Posts Tagged ‘king stone’

Anglesey Winter Soltice – Part 2: The Bryngwyn Stones and The Soar Stone

After Bryn Celli Ddu we travelled further along the southern coast road towards the village of Brynsencien. We had discovered some interesting new patterns of energy around the ancient mound and chamber, and had spent time drawing upon the Winter Solstice energies. Now we wanted to see whether those energies might change at the next set of sites we planned to visit: The Bryngwyn Stones and The Soar Stone.

2. Bryngwyn Stones: SH462669 – off the A4080 towards Newborough (South West Anglesey) 

We had a vague idea about the whereabouts of the remaining two massive stones that had once formed part of two small circles, and it was much easier to find the location this second time. We parked in a small lay-by next to the A4080 just past the village of Brynsencien and made our way over a stile through the heavily muddied fields towards the imposing sight of the two tall stones in the stark sunlight. 

What's left of the Bryngwyn circles

 In contrast to the smooth clean paths to Bryn Celli Ddu the Bryngwyn stones were surrounded in deep mud, and I was glad of my walking boots. If you plant o visit these stones – be warned – choose a dry summer’s day, and watch for the heavily pitted approach to them, as cows have turned the fields into battlefields. 

The Bryngwyn Stones fascinated us on our last visit because they dowsed as being two small circles, despite the imposing size of the stones themselves. The remaining stones mark the boundary between two fields, but also between the two circles – each original circles must have been in either field. Oddly, we decided to dowse for the position of a King Stone, which I got to be some thirty feet away from the remaining stone in what can only be described as a faery ring – that unique circle of differently-coloured grass in a ring that marks this feature. Kal confirmed the position for me, and we judged that the King Stone was probably quite close to the outer edge of the original stone circle, almost providing the view in the photograph above.

Excellent hide-and-seek material

Kal began to become interested in bathing in the sunlight that was being captured by the smaller female stone (the one with the flat top). I, on the other hand, had positioned myself resting in the completely diametrically opposite position of lying against the flat and upright male stone in the shade. Not a position I would have chosen, ordinarily, but one which the dowsing rods had led me to take up. Again, this was not something that we noticed initially, but realised when we came to talk to each other – “Oh – look where we’re positioned – opposite each other and standing against the stones that are opposite to our usual polarities!”.  Yes, these are the kind of conversations we have.

I meditated in the shade of the tall male stone and I felt the energy that I have gathered at Bryn Celli Ddu begin to, well, I can only describe it as…consolidate, or agglomerate. It was like it was re-arranging itself and compacting at the same time, sort of…sorting itself out, if you like. Later, Kal described much the same process, and we again were astonished at the similarity of the experience. We had both experienced it differently, but the effect was the same. We both used different terms to describe it, but the process we were describing was unmistakably similar.

Rear view of the Bryngwyn stones showing the thin male stone

 As I “came to” from my meditation I began to focus on a point in the distance. I had my back to the flat male stone was the angle made my eyes unvaryingly come to rest upon a small mound that stood out in the middle distance that seemed to have a megalith or a structure on top of it. I couldn’t make it out properly at the time, but when I got home I found that this line led to a Dolmen called Bodowyr.

One day I will walk to it and investigate it, because at the time I felt it was a significant alignment, if only for me. Apparently it stands on a rise that has a view down to the Menai Straits, exactly where the Bryngwyn Stones are situated.

3. Soar Stone, SH319864 – Llanfaethlu village on the A5025 (North West Anglesey) 

The tall Soar Stone is situated next to a church building just off the A5025 Valley to Cemaes road at Llanfaethlu village. It is in a field right next to the road. The stone is about 10 feet tall, flat and encircled by male earth energy. This stone is not connected to other sites, but is self-contained, which is rather unusual, so we have found. We took some photographs, did enough dowsing to realise that there was only a ring of male energy around the stone and that’s it, and then Kal wanted to go. I didn’t, however.

The Soar Stone next to a church

I stood on the sunny side of this male stone. Kal did not need to do any energy work at this site, so stood idly by complaining about the bitter cold and how I should hurry up. I relaxed and began a quick meditation, ignoring his complaints. The only purpose I could determine for this stone was to further charge up my heavily-depleted male energies. I came to realise that I had been working almost exclusively with female energy over the last year, and that over that period I had created a huge imbalance. The Soar Stone, catching the Winter Solstice sunlight square on and being enclosed by a male earth energy field, was helping to bolster my male energy and bring my into a state of equilibrium. After five minutes I felt very balanced (purely subjective, of course) and we were able to take our leave. Simple – effective. 

The 'powering up point' of the Soar Stone

Now that I had achieved and energetic balance Kal was eager to get to the final site that we needed to visit on our little tour of Anglesey – Lligwy Chamber. He felt that something exciting was going to happen there on this special day, and his infectious enthusiasm meant that we headed there without distraction or delay. You can read all about that, including a new energy map of the site, in the next post. 

