hawthorn hedges. Now we could at least see the dolmen, perched on the opposite hillside to where we were, only a few tantalising fields widths away from where we were. Surely this track would lead us there? No. It ended, and we were presented with a small hole in the hawthorn through which we might be able to squeeze if we wanted to. Does this sound familiar? Kal sounded a warning shot across the bows! I urged us closer and we scrambled through into a field in the full heat of the midday sun. Sweat broke out, and we paused for breath. Then onwards in a curious silence across the field. 

Next we fought our way through two fields, crossing a stream on the way between them. Somehow Kalmanaged to fall into it and get his feet wet! At the end of the field we were a mere hedge’s width away from reaching a road that looked like it could only lead to the dolmen. However – it was a hedge that even a Hedge Druid balks at – Red Rum would have thought twice about leaping this one! However, something was driving me on without any thought of sense and I urged Kal to use the old martial artist’s trick ‘walking lightly’ – this is where one imagines one is light as a feather and walks accordingly. Honestly, once mastered you’d be astounded by what this can achieve. As with dowsing, the trick is not to think at all about what you’re doing - just believe that you can do it. Next thing you know I was walking on top of the hedge and leaping down to the side of the road. Kal went next and immediately plunged knee deep into the prickly hawthorn branches! Honestly, I almost stifled my laugh, but not completely. Kalwas beginning to get annoyed at this journey now. Like I wasn’t?!! We were both sweating cobs, and Kal was wet and lacerated into the bargain. Hmm….still we were almost there now….only a few hundred feet to go. 

The Kilternan Dolmen 

Sure enough, a few short minutes later we were alongside the open field where the dolmen say resplendent in the summer sunshine. I was drawn towards it, passing under the electric wire that was designed to keep the one or two small horses that grazed the field in check. Kal faltered. He wouldn’t pass the electric barrier and retreated giving me stern looks. I was away, however, taking his reticence for a bad mood after the hedge-scraping incident. I shouted back at him -’I'll do some quick dowsing and then we can get off’. But it wasn’t going to be as simple as that. 

Kal retired to a boulder next to the road and began to take an interest in the horses that were wandering down towards him. I, on the other hand, had my dowsing rods out and was eager to check this hard-won site out:- 

1. Was there energy here? YES. Good, because I was concerned about the use of concrete pillars to support the capstone and whether this had affected the energies.
2. Had the power of the site been adversely affected by the concrete pillars? YES. But some energy remained? YES.
3. Was it beneficial energy? YES, sort of. That half yes response again which meant – “re-formulate your question slightly“.
4. Was it beneficial to me? YES. Was it beneficial to Kal? NO. Oh! Perhaps he had intuitively recognised that?
5. Could I do some energy work here? YES.
6. Did the site need healing? NO. Was it balanced? YES. Hmmm…then what to do….?
7. Was there a spirit of place here? NO. Did there used to be one? YES.
8. Is the cave-like interior suitable for shaping my aura? YES. Could I do that today? YES.
9. Would that process be helped by incense? YES. How many sticks? 3. I lit three sticks and went to sit inside the dolmen’s small interior.

Minutes later I was imagining the seven colours of the chakras I had been working with all integrating into my aura as one white light. The shape of the interior seemed to facilitate this intuitive imagining, and I felt like it helped to compress the various frequencies of light and colour into the one blended layer. I felt…integrated with myself and satisfied. I emerged to re-join Kal to see if he was over his strange mood. 

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When I get a call to go to Moel-Ty-Uchaf then I know that I have to go. Sooner or later I have to go. It starts, as Kal has explained in other posts and so have I, as a coincidence, then becomes a niggle, then a constant presence, and finally a nag. For me, I woke up with the words ‘Llandrillo’ going around my head constantly like a stuck record. There’s only so much of this you can take before you do something to appease a plea like that. Let’s face it – it’s always a plea that brings some kind of reward, even if the damned effort of getting to Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle should be accompanied by a medal ceremony and full brass band.

