The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘lammas’

My summary of the year could easily take up several posts, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to highlight the many important distinct elements that have taken place this year, and then provide links to the posts that illustrate these elements.

On the whole it has been an amazingly packed, dense, active year. If I were to summarise the whole year in one sentence I would say that this year I have ‘come of age’ in my druid work. I have accepted a level of responsibility, been given many new ‘powers’, skills and abilities, and I have seen a startling increase in my use of intuition. There have also been many surprises. I began the year expecting that I would be working with one type of energy which actually turned out to be something else. I have been to many familiar places, and some new ones too. Each time I have been astonished by the power of the experiences I have had.

It has been a truly rewarding and remarkable year for me, and for Kal too, I know, and yet again I couldn’t have done half of the work I do without his enthusiastic and sometimes madcap influence. So pleased to have such a great friend to work alongside.

Here are the main elements of my year, in roughly chronological order:-

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Year of the Dragon.

First there was the dragon vision at Dinas Emrys – a vision of a Dragon at the “Solstice Centre”. This idea led me on a quest to find the dragon energy or spirit form that might exist at the centre of the land, and to do that close to the Summer Solstice. The vision of the dragon at the centre of the land, followed by seeing the dragon sylph in the clouds at Moel Ty Uchaf.

I was then urged to visit Hanger Hill in Sherwood Forest for a second time in the year to find this centre, and there I had a strong vision of the dragon energy covering the whole island. Finally  at the end of the year I would see the sleeping dragon in Spain and wake the fire dragon when I linked the two mounds in Antequera with my friend Mike.

POSTS: The first dragon vision, The second dragon vision, Dinas Emrys red and white dragons, Spread of the Dragon, Hanger Hill, El Torcal, Fire Dragon of Antequera

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Renown

 ”I will be spending the year seeking out sources to increase my personal power“.

That was the prediction I made at the start of the year. How much did that come true? I have certainly felt that I have followed a path that had led to an increase in my personal spiritual power.

Renown has come to the fore in many ways – increased recognition (popularity of the blog), increased personal power (magickal energy), and through research into many historical and mythical figures that are closely linked to my own history.

POSTS: Imbolc, Careg-Y-Big stone and fame, Robin Hood and renown,

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Arthurian Archetypes

This year I expanded the number of Arthurian archetypes that I work with to four. 2010 was a Merlin year, 2011 an Arthur year, and this year has been a Gwalchmai year. I thought it was Merlin at Lud’s Church, but now I realise it was a knight figure and that was Gawain/Gwalchmai.

Time and again I would refer to The Green Man and associate this with Merlin. Looking back I can see that actually this was totally the wrong association. It should have been Gwalchmai all along!

POSTS: Arthurian Archetypes of the Cross, Remote Dreaming at Luds Church, Seeing Like The Hawk, The Hawk and The Dove

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Ancestors

Start of the year was the start of the quest at Vale Crucis. Being directed toward Roscommon, Ireland by the shade of St Duignan. Finding my ancestral home, and its warrior kings. The wonderful and strange encounters in that land. Finally feeling a true link to the land. The rewards of this journey were instructions about how to access ancestor energies that I had received as ‘a download’:

1. The first stage to unlocking the energies is to remember the quest that gained them, especially the moment when they were downloaded into me when I held the Eel Sword at the edge of Lough Key.
2. I should let my mind go free and let it link with the land. It also represents will. Some willpower is required to unlock these energies.
3. Use a feeling of joy to unlock the access to the ancestor energies once linked to the land and mindful of the downloaded energies.

POSTS: Ancestor Tarot Reading, The Burial Site, The Vision, Search for a Sword, The Abbey, The Throne, Forging a Sword, The Battle, The Coronation,

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Influence of the Stars

The link between my energy body and the stars that influence it. It started with Venus, but at the end of the year I was shown other specific stars that form a personal astrology – specific stars that influence some of my emotional traits.

The work came full circle on that subject. I now understand the very personal nature of astrology and its energetic effects.

POSTS: New dimension to stargazing

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Predictions for crop circles

I predicted that this year would see the last of the “real” circles. Was this true? Perhaps only next year will tell for sure.

