The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘genius loci’

With about as much preparation as a shotgun wedding Kal and I decided to meet up “half way” in Chepstow in order to explore the South Wales area for megalithic sites. We both had different quests to pursue, but sometimes the quests are secondary to the much more enlivening act of just being out together at sacred sites, for there is no more pleasurable experience to me than to be with my old mucker dowsing and discovering things druidical and deep at the darkest and dingiest neolithic remnants these fair lands have to offer.

So we pointed a random finger at the map and with only a name to follow and the promise that something worthwhile may be there we headed towards Parkmill village just beyond Swansea in West Glamorgan. I had already travelled for three hours to get to Chepstow, but such is our zeal for our quests that I was prepared to venture another hour or so into the furthest corners of west Wales just on the off-chance that this place might be good. Luckily, it was better than good!

We arrived at Parkmill and took what we presumed was the right track past the Heritage Centre and ended up at a small car park. We checked the maps but couldn’t decide which way we ought to be going so I went over to check a nearby information board supplied by Cadw. It showed the area of Parc le Breos (Park Le Bruce, or Park Wood) to be full of interesting sites – a reconstructed long cairn, a cave and possibly a well. Frankly, I didn’t read past the long cairn – already I wanted to see it. We made our way up the well-made path, eager to see what this reconstruction had to offer.

Information about the Park Wood site

The long cairn (or more properly I should say it is an Initiation Chamber) had been excellently rebuilt. It looked beautiful, and gave us a very good idea of how the front may have looked in its original form. These builders clearly knew how to make a great structure. I took some pictures then put the camera away. It was time to have a look around inside. I approached the entrance and introduced myself to the place. When I walked forward I asked if I may enter and waited for a response. I got one – a horrible push in my stomach that felt like a nasty prod in the guts. Hmmm…rejection. It would seem that I wasn’t in the right state to enter at this time – maybe not at all?

I got my dowsing rods out and asked if there was something I could do in order to prepare myself for entry into the chamber. The rods directed me away from the building and towards the nearby line of trees. As I broke through the tree line into the woods the rods swung around to point at the moss-lined back of a large oak tree. “Sit here!” they seemed to be saying. So I sat down and lit some incense sticks, hoping they would assist me with the cleansing process. I felt I ought to rid myself of my “worldly” energies – the energetic clutter and state of mind that comes from driving in the modern world. I wasn’t in a megalithic state of mind yet!

Minutes later the oak had helped me to divest myself of all my detritus, and I felt cleaner and really “tuned in” to the place. I thanked the tree and went back to check whether or not I would be able to get back into the chamber to do some work.

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At the end of August 2011 I found myself with an evening free and an urge to visit a sacred site where I could learn more about the five healing rays that I have been studying. As a reference for those of you who haven’t been following this particular series from the beginning, here are the related posts:-

• My five healing rays - in which I identified the rays, and their basic principle

In this visit I was hoping to have some information revealed to me that would show me how these healing rays could actually be used, in other words – how does one invoke them, and how are they utilised once invoked? The beautiful circle of Moel Ty Uchaf was to be my teacher this evening.

A stunning rain and sun backdrop above Llandrillo

On my journey up the steep trackway to Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle I was welcomed by a rainbow, which was somehow fitting considering I was here to try to get some more answers about the nature of the healing energy rays that I can work with. Apparently I have until Samhain this year to get my theory and practise all sorted out, because then I will face a challenge, a task, a test of skill, perhaps an opportunity to progress. I knew what failure meant – another turn on the Wheel of the Year to go around in a circle rather than a corkscrew movement upwards. I was taking every opportunity I could to do my homework.

As I passed the trees that line the lower part of the route up the hill I asked them about their energies. Are they male if the tree is male, and so on? The answer was that trees have no gender, they are both male, female and neutral, and so they can create living energy lines that are of any of these “flavours” depending on what the tree wishes to harmonise with, draw from, or support. Its own intent creates the required 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..