Gwas Myrddyn.

Review of the Year 2009 – Part 5: Ancient Sites

Section 5. Ancient Sites

From the beginning of my journey with the tools of dowsing I have sought to understand the way in which ancient sites may have been used, and how the energies of those places were shaped by the formation of the ancient monuments. During the year this directive has had to sit alongside the fascinating development of my work with Nature itself, however, some very interesting developments have occurred not in spite of that growth of spiritual practise, but because of it. Here are some of the main points that have been gleaned from dowsing and druidry this year concerning the nature and function of sacred sites.

This year has seen us visit some of the most awe-inspiring ancient sites from the stunning background scenery of the Cumbrian circle, to the fields of stone rows at Carnac, the giant megaliths of Brittany, and the quaint but powerful sites along the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Not forgetting, of course, all our favourite sites in North Wales, Shropshire and Derbyshire, with which we are becoming quite familiar.

Castlerigg

5-1. Recurring features of stone circles: We have found some identifiable and consistent component parts of a stone circle’s layout:-

  • a King Stone – sometimes called a ‘Heel’ stone as well. This is a standing stone of a height similar to the stones within the circle, but outlying the circle. The distance from the circle itself can be quite variable, from a few feet (Druid’s Circle) to a hundred yards (Mitchell’s Fold). We term the stone ‘King’ stone because tends to dowse as being ‘male’, and usually has a source of male energy. This male energy is obtained from two sources: The Sun’s radiant energy, and the placement of the stone upon underground flowing water at a geological fault.
  • a Transformer Stone. I also call this a ‘Queen Stone’ because it draws down the radiant energies from The Moon and transforms them into female earth energies to add to the stone circle’s energy flows. The other source of female energy is energy from structure of the rock – either from the stone itself or the geology beneath the stone.
  • a Grounding Stone. So-called because its function is to draw down energy from anything that interacts with it. If a person sits on such a stone they may begin to feel drained or tired. People sensitive to subtle energies can feel the energy being drawn into the stone and surrounding earth. It seems to have a cleansing effect leaving a person’s energy aura “cleaner” – i.e. free of the detritus of modern life, such as electro-magnetic radiation (this is just a working assumption at the moment – an intuition). When considering the concept of ‘cleansing’ before any ritual or energy work, we now consider this stone to be part of the preparation for that work.
  • Male and female energies. We have spoken many times on the fact that male and female energies are present at sites, and on their relative strengths and qualities, even on their possible sources. What we discovered this year was their interaction with each other. The male and female energies, like the double-helix of a DNA molecule, interact by alternately attracting and repulsing each other, and this dynamism creates the ‘vibrancy’ of the energy at a site.
  • Neutral energy flows in straight lines across a site, travelling through it, and providing a course for the helix of male and female energies to latch onto. 
  • Celestial bodiesaffect the flow of energies within a site. We are not yet sure whether the design of the site determines which planet’s radiant energy is able to be captured, or whether the planet’s energy has determined which type of structure would be built.
  • A double helix of male and female intertwined energies, usually flowing to and from the outliers (e.g. King Stone or Grounding Stone).

5-2. Home-grown circles: We could build our own stone circle this year at Castell Dyserth by placing rocks. This was re-inforced for us when we repaired an existing circle’s flows by adding in these extra home-made circles.

A home-made stone circle

A home-made stone circle

5-3. The geology of sites: seems to affect the purpose, but not type, of the energy present at the site. For example, limestone sites are useful for healing and purification, whereas granite sites are useful for transformation, and for fixing information in place which may be recalled later. It is particularly female earth energy whose character and purpose seems to be determined by the geological properties of the area.

5-4. A site with a strong nemeton attracts visitors, or, a well-visited site reflects the energy of its visitors in a stronger dowsing signal.

le-champ-dolent-dol-de-bretagne

Le Champ Dolent - a well-visited megalith

5-5. Some standing stones and their notches serve the purpose of showing astrological alignments of sun, moon, planets and stars. The notches have been made by human hands specifically to record such alignments, presumably to inform people of the time of the greatest energy flows when planets are at their zenith or in conjunction, or when the moon or sun are at a specific phase.

5-6. Aligned entrances: Sacred sites have entrances. Some sites have one for solar-aligned people and another for lunar-aligned people. Some sites have specific entrance stones that have an energetic barrier between them. The purpose of this is not exactly known yet.

Kings Men - Rolliright circle (2)

Solar southern entrance

7. Ritual paths: Some sites have ritual entry paths. As we can’t be sure whether we are picking up the traces of previous ritual paths determined by the long-term use of humans, or if those paths are naturally-occurring doe to the formation of the sites themselves, we can’t be sure of their exact purpose.

5-8. Tall artificial moundslike Silbury Hill focus energy to the peak of the mound. Like the capstone of a pyramid Silbury Hill, for example, focuses all of its energy flows into a conical space at its peak. It seems designed specifically for this purpose, energetically speaking.

