The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘delamere’

My Beltane quest, to be completed before the Summer Solstice, is the “See with the eyes of The Hawk”. That was the message from the ever-useful Llangernyw Yew tree meditation that I did within the hollows of one of its ancient branches. Whilst trying to interpret this information I had tried to elicit a bit more information from the other sites I had visited that Beltane day on the 1st May and had found out that the vision was an ariel view of a landscape figure showing a hawk in flight.

Whistlebitch Well

The starting point to find this figure in my locality would be a sacred spring or holy well somewhere in Cheshire. It didn’t take me long to draw up a list of the 20+ wells in the county and then work my way through them with the help of the dowsing rods to eliminate all but the last – Whistlebitch Wellnear Utkinton. Seemingly, at one time this was a much-visited attraction, but its whereabouts are much harder to discern today. I went out one evening in the fading sunlight to try to find it. If it still existed then perhaps I could try to get in touch with the spirit of the well and reveal some more information about my quest?

I passed a gentleman walking his dog in the woods close to the well and asked him if he knew of it. He knew of many of the features of the surrounding woods, having spent thirty years walking the area, and was able to show me pictures of many of the features too! He was unsure about the well, though, unless I meant the old St Stephen’s Well that was close to where we stood chatting? That must be its alternate name, I said, there was only one well in the area. He said he thought it was connected to the stream we were standing on top of, so I bade him a kindly farewell and followed my instincts to walk through a field next to the stream. Then I heard what sounded like a water source in the damp ditch next to the field. I gingerly waded through the nettles to find the remains of a signpost and a square iron cover – just like the pictures on the Megalithic Portal – this was it!

Whistlebitch Well near Utkinton, Cheshire

After having uncovered the well and washed my crystals in its waters I laid them our around me and meditated to the sound of the trickling waters. Soon I was in contact with the spirit of place, a male water spirit, who was very glad that someone had visited and more so that they were being respectful of the place. I asked the spirit what he knew of The Hawk of May, but he was unable to expand upon that concept. He was only a lowly Nature spirit watching over this well, and who did not go anywhere else or meet any Hawk of May spirits. I would have to figure this one out alone.

The Landscape Figure

Back at home I began to investigate maps of the area around Whistlebitch Well. Would anything reveal itself to me about the outline of roads, paths, tracks and rovers in the area, or be revealed in the names of places? I had experience of reading about Katherine Maltwood‘s Glastonbury Zodiac figures, and Mary Caine‘s subsequent revival of the concept which she then began to apply to the Kingston-Upon-Thames area too. I knew what a landscape figure might look like, but could I find one in a modern map?

After several hours of scrying, this figure appeared:

The figure is formed primarily by the crag ridge of Willington village, and is centred on the village of Utkinton. It extends as far as Cotebrook at its east side, and Duddon to the west and Boothsdale to the north. At its northern extent is the natural feature of Primrose Hill, and within that is Whistlebitch Well. A road extending from the hawk’s beak seems to tether it to the village of Clotton. [full size map here].

The shape of the figure was suddenly so obvious to me that I started to get excited. What could this mean in terms of my current quest? Now that I had identified a possible landscape figure, what next? I was at a loss as to what to do with this information, and when in such a situation I tend to turn to a favourite divination tool of mine – the tarot.

Tarot reading about the quest

It just so happened that a friend of mine had gifted me some tarot cards that they didn’t want. They thought they would use them, but actually they weren’t suitable, but they thought that they would be perfect for me to use. I already have the Druidcraft Tarot, and was perfectly happy with the success of this deck, but nevertheless I decided to try out the “new” deck – The Tree Angel Oracle – to see how effective it might be. I must admit, I was slightly put off by the “Angel” reference and wondered if they might be a bit too “New Age” and “airy fairy” to be useful.

I would start simply – a three card draw to answer three simple questions about how I should interact with this Hawk of May and the landscape figure.

1. What gift should I bring for the Hawk? Card = The Pear – the gift should be intuitive.
2. How will we interact? Card = The Yew- in silent meditation, possibly at a yew tree, crossing into the Otherworld to meet The Hawk of May.
3. What will I gain? Card = The Sycamore – “Precision of the eagle”, “Clarity of the blue skies”, “The power of lightening” and “Breath of the winds.”

