The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘chambered cairn’

Chelmorton, Derbyshire – 20.11.10

A pale and wan full moon hung over us as we strode eagerly up to Five Wells chambered cairn. The coming dark forced our pace as we knew that time was scarce, and the eagerness of a new site made us giddy as though short of oxygen up on those windswept Derbyshire hills at the back of Chelmorton village, just off the main A6 road near Priestcliffe (with its huge round barrow). It seemed appropriate to me, one who is so overly concerned with balancing the forces that Nature provides, that the sun and the moon should be both visible and purposeful at that moment, both radiating with equally weak but welcome rays.

As we approached I felt the edge of the site’s aura and stopped. As usual Kal confirmed my feeling that this was the edge of the aura using dowsing rods. He nodded in agreement, so I got my own rods out and dowsed for the ritual path – the most respectful and energetic way of entering into the site. This in itself has become something of a ritual now. It feels right to approach in this way, especially to new sites whose guardians have not yet become accustomed to us, or who haven’t yet accepted our presence. It’s a way of showing them that we “mean business” and know what we’re doing in these sacred spaces. We’re not casual tourists!

I walked a curving female zig-zag path on the right-hand side which led me to a hollow. Little did I realise at the time that this would mimic a similar male zig-zag path on the entrance side of the chamber, which I would dowse days later. We settled in the near-side hollow, at what is the back of the chamber, on the right-hand side of the line of paired stones. We had seen similar stone rows in Merrivale in Devon earlier this year. For some reason only the right-hand side of the chamber’s hill seemed “attractive” to us. I never walked on the other side at all, and I don’t think Kal did either, except perhaps to quickly move back to the right-hand side again.

I lit some opium-scented incense and placed three sticks around the pit where we had settled. This was our sanctuary, should we need one, and I mentally cleared the space. Kal spotted that the Moon was visible in the darkening light and went off to the chamber to meditate. I couldn’t settle, however and mooched around dowsing occasionally as thoughts come into my vacuous mind space….it had been a long and draining day, and despite this being a new and exciting place, I felt that there was little for me to do here today.

Perfectly aligned to the Moon

Kal wrapped himself up in his meagre clothing (doesn’t this man feel the cold?). He did some meditation work, aligning himself with the full moon and having a wonderful experience by all accounts (you usually have to wait a bit for his write-ups, but they usually arrive eventually).

Meanwhile I had found a 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. running through the centre of the chamber and on through the pairs of aligned stones at the ‘back’ of the site closest to the point at which you enter the area via a small gate. The 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. was being marked or guided by the entrance stones, and then the line of stones at the rear of the monument were further indicating its direction. As I looked up I saw that the Moon was perfectly aligned too tonight, and Kal returned soon after excited about the same 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. of astral and earth-based elements.

We left shortly after that because I had a pressing engagement, but I knew that I needed to come back and spend more time here. Luckily, a combination of my increasing myopia and the tiny cooking instructions for some fishcakes resulted in me having to take the first day off sick from work in living memory, and this seemed like a pre-ordained opportunity to recuperate in the bracing air of the Derbyshire hills. Oh, Dame Fortune, how you smiled as I retched brown bile, knowing this would lead to me returning to Five Wells!

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Friday 28th May – Baltinglass, County Wicklow

I got a bit carried away telling you about the good stuff and I forgot to tell you about the bad stuff, “Lesson #1″, or as we refer to it “The Leprechaun Incident“. Let me take you back in time to Friday 28th May. You may remember that we had just been on our first visit to the major sites along the Boyne River, namely Knowth and Newgrange. We had been having a wonderful time.

As we returned to the car from the Visitor’s Centre Kal reminded me about my ash staff. When should we go and see if it was still there? Well, as it was early afternoon I guess now would be a good time, less than 24 hours after I left it at the Castleruddery stone circle. Or at least, that’s where I hoped I had left it! Otherwise it was lost. I was utterly resigned to that idea. Remember, none of these material items is invaluable. None. All things come and go. Some things have their own path once inbued with sentience. Perhaps the staff and I had parted ways and someone else way now using it? It mattered little, yet I was willing to go back to the other side of Dublin, a good two hour drive, just in case it was still there. Hey – there were sites down the N81 that we hadn’t seen yet, so….nothing to lose, right?

