The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘meditation’

The year has only just started and already I am way out of line with my posts and the dates upon which the action took place. I fear this year is going to be SO busy that we are going to have to start posting smaller and faster just to keep up. In this post I revisit the Llangernyw Yew tree that is the starting point for many of my previous years’ quests and adventures. This year was no exception. This episode occurred in late January, before Imbolc. Yes, we have all the Imbolc posts still to come! So much to tell you about already this year. On to this story.

It is a philosophical point as to whether the tree really communicates with the druid. Perhaps its still nature and deep-rootedness simply allow you to go deep within yourself and find a small reflection of your own wishes that are then brought out to serve as an inspiration for the elaboration that is to come? Certainly, that is often how it appears, yet there is always something that you never actually know yourself, something that you couldn’t have known, something that surprises you and this element is the unquestioning influence of the yew tree itself. It is for this reason that I visit the tree so often, and always at the start of the year. The yew tree starts the year, offering me its guidance on the theme of my work for the coming turn of The Wheel.

The massive Llangernyw Yew tree

Kal and I split up as usual, he going off to tour the graveyard briefly before settling into his own meditations around the tree, whilst I got straight to work beneath the mighty ancient yew. The weather was cold, but crisp and the sun was shining which made the day feel warmer than it should have been at that time of year. The yew tree would normally have been subdued by a biting frost and a layer of snow in January, but instead it felt ready to burst back into life as though Spring were upon us, even though Spring was still two full months away.

I settled into a meditation after dowsing for the best place to work from, and a direction to face – into the Sun, unusually. Little did I know that this would become a recurring theme for this year, as I will show in later posts. Within minutes I was deep inside the yew tree after setting up protection and doing my grounding and centring visualisations. They came easily, and the yew responded with a warm and deep hum like the clearing of an ancient throat at length. In humility I directed a question, a thought-idea at the yew and hoped for a response: “What is my direction for this year?” I asked. Deep quiet. Long silence. Then a stirring, and a word moving up from the depths of the roots into my consciousness: “Renown”. Just that one word!

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Generous little site

Part one – the nine ladies

Once you set about visiting Sacred sites you can’t help but get a few more in on your travels. So after that lovely encounter and auspicious start I decided to pop down (since it’s down a slope) to Doll Tor (hope the spelling is right). This is a lovely little sacred site in amongst the trees and by the side of some inviting meadows (I keep promising Gwas that I will run down those long meadows one day).

I had no particular reason to go there, other than it was close by and hey why not. As I approached a couple of crows zoomed out of the trees and flew towards me in greeting and I acknowledged my totem and knew that I was on to a good thing. Again, respecting the threshold, I communed with the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place. and gained a favoured entry. I asked whether there was anything for me to learn here and the rods acquiesced. So I asked for directions and was led to a tree just to the side of the circle. If memory served on a past occasion Gwas and I had noted that a pentagram had been hung from its branches. Now the tree was bare and I sidled up to it and sat down letting my mind open to any impressions. Alas it was not as exciting as my commune at the nine ladies. Indeed, I felt that that last jaunt had depleted my 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. energies so I decided to let this place energies me instead and just relaxed. I felt completely relaxed and even the cold wasn’t affecting me. After many moments I arose feeling really refreshed and as is my wont these days I knelt down to place my palm upon the ground in gratitude when I saw something blue on the floor where I had been sat.

At first I thought it was something that had fallen out of my pocket, but then realised that it was a blue lapis lazuli crystal. It was quite big too a good half a hand size. I was about to pick it up to examine it more when I thought to capture a picture of it first. Taking out my trusty iPhone I zoomed in and clicked. Nothing. I tried again, nothing. What? I checked my phone and all seemed fine, but when I tried to take  picture of the crystal, nothing. I tried taking a picture of the site. Again nothing! My phone has never failed me before so I considered that this might be significant. I grabbed my rods.

