The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘samhain’

I have been using the term “The Quiet Time” in recent posts and thought it was time that I explained this phrase better, and what the concepts are that I associate with this phrase.

The Quiet Time is a period in the cycle of the Wheel of the Year, the turning of one season to another. In my definition this phrase refers to the period between Samhain (October 31st/November 1st) until Imbolc (February 1st/2nd). During this part of the year the intention is to refrain from doing any energetic work, or any druidic activity.

There are several reasons for doing this:-

• The land is going quiet itself – the earth energy, particularly the male earth energy, retreats into the depths of the earth and is unavailable for use
• Trees and other sentient organisms and entities go into hibernation, and their interaction and energy is also unavailable to be worked with
• It is helpful for the energy worker to replenish their own personal energy by having a restful period to recuperate and regenerate
• Wisdom can be extracted from the knowledge acquired over the course of the ‘working year’ by changing the perspective on that work through reflection, consolidation and re-visiting the work that has been done throughout the year

Shhh! It’s the Quiet Time.

Putting together all these reasons to take a break from working in the land it can be seen that there are tremendous benefits to “going quiet” over this period. Going quiet does not preclude going out into the land, however. Ironically, there are often many more opportunities for taking time off from your job during the Yule period, and this year I was specifically directed to go out to a sacred site for the Winter Solstice. I would, of course, encourage you to get out into the cold, the snow, the winter landscape, and discover how it changes and how it feels in those conditions. This actually makes the return of the energies in Spring so much more exciting!

There is a down side to taking a break for such a long period. Your rituals and routines become stale – but I just see this as an opportunity to review them in Spring. Another issue can be sheer frustration – looking out at the bad weather and wishing you were out in the land working – but really there’s nothing to be done, and nothing to work with at this time of year anyway – so chill out! Relax. Learn patience. Do other things. If you must work, do something different! This year I have done a house clearance during The Quiet Time, for example. This used only my own energies to do, and so it was ideal for me.

However, on the whole, I spend this time reflecting, writing, resolving what happened in the previous year, and preparing for the next year’s work. I have already discussed what I intend to do for Imbolc, and soon I will be discussing how I will be approaching the Spring Equinox. The planning starts in The Quiet Time with tarot readings, reflection, learning, reading, writing and restoring health and vitality. Enjoy the silence!

My summary of the year could easily take up several posts, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to highlight the many important distinct elements that have taken place this year, and then provide links to the posts that illustrate these elements.

On the whole it has been an amazingly packed, dense, active year. If I were to summarise the whole year in one sentence I would say that this year I have ‘come of age’ in my druid work. I have accepted a level of responsibility, been given many new ‘powers’, skills and abilities, and I have seen a startling increase in my use of intuition. There have also been many surprises. I began the year expecting that I would be working with one type of energy which actually turned out to be something else. I have been to many familiar places, and some new ones too. Each time I have been astonished by the power of the experiences I have had.

It has been a truly rewarding and remarkable year for me, and for Kal too, I know, and yet again I couldn’t have done half of the work I do without his enthusiastic and sometimes madcap influence. So pleased to have such a great friend to work alongside.

Here are the main elements of my year, in roughly chronological order:-

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Year of the Dragon.

First there was the dragon vision at Dinas Emrys – a vision of a Dragon at the “Solstice Centre”. This idea led me on a quest to find the dragon energy or spirit form that might exist at the centre of the land, and to do that close to the Summer Solstice. The vision of the dragon at the centre of the land, followed by seeing the dragon sylph in the clouds at Moel Ty Uchaf.

I was then urged to visit Hanger Hill in Sherwood Forest for a second time in the year to find this centre, and there I had a strong vision of the dragon energy covering the whole island. Finally  at the end of the year I would see the sleeping dragon in Spain and wake the fire dragon when I linked the two mounds in Antequera with my friend Mike.