When we arrived I vaulted the stile and raced to the Castleruddery circle – I could see the staff still propped up against the old ash tree that lined the circle’s embankment. Yeah, like I wasn’t bothered or anything? Right! I was relieved to have it back. We decided to see what else was in the area and for some reason we thought that a cluster of sites atop a hill in the nearby town of Baltinglass would be a good thing to go and see, even though there was no obvio9us way to access them. We entered the town of Baltinglass apprehensively and Kal was told off for using the toilets in a pub. Good start! There was an odd feel to this town, and no mistake. Both of us were on edge and flustered for some unknown reason.

We couldn’t find a good place to park or access the track or path that led up the hill to the ancient sites so we parked at the bottom of a lane that led to a farm. At every few turns of the track were signs warning us that we were on farm land, not a public highway or byway. Which we ignored. We checked the farmhouse for signs of life so that we could ask permission, but all was quiet, so we made our way quietly over a gate into a field populated with bulls, and then another with sheep. All the while we were climbing steadily up this steep slope, and the sun was getting hotter.

Conifer forest and steep slope above Baltinglass

We headed for a corner of the field away from the farmhouse – feeling guilty for not having obtained permission to cross the land. We reached a corner of a field where there was an unreasonably tall wall – some 8 feet high! We found what appeared to be a hole in the corner of the wall, and if we climbed and pushed ourselves through the gorse and bramble we could climb through and get into the safety of the forest where we wouldn’t be seen going up the hill.

The forest was made up of densely packed fir trees, old tall gorse bushes and old and thorny brambles. We tried to find and pick our way through a path through the plantation as best we could and about half way in we reached several dead ends and were forced to consider turning back. Despite sweating like crazy and being torn to shreds we pushed onwards – the GPS telling us how far we still had to go. It was the countdown to hell! After 30 minutes of fighting with the forest we broke free into the daylight again breathing sighs of relief and trying to cool down. We turned to each other saying things like “I never want to go through THAT again!”

At this point Kal realised he had lost his dowsing rods!!! The only pair he had brought with him on the trip. He was clearly gutted. We vowed to go find them if we could, but didn’t relish going back into the forest, and to retrace our steps was impossible. We oddly made the decision, in the heat of the middle of the day, to continue climbing UP the massively steep slope towards the top of the hill. After all, we were almost half way up!

What to see on Baltinglass Hill

Looking over Baltinglass, County Wicklow

We were on a really steep track like that up to Llandrillo, but made of mud not tarmac. As we finally reached the top, another half hour later – we found the hill fort ringed by a huge wide wall of boulder. After clambering somwewhat precariously inside we found the site littered, almost literally, with the remains of  some burial chambers – mostly damaged and strewn, and cluttered with water and pop bottles. Nice! We dowsed to see if there was anything useful up there – not a single thing. In fact, it was detrimental for us to remain there for any length of time so we were forced to leave rather quickly!

A curious altar within a chambered tomb atop Baltinglass

Solitary standing stone above Baltinglass

A Swift Return to Hell

On the way back down we found an abandoned small tent, like everything else around there it was randomly strewn around and in poor shape. Looked like someone had though that this hill might be good for camping, but had been disabused of that idea so quickly that they had to flee leaving the tent to its own fate! Another strange sign of destruction and a portent of doom that added to our growing unease. We headed down the back of the forest to see if we could connect with the point where we had entered it and see if Kal had dropped his rods right at the beginning;. A fruitless search began which yielded, as expected, nothing. As I sat ont he tal wall listening to Kal getting scratched and lashed a thought came to me – this was the work of a leprechaun. We had crossed into a leprechaun’s territory, and he had stolen Kal’s rods! Our story, as I played it back, was so filled with portent, so akin to the tales I had read in childhood of the activities of the Little People, so much a tale of woe and warning – what else could it be? I told Kal what I thought and he laughed, but not in a dismissive way, in a nervous way!

