The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘nine ladies’

Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire has many interesting features, some of which are obvious, many of them are hidden. I have visited the circle on many occasions. It seems like every year I get drawn back to this circle at least twice, and this year has been no exception. This year I was at the circle for Samhain, and enjoyed the mysterious atmosphere of the conjunction of time and space that this moment represented. However, I was not alone.

Of course I went to the circle with Kal, and yes there were other people at the circle that night too. But that’s not what I mean. There was a strong hidden presence at the circle at Samhain, and it is one that I have identified before, but never spoken about. Now is the time for me to discuss it, because now it has been independently identified by three people, and in my mind that’s too much to be coincidence – especially as two of us have called the presence by the exact same name!

The stone circle has a Watcher.

Birch trees sheltering Nine Ladies stone circle

When I first ever visited Nine Ladies I did some dowsing that revealed the presence of an entity that was off to one side of the circle, located in a gap between some birch trees. I didn’t mention this to Kal at the time because he wasn’t really interested in things like that way back then. I didn’t do any further dowsing at that point. On another visit years later the dowsing rods directed me towards the same point when I asked about strong energies in the area. For some reason (which I now understand) I wasn’t inclined to follow the rods and locate the exact spot.

Then one day I visited the stone circle with my friend Mike and felt the presence strongly again. I wanted to know more. I tuned into the presence and tried to feel more about it. It was a ‘special day’ in the calendar, so I hoped the extra available energies might help me in this psychic questing. I got two things – a dark figure appeared to me as long as I didn’t directly look at it, and I got the feeling that the figure was simply watching the site. It wasn’t moving, or interacting, just… standing there…. observing. I called it The Watcher.

‘Dark Figure’ by GuitarGodd97

I wondered if anyone else would notice it. I challenged psychic Mike to see if he noticed any presence at the site too. He scanned the area and pointed to the exact spot I had identified previously. He said, “There’s a dark tall figure there, and I get the word ‘Watcher’ or ‘Watchman’.” Well, that pretty much blew me away. I was getting confirmation of my own findings by seeing the entity on several separate occasions, and now Mike was confirming the information I was getting. But was he reading my thoughts ir actually seeing something himself? I couldn’t be sure. Mike came out with some additional stuff too – “It doesn’t want to be bothered. It doesn’t want anyone to interact with it.” he qualified. OK – some extra stuff, but again he might be picking something up from me.

Then at Samhain this year I went to the circle with Kal. We hadn’t discussed what we’d be doing there, and indeed we both went off an did our own thing anyway. I can’t remember exactly how the discussion went, but at one point we reconvened and Kal started talking about a presence he’d noticed in the birch tree off to one side of the circle. Oh really, I cautiously encouraged. Do tell me more! “I feel like it’s watching what goes on in the circle, and I think it might be actually called a Watcher.” I’m para-phrasing, but that’s what he revealed. When I asked him for more he spoke of it being a tall dark figure. He said we shouldn’t do anything with it, like try to communicate with it, because it wanted to be left alone unseen.

Well, that was three sets of information all pointing out the same things: The Watcher, a tall dark figure, an observer, wanting to be left alone. All three of us saw this figure in the exact same spot. So, what the heck is it?

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Ghost in the Machine

This post has some history. It began on my personal site, Original Purity and then landed over here to the first part of this two parter. Here is where my thinking stood.

If a negative emotional event (such as being bullied) occurs in a place that it is energetically significant (e.g. a power centre) then that place becomes haunted.

This isn’t too startling as it is the same theory of ghosts. A ghost being the energetic remains of a person who is dead. The way in which this differed is that it would be a ghost of a person that is still alive.

Even so, hardly startling to us who work with energies. The next leap of intuition took me deep out of my belief comfort zone. My intuition told me to ask this question…

• Does my energetic double visit these ghost places? Yes! My intuition was on a roll.
• Does it visit them in the time frame that they occurred? Yes.
• Our energetic double can time travel back in time? Yes.
• Is it bound to visit these places? Yes.
• All such personal ghost places? Yes.

What a curious, startling and puzzling discovery.

Can a positive emotional experience leave a positive energy ghost in a power place? Yes. Is the energy double bound to visit those places too? Yes.

Why?