5-9. Chambered ‘tombs’: have small chambers that serve specific purposes, which can be decoded using the rods. These chambers can be used for vision quests and transformative experiences.

Waylands Smithy (12)

5-10. Petroglyphs: can be linked to specific places in the site. In other words, by dowsing it is possible to be taken from a cup-mark, hollow or line to its corresponding place within the site. In this way petroglyphs or cup-marked stones can be seen as “maps” of the energetic places within a site.

 

Gwas.

Gallery updated: over 60 new pictures

I have added some recent pictures from site visits to places such as:-

  • Alderley Edge in Cheshire
  • The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire
  • Pendle Hill in Lancashire

I think I’m pushing the boundaries of the Gallery widget now, so soon I will split the year up into seasons to hopefully make the page load a little quicker. Apologies if the page is a bit slow, but there are 400 pictures in there now!

I’ve also re-ordered the images, so that they are by title. Just on a whim, and to annoy everyone. ;-)

Gwas.
Tweaking the nose of the pixie of photography.

The Rollright Stones – Part 2: The King’s Men and the Whispering Knights

This post follows on from the first part of the Rollright Stones complex, which can be found here. In the previous post I had been dowsing arounnd the King Stone. I had identified a female line that followed the course of the path that leads up to the stone, and now I was following it back to see whether it connected to the King’s Men stone circle, as it appeared to if I followed the line of sight.

I wandered across the road following the zig-zag motion of the female energy line, which got decreasingly erratic as is moved towards the King’s Men circle. The rods showed me that the line went into the northern end of the circle, so, as I couldn’t follow it directly through the fence and hawthorn trees, I opted to pick it up again from the other side. So I made my way into the signposted stone circle area, where I was accosted my a modern day highwayman! Stand and deliver! He wanted a whole engligh pound sterling from me, which I duly obliged him.

As it turned out, a pound was a cheap price to pay for some priceless dowsing tips from the old man. We started off on the wrong foot as he challenged my tools of the trade for being un-sheathed. His, by comparison, were contained in copper handles, but looked too thin and wiry to be of any use in a stiff breeze. I retorted that there were no rules regulating this dowsing lark, and that my opinion was different to his – I liked to feel the response of the rods as they turned so that I could gauge the strength of the reaction, and feel for whether it was a true response or caused by an external factor like the wind. This didn’t go down well – a relative youngster debating with a seasoned pro – and he went on to present his credentials: 50 years dowsing and a former member of the BSD (“too many silly people with their own pet theories“). Oh dear, I didn’t let on that I might be one of those very people whom he detested – an independent thinker with my own ideas. I did the polite thing and appeared impressed, but in my experience longevity is not a good indicator of ability.

Kings Men circle - Eastern entrance

We discussed the nature of the site, and he swung into action with his own theories on “positive” and “negative”, or helpful and harmful energies. He was a healer who had spent a lot of time at this circle, which he claimed had healing properties because it was composed of limestone, which was porous, and therefore capable of absorbing harmful energies and purifying them. This he opposed to granite sites, which he categorised as generally harmful and the cause of illness. “Ah, geopathic stress” – I responded. I mentioned that I wasn’t much into healing, but that I was interested in understanding the workings of the site’s energies. “Well, you’ll find lots of energies here.” he stated emphatically. He wasn’t wrong.

Later, as I dowsed, I was treated to both a display of his “twirling rods” as they helicoptered and whirred around in the centre of the circle, and then to a display of his healing capabilities as he wobbled a lady’s head around until she told him she felt better. I’m not going to say anything about either display, as I’m a mere youngster who understands nothing, and have much to learn yet.

Kings Men circle - healing session

The Nemeton’s Edge

I started my own investigations by looking for an aura, or nemeton for the circle. I got a boundary response from the rods about 25 feet outside the stones on the south side (the site is approached from the south-east end). I followed this male edge line clockwise around the site and found that it narrowed up to the stones themselves at the western side before increasing again to about 10 feet wide coming back around the northern edge. By the time the nemeton was back at the south side it was back out to 25 feet wide.

Cross Leys and Entrances

Two neutral alignment leys traversed the site – one running North-South and the other travelling East to West. At the point where the east-west ley line hit the western edge of the circle, at the nemeton’s thinnest point, I found an entrance to the circle. I later discovered that there were two entrances to the circle – one for lunar-aligned people, and another for solar-aligned people. The western entrance was for those people aligned to the moon’s energies, whilst the more “famous” southern entrance was that discovered by archaeologists and other dowsers, many of whom must have been solar-aligned people, I reckon.

As a reminder, you’ll know if you’re solar or lunar aligned from standing in the power centre that is either male or female. If you stand on one that is not aligned to your energy field (and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female as to whether you’re solar or lunar aligned) then you’ll feel a certain discomfort after a while, such as a tense head, even a headache, feelings of queasiness or a tight stomach, or more generally just an inclination to move away from that place. Luckily, most of us intuitively go to stand on places to which we are aligned. Sensible us!

