The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘double-helix’

I have had only a passing interest in the La Tene culture, having seen it mentioned infrequently in historical texts related to the druid culture and early Celtic tribes. However, when I did a Google Image search and found some pictures showing the shapes of the La Tene art I was also struck by the similarity. I have no doubt that Celtic and pre-Celtic civilisations had several influences that were more ‘energy-oriented’ than ours:-

1. They probably still had an oral history of the megalithic cultures who built the ancient stone monuments
2. They were closer to the land, the cycles of the seasons and Nature generally and this would have influenced their art, if only in an inspirational sense
3. There was undoubtedly more rock art in existence at the time to copy
4. Shamanic practises were still being used at that time, and so ‘getting in touch’ with Nature and her energies was a more regular practise than it is nowadays. Purely from a psychedelic standpoint this would bring forth such patterns through the visualisation of energy flows. cf. The Gundestrup Cauldron

It is not the spread or influence of the La Tene culture that interests me. As you can see from the diagram below it is considered that the influence of their culture was quite limited. What interests me is that such a culture, a culture with obvious similarities to other tribal cultures that are more native to this soil, was able to create artwork that seems to be based upon geodetic designs. Now, I introduce the term “geodetic” because I have been reading Guy Underwood. What I mean by the term is that the shapes and designs employed by the La Tene crasftsmen and artists mirror the underlying subtle energy forms that Kal and I have found, as have may others of course, when we have been dowsing around these islands.

In the first set of shapes I see the circle used as a central point, with branches swirling outward from that point. If you look at some of my diagrams from stone circles where I have sketched the shapes that emanate from the stones themselves you will recognise the similarity immediately. Good examples I can think of are Nine Ladies, Moel-Ty-Uchaf or Gors Fawr.

In this second set of diagrams of La Tene art I see another familiar shape – that of the double-headed spiral form that represents the travel of the sun across the sky in a year. This is actually found in subtle energy form as a sigil at several sites that I have dowsed recently, including Dinas Bran near Llangollen and at Birkrigg Moor stone circle in Cumbria. I am sure there are many more. The shape is defined as akin to that of a treble clef symbol, with one end more tightly wound that the other. The tightly wound end runs anti-clockwise and represents the female end (I’m sure there are parallels in life there, with the female being more tightly wound!) and the male end being fewer turns and clockwise.

It appears to me, and to Riverwolf – the kind reader who spotted this connection – that there is some inherent familiarity with these forms that is seeking expression in these symbols and the art that is produced using them. We are fortunate enough to still have them represented in our own time to be able to refer back to them, and to make such a connection. Whether or not that connection makes any difference to us on a practical level is not the significance. The significance comes from the acknowledgement – tacit or otherwise – that previous “tuned in” cultures were closer to the Megalith Builders that we are, and knew Nature’s flows more intimately than we allow ourselves to now. We hope this may soon be knowledge whose practicality is soon re-discovered.

In this sphere of recovering ancient knowledge the recognition of interesting coincidences can often put us back in touch with a clue to that way our ancestors thought, and how they viewed the world. Perhaps this expression of energy forms in art may be one of those clues?

Gwas.

Introduction

This year has been the most fascinating year of my life. I have embraced areas of study that I has only ever fantasized about being involved with. I have learned things that I never believed in before, and have travelled further along my spiritual path than I thought I could. I am more aligned with my life purpose through the work I have done this year than I expected to be. I have visited places that I never thought I would see, and am more in touch with earth energies as a result of it.

In the following sections I answer some general questions that I posed to try to encapsulate this progress. Also included is Kal’s interpretation of those same questions – you will find these in the last post in the series. I hope that by the time you finish reading our summary of this year you will see just how far we have travelled in such a short time span. Some people we meet still pour scorn on our relative “youth” in these subjects. Of course they are right, we never know enough, but when you see how much information we are consolidating from so many sources, I think you will see that we are working hard to cover all aspects of subtle energy research, and our work is fast-paced, thorough, considered and wide-ranging. Compared to many of those we meet, who seem to have a part-time dalliance with these subjects, I’m sure you will agree our work is fast, deep and meaningful, and everything we learn we gain from direct practical experience.

In the light of the amount of information produced this year I have divided the summary of the year into NINE posts, which I will be releasing for the rest of this month up until Christmas. Between Christmas and New Year I hope to reveal the results of the work that we were supposed to have undertaken this year – to find out whether earth energies do respond to specific times of the year. I think we have our answer already, but I’m going to wait for the Yule Winter Solstice to cap that research off.

What have I learned this year?

I learned so much this year that I almost feel as though my life’s education has started again. When I wrote it all out I found that I had accumulated so much information that I have had to divide it up into separate posts. The topics I chose to organise them into are:-

1. Natural Magick
2. Dowsing and Earth Energies
3. Tree, Spirit and Death Energies
4. Astrology and Astronomy
5. Ancient Sites
6. Miscellaneous
7. Highs, lows, surprises and disappointments
8. A list of all the sites we visited this year
9. A summary from Kal’s perspective

Please forgive the inevitable cross-over between these categories – I have tried to place the information into the category that was most pertinent, with the inevitable “other” or “miscellaneous” bucket to catch the overspill.

