The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘reservoir’

Sit down, get yourself a cup of tea! This is a long one. Yet, for all that, it is probably the most interesting experience I have ever had, as it taught me that my new-found abilities have evidence to back them up, and that has been a priceless reminder that following this druidic path is at the heart of my being, despite the moments of doubt along the way.

In the last few months I had my first visit to Knypersley Reservoir. During that visit I confirmed that there was something unwholesome, something that felt ‘bad’ about Gawton’s Well. Of course, such things are subjective, but it felt bad for me, for my friend, and for the person who reported the issue in the first place. Knowing we were all “nice” people, I felt this was sufficient grounds for me to try to reverse the situation, and to make the place feel more inviting to people of a similar disposition to me.

A group of friends had gathered together one late July afternoon for lunch and a chat. I was fidgety. In the back of my mind I knew that we were not far away from the Knypersley site, and it was on my mind to bring the matter to a conclusion soon. I put the matter to the circle of friends and they agreed to come out with me providing that the weather was in our favour. At that time it was sunny one minute and heavy rain the next. We agreed to see how the weather was on arrival. And so I had managed to rally some powerful psychics, mediums and energy workers to help me in my earth healing.

I knew that I was going to need some help from the group. Usually I work alone but after my last encounter with the strength of the force that pervaded the well area I wasn’t going to tackle this alone. In preparation I had done some remote viewing of the site to see if I could find out some information psychically. It was a sort of test of my new-found skills – the skills of the hawk – Gwalchmai’s Gift, if you like. The ability to remotely view a place from an aerial viewpoint.

Here is what I learned when I did that:-

• The well has been used for dark ritualistic purposes (the group narrowed this down, but I won’t say more here).
• There are many traps set up in the place – things buried, energetic trip-wires to alert the practitioners to the presence of those who work against them
• The buried items are at a tree next to the well head, and another about fifteen feet to the left of the well head.
• The worst element is the polluted well itself, which spreads its black energies out into the surrounding woodland and more importantly the nearby pool

This was the information I had to work with. There were two things that we knew from the previous visit that we would need in order to successfully re-balance the well’s energies – sunlight and joy. The sunlight was looking doubtful, and although there was good-hearted chatter, it was tinged with a wary doubt about what was to come.

As we approached alongside the reservoir two of us stopped – we felt an energetic barrier – like a checkpoint. Over the years I have become accustomed to the feel of such changes in energetic pressure. I liken it to walking outside into a hot day when having been in an air-conditioned room. You can feel a swell of change, like a wave or waft of air signifying a change in pressure between two places, but it is on an energetic level – nothing to do with the actual air temperature. You notice it in your navel region and it makes your diaphragm jerk in response, as though some invisible force was pushing at your abdomen.

I said to the assembly, “Someone knows we’re here.” The most experience of the psychics was calm and reassuring, “Indeed they do, but they can’t do anything about it.” A wry smile cheered everyone up a little.

Knypersley Pool – a place of faery dancing

We arrived at a bridge over a pond and some of the people who hadn’t visited before became entranced by the view of the pond on one side of the bridge wall. Well they might, for this had been the spot where previously Mike had seen nature spirits dancing on the pretty little island that stood in the water at the far end of the pond. Today others too saw the faeries excited at the presence of the group. The rest of us just took the opportunity to gather ourselves whilst there was talk of mini-rainbows exploding over the pond. Those with deeper sight were blessed with a spectacle that the rest of us could only imagine.

As we reconvened to go on there was a moment of silence that spoke volumes about the anticipation levels. I think everyone felt they were readying themselves for a tough energetic battle. A slight dreary rain began to fall as the clouds drew closer together to enhance the gloom.

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In this second part of the story of my visit to Knypersley Pool (or Knypersley Reservoir) I will be telling you about the female equivalent of the Gawton Stone that was discovered in the first part. If we consider the stone to be the male aspect then the following feature could be said to be the female equivalent.

As Mike and I walked back along the path on which we had arrived at the stone my gaze was drawn to the rocky hillside above. There, through the trees, I saw a diamond-shaped hole that was almost the same size as the diamond-shaped stone that we had just been standing next to. I joked that perhaps the stone had been born from the hillside and this hole was the evidence of that. Whatever the real circumstances, the hole was an incredible sight nonetheless. Straight away we both wanted to go through it – it was such a strong impulse.