As I walked up in the darkness of the night I remembered my last visit – the stars, the Milky Way, the spectacle of the incredibly clear but moonless night…Tonight was the polar opposite – the moon was hidden somewhere behind the veil of clouds and I could feel its presence. There was nary a star to be seen except three bright stars that almost formed a line. Initially I thought they might be Orion’s Belt, but later I realised that they weren’t. It was difficult to orient myself astrally that evening.

As I walked higher up the steep slope I was somewhat surprised to come across the remnants of the previous week’s snowfall. Somehow I hadn’t been expecting to see any, and its appearance reminded me that I was going to be high in the hills of Wales tonight, and that it might get cold. I added gloves and a scarf at this stage, before pressing onwards and upwards towards the circle. Despite the backlit darkness I knew my way by now and picked my path carefully. Clearly, tripping and spraining an ankle alone in the darkness with no phone coverage was not an option. I trusted my welfare to Nature’s guiding hands.

Some questions answered

I reached the top of the hill and spent a few moments recovering my breath. This stone circle always makes you work hard for your rewards, and I was paying in sweat again – a sweat that was congealing quickly in the penetrating cold night air. Hanging about dithering wouldn’t help me tonight, so I quickly took the reins and set about my work. What was my work tonight? I reminded myself that it was to activate the energies of this circle. I confirmed this with some quick dowsing:

• Was that a suitable thing to be doing this evening – Yes.
• Was I ready and able to do it? Yes.
• Did I have permission to do so? Yes.
• Was that the purpose of why I was here? Yes.

Always worth checking, or I would have been forced to simply sit there and meditate to find another reason for my journey. Of course, I am always fully prepared to do that – but that was last year’s direction – to sit and wait to discover the purpose of such visits. This year I had been forced into a situation where I had to know my purpose before I visited, and it seemed to be working out just great. I was getting good confirmation that this was the correct course of action. Not only were the dowsing rods confirming this for me, but everything that happened was seemingly occurring in just the right way – things were being done easily, and there were confirmatory signs accompanying the work. This is good ‘intel’ that the right methods are being employed, and I am ‘on the path’. The right path.

A slight philosophical diversion at this point. It seems to me that we spend much of our lives wondering why the forces of Nature are against us and why ‘Fate’ is working against our plans. We wonder why we cannot achieve the things we believe we want – why unseen forces work against us, unpicking our plans, making us look and feel stupid and clumsy in our efforts to make progress. We (sometimes literally) stumble around, tripping ourselves up, then looking for the culprit who tripped us. I have found that once one acknowledges one’s place in the flow of the way of being, the flow of the forces of Nature, and takes on the rightful role of making one’s life flow in that same direction, then the walk becomes easy. 

To work in harmony with that flow and acknowledge our own humble place in that all-encompassing scheme of the flow of time and destiny that IS Nature’s movement in the Universe is a right and fitting goal to life. Things click into place. Help is at hand. The struggling is eased. The work is still hard, don’t get me wrong. Harder than ‘normal’ life even. But the rewards are endless, proportionate, useful, purposeful and beneficent. If your life is a struggle for fruitless progress, then perhaps it may do you some good to take yourself out of that flow that you are currently in, take time for yourself to examine your place, and commune with Nature to ask her to show you how you might make some changes to re-align yourself with a truer purpose – your true purpose in this life.

Amazing things can occur on a daily basis. This is what I have found, and since I have, my only goal is to keep making those right and true choices, because life is so much more fulfilling ‘in the flow’ and ‘on the path’.

I stood at the King Stone of the circle, an outlier some forty feet from the main circle. I could see the stone circle of Moel-Ty-Uchaf outlined perfectly, like a set of ragged teeth against the deep blue misty backdrop of the night sky. I decided to do some dowsing first. Where was the aura of the circle tonight – this might indicate the strength of the energy that I would be working with? It was close to the King Stone, some thirty feet from the circle – twice as wide as my last visit, or any other time I had tested that. Was this strength related to the position of the Sun? No. To the Moon? Yes. To the position of Venus? No.