Certainly it has been an incredibly poor year for circles to say the least. People put that down to the amount of rain. I don’t know what caused it – but oddly I felt a compulsion to predict it at the beginning of the year. The quality of the circles was astonishingly poor – I felt like most of them were clear and obvious man-made circles, which is different to other years.

POSTS: The Prediction, The Realisation

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Re-balancing via the Sun

At Imbolc I was told by the spirit of Brigid that I needed to re-balance. I would do this by allowing more sun energy into my energy field this year. I have certainly spent much more time using male/sun energy than in previous years where I was almost exclusively using female energy forms. An orb makes an appearance at The Bridestones as though to confirm this requirement from spirit.

POSTS: Imbolc 2012, Egypt 2012, Winter Solstice 2012

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Map dowsing

At the Spring Equinox Kal and I did a map dowsing experiment. We decided to choose a place to visit anywhere in the British Isles. When we compared notes we had map dowsed exactly the same square mile.

This is a skill that I have significantly improved this year. In fact, in many ways map dowsing started my whole year off with a bit of recuperation and some early site visits that would open a whole side to the country that I had neglected.

POSTS: Map dowsing my recovery, Spring Equinox 2012, Finding my Spiritual Centre, Heart of Paris

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Becoming a Druid

Feeling like I had been “upgraded” to the “oak” level – the druid level in Ireland. Understanding that this would mean turning my thoughts to teaching the information I had gained, rather than just obtaining it.

Also, a new sense of responsibility and a duty to give something back comes with this new level of ability. I have felt this as a deep connection with the land, and a desire to plant trees.

The final aspect of this evolution was to discover that my druid name was closer to “Vassal” or “Son of Merlin” than “Servant”. This moved me a stage closer to that energy frequency. I feel just a touch more integrated with that energy now.

POSTS: Anglesey Lecture, A Chance to Praise, Healing History, Coronation Rath, Son and Servant

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The Elemental Year

Can utilise the elements better as they move around the year.

• Earth from Feb to May;
• Fire from June to Aug;
• Water from Aug to Oct;
• Air from Nov to Feb.

Later in the year I began to say “Sky, Land, Sun and Sea” instead of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.

POSTS: Considering the Stations

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Powers of the Staff

Finding out that my staff has its own powers courtesy of the Elemental Masters of Tinkinswood. It became an indispensable and valuable tool this year. I have been guided to learn about the powers vested in it, and am now able to utilise those powers to define energy changes in an environment. This has been incredibly useful, but I have been led to realise that some of these powers have still to be mastered, and that invoking them is not enough. They also need skilful use.

This year more than ever people remarked on the staff and how beautiful it looks. I nearly lost it several times, but on each occasion I made a supreme effort to recover it. We have a strange relationship – one in which I mustn’t take it for granted. It has its own inherent powers now.

POSTS: Staff Powers 1, Staff Powers 2, Staff Powers 3

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Bran The Raven & Seeing like a hawk

Working with his presence and guidance all year. I have been to Dinas Bran so many times this year, and each time he has been there to assist me.

This was part of the Gwalchmai training. Ariel viewing, seeing hawk lines, silvery trails in the landscape. I would be taught by Bran the Raven about some techniques for remote viewing. He taught me how to use the raven’s bird’s-eye view to see far away, and how to project my attention to a far point.

I didn’t know why at the time but later I came to understand that remote viewing wasn’t just for acquiring knowledge of events distant in space but present in time. It could also be used for finding and healing past events.

POSTS: Seeing like the Hawk, Bran and The Metamorphosis of the Raven, Bran calling, Seeing through the eyes of Bran, Me and Bran visit Dovedale

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Opening the Third Eye

This long-term quest was presented to me to encourage me to spend more time trying to see psychically rather than dowsing for answers. I think it has worked because my visions are more frequent and much clearer.

I have also begun to feel the energies, rather than needing to dowse for them. Finally, I have begun to trust my intuitive responses and intuitive information much more than ever before.

