The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘navel of the earth’

There are many ways that people have devised to find the centre of lands. From the beginnings of recorded history and probably much before then humans have established centres of land masses in order to establish a “pole” – a symbolic tree whose roots are planted in the core of the planet and whose branches stretch up to connect to the heavens. The World Tree, The May Pole, the Pole Star – these are the anchor points of civilisation.

When Britain was colonised by invaders they each re-worked the centre to fit their own surveying techniques. For example, one of the naming conventions used by the Viking race was the word “Ting” or “Thing”. On many of the islands to the north and west of the mainland we have place names at the centre prefixed by this word. These places, the moot places, are often mounds – artificial hills created for the purpose of providing a meeting place. It was always more than just a meeting point though. It was the very centre of government, and a meeting point for celebration and festival at special times of the year.

Confusing meridian lines across Britain

You may remember that in a recent vision I had been shown a dragon rising from the centre of the land. I knew that I needed to find where this place was. There are myths often associated with the central point, I later discovered, that recount tales of two dragons fighting. This was a myth that I knew related to Dinas Emrys, and which involved Merlin. Now I wanted to find the centre of all of the land mass on which I stand – the central point where my visionary dragon would emerge, somewhere in England, I guessed.

I set off with the idea it was a geographical place located in these lands, but my first question received a NO response when I asked – not with the current idea I had of the place. I would need to learn more about it to find it. The centre should not be thought of as a physical place. It’s tied to a physical place only in the sense that it can be placed in the third dimension. Here are some of the properties of the place I needed to find:-

• it is symbolic
• it is mobile, not static
• it’s location and nature changes over time
• it is created by the interaction of humans and the land
• it can be located to a specific place when coordinated with a specific time (i.e. one can find where it is now)
• the centre moves due to human interaction
• it moves at irregular intervals (not associated with the movement of stars, moon or sun)

I map-dowsed the country using the Megalithic Portal Map. The square that reacted to the dowsing rods was ‘SK’.

Megalithic Portal’s map of the SK square

I zoomed in. What kind of site was I looking for? I dowsed the list of types of site. The result was “artificial mound”. I filtered the list. Only one – Thynghowe Mound [link]. This mound was only rediscovered in 2004-5. From what I read it has been recorded as a place of feasting, celebration, meeting and racing. Sounds like a fun place to be! It was later renamed “Hanger Hill“. Oh some people will go to any lengths to choke off a place of pagan fun, won’t they? “Don’t go to the hanger hill – it’s a place of death!!!” For a thousand years or more it sounds like it was place of life.

I got to Steetmap – show me the OS map of this mound’s position. It’s a few hundred feet away from where I found the Spirit of Place in Sherwood Forest! A few hundred yards away from the mound – an ancient meeting place between three parishes and possibly two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms – is a tree called “Centre Tree“.

If this turns out to relate to the movement of the Spirit of Place that I did earlier in the year then I will know why it is movable! Something is telling me I have to go back to Sherwood Forest!

Gwas.

References:

• http://www.thynghowe.org.uk/Thyng.html
• John Michell – “The Sacred Center” and “Twelve-Tribe Nations“

The Dragon of Dinas Emrys

In the final part of our North Wales summer excursion I will tell you about a vision I had while meditating on Dinas Emrys in the heart of Snowdonia. Whilst wrapped in dragon’s breath of mists that wandered the hillsides I huddled into the rectangular remains of the hill’s tower. Seated on a compatible power centre I went into a druidic trance (a state of mind that still allows you to see Nature with open eyes, yet have a connectedness one would normally associate with deep meditation).

In the trance I asked if there was anything that I should do for the Solstice coming up. In my trance my thought began to wander to memories of my meeting with Merlin on this hill. I asked Merlin’s spirit to assist with my question, if he could. Moments later the outer world began to blur and the screen of my inner mind was darkening as though in preparation for a film screening. So it was - a vision appeared which I will describe to you:-

• I saw the centre of these islands, and me standing at that point. Then I sent out a shockwave of intention energy that resonated throughout the land. The point was at the heart of a network or grid of energy points that are still connected by subtle energy forces to each other.
• As a result of the wave of energy something arose from the centre of the land, through me. It was a dragon. It rose above the land and many of the people who saw it were afraid. Some others, however, were beyond fear and they were in awe of the huge dragon whose wings spread out above them.
• The sympathetic people sent their energies to the dragon and this helped it to grow in size so that it covered the whole island.
• At the point where it was the size of the whole land mass the dragon’s shape became the land and it re-integrated with the island. I felt that the land and the woken dragon had become one again – re-united as they should be.