I continued asking about Venus, since I had discovered that this circle was aligned to and energised by Venus when I had read that the circle’s design was based upon the number five, and that it was once dedicated to the goddess Venus. Was this circle influenced by Venus? Yes. Was it designed based on the number five? Yes. Was Venus influencing the energetic state of the circle tonight? No. Was this aura’s size a product of the Moon’s energy alone? Yes.

Well, that was as much as I needed to know at that stage. Something was tugging at my attention trying to make the dowsing stop – a sudden sharp gust of icy wind caught my attention and broke my dowsing concentration (or rather, ‘un-concentration’, a totally different type of focus is required to dowse). Some form of bird made a loud call in the still chill air, and a sheep joined in the noise too. I was aware that I was being ‘told’ to get on with my purpose, so I put the rods away and went back to pick up my staff from the King Stone. Time to go to work.

Flowing and knowing

I stood with my staff and relaxed, attuning myself in a similar way than I would if I were dowsing, but to a much deeper extent. This was more meditation mind than just ‘zoning out’ and not letting rational thoughts bubble up. This meditation involved projecting myself outwards, upwards, downwards and inwards in cycles of shifting attention, moving my energy around and through the earth, the site and the celestial objects around me. Soon I was introducing myself again, stating my name and purpose – preparing myself and the site for the energetic interchange I hoped would take place, although the exact workings of how that would be done are never planned – I just let them occur as they will. They have their own paths, just as I have mine. I am simply working to a directive, but I never insist upon the direction. I am an actor in this play, not its director.

I entered stage right, through the gap in the site’s aura and the gap in the stones of the circle. This I felt for, rather than dowsed. By now I was working with my senses and intuition, feeling the gentle subtle edges and flow of the site’s energy fields, and how they flowed and interacted, ebbed and spun. I have good druid teachers to thank for realising this: every sense should be used to take in and respond to Nature’s information: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. But especially the sixth sense of intuition – that unified sense of knowing.

However, saying that, I still have moments where I need ‘real’ confirmation. I do not yet totally give myself over to intuition, I don’t totally trust it yet. It’s a weakness I feel, and I’m working on it. I needed some guidance about how to proceed: where was the best place to stand? I followed one dowsing rods in a circle as it led me to a place that I recognised – this was the same 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 ‘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. that I had identified on previous visits. Damn. I should have known that. Right, could I use incense to help me create the right ambiance to awaken the energies? Yes. Was incense a necessary component? No. Would incense help me to do the work? Yes. How many sticks would I need? Six. Hmmm…not five, I noticed. I dowsed for the places to position them, and was led around the inside of the stone circle from my power centre inwards in a male clockwise spiral. As I neared the centre of the circle the incense sticks got closer together until the last one was directly in the middle. I lit them all in the order I had placed them (with my windproof lighter, although there wasn’t a breath of wind to speak of).

I began one final question with the rods, but by this time I already “felt” the answer. Which direction should I face, I asked. The rods moved around until the faced down the valley to the north-east. I already knew this, for some reason. I put the rods away for the final time tonight. They were of no use now. I was attuned and things were becoming known. I could feel a strong connection with the circle and revelled in the sweet smell of the incense as I sat on my female power centre, offset from the middle of the circle. I realised I was facing the powerful female flat stone in the northern side of the stone circle and my attention was drawn to it no matter where I looked. Clearly, this was my starting point.

Awakening the energies

I traced a path of energy coming out of the female stone, and spiralling clockwise around the inside of the circle, following the line of incense sticks glowing in the darkness. Their inwards spiral drew the energy down into a sink-hole in the centre, down into the earth. My eyes moved to the outlying King Stone. Here I felt the energies re-emerge, to re-join the outside of the stone circle, again clockwise, and travel around and into the ‘entrance’ gap in the stones. The trail of energy then went through me, and joined to inward spiral again to form a complete circuit. Around and around I traced this path, over and over, each time it became more definite, more self-propelled, needing my input less and less. This energy path was being defined for itself. These energies were now awake, I felt, working for themselves.

