The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘new year’

The Old Moon – the name for the first full moon of the year – occurred on the 19th January. As a moon-aligned person (Do you know if you are moon or sul aligned? Why not go check using dowsing rods?) I always take the opportunity to bathe myself in the energies that the Moon reflects down to Earth. I tried to find some information about what the Old Moon energies might be like, but there’s simply none available online. Maybe some old books record it, but it’s not available on the web, so I had no reference point to know to what purpose the energy has historically been put. I would be making it up again.

I engineered a little bit of time for myself on the way home from work and had a feeling that I should head to a hilltop that I had visited before. I wasn’t really kitted out for such a visit (I knew there were probably cows in the field below the hill). Nevertheless I took Kal’s approach to this – Nature would see me right and I would be fine. Ahem.

I drove towards the hills near Frodsham but as I turned into one of the back lanes I came across an unusual sight. I saw the full moon rippling gently on the surface of a pond. This pond I knew was a regular haunt for local fishermen. Tonight it was a perfect mirror for the glory of the Old Moon in its full glory. Not a cloud spoiled the view. I had to pull over.

Full moon's reflected stare

I parked and walked quietly around the edge of the pond towards a clear bit. In the moonlight everything was clear and I could see the best position to be – at a small outcrop that hung over the ponds slightly and which was in direct 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. with the moon’s current position. I settled there, in a fashion, but there was much more car traffic than I imagined there would be out here “in the middle of nowhere”. It seemed to have become a thoroughfare just at the moment I wanted peace and quiet! Where had all these cars come from? I tried my best to ignore them, and to ignore the occasional shouts and barks emerging from one of the only two homes nearby.

Looping the Moon

The way that the moon and its reflection were positioned in front of me seemed to form a figure of eight in my mind. As I connected ot the energy of the land and sky, my energy seemed to be drawn towards the moon. I let it go, watching as it looped around the moon and then back down to the moon’s reflection in the pond. The invisible energy loop now began to circulate all on its own – looping around the moon and then down in the opposite direction to its reflection. With each loop I felt stronger, more empowered, and I wasn’t in a hurry to move.

Fate, however, determined that I should. A big rumble of a 4×4 grew to a roar alongside me as one of the inhabitants of the only other house nearby chose that exact moment to nip out for a pint of milk from the local shop several miles away, or something like that. My connection broke and I awoke to the smell of the two incense sticks I had lit to accompany the special moment. I decided it was time to go home.

Old moon – new crystal energy

At home I felt there was still some use to which I could put the full moon energies. I laid out all of my current sets of crystals (I will post shortly on how those are composed this year) on a table underneath the full moon that shone through a skylight. I drew down the moon’s energy and asked that the crystals be cleansed and re-energised by this reflected moon energy.

Using the full moon at its peak

I then dowsed about whether such a process was under way. It was. I dowsed about how long the crystals should be left and I got the answer that the crystals should be taken out of the moon’s light at midnight. I wondered why, so I logged onto the Internet to find out when the moon would be at its peak – midnight! Back to the dowsing – do the crystals have to be removed after that time because of the moon’s waning energies? YES. So, it seems that the crystals, whilst being charged up by the moon would also be then drained by it as it waned. They level of energy in the crystals was a reflection of the energy that the moon had at any particular time, unless they were removed from its influence by being hidden from its light.

At the same time as charging the crystals I took my ash staff and put it outside in the direct moonlight. At its tip I placed a single prism clear quartz crystals to focus the moon’s energy into the staff. Again, I did a simple intention to draw the moon’s energy down and through the crystal into the staff. Again, I removed this arrangement after midnight.

This had been a most enlightening evening in many ways. I felt energised and empowered, and my ritual tools had likewise been cleansed and re-empowered by this clear full moon. What a good start to the year’s moon-watching!

Gwas.

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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.

Gregorian-ly speaking the year endeth, although I felt that the new cycle began after Samhain. However recent experiences now make me feel that perhaps the Winter Solstice marked the turning point. Perhaps I should dowse to determine the answer?

I can only say! What a year!

I was going to go choose a highlight or two but there have been so so many I am torn on which to choose…

• The Energetic Double quest?
• The trip to Devon and Cornwall? And indeed the continuing trip…
• The Crop Circle explorations, yes that was this year!!
• The Ireland adventure – filled with Leprechaun fun
• And then there was the five part quest to gain the next level of the Spiral…having to stay in Alderley Edge for the night, staying silent for a week

Or some of the minor (ha!) ones?

• Alderley Edge played a prominent part as it has from the beginning
• Arbor Low – which was visited 4 times I think! And once in the sun too
• Nine-ladies & Nine Stones close?
• Seven sites in a day visit?