A big growth topic this year was that of Natural Magick, as was the Tree,Spirit and Death Energies category. It seems that Kal and I have had many of our preconceptions overturned and have had to eat our words on many occasions as a result of some detailed dowsing work and an open mind in researching those areas. I will start off with Natural Magick.

Section 1: Natural Magick

The following information can loosely be classified as “Natural Magick” – the use of nature’s own energy forces and human creative potential to produce new effects and visions. My definition, as you can see, is quite general – I don’t include the usual categories associated with Natural Magic, such as herbology, spell-making, and the like. I started out the year by defining the rules of working in this manner, and the additional information is supplementary to that, and only limited by those rules and the human creative potential, it would seem. The information is on no particular order, other than being grouped here.

1-1. Some rules of Natural Magick:

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

First stated early February. I have not been able to contradict any of these as the year progressed.

1-2. The historical/mythical figure of Merlin is a significant totem figure for me. He is like a form of spirit guide, but not personally connected to me. I encountered his presence at the ancient site of Dinas Emrys, near to the mountain of Snowdon in Wales – a place traditionally associatesd with Merlin.

1-3. Totem animals: Kal has the crow, I have the dove/pigeon/eagle. Theysometimes indicate significant events, sights or show us direction, and can guide our intuitive responses when we go out to sacred sites.

1-4. A pilgrimage may seem like an old-fashioned concept, something that may only be a religious remainder. Our experience of inadvertantly making such a journey was something quite profound: a spiritual journey through the chakra points, each one awakening at the special places we visited, and each one progressively opening up channels to higher spirituality and connectedness.

1-5. This year saw the emergence of the double helix of energy in my meditations. I now began to connect using two threads – one male and one female. This seemed to echo my progress into the second stage of Druid development – the Yew Stage.

1-6. Following a path with a heart has opened up my life to influences that have enhanced my well-being and desire for life. A path with a heart may be defined as being acts or intentions, decisions or choices that one makes that are instinctively right, and not based upon the usual rational characteristics of what is sensible, beneficial, rewarding, or easy.

1-7. Some sacred sites promote the ability to perform magical acts, such as telepathy. I encountered this particularly at sites that were less “famous”, i.e. less visited, and yet which still maintained a strong energy. The covered alleyway at Créhen in Brittany, in particular, demonstrated to me how easy it was to transmit information to another person whilst there.

1-8. Seeds or fruits containing seeds seem to serve as perfect gifts or things to leave at sacred sites. I felt from the outset that something ought to be given in return for gaining skills, visions or information, but the usual trinkets (ribbons and the like) did not suit me. Instead I have found that, for me, a seed, an apple or a pine cone, or something similar always gets a positive response when dowsed as to whether it is a suitable or fitting gift to leave at a site.

1-9. Sigils, often dowsed as manifestations of a site’s energy signature, can be found and used as means to gain entry into an energetic relationship with a site.

1-10. Cup-marked standing stones within stone circles have been found to be maps which can unlock the power centres within the circle for energy work. This now needs to be tested at a greater number of sites, but for several already this has proved to be accurate.

1-11. Setting up protection before doing any energy work in a new place is essential to self preservation. I now have to thank the unusual small man whom I met in Alderley Edge a couple of years ago – you were right and I was wrong – thanks for your advice!

1-12. Overcoming fear in a forest or other natural space allows you to be as one with the place, and this opens up the range of possible experiences, as animals will not be frightened of you. I now want to discover how being fearful may change one’s energy field.

1-13. I was shown a vision of an ancient magician performing a ritual in which the circle’s energy was activated and he was in charge of the energy. The elements of his work are things I will now have to put into practise myself next year. I have learned that rituals have their place, but that their paraphenalia is not for me.

1-14. Sigils and crop circle formations ought to be meditated upon to act as keys to the entry into the Otherworld. This was the lesson of the Knighton Hill maize circle. I have yet to discover anything from these patterns, however, so can’t confirm this.

1-15. A dream seat can be found at major stone circles used for transformation – this promotes shamanic flying, or out of body experiences of the profoundest kind. The Llangernyw experience definitively proved this to me, as did the Castlerigg stone circle.

The most magickal experience of the year

Glastonbury at Summer Solstice when I felt integrally connected to the whole area’s energies and felt like I was in an increasingly mystical state of mind.

Gwas.

3rd November 2008

This is the last part in the account of our time at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire. In this part I relate how we attempted some psionic experiments, I get to talk with the Wishing Tree, and we stumble upon the haunt of some exponents of sacred geometry. Oh yes, it’s all going on in this part of the tale! We really start pushing it now!