We approached the base of the climb and then reason began to suggest a number of difficulties that might prevent us going through:-

1. It was steep
2. It was obviously slippery in the damp conditions
3. We were running out of time to find the well
4. Mike had the wrong kind of shoes for climbing
5. I would have to climb up there with my staff in hand too
6. It was steep and slippery

The Alignment Portal

As we climbed we took our minds off the tricky ascent. Was this some kind of portal? Would anything interesting happen if we went through it? What was on the other side? Was there actually a path up here? We both felt that something would happen. We used the word portal repeatedly.

Gawton alignment portal – gate between energies

As we climbed the sense of anticipation grew stronger. I could feel the mounting energy levels as we approached the passageway into some other place. It was like the energy was being concentrated to fit into the hole, and that male energy on one side was battling to balance itself with an opposing force on the other side. The word ‘alignment’ came into my head. This was an alignment portal – a portal between two energy fields – one male and the other female. I hadn’t even properly formed the concept when I found myself at the very centre of the hole after pulling Mike up with my staff as he slipped and slid his way up the last few feet to join me.

We halted at the top to get our breath back and go through together.

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In England one has to get used to working in the rain – especially in Summer, it would seem. June 2012 has been one of the wettest months I can remember. However, despite this, I have somehow managed to be out and about quite a lot.  I think it’s down to sheer bloody-mindedness, which could be seen as both a positive or negative trait.

One June evening I was chatting with my friend Mike and he mentioned that a friend of a mutual friend had mentioned that a recent visit to a sacred well had been unexpectedly unpleasant. The report that came back was that the well felt disturbed and oppressive.  We discussed whether there might be something that we could do about it. The name of the place was “Gawton’s Well“. The name rang a bell with me – then I remembered that I had seen it on the Megalithic Portal, but its location looked difficult to identify, and I remember thinking, “I will mention this to Mike ad see if he knows where it is”. A year later, here was Mike mentioning it to me. Maybe I was being a bit too eager, but I asked if we might go and try to find it. Apparently Mike didn’t know the location of the well either, but he knew the area. Good enough. Surely we should be able to locate it? Despite the dark clouds and drizzle I managed to persuade Mike to leave the house and we set off for the reservoirs beyond Biddulph.

Locating with Dowsing Rods

When I heard that the well was situated near to a place called “Knypers-ley” the name drew some raised eyebrows and knowing looks. Could there indeed be a ley line running through the area? If I had had more time and the weather had been nicer I might have added it to the list of things to look for, but this evening I only had time for one objective – to find the location of this mysterious well, mentioned as one of the most spiritual places in Staffordshire, and now possibly energetically damaged.

We had only three points of reference to find the well. We knew that it was “north” of the reservoir, and that it was on a path that wasn’t the main path. From a photo we had seen there was a wall with a gap in it too. That was it. How difficult could it be? Well, we drastically underestimated the size of the reservoir for one thing! After twenty minutes of walking approximately northwards on the path round the reservoir we hadn’t seen a wall, and we hadn’t seen any sign pointing to a well (not that we were expecting one).

We stopped to ask the dowsing rods for some help. Could they direct us to where we could find the well, I asked?

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Sunday 12th September, 2010 – Car Top, Derbyshire.

As if often the way, whenever you have had a wonderful experience, such as exploring a stone circle you have never visited before on a sunny day, then perhaps these things should be considered to be the highlight of the day, and the day should end there. Sadly, yet again, I pushed both Kal and myself on to another area. I had been to the Big Moor just north of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire in the winter months, and as we were so close to the place again I wanted to see if the Barbrook stone circle was easier to get something out of in the sunshine than it had been in a howling icy gale on my last visit, when I had been not very inclined to stay and do much work on it.

I remembered the lay-by to stop in, and the footpath, and the distance to the circle. We found the Barbrook circle without any problems.