And…

• The Anglesey pilgrimage – was that this year?
• The many visits to Gop Hill
• What about Dinas Bran eh?
• Talking of Dinas Bran what of the night time visits…those were almost uniquely this year? Druids Circle, Nine Ladies, Dinas Bran, Ancient Yew.
• Indeed, what of Ancient Yew? He has been a big contributor this year.
• And our misty day in the Cumbrian sites, yes that was this year too. Having to navigate purely by GPS in the mist.
• Glastonbury has been a featured site too this year.
• Llandrillo – Ancient Yew and Dinas Bran in one day visit, that was an exceptional experience.
• Tintagel was an experience on both counts

In terms of prominent topics/features…

• Energetic Shrouds have been popping up alot in both of our experiences.
• Of course, as mentioned above Energy Double has been top on my list (and yet it was only at Samhain that this adventure started).
• Adding Tarot cards into the equation
• Having a chat with Merlin
• House dowsing
• Signs and Omens and the interpretation / detection of
• Saying no to Spirit Walker and Caileach’s offer.

That list is by no means exhaustive…it is from memory alone (although I had to check that Cumbria was this year).

You can see it isn’t easy to find the most…significant? meaningful? Miraculous? So let me choose 3. In reverse order then…da da daaa…

3. Spending the night in Alderley Edge has got to be one of the most courageous ones. Although of course we’re only speaking of personal courage.

2. The Irish trip for several reasons, the hardships of Leprechaun encounters, the oracle vision at Douth. The beautiful Gardens at the house we stayed.

1. The Energetic Double quest (ongoing?) has got to be the top of the list for me. Everything from signs and omens, to miracles and prediction. How can you beat that?

Having selected those as the events a certain a bow has to be given to the understandings and knowledge that has been gained over this incredible year.

• Distinction: From experience I have had to change my “personal” belief on the components of life. I may post the details of this in 2011 however for the time being (as you have seen in these posts) I have spoken often of Energetic Shrouds. It is my experience that when a person dies an energetic ”remainder” is left behind. This was explored over the course of 2010

• Saying No:Over the course of this year various paths have been laid before me. “Spirit Walker” was an early one. Being the pupil of Caileach (in Ireland) was another. Personally I have a strong feeling of created destiny and it was partially from this sense of self that I chose not to walk those paths (although re-reading some of my posts one might think that I am actually on them). Other paths have been put on the “To Be Done” list for example, Wand Maker.
• Spiral nature of life: This year has been a fascinating demonstration of spirals of experience and learning. It is my (again experiential) belief that life follows a spiral path. If such is the case then we would come around the spiral and find something that is similar but subtly different. The years experiences for both Gwas and I have demonstrated this spiral in several ways. It is interesting to me because we now have the notion that we haven’t “taken a step backeards” but rather are passing the same place on the spiral but on a different rung.

• Signs and Synchronicities: Although I have been an explorer and experiencer of synchronicities for many years. This year has featured many signs and omens along the way. The most familiar to readers will be the Sun showing through clouds. However (if I do say so myself) I have become more proficient in recognising signs and indeed acting on them.

And there you have…Experiences, understandings and knowledge. 2010 has been a most prodigious year. What of 2011?

Kal Malik

Throughout this year there has been a single overriding concern that has permeated everything that I do regarding dowsing or druidry: there must be a purpose to it. By that I don’t mean that I haven’t had fun, or avoided doing frivolous things. Not at all. However, each visit that I have embarked upon has been characterised by my having a purpose to go there with. This was the message that I got out of the consolidation period at the end of 2009, that period between Samhain and Yule when one should bring all things learned in the year together, sort through them, and resolve them into a unified approach for the next year’s work. Like some kind of meta-idea, the concept emerged that for 2010 my task would be to determine the purpose of each eighth part of the year – to understand the eight-fold year.

There seems to be a common acceptance of what is considered to be the revived concept of the eight-fold year amongst Neo-Pagan and Wiccan circles. This has all the dates that are close to what may be the ‘original’ divisions of the year. Truth is, no-one really knows how the divisions of the year were named, or upon which dates these divisions actually fell. What has been reconstructed has come to us through a combination of modern research into old customs, or through the collective acceptance of dates that feel familiar and proper. It has largely been a process of re-appropriation of existing festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Hallowe’en, wresting them from the clutches of the Christian sovereignty.

Whilst there is a certain concensus as to what those specific division dates mean, what is not clear is what the time in between those divisions means. I have been following the year’s divisions closely since Winter and have communed and divined for myself what those in-between days (cf. The Cure) mean to me.

There is a certain difficulty with being precise about these division dates too. Nature does not appear as being very precise to us humans because we cannot comrpehend all of the factors involved in what makes The Great Clock tick! The combination of influences from stars, planets, conjunctions, and who knows how many other influences is simply beyond our comprehension. Therefore, we can only “best guess” when these times arise besed on previous experience, and then we need to be flexible about it all, because we probably won’t guess entirely correctly. Does precision matter in working out these division times? I don’t think so, becuase most of the divisions are largely dependent upon the Moon, and the Moon’s influence occurs over several days, and this gives us a certain amount of lee-way.

One final caveat: the information I have discovered is, I believe, probably quite personal to me. I am not, therefore, espousing a new system to explain the Eight-Fold Year as a replacement for other systems that are out there or that you may be using already. Nor am I trying to back up my claims with astological, scientific or any other form of knowledge system. These explanations may be entirely my own – I don’t know until I have had perhaps several years worth of data to analyse. This is my first year of gaining this knowledge, so please bear that in mind when you read this. It is for your edification and information only, and it is merely presented so that it may suggest things for you to try out for yourself.

