The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘lugh’

Back in the day (early Feb 2011) when I was setting out on my Knight’s Quest. I had learned that an interesting and perhaps conclusions part of the quest would take place at Lud’s Church. A place I have yet to visit. I was at a loss as to how to begin this quest and so turned to my partner in…er…questing for some assistance. My question was simply…

• “So…any ideas of what I can look up re: the knight thing?”

Something to do on a rainy day

Gwas, as ever filled to the brim with knowledge arcane, responded with a few quick, off the cuff, suggestions…

Lud’s Church is an old pagan site dedicated to the god Lugh, who is the God of Light. No surprises there (sun boy!).

Lugh is the god to whom the festival of Lughnasagh (or Lammas) is dedicated. Therefore, I reckon that the CONCLUSION (the “crowning moment”) of your quest will be at Lud’s Church on Lammas in August

However, before that you will need to have undergone some trials – every knight has to take on a quest. Here are some typical examples:-

• To rescue a maiden
• To slay a dragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t.
• To find the grail

Thus spake Gwas!

I reflected on these suggestions and as was my want ignored the first, Maiden? What? Unlikely?

As readers of this blog know, “dragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t.” generally applies to a being that inhabits sacred sites. As far as I could muster there was no reason to slay one. I also noted that in Chinese energy work a DragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t. was also known as a Ley lineThe term used by many British dowsers to describe an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies.. It is easily confused with ley and therefore its use is not recommended by dowsers. and so Gwas suggested that that might be what it was referring to.

The most famous of knights quest was for the holy grail, which in history and myth has been associated with everything from the Christ birth-line to a cup that grants eternal life. I wondered if this would have any significance in my quest?

Kal Malik – pondering the life of a knight errant

ps: I had this in an email but never posted thinking it largely irrelevant, as is the norm however, it has come back to bite me in the Ass, so I dug it up and posted it now.

The purpose of the time between Lammas and Autumn is, for me, to make magick manifest.

Ways that I have been shown to do this are:-

1. Perform some healing
2. Energise some water
3. Create a stronger nemeton using a magick circle
4. Heal earth energy sites

This is similar to the request at the start of the year in which I had to go around waking up the earth energies at various sacred sites. This time, however, the edict is more personal. I need to learn how to make the energies that I can now draw from nature – from the earth, from space and from the sun and moon, and to practise how to manifest those energies in a form that is useful for me and for others.

The Lammas Gift

That seems to make this part of the year fairly, “open”, in terms of what I need to do, and yet finding the time to practise these skills will be the challenge. I will also now spend a bit of time refining what levels of skill I need to acquire exactly. I know that I can do each of the tasks that I may be asked to do, but to what level of skill do they need to be performed in order to satisfy the requirements for this part of the year? How will I know that I have done enough and done enough well that I will have fulfilled the task?

This is one of the problems of working alone as a Hedge Druid and without a formal system. Only the dowsing rods give me a guide to confirm or deny these things. I feel I should be working towards learning how to detect these things intuitively. Perhaps I will begin to work more with that side of myself too, in order to feel whether I have done enough to progress.

In preparation for these tasks I bought some fire agate crystals. I have no idea why, except that they seemed relevant. Reading about the crystals after buying them I find that they are for protection. well, that has been a recurring theme recently so I am very happy to have this kind of assistance!

Kal now seems to find himself in the same predicament, having been “given” some tasks to perform before the end of the year. Welcome to my world!!

Gwas.

p.s. You can chart my progress throughout the Wheel of the Year by selecting that new category from the drop-down list in the right-hand sidebar if you want to filter the posts for only those pertaining to the sacred times of the year and what I have been doing for each part.

It’s that time of the year again, a cross-over point into the next eighth-part of the Wheel of the Year. This impending crossover day is Lammas, or Lughnasadh. Let’s be fashionable and call it Lammas for brevity’s sake.

So, what is Lammas all about? Well, traditionally the revivalist pagans talk about the traditions that we until recently maintained relating to the celebration of the bountiful harvest – The Harvest Festival normally occurs in September, but already we are beginning to gather in the fruits of the summer.

Some schools in the UK still seem to have held onto this tradition where the demographic allows, and some of the smaller villages still mark this point in some way if they have a strong enough farming community and spirit. Neo-pagans also talk about the concept of sacrifice – the sacrifice of John Barleycorn, a personification of the harvest who has to be killed in order to be re-born as the new crop of the following year.

I came across a wonderful tune from The Imagined Village- a folk supergroup whose work I adore – which expresses anew the old tale of John Barleycorn, and it’s worth ten or more listens:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdGis5jy-CE

I’m a bit “previous” with all this harvest stuff, but in energetic terms this is the time to begin to gather in all the last of the summer’s strong energies and put them to good use. In terms of my own crops it’s been a dismal year for most things, despite the sun. The dry ground coupled with a plague of insects in Spring has meant very slow growth for most of my fruiting and flowering crops. Still, I’m grateful for anything that Nature provides because the quality of the taste more than makes up for the small amounts that a vegetable plot and a few hanging baskets can provide. M and I ate some of our tomatoes yesterday that tasted heavenly, and you just can’t buy that succulent home-grown taste.

Lammas celebrations

Traditionally, Lammas is celebrated by visits to fields, orchards, lakes and holy wells. Which is nice, and I’ll be doing some of that. I was at Lyn Cau below Cadair Idris at the weekend, and will be visiting a lot of fields this weekend when I go looking for crop circles in Wiltshire.

In terms of magic and energy work the idea is to offer thanks, honour ancestors, and thank sentient energies for their assistance in the prosperity and abundance of the food crop; their generosity with their guidance and energies; and the continued success of all your magical interactions and connections. It’s a time for giving a little back that you might have been making good use of in your enjoyment of the summer months when powers have been at their height.

Lammas for Hedge Druids

What does Lammas mean for Hedge Druids? Well, I can’t say what it means for other hedge druids, because by our nature we are quite solitary people, i suspect, and I’ve never met anyone identifying themselves as a hedge druid. Being evasive today, aren’t I? What does it mean for me as a hedge druid, then? Now we’re talking! I can’t really say until I go out this weekend and dowse around for a power centreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre., sit in it, and meditate to find out what Nature intends for me in the next few weeks. I do, however, have my own ideas as to what this part of the year means though, so here are some things I hope to be working on soon, and which relate to the Lammas period:-

• Re-engaging with the spirits- I will be thanking them for their efforts in making this year so much fun, and seeing if there is anything I need to give back in return.
• Crop circle visits – This time of year sees the culmination of the crop circle phenomenon. Circles are being created frequently at this time, but in the next few weeks they will all be cut out and very few new ones will be created, if this year’s formations go by the same pattern (ha!) as every other year. There’s no guarantee of course!
• Working with water- we have realised that we have neglected water as an energy source, so Kal and I will be dowsing for the properties of water, and working with it energetically over the next few months.

Oh, and one final thing. I will be eating lots of apples. We are, after all, living on the Isle of Apples, and this has a particularly strong connection with Manannán mac Lir and Lugh. What a golden and delicious way to celebrate!

Gwas.