PART THREE

At the end of the last post we had been trying to figure out the unusual response (one rod straight ahead, one turning to point back at you, or swivelling round). We were thinking along the lines of Kal being attuned to male energies, whereas I was more attuned to female. On this full-moonlit night it seemed as though I was finding it easier to tune it to some of the features of the site in particular.

We decided to begin some experiments. We asked for the best place to do some energy work, and were each directed to a different power centre. Oddly, Kal was standing on the one where he had planted his umbrella, which I had taken to be the one I would go to. Oh no. I was directed to stand in the one that Kal had been sitting in, and had dowsed into a spiral earlier. So be it.

Nine Ladies stone circle

We decided beforehand that we would try to get into a state of mind where we might be able to connect to each other. The two power centres were linked by arcing neutral energies, connecting male to female, and travelling over and under in a vertically circular trajectory. We hypothesised that we may be able to send each other images. I tried to relax on the power centre, but I had a Kings of Leon tune running around in my head that wouldn’t shift. It kept repeating the same refrain. This was not funny! I was trying to work here! No good. I was mainly ‘awake’ and could tell my focus was wandering – what was Kal imagining, would it be a shape, or an animal? Oh, dear. This was hopeless! Despite the stillness of the dark night I kept dropping out of trance at the slightest sound – a distant rumble, a passing car on the hillside, a hooting owl, a gust of wind.

We tried. We failed. We weren’t even close. And it was because I couldn’t get into it. Was this another effect of the grounding stone? Had I not charged myself back up, or something? I pondered on that for quite a long time before heading off to the Wishing Tree for a drink. Time to get back to dowsing to reconnect with the stone circle. We headed to the grounding stone again, as it seemed to be the hub of the action this night. Hoping to get some answers I dowsed the stone again asking,

“Do I need to clear myself through this stone to regain my connection (with nature and the circle)?” I asked. The rods crossed for a ‘Yes’.

I put the rods down again and placed my hand on the stone instead of sitting on it I started to tune in. My mind started to gently swirl around like someone had taken the sink plug out and my brain was draining its water into the stone! Then it got faster. The vortex in my head reached such a pace that it sent me dizzy! I spun away from the stone, but kept turning around and around, staggering like a drunk whilst laughing elatedly at the madness of being spun around. My head was swimming in a really fun way, like having spun yourself around a broom handle and then tried to walk in a straight line.

Kal just stood looking on curiously as I waltzed around giggling and laughing. I asked something, anything, to give me a hand here! Couldn’t something help me to get out of this tailspin? A split second later I was prodded forcefully right in the back of the neck by one of the Wishing Tree’s branches! I jumped – woke up – and stopped spinning, thankfully. “Thank you!” I responded with genuine gratitude. I felt a warming under the tree’s canopy the air got lighter and more friendly. We had re-established a connection! That was just great. Now I was really happy, not giddy.

Back to the dowsing. Time must have been drawing on, but really I didn’t care what time it was. It wasn’t important. I had to know more before we left the site. Rods in hand I walked back to Kal in the circle to continue trying to locate some connections and flows. The first thing we found were the male and female spirals coming out each stone. Just like many other sites, but with the male spirals on the inside, and female spirals on the outside. Other sites have it the other way around.

Next we located the neutral lines that went between the stones. I went for the concept of opposing stones being connected and found a connection for each pair. Oddly, all of the lines were perfectly straight except for one, which bent back into the circle stone in a short curve. Was it going bending in order to avoid something? It seemed to coincide with the avoidance of the location of the two power centres we had been standing on. Noted anyway, if not understood. Kal, however, had found a few connections that were not a part of this perfect ‘spoked wheel’ pattern. Some stones connected with others that were not directly opposite. We vowed to return to map them all when it was lighter and we could draw them out.

Whereas our sketches of energy patterns at sites are representational (and not always to scale) you should compare them with those of StoneDowser on his site (listed also in our links section on the right hand side of this page). Mr. Ian Honeygood, now sadly passed away, was quite precise in some of his diagrams, although he only seemed to recognise two types of line: a radial spoke and a ‘ritual path’, which he surmises was the path taken by the worshippers at the sites. Well, that concept doesn’t convince me, I’m sorry to say, but that’s a discussion for another day. Either way, he has done some accurate and helpful diagrams to show those two types of energy formations.

StoneDowser’s ritual path is what I would call the unwinding of the nemeton of the site. Like Hamish Miller we often find three (he finds more, but then he’s like that) circles of male energy enclosing sites, and this energy trail then comes into the site to spiral to a point which we usually confirm as being a power centre for one of us (i.e. male or female oriented energies dwell in or emit from these points). Each time around the three outer spirals of the male nemeton energy the path gets closer to the stones. At Nine Ladies it started about three feet away from the stones, going to about one and a half feet, then six inches for the last time around. The path then turns into the ‘entrance’ of the site before looping into a spiralling energy centre.