As I detached slightly from the process, simply sitting in their flow now, a thought struck me. These energies had emerged from the female stone. Why were they then flowing clockwise? Shouldn’t they be flowing anti-clockwise, I wondered? I decided to see what would happen if I tried to get an anti-clockwise flow going. I concentrated again on the female stone and drew out more energy, trying to trace a counter flow to the existing circuit. My eyes traced only a few feet when it all felt wrong – and the energy got swept up into the clockwise flow again. How odd! Clearly, this was not the right thing to be doing! I got the dowsing rods out again. I walked from the outside of the circle dowsing the ‘flavour’ of the energy – it was male as it came out of the King Stone and flowed around the circle, then as it crossed the entrance it changed to female energy inside the circle, disappearing into the centre. How odd! Something similar to this had been found at Bryn Celli Ddu one time, when the flow went male-female-male-female all around that ancient mound, much to our puzzlement. Something similar was at work here – male then female as it flowed around, then inside the circle.

I felt I needed to do one last thing. I walked around the outside of the circle, pushing the energy along as I went. With each circumperambulation of the stones I felt the flow’s speed increase, and with it the strength of the cold night air increase from a whisper to a roar! Yes, the wind was increasing in proportion to my walking! This was truly astonishing. On my third time around the energy had a flow all of its own and I stepped out of the 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. flow knowing that I could do no more. I listened to the increasing sound of the wind blowing across my ears, and watched it begin to bend the grass and blow my coat with more and more strength. Amazing! Literally a minute before there had been utter stillness and silence.

The circle has been woken – the energies were alive! As I stopped walking something caught my attention. I could clearly see every blade of grass – why? I looked up and saw that The Moon, close to full, was shining through a tiny gap in the blanket of clouds illuminating the site. I couldn’t help a huge smile and sigh at that point. Job well done!

 In this time between Imbolc and the Spring Equinox I had now awoken several sites – stone circles, mounds, trees, all sorts. This felt like the most right thing to be doing at this time. What I still didn’t know was – how many more would I have to do before I moved into the next phase of the year, and what would the purpose of the next phase be? All in good time. The Spring was rapidly approaching, even if the snow still lay on the higher ground.

Gwas.

If you remember, I had got to the end of a good day’s dowsing with Kal and was parked ready to walk to another site when I realised that I had forgotten my staff. I slightly panicked, but quickly quelled it. Oh la merde. Where had I left it? A quick flick through recent stopping points…at the caves above Dyserth Waterfall. I had put it into one of the adjoining cave mouths and I remembered thinking, “Don’t leave that here or someone will take it for definite.” I wouldn’t do that. I wanted fizzy pop and ginger beer, and the sun was shining. What could possibly go wrong? It doesn’t matter how many horror films you watch, the human mind has an incredible happiness-overrides-sense-of-impending-doom capability.

We could go back for it after we had finished looking for the Golden Grove. Right. What to do in the meantime so that I didn’t have it dominate my thoughts and block any dowsing potential? I would try to connect to the staff and protect it somehow. I had no idea how, but I went with whatever would come to mind. I relaxed and prepared my mind for a moment to have a think. As my brain waves altered I unfocused my eyes and imagined the staff. I could picture it clearly where I had left it. It was like looking at a cartoon of it, a photo-realistic cartoon, like the imagery in the film “A Scanner Darkly“, if you’ve seen that. I saw it bathed in a light blue glow from top to bottom, a Ready-Brek glow. The fact that I could see it so clearly, and that it was ‘alive’ with energy made me feel confident about the next bit.

Staff Leaving Place

I focused my attention on the staff, saying to it that if anyone picked it up they would find that it made their head spin, and that this feeling would make them feel a bit sick, like taking a corner too fast in a car. They wouldn’t be able to hold their attention and would feel compelled to drop the stick to stop the feeling. I could feel that feeling, and although it was a bit nauseating it wasn’t too unpleasant – just unpleasant enough. It felt alright to do this, if slightly awkward about the need to do it. I hoped no-one had found it since we had left a half-hour ago.

