The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘churchyard’

There are some people with whom I have a special connection. Kal is obviously one – whenever we work together or even just at the same location, something interesting, even life-changing, always happens. Another special person is my friend Mike. Mike’s psychic abilities always give a totally different slant on the work we do. Lately we have taken to clearing psychic blockages, or clearing away dark areas of energy from sites, in particular at churches. So when Mike came to visit at the beginning of December I knew that something interesting was likely to happen. And I was not disappointed.

I had been investigating a new 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. that I believe exists between The Wirral and Derbyshire. Due to the location of the ley and the types of sites that it goes through I have been provisionally calling the line The Royal Line. When I come to reveal it in due course then this will all make sense. This weekend in December was my first outing along the line to determine whether it really existed at the locations that I had theorised that it would. My first stop was a nearby village with its St.John the Evangelist church. Such churches are a common recurring theme along this ley.

St John's Church, Kingsley, Cheshire

Mike and I spent a short while on the car park side of the church noticing a “dark patch” emanating from the corner of the car park. We decided to come back to that later. I wanted to find 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., if it existed, and the investigate the church’s exterior. I was drawn to a white birch tree with peeling paper bark, the like of which I had rarely seen. It was an outstandingly beautiful contrast to the leaden grey skies all around us, and we admired its beauty before I began to dowse for the ley. Within minutes I had located it. It was easy to find – it ran the entire length of the church and the width of the church was the width of the energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies.. The ley was balanced at this point and needed no work doing to it to harmonise it. Great. Time to move on.

Near Miss Black Spots

As we peered into the road from the churchyard I pointed out a specific spot in the road where I had seen several cars have near misses, and which always made me feel uncomfortable when I drove over it. Mike noticed that there was some red tarmac at that point – an indicator that the local council also thought that this was a place to drive cautiously. In fact, there was a solar-powered “30″ sign there too which flashes at anyone doing in excess of this speed, despite the fact that they are at the lower end of a long downhill stretch, making 30mph pretty difficult to attain.

Mike said that he felt that the line of holly bushes that marked the end of the church’s boundary, and which coincided with the accident blackspot, was hiding a flow of negative energies. We tracked back into the grounds and found that the negative energy was being emitted from a house on the other side of the holly barrier. Hmmm…someone in that house was giving out bad vibes, and this was being drawn along the hedge and into the point in the road where the near misses were happening. Interesting! I was about to dowse some more when Mike began to get psychic impressions about the person in the house. Then suddenly I was getting them too! I knew things about this person – felt how they felt, knew things about their life – it was all very strange to suddenly begin to describe this as though the person themselves were speaking this out loud. Between us we diagnosed the situation. I won’t divulge any more, except to say that the saving grace was that someone else was counteracting the negativity with some positive energies, and this was leaving the energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies. in a balanced state. Yet, the negativity was still feeding into the road and its vulnerable black spot. We decided to take a different tack and see if there was anything we could do on the other side of the road.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m afraid that I am unable to post my episode concerning a house clearance that I did recently. The parties involved wish the story to remain undisclosed. I am respecting their wishes. However, I did recently have an encounter with a dark energy force that was far more powerful, and during the course of which I learned so much more about the process that it eclipses the first story anyway. Here is my story about a dark energy form at Gawsworth Church. The story involves my good friend Mike – a psychic healer of incredible bravery and talent, as you are about to see demonstrated yet again. You may remember our first encounter with dark energy together at The Bridestones recently.

It was a darkening evening with the sun just setting as Mike and I made our way to Gawsworth Hall with the intention of finally finding and eliminating the source of the dark energy that had plagued the hall for several years. Mike had first identified a sorrowful figure of a lady in the Solar Room of the hall years earlier. He had banished this depressing spirit energy from the hall only for us to find later that she had taken up residence at the dark energy spot in the corner of the grounds near the lake. On this occasion we thought we would be able to finally identify the source of the pitiful darkness that was still seeping into the hall’s grounds, and which the local yew trees were struggling to contain despite their size and undoubted grounding capabilities. Now on this night we hoped to discover whether this particular spirit was still in need of release, or whether something else was still haunting the small village of Gawsworth. Maybe, we hoped, it had all dissipated of its own accord and there was nothing to find?