This is remarkable considering the reading was about my quest for “Meeting the Hawk of May”. Did this mean literally control of lightening and wind? I asked a psychic friend to interpret these symbols for me, and he told me that it was more to do with the wind symbolising the concept of sound, a sweeping away of barriers, and that this would signal the rise of a clairaudient ability. The lightening flash, he said, was symbolic of the ability to control these new druid powers that I was gaining. I was a little embarrassed by this, and the proof of it remains to be seen.

Soon I will recount the tale of meeting the Hawk of May and how prescient and useful these tarot card readings would be!

Gwas.

I am reminded of a post that seems so long ago now in which I told you how I found my old beech staff, or rather, how I came across the staff in a magical moment where I asked for one to appear and moments later I came across the perfect branch for the job. In honour of this synchronistic and serendipitous gift I left the staff wholly unaltered and natural. It has served me well on my travels over the past few years, but recently I have not taken it with me for some reason. It felt “light”, or “lightweight”. I felt I had outgrown it in some way. I have left it propped under my apple tree all Winter, and have mysteriously forgotten to take it with me on any walks our outings recently.

This weekend I walked along the Whitegate Way – a well-prepared straight trail following a dis-used railway track in Cheshire. The trail forms part of the Gritstone Trail, I think. The track is lined by many birch trees, and I was delighted to reacquaint myself with this beautiful tree, and it made my heart rise in the depths of Winter, and I longed for the first signs of the new year’s growth, but appreciated the silver glow of the birch’s bark as I walked a circuitous route in and around the Whitegate Way. I had no druidic work in mind, and yet something found me.

Last week I discussed with Kal how I was still at the Yew Stage, and that this year should be about renewing the vigour with which I approached the study that this druidic stage entails: reputedly death, rebirth and transformation. I say “reputedly” because reputedly the Yew tree is symbolic of death and rebirth, and yet we found that it was a pacifying presence, and this alone was the reason for its presence at graveyards, or rather, people came to be buried at places close to yew trees because of the yew’s calming effect upon human death energies. Anyway, the Yew Stage for me is identified by one becoming two – one energy stream has become a twin pair of energy streams.

Ash Trash

As I came to the end of what was frankly a pretty dull walk I was uplifted by veering away from Newchurch Common and getting back in amongst some pine trees. Feeling their enclosed warmth and comforting carpet of needles with their delightful scent invigorated me. I woke up a little and began to appreciate the languishing willow trees sucking on the juices of small ponds; the stubbornly green undergrowth; the row of upcoming birch trees that indicated we were back onto the Whitegate Way and nearly back at the car park.

As the path passed a barrier I noticed there was a smaller path undulating alongside the main straight and flat prepared path. I walked towards it then suddenly stopped dead: at my feet was a perfect length of tree branch, already topped and tailed with neat cuts and a curious y-shaped end. Wow! Although something had run it over scratching its upper bark clean and leaving a scarred bare side I could see the beauty of the wood beneath and I picked it up. It felt good – balanced, weighty, solid,strong. I walked with it on the undulating path – it was a perfect height for me, and walked well. I determined to take it home. The forked end seemed to resonate with me as a perfect symbol of this coming year’s work.

I identified the branch as ash, and when writing this account up I scoured the ‘Net to look up the significance of the Ash tree. This quote from the OBOD site made my eyebrows raise, especially after I had just written the previous statement about this year’s work being related to getting back on track with death, rebirth and transformation:

“The Ash tree has always been given mystical import and character, frequently being associated with healing and enchantment. In Celtic literature, there are many references to the Ash tree, but in particular as associated with the Welsh Magician-God Gwyddion, who bears an Ash staff/wand, a symbol of healing and especially transformation and empowerment in matters of destiny.” [link: OBOD article by Tanequil]

On this path I have chosen to walk, whenever I am walking in the right direction and sticking to The Way, I am given gifts from divine providence to help me. It sounds so corny that I wouldn’t expect anyone to believe it. I can barely believe it myself. Yet always these gifts appear at the right time, just when I need them, and with traditional associations that are perfectly in line with my intentions. Again, another perfect example. The Ash Staff for transformation and empowerment in matters of destiny. The walk continues, now with a new ally.

There is another coincidental element to contend with. A month ago I was reading Oonagh’s Worlds blog (the lovely Oonagh is so talented – see the front page of HD for a link to her blog). She had posted an article about how she had carved a delightful ash staff for a friend, called The Norseman’s Staff. I was so envious! I contented myself with my natural “beech” staff that I have been carrying for over a year, but I couldn’t help admire her work and I commented as much on her blog. You will see what I mean about her amazing carving if you take a look at her post and pictures – it’s truly beautiful. Now my secret wish has been granted! How wonderful. I smiled the whole way home knowing what I was going to do with the staff once I could work on it. The very next morning I went to buy what I needed from the DIY shop.

