The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘power centre’

Another stiflingly hot German evening in late July. I was at the end of my stay and would be heading back to England soon. Before I left I ventured out further than I had walked before in the quaint town that formed my temporary residence. It was eight o’clock in the evening and still twenty-eight degrees, although the light was soon to begin its descent below the horizon. A waxing quarter moon would stamp its presence in the night sky later that night.

The fields that I had been hidden by last week had been harvested, but as I walked out of the town following my intuition I noticed that I was taken a different way, past the fields, but not to them. A municipal broad concrete cycle path led out of town for miles and I began to follow it until I saw a sign for a quieter path, which attracted me more strongly.

The path led me to the edge of a wood that seemed to link several local towns or villages together, so I got my dowsing rods out to guide me as to where I should walk. My thoughts to the rods were: “please find me a magical place in the forest where I can meditate peacefully.” I followed a narrow dirt path into the heart of the woods, and the rods kept indicating small groves amidst trees off the track to the left and right as I walked. Each one I scrutinised for suitability, but none felt quite right. During my slow walking a pair of red deer looked up at me, then turned and fled into the thickets between the trees. It was a lovely sight.

Stopping again the rods were both pointing down a small track, seemingly made by a two-wheeled vehicle, that had long wispy tails of grass down its length. It was an easy track to see and I noticed that eventually it led back to the main path. Well, that wasn’t where I wanted to go, so I turned around and I changed my request to the rods slightly: “please show me a magical place on the path that I was walking before.”

Only moments later the rods crossed at a dry spot between two trees. This spot felt different in a subtle way. I could feel the aura of the tree behind me to the right of the path, but also one emitted from the beech tree immediately to my left as well. Also, the air felt different here – clearer, lighter, easier to breathe, filled with the sparkling motion of faint speckles of energy. I knew this was the place, but being on the path – would I be disturbed? Again, I resorted to the rods for the answer : NO, I wouldn’t be disturbed. OK. Well I just had to believe that.

When I dowsed as to exactly where the best spot for me to sit would be the rods insisted it was on the near side of one of the trees, practically sat on the path. Was it not around the back where there were some comfortable looking leaves, I asked hopefully? NO. Oh well. I tried.

Settling In

For the first time I took my shoes and socks off, enjoying the coolness of the earth and night air on my hot feet. Never done that before. Ready and settled in the roots of the tree (again, it was a perfect fit and very confortabe) I asked if I should use crystals. YES. Should I set up protection? YES. I laid out my small five crystal set and set up circle. As the light was fading I felt that I needed to protect it very strongly. I sat meditating for several minutes until my breath was almost nothing and I was completely still. The forest went still too, as the birds went to sleep, and the slight winds abated.

It seemed appropriate at that moment to introduce myself to the forest as Gwas Myrddyn. servant of Merlin, merely by emitting the thought all around me. Recalling a Caitlin Mathews idea I formulated the plan to call upon the spirit of Merlin himself. Where better to meet him than in the depths of an unfamiliar forest at dusk? I asked Merlin to show me a sign, a sign that would show me where I was on my journey. A sign to show me the way to go on this spiritual path of druidry. I fell silent again and stilled my mind to become aware of any response.

The Black & White Minstel Show

The noises started. A loud crack of a thick branch inthe dark realms of the thickets to my left. I smiled, but my heart rate increased and I re-doubled the protective circle I had estabished around me. Something fell from a tree close to where the I had heard the snapping branch. Another crack - farther down the path into the gloom of the darkening tunnel of undergrowth and the overgrown canopy of young birches, It kept my attention pinned to my left. I let it slip back to the circle and waited again, calming my blood.

A loud rustle to my left, close by, from behind the tree I was meditating besides – at the lush-leaved spot where I had wanted to sit initially. It sounded like a small dog. I didn’t move except to turn my head slowly towards the sound. A black and grey striped snout and body appeared only two feet away from me. A badger! It stopped when it was almost touching me, looked up at me, realised I wasn’t a bush and ran for its life down the path inthe direction of the snapping rustling noises, which I now realised must have been other badgers making their way to their night-time feeding grounds!

My heartbeat was raised, and I was ultra-alert. This was not a meditative state, and I needed to assimilate what this meant. so I started to pack away crystals. As I gathered my things the badger that I had startled returned to watch me from about fifteen feet away, standing in the middle of the path and sniffing the air.

As I walked past the two trees I thanked them and left. On my slow and steady way back I noticed that the moonlight was picking out the side path formed by the grass and car tracks – the one that led to the main path. That was exactly the quick escape route I appreciated. How lucky to have found it before!