With all my physical training I found that I didn’t need to stop once going up the hill. At the top I was breathing deeply, but not out of breath for once, nor tired or leg-weary. My calf muscles were also intact for once. Amazing result! But nowhere near as amazing as the view that I was about to be presented with as the clouds that had dogged my ascent began to part letting through the rays of the setting sun over the Conwy Mountains. In the picture below, look for the unusual photographic artefact of the sun converging to a turquoise point! Or is it something from the ground opening a hole in the clouds?

The sun appears over Llandrillo - view from Moel Ty Uchaf

I ate my Co-Op convenience catered tea at the King Stone and began to introduce myself once more to the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place., asking for permission to work with her to ask questions about healing. Using my rods I determined that she would co-operate with that, but I felt that I would have to offer her something in return. Intuitively I was given the sense that there was some earth energy healing that I would have to put into practise here. This wasn’t going to just be a one-way theoretical lesson!

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Dragons

What with all the things Gwas and I are learning, I am happy to say that we are still explorers of The Edge. Have you noticed that neither of us has settled into a niche and gone for the in-depth rigorous research, rather we are trail blazers and wanderers in the land of here there be dragons (not there is anything wrong with niche delvers I might add).

Last week I was approached by a fella who had a rather peculiar talent. He told me that he had wanted to have plants and flowers in his house but they always died, even the most hardiest (can survive anything) plants. His extreme example was that (as a test) he got some weeds from a neighbours garden and tried to cultivate them in his house, but even they died.

I asked him whether it might be environmental, maybe his house was just too stuffy or the wrong temperature or something? He replied that his neighbours on both sides had similarly constructed houses and they had no problems.

Having read (all that stuff on sick house syndrome) he had been pushed to me by a friend to have it investigated. Cool! I am game! And went around his house yesterday to investigate.

I have been doing house energy work of one kind or another for several years, everything from poltergeist investigations to house dowsing and improving the energies of a home. Although this was a new one on me I was sure I had the tools to deal with it.

I arrived at Peters home around 7 in the summer evening and from the outside his house was no different from the others in the street. It was about a third of the way down a twenty house street and his front garden was paved rather that grass. There were no plants in it and my first question to him was, did plants grow ok in his garden? He had never had any.

An interesting bit of knowledge I gained about houses just recently is on Thresholds. I don’t want go into it too much in this post, but will do a monograph (ahhhh I knew I’d get to use that Sherlockian phrase one day!) some day soon.

Anyway, I observed the threshold etiquette and asked if I could explore the house on my own. Basically the house was a 3 up 2 down semi with an extended kitchen at the back. I stood at the entrance, as Feng Shui people know this is the way that energy normally flows into a home and with dowsing I have seen the same confirmation. For me this is a good place to start and come back to to ask main questions. Here are some preliminary ones I asked:

• Is there something energetically wrong with this house? Yes (in hindsight this is a stupid question to ask as it if there is anything wrong with it, that must also have an energetic impact too, I digress).
• Are there any good energy centers in this house? Yes.
• Any bad ones? Yes.
• On my scale of 1 – 10 how strong is the positive energy? 3
• How strong is the negative? 10. Holy Zarquon Singing Fish! For those who are unaware, a 10 means get the heck out of here! Your radiation badge is screaming RED! Did you just notice me triple my self-protection? Make that quadruple!
• How many positive (good) energy centers are there? 1
• How many bad ones? 1..2..3..4..5…16..17…20…25…30..35..33! Wow. That is a record breaking number of negative energy centers. I had to walk up and down the hall several times to arrive at it and double checked my results by working down from 50.
• Were all of the 10′s? No. Phew!
• Were more than 50% 10′s? No. finally I found that 25% of them were a 10.

