The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘fifth element’

Introduction

When I ask the powers that be (the ones that reveal knowledge previously lost or hidden from me through the medium of my dowsing rods) I can often begin down a road whose destination is so far over the horizon, and along so many potential paths, that I initially believe I can never reach the end in my lifetime. Then The Other places helpful signposts along the way, and coupled with my intuition and reason I begin to unveil some of the mystery and begin to walk the paths with more confidence. One such path presented to me was the mystery of The Lunar Eleven. In the following series  of posts I will be discussing my current theory that the numbers Five, Seven and Eleven share a mystical resonance, and that this resonance has particular usefulness for those of us who have identified ourselves as having a “lunar 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.”, i.e. those of us who feel related to or spiritually guided by the powers of The Moon.

However, to get to The Eleven I first had to go through two other numbers – The Five and The Seven. Whilst following my spiritual path I came across a directive that asked me to consider the meaning of The Five and The Seven. I took this to mean that the two numbers had some form of relationship and that one I found the nature of this relationship then I would know what to do : something would make itself known to me that involved five and seven. That was true, I did manage to find the relationship, but as with so many of these riddles one question led to another. No sooner had I discovered the meaning of The Five and The Seven than the next riddle was offered to me to solve – what was The Eleven to me?

The first thing you will notice is that I have turned those numbers into proper nouns. They were clearly identified to me as representing all possible forms of their real numerical values, yet the implication in the riddle was that the numbers would mean something in particular for me, and that I had to find out what that was. Here in this series of three posts I will try to explain what each of those numbers meant to me, and to hopefully inform you of some interesting tidbits of knowledge about those numbers along the way. Don’t worry – this is not a mathematical treatise! I began this journey into these numbers knowing only the most basic of mathematical knowledge, and I haven’t needed to move far from there to find my answers, and I don’t believe you will need to either.

In the first of the posts I will deal with The Five.

The Number Five

From the shape of leaves and petals, to the internal form of fruit, to the proportions of the human skeleton, Nature is defined by the form of five. There is a relationship between the form of five and the number twelve because twelve pentagons put together will form a dodecahedron – a twelve-sided shape which is supposed to be the inherent form of the earth’s geometry.

Human Pentagram

If a five-pointed star is drawn by lines then the form contains a pentagon at its core. If the points of that pentagon are joined then another five-pointed star shape is drawn. This regression can go on infinitely, and so five-sided shapes contain the concept of fractal geometry – the repetition of self-similarity within an infinitely regressing design. It is said that the Pentad – the five – underlies the form of the spiral via the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci series is created by zero and one (nothing and everything) adding to itself successively. For example, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc… The series is a self-accumulating sequence that grows from within itself and it takes nothing from outside the sequence in order to grow. Growth is the essence to the Pentad’s principle of regeneration – self-replicating growth – which begins from nothing and becomes all.

Interesting, but not where we’re heading right now. Let’s get back to how we use the number five. Mankind has developed systems involving the number five. Specifically I am thinking of the Chinese five elements, but five also relates to the druidic system of elements too: air, fire, water, earth and the fifth element of aether.

The Fifth Element

When we think of The Elements as discussed in traditions such as druidry we think of the four elements that we usually assign to the cardinal points, particularly as described in Wiccan ritual. My five is the druidic elements slightly altered: water, fire, air, earth and wood. The wood comes from my staff, which I take with me to sites and which stands with me in power centres – it has a central role. I have the co-operation of four other ethericSomething tangible to the heightened senses, but invisible and beyond the normal range of everyday human senses. We use the term to describe the subtle energies that surround the human body. We also use the term “etheric” to describe the energy forms of Nature’s sentient spirit energies that can be detected through dowsing, or through deep meditation or states of heightened awareness. spirits – one for air, water, earth and fire.