Once back at the apartment I thought about the evening’s events. What had this meant? Anything? Undoubtedly the crystals and circle had given me the mental strength to resist any fear that had arisen. Within it I felt safe and secure. The rods had been correct to indicate that no person would disturb me. I had asked for a sign about my way along this journey, and in the stillness and silence I had experienced something unique in my life : an intimate natural encounter. I had been rewarded with a fabulous experience when I adopted the correct attitude and presence.

The Badger As Symbol

What of the badger as a symbol? Here are some quotes I found relating to Celtic concepts of the badger:-

“An animal said to possess unyielding courage in the face of danger, the badger was noted for its tenacity. In the Welsh tale of Pwyll’s courting of Rhiannon, a badger was mentioned as a guide during dreaming. The Badger was symbolic of the fight for individual rights and the defence of personal spiritual ideas.” (Source: Celtic Symbols)

“BADGER (Breach): Tenacity and courage. The Badger will teach you perseverance and endurance in the face of adversity. The badger is a powerful protector of both material possessions and ideals held close to the heart. ” (Source: Celtic Animal Allies)

“Unyielding courage in the face of danger.”? Well, it was hardly danger – more mild alarm –  but it was quite exciting meeting the badger. I had learned something here this night and I knew it with every fibre of my being. Be still and silent and things happen. The nuifre, the fire within, burned brightly all through that night’s sleep.

Gwas

Chased by small mammals

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 ‘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.

Tonight I felt a strong urge to go back to Llandrillo, and climb up to Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle again. Kal and I have been there only a few days ago, but I just had to go back. This wasn’t a feeling of curiosity that was driving this thought. It was more of an urging – a feeling that had to be assuaged. So I set off in the dark without a clue as to why I was going, nor any clear direction of how to get there.

Somehow I managed to take all the correct turns and pretty quickly (quicker than we got there at the weekend!) I was turning off for Llandrillo when I got just outside of Corwen village. I parked at the fork in the tiny road that forms a car park and read a text message from Kal: “You should have told me earlier you were going – remember to dowse for q.”“Dowse for q?” I texted back. “That funny reading we got last time.”. “OK – will do.” I grabbed my staff, gloves and hat, and started the trek up the steep hill. What more incentive did I need?

In the darkness all my senses were heightened. I took a moment to savour the night air and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I stopped thinking and started walking slowly uphill along the narrow lane. As I walked towards the only light on the hillside that marked the site of a farmhouse, I started to feel a tensing of my stomach. I have felt this many times before. It was the effect of adrenalin. It was a feeling that I was encroaching upon the outer edge of the hearing of some dogs. I could feel their vigilance as I walked up the road, picking my way carefully along the tarmac, keeping to the grassy central strip. I imagined hardening the edge of my own nemeton as I walked. I found myself repeating in my head, “I am not here to disturb you. I wish only to pass peacefully. I will be about my business. You can ignore me.” and repeating these phrases over and over gently under my breath and in my mind.

I walked through the darkest part of the road where the trees overhung on both sides. Beneath my feet I could feel water seeping into my old knackered boots, and heard the slopping sound of my boots as they moved through a trickle of water that was running down the lane. Niiiice. After a further hundred feet or so, just as the trees thinned for a moment I felt the tightness in my stomach ease. This was the other edge of the dogs’ perception, I presumed, because now the light from the farmhouse was not visible any more. I audibly relaxed and exhaled. I stopped thinking about my nemeton’s edge and dissolved the hard exterior.

I was about a third of the way up now. I stopped to let my breathing recover slightly. Then I noticed the night sky above me. In-cred-ible. All around me were the brightest stars, clustered in formations that made me gasp at the complexity and the literal lines of interconnectedness they seemed to have. I can’t really describe how beautiful the scene was. I don’t think I have seen anything like it before.

I saw the full extent of the Milky Way, its arms spiralling in both directions either side of me. Directly above me was the centre of the Milky Way with two bright stars seeming to pin it to the canvas of the inky dark backdrop of the night. It was all in full three-dimensions too. The stars seemed to droop down towards earth in extra-ordinary patterns of star clusters. I had a “wow” moment for about five minutes – spinning my head around in all directions to try to take it in. Just imagine what it’s going to be like at the top, I thought!

Thankfully I had my staff with me. It was invaluable in testing the ground ahead of me as I climbed. When I got through the second gate the going got tough, with rocks strewing the path. I asked for some assistance in finding a safe path, and was attracted to walking on the green grass next to the main path. It was indeed smoother and had no obstacles. Sensible choice!