View from Barbrook circle

There was a quite apathetic nonchalance with which we entered the circle. Yes, it was the end of the day, but usually we are both quite excited about the prospect of dowsing a circle, whatever the weather or time of day. As we listlessly wandered around the circle’s stones we kept finding negative responses:

• Was there any energy here? NO.
• Was there anything her of any interest to us at all? NO.
• Was the site linked with any other sacred place? NO.
• Was there anything that either of us could do here? NO.

So much negativity! We spotted the ritual offerings that other visitors had left here. Well, at least they must be having some positive effect? Someone believed in the circle! Were the offerings energising the circle? NO. Oh dear – a total loss!

Ritual offerings at Barbrook

I told Kal that perhaps all was not lost. Apparently there were other circles around here too, and maybe they were still alive in some way? We set off. A family was ahead of us on the path and the children seemed to be really enjoying being out even though the moorland was bleak and uninspiring. They pranced and galloped everywhere, putting our energy levels to shame. At one point, as we rounded a bend in the path and were beginning to wonder where these other circles were, we found one of the kids lying on the floor taking a close-up photo of something on the ground. It was a gigantic fly agaric mushroom – the biggest I have ever seen, almost entirely on its own in a patch of mossy earth.

A plate-sized Fly Agaric mushroom

We took the chance to ask the father of the family about where the circles might be. He only knew of a roundhouse on the top of the moor, but not of the circles. Feeling that something was better than an aimless wander through bleak moorland at dusk we headed up onto the moorland again, and sought a path across to the roundhouse. Within minutes my spider senses were tingling, and without the aid of rods we found the remnant of the roundhouse’s circular wall.

It was energetically dead.

Remains of a roundhouse at Barbrook

Right, right. never mind. We could see other stones that looked like they might be the remains of circles, so we hopped between visible stones. Sometimes we arrived at just a pile of a few remnant stones, but on two occasions they looked as through they might be the remains of two small stone circles. Aha! Did they have anything energetic about them whatsoever? NO.

You know what? We can take a hint. There was nothing for us here. If you’re thinking of going to see these megalithic marvels, and you are in any way interested in dowsing, save yourself a bleak and featureless and cold walk, because the only thing you will find on Car Top or Big Moor is a whole heap of boredom. Now, I like rocks, but this was intolerably dull.

Bah-humbug-brook!

Gwas.

I haven’t had a reason to go to Pendle Hill until recently. For some reason I picked up a second-hand book on it from a charity shop and it triggered memories of when I used to live nearby. I was only a small boy then, and had no means to get to the hill on my own, and was never taken there, either by my parents or by the school I attended. However, now felt like the right time to go – just before it got hectic near to Samhain at the end of October.

I was, of course, attracted by several aspects of the hill: its legendary association with witches (or pagans, as they probably were), and by the potential for what energies could be found on top. Did the hill have any neutral alignment ley connecting it with other adjacent hills? I wanted to find out. In the back of my mind was also the idea that there might be some energetic formations left there by other energy workers, and I was keen to find out.

Leg of Toad

We parked in the village of Barley, being momentarily bamboozled by the maps depicting Barley Green, which appeared to actually be a small patch of grass to the side of the main village road, rather than a separate village. The large car park and facilities at barley suggested that this was a popular starting point for Pendle Hill walkers.

We took a path towards the hill that followed a tiny road alongside United Utilities water works buildings, and then it rose up towards the side of Pendle Hill, alongside the two reservoirs called Lower and Upper Ogden. We were following a path called the Pendle Hill Circular Walk (roughly). On the way up between the Ogden Reservoirs was a patch of rough grass and bushes where we came across two toads bathing in patches of morning sunlight. When this happened a second time it was significant enough for me to stop and take a picture – toads are, after all, a traditional accompaniment to a witch’s brew, are they not? It seemed fitting.

Toad in't hole

Unbeknownst to M and I the plateau at the Upper Ogen Reservoir was to be about half way up our climb. Pendle Hill isn’t massive compared to somehwre like Snowdon, but it was taxing enough for us to take a short break as we regained our breath and admired the sunlight dancing across the water. I couldn’t stand gazing too long or I began to drift into a trance – not appropriate at this particular moment, but I noted the place for another time, maybe.