POSTS: Pineal Gland symbolism and signs, Song for Merlin 2, Quest for the Third Eye

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Re-union

So many aspects of the year’s quests and events were related to the idea of Re-Union. At Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall I was shown that union could mean recovering past energies that were left like stray threads through our lives,

Later, in Ireland, I was re-united with my ancestor energies,and integrated energies from people connected to me in the past into the present to make the present a unified and more powerful whole.

The whole Iona visit was centred on the energy of union – the island resonated with it. I also found out that the colour of Union is fuchsia pink. Odd! The walls around my desk at work have recently been painted this colour by a strange coincidence. It’s the first time they’ve been painted in 10 years, and before that they were beige.

POSTS: The Colour of Union, Merging with Merlin, Re-Union of past energies, Tarot to support Union, Winter Solstice 2012

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Tarot readings

Although I have learned some useful techniques for providing readings for others, the majority of the work I have done this year, and the most astonishing, has been when I have done tarot readings for myself.

I seem to get most out of these readings if I do them immediately before or after a significant quest.

POSTS: Personal astrology, Ancestor tarot reading, Powers of the staff reading, Third Eye quest reading

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Freeing Merlin

I released Merlin energy from the Underworld in 2010. Now in 2012 I was releasing Merlin energy from The Otherworld. I still don’t know the true significance of this, other than it required me to engage with some bardic skills, and this has re-kindled a desire in me to re-awaken many of the old bardic skills I used to use, but have since forgotten in all the excitement of my questing.

I had to visit several sacred sites to recover fragments of poetry in Old Welsh, then translate them, put them in order, and learn to recite the poem! I used to play musical instruments, write poetry and be able to recite some of it. I think I need to do this once more, so I will use Winter to begin again because I rather enjoyed the challenge of learning the poetry.

POSTS: A Song for Merlin – Part 1, A Song for Merlin – Part 2

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Aliens, Angels and Giants

Towards the end of the year things veered away from normality and into the kind of territory that I usually enjoy reading about but would not contemplate getting involved in. I got involved. I found that an energy that I had simply identified as “alien” was in fact angelic in origin, and  on Iona this energy had been deliberately infused into a stone that had been placed by a giant who had come over from Ireland. Well, I’ll leave that one there, I think! This kind of thing was the very reason I stopped looking at crop circles. Things got too weird!

POSTS: The Watcher, Giants, A Giant’s Grave, Angel Hill, My Own Angel

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Campaigning

As might befit a move into the realms of the “Druid” level (my own certification, I hasten to add - I’m not on the OBOD course or anything like that) I have begun to involve myself in local ecological campaigns. I have been supportive of the bees, the ash trees and local tree planting initiatives. I have also been working on a subtle energy level to re-balance and re-energise several sacred sites. This has not been arbitrary work done in passing, but work that I was called to do.

Most of my charitable work I do not advertise here on the site because it’s personal, and I’m not trying to tell people what they should do. You are your own example, I believe.

POSTS: The Bee Campaign

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SUMMARY

The year began with a frisson of anticipation. Would this year bring the catastrophe predicted for a long time? Would it bring the energy shift that was a hot topic in energy-worker circles? Would it bring an alignment with a galactic centre and a rush of transformational celestial rays that would sweep mankind into the next generation of being? Well, even in January I had the feeling that the answer was “No”. All through the year I was re-iterating this to all and sundry. The only transformation possible is within YOU and initiated by yourself. I have found this year that our personal energies ARE linked to the celestial influences, yet there has been no general “cosmic download” this year. My cosmic download came in May when I visited Ireland.

For me the year has been one of working with The Past. I have been healing energy ripples from earlier in my life, re-uniting my current self with my ancestral selves, and learning about the power of re-unification generally from bathing in its frequency, to discovering its colour vibration, to washing myself in the uniting waters of three waterfalls. The year has all been about re-unification. The energy that has come from this process has been what I call “renown”. This is the energy that increases one’s personal power. A signifier that this was happening was my move into the druidical final grade – “druid”.

Thank you for reading our exploits on this year’s turn of the spiral. We are very grateful, and as we await another amazing year beginning in February 2013, we hope you continue your journey with us.

Gwas.

