The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘Lughnasadh’

This post is the second half of a post I did after the Summer Solstice. My purpose was to record the eight points in the year because at each of these artificial stages which were roughly aligned to the Celtic or Neo-Pagan calendar I would be seeking a task by communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with Nature. The task would be a guiding principle that I could use in order to develop spiritually along my chosen path of being a hedge druid. 

You can read about the first four “folds” of the year in my previous post, here. However, I will briefly recap the first four, before going on to describe the final four:- 

1. Yule to Imbolc – to be still, and to cleanse myself in preparation for the unfolding year. Accordingly I did nothing at all!
2. Imbolc to Spring Equinox – to awaken the energies of sacred sites; to contact spirits of place and prepare myself and sacred sites for the work ahead. I spent time communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with Spirits of Place and walking circles to awaken them.
3. Spring Equinox to Beltane – to connect to the earth’s energy grid; understand the nature of Neutral earth energy forms and to extract and utilise Neutral energy. I began to link to various sites, and connected myself to the earth grid. I investigated neutral energy and found something that I later called Primal Energy.
4. Beltane to Summer Solstice- to learn how to diffract, dissociate and extract the different frequencies that my energy field can generate. Then to learn how to bring those frequencies together again to form a pure white energy form. I learned how to extract a single energy colour from my whole field, and how to combine them all into a white light energy.

All of this work seemed like a preparation for something. Little did I know! Now I present the final four folds of the year, and their increasingly complex task assignments:- 

SUMMER SOLSTICE to LAMMAS 

Summer Solstice

 The Summer Solstice is the easiest point in the year for us to define. Being sun-based this day is fixed upon the rise of the sun on the longest day of the year. As has become our custom this year would see Kal and I in Glastonbury for the Solstice, working on our heart chakra and finding out what the next part of the year was about. 

PURPOSE:  

• To wake The 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. and let it fly.

I firstly had to ensure that my heart chakra was well balanced and filled with the energies of the sun and the solstice. With the sun at its peak the perfect place to be for the Solstice always seems to be Glastonbury with its reputation for being the heart chakra of these islands, and Glastonbury Tor has a reputation within that reputation for being the heart of the Glastonbury. Well, yet again, we were not disappointed, either with the copious amounts of heart energy available in this town, or with the wonderful energies of this time of the year. 

My task to waking the 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. would take me eventually to Cadair Idris where I would walk along the back of the 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 its head. There I did a walking meditation, collecting 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.’s teeth and using them to act as acupuncture points to release the spirit of the 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.. All this was done surrounded by the 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.’s breath – the mist. 

Since doing that act I have been able to feel energy much better than before. My dowsing response is also much stronger, and I often don’t need the rods to feel auras or to follow energy lines. I have also taken on a new appreciation for the power of the mountains. 

LAMMAS to AUTUMN EQUINOX 

Lammas - time of harvest

 As the summer ripens the crops so the year’s quest began to get more juicy. Rather than receiving some kind of prophetic vision instead I was given three little words, and from that phrase I had to extrapolate my own tasks. This was beginning to make me more independent. 

PURPOSE:  

• To make magic manifest
• To bring magic into daily use

I began to find meditation spaces in nature that I could retire to in order to do more work regularly. This worked while the weather stayed good and I got out often and did an almost daily meditation in nature. I began to work with my navel chakra and learned how to draw out invisible threads of energy that could be used to perform magic with. I incorporated several methods of connecting and drawing energy from nature to form energetic shapes around me for different purposes. 

At the end of this phase of the year I was much more familiar with, and happy to use, natural magickThis is a system of belief that is often defined as being the appropriation and re-use of naturally occurring forces for the purposes of healing, transformation, communication, or a host of other subtle effects. The natural elements of the magick can also be seen by the under-pinning concept that the use of these forces should be co-operative rather than coercive. on a daily basis. It had become a part of my routine and was now woven into the fabric of what I was trying to do to progress. Incense and crystals were valuable tools in this work, and I was using them often. 

AUTUMN EQUINOX to SAMHAIN  

The rise and fall of autumn

  As the leaves turned brown and fell I found myself enveloped in a long-term quest to re-energise particular sacred sites. The first one was local to me, but the second was in the town of Llangollen in North Wales. I found myself going to the hill of Dinas Bran a few times at all hours of the day and night after I received a curious riddle concerning Merlin. 

PURPOSE:  

• To journey into the Underworld and wake the Spirit of Merlin from his sleep

The instruction was accompanied by a riddle that gave me directions to follow in order to fulfil the quest to meet the spirit of Merlin. This quest involved the preparation of a wand of rowan, the location of a special stone church surrounded by ancient yew trees, and a deep meditation into the Underworld. This journey required me to learn new skills such as how to protect my energy body and make myself invisible to shades. 