Sunlight on Upper Ogden reservoir

As we rose up through the “clough” with Pendle Hill on our right we had to navigate various boggy stretches, even though the weather had been noticably dry for the past few weeks. A warning to others who come this way – expect deep dark peat paths with impassible sections, especially if it has been raining recently! However, soon we headed up the hill again, away from these dark dangers.

On the way up mist began to descend, veiling the surrounding hills in a cloak of obscurity that added to the forebidding atmosphere of approaching the hill from this side. We passed a lone rowan tree still carrying the last of its red berries, now looking limp and ready to fall. The tree looked hoary and ancient, and I stood for moments wondering at how many other people had admired its lone plight over the years. It was the last tree we would see until we returned back into the valley on the other side.

The hill's last lone rowan

As if in scant compensation we began to come across small cairns of limestone pieces glinting brightly in the occasional sunlight that was penetrating the mist and cloud cover. As I have explained in previous posts these “sunny moments” seemed to coincide with significant points on the path, such as passing a cairn just when I needed direction, or when a particularly spectacular view presented itself. I was beginning to understand this “luck” now, and smiled in appreciation of the synchronicity as it happened each time. Most of the time was spent trudging uphill in mist or dullness with little to see around: such was the long path we had chosen.

Once up onto the ridge top of Pendle Hill the mist began to clear and the views all around came into focus. We had sight of the trigonometry point on the top and were heading for that. I was looking forward to getting my dowsing rods out and having a look around with them. M was looking fordward to a sit down and a snack!

Spirals of stone

A quick look around the top of the hill revealed a trigonometry point surrounded by a mosaic of bricks laid into a spiral pattern. I guessed that this interesting pattern might in some way reflect the energies on the hill, laid out by some observant artisans. How wrong I was!

Before I started my dowsing routine M settled down in the small cleft that overlooked the fantastic Lancashire countryside. It was a stunning view, despite still being slightly misty, with a view over Nelson and Colne. The way down looked much steeper than the way we had come up, however.

Despite the winds that were inevitably sweeping across the top of the hill my trusty thicker copper dowsing rods seemed stable enough to get some solid readings, so I began to approach the trig.point from about fifteen feet away. I figured that, with the ‘standing stone’ made by the trig point there might be some male energy, so I asked to find a male line first. As I reached the edge of the brick spiral I got a reading for a boundary. I followed this male flow around in an anti-clockwise direction, which surprised me a bit. Anti-clockwise? Male energy usually went clockwise in my experience. The line circled the centre three times before following the same path again. If there was male energy around the trig.point, but was there any in the centre next to the stone itself? Nothing. There was no energy there at all.

What about female energy? I worked my way outwards, on the basis that there was nothing in the centre, and I knew where the male energy was. I passed the male circle and was soon led to a female spiral a few feet outside the male spiral. I wondered if this female spiral which also went in an anti-clockwise direction was connected to anything else. One spiral seemed unlikely. I asked the rods to show me any link with any other female energy formation. I was led around to another female spiral equidistant from the centre as the first spiral. Then on to another. And another. Six spirals in total, all forming a hexagon around the centre.

So, there was a hexagon of female spirals around a male ring of energy that was flowing in the same direction. How unusual – a completely unexpected formation on the top of Pendle Hill. That was all I had time for – M was waiting patiently to get down the hill, so we scoffed our snacks whilst admiring the view from the top one more time, then packed to head down the intensely steep slope, which offered the most fantastic vista all the way down.

Heading back to Barley village we followed a well travelled path through some delightful groves of trees with a stream babbling alongside us as we marched down through the foothills, eventually ending up at the other end of the village from where we had started the walk. Circular indeed!

Before we left we decided to sample the hospitality of the fine Pendle Inn. A nice gentleman on the top of the hill had recommended it to us as we sat and chatted, and he wasn;t wrong – the food and ale were top class, and the welcome was warm and genuine. If you’re round that way I’d highly recommend it. Check out the pub sign too – they don’t miss any opportunity to advertise their occult connections around these parts!

A thoroughly lovely and challenging walk, with some intriguing dowsing results. I wonder why the male energy was enclosed by a hexagonal arrangement of female spirals, and whether these female influences were forcing the male energy to run contrary to its usual direction? Some questions still to be answered, so I’ll have to go back at another time of year to see if that formation remains the same.

Gwas.