I don’t know what the consequence fo this action is. I don’t know whether this vision was something beneficial or not. Was the process one of unification, or subjugation? Am I the only one who could do this action, or am I one of many who will do this? What IS the dragon - a projection of me, of the land, or both?

Dragon rising to shadow and merge with the land

The Navel of the Land

Many places can lay claim to being the centre of our island nation depending upon the criteria. I feel that I should choose one based on my own criteria but one which has a sacred site associated with it, such as a church, cross or mound. It should be some place associated with “dragon” or serpent energies, I feel. Somewhere like Dragon Hill at Uffington, perhaps? John Michell has written several books about the concept of a centre point in land masses, and even at a global level (e.g. The Sacred Center). Perhaps I will find a suitable place when researching in his books?

Philip Coppens, one of my favourite researchers, has this useful piece of information on his site:

“In the Mabinogion, it is said that the Celtic king Lludd was instructed to measure the length and breadth of England in order to determine its centre. At that spot, he would find two fighting dragons that were responsible for the evils afflicting the nation. He found the two creatures fighting at what is now Oxford.” (source: PhilipCoppens.com)

He goes on to suggest that Croft Hill, near High Cross in Leicestershire might be the agreed-upon meeting place of the old druid clans. That seems tempting! Some dowsing will reveal the answer, I’m sure.

I don’t know what this vision means yet, but I am going to try to find out. I need to know whether this is a good thing to be involved with, whether it is something I should do, or whether it is some form of prediction as to the coming events in 2012 – The Year of the Dragon. I will let you know when a dragon appears!

Gwas.

Pyramids and Pyramyths

The only question I needed to answer when faced with the gigantic step facade of the Great Pyramid was whether I wanted to pay to go inside the structure. Of course I did! I hadn’t come all this way not to take an opportunity like that. We escaped the afternoon sun and the pesky traders who swarmed like sand-flies around the pyramid’s lengthy base. As we stepped inside a frisson of excitement and awe pulsed through us and we exchanged glances – yes, we really were inside the Great Pyramid of antiquity.

We climbed the steep wooden-runged ramp with heads kept low until we reached one of the vaulted inclined chambers. There we caught our breath in the humid and close stale air before continuing another steep climb up to the King’s Chamber. Once inside we were pounced upon by a local man of overwhelming insistence who ‘guided’ us through some basic facts and figures, dragging a different lady to each point in the chamber before performing a very physical demonstration of the chamber’s position inside the pyramid’s structure, making us feel the inside of the remaining sarcophagus, and shining a torch so that we could see the vents and shafts at various points around the room. Then he flattened his hand in a gesture anticipating kind donations, Few were forthcoming, and most people escaped his avid attentions and the stifling closeness of the air as they exited the room. We lingered for a while because M could see that I wanted to check some things out. However, I didn’t do any dowsing – I just ‘felt’ around using my senses and my intuitive responses.

Why didn’t I take the opportunity to dowse in there? Did I feel anything? Were there incredible energies in that chamber? There was nothing. No feeling of any energy at all. Whatever that chamber’s previous or current purpose or activity there was none of it going on when I was there. The chamber was devoid of subtle life, only tourists. I wondered at this point whether the idea that this chamber might seal off energies from outside could be true? I tested the seals between the stones in the walls and found that I couldn’t even put my fingernail between the stones. Why would this degree of perfect fit be necessary for such a room unless it served some function? Nowhere else in my subsequent travels to temples would I find anything like this kind of perfection in the remains of temples. It certainly begs the question!

Sonic experimentation

Trying to avoid the attentions of a pesky “guide” who was angling for money off anyone lingering in the chamber I tried an experiment that came to mind. I began to hum to see what the effect was of sound made within the chamber. I was expecting an intense resonance off the sleek and tight-fitting walls but instead what I got back was a dulling of the sound, almost an absorption. It felt like I was humming slightly in my own head. My sound was not ‘bouncing off the walls’ in a ‘sonic cathedral of sound’, but instead it was being pushed away by the angles of the chamber until it almost cancelled itself out! The effect was quite disturbing, and I stopped any further humming, not knowing what to try next. The ‘guide’ became insistent upon payment for his meagre services in a most leering manner, and I decided to get M out of the small space before something untoward occurred in this special place.

As we re-emerged sweating from the humidity inside I turned my attention to some of the other tales I had heard about the pyramids.

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