We had a “new guy” in tow. His name was Joe, a local farm-hand who had recently been developing a burgeoning psychic talent. This was to be Joe’s first encounter with dowsing and dowsers at work, so it was to be something of a baptism of fire for him. Given the nature of the work we were about to do he did well not to freak out and run for the safety of the streetlights!

We approached the incoming darkness of the churchyard without a moment’s hesitation, despite not knowing what the strength of our adversary that night. As we entered the grounds Joe pulled up immediately, “There’s something dark in that corner over there.” he said. Both Mike and I confirmed that there was – I felt it -  but it was not the darkness we had come to deal with, and was not anything of a problem at this time. Maybe we would come back to look at it some other time, but for now we had a more challenging target.

I showed Joe how to dowse briefly, and we left him playing with his new-found talent. Every now and again we would hear a yelp as he discovered something new, which was delightful. However, as we ought to have expected, our own work would get regularly interrupted as he fired question after question towards us about how it worked, what could be located, whether his responses were genuine, and all the other beginner questions that always emerge when first the rods begin to react. We pitched in where we could, and were always polite, but our main focus was now turned towards the side of the churchyard nearest Gawsworth Hall itself. For something dark and fearful was looming in the shaded areas near to the tall brick wall.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I moved to North Devon, specifically the town of Barnstaple. I was here but a day when I was walking around the town center getting my bearings and checking out the cafes when I was pulled into an alley way. I say pulled because that was how it felt. I had walked past the non-descript alley several times without noticing, this time however I felt a strong urge to turn into it and explore what was on the other side.

I am reminded of an occasion when our sometimes dowsing companion John tells of a time he was “pulled” off the road and along a lane to a hidden churchyard. Well this was no different. The alley led to a secluded set of lanes that went around and between a chapel. More accurately St Anne’s chapel.

As I walked around the lanes I could feel that there was something going on here. Special is a word that I used at that time, perhaps even magical. The feeling wasn’t good or bad, it was just a feeling. Like static electricity in the air. It, simply “felt”.

Although the chapel was in a very secluded area I could see that there would be no chance of dowsing it, as there were a few people passing through or seated on the occasional benches all of the time. Still my curiosity was peaked and for the next couple of days I went to that “hidden” strange place several times.

Gwas and I have a term, Guerrilla Dowsing for occasions when our dowsing is rather risky, perhaps at sites that are gated and barred. A week after my arrival at St Anne’s I knew that I just had to dowse that place. So setting off about 2a.m. I decided that now was the time.

The streets were empty except for a saxophone player in the empty market square, playing the same mournful tune again and again, seriously!. I walked past him, pretending to be hurrying home and entered the dark alley and the lanes beyond.

The static feeling I had had on previous occasions seems to be magnified by the darkness of the night as I pulled out my dowsing rods and began to question them regarding this mysterious place.

• Was there anything energetically significant about this place? Yes
• Was it to do with the church? Yes
• Was there any ley lines going through this place?Yes

There were two leys that crossed the chapel, not being as well equipped as Gwas I don’t know which direction they were going I’m afraid. Nevertheless my questions continued…

• Was there anything else here besides the leys? Yes
• Power centers? Yes – were these significant? No

On impulse I asked whether there were any Energetic Shrouds here? The rods fairly jumped out of my hands with a YES. But as I explored the place I couldn’t find any graves so my curiosity was peaked further…Shrouds with no graves?

Gwas and I have come across the odd energy shroud outside of grave yards, but here the rods were going manic over the question of Energetic Shrouds, there were lots and lots of them here.

Being a lot wiser than before I immediately put up several layers of protection and continued my investigations. Take me to the most concentrated area of shrouds? The rods took me up the steps to the church. Wow! You could really feel them crowding around up there or was it the dark and my imagination.

Further questioning revealed that the there had been many burials at the site but the graves had been built over (Does the Amityville horror ring any bells people?) Also that the two leys were energising the shrouds and thus giving them a longer “life” than they would normally have.