Intuition was kicking me in the behind now so I followed its flow…

• Were these all linked? No. Were most of them linked?Yes.
• After a bit I got to all bar 3 were linked and the 3 remainder where of a strength less than 5.
• Although these were all energy centres or indeed pools is another word I use. Was there a source from which all this flowed? Yes.

I was still at the door and Peter had come back to ask if I wanted tea, I said yes, herbal please and he pottered off. As he did so, a question arose in my mind….

• Is Peter connected in anyway to this energy?Yes.
• Was this why there are no plants growing in the house? Yes.

Some further investigation along these lines revealed that the plants were a minor symptom. Oh dear! Okay! It was time to find this SOURCE so I braced my quadrupled force-field and followed the rods. They took me half way up stairs and stopped at a truly innocuous spot about 2/3rds of the way up.

Talk about a let down. There I stood on the stairs looking around at, well nothing really. What! I triple confirmed the spot (once coming from the top downwards) and the same conclusion was reached. The source was definitely on the stairs. Perhaps the most valuable find of ours is the question,

• “Take me to something that will help explain this answer”

As you will see in recent posts on this blog, both Gwas and I have had plenty of success with this question. Therefore I employed it here. Was there anything that would help me understand what and why 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. was on the stairs. I started at the front door again and followed the rods up the stairs. I had a sinking feeling that they were going to take me to the same spot again but was relieved when I climbed past it.

The rods took me along the landing and stopped or rather pointed inwards to a wall socket. Aha, Was this something to do with electricity? No. O! Again! Another place that seemed to have nothing special. I walked into the bedroom behind the wall and tried to continue dowsing but there was nothing there. It was definitely on the other side. I stood by the socket wondering and trying to get my intuition kicking in when Peter arrived with the tea.

As I sipped it, I asked him if there had been anything on the landing. He replied, No. Unhelpful I mused. Then after a moment he said, “Unless you mean the steps?” What? He pointed up at the ceiling and I saw a sliding door over what looked to be an entrance to an attic. It was right over the place I had stopped. Wow!

Is there anything up there? I asked and Peter replied that he had only ever been up once and that was when he bought the house, but as far as he could recall, nothing but junk from the previous owner which he hadn’t bothered to clear out.

A clue, at last, I thought and asked if we could go up? Sure and we slid the panel away and pulled down some ladders. There was a light switch but it didn’t work or the bulb had gone.

• Note to self : Put powerful torch in dowsing kit.

Fortunately Peter had a half decent torch and I climbed up. The attic room was quite big, filled with cobwebs (eugh I have a heightened arachnophobic sense), dust of ages and, as Peter said, plenty of junk. O and not to forget the low beamed ceiling (ouch). Peter popped his head above the hole and decided that he would stay there because the torch only afforded light for one persons movement.

Okay, this was a new experience. Dowsing in the dark with a flaky torch and junk everywhere. Accompanied by the laughter an occasional warning shout from Peter I was able to navigate further to a point of interest. It was deep in the depths of the attic room. I asked if this area I was stood in afforded some answers? and got an excellent YES.

I looked about at the boxes and clutter and considered where to start when I got an almighty shiver running through me. It must have been physically visible because Peter called across, “Are you alright?” I was taken aback a bit but nodded. What was that? A sudden realisation of space hit me and I knew that I was stood right above the staircase! A quick look back to the hole in the attic confirmed it. I was right above the place where I had stopped on the stairs!

I asked if this was the negative energy centre? YES! Aha! Awesome! What a finding. I looked around again and this time the “junk” seemed a lot more interesting. I asked if there were any other power centres in the attic? Yes, lots. I asked if they were to do with the stuff that was up there? No. I asked if there was anything specifically to do with the negative energy up there? YES. It was a cardboard box, It seemed that spirals of negative energy were emanating from it (or the place it was).

It was difficult dowsing in that vertically confined space and I thought to lift the box and take it downstairs when I was “pushed” away from it.