As I approached I had an urging to head up the hill, from the west side. My head was saying “Keep near to the path, and at the top hang a left up the hill.” but something was overriding this, and I stepped away from the path and headed straight up the hill. Suddenly I saw a dark animal track, a dark snake of a path, heading up the hill in front of me. I followed it to the top to arrive right at the King Stone. I nearly jumped at the sight of it a few feet in front of me!

I deposited my staff next to the King Stone as a handy marker point, and got out my trusty copper L-rods. Best get the dowsing over with first, I thought. “First”? Before what? I didn’t know, but I walked towards the circle’s edge. Again I was drawn around to the north side. A stronger wind was picking up now and a little rain splattered my face. Oh great! Cold, dark AND wet – nice combination for a Tuesday night stroll. But I was here now, and you don’t go home just because of a speckle of rain – I’m a hardy Northerner! I determined to stay. I looked up again – damn! The clouds coming in had obscured the stars – all I could see now was the occasional twinkle. Shame.

The south-westerly wind was blowing in my face as I stood with the rods in ‘ready’ position. The first thing I wanted to do was check where the circle’s nemeton was, and whether it was still flowing clockwise. I walked towards the stone circle from about twenty feet out and asked for the boundary of the circle. About six feet away I got a response. Hmmm…that seemed closer than when we were last here. I did it again, And again. From different positions. Same result. OK then , which direction was the flow of the nemeton’s energy? Both rods swivelled to indicate clockwise as a reached the nemeton’s edge. Good. “Was the direction of the flow caused by our last visit?” – Yes. I was happy with that much.

Now I switched my attention to Kal’s directive. I asked, “Show me a site used for spiritual transformation.” That was what Kal had asked last time when he got the bi-directional response (see previous post). I walked towards the circle from the north side again. As I approached the circle my right-hand rods started to swivel inwards (to the left). As I got to the stones it was at 90 degrees – the left-hand rod was still straight. Same reaction as last time but with the other rod now! I carried on into the circle and the right-hand rod kept turning towards me until it pointed backwards as I got to the centre of the circle. What did this mean?

I repeated the effect twice more, then stopped in the centre of the circle, puzzled. Then it struck me. The rods was trying to point at the stones in the circle. As I passed them it pointed back towards them. The other rod was firmly pointing at the other side of the circle. It was the stones themselves! The stone circle itself WAS the site of spiritual transformation. It was the energy flowing between the stones that effected the spiritual transformation! I asked the rods whether I was right – a strong ‘yes’. Oh wow. Most intriguing. It wasn’t a new response so much, more a literal pointing at the stones in the circle. Now I understood why the rods were reacting to something we hadn’t “programmed”.

I felt it was time to put the rods away soon. Whatever it was that was calling me was tugging at me again. I did one last bit of dowsing to prepare myself and try to find out why I was there. I asked, “Am I here for a purpose tonight.” – yes. “Does that purpose involve me sitting on my 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 ‘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.?” – yes. Well, I felt sure I would find out exactly why soon enough so I tucked the rods away and went to find my power centre – the female spiral to the south-eastern quadrant of the circle. I sat with my back to the wind, lit a cigarette, and relaxed. As I lay back I saw that the clouds had dispersed revealing that wondrous show of stars again. I goggled for another ten minutes or so as I revelled in their perspective. I realised that the rain had stopped too. Perfect timing? Just another coincidence.

I started to hum a little. There was a musical refrain going around in my head,

“Oh show me the way to the next whisky bar. Oh, don’t ask why. Oh, don’t ask why. Oh, Moon of Alabama, it’s time to say goodbye. You’ve lost your dear old mama. And must have whisky, oh you know why!” (Alabama Song, The Doors)

It was The Doors! Where had that come from? It felt a little mocking, as though Mother Nature was telling me that my “whisky”, my habit, was keeping me from connecting with “my dear old mama”. I got the message and put the cigarette out. This is not the first time she has warned me about this. But I’m just an animal in essence, and give in to all sorts of irrational needs! I felt she would forgive me.

When i had finished I turned into the south-westerly wind and put my staff across my lap. As I turned I lost my place – uurrrgh – this spot was cold and damp! The place where I had been sitting was warm, like power centres often feel. You feel warmer, and protected from the elements. In this new spot I felt exposed and cold! I shunted around a bit until I “clicked” into a spot and felt instantly warmer. Found it!

As I sat there gazing out over the valley below I could see power centre that Kal had used last time out fo the corner of my eye. It was between my power centre and his that I had seen energies flowing during our last session. Tonight, no ‘tracers’ or paths of light or any sign of movement. Perhaps I was being hasty. I waited and relaxed. Nothing was happening.