An hour later Kal dropped me off in a narrow steep and muddy lane as I attempted to find a quick route back to the top of the waterfall. I found a path across the fields on the top of the waterfall and made my way down its steep clay slope until I found the caves again from above. I rushed straight to the lunchtime spot …. no staff. It had gone. What now? I stopped to calm down. “It was just a stick. You can go get another one.” I wasn’t prepared to let it go that easily. I walked around by the river to the other cave entrance for a look. Around the corner, there it was, lying with other much smaller sticks, looking intact. I stopped before it and laughed.

Staff Finding Place

I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything. After all, this is all nonsense and coincidence. You make of it what you will at the time. I picked up my staff and almost pole-vaulted myself back to Kal’s car in a proud and happy moment that rescued the day for me. Something had returned my staff to me. Our adventure continues.

Theory: Over the next few days I considered how this kind of thing came about. What I resolved was that an opportunity arose in the form of an event in time that revealed a potential for me to effect change. Once I had decided, or believed, that I could generate a protective thought-form around the staff, once I had that intention that grew out of concern, then the visualisation of that event emerged in my mind. Powered by a measured flow of loving vibes this protection seems to have been enacted upon the staff such that it did indeed have a shield around it, and this may have caused the person who took it to drop it rather shortly afterwards, leaving the staff in plain sight next to the river. Whether that did indeed happen is sort of irrelevant, because the outcome was the desired effect.

Apparently our brains are programmed to quickly establish cause and effect relationships, although whether they were always so is another matter. This is not the first time I have noticed that acts of 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. work most effectively providing the conditions are right. Such conditions as I have uncovered I will list:-

• Intention must be honest, if only to yourself
• The desired effect cannot be commanded, it must be negotiated, or asked for respectfully
• To contrive a circumstance in order to display an effect will guarantee failure, if not abject humiliation
• Your abilities are limited by your desire to learn, and the depth to which you can form a trusting relationship with Nature
• A degree of humility is required to execute natural magick, and smugness at a positive outcome will garner no respect.
• Conviction and sincerity make the relationship stronger, and the outcome more defined. Leave your intention fuzzy and a fuzzy event will occur which only partially fulfills the intended result.
• Results come when they should be delivered, not when you want them to be. Again, tied to the concept that the forces of Natural Magick will not be ordered around. They may co-operate under the right circumstances, but take offense at being expected to deliver.

These are part of The Rules as I have uncovered them so far. I’m sure there are many more, like in any complex system. Yet so far the outcomes I have seen and experienced from using these principles has more than enhanced my life – they have changed my worldview, and made me much more interested in the wonders of our world. Perhaps they may do the same for you.

Update: I went walking this week along the Sandstone Trail. A robin greeted me from a position two feet away as I began the walk and I stopped to listen attentively, although I didn’t understand what he wanted to communicate. Nevertheless I made it known that I was delighted by the encounter, and walked on after he flew off. An hour or so later ,as the circular walk wound back around Bickerton Hill, I turned a corner to find three pieces of a fallen beech tree branch. One piece was a useful 5′ tall, straight and in good condition. I took hold of it and it felt sturdy and supportive. As I walked it moved easily and swung truly. It would appear that I have found a spare staff! Even in Winter, Nature provides.

Gwas

Retracing my footsteps

Monday 2nd February – Dyserth, North Wales.

In this final part of my account of a visit to the sites around Dyserth village near Rhuddlan I describe what happened when I returned early the next morning after having dowsed various sites the day before. I was keen to find out whether there was any difference in the strength and character of the energies that we had found the day before. This is part of my plan to test each of the four solar and lunar festivals to discover what effect they have upon the energies.

Monday morning I was up and out for 7am. I needed to be at Dyserth for sunrise because my intention was to see how I felt when I tuned into the energy patterns at a known site. That site was going to be St.Bridget’s Church again. The previous night’s snowfall meant I didn’t get to the village until 7:50am – just when the sun should be appearing over the hills at the back of the church. I wondered of there would be a shaft of light slithering to cross the large stained-glass window?