• Is there a reason why my phone wont take a picture? Yes.
• Am I missing something? Yes
• Is it about the stone? Yes
• Should I take the stone? No
• Was it good for me to meditate on the stone? Yes
• Did it have a good effect on me? Yes
• Was the stone left here with an intention? Yes
• Is that intention stopping me taking a picture? Yes
  

  Lapis Lazuli

I wondered what the intention could be. The obvious thing was that it had been placed in secret and when I asked this the rods confirmed that that was the case. Was the stone placed with a purpose I would consider to be good (you see Elizabeth Browns Dowsing book has influenced my questioning). Yes. I left the stone alone and considered why I had meditated on top of it. My crystal lore has it that Lapis is an excellent 3rd eye stone so I pondered whether this stone had affected my 3rd eye energies? No. Lovely!

Lapis is also known to be good for mental faculties – hmmm - had the stone affected my mental faculties in anyway? Yes. Ah. Okay. I had no way to test this rather ubiquitous response and left it at that. Plus I was getting hungry and the food (left in the car) was calling to me. I placed some grass on top of the Lapis and thanked the site for its pleasure and left.

As I walked up the meadow I found my thoughts racing with ideas and wondered whether it was placebo or the Lapis. But it wasn’t until my next stop that I really believed that the Lapis had engaged the energies I had picked up at the Nine Ladies.

Kal Malik

In the second part of my Winter Solstice expedition I hereby present the story of  Thor’s Cave. You may remember that I was directed to seek the sanctuary and sanctity of a cave atmosphere as a suitable space within which to see out the end of what has been a very interesting year. I think there are several reason why a cave would be a suitable space. Firstly, because I was visiting at the Winter Solstice, this time of year is all about closure. It is about letting go of any tensions built up in the year, of concentrating all of the information learned in that yearly cycle, and then of closing down to wait for the energies to re-appear at Imbolc in February. With a cave’s aura-shaping capability, it made sense to me that seeking a dark enclosed space within which to agglomerate all of the year’s teachings would be the ideal choice. Kal and I learned about the aura-shaping aspects of caves earlier in September from our visit to South Wales.

Thor’s Cave is probably quite easy to get to if you approach it from the road below, but you would be presented with a very steep climb. Instead, Mike and I approached from the footpath just at the edge of Wetton village and there was very little climbing involved, but the ground was wet, muddy and slippery in many parts so we had some amusing episodes both there and back as we struggled for grip. One you reach the front of the cave, however, the entrance is awe-inspiring in size.

Entrance to Thor's Cave - he was out when we called

It may not be obvious from the pictures but you can’t walk into the cave – you have to climb. For us at this time of year this meant scrambling over wet smooth rocks and all hands and feet were needed to get into the cave without sliding back out. I would recommend you visit on a dry warm day. For some reason I was totally unprepared this day and hadn’t brought a torch! Luckily, Mike had – this was a complete role-reversal that amused us both for ages.

Shafts of remaining sunlight filtered into the cave from the huge entrance and the tall slit in the rocks at the side of the cave, letting in enough light for us to make our way slowly and carefully to the back of the cave. There, the ground rose slightly and split into several hollows arranged around a central protrusion of rock. We tried to make ourselves comfortable to begin a meditation, but the intense slope of the ground and the dampness of the rocks made it difficult to find a comfortable position. We rapidly decided that a standing meditation would be sufficient today. “Adopt, adapt and overcome“!

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In the second part of the tale I tell of how Kal and I went looking for a cave that was in the Parc Le Breos site near Parkmill, Swansea in South Wales. The idea was to begin the process of consolidating the information we had learned so far this year. Caves are ideal for this purpose, I believe, and so I was going off to prove this to myself and to Kal. He was completely unaware of my dastardly plan.

As we walked up the main path we scanned the nearby shrubbery and tree-lined hillsides for caves. Within fifty feet of the burial chamber I saw a path going up the hill to the right. It looked narrow and rarely used. I walked on. My intuition rang a warning bell, but I ignored it. Overruled by my rational brain, I’m afraid. In another fifty yards there was a much wider and recently used path. It was muddier, but it looked like it led somewhere, so I called Kal’s attention to it and we went to inspect it. On arrival we found it to be quite muddy. Kal backed away, unsure. I persuaded him it would be fine. As we ascended he grumbled about slipperiness and I made comments about inappropriate footwear. The path got steeper and muddier. As we reached the top we saw our destination only a few feet away – it was a chicken coop! Damn!! We turned around and went back down the slippy, treacherous path. I cursed my rational brain.