In part two of my Lammas adventures for this year Kal and I were fooling around at the top of the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall in East Wales. I had just settled in after my healing experience at the re-union point of three streams, and now I was gazing down the valley from the top of the waterfall, listening to the sound of the plummeting water, when Kal skipped in front of me to knock me out of my reverie. He had a look in his eye that meant that something foolish was in his head, I was right.

Pistyll Rhaeadr

I saw Kal moving towards the very edge of the waterfall’s head were the rushing water began its first descent over the edge before soon dropping down into the deep gorge below. I was nervous and curious – what was he doing? When I asked him he told me that he was testing himself – he had been challenged to make the leap as a “leap of faith”. Well, I wouldn’t stop him, but I would certainly make sure I was around in case it all went wrong. I was now on high alert, but also a small smile had begun to form on my face – this could be quite amusing, I thought. I would watch this, and if necessary record the outcome. Someone else who was visiting the waterfall who had a big camera had similar ideas, and began to focus his lens on proceeding as Kal swayed back and forth on his launch spot, contemplating the leap of four feet across the churning waters. One slip…..!

My mind moved to the Fool card in the Tarot deck. Notice in the original Rider Waite card the Fool’s proximity to water and that he’s working at heights, and also that he’s drawn out the Sun to witness his folly!

Notice proximity to water and heights

Kal swayed for the fifteenth time. “Jump! I shouted encouragingly. “Jump if you’re going to!”. Could this be considered aiding and abetting a criminal act of stupidity? Kal took the urge and made a half-hearted leap to the other side. His right foot landed but his weight was uneven. He lurched towards the safer side of the falls, but then tried to regain his balance so as not to fall into the deep waters. Too late! He had lost his balance and his right foot dropped into the deep pool of the river. Shortly to be followed by his left foot. Then his arm. Then…well, he was practically swimming! I heard the quiet continuous click of a camera’s shutter as each calamitous step was recorded for posterity.

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The day began with the promise of something beautiful to emerge from the nascent silver-grey clouds, whose meagre partings would later reveal the full glory of the late summer sun. Intrepid as always, and eager like beagles penned until their exuberance breaks free, Kal and I rushed for the mutually agreed starting point for most of our special journeys into the magical adventures we live through in Wales. We would start at the Llangernyw Yew and see what visions it might divulge to us today – August 1st – the festival of Lammas in the pagan calendars. At the beginning of the adventure the day felt pregnant with possibilities, and it would happen that I would have a wonderful and inspiring revelation, learn a new magickal technique for self-healing the traumas of the past, and find my way onto the next part of my spiritual path. Let the tale begin!

It was mere seconds before Nature herself was showing me the signs and symbols that have accompanied so many of my special days around the Wheel of the Year. As soon as I began to drive off from home I heard first then saw a buzzard flying low over the car and circling around a nearby field. Of course – all such days should start with the aerial vision from the hawk! The hawk would also re-appear at the end of the day as we returned to the car to drive home again. Almost like a closing narrator to the proceedings, having the final word.

As well as all these coincidental and contrived moments, I was aware that we would be spending the day in the company of the invisible Grain Moon – the August full moon that was burgeoning with its astral emanations on this day and those that surrounded it. It felt like everything was gathering in order to give us the best chance of having a truly meaningful and magickal experience – which is exactly what happened when we followed our intuition and our guides.

The Safety of the Yew Tree

Llangernyw Yew in full splendour

Although yews have many poisonous parts (berries and bark to name but two) there is something that I consider to be very safe about being around this old tree. The Llangernyw Yew is so old that it baffles your sense of history to even consider when it sprouted. Let’s just say that when this tree was beginning its life our ancestors were discovering the wonders of mixing Copper with Zinc to produce a new metal for the first time.

As Kal wandered around the graveyard like a lost ghost (he always has a purpose, really) I sat beneath the tree’s canopy and felt for the right place to sit. I found my place and found that I could connect to the tree very quickly. Moon? Festival Day? Noon? My energy? More experienced? Previous encounters? I don’t know what the magic combination was, but within seconds I was asking for and receiving answers from the bowels of the great yew….

• “Have I completed the last quest yet?” – “It is a continuous quest until the end of the year.”. Straight question, straight answer.
• “Am I ready for a quest for this part of the year?” – “You have enough energy, yes.”
• “Can you tell me the nature of this quest, please?” – “I can’t. You need to go to the Portal Stones.” (situated at the rear of the church). “OK – thanks!”