It seems that for some as yet to be determined reason my energy double visits the time-space position of emotional-energy charged events that took place on power centre. I have to stress that this is a highly speculative theory at the moment. I want to explore this a lot more before I lend my name to it.

Kal Malik – truly on the Edge

Over on my personal blog I have been exploring my experiences of being bullied at school. Here are the links:

1. Bullying at School
2. Bullying and Judgement
3. Bullying and Forgiveness

It was fascinating and personally challenging to write so openly about the experiences. But I had ulterior motive. And that was because I had found something interesting energetically and I wanted to explore that here.

As the final post in the above tells, many years ago I thought I had dealt with my past by forgiving all the people who I had thought and felt had done me down. That was many moons ago and I was less adept at the time with working with energy, being more of an explorer and investigator.

As I wrote the above set of articles I wondered about the energetic implications and whether forgiveness had worked on an energetic level too (I had felt that it had done so on an emotional level). In the midst of writing the above I was scheduled for a trip to Derbyshire, quite close to the Nine Ladies sacred site and so I saved my dowsing and querying for that time.

It was a gorgeous sunny day at the Nine Ladies. The time was about 3pm and I, rarely for this time of the year, had the place to myself. Here is a guide to how I started off with the questioning:

• Is there any energetic significance to emotional experiences such as bullying. Yes (I was expecting this)
• Does forgiveness play a part in releasing any negative energetic consequences of bullying? Yes (Oh, okay)
• Before I had forgiven the people in my past was there an energetic effect on me from those experiences? Yes
• Did forgiving them release that energetic effect? Yes/No (if you recall we a couple of years ago we were introduced to a new movement of the rods, where one swung in and the other remained out. This kind-of meant that we were on the right track and that the question wasn’t good enough)
• So, was it released in some cases but not others? Yes
• Did it not release some because they are stronger experiences? No
• Did it not release some because they are stronger emotions? No, Stronger Energies? No.

I was confused (and again, I have to tell you that many in-between questions were asked before the above was determined. It is rarely as linear as that).

• Was most of the energy released? Yes. In terms of percentages how much was released? 99% That sounded good until I asked whether the 1% was having a detrimental effect? Yes.

Why? And Why? Were the questions that played in my mind as I walked around the beautiful Nine Ladies. Then I had an intuitively leap (quite probably because I was at a power place).

• Was the 1% still remaining because they had occurred at a place that had energetic significance? Yes!Wow! Seriously!Where they at a sacred site? No. Just a place of energetic significance. A power center? Yes. Interesting!

I asked whether I could distant dowse the location of one. Yes. Was there one that was at the school I used to go to? Yes. I mentally imagined the layout of the school, not in great detail and dowsed. Narrowing it down finally to a particular spot, which was the strongest energy point.

Having blocked out my school days from my memory many years ago and then recovered them (for the forgiveness ceremonies) I still have vague accounts of them and couldn’t think of any that matched with the place I had just dowsed.

It was an innocuous place in a corridor, just outside of my 4th year maths class room. Since bullying was a bit of an everyday occurrence I am sure that it must have happened at that spot too. But I couldn’t recall any significant event (indeed I can’t recall any that were more significant than others).

Time line therapy is a practice that is occasionally used by therapists and coaches to get to source memories. Essentially the premise is that our subconscious can lead our conscious to emotional events of the past and release the hold that such may have (oddly wikipedia does not have a description for me to link to).

I attempted a variant on this to see if I could access the memory. “I command my subconscious mind to take me to the memory of the event that took place outside my maths classroom that has left a residual energy signature” Or something like that. I sat against a (dowsed good place) stone and let my mind wander over my biography.

After many moments of (is it that) a memory kept recurring. It was of a time when I had been beaten up by another kid, who in turn had been bullied into it (more in this link: Bullying and Forgiveness). After getting no other hits I got up and dowsed for the answer.

• Was this the event that had caused the negative energy effect? Yes. Was it remarkable because the place where it occurred was a power center? Yes.

Then a truly quantum leap in intuition occurred and I wondered if this had created some kind of a ghost effect at the place in the school? Yes. Wow! So could this be considered to be a ghost as defined by an energetic imprint of a person? Yes. If a sensitive person went to that place would they see a ghost? Yes/No. What?

I sat down to ponder this result whilst having my lunch. What an interesting finding and there was more to come. But you will have to wait until after lunch for that.