I was getting over whelmed by the energies of the place by this time and conscious that someone might spot me, a newcommer, wandering around churchyards at night, so I produced a protective Energy BombAn energy bomb is (for me) the pulling in of energy from the surrounding environment and then causing an explosive release. It is highy effective against Leprechaun Energy but not so much against energetic draining energies and shades. as I left the place.

Now that I am writing this I googled the church and found the following interesting information…

… the grave stones were removed and placed around the boundary walls. The walls of the crypt, which had been buried outside and choked up within by an accumulation of soil, were opened up.

What  must  always  strike  the  visitor  is  the  height  of  the ancient churchyard above the level of the church and other nearby buildings and pathways. This is due to centuries of burials.  It was the universal custom after each burial to scatter the remaining soil onto the adjacent ground and so gradually this raised the level of the churchyard.

Source

What a set of confirmatory information! Exactly as I dowsed it to be.

Kal Malik ~ Late night dowser!

Llanddeiniolen village, Gwynedd, North Wales – Saturday 23rd October 2010

Many months ago Kal and I had decided that we would choose the nearest full moon to Samhain as the time to go out and celebrate this important festival. For us, Samhainmeant an opening between worlds, a chance to interact withthe world of other intelligences, the Spirit World for want of a more specific phrase. Going out in the full glare of the moon gave us the best opportunity to utilise both female and male energies to get out work done.

So,w hat was this “work” that needed to be done at Samhain? My work had been given to me at the Autumn Equinox this year. I was told by the yew tree at Llangernyw (subsequently embellished and reinforced by the energetic form of Bran The Blessed at Dinas Bran in Llangollen) that I should awaken the Spirit of Merlin. I was given a riddle that contained what I initially thought were the actual words that I should use to awaken Merlin, but subsequently realised that they were actual instructions or directions for me to use to guide me on the day itself. The riddle was:-

Strong Red,

Lower Merlin’s rowan,

Second Landdeiniol/stone church.

Riddle-Me-Ree

One thing I knew about the agenda for the day: we would be visiting Dinas Emrys near to Snowdon. Kal added that we should also visit the Llangernyw Yew tree, and I realised that this would be the perfect place to obtain guidance on the next task for the final part of the year. Good, we had two places so far.

In preparation for our day out I had dowsed for some answers to these riddling lines. What was the “red” part? The answer I found eventually as that this was my root chakra. Quite how it needed to be strong I didn’t know yet but I would soon find out.

I thought I understood the line “Lower Merlin’s rowan“. That sounded like I needed to perform some sort of ritual with a wand of rowan wood. I cut a branch of a local rowan tree some weeks before in preparation for this work and left it to dry. The day before we were to go out I remembered it thanks to a podcast I was listening to which happened, by pure chance, to mention the preparation of wands! That evening I stripped, sanded and carved an appropriate symbol onto the wand and it was ready for us after a brief consecration to the spirit of Merlin.

Finally, I needed a starting point for the day. I had found a church in the village of Llanddeiniol, which is close to Pembrokeshire, used to be an old Welsh word for “stone”, and had a stone church re-built – a second stone church therefore. Could this be the “second stone church” in the riddle? The dowsing rods suggested that would be a good place to start, but it was geographically a long way away from where we needed to be….Was there another village called the same or similar that would suit out purposes? It turned out there was – the village of Llanddeiniolen near to…Caernarvon, only minutes away from Dinas Emrys. This seemed like more than coincidence, but I didn’t have time to do any more research, we would just have to chance it and see what happened.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Llangernyw Yew : April 19th 2010

After our visit to The Druid’s Circle at Penmaenmawr we sidled off into the sunset heading inland cross-country to Llangernyw. I had a few random items on my agenda to work on, whereas I knew that for Kal this was the main reason for his visit. He was at an important juncture in his life and was looking to his old friend the archetypal “Tree” for some guidance. Having made contact with this helpful entity via the ancient yew tree at Llangernyw before, he was confident that he could do so again.