As I came out of my tree trance I met with wandering Kal. He told me what he had learned so far, and asked what I had got. Nothing yet, really. I’m off to see the Portal Stones. Kal pointed out that his attempts to make the sun appear through the slate-grey Welsh cloud cover was happening as we spoke. I looked up in amazement to see a fiery spotlight appear in the thick grey cloudscape. Impossible, I roared! Kal smiled. “Impossible is nothing!” he seemed to suggest.

Impossible sun appearance again – Lammas 2012

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My quest for the previous part of the Wheel of the Year (Solstice to Lammas) was to open my Third Eye. This was quite a hefty challenge, I felt, and Kal had said to me several times (with blowing of cheeks, and shrugging of shoulders) that it would be a lot to attempt in the few weeks between “spokes” of The Wheel. So it turned out to be. The Third Eye opening quest turns out to be something that I need to work on for the whole of the remainder of the year. It’s a “half year” quest that will take me up to Yule.

The quest began to take full effect in July. I felt that July was a “good time” to try opening my Third Eye. I took this process to mean that I would be attempting to find ways to enhance my spirituality, to increase my psychic awareness, divinatory capabilities, and to enhance my visions. As I ventured into the month of July the first thing I noticed was this news article about the increase in solar activity forecasted for the month of July:-

“Electromagnetic activity from the sun affects our electronic devices and human electromagnetic field. We are physically, mentally, and emotionally altered by electromagnetic charges from the sun, our body can feel sleepy but also become highly energized.

Psychological effects of CMEs (coronal mass ejections) are typically short lived and include headache, palpitations, mood swings, and feeling generally unwell. Chaotic or confused thinking, and erratic behaviors also increase. Solar storms can drive our emotions and maximize it to both good and bad side – the point here is to be aware of it.

The pineal gland in our brain is also affected by the electromagnetic activity which causes the gland to produce excess melatonin, a hormone which can cause sleepiness but it’s also known that some people have opposite side effects, usually those that are aware of the effects.” (source: thewatchers.adorraeli.com)

Now, I know a thing or two about the pineal gland. Our old friend Dr Serena Roney-Dougal gives a good account of the pineal gland in her book “Where Science and Magic Meet“. If there was a time in the year when I could benefit from increased pineal gland activity then it would seem that it would be when the sun was particularly active too. And that was July (and into August, it turned out). The coincidence seemed … fortuitous at least, pre-ordained at best.

The Pineal Gland’s location (c) Oddly Even blog

I began to think about what things would help me enhance my third-eye opening. I had already discovered a number of techniques that I think would enhance such work:-

1. Chanting the “i” vowel sound to tune and open the third-eye chakra point
2. Facing a source of light (sunlight) with your eyes closed but looking at the point where the Third Eye is located
3. Imagining a spiralling bridge connection to whatever the focus is (the Open Portal technique)

In practise, here are the things I have found that are useful specifically to promote the activity of remote viewing, which is an activity that I have concentrated on most as a means to open the Third Eye:-

1. Being in a altered state of consciousness, grounding and centering
2. Having either strong sun or full moon energy available
3. Transferring my vision into an imaginary hawk that is flying over the place that I want to remotely view

Here are some examples of how my third-eye powers have been increasing whilst using these techniques:-

1. Seeing the aura of a gnome, and of the Spirit of Place at Penmaenmawr
2. Sensing the location of spirit forms even when i can’t see them visually – Moel Ty Uchaf’s spirit of place, and the dog spirit in Sherwood Forest (via sense of smell)
3. Getting stronger and clearer visualisations, and being able to see the location of the object being shown to me via an energy bridge/connection path or as an aerial view of a hawk

Third-Eye Quest Tarot Reading

As I often do when I am at a major decision point, or facing a quest that needs the kind of enquiry that cannot be reduced to a simple binary “Yes” or “No” answer, I turned to the tarot cards to explain some aspects of the quest I was facing. Here are the cards that I drew in response to specific questions held in mind as I drew:-