I decided to proceed with my usual ‘ritual’. I adjusted my gaze, stopped my chattering thoughts and began to go into a trance (I make it sound so easy – but this has taken a while to be able to do this so readily). I call it “druid meditation” as it differs from eastern approaches to meditation in that it is not concerned with disconnecting yourself from the world by closing your eyes and drifting away – instead it is very much rooted in the world, and can be performed with open eyes, if you prefer. Instead of disconnecting, druid meditation seeks increased connectivity with Nature.

I started my root and branch meditation technique to raise my energy levels. Soon my nemeton was glowing with strands of pale white light that formed a ball around me as I sat in the circle. For some reason I thought of Castenada’s description of this phenomenon. This article has a good description of how it all fits together. And so I formed my nemeton tree shape (roots below, branches above) and felt protected. I pushed and extended my “assemblage point” in the nemeton outwards. This is where it gets difficult to describe, because what you experience at this stage, in this state of mind, is a kind of overlaying effect. What you are projecting in your mind is faintly overlaid on top of what your eyes can see, like putting a faint acetate sheet over reality. Anyway, the energy ‘snake’ composed of threads of pale light slinked forwards in my mind towards the edge of the stone circle.

I expected that the ‘snake’ would stop at the edge of the circle, but instead is weaved its way out towards…the King Stone! On our last visit Kal and I had determined that the King Stone was showing a male energy reading. I also had a face craved into it, which spooks you a bit if you’re not expecting it. We also found two male energy lines coming out of each side of the King Stone which then curled into male spirals on either side of the circle (see Sacred Sites section: Moel-Ty-Uchaf sketch). I realised tonight was going to be about male energies – not a female connection in sight, even though I was sat on a supposedly female power centre.

As my energy reached and connected to the King Stone it was quickly split into two threads and these threads shot back along the two male energy paths, also very quickly. I felt that the energy was getting ‘stuck’ at the end of each spiral, like it was trapped and had nowhere to go. I felt its frustration. I wondered what I should do. Aha! What if I pushed the energy strongly to try to extend the lines further around the circle? That was what seemed to be required at this stage. I didn’t know why, but that’s what I felt.

I started to push the energy harder, drawing more up through my roots, and in through my branches, and visualising the energy pulsing through the King Stone and back out into each spiral arm. The spirals crept further around the circle, parallel with me, then moving behind me as I continued.

Then as I continued to push the lines along the spirals began to unfurl! They were straightening out, extending the last feet at the back of the circle, but something was not quite right. The two points wanted to join together, but something was missing. As though two cables wanted to connect but there was no glue or tape to bind them. What was missing, I asked? The answer flowed through me clearly, “Love is required to make this union.” Really? Oh dear Lord, how cheesy! Really? Love? I wasn’t going to argue. I was sitting in a stone circle at night with the wind blowing, and I was imagining threads of light – how much weirder could it get?

I was about to prepare myself to generate some loving feelings when I got a swell of emotion rush through me making me smile in a really contented way. Oh – that would be the love energy I needed then! Right on cue. I directed it through my mind diagram down the snake, through the King Stone, and around to the back of the circle. The lines glowed red, then orange, yellow and finally as they reached a bright white light they joined in a flash of brilliance, and I woke up slowly.

Had it worked? Had anything really happened? Was I about to prove that I was truly a nutter and hand myself in to the authorities? I was excited and walked quickly to the King Stone. I dowsed one of the male lines out of the stone clockwise and ALL THE WAY AROUND the circle back into the centre of the king stone. Where had the spiral gone? Oh yes – it had really connected all the way around and the spiral was gone!

I needed to check this. I did it from the male line on the other side of the stone – it went all the way around, but felt like I was dowsing against the flow (widdershins). I checked the clockwise side again – same route, past the same outlying stones, and into the king stone’s centre. The two lines both went around the circle, enclosing it completely, and then back to the King Stone.

On my way around I dad felt a tug as I passed the gap in the circle close to the power centre, so I went back to investigate. A male line flowed into the circle from outside and spiralled on my female power centre! I dowsed this question, “Is there a male power centre here?” – Yes. “Is there a female power centre here?” – Yes. It had both energies now. Previously it had been just female, now it was both. Intrigued, I reverse dowsed the male line out of the circle and it went in a cog-like pattern in and back out of the circle’s stones, being drawn in and pulled out by the larger stones. The cog went all the way around the circle and back in to the new male power centre again. I will draw this soon and add it to the site’s description in the Sacred Sites section.

I am no longer a doubter. This was something. Something special. This wasn’t Kal, or me and Kal, this was me. I had done this with Nature’s guidance. I had changed the energy flow of this circle. I had re-balanced the female work we had done recently with some purely male energy work. And I knew my work was done with this circle now. It felt complete, working, whole, and so did I.