Rollrights - southern entrance

Central healing spirals

After having seen the old gentleman doing his twirly rods show for tourists I decided to take a look at the centre point. I firstly dowsed for a male energy and found a spiral starting some six feet out from the brown bare patch of earth that marked the middle. A tight spiral (unusual) of male energy spiralled densely-packed lines into the centre, but the outer edges didn’t go anywhere – this spiral was self-contained. Again, quite an unusual finding.

Next I dowsed for any female energy, and found a much looser spiral going anti-clockwise and overlaid on top of the male energy spiral. This female spiral was not quite so tightly-wound (again, quite unusual), but its terminus point was outside of the circle, as the energy of the third spiral snaked off through the western entrance and into the trees and the setting sun.

In my experience a combined male and female energy, in addition to the crossing of the two ley lines, would form a powerful positive energy formation, and this seemed to be what the old man was demonstrating with his healing and twirling displays. As he looked on I credited him with choosing the perfect spot to perform with energy work, to which he winked knowingly.

As I dowsed for the suitability of the site to various purposes the only strong response was to “healing”. Again, it looked like the old man was right to say that the limestone circle was suited to healing and purification. Equally, despite his idea that granite-based rocks generate “bad” energy, I was certain from my own findings that granite stone circles are suited to transformation of consciousness. But he didn’t look like he cared for that kind of thing, so I kept it to myself.

Rollright Stones - Western Entrance

Western entrance to the right of the stones

Male and female stone balance

I decided next to dowse each individual stone to find out how many were male and how many were female. The general outcome was that there were two banks of female stones consisting of at least two sets of 5-8 stones at the western and eastern points. The northern and southern edges were much more complicated, alternating frequently between small groups of male then female stones, sometimes even single stones going M-F-M-F. There were, however, three banks of male stones consisting of at least 5 stones in the south-western edge, the north-western edge and the eastern edge. All in all the number of male or female stones seemed well balanced, and this was certainly how the site felt.

‘Hairy’ stones

Each stone has an energy spiral coming out of its exterior face, and a short spiral going around the base of the stone. Female spirals are anti-clockwise (although they start off circling clockwise around the stone before turning back on themselves outside the circle to form an anti-clockwise spiral). Male stones do the opposite, but with slightly less tight spirals (fewer turns). We have found this at many other sites like Gors Fawr and Nine Ladies to name but two where we have looked for it.

Rollright Stones - view south

The Southern View

The King Stone connection

I found the female line from the King Stone over the road coming in at the north-eastern edge of the circle. This line terminated at a female spiral at the northern end of the circle. However, there were four other female centres connected to this line, and they appeared all around the western edge of the circle, going from the north to the south, and including my own power centre. In all, five female power centre spirals connected to each other on the western side of the circle.

This was somewhat mirrored by the two male power centres I found that were connected to some circle stones on the eastern side of the circle. Starting at the eastern edge a male energy line moved in and out of the stones, sometimes circling them, to eventually terminate at a spiral in the south-eastern edge inside the circle.

Both sets of male and female connected centres had energy flows that were bi-directional – they flowed back and forth between the first and last power centres, and presumably back to the King Stone in the case of the female lines. The male centres were again, like the central spiral, a self-contained energy system.

Kings Men circle - Rollright (4)

Staff marking my power centre

Finally I asked a series of questions that I have asked at other sites recently. They were:-

  1. Is the site still capable of performing its original function? - NO.
  2. Is the site still energetically active? - YES.
  3. Can the site be activated, or when is it best to activate it? – Activated by human activity at Samhain (Oct/Nov).
  4. Is the purpose of the site education, revelation, healing, transformation, communication, purification or some other purpose? –  HEALING, PURIFICATION.
  5. Does the site need restoring, healing or balancing? – NO.
  6. Is a genius loci present at the site? – YES, a female energy.
  7. Does the site respond to human interaction, the position of the sun, moon, or stars? – HUMANS, SUNSET, FULL MOON.
  8. Can the site be used as an observatory, a calendar, for initiation or as a burial place? – CALENDAR, INITIATION
  9. Is there underground water at this site? – YES, at the western entrance flowing SE out of the circle. (i.e. from the point of the narrowest part of the nemeton to the point where it was at its widest).

Whispering Knights

Armed with that information I headed off South East towards the site of the Whispering Knights, a ruined dolmen that stands at the south-easterly edge of the adjacent field to the King’s Men circle. When I arrived I was of course disappointed to find that these stones were also caged. Presumably to stop them wandering around the countryside mauling unsuspecting meek children?

I found that the aura of the stones was again contained within the iron cage, but there was a combined male and female line coming out of the north-westerly edge, and the rods were pointing directly at the King’s Men circle. I dowsed as to whether the two sites were connected by this line and got a positive response.