St.Bridget’s Church

It was unsurprising that I was the first pair of footprints in the snow that layered the churchyard. It was an entirely different scene from the previous day. Today it looked like a proper Winter scene, and I hoped I was going to be able to do something useful in the still-freezing air as I took out the copper rods and drank in the atmosphere as I stood next to the tall and wide window at the back of the church building. There was no shaft of light, no St.George’s lance. No St.Michael’s flaming sword to pierce the gloom of dawn. Instead the greyness shifted rapidly through lightening tones until the dawn had almost slipped past unnoticed. A light grey day emerged, threatening snow. But had anything happened to the Male Sun energies? I prepared to test the wide stream of energy coming into the window.

I needed a way of measuring the relative strengths of that band of Male Sun energy, and quickly determined a way of doing it. I stated that the strength of the energy going into the church window the previous day was rated a ’5′ on a scale of ’1′ to ’10′ – one being the weakest the energy could be, and ten being its strongest. I then asked what strength the energies were today and the rods reacted to a rating of ’7′ (half reaction) and ’8′ (stronger reaction). Somewhere in between seven and eight, then. Therefore the energy strength had increased this Imbolc Monday morning since I last dowsed there, only the previous day.

With that established I switched to the yew tree whose nemeton I had traced the day before. I found that the yew tree’s nemeton was consistent with the canopy again, but if I asked to trace just “energy” around the tree I traced a square shaped cross (like a fat plus sign) around the tree that went towards and around particular graves situated next to the tree, but seemed to avoid others. Hence the plus-shape.

Skull and crossbones - a significant grave

So, this seemed to indicate that something’s aura or nemeton is a distinctly different energy formation and extent than that of it’s energy generally. I confirmed that what I had dowsed as just “energy” was in fact its rainbow colour patterns, and I got a positive agreement from the rods. Exactly what Kal and I had found recently at Delamere Forest. Two are at least two distinct ranges of energy fields – the nemeton and the aura of rainbow colours.

Here I was finding that I need to be careful when bandying around terms. An aura consists of rainbow colours that can be affected through the manipulation of coloured energy bands of differing frequencies. A nemeton is a different energy field. How are they different, though? They seem to overlap, so was there anything they had in common? I dowsed for the answer:-

• Are the two energy fields inter-related? – Yes.
• Can a person be healed by changing their rainbow colour field? – Yes.
• Is this healing via the rainbow colour field done by stimulating the chakra points? – Yes.
• Can a person be healed by changing their nemeton? – Yes.
• Is this healing via the nemeton field done by stimulating the chakra points? – No.
• Are a person’s nemeton and their rainbow energies the same energy frequencies? – No.

So, these two fields overlap, but they resonate at different frequencies. The rainbow colour field can be healed via the chakra points, but the nemeton is not healed in that way. I asked some more about the nemeton:-

• Is the nemeton a measure of a living thing’s extent of inter-connectedness? Yes.
• Was it also a measure of that living thing’s energetic influence? Yes.

I had enough to think about. I wanted to get back to some real-world measuring again. I dowsed the Male Sun energy across the window and found that the energy still came into the window at the same width as they day before. Time to move on to the next site now that it was daylight. The Imbolc sunrise had arrived by the back door and slipped in almost unnoticed. Confound our cloudy skies!

Return to Castle Dyserth

The first thing I wanted to test here was the “little castle”, the almost circular small ring cairn in the field before the site of the old castle. This had been a spot that I couldn’t stand on the previous day. Today I found that I could stand on that spot without any adverse effects! I questioned the rods – was I able to do this because it was Imbolc today? Yes. And did that change the nature of the energies through this cairn? Yes. Good stuff!

