The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘rollright stones’

Earlier in the month I was asked to go on a training course with work. The course was down near London, so this meant that I would have to travel for several hours to get there, yet I didn’t have to arrive until 1:30pm. By my quick reckoning if I started my journey early enough I would be able to go visit a megalithic site on the way to the course – bonus! Which one, though? Given my route there was only one that I wanted to consider – the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire.

As I neared the site a thought struck me – I didn’t have a purpose to go with! I racked my brains – then I remembered my liaison with a water spirit in Cumbria and how I had made a connection with this element quite strongly. I felt like I had not made the same connection with the other three elements yet. Perhaps this site was the place to do that? It was a sunny day (fire), the stones were buried in the earth, and there was a slight breeze (air)….I would have to see whether it would work when I arrived.

View of the Rollright Circle

I was practically alone in the circle except for the occasional visiting party of one, two or three people, but as is usually the case they only stayed for the merest time. I barely had long enough to register most of the people who visited, so brief was their stay! I would love to survey people about why they visit these places and then do nothing when they get there!

Ritual for three elements

When I started druidry I wasn’t “into” ritual. I didn’t see that it was necessary, but I was being too narrow-minded. What isn’t necessary is a prescriptive ritual. You know the type of thing – in “The Heathen’s Book if Rituals”, page 24, it says that if you want to summon a fire elemental you will need a red candle, to face south, hold a crystal of Tiger’s Eye in your left hand, then say the words, “O Element of Fire, come to me in my hour of need….” blah blah. Whose ritual is that? Is it YOURS? Certainly not. It’s somebody else’s. So I follow a path whereby the ritual is completely impromptu. If I have certain things with me at the time then I might use them, such as candles, incense or crystals. Even my staff can be involved. But none of these things are necessary, and so I could just as easily face in a particular direction and simply imagine a connection with some elemental force and that will work just as well. In our world it can take a strong mind to ignore the “teachings” of other spellworkers and vote for your own method because we are so often seeking to know the “right ” thing to do. The right thing to do is do what feels right!

Now to discuss the ritual part of the visit.

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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.

Section 7. Summary of the Year

In order to organise our thoughts Kal and I came up with some questions the answers to which we hoped might summarise the way that year has gone for us – what were the bits we expected, what exceeded our expectations, and which things arose to meet us on this path that we didn’t anticipate? Here are my answers to this year’s questions.

What did I think I was going to learn?

1. Whether specific periods of the year are more energetic than others, and whether those periods align to the calendrical eight-fold year.
2. How stone circles work in terms of their energy
3. Whether specific geology affects the energetic responses from sites

By the summer of 2009 I had already established to my satisfaction that there was a difference in the strengths of energies at the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. I was sure that there was more powerful sun energy (i.e. stronger male energy) at the Summer Solstice. The Spring and Autumn Equinoxes were very similar in strength, and were a balance of male and female earth energies. At the Winter Solstice the male energies were very weak, as was the Sun. The female energies fluctuated only in relation to the strength of the Moon and the input from nearby trees, again weaker in Winter.

Determining any objective means of measurement was difficult, as our own energy levels seemed to be a factor in how well we could dowse or do energy work at a site, however a scale of measurement (strength from 1-10) seemed to work for the purposes of obtaining some data that could be compared between sites. The solstice and equinox dates depended upon the quality of the Sun to determine the amount of additional energy was at the site compared to our visits to them on other dates.

The Celtic Festival dates (Lammas, Beltane, Samhain and Imbolc) in between those times were much harder to figure out. These dates seems to depend upon the position of the Moon for their effects upon ancient sites., rather than the Sun’s effect. I will be posting much more on this soon, complete with a table of the relative energy levels at various sites dowsed this year.

Further theories have emerged concerning the operation of energies at stone circles and other sites too. See the Earth Energies and Ancient Sites Summary posts for details on those.