In addition to this there was a line coming out a little further north. It was a male energy line that connected to the raised mound I had seen next to the King Stone some hours ago. So, more dowsing will have to be done to prove that this line connects directly to that mound, but that is how is appears at the moment. I will have to do some more work on that mound next time I come down to the Rollrights.

Gwas.

Visiting an old stalwart.

The Rollright Stones – Part 1: The King Stone

What follows is a description of a visit to the Rollright Stones that are a complex of megaliths perched on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border, near to the village of Little Rollright. I will, in due course, sketch out all of the findings and put them onto the Sacred Sites page so that you can see the things I am about to describe. For now, you will have to use your imagination, which will be helped enormously if you have visited the site yourself already.

I had intended to try to do some druidry work at the site, but the sheer number of visitors made concentration difficult, although, as you will soon read, this didn’t put off one old man who resplendently displayed his skills. How he concentrated I’ll never know! I have much to learn, as he was all to eager to point out.

I parked in a little lay-by which carried a sign telling me that I was only parking there at the gracious behest of the site’s trustees, and that I ought not to outstay my welcome by still being around after sunset. A warm southern welcome indeed. *I decided to head for the King Stone, situated on the other side of the road some hundred feet away. Yes, I still count in old measurements. Don’t start me on that discussion! Let’s just say such measurements are beyond “imperial” of any variety and should be considered “divine” instead. See John Michell‘s “The Dimensions Of Paradise” for a full explanation. As usual, I digress.

I approached the King Stone without my rods. What was the point? I knew there wouldn’t be any nemeton to dowse because I could see that the standing stone was caged in an iron railing that hemmed it tightly. This is a disgrace! Of course, modern people can’t be trusted, and so despite the fact that it has stood for over 4000 years, it needs to be caged, right? I suspect, therefore, that whatever energetic capabilities this site used to have they have been severely restricted by this action. I dowsed for the nemeton – yes, exactly at the railing. What a coincidence!

Nevertheless, I began to see which earth energies were travelling into and out of the stone. I found a male line coming in from somewhere in the direction of the hills around the village of Long Compton – well, that’s the direction is was heading in anyway. On either side, fanning out and following the shape of the wilder grass were two female lines. The first zig-zagged along the path that people walk up to the stone along. The second followed the lower edge of the rise behind the stone. The first female line intruiged me – it appeared to head to the road, and possibly might cross it and go into the stone circle there? I would check this later.

King Stone - Rollright (1)

The male line was of interest to me as well. The King Stone was clearly male. I have seen and dowsed enough male stones (at Carnac – row after row after row of them) to recognise them by sight now. This was a male stone. It was essentially flattish, with a ridged edge pointing in the direction of the energy flow. Despite it’s “unusual” shape, this was a classic “repeater” stone that would pulse male energy onwards to another place. I checked the other side and found that only the male line emerged, strongly, and went into a grassy tumulus a few feet away. Check the link above about the King Stone to read what this tumulus might be.

Judging by the pitted nature of the stone this was limestone or something very similar. Soon I  would find out some new information about the significance of this.

I must point out – I deliberately didn’t read ANYTHING at all about this site before going. Sometimes that works in my favour, because I get fresh responses without prejudice, but sometimes I miss important elements. Needless to say, this is a site that warrants more investigation that I could manage in an afternoon.

King Stone - Rollright

Two men had been standing on the ridge behind me looking out over the valley below. Now I could see one of them approach me, an older man with white hair and a pair of flimsy-looking dowsing rods in his hand. I stopped what I was doing as he walked up to me and began a conversation. He was a relative beginner, he said, and wondered what I was looking for. I made a special point of stating that I wasn’t, as most people expected, looking for water but instead for earth energies. He didn’t seem too surprised at that, so I went on to tell him what I had found so far.

He seemed to absorb that, and much more, before he asked my opinion on what he should be looking for. I laughed, and replied that it was not my place to tell anyone how they should conduct their enquiries with dowsing rods, it was a matter of determining for oneself what information on was seeking, and to what extent the response could be trusted. He said he was rather afraid that I would say that. I mentioned some authors for him to look at – perhaps Tom Graves, or Sig Lonegren? He seemed distinctly unimpressed by anything I said which amused me somewhat.

I laughed at his thin and wiry rods. “No good in today”s wind, I’d say.” and showed him my thicker copper rods. He seemed daunted by their lack of copper cuffs to aid rotation, and by their weight. This amused me too as his eyes boggled at their relative weight in his hands.

