Posts Tagged ‘mountain’
Cadair Idris: The Dragon’s Teeth
August 5th, 2010 | 
Author: Sunday 25th July – Cadair Idris, Gwynedd, Wales.
To walk up Cadair Idris was the culmination of the set of tasks that I had been guided to follow in order to fulfil this particular stage of the year, from Summer Solstice to Lammas. The vision I had received was that I needed to “wake the dragon“. Cryptic indeed, but after a series of further exploratory encounters I had worked out that this would be done on Cadair Idris, and that I could call upon the spirit of Mab – the faerie queen – should I need assistance to do this. Well, all of these things would be fulfilled but not in the way I expected them to occur, as I will now relate.
The walk was surely one of the most beautiful walks I have ever done, from start to finish. The Breath of the Dragon – a light swirling mist – occasionally veiled the mountain, rolling along its slopes and through its valleys as though the dragon was waking to the ringing of my footsteps on its stone-scaled back.
Idyllic start to the walk up Cadair Idris
For anyone who may have been as confused as I was about the name of this mountain – “Cadair” is the Welsh spelling, whilst “Cader” is the anglicised version. I will stick with “Cadair” as I am trying to learn Welsh, albeit very slowly.
The Welcome Sign with its suggested trails
Cadair Idris is a strange mountain: there is a well-defined path to the top of the mountain, yet relatively poorly defined paths to descend again. I wish I had taken more notice of this when I started out, but I assumed that such a well-visited mountain would have well-defined paths. That was to be my undoing later in the day! However, in the morning M and I ascended in a state of bliss marvelling at the abundance of beautiful trees, ferns and mosses that made each turn a photo opportunity.
An old hoary tree wrapped in a coat of moss
If it wasn’t a beautiful old tree turning our heads it was a waterfall….
A hundred beautiful photos await you at Cadair Idris
Posted in Ancient site visit reports, Energy work, Modern Druidry | 
Tags: cadair idris, cader idris, chi kung, dragon, dragon pose, dragon's teeth, dragon’s breath, faerie queen, foundation, kundalini, love hope strength, mountain, pontfadog, posture, qigong, queen mab, snowdon, snowdon rocks, tai chi, wearyall hill, wyrall hill, yoga | 
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King of the Mountain
I am thinking of mountains because tomorrow I climb Scafell Pike in Lakeland. Once again I’ve under-estimated Nature. I thought, “2 hours to get there, 4 hours up and down, 2 hours back = 8 hours. Still daylight when we get back!” The review of the routes I’ve just read says 5.5 hours just to get up the mountain and back. Two hours to get to the mountain from the motorway. I make that an additional 5 and a half hours on top of my estimate. Let’s hope that’s an outside estimate, or it’s a long quiet tired drive back home in a day!
It takes many a year’s training to undo the modern obsession with self, and to properly scale oneself into the landscape. I am small. The mountain is vast. Mentally, I am preparing myself to meet this grandeur with an open heart as I breathe in Nature’s cleanest breath, and refreshing my soul in the process.
As I write this I am hearing that lovely Kate Bush song ‘King of the Mountain’ from her recent ‘Ariel‘ double album. Many of you will know of her from her 1980s success, but her later concept albums (if indeed that’s what they were) are stunningly stocked with conscientious, beautiful and challenging music. I strongly recommend ‘Ariel’ for evening time relaxation and inspiration, and also ‘The Ninth Wave’, the second half of the ‘Hounds of Love‘ album. This makes wonderful night-time listening, especially on headphones. No self-respecting pagan should be without that particular music! There’s even a homage to Wilhelm Reich in there, with the track ‘Cloudbusting’. Well ahead of the game, this lady!
I climb with a friend from work called Paulo. Paulo is a former rugby player and leapt like a goat up Ben Nevis when we tackled that peak in persistent rain a few months ago. His stamina makes me feel every aching and damaged joint and tendon, but there are many things to make the journey worthwhile:-
- the freedom of the wilds
- the clean air
- the awe-inspiring views
- the phsical challenge
- to feel the energies of Scafell as I find their paths
- to dowse on top for energetic places
- to see if cairns of rocks placed by walkers have energy
- the taste of a home-made sandwich on the top
I wasn’t ready for Ben Nevis. Its snow-clad peak, mist, sheer exhaustion….I couldn’t rouse enough energy to tune into anything but myself. My test tomorrow will be to see if I can tune into Nature early on, to try the ascent together, to learn something by the time I descend back to roads, shops and noise.
Such a shamanic journey should involve an opening up, and a returning with something. I’ll be singing as I climb,
“Hey ho, and up we go! Up into the hills where the four winds blow.
Hey ho, and up we go! Up into the hills with the ice and snow.
Hey ho and up we go! None of us know which way to go.
We”ll all be lost by the morning!“
Should cheer everyone up a little, yeah? 
Gwas
Follow your true path.
Posted in Modern Druidry, Quick thought | Tags: ariel, climb, cloudbuster, cumbria, estimate, hounds of love, kate bush, lake district, mountain, pike, route, scafell, wilhelm reich | 1 Comment »
