The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘faerie’

At the start of Day 2 on Iona we were greeted by cloudy weather. This can’t be right? Let’s see whether that continues when Kal gets out into the open! He always brings the sun out. Kal was a bit tired from his exploits the previous evening. I’ll let him explain that. I had slept well, whereas he was paying back the time he’d borrowed. Tiredness would turn out to be the least of our challenges this day. Iona has been probably the most intellectually and spiritually challenging places we have visited yet. As you read the rest of my posts you will begin to see how it made me have to grapple with lots of concepts that I had thought were the realm of New Age dreamers, or the stuff of pure mythology. On Iona, mythology seems to be made real for the seeker! Judge for yourself.

Our intended destinations for the day had been largely decided by the available sites as listed on the Northern Antiquarian WordPress blog. We had scheduled to visit Sidhean Mor, then a hillfort called Dun Bhuirg north of that, and finally to backtrack to head to the southern tip of the island to see a standing stone called Clach na Glaistig. This post will cover the first of these sites, and subsequent posts will describe an adventure from high to low and back again. In this post we’ll meet some otherworldly forms, and begin to fulfil a major part of my quest to Iona, that of finding an alien energy spot. More on that soon. There’s some even stranger stuff to get through before we get to that!

Belief and Angels

This time last year I didn’t believe in angels. Well, let me say instead, I had no reason to believe in angels. They were, after all, not part of my Nature pantheon. I had encountered elementals, nature spirits, and to some extent the energetic remainders of humans. The realms of ‘higher’ energy forms – angels and demons – that was something I steered well clear of. Until one unexpected encounter in a graveyard. After that, I moved my position one notch up – from “Have had no experience of that” to “Have had one experience of that“. This makes me slightly less dubious and a tinge more accepting of the possibility of angels. but not at this point a believer.

Angel Hill – same profile as Oran’s mound and Glastonbury Tor

Next on our tour of Iona was the so-called Angel Hill, a hill where it is reputed that Columcille (St.Columba) was observed to be surrounded by a host of angels. Well, what would happen for us?

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Kal and I have decided that we will tailor our visits to sacred sites to take advantage of the effects of the Earth’s Magnetic Field (EMF) and the site’s specific construction. For example, we may predominantly look to visit stone circles at times when the moon is full, or barrows when the moon is new. For this reason we chose to go to two of our favourite circles in Derbyshire at a time just past the full moon in July.

The Impossible Sun

All the way from Cheshire to Derbyshire was gloomy and damp. Rain was either pending or descending, and as we came over the Buxton road (A537) we hit the mist and the sheets of driving rain that I had anticipated all morning. We were bound to get wet on our travels this day, I thought. There was not one bright area in the whole sky, only dull slate-grey sheets of rain, drizzle, mist or combinations of the three. Of course, this weather report did not dampen Kal’s spirits. As I ribbed him about “inappropriate clothing” and a southern temperament he seemed to be developing, he reminded me that his confidence in his ability to call upon the Sun was born of his special relationship with the powers of Nature that he had developed since he had found his solar calling. I scoffed, despite having been shown to be wrong on previous occasions. This time there was simply NO WAY there could possibly be anything but rain for our stone circle visit. The rain continued to fall as we neared Bakewell, and continued still as we made our way up to Nine Stones Close. This time, there would not be any need for an apology – the roles would be reversed!

As we stepped out of the car the rain halted. Ah yes, I thought, but only to continue any moment! I got my wet weather gear on – waterproof trousers, coat, hat in my bag, boots. Even the sheep that we passed as we climbed besides Robin Hood’s Stride rocks seemed surprised to see anyone out on a day like this. We trudged through wet grass in the fields and made our way to the stones. As we approached I conceded to Kal that there was a tiny spot of lighter grey above us, but still maintained that this was nothing like a ray of sunshine. Could he deliver, I taunted? Seconds later the sun broke through an invisible gap in the clouds and shone right in my face…

Kal calls the Sun to Nine Stones Close

Kal nearly jumped twenty feet into the air shouting, “See! Unbeliever! Told you I could make the sun shine! You should listen to a Sun Boy!” I was shame-faced again. How had he done this? All around was leaden grey cloud, and right above us the tiniest sliver of an opening through which the sun shone on us. It was like some kind of West End spotlight that was highlighting Kal’s bizarre hop-skippety dancing as he jigged about in glee at his “win”. I promised yet again to post my shame in full view for all to see. Never ever again will I doubt his sun-calling talents. I think I said that last time, but this time I mean it. He’s never ever been beaten in four years! Even my impoverished brain can judge that this is statistically improbable.

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RJ Stewart - scares the pimples off toads

Every now and again I come across and idea that I can really tune into. One such idea is espoused by author R.J.Stewart in his book “The Well of Light – From Faery Healing to Earth Healing“. Something tells me from Mr.Stewart’s demeanour that spending time with that man might be a scary experience, and he looks a bit mad. But then, look at some of the ideas that I now go along with – several years ago I would have said the same of myself!

The idea that got me excited was his concept of the Seven Aptitudes required to work with the Faery entities which could provide a gateway into developing skills such as healing. So, what is “faery healing” and what are these “seven aptitudes” he espouses? Well, let’s examine his concept of faery healing.

Stewart says that faery healing is a healing process that involves energy-working involving the co-operation of energetic beings who we have traditionally called “faery folk”. He spends some chapters explaining that there are different types of faery folk, and that they present themselves to us in different ways. He goes on to label the smaller kinds as one sort, and the hive or larger, more complex entities as something else – yet stressing that they are all size and quantity differentiations of the same thing – an intelligent spirit form that is all around us if only we bothered to pay attention to it.