I decided he had been inquisitive enough, and it was my turn. What was his background? He was a scientist, he stated. This amused me even more! “Then you’re in for a fun time with dowsing!” I warned. He was either going to chase the “what is this energy” question forever, or he would have some very tricky ontological questions to resolve. He seemed to respond to that with a resigned shrug and a disappointed “hmmmm”. I wasn’t sure I was helping him at all! He asked me how I had started, and I told him of a TV programme “Tomorrow’s World” that I had seen when I was young that demonstrated dowsing, and this had inspired me to try it out, but I didn’t have enough incentive to pursue it further at the time. He jumped – “I saw that programme too!”. He shouted over to his friend, “This man saw that same programme about dowsing!” he said to his friend, calling him over to join us. The great Scottish dowser David Cowan apparently saw the same programme:

“Twenty-five years ago, I watched a programme on “Tomorrow’s World” on the use of divining rods, and, to my absolute amazement, discovered for myself that they really did work.” (source: The Leyman web site)

We briefly discussed the unlikelihood that we would both have been started in dowsing by the same programme, only shown once, and revelled in the coincidence of it. Then he bade me farewell, happy now, and let me carry on following the subtle energy lines.

I picked up my pack and rods, and dowsed my way back down the path that had the female line following it, wandering back and forth, looking like a right prat, until I crossed the road and found the line went into a small gap between the elder and hawthorn trees that edged the King’;s Men stone circle. Time to go and find out what all the fuss was about with the Rollright Stones then!

Gwas

Glastonbury Solstice : The Opening of the Chakras

Glastonbury Pilgrimage Notes – Summer Solstice (June 2009)

On June 20th and 21st Kal and I went down to Glastonbury to begin a spiritual pilgrimage. That wasn’t our intention initially, but very quickly that’s what it turned out to be! We had no set agenda, other than a starting point that I had identified after reading Mary Caine’s book about the Glastonbury Zodiac in which she had revealed that the Girt Dog of Langport may have been the first place that initiates to the ancient druidic colleges and mystery schools landed by boat on the Isle of Avalon, the only high ground in the flooded Somerset Levels. This first contact was at Burrow Mump at Burrowbridge. So that was where we started too. From that point onwards I was hoping for some guidance from elsewhere as to the path I should take.

Little did I know quite how successful that approach would be! What follows is an account of how we were lead through the Isle of Avalon, each site opening at least one of my chakras, to profound effect. Follow me now as I show you the trail and the experiences I had – truly a solstice to remember.

Stage 1: Burrow Mump – Throat Chakra

We started the morning looking for the nose that formed the Girt Dog of Langport. Having read Mary Caine’s book about the Glastonbury Zodiac I was interested that she considered it to be the entrance way for the initiate into the Isle of Avalon and the Mystery School transformation process. Not that I was going to subject myself to some sort of masonic ritual! I believe the tradition to be far older than that, and to have been a spiritual initiation of the kind that is symbolically referenced in ancient Welsh bardic texts. Certainly, now that I am recounting this story I feel as though it is the transformation that you seek for yourself that you find, and nothing to do with arcane and involved rituals. Just time, patience, endeavour and a willingness to try.

I was not convinced as to the existence of all 12 of the zodiac signs in the Glastonbury landscape (13 including the dog) despite Mary Caine’s well-argued case. I felt that some of the signs were older – especially the incongruous Girt Dog, which equates to the dog Dormarth – the companion of Gwyn ap Nudd. I am starting to formulate the idea that there may have been only five original shapes – the original fixed zodiac signs and the dog, but that’s an argument that I will spell out in another post. The Girt Dog fitted with the Gwyn ap Nudd tales, but was out of place with the zodiac signs, many of whose shapes I feel were a bit ‘forced to fit’. Nevertheless I felt there as something in the Dog, and that it would form a good starting point, as I hadn’t visited it before on previous visits. We bought an Explorer Map of the area and located it.

Barrowbridge Mump to Wearyall Hill - Glasto09 (1)
The Church of St.Michael

Barrowbridge Mump to Wearyall Hill - Glasto09 (6)We followed dowsing rods to locate the most energetic paths for ourselves to the top. As usual, Kal’s solar path weaved a little but was almost direct, whereas my lunar-oriented path wandered around ascending at intervals and circling around each of the trees on the slope’s southern side. Then we arrived at the ruins of the St.Michael’s Church on the top of the Mump. If you’ve been reading our posts on this site for a while you’ll know the significance of St.Michael – the archangel of Christianity who pins the dragon energy, or Dark forces, under his sword of Light. However, another way of seeing it, as I saw it that day, was that the Archetype of Light was dominating the natural balance of energies. There ought to be a constant battle between Light and Dark, as is the flow of the forces in Nature. To dominate and subdue the dark forces throws the human world into a state of imbalance. This is how I felt standing in St.Michael’s Church on Burrow Mump – the earth and radiant energy forces were being subjugated by the design and designation of the church. The design channelled the energies, whilst the designation ensured that generations of believers would imbue the site with their dedicatory energies, maintaining the imbalance in the name of the Light (the Sun, the Male force).

Is not Christianity just such a religion? Does it not promote The Light and seek to eradicate The Dark, vilifying it as “evil” and un-holy? Has it not tried to associate all the worst aspects of humanity with the forces of darkness, of night and of magic? The result has been 2000 years of what Terence McKenna would call “the dominator culture“, promoting masculine ideals, favouring male energies, denigrating and subjugating the feminine. Only now is the tide slowly turning in the last hundred years as we slowly transfer alignment to the new Aquarian age from the Piscean. For the established Christian Church trying to maintain masculine sun energy exclusively in the face of this turning tide will bring about the dissolution of these established institutions – unless they can change.