On my last visit to Nine Ladies I had dowsed a link between the Wishing Tree oak and the main power centre, coming into the site via the ‘entrance’. I decided to verify if that was still present or not. It was. Exactly the same path, same entrance point, same power centre, same direction of spiral, everything. Good. Consistency was being achieved in some of this dowsing now.

As we were near the tree Kal decided to try his luck in doing a bit of communing with it. Now, I have already recounted my own difficulties with this species, and particularly this tree. It is amenable to contact, but it has to be handled very carefully and with great patience. Kal is, how can I put this, not one for such finesses! In all openness and in his usual hearty style I watched him outstretch a metaphorical hand of welcome. And then I watched him knock his head on a low branch and stumble over a tree root. I pretended I hadn’t noticed this blatant rebuttal. He tried again, complaining to it that he was trying to be nice. Nothing. What did he expect? He was not one for the patient building of relationships that such communications often insist upon. His talents lie elsewhere, I guess. I tried to wipe off my wide smile. “Give up, mate!” I implored. He was fighting a losing battle, it seemed.

One thing we both noticed about the site that night was how slow the energies were. As we dowsed them we walked slowly; as we circled the site the energy plodded along with us but didn’t overtake us as it has at other circles in sunlight, or my time at Moel-Ty-Uchaf. The Genius Loci was docile this evening. Nocturnal nature, however, was wide awake. Occasionally we would get a hint of agreement at just the right time whilst dowsing or communing – a sudden gust of wind, or a hooting owl would chime in at just the apropos moment.

Things had gone well. We had learned useful things about the way that energy was being transformed in the circles by specific stones. With this, and more, still buzzing in our heads we retreated one last time to the Wishing Oak to pack and leave. On my way there my eye was drawn for a fourth time to a twig of laurel lying by the north side of the circle – the moonlight made its dark leaves shine with an odd tint. I picked it up, and placed it inside one of the many crevices formed by the oak’s roots, and left it with thanks and good wishes to the tree. It gave enough out often enough – why not have some back?

As we wandered back to the car I asked if we could try to see what kind of place might be benefiting from the flow of energy that I knew went down the cliff edge via a steep gulley. Kal was game, so we drove down a side of the hill that I had never been down before. Kal said this was the way he often came up, so I was confident we could find our way back to the Bakewell area pretty easily soon enough. Ten minutes later Kal was saying, “Well, I’ve never been in this bit before!” as we trundled curiously through a small town that suddenly arose next to a river.

We passed a pub called “The Square and Compass” and that struck a chord – that was a masonic sigil. It would seem that Darley Dale, as the place turned out to be, was home to at least one group of people who were interested in ancient secrets! Societies are not for me, however. My path is mainly alone or with Kal, and my progress is swift because of that, I feel. It’s my path I’m treading, not following someone else’s agenda.

There was a lot to think about, and it kept us in conversation for several weeks afterwards. To recap, we learned:-

a) The rules of the collaboration with Nature must always be followed to get good results – a quiet mind is essential; good strong intent; a clean body (not caffeine-fuddled, tobacco doesn’t help the cause either); be prepared for fun, but do your work seriously and focused.
b) The double helix appears at several stone circles, possibly many more, linked to an outlier stone, which is identified as a main feature of the energy field system at a stone circle
c) Moon energy is slower, possibly weaker than sun energy. Certainly it is less vigorous.
d) A stone in or close to the circle, usually flat, acts like a solar, lunar and stellar panel that absorbs the radiant light.
e) In moonlight, on the correct power centre, we were both unable to experience any intuitive responses either between each other or towards any external location. The EMF was supposedly low, as it was night time. A lecture by Serena Roney-Dougal taught us that at times of low EMF are more favourable for telepathy and remote viewing. I blew that experiment by not being able to quieten my mind.
f) Although StoneDowser didn’t dowse this site (to our knowledge) his ‘ritual path’ was present – a spiraling line coming from outside to inside the circle. The radial links between the stones that he drew at other sites were also there. We thought that the lines bent between some stones sometimes, and that there were more links than simply those that were opposing stones.

It would seem that manifestation patterns can be willed into a particular shape, although my intention got transformed whilst I was forming it in my mind. Is this due to an interactive collaboration between human and nature, or was I simply unable to hold a shape using my willpower? The shape dowsed as increasingly complex when Kal came to verify it. I also verified Kal’s shape too. “Thaat be a pentangle, and no mistake, zurr.” What is it about wizards and their five-sided shapes?

Don’t phone in – it’s just for fun!

Gwas.

3rd November 2008

This is part two of a three part account of our time at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire. We visited in the late winter evening and in this part we found out the importance of particular stones in the circle.

PART TWO

We continued our dowsing in the moonlit deep and misty darkness of Stanton Moor’s finest neolithic structure – The Nine Ladies stone circle.