One final thing to do – some questions about what just happened. I dowsed about whether I had made a positive effect – ‘yes‘. Why did I need to do this on a starry night, when I can’t see any moon? ‘Because it is a time for Male energy’, came the answer. Because starlight has the same effect on male earth energies as sunlight? ‘Yes‘. Some of these questions came as answers in my head, which I then dowsed to confirm.

I recognised that over the last few weeks I had been dismissing the power and effect of stars when I had been encountering astrological information and theories. Nature was now showing me that it did have an effect, and what that effect could be used for. I was impressed. And converted. Never again will I dismiss the power of starlight.

Time to go. As I descended I asked The Goddess to guide me safely home. It struck me as not in the least bit unusual for me to be able to see a four feet wide path of dim light (starlight!) guiding me down the hill. I never stumbled once, nor encountered any large stones, holes or dips, and I got down safely. In fact, I only tumbled once, and that was when I left the starlit path to join the human-made path that I was walking alongside! Incredible!

I came home with everything wheeling in my head like a Planetarium show. As Kal reminded me, in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey film, the remark that the man makes when he has travelled to, what I presume is, the end of time: “The stars….” I felt that wonder this night.

Gwas.

Follow the starlit path.

East Wales, Sunday 12th October 2008

1. Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall

We started our day in bright sunshine, heading south towards the town of Oswestry on the A483, close to the border between England and Wales. Three times previously Kal and I had tried to find a waterfall called Pistyll Rhaeadr. I think our misdirection had come from a mapping web site’s mistake which meant we were looking in totally the wrong area! This time I had prepared – I had cross-checked, double-checked and validated the directions until I could do them in my sleep. This time – we found it. As we approached the view was stunning….

The road to the waterfall was narrow and winding, but that morning we encountered no problems with other traffic. We parked at the base and headed straight to the bottom of the falls. A few other people were knocking about too. I headed off to the far side, across a bridge, and up onto the slope amid the pine trees to get a better place to take photo from. On the little promentary I could only see the waterfall in front of me, and it felt like I was alone with the tumult of water. I stood soaking in the awe-inspiring power of the falls, and feeling the light mist of droplets wash my face. Stood there with my staff it felt wonderful to be alive. I drew in that feeling, deep into myself.

When I glanced over to Kal, he was slithering around on the flat rocks in the river trying also to get a good photo opportunity – splosh! Oops! I caught a sneaky picture of him standing deep in the water and laughed heartily – sorry, Kal! Looks like a damp start to a sunny day!

We hiked to the top of the waterfall (Kal took a little persuading – heights are not his favourite places). We found, on arriving, the most beautiful glades next to the gently rippling and fluming river that suddenly plummeted over the sheer precipice that forms the waterfall. It all had a very druid-like atmosphere and I felt very comfortable there.

2. Take your medicine

I had a headache which had persisted from the previous evening. I couldn’t relax and enjoy the surroundings with this tight head. I looked to the largest tree which stood in the lovely glade. I walked towards the tree by passing between two unusually placed stones. I asked to approach the tree respectfully, then placed my bottle of water in a handy knot-hole in the tree’s trunk. The tree allowed me into it’s enfolding nemeton, and I relaxed, seeking communion.

When connection was established I asked for assistance in getting rid of my headache. The answer came gently: “Take of the waters.” Just that. How quaint! I hadn’t heard that syntactical construct for years..”Take of…”. Lovely. The water had a brown rust tint to it, so I wasn’t keen on drinking it – nevertheless I carefully gathered some in an empty water bottle and sipped a bit. Yikes! Not the nicest I’ve tasted!

Minutes later we had ventured down to the, seemingly, purpose-made rock shelter that overlooked the head of the falls. My headache was still there. Then Kal had his boots off and was paddling in the river! Was he crazy? He invited me in too – no way! However, he persuaded me it was a nice feeling on the smooth pebbles in the shallow section, so I walked in too. It was freezing!!! But lovely. When I got out I realised my headache had gone. I had “taken of the waters” and was cured of my malady. Just coincidence I’m sure.

We dried our feet by lying with our feet in the sun beneath this superlative rock formation, gazing peacefully out over the head of the falls into the quiet valley beyond. “This is a good place to meditate.” Kal stated. Indeed it was.

We gathered our things together, put our boots back on, and I retrieved my staff, which I had placed in a slot between two rocks that was, well, almost custom made for it! See for yourself in this photo:

Before we left I picked out two smooth rocks from the river which appealed to me: one hand-sized and flat, the other the same size but round and with thick marbled veins. Handy for later, I thought to myself. With that, we descended back down the hill to head off to Llandrillo, on the other side of the mountains to Pistyll Rhaeadr.