THAT was scary! Nerve wracking and piss in your pants frightening. I scrambled for the exit and almost had to push Peter out of the way to get down the ladder. I walked (really fast) to the front door, Peter in tow, and walked out of it into the bright sunshine. Thank the stars for the long summer evenings.

To be continued…

Kal Malik

In this second part of my Anglesey outing for Lughnasagh I will be telling you about my meditation at the Benllech dolmen, and a revealing dowsing encounter.The story is also a warning to those who are still struggling to allow their intuition to be their primary guide through life. Sometimes our tales are of greatness, and sometimes of woe. As you have come to know we do not spare the truth to save the story.

3.Benllech dolmen (Megalithic)

I knew where the stones were even before I parked. Yes, I had studied a map as best I could to get a feel for their location, but this was the now familiar extra-sensory feel which has all the feel of a magnet being positioned at a certain point around the head. I simply had to face into the magnetic stream to let it position my gaze in the right direction. “Simply” I say, as though it were the easiest and most natural thing in the world – which it is. But there’s the trick – to let it happen.

Having located the general direction I began to pick apart the clues in the surroundings – a footpath sign, a track through a field over a stile, a gateway without a gate. As I crossed a field my gaze was taken by a startled hare that was out in the dew-laden field whose morning misty veil had only just lifted to reveal a pleasanter day that had been forecast. The hare and I observed each other, both our senses feeling for warning signs before retreating into cover. Our precedence does us no favours among the timid.

I noted the path across the field, and then spotted one up through the gorse. I decided to follow my rational sense. There was a prostrate footpath sign and my rational brain worked out that it could only be indicating the path across the field given the configuration of pointers. I went the way I had been instructed, yet hankered after the gorse path, looking back at it longingly, whilst my rational brain began to assess the possible ways beyond the field, scanning for the continuation of the decided path. After fifteen minutes of searching atop the field I didn’t find the dolmen and had to go back to the fallen sign. Then my intuition told me again that the dolmen was not far along the smaller path through the gorse. This time I followed my intuition and within two minutes I had found the dolmen nestled within a clump of bushes and not obvious at all. Yet I walked straight to it when I switched off my ‘primary senses’ in favour of my primitive ones.

I asked the dowsing rods if the site was energetically active? YES. Could I do work here? YES. As I began to prepare for a ritual by getting some incense out and lighting it I had another intuitive feeling, so I asked the dowsing rods was I going to be interrupted during the ritual? YES! I decided to slightly change me plans to accommodate this. I began to dowse around to find out which energies were in the area. I found one male and one female energy centre inside the dolmen. I was directed to sit at the female centre. I knew this already somehow – both its position and orientation. I had felt its presence by tuning my mind into the frequency of the energy I wished to find. It had shown itself to me as a feeling of an invisible vortex being in the periphery of my sight. I knew its nature even though I couldn’t actually see it.

I followed the lines I had dowsed = the male and the female – to their sources. The male energy came from an elder tree right next to the dolmen. The female line came from a hawthorn tree some fifteen feet away. As I began to think about wrapping up the dowsing a seagull flew in figures of eight above me squawking wildly. I reasoned that it was probably warning me to stay away from it’s nest. It was, however, most insistent even though I was not moving anywhere. I decided to follow it. It led me away further into the bushes along a well-used path – cawing occasionally in a less insistent voice – a confirmatory voice. “That’s right, this way” it seemed to say. At a 90 degree bend in the path the seagull circled squawking noisily in a tight circle above me. I looked up from my dowsing rods to see them pointing off to one side at a large stone that had been used to prop up a fence post. I dowsed it and found it was a strong female energy emitter. The seagull flew back towards the dolmen at this point, singing in a seagull shanty. Something else to show me, I mused? I followed the line out of the stone. It headed back to the dolmen.

I followed the line all the way back to within sight of the dolmen’s slanted stones when the female line went around the dolmen site – call it the periphery of the site’s aura – at a distance of some twenty five feet. Once I had fought my way through the bushes to discover its total circumference the gull suddenly stopped and flew off! A sure sign that I had found what I had been invited to find. My mind turned to thoughts of how this site might be used by a neo-shamanic druid with no particular purpose.

