The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘calendar’

Sunday 29th May – Dowth, Boyne Valley, County Meath.

Dowth (“The Place of Darkness”) is the lesser-visited site of the three famous megalithic structures in the Boyne Valley complex. It is less visited because there is no convenient bus taking tourists to the site, and instead intrepid visitors have to walk the mile or so from the bus terminus, or a mile and a half from the Knowth site, in order to reach it. Luckily for us this late May day was about as beautiful and sunny as May days get, and so we walked along the blooming hawthorn-lined lanes in utter delight. Some days it pays to be a (would-be) druid.

When we arrived at Dowth we had the place to ourselves with the exception of a solitary photographer who busied himself with setting up some arty shots. We read the information board (always amusing, sometimes useful) and then looked at each other. We felt there was something we should do before going in – but what was it? We decided to wait. We didn’t know what for – perhaps just to let our blood cool from the walk, or to become totally attuned to the ambiance of the site before we entered. We weren’t sure. But we waited for ten minutes, then entered.

Information created by archaeologists

The site exuded a sense of spirituality from the outset. As soon as I entered I got my dowsing rods out and asked them to lead me to the place that I was best attuned to, my power centre, taking me by a “ritual path”, as I called it. My intention, the thought I had in mind, was of the path around Glastonbury Tor – the labyrinthine path that I would soon take again at the Summer Solstice. Eventually, after much to-ing and fro-ing around the edges of the mound I was led into the centre to a spot where someone had had a fire, somewhere near the centre of the hollow that formed a giant hole in the middle of the mound. Kal calls this form of perambulation in trance a “walking meditation” and says that groups he works with do them quite frequently.I wouldn’t know anything about that – I did it because it felt right to do. At the burnt spot the energy spiralled indicating a power centre. It was here that I meditated on my throat chakra. I wanted to clear myself and energise at the same time, with special attention to my throat chakra.

Fire pit power centre at Dowth

Then, like at the entrance to this unusual site, I got the oddest feeling. I felt that I couldn’t progress until I had recited a poem that recounted all my efforts to this point – a kind of announcement as to why I was here. Was I not in a land of poets? Was this not the land where the Blarney Stone is kissed for its gift of eloquence? And so I began to recite some dodgy rhymes, somewhat self-consciously even though there was no-one else around except Kal and he was over the other side of the hill. I told the spirit of the hill all about the other places I had visited to work on various chakras, and what the result of each encounter had been. As soon as I completed my poem I felt a wave of relief (release) and I picked up my dowsing roads again to see where I should go to next in order to work on my throat chakra. I felt like I had opened a doorway into an opportunity, and now was the time to step across this Mercurial threshold.

Kal's vision quest on Dowth

I began to follow a single dowsing road as it led me around the curve of the hollow and back to a new power centre – a rocky scar in the hillside similar to one that I knew from my many visits to Gop Hill in North Wales. I went there and lay down to ‘doze’, to get myself into an attuned and trance-like state of mind, a receptive mind state, if you will. As I entered a light trance state and became comfortable with the hill I heard and fleetingly saw a familiar figure – it was The Lady. The same lady that I had encountered at Gop Hill (this was something I felt, rather than positively identified). In my half-sleep I was able to ask questions of the Lady of the Hill. My questions were answered by the reaction of the sunlight – if it went behind a cloud then the answer was negative in nature, and vice versa. The strength of the heat or cold indicated the strength of the answer.

Some of the information simply formed in my mind, or bubbled up from somewhere, and then I tested its validity using the clouds. This sounds stupidly un-scientific, I know, yet it was utterly consistent. I could ask test questions which had simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers and the clouds would react accordingly and immediately, uncannily so. Those test questions provided the assurance that this was some form of divination allowing me to interact with this powerful yet elusive Lady figure. This was not the first time I had encountered this kind of divination opportunity, and I recognised it for what it was, and wasn’t about to squander it.

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After spending a significant amount of time last year trying to determine the most energetic points of the year we think we have worked out what those are now. It was interesting to try to link those to the 8-fold year of the pagan calendar, for there was undoubtedly some remnant of knowledge retained in one or two of the festivals, but the majority of the dates of the 8-fold year are simply calendrical, and bear little relation to the quality of the planet’s subtle energies. The exceptions were Imbolc, Summer Solstice, Samhain and Winter Solstice. Most of the cross-quarter days were simply a marker point in the calendar, useful to human society but no indication of energetic quality.