Llandrillo – Moel-Ty-Uchaf circle

Kal and I have discussed this stage of the visit, and have considered that the whole episode was sublimely balanced, instead of, as we expected, an exultant experiment in energy work. It seems that Nature has a way of keeping the energy work within certain parameters, and with us being so powerfully energised and eager to dowse after visiting the waterfall, well, our positive energies got balanced out by a strong negative influence. The end product was a satisfactory and balanced result, which was more fitting. Let me explain!

1. The Lost Sheep

On the long steep slog up from the outskirts of Llandrillo village towards Moel-Ty-Uchaf we met a farmer blocking the road. He had stopped to rescue a young sheep that had got itself stuck between the wire fence and the short hawthorn hedge on the edge of the field next to the road. On our last visit we remembered coming down from Moel-Ty-Uchaf and finding a lamb in the road which had broken free from its designated field and was eager to return to its mother. On that occasion we helped by herding it back until it found the break in the hedge from which it had squeezed an exit. Now here we were helping again! We noted the coincidence, and forged upwards once the young sheep was safely on its way, thanks mainly to the rugged tugs of the old farmer, for whom this must be a daily occurrence.

As we got within a few minutes of the stone circle I got out my new list of dowsing questions. I had a new category: “Questions to ask on approaching a sacred site“. We will publish this list soon, once we tidy the post up a little. From this set of questions we determined that today was a good day for doing energy work, that we were in the right frame of mind, but that everything was not in order – a malevolent influence or unhealthy energy stream was causing dysfunction at the circle. We decided to wait until we were at the circle before we delved any deeper. This level of dowsing questions seems to be more effective the closer you are to the source of your inquiry. Of course this would be contradicted by quantum theory, in which distance would not need to be considered, but we have found that stronger readings are possible, and answers are clearer the closer you get to the source or object of the query. The circle was undeniably registering some sort of imbalance, and that was enough to spur us on.

We reached the knoll near the circle’s King Stone and parked ourselves in unceremonious exhaustion, to drink in the view over the western range of hills and lush Welsh valleys. Are you sure this is October in Britain? We were sweating like a nun’s…never mind.

After a few minutes of relaxation we grabbed our dowsing rods and started asking our next set of questions concerned with finding the layout and energy types that make up the outline and patterns of the site. We started at the King Stone and asked about its relevance to the site. One glance and Kal saw the face in the rock! Just like the stones at sites such as Lligwy Chamber and Alderley Edge (see previous posts on those sites). Interestingly, the top three holes form the layout of the three key energy points within the circle – the two power centres are the right eye and nose, whilst the left eye is the large female rectangular stone that dominates the northern edge. Their spacing proportions you should check with the map I drew of the energies in our Sacred Sites section. Look for Moel-Ty-Uchaf. Sometimes we find these “maps” on outlying stones – take a look at the outlying stones at Nine Ladies in Derbyshire, for example.

Kal dowsed that its eye sockets were a good place to leave our bottles of water, so we put them there and wandered off to the circle itself. later Kal would grab his water and decide it wasn’t such a good place after all! If you check the diagram you’ll see that he put his bottle where the female stone is – he has more affinity with male energies. My bottle was on the female 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 ‘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.’s location. I felt no such qualms at leaving the water there. Coincidences, only coincidences.

2. Describing The Circle

As we approached the circle we asked whether there was any particular entrance point – No, came the reaction of the rods. We instinctively wandered around to the northern side and began to ask more questions about the purpose of the site – was it for healing? No, not healing. What about communication? A slight reaction. OK, so not it’s primary purpose. Was it used for spiritual transformation? Yes. Strongly, yes.

We moved into the circle to look for the power centres. Kal found the same one he had last time, and I did the same. Kal’s registered as a male energy centre. Mine was a female centre. Typical! We’ve found this before at other sites too, although we don’t often find two centres in one circle.

We dowsed for any connection between the centres, as we had found at Arbor Low. Indeed there was. A neutral line connected the power centres. Kal dowsed further. We dowsed for aerial and underground lines – yes – they were there too. Also of a neutral type. But there was more to this connection than just its 3D neutral connections – there was a female line that went either side of the central mound that formed the centre of the circle. The lines (neutral and female) could be traced going into either side of the large rectangular stone that stood out in the northern edge of the stone circle. Intriguing, that they seemed to form a circuit weaving underground, along the ground and through the air as they traced paths through the three main elements of the female power centre, the male power centre and then the large stone, and back.