Let them pass, sir, let them pass!

I secured the boundaries of the site using the female perimeter line, washing it with intent and preventing intrusion by unwanted or unhelpful energies or people. I arranged my crystals – four elemental crystals – to coincide with the cardinal points. I let the crystals form an energetic shape that would attract the elemental energies – they formed a simple cross. Some incense was lit to clear and prepare the air for meditation. I stood at the entrance to the dolmen, letting its acoustic properties become my earphone as I awaited the “interruption” that I had been foretold would happen. Suddenly I could hear voices and the hammer of hooves slowly plodding. A troupe of small ponies and riders appeared moments later on one of the paths close to the dolmen. After saying hello and letting them pass I was on my own. At last!

Then I went into the dolmen and asked the Spirit Of Place if it was permissible for me to draw a circle. I got a positive response (slight breath of wind in my face) so I created a druid circle in which to work. Once secured and sealed, I began to ask the Spirit Of Place  for some information about my healing quest.

The information I got was simply this – should I continue learning healing, or do something else? Learn healing. How should I progress with this? A picture of turquoise appeared. Only that. I should concentrate on learning about the turquoise healing frequency and master it. To me this frequency is associated with divine energy and healing from the heart or with love.

This was enough for me, and I said my farewells, leaving a posy of gently tied wild flowers wrapped around a white feather that I had brought from Glastonbury. This was my Lammas gift – a symbol of the abundance of Nature at this time of the year, and respectfully asking the permission of the plant spirits to use these specimens, saying how much I appreciated the beauty of Nature’s gifts. I did each pluck of the stems with loving care in the name of The Goddess and in tribute. With this simple decomposable posy I marked the passing of one energy season to another – of the wane of summer and the waxing of autumn. I acknowledged the energy balance begin to shift towards decay. I noticed the fallen leaves and the yellowing leaves at the base of shrubs and trees. I felt the first afternoon chill lay upon the island stronghold of the druids and I felt like I was with them across all senses of time, marking the things they had marked but in my own way

This was new tradition. Remembered or imagined, I was making it real and present.

Gwas.

In this third and final post on the Beltane trip I will reveal how I discovered the true meaning of the phrase “See with the hawk’s vision” – a phrase that had been given to me during my meditation beneath The Llangernyw Yew tree.

After Llangernyw we drove the twenty or so miles towards the north coast of Wales and soon were speeding along the main arterial road that feeds the northern holiday towns with their tourist lifeblood durkng the summer months. We passed Llandudno, then the junction for Conwy, through the short tunnels and out into the shadow of the hills above Penmaenmawr. This seemingly innocuous and insistinctive village is actually a gateway to one of the tightest agglomerations of cairns, circles and cromlechs anywhere in Wales.

Our destination on this May Day was The Druid’s Circle – a stone circle known to have 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. or association with the energies of the Beltane time of year. We drove up the ridiculously steep hill, threading our way from the centre of the village in alternate left and right turns that were now well practised and instinctive despite the infrequent and late signage. If you plan to visit the stone circle for yourself then we recommend a good map, and a willingness to explore the housing estates above the village!

A beautiful view from Penmaenmawr Druid's Circle

On the top of the hills above Penmaenmawr the view was clear and beautiful. We had endured the harsh winds all the way up and now stood bullied by the winds as we drank in the views across to The Great Orme at Llandudno. F0r the first time we took an interest in some rocks that seemed to form an 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. with the small cairn circle that we previously named “The Little Druid”. There may not be any significance in this 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. of stones across the hillside, but nevertheless we noted it for future visits.