We have kept a weather-eye on the geology of sites whilst dowsing this year. It started for me in Carnac when I discovered that the stone rows were placed along a shelf of rock quite different from the surrounding geology of the rest of the nearby coastline. We have concurred with the popular dowsing theory that geological faulting is important to the situation of ancient sites, as is often the presence of water, but we do not wholly agree with the necessity of water (or a ‘blind spring’ formation) being present at all ancient neolithic sites. Some major sites such as Stonehenge and The Rollright Stones do have this water formation, however, and we think these popular sites may have led to the popularity of the idea amongst the dowsing fraternity that such a formation is necessary to a strong energy site. We do not find this to be true.

'CARNAC: Des Pierres Pour Les Vivants' by Pierre Mereaux

What’s been the surprise?

1. Crop circles being designed by some intelligence beyond the confines of this planet – expected them to be of human design and manufacture.
2. The energetic and healing potential of running water – Pistyll Rhaeadr and Viktor Schauberger convinced me of this at different ends of the year. At Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall my wife’s twisted ankle was healed in minutes. Later I read Schauberger’s theories on the properties of water and I understood how this could have come about.
3. A spiritual pilgrimage being worthwhile doing, and not some soulless religious historical trail as I had imagined it to be.

1. Astrology - There is a correlation, a link, between the relative positions of the stars and a human being. My natal chart is stunningly accurate in assessing my personality traits. Kal and I have also discovered that we are energetically linked to particular planets – Kal to Mercury and myself to Venus. We are more energetically ‘loaded’ or ‘charged’, and more energy work is possible, when our respective planets are visible. I have tracked this since the beginning of the year and have each dowsing response confirms this.
2. Elemental beings and cloud sylphs – I see some this year on four separate occasions and each time I was stunned by the effect – this was no mere simulacrum. Seeing faces in the clouds must be the third and conclusive qualifying factor in any signs of madness developing – that much I do appreciate, but nevertheless, they have been present at quite specific times of high energy.

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I have added some recent pictures from site visits to places such as:-

• Alderley Edge in Cheshire
• The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire
• Pendle Hill in Lancashire

I think I’m pushing the boundaries of the Gallery widget now, so soon I will split the year up into seasons to hopefully make the page load a little quicker. Apologies if the page is a bit slow, but there are 400 pictures in there now!

I’ve also re-ordered the images, so that they are by title. Just on a whim, and to annoy everyone.

Gwas.
Tweaking the nose of the pixie of photography.

This post follows on from the first part of the Rollright Stones complex, which can be found here. In the previous post I had been dowsing arounnd the King Stone. I had identified a female line that followed the course of the path that leads up to the stone, and now I was following it back to see whether it connected to the King’s Men stone circle, as it appeared to if I followed the line of sight.

I wandered across the road following the zig-zag motion of the female energy line, which got decreasingly erratic as is moved towards the King’s Men circle. The rods showed me that the line went into the northern end of the circle, so, as I couldn’t follow it directly through the fence and hawthorn trees, I opted to pick it up again from the other side. So I made my way into the signposted stone circle area, where I was accosted my a modern day highwayman! Stand and deliver! He wanted a whole engligh pound sterling from me, which I duly obliged him.

As it turned out, a pound was a cheap price to pay for some priceless dowsing tips from the old man. We started off on the wrong foot as he challenged my tools of the trade for being un-sheathed. His, by comparison, were contained in copper handles, but looked too thin and wiry to be of any use in a stiff breeze. I retorted that there were no rules regulating this dowsing lark, and that my opinion was different to his – I liked to feel the response of the rods as they turned so that I could gauge the strength of the reaction, and feel for whether it was a true response or caused by an external factor like the wind. This didn’t go down well – a relative youngster debating with a seasoned pro – and he went on to present his credentials: 50 years dowsing and a former member of the BSD (“too many silly people with their own pet theories“). Oh dear, I didn’t let on that I might be one of those very people whom he detested – an independent thinker with my own ideas. I did the polite thing and appeared impressed, but in my experience longevity is not a good indicator of ability.

We discussed the nature of the site, and he swung into action with his own theories on “positive” and “negative”, or helpful and harmful energies. He was a healer who had spent a lot of time at this circle, which he claimed had healing properties because it was composed of limestone, which was porous, and therefore capable of absorbing harmful energies and purifying them. This he opposed to granite sites, which he categorised as generally harmful and the cause of illness. “Ah, geopathic stress” – I responded. I mentioned that I wasn’t much into healing, but that I was interested in understanding the workings of the site’s energies. “Well, you’ll find lots of energies here.” he stated emphatically. He wasn’t wrong.

