The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘mitchell’s fold’

Follow the Hedge Druid on iTunes too

We have started the New Year back on track with the release of our first podcast.

There’s plenty to get your teeth into in this episode, including new books I’ve received this month, plus reviews of the ones that I have read too.

For the first time on a podcast I do a reading of a Ted Hughes poem, there is some response to reader feedback, and some indications of the directions we will be going in for the coming year.

Of course, there are all your favourite regular features too, so sit back and enjoy the latest podcast, to be found as always on our podcast page.

Happy New Year!

Gwas.

Kal has already posted on this visit so I’m not going to repeat any of what he has said, but I am going to add my own particular report  of what I did and what I found out at Mitchell’s Fold stone circle because it leads me into the New Year nicely.

I sub-titled this post “Location, location, location” for a couple of reasons. Later in the post I will talk about the effects of nearby megaliths on local residents, but I also wanted to draw attention to the delightful location of many of the remaining megalithic structures of this country. Whether in the depths of Winter or the height of Summer being at these sites stimulates the soul in a deep fashion. Mitchell’s Fold stone circle in particular is blessed with a stunning location fenced by the imposing Corndon Hill, yet having distant views to Wales. I recommend going out of your way to visit it if you can.

Of course, if you DO visit in Winter then be prepared for an interesting journey. I navigated the car along the smallest of roads and the most treacherous compacted snow and was thankful that I now drove an all-wheel drive car. There is no way the little blue Peugeot would have made this trip! No way at all. Thus we have managed to extend the site visits to almost all year round now, which I am thankfully well equipped for after my Canadian expedition.

Gwas shields from a biting wind behind the tallest menhir at Mitchells Fold

The smell of birth and death

Wrapped from head to toe in warm and woolly gear I stifled a chuckle at Kal’s brave attempts to stave off the bitter winds that whipped up across the plateau upon which Mitchell’s Fold stone circle is perched. It was indeed a day for being quite specific about your dowsing questions – formulating them in your head then hurriedly removing gloves and doing the necessary connection with the divine knowledge source that is Nature.

The first thing I needed to do, I determined, was to mark the passing of two of my closest neighbours – one a human, one a tree. One of our favourite neighbours, old Dolly, had died whilst I was on holiday in Canada. This was not unexpected given how she had been in and out of hospital for weeks with heart problems, yet I felt a tremor of sadness nevertheless. Also while I was away the proposed destruction of the beloved beech tree that stood in our immediate neighbour’s front garden but which we had come to think of as ours too – this also went ahead. In a way I knew it while I was away. It had been on the cards – we knew it was coming. Yet, there was a pang of sadness one late evening that I couldn’t account for. I put it down to being stranded at Calgary airport, but I think it was a strand of nature’s web that was linked to me being stirred by the demise of either or both of my two homely connections. This was indeed a bitter Winter in so many ways.

I might have known I would have trouble lighting the four incense sticks for the tree and another four for Dolly. I huddled with a cheap lighter for ten minutes before they were all lit, and then had to re-visit the double square formation placed on a suitable 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. several times as the wind insisted on making the sticks go out on a regular basis. I only lightly grumbled, supposing that the effort was not wasted if it was going towards this mark of respect and mourning.

As I struggled back and forth breathing in the frankincense aroma I caught the irony of the scent at this time of year, and how it had come to mark the birth of a saviour, just as I was marking two deaths. Birth and death come to close together in the cycle.

A watery sun over Corndon Hill seen from Mitchells Fold

The Yule part of the year

When I asked for advice from my spirit guidance about what I might turn my attentions to for the next part of the year I was told to “Write a book!“. Now I have to call upon some muses to work out what it should be about, or to get the motivation to write it. I have 5 weeks until February 1st! The first draft needs to be complete by then.

I wonder about this “guidance”. When I had been thinking about the lunar eclipse as a form of death of the year/moon I asked for guidance and got the response “Celebrate death“. Recently my father had asked me about how my book was coming along. I told him I’d be writing it this year. Next thing – my ‘guidance’ is saying “Write a book“. Hmmm…I am deeply suspicious that these short phrases are just my subconscious bubbling up a task in answer to my request for one. The Fates say a first draft needs to be ready by February! I’d better get typing….so I’ve made a start but it’s not likely to be done in any way, shape or form by February. Maybe if I get the concept formulated?