We marched onwards, but now the sky was closing in on us and threatening rain. In another hundred yards we felt the first spots of rain and ran for the shelter of the trees at a crossroads. Had it not rained I’m sure we would have picked one of the adjoining paths and carried on walking, but now we were pinned to the spot by a torrential downpour that would have soaked us in seconds. After five minutes the rain eased and we decided to head back to the car instead of continuing our foolish quest for the cave.

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I’m always banging on about using incense. If you’ve read my previous posts recently then at almost any opportunity I’m lighting up and zooming off into trance. Now, as a Hedge Druid, why would I need these props? Surely, if I’m true to my cause I shouldn’t need anything except the sweet scent of Nature’s own aromas to send me thoughts skyward? Well, our friend Gwydion over at Sparrowhawk’s Haven would agree with you too – keep props to a minimum. In fact, don’t use any props at all!

I used to agree with this position. I started out from that position and for years I withstood the urge to use props of any kind. Yet, in recent years I have relented slightly. Am I going soft? Probably. There’s a bit more to it than that though. I have learned that incense and crystals do help me to do meditation. Incense offers me protection and brings me to trance faster, and crystals can do almost anything I need – protection, focus, re-direction – they’re very useful tools.

Tools such as incense and crystals free my mind to concentrate on the matter at hand, and they mean that I don’t have to expend my energy on setting up protection or connection, and I can focus quickly on the task I need to do. Also, I feel that incense invites spirit forms to come closer. It’s like a smoke signal to them that something interesting is about to occur, and they seem to gather and be around when incense is lit outdoors.

So there are a couple of reason why I use these tools. True, you don’t NEED anything. True, again, you shouldn’t come to rely upon having these tools available. I agree. Yet, if they are available, and you like working with them, then why get snooty about it? So, in my travels I have worked out a handy guide to how many incense sticks you can use for what purpose. It’s my own list, but if it proves useful for you too, then that’s all good too, right?

1. One for a quick connection – preparing the ground
2. Two for meditation – one either side – you in the middle (between the worlds)
3. Three for protection – in a triangle around you
4. Four for marking the quarters – calling in the elemental forces
5. Five for a combination of three and two – a deep protected meditation
6. Six for a change – six sticks will usually need to be placed into a formation of some sort – a sigil – to connect to a source of change
7. Seven or more – for a total clearance of all blockages or existing energy patterns

As Bruce Lee said of learning martial arts – take what is useful for you and discard the rest. My dowsing shows me that this table of information is useful if you wish to adopt it as your own, but worthless otherwise, because you can create your own associations if you want to. Seems to be the way of many magical practises!

Gwas.

At the end of our Yorkshire outing [two-part posts coming soon about that visit] I discovered that I had forgotten (possibly deliberately) to discover the quest that I had to undertake in the first eighth part of the year. Luckily I had a few spare days before the official Imbolc date of 1st February. We are never too hard-lined about getting the cross-quarter dates perfect. These dates are more about a feeling than a rigid division of the year. They are about being ready for transition, not for clock-setting. I used my dowsing rods to determine that the best day would be Monday 31st January this year. On that day, a still and clear night, and very cold, it would be the perfect conditions for discovering this quest.

The druid stage signified by the oak

I chose an oak tree that I was becoming quite familiar with at the end of last year. I had come to feel that I had reached the third stage of druidic development, one that was signified by the symbol of the oak tree. I realise now that one never stops learning from the birch or yew stages either, one simply passed beyond them, taking their legacy and teachings with you as you progress. Both birches and yews will always have special memories for me about how I started out on this path, and then how I deepened that search through the portals of life and death itself, but I felt that now I was comfortable with the mantle of teaching, and thus I was at the oak stage.

The oak that I had in mind stood proudly at the heart of a small wood near to my home (only a few miles away). I drove up to the wood all togged up ready for a long stay in the cold and that’s exactly what I got. Although I was welcomed into the forest and could see quite easily to find my place beneath the great oak, the cold weather made it hard to keep still. It took me over half an hour to get into the right mindset to be able to meditate deeply enough to make contact with the oak. There is also the problem that at this time of year these great trees are barely coming back to life, so their voice is weak too.