1. WHAT DO I NEED TO TAKE INTO THE PROCESS? –  The Great Bear (Arthur – leadership, power of the land)
2. WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE? –  6 of Vessels (Reunion) and Page of Stones (Lynx)
3. WHAT WILL HELP ME MAKE THE CHANGE? - 4 of Bows (Celebration), 8 of Stones (Skill), 2 of Stones (Challenge)
4. WHAT WILL THE OUTCOME BE? – Ace of Arrows (Breath of Life), Queen of Vessels (Salmon)

Some recurring cards there, as previous draws recorded on this blog will attest. From this reading I drew several important pieces of information:-

1. I need to go somewhere where I can connect to the land in order to begin this process – somewhere connected to King Arthur.
2. 6 of Vessels is talking about re-uniting with old memories and resolving them. Like Kal has done – to go into the past to absolve an old memory of energy.
3. Something physical at a mound is suggested,
4. I will overcome a challenge using skill at a time of celebration (or the effects of celebration – joy -will be the key to unlocking the ability).
5. Wisdom and the Breath of Life are the rewards of opening the Third Eye

Armed with this useful information I felt empowered to take the quest further when it came to the Lammas Festival date – August 1st. In my forthcoming post about that you will see how the tarot card interpretations fitted into that day’s places and events.

Gwas.

You may have noticed the lack of podcasts this year on Hedge Druid? There’s a reason for that. In the first half of the year the reason could be put down to a mounting pressure of “work”. Mostly this was spiritual work, and with all the good weather we have had in England this year then the Great Outdoors claimed a large part of my time, and this was reflected in the amount of time-consuming podcast work that I could do. Right, that’s my pathetic excuse out of the way. Now, what about the recent months? I did intend to re-establish the podcast once the weather got worse. It has worsened, but still I don’t feel inclined to get back into the studio to record and edit an hour’s worth of audio. Why not? I think there’s a deeper and wider reason.

I have been noticing that other pagan blogs have also begun to falter in their regularity and their commitment. Could it be that we all expanded too quickly, and pushed ourselves too hard to produce content? Possibly, but I think the real reason is due to a difficulty in maintaining momentum when this year has been out of synchronisation with itself. Let me explain.

The Moon, The Sun and The Earth sources

Last year our blogs flourished. Mostly these are blogs that are talking about magickal work, mystical happenings and spiritual progress. What general effect has happened that could account for the difference between last year’s ease and this year’s difficulty? Simple. It is the synchronisation of the phase of the Moon with the Celtic Festival dates. Last year the high points in the solar cycle were matched by high points in the lunar cycle. In other words, at the major lunar festival dates the Moon was also usually in its Full Moon phase.

Celtic Wheel of the Year

The Celtic Wheel of the Year is a cycle that records the high points of the year’s energies. It tells the pagan watcher when the Earth itself is producing the most energy in its co-operative cycle with The Sun. In my experience, and I speak only for myself here, I do not use The Sun as my primary magickal power source. For me it is The Moon. Last year was therefore a “bumper year” in terms of the number of coincidences between the Solar and Lunar high points. Magick was abundant and easy. Motivation was plentiful, and so a great deal of work flowed, and many posts got produced. Blogs flourished that dealt with these subjects.

This year the story has been completely reversed, and how dispiriting must that have been to many of our pagan friends whose magickal sources are Moon-dependent? This year the Full Moon phases NEVER coincide with any of the Solar Festival dates in the Celtic Year. Only Spring Equinox came close. The result of this, goes my tenuous hypothesis, is that motivation has taken a battering. Magickal people must have found themselves either doing Sun OR Moon work, but never being able to being the two together.

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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.

Even though Kal and I had gone to Lud’s Church for Lughnasagh (Lammas) I wanted to do something of my own, so I took some time off work to go on a little outing of my own. The dowsing rods had indicated that the best place to visit would be Anglesey, and so I sought out some sites that were of interest to me given the moon’s phase, the nature of the festival day, and my preference for wanting to know more about standing stones.

Thus, I chose to visit three sites along the A5025 which courses through Anglesey’s eastern side. I have seen many of the sites along the coastal regions all around the island of the Druids, but this road was a little further inland, so it was new territory for me. The weather was cloudy with occasional showers, but I was not going to be put off. I had work to do!