Something important would be revealed to me soon – I could feel it. This is how it had worked so far. I was sure there could be a confidence in this notion if I played by the rules and didn’t blow it. So many ways to fail – you have to develop the desire to have a resolute intention, yet passively impartial enough to assess the information you receive with both sides of your brain. Achieving balance is the druidic way I was following. Balance ensures grace. Grace provides a connection between body and spirit, and my mind with these ancient site spirits, whatever their energetic make-up. So I needed balance. Kal pointed to the flat stone that looked like a perfect seat. “The grounding stone?” he suggested.

We had identified this particular flat-topped square stone in the northern side (due north), when we had dowsed the circle earlier, as being a stone that had a mixture of male and female energies. When we sat upon it there was the distinct impression that something was being drawn out of you slowly. If you sit on such stones in circles for more than a few minutes you feel sapped of energy, literally lethargic and your mind is drained of will power – you can’t think of anything worth doing! It’s very strange. You have to try to shake yourself out of it – almost re-invigorating yourself to make neurons fire again and generate some momentum. Kal called these stones “grounding stones”, which contains the implication of in some way discharging the body of electrical energy, of neutralising it.

A test of this phenomenon might be to identify people with different energy levels, and to see what effect the stones have on them. Is the draining effect stronger on those with more energy? Would this mean that we should see the greatest effect with such people, the greatest degree of change in mood and activity? We will check this in due course.

In addition to any grounding effect Kal identified that this stone would also be the stone to re-balance any imbalances in our own energy fields. I have little experience in such things, so I am open to simple experimentation, and I usually try these things out. This time I found that when I sat on it I got the same draining effect which I left until the very last moment when I felt I had enough will power to do what I needed to do next! Which was to head for the main power centre to “re-charge” myself – which it duly did, and very quickly. I noticed this at Cerrig Pryfaid recently too. A discharged body feels a much greater surge of energy when standing on a power centre in a stone circle than if you are already well balanced and full of energy. Feel free to disagree with that outrageous generalisation and irrational assumption as you see fit. I would go test it for myself, if I were you.

I remember walking for over and hour and a half, and finally up a very steep hill to get to Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire (see previous post). By the time we arrived at the stunning cromlech I was exhausted on what was a very warm day. I will never forget the feeling that both M and I got from standing with our backs to the central pillar stone. It was a surge of joyful energy so emboldening that I burst out laughing and had a moistness in the corners of my eyes. It was that incredible. Never forget it. I haven’t laughed so much since the last time I saw Bill Hicks. Except this was a rush of pure joy. An ecstatic moment.

Oh, I’m rambling again. Back to the story for a brief spell (there’s one of those puns again). Feeling re-invigorated we wondered at the purpose of these stones. Were they for discharging energies that were blocked, absorbed by people, or built up to harmful levels? How was this stone being powered? What was the nature of the energy exchange in and around this stone?

Kal identified that the stone was the most important stone in the circle, but not the most important at the whole site – that was the King Stone. Again we spent a moment considering the implications of this gnowledge we had been given by the dowsing rods. Even if we were merely expressing some of our own guesses at a subconscious level this was taking us in an interesting and very coherent direction. It was suggesting to us that the King Stone as the engine of the energies. With it being the source of the twin energy streams that formed the double helix which ultimately encircled the whole site the King Stone was vital, in every sense of that word, to the functioning, the correct and continued functioning of the circle’s energies. This was a very important working assumption that felt like confirmation of something we had guessed but never really thought about.

Recently, after this episode, I found a site where energies were again fed into the circle by an outlying stone, and which also split into two streams – a male line going anti-clockwise around to join a large circle stone, and the female line that went in a clockwise direction to also re-join in the same large stone. Clearly, to me, this was showing me that the circle was powered, and its energies contained, by the outlier, or King stone, and that the two streams formed a complete circuit of energy. Does this specific formation occur naturally anywhere else? Has anyone found such a formation anywhere else? I haven’t heard of anything like that elsewhere, or found anything similar at natural features such as Lud’s Church ravine, or in a cave. In places such as that the energies are much more organically distributed and connected, whereas at man-made sites the energies form geometric patterns, shapes and alignments.

So, what was the grounding stone’s part in the circle. Kal identified that it was important to the circle, and it’s functions. We determined to find out a bit more about its function. I suggested we start by determining how the stone was using energy. For every question we asked we told each other what we were going to ask so that we could do the same. Even though we were only feet away I couldn’t see what Kal was doing other than making out that his shape was getting larger as he moved forwards. Well, another validating test, I mused. We looked up at the bright full moon. Hmmm. We asked about the stone:-

• Was there moon energy going into this stone? – Yes. Strongly yes. Full across-the-chest crossing of the rods.
• Was there sun energy going into this stone? – A tiny bit. A tiny bit? Well, we considered, moonlight is actually reflected sunlight, so…. we suppose that’s technically correct!
• Was there star energy going into this stone? – Yes. A small amount. A bit more than the sun energy registered for.
• Was there male energy going into the stone? – Yes.
• Was there female energy going into the stone? – Yes. Oh – so both – that confirms our earlier dowsing findings.
• Was there neutral energy going into the stone? – No.
• Were male/female/neutral energies coming out of the stone? All three got a positive response.
• What about a combination of the types? Was the sun energy the same as the male energy? Yes. And the moon energy was the same as the female? Yes. Was the star energy the neutral energy? No. So there was some alignment there, but neutral was not the same as starlight energy.