Late evening yew

For me, I had been guided recently to carve a symbol into my staff. I knew not why, yet. I’m sure that will become clear soon enough. For now, I wanted to confirm which symbol that should be before I started carving. On previous occasions when I had dowsed for this information it had been indicated that it should be the Dinas Bran sigil. This evening, as the sun was setting, I approached the ancient yew tree with respect and asked if I might dowse for some answers. I got a positive response and so began to do some dowsing.

I dowsed at the edge of the tree’s canopy, on a flat section of ground indicated as a good place by the dowsing rods. I asked which symbol I should carve and began to follow a spiral pattern around from one side to another, in a familiar pattern. Was this like the ‘Bran the Blessed’ sigil? It was like that but the head was upside down! In fact it resembled the Arbor Low sigil too.I asked the rods if this was correct several times and they repeatedly said yes. When I sought an answer to this I got the impression that it was a symbol that was personal to me yet a reflection of both places, even literally a reflection in the sense of being upside down in parts.

Inside the mighty yew

You may remember from my recent posts that I had been trying to draw together the four elemental forces of Nature in order to assist me with my coming work this year? There was one that I had not managed to re-engage with and that was the fire element. On this lovely sunny evening as the great fireball dropped slowly over the hills of Penmaenmawr I decided to try to resolve that oversight. I walked to the side of the church where I knew my power centreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. to be, but oddly I walked straight past it without a second glance, and went to stand before the two pillars of stone that seemed like an entrance or exit portal for something. I began to dowse…

Were these stones and entrance or an exit? An exit. Were they for some form of energy (thinking back to Druid’s Circle) to be directed through? Yes. Was that energy spirit energy? Yes. Was it earth energy? No. Was it the energy of the yew tree? Sort of – the rods came together slightly, but not firmly. Was it the spirit of the place that passed through this portal? Yes. Was this a good place for me to regain my fire energy? A strong yes.

With that affirmation I went to go and sit on the flat tombstone behind the two stones, and immediately got a sharp pain in both kidneys. I took this as an indication that this was not a good place to sit! I stood between the portal stones, looking due west, and drew down the fire of the setting sun, as the saying goes in such circles. The rods confirmed what I felt – that this had been done successfully. Now I felt more ‘complete’ – like I had access to all the powers of Nature (except spirit, or aether, the fifth element).

An energetic exit portal

Whilst I was stood between the two energetic stones I felt like I could use that energy to get another burning question answered. I had one that was uppermost in my mind., The final task of the time between Spring and Beltane was to learn how to connect to the earth’s own energy grid. So far I had not one clue how this could be done, other than perhaps to be stood somewhere that neutral energy may naturally emerge, or something like that. I decide to seek some guidance, any clue at all.

I asked the yew tree to help me to imagine what I should do to link to the neutral earth grid – and I was shown several places very quickly that I couldn’t make out because they were too quick. Then I was shown an image of me nestling into the bosom of the earth – literally two small humps of grass between which I was curled in a foetal position, soothed and sleepy. I was to find a place where I felt that comfortable and then bathed in warmth and comfort I could connect to the earth’s own energy system and draw upon the neutral energy – the pure energy of the earth. I was amazed at the wonderfully intuitive way the information was given to me, and extremely grateful to have been shown this vision. Now, all I had to do was to find such a place….

The warning place

I thought I was finished for the evening – hey, hadn’t I got everything I came for and more? I certainly had. Kal popped around looking pleased with himself and his exploits, which I intended to ask him about as soon as we were on the road again. “Have you finished?” he asked me. “Let’s ask the rods!” I quipped, expecting a ‘yes’ response. I got a ‘no’. Apparently, there was more! I asked the rods to take me to the place where I could find out about this other information, and soon I was walking along the side of the graveyard, past gravestones, until the rods swung back on themselves to point to a grave close to the edge of the path the surrounds the lower site.

There was an inscription on the gravestone. I read, “Oft in danger, oft in woe“. i thought this was very unusual inscription, as I had never seen anything like it before! It was the inscription that was important. It took me several minutes of narrowing down the field before I hit upon the relevance of these words: it was to do with me not putting up energetic protection when I visited sacred sites. I had become too complacent and trusting, relying on my intuition to warn me of potential problems. So far I had been lucky and had visited sites when no-one else was around which has prevented problems so far (apart from one episode that really stuck in both our minds of an encounter at Llandrillo). Now, as I moved into the warmer lighter months I was being warned that other people may cause me problems unless I protect myself appropriately when I go out in the near future. Memories came flooding back and I felt I knew what was being suggested.