I spent a couple of hours taking the staff through a process of stripping the bark, smoothing the scratches and sanding the staff completely, and then waxing it with beeswax (natural colour). I am now completely satisfied with its look and feel.

New ash staff

In conversation with Kal it turns out that the two of us were both discovering new wooden tools to take with us on our travels this year – one the same day and at the same time but in two different locations. He was busy finding and learning about how he could employ a beech wand this year. Well, there’s a phrase I also thought I would never write! I told him how I might carve some symbols into the damaged and scratched areas on one side of the staff. He then told me how he was planning to do the same with the wand. We seem to have begun the year in complete synchrony. These things tend to happen when you follow The Way.

Gwas

Waking to a cold and frosty morning. I reckoned that the sun was going to be out before long and so opted for a trip to Delamere forest for a walk and general closeness to nature. Wayne Dyer recommends this kind of stuff as ‘wilderness therapy’ although exactly what I was being therapised for in this instance was unspecified. Perhaps it is like going to the gym and more of a ‘maintenance therapy’? Hmmm!

Delamere Forest

So it was that some time in the morning I found myself walking amongst the last of the Autumn leaves and enjoying the sense of treeness that has been my companion throughout this year.

As ever, the clanking of the dowsing rods stuffed in my utility belt – or in this instance the whole in the back pocket of my jeans – suggested that I should do some dowsing.

Gwas and I have done some dowsing in this forest before, concerning tree auras etc. So I didn’t really fancy that kind of investigation.

Tree aura work is interesting exercise however at the moment we have no understanding as to how it relates to anything – for example is a small aura mean the tree is ill or well? What do the aura colours mean? Only once have we encountered an aura that gave us more information and that was when a tree had no aura. So until we know what we can correlate aura information with – it remains interesting knowledge only.

Well, with the winter solstice approaching I thought that it might be good to see if I can garner any information about what to do, where to go, any preparation work etc. On these lines I began walking around following the rods to find a suitable location to ask these questions. After a suitable amount of random wandering the rods swirled and indicated a nice comfortable spot.

I would add a picture of the spot – but since these spots tend to be highly personal what would be the point?

So there I was sitting on the frost harden floor – fortunately way outside of the walkers paths and trying to commune with nature…and failing miserably?

What was going on? Usually I am really good with trees (see all my tree posts) but here I was getting a non sequitur response.

Another shot of Delamere

Okay… I double checked that I was in a good spot? Yes I was. I checked that it was a good time of the year to meditate and/or ask for answers – it was. I asked whether all conditions were suitable to commune with nature. Yes – go for it came the dowsing response.

Indeed, I am going for it but not getting anywhere I thought! Trickster? Is you about? If the dowsing rods could laugh, they would have. So I had a bite to eat (note to self – get a thermos for hot drinks!) and refreshed had another bash at communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner..

Nil Point! Ok, whatever! I got up and said to no one in particular, “fine, be like that” and stomped off! I had got about ten feet when I tripped and fell on my face! Lovely!

As I was pushing myself up, a thought occurred to me…was this the place to meditate, was this a sign? Hmmm…So I sat where I tripped and tried again to commune and lo and behold…Nothing!

Now I was puzzled…why? Why was I getting nothing when the dowsing, the spot, the trees where all in place. O and no it wasn’t because of the season (see the above bit of dowsing).

Shot of the forest

More dowsing was required…was i missing some ingredient to todays work? Yes. Ahh now we are getting somewhere…Did I need to ask permission or give some offering? No…You’re a welcome guest…Aw…Aren’t trees nice? Did I need to focus on something? Kind of.

For those who are new to dowsing – or indeed old to it – a “kind-of” response is indicated by a very lame “yes” response.  Perhaps next year we will do some youtube videos of dowsing responses. Then again we’re not here to teach but rather to describe.

So, some kind of focus was needed. What kind though? A question? Yes came the rods response “I needed a question”. This is strange because in previous communes I happily sat with a “I wonder what I’ll get attitude” and now it seemed that things had changed. Or had they? So I asked whether this was a one-off thing where I needed a question? No, well sort of No.

Ok to cut a long session of dowsing short here is how the results mounted up. Before I was semi-directionless and so that was a reflection of the commune. It provided ways in which to find direction rather than direction itself. Now that I had direction it provided knowledge and wisdom based on the questions that I asked.