Maen Beuno – or is that Mean Beuno?

Saint bleeding Beuno gets everywhere in North Wales! He has a cave up near to Bodfari, an abbey on the Lyn Peninsula, and so many other namesake places and objects that he seems to pop up everywhere we go. So it was no surprise that when we scanned around the area on our way back home from Shropshire, close to the town of Welshpool, we found St.Beuno’s stone marked on the iMegalith app.

We decided to visit this stone because it looked easy to get to, and having seen how impossible it was to reach the yew tree we had planned to visit earlier (due to snow) we thought this was a good decision. Now I find that if we had ventured just a mile further into the town of Berriew we could have visited another Beuno stone AND an old yew tree at the same time. Oh, the irony!

The official line on the stone

It was easy to find (compared to many sites listed on that app) but the henge that it mentioned as being nearby was now merely the slightest of raised bumps in fields covered in snow. No henge now – but there was a stone and it had a snow-covered placard, so we stopped close by and skated over to the stone to check it out,

The stone is predominantly surrounded in male energy with only the slightest female energy. The shape alone indicated that it would be male – it has sharp edges and a square shape that goes into a point at the top. It is linked to 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. that Kal discovered as being in the centre of the road that the stone stood next to, He also dowsed that it had been moved from its original location, but had been replaced on a place that had some earth energy – so it was a ‘knowledgeable’ move by someone long ago. This kind of thing is rarely considered these days by people who move megaliths around because they are “in the way”.

St Beuno gets everywhere - even down small lanes

The interest thing we discovered was sparked by an observation we made as we drove down the lane. There is a cluster of houses, probably only eight along the lane. At least three of the houses had “For Sale” signs up outside them, and we thought that was a disproportionate ratio. So, we began to ask about whether there was any link between the stone and its human neighbours. After a while we discovered that the energies of the stone were overwhelmingly pagan, and that St.Beuno had been pagan too – later gathered into the sainthood of Christianity for their own purposes of adopting local notable figures as their own. This is our contention, and we explain our reasons below.

St Beuno’s strong energies were in this stone, and they were for some reason incompatible with the people who lived in the houses that were up for sale. Whether they realised it or not, they were being “forced” out of their homes due to this incompatibility between their energy fields and those that this stone was emitting. Of course, this is pure speculation, but that’s the conclusion we arrived at by careful questioning of the dowsing rods over the stone.

I later did a bit of digging on the background of St.Beuno to verify how true this idea might be. Here’s what I found out about him:-

“Beuno was born in Powys, supposedly at Berriew, the grandson of a prince of that realm. After education and ordination in the monastery of Bangor-on-Dee in north-east Wales, he became an active missionary, Cadfan, King of Gwynedd, being his generous benefactor. Cadwallon, Cadfan’s son and successor, deceived Beuno about some land and, when the saint demanded justice, proved unsympathetic. Thereupon, Cadwallon’s cousin Gwyddaint, in reparation, “gave to God and Beuno forever his township” of Clynnog Fawr in the Llŷn peninsula, where the saint founded a famous abbey.

Beuno became the guardian and restorer to life of his niece, the virgin Saint Gwenffrewi (Winefride; in modern English Winifred). He was relentless with hardened sinners, but full of compassion to those in distress. Before his death at Clynnog “on the seventh day of Easter” he had a wondrous vision.” (source Wikipedia)

A vision, eh? Very shamanic. I venture to suggest that his education may have been along the lines of many of the royal household in that area – schooled in the druidic teachings of the Western Mystery Schools. His celebration (or ‘Feast’) day is April 21st. That date in the pagan calendar is Parilia, described by the Pagan Calendar site as

“…a festival for protection and fertility for farms”. (source: Pagan Calendar).