Later, as I dowsed, I was treated to both a display of his “twirling rods” as they helicoptered and whirred around in the centre of the circle, and then to a display of his healing capabilities as he wobbled a lady’s head around until she told him she felt better. I’m not going to say anything about either display, as I’m a mere youngster who understands nothing, and have much to learn yet.

The Nemeton’s Edge

I started my own investigations by looking for an aura, or nemeton for the circle. I got a boundary response from the rods about 25 feet outside the stones on the south side (the site is approached from the south-east end). I followed this male edge line clockwise around the site and found that it narrowed up to the stones themselves at the western side before increasing again to about 10 feet wide coming back around the northern edge. By the time the nemeton was back at the south side it was back out to 25 feet wide.

Cross Leys and Entrances

Two neutral alignment leys traversed the site – one running North-South and the other travelling East to West. At the point where the east-west ley line hit the western edge of the circle, at the nemeton’s thinnest point, I found an entrance to the circle. I later discovered that there were two entrances to the circle – one for lunar-aligned people, and another for solar-aligned people. The western entrance was for those people aligned to the moon’s energies, whilst the more “famous” southern entrance was that discovered by archaeologists and other dowsers, many of whom must have been solar-aligned people, I reckon.

As a reminder, you’ll know if you’re solar or lunar aligned from standing in the power centre that is either male or female. If you stand on one that is not aligned to your energy field (and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female as to whether you’re solar or lunar aligned) then you’ll feel a certain discomfort after a while, such as a tense head, even a headache, feelings of queasiness or a tight stomach, or more generally just an inclination to move away from that place. Luckily, most of us intuitively go to stand on places to which we are aligned. Sensible us!

Central healing spirals

After having seen the old gentleman doing his twirly rods show for tourists I decided to take a look at the centre point. I firstly dowsed for a male energy and found a spiral starting some six feet out from the brown bare patch of earth that marked the middle. A tight spiral (unusual) of male energy spiralled densely-packed lines into the centre, but the outer edges didn’t go anywhere – this spiral was self-contained. Again, quite an unusual finding.

Next I dowsed for any female energy, and found a much looser spiral going anti-clockwise and overlaid on top of the male energy spiral. This female spiral was not quite so tightly-wound (again, quite unusual), but its terminus point was outside of the circle, as the energy of the third spiral snaked off through the western entrance and into the trees and the setting sun.

In my experience a combined male and female energy, in addition to the crossing of the two ley lines, would form a powerful positive energy formation, and this seemed to be what the old man was demonstrating with his healing and twirling displays. As he looked on I credited him with choosing the perfect spot to perform with energy work, to which he winked knowingly.

As I dowsed for the suitability of the site to various purposes the only strong response was to “healing”. Again, it looked like the old man was right to say that the limestone circle was suited to healing and purification. Equally, despite his idea that granite-based rocks generate “bad” energy, I was certain from my own findings that granite stone circles are suited to transformation of consciousness. But he didn’t look like he cared for that kind of thing, so I kept it to myself.

Western entrance to the right of the stones

Male and female stone balance

I decided next to dowse each individual stone to find out how many were male and how many were female. The general outcome was that there were two banks of female stones consisting of at least two sets of 5-8 stones at the western and eastern points. The northern and southern edges were much more complicated, alternating frequently between small groups of male then female stones, sometimes even single stones going M-F-M-F. There were, however, three banks of male stones consisting of at least 5 stones in the south-western edge, the north-western edge and the eastern edge. All in all the number of male or female stones seemed well balanced, and this was certainly how the site felt.

‘Hairy’ stones

Each stone has an energy spiral coming out of its exterior face, and a short spiral going around the base of the stone. Female spirals are anti-clockwise (although they start off circling clockwise around the stone before turning back on themselves outside the circle to form an anti-clockwise spiral). Male stones do the opposite, but with slightly less tight spirals (fewer turns). We have found this at many other sites like Gors Fawr and Nine Ladies to name but two where we have looked for it.