When the quest was completed I had new stronger keener abilities, and I had performed a sort of alchemical wedding by combining within myself the forces of male and female energy. 

 SAMHAIN to WINTER SOLSTICE 

A time of the year associated with the veil between worlds, with death and the Underworld, with spirits and ghosts. It came as little surprise then that my new quest would be revealed at the tree most symbolic of this threshold – the yew. 

So many of this year’s quests have involved the ancient yew tree at Llangernyw that I have lost count. It seems to be our natural starting point because of its incredible energies, and its association with the concept of shamanic journeying. It is truly a gateway between worlds. The Samhain quest began with the tree too. As with many of the quests it sounded simple, but was actually the most complex and dangerous yet.   

The frost returns

 PURPOSE:  

• To free spirits.

Such a simple statement, but when unpacked, so complex to deliver. For this task I have had to do a lot of background reading about the concept of spirit rescue or release. 

I have also had to confront a great deal of my own inner philosophical prejudices concerning the way that the world is constructed, and what it means to venture beyond the veil of death. This feels like a natural extension of my journey into the Underworld, which at the time I took to be a metaphorical journey until the seriousness was impressed upon me. It was a real journey, and failure to prepare could result in actual physical repercussions. 

This quest also has a serious side. Whilst I am tasked with learning new skills, and understand that performing spirit rescue is a question of choice, nevertheless there could and no doubt will be some hairy and scary moments along this path, for which I have to prepare properly. 

Summary 

The first half of the year was concerned with me locking myself into the rhythm of the seasons. It involved tasks that were mainly preparatory – at the start of the year I was idle, resting, recuperating my energy levels and winding myself up to race headlong at the year. Then I was gently re-introduced to the energies of the land as they returned, and was given the task to co-operate in the re-introduction of energy back into the sacred sites that I love. 

The turning point was the Summer Solstice. From then on the quests became very personal and very challenging. They began to involve me having to learn new skills. The quests sometimes included riddles for me to solve, clues to information that would help me to achieve the results. I worked hard to embrace each new quest, and tried my utmost to meet the requirements in the timescales laid out by the passing of the year. I was rewarded at each stage with new powers, new skills and new insights into the world of Natural MagickThis is a system of belief that is often defined as being the appropriation and re-use of naturally occurring forces for the purposes of healing, transformation, communication, or a host of other subtle effects. The natural elements of the magick can also be seen by the under-pinning concept that the use of these forces should be co-operative rather than coercive., subtle energies, and the world beyond the senses. 

I know that each of the quests that I undertook was but an introduction to the breadth and depth of the skills that a hedge druid could be required to master. I now look forward to repeating this process next year, and once I have a second year to compare this year to, I will look to see whether there are any obvious correspondences and patterns which will allow me to be even better prepared in the following years. 

The Wheel of the Year has rolled forward and I have moved with it. Now I feel the wind rushing through my hair and it is exhilarating! 

Gwas.

Related post: My Eight Fold Year – the first four folds

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.

Dowsing Results for 2009

At the start of the year I faithfully followed the proposed dates that aligned with the current Gregorian calendar. As the year progressed beyond Summer Solstice I came to feel that the dates that were marked as celebration dates bore little relation to the times when earth energies were specifically active. The Gregorian dates for the Pagan Festivals in particular felt wrong, and were egergetically unremarkable. I started to align my visits with other criteria. My reasoning was that, for Equinox and Solstice days - celebrations of the sun – then the exact day as stated originally was accurate. For the pagan festival dates I took the nearest full moon date to be the correct day to try to do some dowsing. Often, this didn’t quite work out because I had already booked the Gregorian dates off work and so was often only free to dowse at sacred sites on those dates.

Here were the dates that I had written down as being the days to test for subtle energetic potential:-  

• Imbolc – 1 Feb (First Quarter moon)
• Spring Equinox – Thu Mar 20 5:48 GMT
• Beltane – 1 May (almost First Quarter moon)
• Summer Solstice – Sun Jun 21 0:59 BST
• Lammas – 1 Aug (six days from Full Moon)
• Autumn Equinox – Mon Sep 22 16:44 BST
• Samhain – 1 Nov (Full Moon)
• Winter Solstice – Sun Dec 21 12:04 GMT

You will notice that I have used the original Gregorian dates rather than those that I shifted eleven days prior to these trying to account for the calendar shift in the Middle Ages. Here were my original propositions and thoughts as a reminder of what I was trying to do:

We’re going to have to dowse on those days as we go through the year and see what happens. When does it feel right, and when are the energies particularly active? … I would hope that the male energies would be more active on the days of solar worship such as Summer Solstice, or the Equinoxes. If we get sun in Britain on those dates then we have a chance to test this theory out by visiting some of the sites we went to over this Winter period, when the energies seemed distinctly quiet and weak, with no evidence of male energy activity at all. On active solar days we would expect to find the qualities associated with maleness – protection, transformation through initiation, and the manipulation of energy.