So, that said, here goes. So far I have discovered the following stages:-

YULE to IMBOLC

The division line may actually be Twelfth Night rather than Christmas Day. I will have to check that when it comes around again this year to get the precise cut-over, not that any of these divisions are precise, because they’re not. However, I think it’s worthwhile me finding out whether it’s Christmas or Twelfth Night.

PURPOSE:

1. To be still and quiet.
2. To engage in no activity of a magickal nature at all.
3. To cleanse the mind of the information from the previous year.

Anything that has not sunk in already after the period immediately prior to this one (which I think is about consolidating information) should not be brought forward into the new year. The purpose of this period is to cleanse oneself of all that “baggage” and to leave the mind in a state whereby new knowledge, new seeds, can be planted upon a well-prepared but settled soil. As with meditation, achieving stillness is the key to appreciating this time of the year. The “season of peace” indeed!

IMBOLC to SPRING EQUINOX

PURPOSE:

1. To awaken the energies of ancient sacred sites.
2. To awaken, pay homage to, or recall the guardian spirits of such places.
3. To prepare the ground for the year’s energy work, by preparing self and place.

This is an interactive stage of the year, and is the first involvement by the participant (the seeker) with the land and its spirits and energies. I found that I was asked to visit many of the places that I had found the be especially find of (read – ‘connected to’, or ‘aligned to’) and that when I was there I would go through a process of firstly finding out what state the place was in, then I would connect to the site, and finally, if necessary, I would invoke the spirit of the place – that guardian spirit – to ask that it return if I found it to be absent. Of course, I could only make a request of the spirit to return, and only if I had prepared the ground appropriately, so to speak.

All of this work, of visiting sites, connecting to them and contacting or invoking the spirit of place, it was all a form of preparation for the work that was to come. A sort of re-introduction, a gentle re-awakening to energies and spirits.

SPRING EQUINOX to BELTANE

PURPOSE:

1. To connect to the earth’s energy grid.
2. To understand the nature of Neutral earth energy forms.
3. To extract and utilise Neutral energy.

I think there is a general principle at work during this period, and that is for the seeker to learn to connect into the land. As the earth energies begin to be enlivened by the radiant energy of the sun, and together with the moon this draws life from the land. That signals the time for the seeker to spend time connecting with this upsurge of energy. In some mystical systems the human is the mid-point between the Sky and the Earth, and I think this is a symbolic memory of our ability to actually be the conduit and focal point for the two forms of energy – earth and radiant. We are the combiners.

As for myself this year, I have found that there was an additional task which was to learn in a theoretical and a practical way how I could extract the neutral energy form and store it within me. I learned how to re-charge myself with this energy using my navel chakra point as a storehouse for the neutral energy form – in exactly the same way as in chinese qigong meditation.

In addition to simply drawing out and collecting this energy I learned how to use neutral energy to ‘coat’ objects in order to preserve their energetic imprint. This was a means of creating so-called “power objects” I realised. In other words, it was a way of retaining those special qualities that people had invested into an object – whether that be a memory, a feeling, or some other form of energetic input. I learned how that energy could be retained within the object by using raw neutral energy to preserve it like a coat of varnish.

BELTANE to SUMMER SOLSTICE

PURPOSE:

1. To understand the nature of the neutral or white light energy form and how it is composed
2. To practise diffracting and re-combining the seven coloured frequencies of light
3. To make practical use of these energies to elevate consciousness

I believe this part of the year’s cycle concerns the effort to raise one’s level of consciousness to an opportunity point in the middle of the year when the energies are at their strongest, and one stands the greatest chance of elevating into an enlightened state, or achieving a blissful and revelatory state of mind.

So far I have found that for me this will involve me learning about how to bring together the two inner energy centres – the neutral energy store of the lower dan-tian or navel chakra point, and to combine that with the influx of light energy through the third-eye chakra point in order to diffract the energy into any of the seven frequencies of 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. that I require to be able to perform whatever task I need (for example, to heal an imbalance, or to utilise a particular frequency for a specific task). At this moment I don’t know what tasks those frequencies can perform, but that is learning that I still have to go through.

I suspect that there may be some esoteric benefit to being able to draw in each of the frequencies of this spectrum of light individually and to recombine them somehow to form a white light frequency, and that this may be the “light at the end of the tunnel” or the blinding inspiration that is described as accompanying an enlightenment process. My quest, however, is to understand the purpose of being able to do that, not just the mechanics of making it possible!

So, not much to do then in the next few months!

Summary

That is my current understanding and recap of the year’s inspirations and the paths along which I have travelled during this year. I feel that much of that information is general enough for most people to get some correspondence with, or for it to resonate with most people. Much of it is also personal and relates to my own quest for knowledge, understanding and wisdom in working with the energies of Nature. You decide where that take you. I will, as ever, go my own way.

Gwas.

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