The Southern View

The King Stone connection

I found the female line from the King Stone over the road coming in at the north-eastern edge of the circle. This line terminated at a female spiral at the northern end of the circle. However, there were four other female centres connected to this line, and they appeared all around the western edge of the circle, going from the north to the south, and including my own power centre. In all, five female power centre spirals connected to each other on the western side of the circle.

This was somewhat mirrored by the two male power centres I found that were connected to some circle stones on the eastern side of the circle. Starting at the eastern edge a male energy line moved in and out of the stones, sometimes circling them, to eventually terminate at a spiral in the south-eastern edge inside the circle.

Both sets of male and female connected centres had energy flows that were bi-directional – they flowed back and forth between the first and last power centres, and presumably back to the King Stone in the case of the female lines. The male centres were again, like the central spiral, a self-contained energy system.

Staff marking my power centre

Finally I asked a series of questions that I have asked at other sites recently. They were:-

1. Is the site still capable of performing its original function? - NO.
2. Is the site still energetically active? - YES.
3. Can the site be activated, or when is it best to activate it? – Activated by human activity at Samhain (Oct/Nov).
4. Is the purpose of the site education, revelation, healing, transformation, communication, purification or some other purpose? –  HEALING, PURIFICATION.
5. Does the site need restoring, healing or balancing? – NO.
6. Is a genius loci present at the site? – YES, a female energy.
7. Does the site respond to human interaction, the position of the sun, moon, or stars? – HUMANS, SUNSET, FULL MOON.
8. Can the site be used as an observatory, a calendar, for initiation or as a burial place? – CALENDAR, INITIATION
9. Is there underground water at this site? – YES, at the western entrance flowing SE out of the circle. (i.e. from the point of the narrowest part of the nemeton to the point where it was at its widest).

Armed with that information I headed off South East towards the site of the Whispering Knights, a ruined dolmen that stands at the south-easterly edge of the adjacent field to the King’s Men circle. When I arrived I was of course disappointed to find that these stones were also caged. Presumably to stop them wandering around the countryside mauling unsuspecting meek children?

I found that the aura of the stones was again contained within the iron cage, but there was a combined male and female line coming out of the north-westerly edge, and the rods were pointing directly at the King’s Men circle. I dowsed as to whether the two sites were connected by this line and got a positive response.

In addition to this there was a line coming out a little further north. It was a male energy line that connected to the raised mound I had seen next to the King Stone some hours ago. So, more dowsing will have to be done to prove that this line connects directly to that mound, but that is how is appears at the moment. I will have to do some more work on that mound next time I come down to the Rollrights.

Gwas.

Visiting an old stalwart.

What follows is a description of a visit to the Rollright Stones that are a complex of megaliths perched on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border, near to the village of Little Rollright. I will, in due course, sketch out all of the findings and put them onto the Sacred Sites page so that you can see the things I am about to describe. For now, you will have to use your imagination, which will be helped enormously if you have visited the site yourself already.

I had intended to try to do some druidry work at the site, but the sheer number of visitors made concentration difficult, although, as you will soon read, this didn’t put off one old man who resplendently displayed his skills. How he concentrated I’ll never know! I have much to learn, as he was all to eager to point out.

I parked in a little lay-by which carried a sign telling me that I was only parking there at the gracious behest of the site’s trustees, and that I ought not to outstay my welcome by still being around after sunset. A warm southern welcome indeed. *I decided to head for the King Stone, situated on the other side of the road some hundred feet away. Yes, I still count in old measurements. Don’t start me on that discussion! Let’s just say such measurements are beyond “imperial” of any variety and should be considered “divine” instead. See John Michell‘s “The Dimensions Of Paradise” for a full explanation. As usual, I digress.

I approached the King Stone without my rods. What was the point? I knew there wouldn’t be any nemeton to dowse because I could see that the standing stone was caged in an iron railing that hemmed it tightly. This is a disgrace! Of course, modern people can’t be trusted, and so despite the fact that it has stood for over 4000 years, it needs to be caged, right? I suspect, therefore, that whatever energetic capabilities this site used to have they have been severely restricted by this action. I dowsed for the nemeton – yes, exactly at the railing. What a coincidence!