The festival dates when the moon is very present coincide with the lunar festivals of the cross-quarter days (Beltane and Samhain) this year. That’s lucky for us and we can report on the status of the female earth energies at sites on those dates. We expect that the traditionally female aspects will be in evidence on those dates, that is fertility powers, sanctuary and healing.

We hope to be able to answer whether the times of year of the festivals correlate to a particular quality of the powers of the moon or sun at that time. The White Virgin (the first stage of the goddess) is linked to Spring. Are fertility powers stronger at Beltane and Spring Equinox? May Day was always seen as a fertility festival. Imbolc is associated with Brigid and healing. Are the healing energy frequencies strongest at this time?

Not all dates were able to be tested due to circumstances or time restrictions, but where they could then I have recorded the results. My conclusions will be compared with my expectations as recorded at the beginning of the year.

I am very unhappy with the quality of the results for this experiment. There were notable times when we didn’t take any measurement of the relative strengths of the energies and this has made the results quite inconclusive. Therefore, I will endeavour to be more rigorous this year and to try to capture the information more reliably and objectively. Therefore, please consider these results as an “indication” of what might be the case.

I also believe that there are some factors that have come to light this year that affect the results, i.e. the position of various planets at that point in the year, the position of the sun and moon, how clear the skies were, and to take into account the strengths of male and female energies separately, as well as differentiating between earth and radiant energy strengths.

Therefore, all in all, I feel the results from 2009 are of purely subjective value. However, I am including what data I did gather so that I can compare this year’s information with it to see if anything at all does begin to form a pattern.

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IMBOLC – February 1st

Actual visit date(s): February 1st & 2nd

Moon Phase: Almost First Quarter

Location: Dyserth village

Sites visited: St.Bridget’s Church, Castle Dyserth (quarry where we made a stone circle), Graig Fawr hill, Dyserth Waterfall, Gop Hill

Dowsing results: A significant change in the strength of the male energies from 1st to 2nd February. As there was significant cloud cover I could not attribute this increase to the appearance of the sun.

Activities: Only dowsing. Nothing relating to energy specifically.

Post Link: Dyeserth 3

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SPRING EQUINOX - March 20th

Actual visit date: March 20th

Location: Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey

Sites visited: Bryn Celli Ddu, Penmaenmawr stone circle

Dowsing results: The energy “felt” balanced. We were not inclined to dowse much at all. What dowsing was done turned up a perfect balance between male and female energy strengths. Was this purely suggestive, or was it real?

Activities: Attuning ourselves on top of an ancient mound, healing a stone circle with positive balancing energies.

Post Link: A Balance of Light & Dark

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BELTANE – May 1st

Actual visit date: May 1st

Moon Phase: Almost First Quarter

Location: Helsby, Cheshire.

Sites visited: Helsby Hill, Woodhouses Hill and a modern man-made mound.

Dowsing results: Again, we failed to measure the relative strengths of the energies. Energy was successfully sent from one site to the next, however.

Activities: Lighting incense and manifesting energies from hilltop to hilltop.

Post Link: Firing Manifestations

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SUMMER SOLTICE – June 21st

Actual visit date: Jone 20th and 21st

Location: Glastonbury, Somerset,

Sites visited: Barrowbridge Mump, Wearyall Hill, White Spring, Glastonbury Tor, Gog and Magog trees

Dowsing results: Very strong male energies, overwhelming the female energy (which wasn’t weak either). Strongest male energy of the year.

Activities: Meditating at various sites, being intuitively led to them, and instinctively having our chakras opened at those places to receive an influx of positive inspirational energies.

Post Link: The Opening of the Chakras

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LAMMAS - August 1st

Rejuvenated forest clearing

Actual visit date: August 1st

Moon Phase: 5 days from Full Moon

Location: The Sandstone Trail, Cheshire.

Sites visited: Beeston Castle, Peckforton Castle, Utkinton, Delamere Forest, Frodsham.

Dowsing results: Finding healing white energy spirals (composed of female tree and earth energy).

Activities: Drawing energy from the land (energising), healing,

Post Link: Llamas and Lammas

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AUTUMN EQUINOX – August 22nd

Actual visit date: August 19th and 20th

Location: Wiltshire and Oxfordshire

Sites visited: Alton Barnes White Horse, Wayland’s Smithy, Uffington White Horse

Dowsing results: Unusually strong male and female energies that were well balanced. The sun was glorious for these two days, and I felt completely relaxed, to the point where I was “spaced out” by being at sites – this “good feeling” was due to the “white” energy of the balanced and combined male and female energies, I believe.

Activities: Using sigils, following intuition, a pilgrimage of ancient sites, balancing chakra energies, transformation process.