Next I wanted to dowse the two circles that Kal and I had built on the castle site: Kal’s was created from Male Sun energy, whilst the one I had built had attracted Female Moon energy. It turned out that things has got much more complex than had been in evidence the previous day. Here’s what I found:

• Confirmed female energy emitting from the crack high up, and that male energy was coming out of the massive rockfall stone at the bottom of that slope.
• A female attractor was identified between the rocks, just like Sunday. I found that the mound of stones was acting as a male attractor.
• The trail of Male Sun energy went from the large stone to a small pile of stones nearby (outside the circle). Then to another pile of stones at the back of the circles, on to the large man-made mound of stones, back to a small pile of stones and spiralling into a 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 ‘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.. A little male energy circuit! One line then came out of this system to join to Kal’s Male Sun circle.
• Likewise for female energy – it went from the crack high up then went to the Female Moon circle, went around the perimeter three times, and then back through the gap between the fallen large stones.

There were many more spirals and interconnections between the two new circles that there were the day before – the whole patterning of paths of energy had linked to the existing source and had developed into a complex circuit of Male Sun spirals, out of which emerged Female Moon paths and spirals, out of which came another male path and spiral – and so on until returning to the source(s).

I spent the rest of the day seeking out and visiting caves, which was very exciting. I get scared by the sense of claustrophobia that such places engender, but they fascinate me. I found some great caves to visit and to meditate in when the weather gets a little warmer. For some reason I didn’t dowse the various caves. I can’t explain why, though, looking back. It seems rather odd. One of those things, I guess.

Gwas

Following Offa’s path

Delamere Forest, Cheshire:  Sunday 18th January 2009

Let me set the scene: a cool but calm Winter’s day, two fools with copper rods and petrol station sarnies in backpacks wander purposefully and expectantly towards a specific place. All around the sometimes leafless trees flick from deciduous to evergreen and back again as they pass hesitant hordes of fresh air fans who are cycling, jogging or walking without so much as an upward glance at the majesty around them. Occasionally one or other of the fools stops to remark upon a tree’s shape, its size, its qualities. Children hooked to parents are pulled by at a mildly-exhilarating pace, pedalling reluctantly.

Such was the scene as we headed deep into Delamere Forest last weekend. I guided Kal towards a place in the forest where I knew two trees that grew side by side – a tall elegant pine next to a sturdy and established beech that leant over the main path. As we arrived Kal walked between the two and spent a moment feeding his energies. I smiled because I had been there before and knew why he had chosen that spot. Like Don Juan Matus in Carlos Castaneda‘s books, Kal had instinctively located the most energetic place where the energy of the two trees melded and swirled in a little 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 ‘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. of a female vortex of life force. He seemed reluctant to be drawn away from it, but we had work to do.

This part of the forest, although on a main path, was unusually quiet and calm. Only occasionally would we be disturbed by bemused and slightly anxious families, or the rare smile of someone who was either amused at our activity or knew what we were doing. We were dowsing again. The first ‘proper’ dowsing field trip of the new year. And this year we had guaranteed ourselves was going to be one hell of an active twelve months! ‘Proper’ because we had been dowsing in our houses, creating and relaying our manifestations to each other, and then the day before we had been on an only partly successful trip out to North Wales. Details to follow on that one. That’s going to make interesting reading, is all I can say about that now,  if only for the things it didn’t show us, as much as for its revelations. Kal, of course, blames The Trickster – his anthropomorphic embodiment of a prankster spirit that is wholly accountable for our occasional failures. Frankly, though disappointing at the time, our failures are often as revealing as our findings.

Today, in the depths of the forest, and with renewed vigour and intent, I felt something was going to kick start our dowsing year, and so it proved to be. As we dowsed we only had the remnants of the previous day’s torn-up question sheet to remind us where we were headed with our work. As we were surrounded by trees, and I was still intent on finding out what effects the time of year was having on the natural energies, we started asking questions about energy paths, tree nemetons (or auras) and our typical topic – colour bands.