How does this relate to the ancient sacred sites we have visited? Almost without exception the sites contained a positional system of measurement that indicated which energies they were engineered to take advantage of, utilise or enhance. Only recently have we begun to piece together the combination of factors that contributes to the bigger subtle energy picture, involving factors such as:-  

• the site’s alignment with The Moon
• the site’s alignment with The Sun
• the site’s alignment with specific planets
• the type of rock used in the construction
• the size of the stones, the site and the number of stones used
• the underlying geology and water systems of the site
• the living energy of nearby trees
• the time of day
• the time of year

As you can see there’s a lot to take account of, and producing a scientific analysis of a site’s subtle energy systems is an absurd venture – it’s much more about intuitive feel backed up by some dowsing to confirm suspicions or to disprove suggestions, all performed against a background of the unfolding inevitability of the year and the astral bodies that surround us.

Imbolc ushered in by Bride

So, this is how we are approaching the first major venture of this year: Imbolc – February 1st. It falls on a Monday this year, and happens to coincide with a full moon. How fortunate! The dowsing should be strong for the female energies, and we should begin to see the return of the male energies if the sun is out around midday. The day is dedicated to Bridget/Brige/Bride – the threefold goddess of magic, craft and fertility – a winning combination in my book! Therefore we intend to take account of this in the ritualistic elements of our energy work that day.

LAST YEAR:

We visited St Bridget’s Church in Dyserth village. This was the start of a small pilgrimage (although we weren’t calling it that back then) that took us all around the area, from the village, the waterfall, to Gop Hill, Dyserth castle, and then up to the Golden Grove (which we failed to find). Later in the year I revisited that site and found both St.Elmo’s Summer House and The Golden Grove and was overwhelmed by cows and totem animal signs.

View from Gop Hill at Imbolc

Link to posts: Imbolc – The Return of the Male Energies, Dyserth 1, Dyserth 2, Golden Grove & St.Elmo’s Summer House

THIS YEAR:

We will be heading out to Anglesey, to follow the Bridget trail of sites in the south-western quarter of the island. I will tell you more about how this came to be our itinerary, and what actually happened in a few weeks time.

ENERGIES:

This year Kal and I have planned out the times when we will be able to make the best use of the anticipated male and female energy high points of the year. When are they? Well, if you haven’t been following all our conclusions so far let us give you two golden rules that should allow you to work them out for yourself:

The male energies (radiant and earth) are at their strongest when The Sun is at its strongest – growing in strength over the year until reaching a peak at the Summer Solstice.

Then the radiant energy begins to fade. The strength of any specific day is dependent upon the amount of sun visible on that day, and is strongest around midday. Therefore, the ultimate peak would be midday of the Summer Solstice on a sunny day.

The female energies (reflected and earth) are at their strongest when The Moon is at its fullest and closest. Therefore, in the next year, this will actually be at the end of the year on the Winter Solstice.

If you want to find out which other days are important to those who revel in the female energy flow then I recommend you purchase the Findhorn book “In Tune With The Moon 2010“, which is a calendar that indicates not only the days of a full moon but also indicate whether the moon is at apogee or perigee, or somewhere in between (i.e. how near it is to Earth, and therefore how big it appears). You also have to take account of the fact that clouds may obscure the view, although this only diminishes the effect, it doesn’t nullify it.

Imbolc in a nutshell

RITUALS:

This year we have determined to go out on these special days with an intention. At Imbolc we will definitely make this the first of such ventures, and although I do not want to plan it too much, I think it is safe to say that there will be some incense burned, some candles lit, possibly some milk left as an offering if we are requested to do so along the way, and perhaps we will have a thought or two about the three aspects of the triple goddess as we work with the energies of the sites we visit on that day. Nothing is ever certain, but this year it is more deliberate than last year, as we have been encouraged to be so. One thing is for sure – we will both have a definite outcome that we will be working to achieve with the magical energies available to us on February 1st.

Gwas Myrddyn – Servant of Merlin.

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Link: Useful Pagan Calendar dates for 2010