Busy Beltane at the Circle

Kal was soon to disappear as we reached the main circle. He had taken an interest in the outlying people and stones, probably because the main circle was populated with several groups of people all engaged in their own Beltane work. I had work to do too. I wanted to connect with the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place. of the place, as I had done previously, and to see whether I could get information about the Hawk of May quest.

I went into the centre of the circle (which I usually avoid, but on this day it seemed charged with potential, whereas it is usually quite confusing and difficult to work with). I stood there and cleansed myself of my worldy energies. Soon I was off towards one of the stones in the southern edge. Kal had been sat at one of those stones too, but now he wandered off in search of something interesting to do. I was trying not to use my rods, but instead to feel for where I should be. I felt one stone in particular was the right one to be at, so I sat there being blasted in one ear by the strong wind.

The stunning setting of the Druid's Circle

This southern stone, not one of the ‘feature’ stones of the circle by any means, I felt had a connection with the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place.. I went into a trance and my mind wandered up and down, to the sky and into the earth, then back to the circle. When I connected it to the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place.’s spirit then things began to occur. It was difficult at first to hear anything because I was trying to listen over the top of the howling wind. As soon as I made the wind the backing music to the trance then the low distant voice of the spirit of this circle emerged to speak. I made my now customary offering of emotion and information, offering love, gratitude and a download of my recent druidic events in return for the information I might receive. Once I had donated this gift then the gift was reciprocated, and soon I learned some things about my quest.

I was taken into the air, flying like a hawk above the scenery. I knew I was in a hawk’s form because I could switch my perception between two modes – an aerial view where I could see for miles around in all directions, or I could focus on one spot and zoom right into that place in minute detail. I practised this way of seeing for a few minutes until I grew comfortable with how it worked. I wasn’t exactly sure whether I was seeing a real place, or a concept of a place because it was hard to recognise the landscape with these two new ways of seeing. Either way, I went with it, and began to ask my question to the spirit of place.

1. Is this way of seeing the end point of my quest? – NO, this is a gift for you to learn from.
2. Should I been seeking a real or a metaphorical hawk? – BOTH. You should find the hawk that is really in the landscape.
3. In the landscape? Is this a terrestrial landscape figure I should find? – YES.
4. Where can I find the hawk? – CLOSE TO HOME.
5. How will I be able to begin to identify the hawk? It seems like an impossible task! – FIND A HOLY WELL. This will be your starting point.

The connection faded. Either I was weakening energetically, or the information was dwindling. The connection faded and I returned to normal waking consciousness and found myself back in the circle with all the other people and the howling wind. I had almost forgotten about them for however long I had been away! Now the wind made itself known again and I wrapped myself up against its cool penetrating fingers as they pulled my hair around into stupid shapes.

This new dimension to the quest made it more exciting. It was just like something out of “The Secret Land” that I had finished reading some weeks before, where terrestrial landscape figures were found by scouring old maps. Now I had my own local quest to find a hawk in the lands close to my home. I couldn’t wait to start searching, but first I had to search for Kal, and to thank the spirit of this marvellous circle for again providing me with the state of mind where I could explore this quest in more detail. Despite, or perhaps because of the sense-blocking weather conditions, yet again I had come away from the Druid’s Circle one step closer to achieving my goal.

Gwas – Hunting the Hawk of May

“It was a dark and stormy night”…actually, it was. For a reason that remains a mystery to this day Kal and I had decided to go out that evening on a mission without a purpose. That purpose took us out on a sunny and calm evening heading deep across the North Wales coastline heading for The Druid’s Circle near Penmaenmawr.

Rather than walk up the full length of the path I was determined to make the fullest use of the car’s four-wheel drive system. Big mistake. If you visit Druid’s Circle from the Penmaenmawr side, I strongly urge you to park at the two sandstone columns and go no further unless you own a Jeep or a Land Rover – the ruts and holes will kill your suspension!

Somehow we gingerly forced the car to climb the steep rutted path until we reached a flat bit and I let out the breath I had been holding for five minutes. As we stepped out of the car, relieved, we stepped into a Force Eight gale! The wind was picking up quickly, and we hurried to get properly attired (well, I did anyway).