Kal then dowsed for radial (alignment) leys running through the site and reported back that there were three lines that intersected close to the centre of the circle, running in the two main cardinal directions of North-South and East-West, but also one running NE-SW too. One seemed to be missing….

3. Hairy circles and a male embrace

The circle felt similar to The Nine Ladies circle in Derbyshire, so, like that circle I dowsed each stone for a reaction. Like Gors Fawr in Pembrokeshire too, this circle had a male spiral emanating from every alternate stone, and a female counterpart spiral on the inside. When drawn out it looked like a beard of spirals inside and outside the circle! You can’t get a more endearing image of gender equality than hairy males and females!

Our last ‘topograhical’ question concerned the male lines. The female lines were in the circle itself (again, a regular occurrence now). We dowsed inside and out for male lines and found one coming from each side of the King Stone, curling to an end alongside the northern and southern extremes outside the stones of the circle. It looked like the King Stone was embracing or cupping the circle! Like a game of ‘cup and ball’ (see Blackadder II for that reference: “How about a game of cup and ball and a slap-up tea at Mrs. Miggins’ pie shop?“).

We stepped out of the circle to do some testing of the perimeter. How far did the circle’s nemeton (or auric edge) extend? About ten feet, we found. We checked the direction of flow of the nemeton – anti-clockwise. Was that right? Surely not! We asked if this was having a beneficial effect on the circle’s energy systems – very strongly NOT. OK – but was the effect simply a matter of the time of day, or the time of year? Was it a normal effect that needed no attention? We double and triple checked our findings with variations on the questions. The answers all came back quickly and strongly – ‘Something should be done to correct this‘ – that is the purpose of your visit. Point taken. We can take a hint! This was an effect to consider correcting. However, we still had some more questions.

4. Rainbows and cute reactions

Further to our experiences with rainbow colour reactions at Runcorn Hill we tested for rainbow colours moving in from about twenty feet away. At ten feet we got the nemeton’s edge and it read for the colour ‘red’. Then we did ‘orange’, ‘yellow’, ‘green’, ‘blue’, ‘indigo’ and ‘violet’. We consistently got them in that order, but always at different widths from each other! Again we checked our results. Same. We picked random colours from the list – same results. OK. That tallies with our initial efforts at Runcorn Hill where we got that effect, but then as we agreed on questions to ask our results began to merge together. A lesson there. Today we kept our questions to ourselves!

We were just about to stop dowsing when Kal moved towards the circle and got a funny reading close to the circle’s outer edge – one rod was stiffly pointing straight forward, and the other had swung inwards at a 90 degree right angle. He tried again, Same result! “Hey – come and look at this!” he shouted to me. “What did you ask for?” I said, curiously. “A power centre for spiritual transformation.” he said. Strange! We never get this odd reaction of one rod doing something different to the other!!! I tried. I got the same! It felt weird though, not like a normal reaction, and this formation wasn’t even in our dictionary! I walked slowly forwards, close to the circle. The left-hand rod continued to swing around, now pointing straight back at me, then stopped moving and went stiff like the right-hand rod. “Hey Kal – it’s turned right around, and what’s with this static solid right hand business?” I asked. We looked at each other blankly. What did this mean? We were very confused. Without any question being asked the rods were determinedly pointing in opposite directions along a North-South axis, through the gap in the southern side of the circle.

We shrugged and decided to peg out one of the female and male spirals with some ribbon Kal had bought, and some plastic pegs I had acquired for the purpose.

5. Transformers – robots in disguise.

We cleared the circle and commenced our energy work. As usual we had no pre-prepared ritual or script – this would all be done intuitively, and with dowsing to direct us. We asked if we should sit on our respective centres – Yes. Should Kal use the transformational power of this circle? No. Should Gwas use a druid connection to reverse energy flow – Yes. My turn to be the focal point, then. OK. I was ready, excited even.

Should we use crystals to focus the energies? – No. Oh! OK. Let’s see what happens. All we know is that we need to reverse the nemeton’s energy direction. Let’s see how it goes! Kal sat on his male centre. I walked around tapping my two stones against the stones with cup-mark depressions in them. Kal meditated. I asked him later if the sound had had any affect? No. Except to form a beat to meditate to. I hadn’t felt anything whilst doing it. I’ll try vibrational sound when I go somewhere a bit quieter.

I took my two stones from the top of Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall and placed the flat one underneath me, put my staff across my lap, and held the second stone in cupped hands. I meditated to try connecting to the energies of the site. Kal got up and started walking around the circle carrying his rods. I started to quieten my thoughts and relax into the energies of the site so that I could feel them. After a minute I was beginning to make progress, and barely noticed Kal parading around the circle’s outer edge.