Interesting isn’t it. As Gwas indicates its a two way street. Here is another set of interesting responses that I got – don’t know what put me on this track of questioning but…

Nature is nature…sounds weird at first but here is a thing…if you have bad energies in an environment and someone with no intent in mind puts a plant into that environment the negative energies will flourish and/or the plant will die. Life grows and intends other things to grow too. A tsunami swept away hundreds of people a few years ago on the coast of Sri Lanka and India. Earthquakes happen and kill humans, animals and plants. Nature is what it is. Sometimes if all the conditions (or enough of them) are favourable then the interaction proves fruitful.

Pardon that little interlude, once you get into this questioning and dowsing spiral you can end up in really strange places (and thought proving as above).

Getting back to the forest. Now I was casting about for a question and came up with the one I had gone there in the first place with Doh!

Doh

In a end of year post that I will be putting up I named the upcoming Winter Solstice as the twilight of the year and so I sat there in the spot asking whether there was any preparation required for the coming twilight of the year? It was quite a while before images and sensations crept into my thoughts. The first was…

It isn’t the twilight of the year. More accurately this time is the sunrise of the year when those that have slept begin to yawn and stir. For you who have tried to buck this trend by keeping active, the preparation will be to still yourself up to this time and so you will see some benefit.

Otherwise it will be like you going into a warm place and not taking your coat off, and so you will not feel the benefit of the coat when you return to the cold. So if you choose to stop for this short period of time you will see the rewards of starting again after the solstice. But if you don’t the rewards will still come but you they just won’t be so obvious (or seen). Just like the coat will keep you warm when you return to the cold but you don’t notice that it does.

Wow! what a piece of wisdom! Sunrise of the year! How is it that it makes sense after you see it? “So will there be anything in particular that I need to do on the Solstice itself” is the question I put out there…

The solstice is inevitable (I knew that!) it is a doorway that you can use to connect with spirit should you choose (ok…not spirit again). You’re best times is in the summer sun. You should work towards that time being the peak of your activities then they will be most fruitful. The Solstice marks the turning point. For all, it is the time of the New. It all begins then. Or rather the spiral starts its new orbit then. The energy that is released on that day is that…of beginnings…of starts…of rebirths. Use it to that effect.

Ok useful, but not as directed as ‘go here and do that’ which I was rather hoping for. The doorway to spirit stuff…I wasn’t to sure about. Note to the universe or its local representative…please refrain from all this spirit malarkey.

Next bit of meandering thought I had in mind was, what would the after effects of the Solstice be?

None, I got this in mind…before the solstice – work and eat – after the solstice – work and eat

OK, I guess GIGO applies to this kind of query too…Garbage In Garbage Out although I felt that the ‘work’ part wasn’t referring to work work.

Was all this of value? Value is a strange concept in this world and can only be defined from a personal perspective. I found the above knowledge to be profound in some instances, valuable in others. But that is me.

I did do a lot of other little bits of dowsing after to clarify a few things and search for the meanings behind others. But that information was personal to me and it’s not that I don’t want to share it here – there would be no point…

It’s like me saying I like vanilla flavoured ice-cream. Why would you want to know that?

O and I will leave you with this juicy note…Often Gwas and I have wondered why we don’t dowse more often at home…surely distance doesn’t matter? Surely I should be able to connect with the spirit of tree from anywhere? Why do we need to go out to sacred places for such communes…Here is an answer…

When communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with places or ‘things at places’ we still have to go there. We can connect to these places/trees/whatever from another location. But that connection still means that we go there in a non physical way.

If we go there in a non-physical way we lose that part of the commune. My dowsing around this area tells me that we are and we are not a trinity. The trinity is Mind, Body and Energy. The bit that makes us not a trinity is our Spirit. I’m not going to go into what I think each of these are here – because its only my view. But in terms of visiting a place here is what dowsing tells me happens…

When we visit a place our mind, body and energy are interacting with the place/tree/whatever. However when we distance connect it is only our energy that connects with the place – our mind gets a secondary input and our body a tertiary one. So when we go out there and visit sacred places we get a holistic experience. When we distant connect we get a translated experience.

Does that sound kooky? Again, my caring gene seems to be faulty on that score. However I dowsed the truth and for me that is what it came up with.

Speculate via the comments section below!

Kal

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 ‘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. 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 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. 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.