POSTS: The first dragon vision, The second dragon vision, Dinas Emrys red and white dragons, Spread of the Dragon, Hanger Hill, El Torcal, Fire Dragon of Antequera

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Renown

 ”I will be spending the year seeking out sources to increase my personal power“.

That was the prediction I made at the start of the year. How much did that come true? I have certainly felt that I have followed a path that had led to an increase in my personal spiritual power.

Renown has come to the fore in many ways – increased recognition (popularity of the blog), increased personal power (magickal energy), and through research into many historical and mythical figures that are closely linked to my own history.

POSTS: Imbolc, Careg-Y-Big stone and fame, Robin Hood and renown,

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Arthurian Archetypes

This year I expanded the number of Arthurian archetypes that I work with to four. 2010 was a Merlin year, 2011 an Arthur year, and this year has been a Gwalchmai year. I thought it was Merlin at Lud’s Church, but now I realise it was a knight figure and that was Gawain/Gwalchmai.

Time and again I would refer to The Green Man and associate this with Merlin. Looking back I can see that actually this was totally the wrong association. It should have been Gwalchmai all along!

POSTS: Arthurian Archetypes of the Cross, Remote Dreaming at Luds Church, Seeing Like The Hawk, The Hawk and The Dove

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Ancestors

Start of the year was the start of the quest at Vale Crucis. Being directed toward Roscommon, Ireland by the shade of St Duignan. Finding my ancestral home, and its warrior kings. The wonderful and strange encounters in that land. Finally feeling a true link to the land. The rewards of this journey were instructions about how to access ancestor energies that I had received as ‘a download’:

1. The first stage to unlocking the energies is to remember the quest that gained them, especially the moment when they were downloaded into me when I held the Eel Sword at the edge of Lough Key.
2. I should let my mind go free and let it link with the land. It also represents will. Some willpower is required to unlock these energies.
3. Use a feeling of joy to unlock the access to the ancestor energies once linked to the land and mindful of the downloaded energies.

POSTS: Ancestor Tarot Reading, The Burial Site, The Vision, Search for a Sword, The Abbey, The Throne, Forging a Sword, The Battle, The Coronation,

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Influence of the Stars

The link between my energy body and the stars that influence it. It started with Venus, but at the end of the year I was shown other specific stars that form a personal astrology – specific stars that influence some of my emotional traits.

The work came full circle on that subject. I now understand the very personal nature of astrology and its energetic effects.

POSTS: New dimension to stargazing

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Predictions for crop circles

I predicted that this year would see the last of the “real” circles. Was this true? Perhaps only next year will tell for sure.

Certainly it has been an incredibly poor year for circles to say the least. People put that down to the amount of rain. I don’t know what caused it – but oddly I felt a compulsion to predict it at the beginning of the year. The quality of the circles was astonishingly poor – I felt like most of them were clear and obvious man-made circles, which is different to other years.

POSTS: The Prediction, The Realisation

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Re-balancing via the Sun

At Imbolc I was told by the spirit of Brigid that I needed to re-balance. I would do this by allowing more sun energy into my energy field this year. I have certainly spent much more time using male/sun energy than in previous years where I was almost exclusively using female energy forms. An orb makes an appearance at The Bridestones as though to confirm this requirement from spirit.

POSTS: Imbolc 2012, Egypt 2012, Winter Solstice 2012

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Map dowsing

At the Spring Equinox Kal and I did a map dowsing experiment. We decided to choose a place to visit anywhere in the British Isles. When we compared notes we had map dowsed exactly the same square mile.

This is a skill that I have significantly improved this year. In fact, in many ways map dowsing started my whole year off with a bit of recuperation and some early site visits that would open a whole side to the country that I had neglected.

POSTS: Map dowsing my recovery, Spring Equinox 2012, Finding my Spiritual Centre, Heart of Paris

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Becoming a Druid

Feeling like I had been “upgraded” to the “oak” level – the druid level in Ireland. Understanding that this would mean turning my thoughts to teaching the information I had gained, rather than just obtaining it.