On to questions about how the stone worked now. Still with us? Good. We asked:-

• Was the stone absorbing the moon and other energies? Yes. Tonight it was predominantly the moon, of course. You could almost feel it being stood over it – the top of the stone was perfectly reflecting the moon directly above it. It looked like a lunar and solar panel. not forgetting starlight.
• Was the stone literally transforming the moonlight and starlight into energy that fed into the circle? Yes. Strongly yes. Strongly is not the right word. More…encouraging: “Well done, you’ve got it!”. It’s funny, You feel a little pleased during the reaction of the rods that you asked the correct question.
• Were the male and female energies coming out of the stone powered by that transformation of energies? Yes. I’m giving you the highlights here.

There were some stupid questions that I’ve omitted for brevity (Ha ! Brevity !) and you’ll know which those are as soon as you dowse them. I try to ignore my stupid questions and hope they’ll go away in their own time.

Our next set of questions related to, well, how we related to the stone. How else can I say it? We didn’t intend it that way, but that was how it turned out. I asked whether the stone was inherently ‘male’ in itself. I got a positive response. Kal did the question and got the same response. I asked if it was also female. It was. Kal dowsed it and got his funny reaction again. He got one rod turning in at 90 degrees, the other didn’t move. Aha! A chance to see if we could work this out. I got Kal to ask exactly what I had asked. Same response. But I got a positive response – clear – typical. Kal’s was atypical, that’s for sure.

I asked a straight out direct question. Was the reaction Kal was getting due to our own differences as people? Yes. Kal confirmed this as he dowsed the same question. We already knew that Kal had more favourable responses, and was intuitively guided to, power centres of pre-dominantly male energy, whereas I had an affinity for the female power centres. Here was Kal being unable to dowse for the inherent female-ness of the stone, but he could for the male. Under the strong moonlight I could do both. Was the moon having that effect, or was there the possibility that the roles may be reversed elsewhere in bright sunlight? We wait for some bright sunlight to test this! It is winter in England.

Sunlight is at a premium!

Gwas

Follow a moonlit path.

3rd November 2008 (full moon)

This is the first installment of a three-part post about a visit that Kal and I undertook to Nine Ladies stone circle in Stanton Moor, Derbyshire one dark winter evening. It’s a tale of adventure involving dowsing, druidry and darkness.

PART ONE

It was a dark and stormy night….no, it wasn’t actually. It was a fairly light evening, misty and very still, with only the occasional breeze stirring anything at all. We drove over the Cat & Fiddle route (A537) from Macclesfield and straight into a fog bank near to Tegg’s Nose Country Park (how can a nose have a whole country park to itself – surely a gross waste of space!?).

Inching along we managed to find our way back to Stanton Moor on the far side of Bakewell in Derbyshire by instinct alone (and the fact that we’d been here many times each independently, and once together). Tonight was different from all other times though. It was night time and the moon was full. Oooh! Spooky! Not really. If you’ve followed my recent posts “Alone in the Dark” (Part 1 / Part 2) then you’ll know I’ve been preparing myself for things like this already. Kal has been trained by long night walkabouts and so we were both completely unfazed by the journey across dark fields, through the woods, and into the circle of stones on Stanton Moor. The gentle hooting of owls was almost comical. Comedy was the theme of the evening, as it turned out, but I’ll come back to that later.

In the ambient moonlight cast through the low thin cloud cover there was a silver path picked out through the woods by a quirk of the angle of light. It led us with ease towards the circle without putting a foot wrong in the darkness. We both remarked, somewhat gratefully, that the going was easy and pleasant on this unseasonably warm evening. There was a slight haze of mist, but that just added to the wondrous effect.

As we approached down the sandy and subtly moonlit path I again felt the urge to arrive at the circle via the short path through the trees. We had walked in from the Stanton Lees village side (not across the moor) as this path was shorter. As we walked up the rise to the circle I felt a wave of energy that hit me, as before, gently in my stomach. “Can you feel that?” I asked Kal. “Oh yes.” he responded. Then he walked ahead of me and began to really feel it. He stopped too, “It’s really strong here.” “I’m sparking with it!” I responded. My hair felt like someone was holding a balloon above it and my face was tingling gently. This was either a particularly energetic time, or we were getting better at detecting it. An owl hooted in agreement, and I smiled. Coincidence.