We moved through a field of bulls which woudl lead us back to the field through which we oculd reach the town again. Iwarned Kal not to stare at them or make a noise, but regardless of that the bulls began to charge us! We high-tailed it over the nearest low-point in the barbed-wire fence at a gap in the hawthorn trees, but were faced with the awful task of having to leap a six-foot a ditch which held three stinking rotting corpses of sheep and a cow – putrid with the sun’s activity, and making our nostrils reek of foul vapours! We almost retched but leapt over (just makign the five foot jump) and hurried down the hill for the corner and the gate to the trackway and freedom. We tried to climb quietly over the gate again past the farmhouse, but now the owner must have returned because three dogs set off barking and we had to run back to the car, sweating and panicky again.

This was the hell of our worst experience of dowsing ever. What lessons could we learn from this? Only one – when the warning signs are presented, and you have the option to heed them, be sensible and heed the advice! If Nature ways “turn back” then bloody well do it or face the awful consequences!!

Gwas.

As I mentioned in my post about an update to the Sacred Sites page recently here is a more detailed account of my recent visit to the rather small but beautifully formed site that is The Bridestones. By some accounts what remains is but a small part of an originally much larger collection of stones and chambers. Here is a quote from the Unknown Phenomena Investigation Association’s web site:

“The site is very different to its original structure; many tons of stone were taken from the cairn by the builders of the nearby turnpike road in 1764. Other stones were used to build the adjacent house and farm, and more were recycled into an ornamental garden in Tunstall Park.
However, before this large scale ransacking occurred, it appears that the Bridestones was an incredible monument, perhaps unique in England. Evidence from a variety of sources indicates that it was a chambered tomb of massive proportions with a paved crescent forecourt and a port-holed stone dividing the main chamber. The complex was supposedly 110 metres in length with the horned cairn being 11 metres wide. A report from the 18th Century notes that in addition to the main chamber which still stands today, a further two subsidiary ones were located at a distance of 55 yards. No traces of these have ever been found, but there is much debate as to whether they are located east of the surviving chamber, or west. The latter seems more likely as they were probably covered by the same cairn as the main chamber.” (source: UPIA web site)

My task on this visit was not to investigate the former scale of the site, but to map the remaining energies in detail. I set about the task with some vigour as there was a cool wind and the sky was thickly clouded – not a day to be hanging around sun-bathing!

Luckily for my work the site was empty and there was little passing traffic from Dial Lane – the road passing the site across the adjacent field. The field contained a small group of young bullocks, though, and brought to mind several dowsing visits where cows had curtailed such dowsing endeavours. This spurred me into action all the quicker!

Yet I couldn’t start dowsing just yet. I had to have a good look around and get “into attunement” with the site, which is simply a question of being there, without thought, tuning into one’s senses and taking in everything at once without analysis. Moments later I felt myself blend into the site much better, and then I was ready to start dowsing its energies.

I started at the entrance and worked inwards to the chamber. Once I found a connection to the chamber I stayed in there for a while finding its power centres, denoted by terminating spirals. The 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. of the power centres seemed beautifully balanced – a male here, then a female, then a male and female centre combined. It felt lovely to be dowsing here – some sites feel ‘difficult’ or complex, but this site was beautiful in its simplicity and balance.

Inside the chamber

I stepped into the chamber by the right-hand edge’s gap and felt a compulsion to light a stick of incense in there. These days I go with such feelings, so I lit one and it scented the air nicely as I dowsed the rest of the chamber. Were the remains of the dividing wall between the two parts of the chamber the place where there was a hole that could fit a man, allowing access between the two when there had been a roof? It was hard to tell. The dowsing rods indicated that possibility, but were not conclusive about it.

Re-emerging from the chamber an intriguing lone pointed (male) stone caught my attention and I found that it had a connection to an energy that formed a ritual path into the nearby chamber. I was finding this feature almost every time I dowse a site now, and am beginning to think that Stone Dowser may have been on to something with his ‘ritual paths’. It does indeed seem like there was a specific way to enter some sites, irrespective of simply finding entrances.

The bullocks begin to take an interest and come over to see what’s happening. We have a short one-way conversation where I quiz them about why they might be interested in my dowsing. When questioned they move away as though they had never been interested after all.