Light fades over the Druid's Circle at Penmaenmawr

It was still light although dusk wasn’t far away. We stomped off along the now familiar right-hand path round to the top of the hill above Penmaenmawr. Twenty minutes of fighting with the wind and we were in sight of the stone circle as the light faded quickly. When we arrived we laughed – how were we supposed to dowse in this wind??!! Madness. Yet, when we tried, attempting to locate the best place to sit and meditate, the rods turned – against and into a gale!! Dowsing works, folks. It just does.

The dowsing rods led each of us to one of the stones in the south-western end of the circle and we hunkered down behind them. As I sat I noticed that the wind noise abated substantially. It felt like I was in the one place where I might be able to meditate in this howling gale!

Druid Diary excerpt for Druid’s Circle: DD-PMM-041010-1

 

I was right – this was an unusual evening in many ways, and it was about to become even more strange as I met with an entity that I had never encountered before.

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Sunday 12th September, 2010 – Froggatt village, Derbyshire.

The afternoon was ours and the day was glorious. It was the kind of day at the end of the summer that you know if you don’t make the most of it you will sorely regret it because there won’t be many more like this for many a month now as Autumn and Winter take turns to ravish the landscape, denuding the shrubbery and instilling a greyness to the sky. This day’s sky was a painting in a light blue palette. It was with this backdrop that I cajoled Kal to come out on a dowsing mission. As it turned out, it would only be later that I realised the full and startling importance of this casual visit. It would be a moment that resonated with me in the most profouond way, evoking a deep memory from over thirty years ago, and confirming that my path was true to me.

iI had cloaked the intended destination in an air of secrecy, so it wasn’t until we had reached Stockport (damn that SatNav for insisting it was the fastest route) that Kal ventured to suggest we were going somewhere in Derbyshire. Indeed we were. I had found a stone circle with impeccable credentials – near a known path, not too far to walk to, fairly intact – and to us it was completely new and exciting. It was called Froggatt Edge stone circle just beyond the town of Bakewell.

Froggatt Edge stone circle

We parked at the Chequers Inn (top pun, top pub) which was on a small road going out of the village. Two hundred yards back down the hill a path crossed the road going both down and up the Edge. We headed upwards, through the delightfully deciduous canopy of old trees, up a well-trodden path mottled with mosses and tree roots. After passing a gate in a wall the path got rockier, and soon we could see people above us. As we emerged out of the woods we realised that we were at the base of the Edge’s cliff face. As far as the eye could see in either direction were clutches of climbers, spandexed and sporting fluorescent ropes, all either looking upwards, or fiddling with clasps and bags. I have never seen so many climbers in one place. We asked for directions from a friendly-looking bunch, then made our way right, following the path up to the top of the cliffs. The climb was easy, unlike the band of brave souls who were challenging themselves to get up the hard way.

When we emerged at the top it was time to catch our breath, and admire the views.

View along Froggatt Edge

The Stone Throne

If I were a king, then this is where I would have my throne, atop Froggatt Edge. The views are fantastic when the weather’s good. As we wandered along the edge, stopping to look at the unusual rock formations, wind-blasted and weather-worn, we came across a very unusual set of rocks. Kal immediately pounced upon them and seated himself comfortably on the top – it was a perfect seat, he claimed, so I too went up to try it. He wasn’t wrong. The views were even better from that vantage point, and the seat was genuinely comfortable. Both of us could have stayed there all day. Clearly a strong 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. with good energies.

Kal indicating that perfection can be achieved with the addition of a pint of beer

The sun was going ‘under the yardarm’ as the sailing fratenity say, and so I pushed us onwards to our destination – the stone circle. Within moments of walking past the Throne we saw the circle itself, its one prominent stone enticing us into its bracken lair. Now the fun could begin.

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