The circle awaited us like some sleeping giant’s crown waiting to be snatched by midnight thieves as we stole up to a point ten feet away and breathed in the night air. It was as though we were taking in the aura of the place, deep into our lungs, in order to quickly acclimatise to the flowing, sweeping energies we could feel that the site was bathed in.

We placed out backpacks just below the rise to the circle and got out our copper L-rods. Why copper? Because they look nice. Our first mission was to get accustomed to the circle again. We consulted our crib sheet of questions and suggestions for things to look for. We started by sitting on each of the stone in turn to see if we could find a stone that drained energies. We had found one here before, and I had found one since then at Cerrig Pryfaid. Quickly we identified it as a small stone with a flat top, perfect for sitting on. Just like the one at Cerrig Pryfaid. Good start. “A draining stone!” I claimed. “A grounding stone!” Kal retorted. Possibly either or both, we agreed. Same function, different slant.

Kal walked off to the King Stone with his rods clinking his location as he disappeared into the night’s shadows. I decided to approach the tree. As I got within a few feet of the edge of its canopy, I introduced myself to the tree (rather matter-of-factly, on reflection) in my mind. Immediately I felt a block pushing against my stomach, the area that Castenada would call the Assemblage Point. I recognised this from previous encounters with oak trees – I was being barred! I didn’t need a second hint, so I stopped and walked away back towards the circle, vowing to return soon when I was in a better frame of mind. Too hasty! I scolded myself. Always too hasty with oaks. They’re slow, old, and demand a greater respect than other types of tree. One day I will abide by The Rules. I’m still trying to work out what they are, but the nature spirits (or Genius Loci, as Kal refers to these sentient entities) are being very patient and consistent with me, which is helping the process along nicely.

I walked up to the King Stone to see what Kal was up to. He was dowsing down towards me in a tell-tale meander from side to side. “Male line.” he responded to my pending question. “Coming out of the King Stone.” I had found such a line on a previous visit, as had Kal. I was sure I remembered there was a female line coming out too, so I dowsed for that, and found it going alongside the path Kal had just described for the male energy line. I did the male line as well and found it curved in exact opposition to the female line. Another double-helix formation like Cerrig Pryfaid! We dowsed some more questions – taking turns to verify each others findings, which seemed particularly validating because we wouldn’t take any visual cues from each other as we could only see each other’s rods as we got a foot or so away from the stone.

• We asked for the direction of the flow? – The rods swung towards the stone circle.
• Was the King Stone the source of the energies? – Yes.
• Did the King Stone have a connection to the circle? – Yes.
• Did the King Stone have any energy of its own? – Yes.
• Was the King Stone exclusively male? – No.
• Was the King Stone exclusively female? – No. – Oh! A surprise there. Could it be neutral?
• Was the King Stone exclusively neutral – No. NO! Well, then what was it? A combination?
• Was the King Stone a combination of male and female ? – Yes. Ahhhhh. Interesting!
• Did the energy go out of the King Stone away from the circle as well as towards it? – No.

Kal then dowsed the auric extent of the King Stone on the side away from the circle and found it to be about 7-8 feet away, surrounding the stone in a circle. So that was the extent of that stone’s ‘influence’, if you like. Its energies were contained within a small circle, and bound to the stone circle down the way from us, linked by a double helix of male and female energy lines.

So it seemed the stone, containing a combination of male and female energies was able to either split the energies and propel them towards the stone circle, or, the circle was drawing male and female energies simultaneously but separately from the King Stone, and drawing them down to itself. Either way it was connected, so where did it go after it left the King Stone? I followed the two lines simultaneously by instructing one rod to follow the male line, whilst the other should follow the female line. Would it work? Indeed it would, but it was very easy to get into all sorts of weird Hannibal Lecter poses if you weren’t careful. At times the relative amplitudes of the waveforms meant that I lost connection with the waves until they converged again further down their paths. Eventually they parted company at a point five feet in front of the stone circle, each going around the circle – male left, female right – until the male line continued around the circle to rejoin itself. The female line spiralled into a flat stone on the right of the circle (looking from the King Stone). This flat stone registered for female energy too. You’d think so, I guess, if a female line comes into it, but I thought I’d check anyway. These things have a habit of overcoming your assumptions regularly, and making you look like a lost Mark Thatcher.

As I stood on one side of the circle I found that I could see the stone circle’s nemeton, the energy positioned seven feet away from the circle, as a band of pale moonlight. I gazed amazed. It was probably because that’s the path that people take to walk around it and the grass is flattened down making it shine, I told myself. It’s a trick of the light caused by the reflection of moonlight on the ridge here that’s reflecting the light down to its base and…I looked at other places where people walked – other paths – no light. And I could see the nemeton circling the site, so it wasn’t a feature of the light falling at a particular angle relative to where I was standing – I could walk around along its path and it was still visible as a whole circle around the stones at every point.