Dowsing The Mump
The St.Michael church was of course aligned East-West. It could hardly fail to be so. Having read Ross Nichol’s article about the layout of churches in the selected collection of his works called “In The Grove of the Druids” I knew that this ancient Sun alignment was important, as was the structure of the church, which also conformed to the divine proportions and layout of almost all early Christian churches. It also happens to be on the St.Michael ley line that the late John Michell re-discovered, and which was popularised further by Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst.

We set about discovering the ley lines and earth energy formations of the site. We immediately identified a strong and powerful ley line consisting of neutral, male and female energy lines. It travelled all the way through the large empty windows set into each end of the ruined church. We quickly found our respective power centres – on opposite sides of the church’s North-South walls. Mine was to the south, and consisted of female and neutral energies, whilst Kal’s was directly opposite on the northern side and registered for male and female energies. I took the picture below whilst standing in my power centre, and Kal’s was just through the arch on the opposite side.

Barrowbridge Mump to Wearyall Hill - Glasto09 (10)

There was also a power centre slap bang in the centre of the church. This was very interesting indeed – we learned something new here. The three types of energies coming into the church along the East-West axis was hitting a female earth energy point in the centre of the church. As it did so it split into two rays that were channelled by the church’s walls outwards in North and South directions, effectively forming….a cross! To the south this extended through my power centre as a female and neutral line. On Kal’s side (north) the line was refracted as a male and female line. What we don’t know is how the power centres at those points affected the constitution of those lines, but perhaps we can leave that for someone else to determine until we get back there another day?

As Kal will no doubt relate he was wearing a bracelet of blue stones. An unusual thing for him to do, as I had never seen him wear it before. Turns out I needed it. I dowsed for which of my chakra points this Burrow Mump energy centre would affect and got a response for the colour blue – the throat chakra. I didn’t have any context for what that might mean, but Kal decided to offer me his blue bracelet. He felt it may help my meditation, so I took it.

I used the L-rods to find the point at which I should meditate (something we are getting accustomed to doing now). A point was detected about ten feet away from the central crossing point. If you consider that the church’s design is an elongated cross resembling a human being with outstretched arms (see Ross Nichols’ essay on church design and human proportion) then this point would have equated to …you know what’s coming, right? The throat of course. I only realised this once I came to write this post. My higher self is obviously a lot more intelligent than my normal self.

From that spot I could see a visible earth energy line flowing across the landscape to the south-east. It was like a line I had seen before when I ascended from Llandrillo stone circle late one night. A softly-glowing overlay on reality. Quite beautiful and mesmerising. I saw it snake across the Levels towards a hill in the distance. It curled around the hill and out of view but I felt that this hill was the next place to visit. At this point I knew not why – Burrow Mump was our starting point but there was, as yet, no sense of any journey or purpose to our weekend visit. Oh, how that was about to change!

Barrowbridge Mump to Wearyall Hill - Glasto09 (2)
When we checked the map to determine where the line went (based on my description) it was pointing at Wearyall Hill (instinctively I knew which hill it was even though I’m not familiar enough yet with Glastonbury’s local geography)! Kal had been meditating on his power centre and had seen a new power centre forming at a spot that my imaginary line crossed, at the south-east corner of Burrow Mump. Kal located it with his rods, and shortly afterwards I did the same. However, the moment we had both recognised what it was, it disappeared! We decided to head for Wearyall Hill and see what we could find. Again – no agenda – no preconceptions. Just following our lines and intuitions.

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Brittany 4: Le Champ Dolent Stone

Brittany, Thursday 7th May
This is the fourth post in my Brittany dowsing series, and for a brief moment I will be back-tracking. On the same day as we went to Mont St.Michel we had a small diversion to Dol De Bretagne, a town just off the main route along the Cotes D’Armour coast between St.Brieuc and St.Malo. In this town, reputed to be the source of the Stuart royal dynasty, we found the Dol De Bretagne menhir, or the Champ Dolent stone.

The Champ Dolent Stone

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It would have been rude to pass up such an obvious invitation to dowse some stones before the main event. The fairly large-scale road map we had showed a menhir located in the town of Dol De Bretagne called ‘Le Champ Dolent’ meaning the Field of Sorrows, supposedly. Well, on arriving at the stone the clouds parted and the sun began to smile down on us. Whilst we were at the roadside site (with picnic tables) that surrounded the stone there was a constant stream of visitors. People are still fascinated by these menhirs and ancient sites. I wonder what it makes them think about? I think about the energies there.