The fifth element that I associate with wood, wood being the physical representation of that element, is aether. Aether is essentially synonymous with spirit in the sense of “essence”. I differentiate essence from other  manifestations of spirit, such as death energy, energetic shroudAs coined by Kal after reading the definitions of C.W.Leadbeater – the early 20th Century mystic. Leadbeater considered that man, when he died, could become stuck in a “ShadeA shade is the energy body of a human being that has become transfixed at a geographical location. The shade retains many of the qualities of the human that it was attached to (memories, character traits, a level of sentience, movement between places known in life).” – an energetic shell that would retain many of the characteristics of the human in his physical life. It is frequently taken to be what is termed a ‘ghost’ but although it has a certain amount of sentience, it would seem to be limited in terms of its ability to move from the space within which it has anchored itself. It must be stated – it is NOT the person who has died – it is a remainder copy that contains the memories and characteristics of the original energetic fields of the human, but now has no physical organism to work with., apparition, earth light, UFO, poltergeist, or any host of other names for spirit. When I say spirit I mean the essence of an energy form that contains a sentience, and awareness, an intelligence. Jaq D Hawkins defines it as the medium through which sentience is permeated, a kind of spiritual dark matter. I mean it as a discretely identifiable sentience, often which can be identified by a name. Classically these may have been thought of as the pantheon of spirit energies from gods and goddesses reigning over a civilisation, down through to lowly nature spirits watching over the growth of a small cluster of plants.

As an interesting aside I had an encounter with the force of the aether spirit in such a small way the other day, but which made such a direct choice in my life. I was simply looking for the next book to read that would help me on my way down The Path. I closed my eyes in front of four long shelves of books and asked my spirit guide Theodora to guide me hand to the book that was most useful for me next. My fingers came into contact with a book and I lifted it out off the shelf without looking. I opened my eyes, “The Spirits of Aether” by Jaq D.Hawkins. The one in the series that I hadn’t fully finished reading. Clearly, now was the time!

Everybody say "MOOlti-pass"

“The Fifth Element” is also a futuristic sci-fi romp starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, and happens to be one of my favourite films. It’s the only film I’ve watched more than three times, and I never get tired of it. Ideally, I suppose, I should watch it FIVE times.

The Geometry of Five

Five petals like five fingers

The geometry of five became important to me in a series of revelations that formed a connected pattern over the space of a few months in 2009. Firstly I was shown Venus in the night sky, and traced a sigil that I then associated with that planet. [see post]. Then I visited Moel-Ty-Uchaf and discovered that the circle was aligned to Venus, and that it drew its power from that planet’s influence. [see post]. Finally, I read about the orbit of Venus and how it forms a five-pointed star as it moves around in the night sky relative to the Earth. Finally, I dowsed that Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle is based upon the sacred geometry of the number five and the pentagon. Together, this information showed me the importance of Venus and the sacred geometry of the number five.

Five is the “number of life”, so-called because it is the form through which Nature expresses the life force. Much growth in Nature is performed through the five shape – the pentagon, the pentagram, and it is the number associated with making the life force transform into magical force – through the pentacle.

When it comes to my own work with Nature, five is number of external power shaping my consciousness, and assisting me in my weaving of the elemental forces into natural magickal form. The five powers that I employ – air, earth, water, fire and aether or spirit are the natural powers of Nature that I align myself with, and ally myself to, and the ones with which I have the most empathy, sympathy and resonance.

The Fifth Chakra

The fifth chakra is the Throat Chakra (not the Solar Plexus, as previously published in error). During my work with chakras I had to do a lot of work using my fifth chakra. Traditionally, this chakra is associated with communication:

“The Throat chakra would seem to rule the faculty of speech, being midway between the heart and the tongue.  It is also associated with clairaudience (hearing spiritual voices), and with hearing sounds, words, and music, and with taste, smell.  Another function associated with this chakra is taking in and assimilating of physical and emotional nourishment.  On the gross level this manifests as sensuous desire and enjoyment for food.  This chakra could be associated with the astrological sign of Taurus, which in current astrology is said to ruled by the planet Venus.

In Tibetan Buddhism, this chakra is associated with the dream state of consciousness.  Both Tibetans and Taoists use this chakra to access the dream state and develop the faculty of lucid dreaming.” (source: Kheper.net)

C.W.Leadbeater talks about the five channels of the chakra energy entering the human body. These five energies then get channeled to the seven chakra points in the body (possibly more in some systems). For me, there seemed to be a transition from learning about five into learning about the relationship between five and seven.

That seems like a natural segway into investigating the number seven in the next post.

Gwas.

The Llangernyw Yew : April 19th 2010

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

Late evening yew

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

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

Inside the mighty yew

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

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

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

An energetic exit portal

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

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

The warning place

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

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

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

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

Gwas.