I followed the spirals I had found to their termination points. Where did they go? Were they self-contained or did they link to other sites, I wondered? The female-to-female spirals I knew were self-contained, as was the male energy around the outlying male stone. It was the male/female 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. that needed to be explained. I followed the female energy to a large spiral a few feet outside the entrance to the chamber. The male energy flowed through a gap at the back of the chamber to sinew its way out of the back of the site but I couldn’t follow it far through the thick rhododendrons, brambles and assorted other obstacles that sealed off the rear of the site.

Some sort of rambler’s club began to make their presence known by gabbling loudly as they walked up the lane to the site. I decided this would be a good time to retire to consider what I wanted to do next, and leave the site to them for a few minutes. In my experience visitors to ancient sites are usually frequent, but fleeting. And so it proved. Minutes later your anti-social Hedge Druid had devised a set of questions to ask at the site and was back on the job without distractions – even the curious bulls had retreated faced with the retirement party.

I made a more respectful entrance, introducing myself to the guardian of the site, stating my name and purpose, and asking for permission to enter. A curious ritual, but one which I have learned from reading about and trying to understand the mind of The Druids. It was at this stage that things began to take a mystical turn!

I’ve posted recently on the strange phenomenon of the sun making an appearance when Kal and I meditate at sacred sites. Standing on the 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. in front of the tall stones outside the chamber I felt a gradual warmth penetrate my eyelids. I opened my eyes to see the whole site, and only the site, bathed in the spotlight of sunbeams the were radiating through a gap in the thick cloud cover that had been the constant feature of the day’s weather. This was highly improbable, but certainly very welcome!

Power centre lit up by sun

I smiled. I felt integrated with the site’s energies, and in response the sun was smiling down on me. Of course, it’s pure coincidence, but when it happens like this you feel something special is happening. I felt this was a good time to get the rest of my questions answered.

Here are the questions I asked the dowsing rods to help me answer about this site:-

1. Is this site still capable of performing its original function? YES.
2. Is the site still energetically active? NOT RIGHT NOW. (3:50pm on 3rd October 2009)
3. Can the site be activated? YES. AT SAMHAIN.
4. Can the site be used for education, revelation, healing, transformation, communication or something else? EDUCATION by nature spirits, REVELATION, HEALING, and TRANSFORMATION.
5. Does the site need restoring, healing or balancing? NO to all.
6. Is there a genius lociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place. present at this site? YES. FEMALE.
7. Does this site respond to human interaction, the position of the sun, moon or stars? YES to all. Specifically the FULL moon, and the sun at NOON. Stars, less so.
8. Is the site an observatory, a calendar, an initiation chamber or a burial place? OBSERVATORY, CALENDAR, INITIATION CHAMBER.
9. Is there underground water at this site? YES.

With that information in mind I went back to do some quick dowsing for where water might be present at the site to see if it had any obvious significance in terms of where it might flow. As you can see from my sketch below there were two main flows of underground water crossing the site, and indeed they did tally with significant places for energy – namely the female spiral links just behind the entrance to the chamber, and the other, wider stream being marked by an outlying stone.

As I drove away from the site back towards Congleton I saw the group of bullocks react. They saw me driving away and began to gallop as a tight group stalking the car from across the field. I watched in a kind of amused shock. What were they doing? Then they turned like a flock of starlings straight towards me as they approached the end wall of the field. Now they were galloping towards me with a speed I could never have supposed a bovine to be capable of! I waved to them and wished them a cheery good day as my car dipped down the hill and beyond the confines of the field. Very strange behaviour!

From the information gleaned from this site I can see that there might be more to be learned, but that the next interaction would need to be a much more spiritual affair, guided by the information that I have obtained from dowsing. I think this clearly demonstrates the way in which dowsing can be used as a powerful investigative tool that can lead one quickly to understand qualities of a site, and the times when these qualities can best be utilised for the purposes that the site was designed for. We shall see!

Gwas.

A quick visit to The Bridestones of Congleton yesterday furnished me with enough information to provide an energetic map of the place for you. Check it out in the Sacred Sites section for more details. I’ll do a post of the visit, and add some pictures to the Gallery soon to fill in some extra information too.