I asked if that was all? No, there was more. Again I let the rods take me on a little wander, this time only ten or fifteen feet away from where I was. The rods swung dramatically again to point at what seemed like an ordinary grave of a couple. Again it took me several minutes to divine the answer through a series of questions and response. The couple had been “energetically aware” people, but had died due to some misfortune brought about by an encounter with some form of deviant spirit energy. This was a stronger re-enforcement if I needed it, and I will heed the warning and will be more careful from now on, especially in the presence of other people, whether they mean harm intentionally or not!

All in all, a strange end to the evening for me. For Kal, however, the evening had been highly positive. He had received advice from the yew tree that he should ride out his current issues without trying to resolve them for himself. They would all, apparently, be taken care of – despite how impossible that seemed at that time. A week later everything righted itself against impossible odds and in quite incredible circumstances. Never would we doubt the power of this tree, or its influence over this churchyard!

Gwas.

Not California

It was a beautiful late summers evening when Gwas and I decided to visit one of the oldest trees in the world. Recently I had been speculating on setting off on a journey somewhere in the world and thinking of combining this with some energetic exploration I thought I would visit, what I thought would be the oldest trees in the world, those giant red-woods in California.

Red-woods

Blessed be the Internet as a swift Google search took me to a wiki which suggested that one of the oldest tree’s in the world was but a an hour or so away from where I lived, in North Wales.

And so it was that Gwas and I set off to visit this wonderful 4000 year old yew tree.

4000 year old yew

We arrived at the churchyard in darkness and were pleasantly surprised to find the gates unlocked – which precluded the need for Guerilla dowsing. As is quite normal for us now, we both went off on our seperate ways looking for meaning that was individualistic and personal.

As you look at the above picture you can see a path to the right which leads beyond the magnificent tree. Well, following this path leads to a gentle slope down into the major part of the graveyard (which we will visit during the day sometime to get some pics). This part of the graveyard has a path around and through it which will be of import later. As another aside there is a lovely river that flows along the right side of the church too. Please look out for my next post regarding some of the energies of this particularly fabulous site.

Meditation Spot

Almost upon arrival I wanted to do a meditation with this age old wisdom and so after minimal exploration I dowsed for the best place to sit whilst meditating and came up with a spot just beneath the canopy of the tree facing towards the camera in the above picture.

I sat cross-legged and let my mind and thoughts relax. In no time at all I felt the warmth of the Yew settle around me and visions flowed. To begin I saw this really large trunk of a tree in front of me. It was huge and as I looked up at it, either I shrank or it grew bigger, I don’t know which but this tree was at least sky-scraper tall.

Triple Split

As I examined this huge tree I realised that is trunk was split into two. Not all the way to the ground but perhaps half to three quarters its length it was split. As I wondered about this splitting and what its significance might be my perception changed and suddenly I was looming over the tree, which now seemed to be the size of a small plant. Now I could clearly see the split and it looked like the tree was almost cloven in two. This view was presented for a few moments before my perception switched again and I was some small insect-like creature attached to the trunk of the split tree.

Now that I think back to the event it was like I was being given different perspectives of the situation. But what each of these mean is lost to me now as it was then or at least the greater detail of it is lost.

This reminds me of a tale from Carlos Castaneda’s work. At one time Castaneda went to visit a Brujo (shaman) without his Mentors permission and knowing. The Brujo saw that Castaneda had the power and so gave Castaneda a powerful gift. Unfortunately the truth of it was that Castaneda only seemed to have the power and so the Brujo’s gift was totally wasted.

- smile – perhaps I seemed to whatever was presenting the vision to have the power but in actuality I didn’t or don’t?

Whichever the case I was being shown (from several perspectives) a tree that had been split assunder. As time (I don’t know how much, how can you tell?) passed further illuminations came.