Post Link: Trail of the White 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.

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SAMHAIN – November 1st

Actual visit date: November 2nd

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Location: Wiltshire.

Sites visited: Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow.

Dowsing results: Stronger response than first visit I made some months earlier. The energy was male energy atop this mound. It was so strong it made me dizzy! I felt highly charged with subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified., and I could draw upon both male and female forms. Dowsing response was incredibly strong under the full moon.

Activities: Meditating, shamanic flying, empowerment of energy fields.

Post Link: None.

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WINTER SOLSTICE – December 21st

Actual visit date: 21st December

Location: Anglesey

Sites visited: Bryn Celli Ddu, Bryngwyn Stones, The Soar Stone, Lligwy Chamber

Dowsing results: Stronger female energies surrounding Bryn Celli Ddu; minimal male energy coming only from the stones. Male energy at Soar Stone restricted to close to the stone. Weak in nature. Male energy at Lligwy was confined to power centres, whilst female energy was again enclosing the central stones, as though protecting them? Our normal alignments (m/f) were reversed for this day – Kal went for female energy whilst I sought out male energy.

Activities: transformation, shamanic flying, empowerment, balancing of chakras.

Post Link: Anglesey Winter Solstice

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CONCLUSIONS

There are hints within this set of information that various factors such as the time of year, and the position of the sun and moon, all affect the strengths of the subtle energies at sacred sites and elsewhere. However, the poor quality and consistency of the information I gathered does not allow me to make any clear statement to that effect. Therefore, this year I will try to take more accurate, consistent and objective records of this data, including the new factors that I believe may be relevant including the influence of planets, and whether the sun or moon are visible when the dowsing takes place.

Watch for this post next year to see if I can get anything that might be approaching a conclusion!

Gwas

At Lammas (or Lughnasadh) I was with a group of friends who had collectively decided that we will walk the Sandstone Trail thorough Cheshire in September. In order to get some meaningful practise in we were doing the 17 mile stretch from Beeston Castle to Frodsham, where a pint of alcoholic ginger beer over ice awaited us. What more incentive could be required?

I was particularly aware that this weekend was one of the special dates in the Druid calendar, and so was looking forward to being out in nature, walking the countryside, and was looking to take any possible chance to have a long old commune with anything that I was passing.

When I had walked this section previously I had seen a group of llamas (or alpacas, couldn’t tell you which was which) that usually grazed behind the tea rooms atop the village of Utkinton, but sadly the field was empty. Nevertheless, I took the chance to pass my regards to various species along the way: all types of trees, some rabbits, several colourful butterflies (cabbage-whites are particularly plentiful right now), and many more.

I was really in a fantastic mood, reciprocated by the whole of nature as I passed over her body as it languished in the day’s sunshine after having been washed by rain for every day in the past fortnight. How coincidental?! For me, this WAS celebrating Lammas. Making crude corn dolls, picking up stones in my path and energising them, and speaking to all the animals and large trees as I walked past. Luckily I was mostly up front or at the back so my madness was not particularly remarked upon!

Towards the end of the walk several of the less fit members of the group were really feeling the heat and the distance. Blisters were forming, old injuries were flaring up, and people were generally getting very tired. I, on the other hand, had been drawing energy from the landscape as and when I needed it, but now here was a chance to help the others too.

To do that, I located energising spirals that helped my friends to recover their energies. Yes, they looked at me strangely. Yes, they probably think I’m crazy. Yes, I could have kept my mouth shut. But instead I got my rods out and dowsed for the location of any energy spirals or power centres that could provide beneficial healing energies for them. I looked for and found two quite soon after asking.

The first spiral was one that I recognised that I had discovered many months ago when M and I were walking through Delamere Forest together. It was a small spiral at the base of a tree, where lush moss grew. Then it had healed her of her painful ankle, and on this occasion it served the same purpose, healing several people of aches and pains. Mostly unbelievers, it should be pointed out! All who tired it said they felt much better very quickly. I argued it away by saying that it must only be psychosomatic, psychological or they were just trying to appease me by being kind. But actually, one lad who was ready for giving up at that stage suddenly was bouncing around like a spring lamb! He was utterly bamboozled by the experience.

The second spiral was found, again, under the boughs of a tree at a spot where the grass was tough and different from the surrounding area. This time I had asked to find a spot where the people who stood on it could be re-energised. Two people tried it and came away refreshed after only two minutes of exposure to it. They then finished the walk, although I suspect they’re not so relaxed today!

So, next time you’re out with your dowsing rods and wish to find and benefit from the healing properties of any nearby trees, then you should ask the rods to locate a place suitable for whatever your healing needs are. In a suitable environment such as a country walk I can say that they are easy to locate, and seem to be in plentiful supply!

Gwas.

Finding the healing power of trees.