1. Ty Gwyn standing stone (Megalithic)

Standing on a small hill above a number of car salesrooms this standing stone is easy to find, and relatively easy to access (if you don’t mind hopping over gates). The stone stands proudly on the crest of the hill and the hill provides stunning views of other hills around, and across the Menai Straits to Snowdonia. The stone is shaped in the classic fashion – a wide flattened shape with one relatively pointed edge and the other side a more rounded edge.

Upon dowsing I found that there was male energy emerging from the pointed flat edge of the stone, and directed due eastwards towards the next standing stone at Llandegfan called Pen-Y-Maen. I put down the dowsing rods and stood in the flow of this male energy. With my hand I could feel the strong stream of subtle energy flowing out of this sharp edge.  Male energy and I are not very compatible so it was only a few moments of standing in this flow of energy before my head began to tighten, which is the prelude to me getting a headache. I stepped out of the flow and the tightening eased off immediately.

Llandegfan energy ley line

I found that the male energy was emerging from the geology beneath the stone. The stone had been positioned on this point because it was a natural weak point where male earth energy emerged. It was also the point where this weakness intersected a neutral ley line. Putting a stone of this shape at this point, broadside on to the neutral ley, meant that the male earth energy would rise into the stone and be directed to the narrowest point of the stone. This point was angled towards where the male energy was intended to go.

I don’t yet know why this male energy is important in the wider sense, except that male clockwise-spiralling energy has the properties of invigoration and motivation. On a map, if the line is extended eastwards it joins with hut circles and settlements on the North Wales coast at Llanfairfechan and atop the Penmaenmawr hills. Continued further it ends up at St.Asaph. Interesting, but inconclusive of any kind of theory about the usefulness or purpose of this male energy at the moment.

The Ty-Gwyn standing stone overlooks car showrooms

The next unusual finding was related to a patch of flattened grass. There were cows in the field so it was a fairly safe assumption that the cows were responsible for the flattened patch that was concentrated neatly around the sharp point of the stone. It would seem, then, that the female cattle were quite content, nay preferred, to deposit themselves for periods of time at the place where the male energy was emerging from this stone. Obviously, this would not have provided them any shelter at all! So, it may be an indicator that cows like male earth energy?

Cows seem to enjoy the energy output from this stone

2. Llanddyfnan standing stone (Megalithic) [Map]

A few miles further down the road from the previous stone was the much-easier-to-spot stone of Llanddyfnan. In fact, if you’re driving from Pentraeth to Talwryn (a common route for everyone, surely?) then you can’t really miss the stone. It is in a field right next to the road and next to a farm. With it being early in the morning I didn’t want to disturb the farmer with my request to visit, so I simply hopped over for a quick peek and a quick dowse. The only curious onlookers were the herd of bulls in the field adjacent, who again showed an amazing level of interest in what I was doing. Cattle and dowsing!

When I dowsed I found many of the same properties as the previous stone:-

• Male energy emerging from the “cutting’ edge of the flat stone
• Stone positioned to be broadside on to a ley line (in this case running North-South)
• The male energy was being sent off in a westward direction, following the angle of the stone’s thinnest edge.

Another male energy generating stone side on to a neutral ley

So, some corroborative evidence concerning the nature of standing stones and their orientation. It seems that stones are either chosen for their angular qualities, or were shaped accordingly so that there was one thinner edge and a broad side to the stone. The purpose of this seems to have been to mutate, or harness the existing earth energies by placing the stone on a spot of weak geology where earth energies are being emitted from under the ground. The spot was also chosen because it coincides with the path of a neutral energy ley. The stone is fitted broadside on to the energy ley, and its width matches that of the energy ley so as to capture all of the flow.  Some form of transmutation seems to occur within the stone as a result of this, and the resulting male energy tends towards the thinnest edge of the stone where it is emitted as a concentrated ray of male energy.

That being established, I moved on to deal with a more druidic aspect of my work – to seek knowledge through meditation at a sacred site. I chose a dolmen near to a place called Benllech further down the A5025. I will tell you about this episode next time.

Gwas.