Paths

Some sense came to me to tell me that I was the tree or perhaps that the split tree represented two paths for me. I was told that I could either take the left path and become a spirit walker or I could become a worldly person.

My confusion over this decision was compounded by my lack of understanding as to what was meant by the paths description. Ever helpful? I was further shown – or rather this was a kind of feeling – that the spirit walker path was a lonely path. It was a path that would be and allow me to walk amongst spirits. To be honest I was scared by the proposition that it was a lonely path. Although the devil-may-care attitude along with a good dose of curiosity was somewhat compelling. The other path was one in which I would live a worldly life, materialistic and semi-normal.

What a decision to be faced with? Talk about the red pill vs the blue pill dilemma?

Red or Blue?

Even as this musing was going on my sense of perspective was still going through the trinity of views. It was at this time that another piece of tree wisdom came to my mind. Am I not the “Magician who creates his own worlds?” surely that must weigh into the equation? As you can see I wasn’t fond of either of the alternatives – hmmm whilst in the meditation I believed that these paths were real for me. In hindsight I could have just chalked them up to an interesting visualisation.

magician of Alderley Edge

Healing

Ok, again I dont know how much time elapsed in the above dilemma but after some time I decided to become an active part in this visualisation.

As a side note – ever since I can remember I have had the ability to change my dreamscapes. By this I mean whilst in the middle of a dream I have been able to consciously create things I needed or change the aspects of a dream to my favour.

So, I said out loud but still in meditative (commune) state. Can I not have a combination of both of these – have my cake and eat it – is I guess what I was asking. I was then taken to the view of me standing over the tree and seeing it cloven. Then I (or something) took some rope and bound the two halves together, also as this was happening some green sludge like liquid was being poured down the crack and I saw the tree become slowly whole and one. Also I could sense that I was peerring into the future now, meaning that the process of healing had started but that it would be completed in the future. I was given to understand that I had to bring the two paths together myself – and that because I was a “Magician who creates his own worlds” I could do this.

I know it sounds really corny or whatever you want to see it as – to be honest I wouldn’t bother revealing this whole episode because of what you the reader might think – but then I realised – I don’t really care anymore – it stands as it does!

Corny

After seeing the tree become whole, I wondered whether that was the point of the vision from the start i.e. that it was a duality that needed to become whole rather than two paths that could have been chosen? I don’t know – but I am a believer in co-creation and self-determination and that it seems is what I did.

If you think that was weird what about this…

My vision hadn’t finished with me it seemed as then I was taken on another one. This began with this world, the world we live in with all the strange para-normal stuff that it encompasses. I then somehow grew or expanded out of this one and into what I can only say was the world of the afterlife – stay with me  – my sense of understanding was that the dimensions were layered. The Earth plane was an inner plane (like onion layers) and the spirit one contained it, or was an outer layer or sphere. I could see the differences between the two – but I cannot remember them now.

But…whilst I was expanded to the outer realm I knew or could sense that there was a sphere beyond even that one. So I tried to expand myself higher into this third realm. But couldn’t even though I tried a few times. When I gave up I got a kind of answer…you can only expand to the third sphere from the second not from the first. (below image taken from here)

dimensions

Yes, I know cloud cuckoo land? Maybe I don’t know I am just reporting what I experienced. If your asking whether I think this latter vision was true? Well, today being Monday I will say, yes. Tomorrow however is a different day!

Paths of the dead

With that final vision it seemed that the connection was done and I was left to ponder what I had experienced. The latter sphere vision had and has me confused as I dont know what it means or what relevance it has to me. Nil point!

The first however had lots of intriguing answers and so I was off to the aforementioned path at the bottom of the churchyard to walk and dowse some meaning out of the visions. My conclusions came to the following:

• That I have a choice – you dont have to accept what you are given
• That I had decided to opt for a combined world rather than a singular more focused path
• That the tree was symbolic of me and that I needed to work out how to synergise the two halves.

Notes:

I love that churchyard, with its Yew and its Graves and its flowing river and for the two times we have been there – its wonderfilled starlit sky. Although it being a graveyard – there is absolutely no sense of badness about it. We have dowsed in other graveyards and felt uncomfortable as if we disturbed the rest of those therein. But here we were welcomed and befriended by spirit and tree, water and earth, moon and star.