Nevertheless, I began to see which earth energies were travelling into and out of the stone. I found a male line coming in from somewhere in the direction of the hills around the village of Long Compton – well, that’s the direction is was heading in anyway. On either side, fanning out and following the shape of the wilder grass were two female lines. The first zig-zagged along the path that people walk up to the stone along. The second followed the lower edge of the rise behind the stone. The first female line intruiged me – it appeared to head to the road, and possibly might cross it and go into the stone circle there? I would check this later.

The male line was of interest to me as well. The King Stone was clearly male. I have seen and dowsed enough male stones (at Carnac – row after row after row of them) to recognise them by sight now. This was a male stone. It was essentially flattish, with a ridged edge pointing in the direction of the energy flow. Despite it’s “unusual” shape, this was a classic “repeater” stone that would pulse male energy onwards to another place. I checked the other side and found that only the male line emerged, strongly, and went into a grassy tumulus a few feet away. Check the link above about the King Stone to read what this tumulus might be.

Judging by the pitted nature of the stone this was limestone or something very similar. Soon I  would find out some new information about the significance of this.

I must point out – I deliberately didn’t read ANYTHING at all about this site before going. Sometimes that works in my favour, because I get fresh responses without prejudice, but sometimes I miss important elements. Needless to say, this is a site that warrants more investigation that I could manage in an afternoon.

Two men had been standing on the ridge behind me looking out over the valley below. Now I could see one of them approach me, an older man with white hair and a pair of flimsy-looking dowsing rods in his hand. I stopped what I was doing as he walked up to me and began a conversation. He was a relative beginner, he said, and wondered what I was looking for. I made a special point of stating that I wasn’t, as most people expected, looking for water but instead for earth energies. He didn’t seem too surprised at that, so I went on to tell him what I had found so far.

He seemed to absorb that, and much more, before he asked my opinion on what he should be looking for. I laughed, and replied that it was not my place to tell anyone how they should conduct their enquiries with dowsing rods, it was a matter of determining for oneself what information on was seeking, and to what extent the response could be trusted. He said he was rather afraid that I would say that. I mentioned some authors for him to look at – perhaps Tom Graves, or Sig Lonegren? He seemed distinctly unimpressed by anything I said which amused me somewhat.

I laughed at his thin and wiry rods. “No good in today”s wind, I’d say.” and showed him my thicker copper rods. He seemed daunted by their lack of copper cuffs to aid rotation, and by their weight. This amused me too as his eyes boggled at their relative weight in his hands.

I decided he had been inquisitive enough, and it was my turn. What was his background? He was a scientist, he stated. This amused me even more! “Then you’re in for a fun time with dowsing!” I warned. He was either going to chase the “what is this energy” question forever, or he would have some very tricky ontological questions to resolve. He seemed to respond to that with a resigned shrug and a disappointed “hmmmm”. I wasn’t sure I was helping him at all! He asked me how I had started, and I told him of a TV programme “Tomorrow’s World” that I had seen when I was young that demonstrated dowsing, and this had inspired me to try it out, but I didn’t have enough incentive to pursue it further at the time. He jumped – “I saw that programme too!”. He shouted over to his friend, “This man saw that same programme about dowsing!” he said to his friend, calling him over to join us. The great Scottish dowser David Cowan apparently saw the same programme:

“Twenty-five years ago, I watched a programme on “Tomorrow’s World” on the use of divining rods, and, to my absolute amazement, discovered for myself that they really did work.” (source: The Leyman web site)

We briefly discussed the unlikelihood that we would both have been started in dowsing by the same programme, only shown once, and revelled in the coincidence of it. Then he bade me farewell, happy now, and let me carry on following the subtle energy lines.

I picked up my pack and rods, and dowsed my way back down the path that had the female line following it, wandering back and forth, looking like a right prat, until I crossed the road and found the line went into a small gap between the elder and hawthorn trees that edged the King’;s Men stone circle. Time to go and find out what all the fuss was about with the Rollright Stones then!

Gwas