6. The adrenal dump of Negatives

Suddenly there was a man’s voice! He quickly approached up the southern slope, and stopped at the southern gap, shouting questions at Kal with a very aggressive rather than inquisitive manner. Asked what the tapping noises were. Kal deflected his questions with innocent, curt, closed answers and carried on walking. I tried to block him out and maintain search for connection, but I could feel the huge amount of negative energy this man had brought with him seeping into the circle as he walked around with Kal, still quizzing him as he walked around, standing very close to him, observing.

“Are you doing a ritual?” – “What are you doing?” – “What was that tapping noise?” – “Did you know this site is protected by English Heritage, you know that?” – “Have you got the permission of the farmer? He looks after this site…..” The questions came regularly and I faltered in my concentration, becoming bound up in thoughts of this intruder into our work. I hadn’t put up a protective shell or circle to protect against this. This is exactly what Emma Restall-Orr warned about, as have many other druid books on these subjects. Oh no!

Kal started to clank together his dowsing rods as though to ward the stranger off! I wasn’t going to be phased by the commotion, though. I pushed out a protective ball of light which described my nemeton, and hardened it against noise and the negative energy. Then I imagined energy flowing through me from the sun, drawing it down into the stone, through my staff, and into the smaller stone I was sitting on. From there is circled around the inner circle, to Kal’s power centre, and then to the female rectangular stone, back around the inside of the circle underground, and back to me. Then it described the same path but in its opposite form – through the air, along the earth, underground, and back to me. And this flow got stronger and faster as I held the vision.

At first my eyes were following the flow easily, soon the flow was going around this 3D lightbulb formation that the inner energy paths were describing – but now too quickly to follow as a flow, it became the image of a glowing lightbulb. As I realised this the flow broke out to spin around the inside of the circle, sunwise. As this flow too became too quick to follow – forming a complete ring of energy with no gaps – so it moved through the female stone out to the outer edge of the circle’s nemeton.

On the outer edge the energy flowed sunwise, faster and faster as Kal walked around and around, seeming to pull it along with him until it overtook him. The energy became a complete band of light spinning around the circle clockwise inside and out and around the lightbulb formation in a dizzying formation that reminded me of those long-exposure photographs of car lights at night where the lines all merge into a blur of white curved lines.

7. Blissed out but chastened

At that moment I came slowly back to an awakened state. I felt blissful. I saw Kal slowing to stop, and he looked over at me as he came back towards me. We knew we had done something positive, despite the presence of the inquisitive walker. I placed the stone I was holding on top of the stone I had been sitting on and walked towards Kal and the stranger.

Kal stormed past me onto his power centre and sat with his eyes closed, in a quite deliberate disconnection from communication with the stranger. Still feeling blissed out, but ensuring that my nemeton was firm and strong (I could almost see it at that point) as I gauged the distance to stand so that the man could feel its outer edge. Kal later told me that he had assisted me in protecting myself by imagining a protective sphere around me as well as himself (a ‘shell’ he calls it). I’m sure the positive vibes helped, because I was able to chat and answer his questions easily, and maintained an air of assuredness and content which seemed to neutralise his pointed questioning. Instead I ended up questioning him! “And so what is your purpose in visiting stone circles?” I asked forthrightly. He swayed a touch and muttered something about “History, and a bit of spirituality.” Indeed. Why not?

8. Manifestly a manifestation

Kal awoke and stated we needed to leave. We gathered up our belongings. Before I left I dowsed to see if there was a manifestation where I had been sitting (marked by Kal in the picture above) – a small four petalled flower had formed, interwoven with four larger petals that reached to touch the circle’s stones. I smiled.

We dowsed the nemeton again to check which direction the energy flowed in. It was now strongly flowing in a sunwise direction – clockwise. I had learned a lesson in protection. I had sounded the stones thinking I was connecting with the circle, or generating positive energies, when actually it seemed to draw towards us an incarnation of negative energy! When it happened I hadn’t protected myself against the effects of this and had to struggle to maintain discipline of mind to ignore his activities and deflect his bad energies. As we were leaving the stranger drifted down the hill awa from the circle. Within moments he had disappeared beneath the slope’s convex horizon.

I will endeavour to remember to invoke this protective sphere myself whenever I need to work again. Emma Restall-Orr says it, several other books about druid magic say it, the diminutive gentleman at Alderley Edge couldn’t contain himself from telling me that I should, and was astonished when I said I didn’t. Even my thick skull can sometimes be porous enough to absorb information. Lesson learned.

Gwas

Cup and ball – Holy Grail