Kal Malik Ghost Hunting

When I dowsed to find which sites I should visit for the Winter Solstice this year I was surprised that only two types were signified: a circle and a cave. Well, it didn’t take me long to work out which stone circle I should visit. Top of my list was Nine Ladies, and it remained the favourite because all the others failed the suitability test when dowsed. Next I had to find a suitable cave. This task was much harder. With my first site being in Derbyshire I reckoned that finding a cave in the area would be simple .Far from it! It took me several days to find and dowse the suitability of a natural cave that was not a tourist attraction closed for the Winter. The result was Thor’s Cave, which was just inside the Staffordshire border, but close to Leek and south Derbyshire. Perfect! I deliberately didn’t read up anything about it so that the experience would be fresh and exciting. I will blog about the cave visit soon, but first, here’s my account of my Winter Solstice visit to Nine Ladies stone circle.

Solstice morning arrived and I began to tedious journey across to mid-Cheshire to meet my friend Mike. At each step of the journey I was delayed – firstly by a huge lorry trundling along the back roads, then by a tractor pulling a huge payload of hay bales, and then, just as I had cleared that obstacle and was wondering whether I could possibly get behind anything that would be slower – out pulled a funeral cortege and I was down to 20mph for the next few miles of reverent driving. I had to laugh! When I arrived at Mike’s I fold him that I had arrived at exactly the right time – 15 minutes late, but just as I had completely chilled out due to the slow pace. Perfect timing!

Nine Ladies Dancing

As we approach the stone circle from below, following a track that is probably only visible in the Winter months, I stop to register the edge of the stone circle’s nemeton – I can feel an energy change and I turn to look at Mike, but Mike has a puzzled look on his face. Is he sensing something, I wonder? He says that he can see lots of “little people” all around us, gathering to usher us on towards the stone circle, and dancing around our feet. He wonders if I can see them. I can’t, but I can feel their presence, like being brushed past by lots of invisible mice. He searched his mind for the correct word, and returns with “Pixies”. I haven’t heard that word in years – how quaint!

We continue to the small gathering of sandstone rocks that are heavily carved. Now that the undergrowth is completely gone they are all exposed, and I can see one facing me with a very clear message…

Pot-Head Pixie immortalised at Nine Ladies Stone Circle

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Nine Ladies stone circle, Stanton Moor, Derbyshire – October 13th 2010

Firstly, apologies for the poor quality of the pictures used in this post. I forgot to bring my camera and had to rely on the camera on my phone to get some contextual images. At least they illustrate the point, even if they wouldn’t make a decent backdrop.

Let’s start the post with a giggle. Raise your hands all of you who expected that Kal would have learned his lesson about approaching the grumpy old oak tree that sits alongside the Nine Ladies stone circle! How many raised their hands? All of you? Well, you’d all be right. We arrived, stood for a moment comtemplating the beauty of the circle from fifty feet away, and then Kal bounded over to the oak tree almost demanding that it communicate positively with him. I laughed at the sheer inevitability of what was to come. A poke in the eye from a low-hanging branch for Kal, yet again!

I approached the tree sedately, feeling its aura close to its canopy of still-green leaves. I skirted the edge, rounding the tree once widdershins, occasionally letting its lower outer branches stroke my face. Then, at the correct entrance point I stopped to ask if I might enter. I felt a slight tug at what I am now calling, in Castenada’s terms, the Assemblage Point, and I knew I was alright to enter. We got on, this tree and I. I knew it demanded a careful respect, and I was amenable to that. After all – I was invading its space, not the other way around. Kal grumbled about its grumpiness and I chuckled, reminding him of what he needed to do in order to pass into the tree’s favour. He grumbled again. He hates deference. I don’t call it deference, I call it mutual respect, and that makes the whole thing work automatically, like automatically saying ‘sorry’ if you bump into someone, no matter who bumped into whom.

The Cleaning Job

As Kal paid his penance at the foot of the oak tree I headed to the circle of small stones that formed the dainty monument that is Nine Ladies. Something felt funny, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was exactly. I decided I needed the help of my dowsing rods. I cleaned them down (a matter of stroking the rods from stem to tip and shaking your hand afterwards – a mere ritual, but it seems to keep the rods free of energetic interference). After cleaning I readied the rods in my usual shoot-from-the-hip stance, elbows in at my side and rods perfectly balanced and level, free to swivel as the energies may direct them.