St Beuno is also associated with the fertility and good health of farm animals. Coincidence again. This Beuno bloke begins to have echoes of former pagan celebrations – I wonder if his spirit was co-opted to ingratiate him with the farming community? Beuno is also listed on the Megalithic Portal due to some very old standing stones at his abbey on the Lyn Peninsula. I venture to suggest it was sited on an ancient pagan site. So I think it’s about time we paid his home territory to see what we can find out about Beuno and his possible pagan leanings.

Gwas.

Readers may recall that the odd time or two, due to our in experience, we have been called back to sites to correct a previous error. Breaking up our personally created Stone Circles at Dyserth Castle being one such example.

My recent (Winter 2010) experiences had me accidentally leaving behind a host of Energetic Shades at Woodhenge. I say accidentally but it was intentioned by the shades. Having discovered this ruse a few days ago, I decided to ask whether there would be any negative consequences of this move.

As usual, such questions are much more appropriately asked at Sacred sites, thus I persuaded Gwas (with a mere email) to go out on a cold (-6) frozen Boxing Day to one of my favourite (though not often visited) sites, Mitchell’s Fold.

Gwas had just returned from two weeks in Canada and this had two beneficial effects:

1. He hadn’t been out to a British Sacred site for a while and thus was ameniable to a whole day out in the wilds.
2. He had plenty of cold weather gear, which as readers know I am lacking in.

Our first stop was going to be an ancient Yew (not The Ancient Yew) but we couldn’t see it from the road and the snow being nearly a foot deep didn’t enthuse us to clamber across fields. So Mitchels Fold was our first trek out of the car and boy was it freezing! Minus 6 as I said.

We made our way to the kingstone and then into the circle itself. I was not surprised to find that (in the winter) my best location in the site had changed to a stone some three away from my usual (summer) “best place to be”.

This also happened to be the place to ask questions so as Gwas prepared a ceremony for his work I walked back and to by this stone trying to discern whether I had erred in my ShadeA shade is the energy body of a human being that has become transfixed at a geographical location. The shade retains many of the qualities of the human that it was attached to (memories, character traits, a level of sentience, movement between places known in life). move.

Interestingly, Gwas commented that perhaps I had done Barnstaple a favour by removing them from the town center. To which I responded by asking him, what would the effects be of placing a huge new energy in a sacred place like Woodhenge?

In between trying to keep my hands warm (as the song lyrics go) and staying out of the occasional blast of cold wind I managed to figure out that. At the moment at least no damage was/is being done. However as the Sun months grow then consequences would be more profound. Would they be good or bad? Again this was for some reason undecided? How would they be decided? Alas not a questions the rods can answer.

Again, I was left with the frustration of not knowing. I will be honest, I am tempted to just go and get them shades and drop them off where they belong (or rather where they were before).

Kal Malik – NOT a taxi service for Shades!

Section 8 – SITE VISIT LIST for 2009

The penultimate post is a reminder of the sites we have visited this past year. The sites are ordered from North to South.