Without getting any further into the healing aspects – which I will cover once I have read, absorbed, and worked through the book – I wanted to bring out the “aptitudes” that he mentions as being the seven aspects through which you might encounter the faery realm, and through which you can work with it.

He states that we all have these aptitudes within us, but that they are often latent unless accidentally triggered or brought out through working on them, or naturally develop as part of some spiritual work we may be involved in.

The seven aptitudes he lists as being:-

1. Working with Water
2. Working with Stones
3. Working with Allies and Co-Walkers
4. Working with Plants and Herbs
5. Working with Living Creatures
6. Working with Touch (palms of the hands or fingertips)
7. Working with Signatures (patterns in the landscape)

Let me do a little translation and explanation of these aptitudes based upon the work that Kal and I do, and you may begin to see that we work with almost every aspect of these aptitudes, although we clearly favour one or two more than others.

Working with water is the energising of water with subtle energy. Kal especially has done a lot of work with this and it is now a part of his daily routine to energise water. For me, water is in balance with the other elements that I work with, but I favour Air above the other forms. I have a particular affinity with Air and its spirits, and I leave Water work to those who feel this affinity. I can find water with my dowsing rods, but I don’t make that a regular feature of my work because I live in Britain where water is an abundant resource.

Working with stones is defined as working with standing stones, stone circles, stones that have an energy signature, or ones that we pick up and use. Into this category I would also add crystals. Well, this is almost 90% of what Kal and I work with at any given sacred site! We are forever picking stones up, using crystals, and working at sacred sites. This would be one of our foremost aptitudes, I would say, but the rods say otherwise! The dowsing rods indicated to me that this was an aptitude I had, but not a strong one! Well, I live and learn.

Working with Allies and Co-Walkers. For me this translates as working with faery entities and “ascended” human forms. I define it as all of the “Underworld” and “Otherworld” work that we do in communion with spirit forces, and I include death energy forms in this too. In recent years this has gained a certain degree of prominence in our work, as I’m sure you have discovered by reading this blog! When I dowsed whether this was a strong aptitude for me I got a very strong response. News to me!

Working with plants and herbs is not something we do particularly. We tend to limit this work to our interactions with teaching trees. I have a couple of books on herb lore and tree lore, which I intend to read up on at some point, but this is not our major focus. Stewart emphasises that this aptitude is not related to the substance of plants, but to their spirit forces. There are other people for whom working with plant spirits is very important. I am not one of those people at the moment, but I respect their work.

Working with living creatures is something that we have begun to recognise in our work with birds and totem animals. Reading the signs of bird behaviour is something that I attach to almost every task now, and my totem is the hawk, but this is not exclusive. Recently a badger guided me to return to a task at a particular and more appropriate time, for example. I would again say this is not our primary focus, but we do recognise its increasing significance in our work.

Healing from the palm chakras being developed

Working with touch is something that I wrote about recently in two ways. The first was when I discussed druid divination techniques that involved “deviceless dowsing” or feeling for energy through the medium of touch – through the hands. Also I have recently posted about my experiences about being guided on my current healing task by being shown that my palms chakras are the way that I should take in and give out healing energy forces. This is going to assume much greater significance over the next six months, I’m sure. Also, remember how I was shown an image of being able to work with plants through touch this Spring? I would classify this as an aptitude that I am getting increasingly involved with. Add to that Kal’s Reiki master level training and I think we have this one covered!

As far as the dowsing rods were concerned this was another area that responded positively and very strongly. Possibly the strongest response of all, indicating that for me this healing path is something I am going to have to let emerge, as it seems to be a talent I have been keeping hidden for too long.; Interestingly, this was what my psychic friend Mike had said to me many months ago but I had put it to one side at the time.

Working with signatures in the land is the final aptitude that Stewart discusses. Stewart defines a signature as being a pattern of behaviour in the landscape, in Nature, that delivers a message to the natural magician. For example, Kal and I often talk of seeing “signs” or “omens” in our surroundings – the appearance or sound of birds, clouds, wind, an animal crossing your path. The patterns in the landscape can take any form and they are always only available and meaningful to you personally – they mean nothing to anyone else. They are specific to place and time, and to your frame of mind.

I would like to add another aspect to this particular aptitude. Kal and I think of these energy signatures as being “sigils”, or subtle energy in geometric forms. A quick search on the site will reveal many posts in which we describe and utilise these energy signatures in our work. These were particularly important when we started with the dowsing aspects of our work, but now that we have moved on into other areas these sigils are less important for us. Nevertheless, I do not diminish their significance, only the use for us at this time.

R.J.Stewart, in a bid not to alienate his audience, states that we ought to have at least one of these aptitudes, and that will suffice. I think we can say that Kal and I have developed most of these aptitudes by following our spiritual paths without prejudice or undue preference. Obviously some have developed more than others, and some may never develop much further than us trying them out and seeing where they take us at that time, especially as we begin to concentrate on those aptitudes that we gain the most from, or which give the most to others.

Going with the flow of the universe has been a challenging but incredibly rewarding learning course for us. We welcome developing all seven aptitudes, and can’t wait to see how they lead us through this healing phase of our work. I think this is an interesting framework to keep an eye on whilst we develop, and see whether each area has something to offer our healing capabilities as they mature.

Gwas.

More information:

• R.J.Stewart’s DreamPower web site
• His book publishing site
• Stewart’s books on Amazon