I stopped wondering how I could see the ring of light, and just wondered. It was a clear path like to one I had followed down from Moel-Ty-Uchaf one night, the path that had delivered me safely to the farmer’s track without a stumble. Then it had flowed in straight lines, turning at acute angles when it needed to bypass uncomfortable drops in height. I had considered it to be starlight because the stars were the only source of illumination; but on this night, with the cloud cover and a full moon, this must be moonlight, right? Flowing in a circle. I don’t know. But it was there – a ghostly pale ring of light that formed a perfect circle around the stones.

I wanted to know more about it so I confirmed that the nemeton’s direction of flow was clockwise, and then set off with an instruction to the rods to follow the nemeton energy. I know what you’re thinking – did he check which gender the nemeton registered as? Yes, I did. Remarkably I remembered to do that this time – it was male, in line with the direction of flow of the male line coming out of the King Stone. Oh, was this the King Stone energy then? I followed with interest to see if the line rejoined itself. It was looking like the male energy line was forming the outer energy extent – it’s auric reach.

I followed the nemeton’s line around back to the entrance gap in the circle. There it moved slightly inwards from its seven foot diameter. Now it was a foot to the right, a foot nearer the circle. I walked around again. At the entrance it moved again. Now it was tracing a circle, still clockwise, alongside the stones themselves. This was the third revolution. As I came to the entrance a third time the line dove into the circle to describe a spiral inside the circle itself. It spiralled round about four or five times before ending at the exact centre of the circle. Not a place we had really investigated yet. I remember that the exact centre was the crossing point for the neutral lines that criss-crossed from stone to opposing stone. That I had found on my last visit. Would they be here again? I made a mental note for us to check tonight.

While I had been busy with the nemeton, Kal had been dowsing the energies inside the circle. He had found female energies inside that went between certain stones – a handy-for-sitting-on flat stone, and a stone about four positions away from it. He had also stuck his umbrella in the power centre that I had found on all my visits there. I was barely visible in the gloom, but you could see it before you walked into it, which saved us from castration on several occasions. Wherever we dowsed inside the circle and outside of it we always ended up back at that power centre, slightly offset from the exact centre, close to the entrance gap in the stones. This thing was a hub for these lines. Male lines flowed into it, and female lines flowed out of it. The male lines came in clockwise, and the female lines emerged roughly anti-clockwise (some went through the air, and under the ground, but their direction of flow was always anti-clockwise). I laughed uncontrollably sometimes as I arrived yet again directly to the umbrella unfailingly even though it was barely visible (a black umbrella – I ask you! Luminous orange would have been more helpful!) Kal made a quip about the circle not having seen such mirth since mediaeval times, or something. Well, you have to enjoy yourself, don’t you? It tickles me when the dowsing is so unerringly capable of sending you round a path a hundred metres long, only to bring you back to join again at exactly the place you started from – in the dark. The Cosmic Giggle is felt in many ways.

Other formations that we found at the site that night were:-

1. arcing energies both over and under ground from and to the power center and a stone
2. a manifestation that I made on the power centre of four petals (I had tried to visualise three, but it changed in my mind to four)
3. Kal made a manifestation of what he called a “PentiKal” – a five sided shape.

We stopped at this point for a break. Much of the preparation for energy work seems to be to dowse for the placement, orientation and nature of the energy lines first. Then we have a starting point for any energy work later. Now was the time to switch tack. We ate our snacks underneath the Wishing Tree oak, but I could tell Kal was restless there, whereas I was perfectly at ease.

I took the chance to do a proper re-introduction to the Wishing Tree oak as Kal went off to do some more dowsing on the King Stone. I wasn’t looking for anything ‘deep and meaningful’ with the oak, just a chat, so I only went into a light trance. I was pleased to get a polite but friendly connection (how can I describe that feeling? It’s how you feel, not anything you hear or see). In that state the oak and I shared snappy funny comments with each other, and I ended up laughing heartily again. This was a sure sign of madness. Look it up in “The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Personality Disorders (Edited by John M. Oldham, M.D., M.S., Andrew E. Skodol, M.D., and Donna S. Bender, Ph.D.). Or read about it in some good druid books like “Tree : Essence, Spirit and Teacher” by Simon & Sue Lilly or “Living Druidry” by Emma Restall-Orr.

You may remember from previous posts that it was at this tree that I received the message “The Sun is the Key. The Moon is the Door.” on my last visit. This had set me thinking for a while until I realised that I just had to let the answer reveal itself. That was the mode of thinking that I was learning to trust again. It was just up to me to invest enough energy in the idea to set the thread running, then be attentive to the sign leading to the answer in the future. I invested emotion into it – I projected love tempered with gratitude for a few moments. A breeze whipped up for a second stirring the branches of the oak, then just as quickly calmed. Thank you. I was on the right path. An important thing to know.

Gwas

Making friends with wise trees.