• Callenais I, II and III, Dun Carloway Broch, The Truiseil Stone and other sites on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland [Callenais I, Callenais II, Callenais III, Truiseil Stone]
• The Eassie Stone, Glamis Castle, St.Fergus’ Well, The Fowlis Wester cross, Lundin Farm circle, and Monzie circle in Scotland [Eassie Stone, Glamis Castle, Fergus' Well, Fowlis Wester cross; Monzie Circle; Lundin Farm]
• Castlerigg circle, Long Meg and Her Daughters circle, Little Meg circles, Mayburgh Henge, Oddendale, Kalmott ring cairn, Gamelands circle in Cumbria [Mayburgh, Kalmott, Oddendale & Gamelands; Long Meg; Little Meg; Castlerigg]
• Pendle Hill in Lancashire [Pendle Hill]
• Arbow Low, Nine Ladies stone circle, and Nine Stones Close circle in Derbyshire [Arbor Low 1, Arbor Low 2, Nine Ladies, Nine Stones Close]
• Alderley Edge, Delamere Forest, Frodsham Caves and The Bridestones in Cheshire [Alderley Edge, Delamere 1, Delamere 2, Bridestones]
• Bryn Celli Ddu, The Soar Stone, the Bryngwyn Stones and Lligwy Chamber on Anglesey [Bryn Celli Ddu 1; Bryn Celli Ddu 2]
• Cerrig Pryffaid, Dyserth, Moel-Ty-Uchaf, Penbedw Park, Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall, Dinas Emrys, Snowdon, and Penmaenmawr Druid’s Circle, Rhosesmor, Hawarden and Conwy Falls in North Wales [Dyserth, Moel-Ty-Uchaf, Pistyll Rhaeadr, Dinas Emrys, Druid's Circle, Rhosesmor]
• Golden Grove and St.Elmo’s Summer House in Mid-Wales [St.Elmo's & Golden Grove]
• Llangernyw village, Lake Vyrnwy and Bala Lake in Wales [Llangernyw 1, Llangernyw 2, Llangernyw 3]
• Mitchell’s Fold and The Hoarstones circle in Shropshire [Mitchell's Fold & Hoarstones]
• The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
• Waylands Smithy, Uffington Chalk Horse, and The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire [Wayland's Smithy, Uffington, Rollrights 1, Rollrights 2]
• Alton Barnes White Horse, Winter Hill, Windmill Hill, Silbury Hill, West Kennett, and Avebury in Wiltshire [Alton Barnes, Silbury Hill, West Kennett 1, West Kennett 2, Avebury]
• Crop Circles at Knighton Hill, Alton Barnes, Silbury Hill and others in Wiltshire [Knighton Hill, other crop circles]
• Stanton Drew stone circle, Barrowbridge Mump and Glastonbury in Somerset [Stanton Drew, Glastonbury]
• Carnac, Locmarquier, Créhen, Lampouy, Ile Grande, Merlin’s Tomb, Mont St.Michel, Champs Dolent and St.Uzek stones in Brittany, France [Merlin's Tomb, Lampouy, Créhen, Carnac 1, Carnac 2, Carnac 3, Champ Dolent, Mont St.Michel, Ile Grande]

====================================================================================

Gwas.

Section 5. Ancient Sites

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

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

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

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

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

A home-made stone circle

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

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

Le Champ Dolent - a well-visited megalith

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

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

Solar southern entrance

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

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

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

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

Gwas.

I have added a gallery page in the links at the top of the site. The photographs were taken while out and about this year at various sacred sites. I hope you enjoy browsing them as much as I enjoyed being there and taking them.

Gwas.

Technically we may have wandered across county borders, but essentially we were dealing with Shropshire circles this day – April 31st. One of the circles we wanted to visit was actually in Powys, but we don’t really care for county boundaries much. After all – they change shape with the seasons. Many lovely things lie in wait for the inquisitive traveller in Powys, but there’s a lot of ground to cover for that reward. I’m going to summarise this visit where possible to stop you all from yawning and drowning in the detail. There are, nevertheless, some interesting things to come out of this day’s visit to Kerry Hill circle, Mitchell’s Fold and The Hoarstones circle. Some interesting developments in our findings about the nature of nemeton field energy and our interactions with it.

Kerry Hill  circle

Track to Kerry Hill circle

We parked at a small official car park at the entrance to what seemed like a decimated conifer forest somewhere in Wales. That’s what the first ten minutes of walking entailed, walking past stacks of ripped, cut and shredded conifers stacked in neat bundles, ready for who-knows-what fate. Not a fun start. When we found the small circle in a field at the top of the hill overlooking the top of the valley though, we were in better spirits, and here’s what we found at Kerry Hill circle:-

• Twenty feet wide circle of small stones.
• Centre stone was a link point for neutral arcing energies from all stones except one.
• The one stone with no link was a female transformer stone. It transformed starlight energy mainly, with a little bit of moonlight.
• The central stone dowsed for male, female and neutral energies – a white 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..

• We traced the combined male and female energies around the stones and they formed a flowing path that circled all the stones.