Here are some of the things we found that afternoon:

Tree and Earth Energies

• The trees emitted female earth-sourced energies, which described circles that spiralled into a hollow or gap in the bark of the trunks of the two big trees, and which flowed in a clockwise direction.
• The beech tree spiralled five times, whilst the pine only three.
• Both trees had nemetons that extended as far as their respective canopies stretched, and which were shaped in the same manner, i.e. the nemeton of the beech tree was not circular, but ovoid, elongated outwards across the path in line with the branches that extended over the path too.
• The trees had a narrow 12-18 inch band of neutral energy pooled around their trunks, which dowsed as being static (i.e. having no flow).
• The source of the energy spirals was defined as the earth’s own energy. The neutral pool came from the tree’s own energy systems.
• The aura of the tree emerged from a point at the height of the green heart chakra level.

Rainbow Colours

• The extent of the rainbow colour bands was greater than the radius of the trees’ nemetons. The rainbow colours extended some 20 feet or more, whilst the nemeton only reached 9-10 feet. Curiously, a decaying wooden signpost marked the nemeton’s reach for the beech tree.
• The rainbow colours were the same radius as the roots of the trees. When we dowsed for the edge of the root system it reached the exact same marker we had been using to mark the edge of the violet colour band.
• The source of the rainbow colour band energies was dowsed to be water. This gave us a real “D’oh!” moment when we suddenly put roots, water, nourishment, and energy conversion together and came up with the bleeding obvious again!
• The colours were in the same rainbow prescribed order of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.
• The bands were wider in turn as they moved from red to violet. The red band was only 6 inches wide, but the violet band was 5-6 feet wide.

Ch’i  Energy

• The stars give off chi – er – isn’t that obvious now that we have discovered it!!
• Chi energy is given out by each of the radiant energy sources of  star, sun and moon. It enriches the tree’s energy system.
• The amount of chi energy radiating from the stars, sun and moon is dependent on, or related to, the times of the year – which in turn may be related to astrological events. This year’s calendar dowsing should help us to confirm or confuse ourselves again!
• Both auric barrier and colour barrier could be energetically pushed.

Yes, pushed. I have been returning to my martial arts studies, but this time from the internal energies angle. Consequently, I wanted to see if I could feel the chi energies, so we tried a little experiment. I stood with my back to Kal and concentrated on my own nemeton. Kal then walked towards me dowsing for its edge. When he found it he pushed it with his hands. When he did that I involuntarily swayed forwards, feeling like a had been gently pushed in the back! I put my hand up to indicate that I had felt it and swivelled to find Kal crouched with his hand in position and looking slightly startled. He had seen me sway as he pushed.

We tried again, this time using my colour-band field. I concentrated on firming the outer edge of the violet band of my energy field. After a few seconds I felt the gentlest of pushes and put my hand up. Again, Kal confirmed the dowsable range he had marked, and was holding his hand at that exact point, transfixed in position. Stunned, almost.

Curiosities and confirmations

• The power centre between the trees – was it the interference patterns caused by two energy systems so close together, or the crossing of underground water. Could it have been the energy from the water in the root systems?
• The energies seemed very weak compared to stone circle dowsing – was this because of time of year (season, moon phase, time of day), or are they inherently so?
• All dowsing was confirmed by both dowsers. We checked and re-checked each others findings as we went along, and for some of the energy paths we got the same shapes but slightly differing positions for the energy lines (by a few inches only).

Followers of Kal’s up-and-down relationship with trees may wish to hear that Kal spent a nice afternoon in the presence of these most kindly beech and pine trees. I had been lead there the previous summer whilst arrogantly commanding the rods to show me the most energetic and powerful tree in the forest. Well, it had worked at Alderley Edge, so I thought I was on to something. Little did I understand The Rules back then. Now I am much more humble in my approach!

I knew this beech tree to be easy to work with, and honest in its responses. Sounds mad, but if you get into this dowsing stuff, you may find yourself being lead astray on more than one occasion, and it pays to learn a little respect and humility early on if you don’t want to end up panting, covered in sweat, and lost in the dark heart of a forest whilst you try to extricate yourself from a fool’s errand.  “When she was good, she was very very good, and when she was bad, she was wicked.” Isn’t that how the rhyme goes? So true.

Gwas, with helpful notes from Sideshow Bob (Kal)

Following the lesser known path through the forest.