Creation Myths made cartoon

As you approach the well-maintained path to the gigantic menhir there is some information on a sign. The cartoons depicted the various ‘creation myths’ that accounted for its presence of the stone, and a tale warning of disaster if it was allowed to wear down to nothing! We see that God dropped the stone to separate two warring armies, and also that Satan, in a jealous fit, threw the giant stone at an Abbey that had been built nearby, but missed. Always amusing how these stories are quite similar all around the megalithic zones along the west coasts of Europe.

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The Dowsing Bit

What a stone, though! As I poised the rods I took a moment to take it all in. I didn’t even see the picnic tables dotted around the small avenue of trees and grass that cushioned the narrow path to the menhir. I was captivated by its size. This stone was at least thirty feet high and six feet thick. It was slightly squared and tapered to a beautifully crafted peak. Again, it seemed to be made of the local pink or light salmon-coloured granite. It had very few marks on it either. A few lines and battles scars, but mainly perfectly smooth and sculpted – ‘dressed’ as they say.

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I started dowsing at the small ‘King Stone’ that was close to the site’s entrance. This stone was about a foot and a half wide by two or three feet long and just an inviting height to want to sit on. I asked if it had any energy of its own? NO. Was there any energy around it? YES, a female spiral. I dowsed that it came to a spiral on the stone. If this wasn’t the stone’s own energy then I wondered if this stone was just transforming some energy source? I asked if the energy was coming up from the earth into the stone? NO. From the sun (which was now shining merrily)? NO. Going well! From the moon? YES. Fitted with the female spiral. Was this a transformer stone? YES. Like Nine Ladies and many others. A stone that transforms the moon’s radiant reflected energies in some way.

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I looked for a link to the big menhir some fifty feet away. Was there any energetic link between the two, I asked the rods? YES. I followed the female spiral out of the Queen Stone as it wound its way from tree to tree, side to side up the avenue of ten feet tall tree that lines the route between the two stones. It ended up going around and close to the menhir before pulling the rods into the left-hand side. Good. A connection made.

The connection between the two stones prompted me to think about the consequences of that link. Which stone was feeding which with this female energy? I checked the direction of flow. From the large menhir to the small stone. But then where? I dowsed to find where the energy went after it reached the Queen Stone and was taken in a circle, across the road on which we had parked, into the field opposite (luckily they don’t go for hedges much in France) and back to the smaller stone again. It was a twenty feet wide circle of a feminine energy field emitted from the Queen Stone. Interesting. I wondered what effect that had on anything, after all – it’s fine to find these fields but what are their effects? I didn’t yet know, either here or anywhere else yet. I turned my attention back to the menhir again.

After my recent experience with the St Uzec stone I was keen to see what the nemeton of this stone was like. I walked all the way back to the small road we had come in on, close to the outlying Queen Stone. I dowsed up the path to the menhir but only travelled some five feet before the rods gave a barrier sign! That was massive – the biggest nemeton field I have ever dowsed, for definite. HUGE! The picture above shows the extent of it. I dowsed all the way along the nemeton’s edge and found it to be not quite as large on the other side where it went through a ploughed field (only twenty-five feet or so). Nevertheless, it encompassed almost all of the path leading up to itself on the side where people would approach it, I checked for male lines – none. Neutral lines? None. This was an exclusively female + moon energy site.

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I now felt like doing a little energy work. I asked to find the best place to stand to be in tune with the stone and to feel re-charged, Well, I was on holiday! The rods led me to the left-hand side of the stone again. I tried not to stand in the small dog turd at that spot. We find this kind of thing often at power centres. Animals like to defalcate there for some reason. Not always but too often to have gone unnoticed as a coincidence. I stood near to the stone at that side, touching its huge side and relaxed. Soon I felt a dual drawing-out motion at my feet and a filling-in from above, like being showered in very smooth and light water.

I picked up the rods again, Please show me the most energetic path to walk, I prompted. The rods moved around the back of the stone to pass over the small un-energetic stone that lay at the base of the menhir (another handy chair for tired tourists) and then down through three female spiral power centres until finally curling back around the Queen Stone, inviting you to sit on it and muse awhile, which I duly did. This site felt great. Not at all like the St Uzec stone. Both M and I felt completely at home here, happy to linger for ages. Many people came by, had their sandwiches gazing at the stone, then left only to be followed by yet another person “just stopping off”. It was nice to see that other people agreed with this feeling. It was nice to be around such a beautiful and energetic monument to an ancient people’s harmony with nature,

I asked M to follow me as I wound my way down this energetic trail of three power spirals, and she felt the stone’s intense buzz as she neared it. She had a low grade headache that morning (probably from squinting in the bright sunlight) but by the time she had walked the trail this had disappeared. Coincidence, I’m sure, but this is not the first time that has happened. Psychological and auto-suggestive it may be, but it works every time.

The powerful and impressive Dol De Bretagne menhir is certainly worth a visit if you’re in that area. But I guarantee you won’t be the only one there!

Gwas.

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Kellianna's song 'Brighid' from her album 'Lady Moon'. Seemed appropriate.
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