Where has the matter been left?

This visit to the Yew was around early September, if not late August of 2009 and since that time – although it has only been 3 months – ha – who says time flows fast?? Much work has been done on myself – in particular see this post from Samhain – and there is, as always much more to do. I am welcoming the transformations and journey everyday!

Kal

PS – here are the notes I took the night I returned:

• beautiful moonlit night
• finding the meditation spot
• a tree splitting down the middle
• size perception going weird – from something small clinging to the bark of the tree to something huge and the tree being as small as a plant
• the two paths – spirit and wordly – choosing one path
• binding the split tree and pouring healing fluid down its center – the fluid was a green sludge
• combining the two paths (parts of the tree)
• secondary vision of the afterlife
• seeing life as being more than the living world
• going to the next sphere that encompassed the “spirit” world
• knowing that there was another sphere beyond the spirit one
• trying to “grow” beyond this third sphere and not being able to
• wandering along the “paths of the dead” whilst (dowsing) and trying to put all of it together
• coming to an understanding that “i have a choice”
• choosing to merge the two paths (heal them) rather than become a spirit walker
• postulation: was the tree symbolic of me and did/do i need to synergise my spirit and non spirit halves?

PPS – speculation: was this just imagination. I would have taken it as quite possible exept for one point…why wasn’t i able to grow beyond the third sphere – if it was just imagination I should have been able to.

This week Kal and I visited a graveyard in the small village of Rhosesmor in North Wales. Kal had been there previously on the recommendation of a friend who had talked of the unusual atmosphere of the place, and how it was surrounded by ancient yew trees. During the visit Kal and I both surveyed the site with dowsing rods, and meditated under the canopy of a triangle of yews.

We dowsed quickly, affirming some of Kal’s previous findings concerning the location of power centres for each other respectively. Soon we decided that meditation was the order of the evening, and so found places close to each other in a triangle of yews to one side of the graveyard. After settling down, quietening and protecting ourselves we each went into our own meditation. Here’s what I found out from this encounter with one of nature’s teachers concerning the subject of rebirth and transformation.

Rebirth

1. Asked about the process of rebirth:  the tree showed me someone having a revelation after a near-death peak experience. I compared this with Hamish Milller’s near-death experience and how that turned him on to dowsing.
2. Asked if there was a slower way of achieving the same result, and the tree showed me smaller time slices but emphasised that each slice should work on a particular aspect to be changed, eventually achieving the same ends as the revelatory approach.
3. Asked where this should be done and I flicked through several typical types of megalithic site in my mind, hoping that the tree would show me which type I could use. It responded that each site is unique. Unique, like each type does one thing? No, unique in every respect – the energies it transforms, the memories it holds, the effects it can have. Each site has a unique combination of energy fields, and you need to find the one that fits you at the time that you need it in order to transform and rebirth yourself into a higher state of mind.

Lessons about the life force

Then I was swept up inside the tree’s inner core. Inside I could see the inner life force of the tree snaking upwards, its lively redness coiling and curling up and down inside the tree. Around it was a thin black sheath forming the inner core.  It showed me that this life force is always active, even when the exterior is dormant or appears dead. That’s just a shield to the world. Inside the life force flows excitedly. I knew that this life force was fed by the death energies and earth energies around the graveyard.

Transformation

1. The yew tree told me that when I go through transformation experiences I should retract an inner core of my own life force energy. When the outer shell of my body was cleansed I could then let my life force flow back into the body’s field and I would re-fill the empty vessel I was previously, but still with an inner core that was me up until that point.
2. I suddenly saw that the inner core that was black in this tree was very thin. Like the tree, I too had such an inner core of blackness. The tree showed me that it had to work on removing those inner darknesses until the majority of its trunk was its natural reddish colour. Only a thin sheath of black remained inside. I saw that this was a state that I would progress towards by working on my own inner weaknesses. Each transformation would be a rebirth process and would thin that inner dark core a little more each time.

This was the lesson of the yew tree concerning rebirth and transformation.

Gwas.

Learning every day.