Mitchell’s Fold

Mitchell’s Fold circle nestles in the arms of Corndon Hill, on a plateau between the hills and still above the surrounding valleys. I’m going to leave most of this to Kal, as he really enjoyed this site, and seemed to get the most out of it. We dowsed for what type of energies made up the site, and what its radiant source was, and found that the site was mainly male energy, obtained from starlight, but that the female transformer stone was also creating a male energy pattern around the site. This suited Kal snugly, whereas I did not get such a good connection with it, even though I enjoyed the atmosphere and feeling of the place. It was more suited to a sun-aligned energy worker like Kal.

Here’s what we found:-

• Instantly we liked it, as soon as it hove into view. We started at the King Stone. Kal dowse this, as I took an interest in the collection of stones that surrounded a small depression or hollow.
• The hollow, I thought, was a shelter where people visiting the stone circle would prepare for whatever energy work they were about to perform.
• The King Stone was full of male energy and linked to the main circle.

• My major revelation was to ask about the interwoven energies that surrounded the site, which we call its nemeton. I asked how many times I should follow the lines around the circle and got the answer of four.
• As I walked around dowsing each circular line it became more erratic. Each time around the sway from side to side got wider – the amplitude of the sinewy wave form got larger.
• When I dowsed the four lines again the final time around the spikes in the energy field were only two feet across the base, but each spike was five or six feet in length! This told me that my perambulations were having the effect of ‘stirring up’ the energies, making them more active.

This seemed like a breakthrough in understanding these energies. Interaction through perambulation caused an increase in the vibrancy of the site’s circular energy formations. That’s how it felt, if you were paying the right kind of non-attention to it.

• Kal’s meditations kept bringing out the sun. Another thing I noticed was that there seemed to be an endless number of crows around that day.
• My meditation was initially aimed at sending healing energy to my wife, but it wasn’t happening. I re-directed the energy I had accumulated to the birds that I could hear chirping gently in the Spring air. When I came to the noise level of one particular bird became so loud that it was funny, then he flew in front of us performing acrobatics until we smiled and grinned in appreciation.
• Met a couple of other people at the site and introduced ourselves. They were called Amanda and James, and wanted to try their hands at dowsing. She got a response, he wasn’t so convinced. Rapidly they both stop doing it – too freaked out? She confesses she has been up here before dancing with a strange group of people. Kal confesses something similar. I think they just want an excuse to dance with strangers.
• On to the Whetstones – a blasted and ruined collection of rocks in a vaguely circular formation only hundreds of yards away from the main site. Quickly we decide there’s nothing to be salvaged or gained from this site.

The Hoarstones

Again it was difficult to find. All we had was a printed OS map obtained from MultiMap, and Aubrey Burl’s scant directions. Still, if Burl had bothered to record it I supposed it was worth visiting. We wandered down a path alongside a wood to emerge into a fallow field. As we scanned you could see a clump of grass and gorse that signified an un-ploughed area, and we tromped towards it eagerly. When we got there we could easily spot the four feet high central stone, but most other stones were couched in marsh reeds or clumps of winter grass.

Here’s what else we found out:-

• Quickly identified our favourite stones – mine was a triangular flat stone about ten feet away from an iron spike that had been driven into the ground close to one side of the circle.

• Kal’s favourite stone in the circle was on the same side as mine, but as further ten feet away from mine.
• Having identified male and female power centres Kal started asking about black power centres and streams. He identified three places – the central stone, a stone in the far eastern side, and the stone next to the four feet tall iron spike.
• The white power centres we sat upon didn’t seem to have the usual empowering effects. We dowsed them to find that they were being counter-balanced by the negative black streams.
• The black streams, or sha energies, were being produced by the placement of the iron spike. We both have found that iron is counteractive to earth energies, causing them to re-direct, be cancelled, or change quality their qualities to mix with the neutral energy created by that metal. Neutral and male energy forms black streams, in our experience – energies of a harmful or disruptive vibrational frequency.

Kal and I worked at the site to re-balance the energies into a more harmonious relationship, and the end result that Kal dowsed proved to be very favourable. We felt quite calm and contented as we packed to leave. It felt like a great day’s work all round, and we hadn’t had to rip any spikes out with our teeth!

Gwas.

Following a sha stream.