I must admit that I really struggled to get any contact made with the tree, but eventually we were talking. Just as I got some words out of it – a large animal, probably a fox, barged into the clearing and smelt my incense burning, running away in a mad scramble that startled me out of my trance. I spent another ten minutes getting back to the point where I was calm enough to connect again.

Spiritual happenings beneath the oak

I gave out love, gratitude and feelings of peacefulness. I wished the forest a fruitful year, and offered my physical protection as much as I would be able. In return I got an image, and an instruction. I saw the line of chakras all along my spine. Each one was a different colour from red at the base to violet at the crown. My attention was drawn up each of the chakras in turn. As my eyes moved upwards, each chakra “chimed” and sparkled. I knew that it was being “opened” by a sound. By the time I got to the top of the spine I was in a very excited state. I felt amazing, and I knew what the quest was. I had to learn to make the sound that would be capable of opening each of my chakras.

Wow. Something amazing to spend the next few weeks doing before Beltane on 1st May. Perhaps then I can put my “singing” into practice and see what happens?

Gwas. Singing for his spiritual supper.

A few nights ago I got a ‘pull’ to go to Helsby Hill the day before bonfire night. It was late in the evening. Dark, yet with a strange light that allowed everything to be seen easily.

I parked in my usual place and walked up quietly. Something told me to stop part way up just at a bend in the tree line. I thought it was to light some incense, but that didn’t really make sense – that was my rational brain trying to think about why I might have stopped. Second after I pulled some incense sticks out, I saw a torch light coming down the path from above. I walked quickly back down the path being familiar with it I could go quite fast. I moved out of the sight of passers by and waited until they had gone past. I have nothing against people, but I like my own space and peace when I’m wanting to meditate.

When I went to see my favourite oak, the one that has been half cut away by maniac “land management engineers” – or fucking idiots, as I call them, I noticed that the tree had again suffered. One of its smaller inner branches had been snapped (by the wind or by someone swinging on it, I don’t know). I offered some healing and tried to light incense but it was clear that the wind wasn’t going to allow it to stay lit for any useful period of time. I wished I had taken some crystals up too. Must remember that incense and crystals have their usefulness, and that each has their purpose in different conditions.

I wanted to learn how merging with the spirit of Merlin had made any change to me, so I asked the rods to take me to a suitable place to meditate. They took me round behind the line of trees and into a place I had never visited before on the hill, but it was perfect – an oak tree with wonderful spiralling branches and a fantastic sitting place. I spent ten minutes getting to know the oak, and letting it get to know me. I had to get my mind perfectly still and quiet for this to happen, and finally I got my call to come and meditate, having presented my credentials and allowed the tree to verify me.

When I meditated I learned that Merlin’s spirit was simply an archetype within my mind, not the actual spirit of Merlin, whomsoever he may have been. I had been exploring my own mind at Samhain, and recent meditations had been reminding me of that all the time – not to get too carried away with these mythical figures because they were only archetypes that I was working with to unleash powers and thought patterns within my own mind space.

Imagine this but moonlit instead of sunlit

I asked about how the change had affected me I got my answer – hadn’t I noticed how much quicker it was for me to work magic now? Hadn’t I felt that everything of that ilk had become much more innate now? That was the benefit gained by the Underworld journey to recover the spirit of Merlin. My magickal tasks such as energising the land would become much easier to perform.

Something else was revealed to me. When I had completed the linking of various earth energy sites, I should join them up into some form of shape. The shape would reveal a very special sigil that I could use in the future. That was the promise, the enticement, to continue with that particular work, and I was glad that there was at least some end point to it.

As I emerged out of the tree’s canopy I slipped quietly along the tree line. I was in neutral colours and would have been barely visible despite the mysteriously bright moonlight (unexpected because we were practically at new Moon when there should be almost no moonlight! I noticed some lads messing about with what I presumed to be a box of fireworks on the top of the hill. Using my invisibility skills I slipped away unnoticed in the bright clear night, yet I could make them out clearly. Yet again I was thankful for my new-found skills, and so amazed at how easily they could be evoked since my experience with Merlin.

Gwas.