I asked the rods a question, “Did this circle need re-balancing of the energies?” – in other words, was there too much of one particular type of energy? NO. OK, now for the follow up, “Did this circle need cleansing?” – i.e. was there an influx of unusual energy not native to the circle that could be causing disruption to its function? YES.

Distinguishing these two types of energy work is important, I feel. Re-balancing and cleansing are two very different activities requiring different approaches. For re-balancing I seek to either draw up and create more energy for anything that is required to create a balance between the energy types, or else I dampen down the effect of an over-lively energy form in order to bring it back to the levels of the other energies at the site. Cleansing requires me to eliminate some ‘alien’ energy form (usually human-sourced) and to leave the site with only its natural energies (unless the alien energy is actually benefiting the site).

Which brings me to my final question before I begin the work, “Is the additional energy beneficial to the site?”. NO. Right, then it did need to be dealt with. Could I use incense for this work? YES. How many sticks would be required to cleanse the energy? SIX. Six!” Seriously?? That was more than I had ever needed to use before for such work. Usually it’s two, three, maybe four. Six was something that took this work to new heights for me.

Incensed at having to clean this circle

I lit the incense sticks, placed them where the rods dictated I should, and then dowsed for how long they would take to clear the problem energy – six minutes. Ha, today was all sixes! Strange. Next I noticed another strange coincidence.

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Sunday 12th September, 2010 – Froggatt village, Derbyshire.

The afternoon was ours and the day was glorious. It was the kind of day at the end of the summer that you know if you don’t make the most of it you will sorely regret it because there won’t be many more like this for many a month now as Autumn and Winter take turns to ravish the landscape, denuding the shrubbery and instilling a greyness to the sky. This day’s sky was a painting in a light blue palette. It was with this backdrop that I cajoled Kal to come out on a dowsing mission. As it turned out, it would only be later that I realised the full and startling importance of this casual visit. It would be a moment that resonated with me in the most profouond way, evoking a deep memory from over thirty years ago, and confirming that my path was true to me.

iI had cloaked the intended destination in an air of secrecy, so it wasn’t until we had reached Stockport (damn that SatNav for insisting it was the fastest route) that Kal ventured to suggest we were going somewhere in Derbyshire. Indeed we were. I had found a stone circle with impeccable credentials – near a known path, not too far to walk to, fairly intact – and to us it was completely new and exciting. It was called Froggatt Edge stone circle just beyond the town of Bakewell.

Froggatt Edge stone circle

We parked at the Chequers Inn (top pun, top pub) which was on a small road going out of the village. Two hundred yards back down the hill a path crossed the road going both down and up the Edge. We headed upwards, through the delightfully deciduous canopy of old trees, up a well-trodden path mottled with mosses and tree roots. After passing a gate in a wall the path got rockier, and soon we could see people above us. As we emerged out of the woods we realised that we were at the base of the Edge’s cliff face. As far as the eye could see in either direction were clutches of climbers, spandexed and sporting fluorescent ropes, all either looking upwards, or fiddling with clasps and bags. I have never seen so many climbers in one place. We asked for directions from a friendly-looking bunch, then made our way right, following the path up to the top of the cliffs. The climb was easy, unlike the band of brave souls who were challenging themselves to get up the hard way.

When we emerged at the top it was time to catch our breath, and admire the views.

View along Froggatt Edge

The Stone Throne

If I were a king, then this is where I would have my throne, atop Froggatt Edge. The views are fantastic when the weather’s good. As we wandered along the edge, stopping to look at the unusual rock formations, wind-blasted and weather-worn, we came across a very unusual set of rocks. Kal immediately pounced upon them and seated himself comfortably on the top – it was a perfect seat, he claimed, so I too went up to try it. He wasn’t wrong. The views were even better from that vantage point, and the seat was genuinely comfortable. Both of us could have stayed there all day. Clearly a strong power centre with good energies.

Kal indicating that perfection can be achieved with the addition of a pint of beer

The sun was going ‘under the yardarm’ as the sailing fratenity say, and so I pushed us onwards to our destination – the stone circle. Within moments of walking past the Throne we saw the circle itself, its one prominent stone enticing us into its bracken lair. Now the fun could begin.

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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]

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Gwas.