Also, a new sense of responsibility and a duty to give something back comes with this new level of ability. I have felt this as a deep connection with the land, and a desire to plant trees.

The final aspect of this evolution was to discover that my druid name was closer to “Vassal” or “Son of Merlin” than “Servant”. This moved me a stage closer to that energy frequency. I feel just a touch more integrated with that energy now.

POSTS: Anglesey Lecture, A Chance to Praise, Healing History, Coronation Rath, Son and Servant

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The Elemental Year

Can utilise the elements better as they move around the year.

• Earth from Feb to May;
• Fire from June to Aug;
• Water from Aug to Oct;
• Air from Nov to Feb.

Later in the year I began to say “Sky, Land, Sun and Sea” instead of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.

POSTS: Considering the Stations

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Powers of the Staff

Finding out that my staff has its own powers courtesy of the Elemental Masters of Tinkinswood. It became an indispensable and valuable tool this year. I have been guided to learn about the powers vested in it, and am now able to utilise those powers to define energy changes in an environment. This has been incredibly useful, but I have been led to realise that some of these powers have still to be mastered, and that invoking them is not enough. They also need skilful use.

This year more than ever people remarked on the staff and how beautiful it looks. I nearly lost it several times, but on each occasion I made a supreme effort to recover it. We have a strange relationship – one in which I mustn’t take it for granted. It has its own inherent powers now.

POSTS: Staff Powers 1, Staff Powers 2, Staff Powers 3

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Bran The Raven & Seeing like a hawk

Working with his presence and guidance all year. I have been to Dinas Bran so many times this year, and each time he has been there to assist me.

This was part of the Gwalchmai training. Ariel viewing, seeing hawk lines, silvery trails in the landscape. I would be taught by Bran the Raven about some techniques for remote viewing. He taught me how to use the raven’s bird’s-eye view to see far away, and how to project my attention to a far point.

I didn’t know why at the time but later I came to understand that remote viewing wasn’t just for acquiring knowledge of events distant in space but present in time. It could also be used for finding and healing past events.

POSTS: Seeing like the Hawk, Bran and The Metamorphosis of the Raven, Bran calling, Seeing through the eyes of Bran, Me and Bran visit Dovedale

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Opening the Third Eye

This long-term quest was presented to me to encourage me to spend more time trying to see psychically rather than dowsing for answers. I think it has worked because my visions are more frequent and much clearer.

I have also begun to feel the energies, rather than needing to dowse for them. Finally, I have begun to trust my intuitive responses and intuitive information much more than ever before.

POSTS: Pineal Gland symbolism and signs, Song for Merlin 2, Quest for the Third Eye

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Re-union

So many aspects of the year’s quests and events were related to the idea of Re-Union. At Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall I was shown that union could mean recovering past energies that were left like stray threads through our lives,

Later, in Ireland, I was re-united with my ancestor energies,and integrated energies from people connected to me in the past into the present to make the present a unified and more powerful whole.

The whole Iona visit was centred on the energy of union – the island resonated with it. I also found out that the colour of Union is fuchsia pink. Odd! The walls around my desk at work have recently been painted this colour by a strange coincidence. It’s the first time they’ve been painted in 10 years, and before that they were beige.

POSTS: The Colour of Union, Merging with Merlin, Re-Union of past energies, Tarot to support Union, Winter Solstice 2012

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Tarot readings

Although I have learned some useful techniques for providing readings for others, the majority of the work I have done this year, and the most astonishing, has been when I have done tarot readings for myself.

I seem to get most out of these readings if I do them immediately before or after a significant quest.

POSTS: Personal astrology, Ancestor tarot reading, Powers of the staff reading, Third Eye quest reading

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Freeing Merlin

I released Merlin energy from the Underworld in 2010. Now in 2012 I was releasing Merlin energy from The Otherworld. I still don’t know the true significance of this, other than it required me to engage with some bardic skills, and this has re-kindled a desire in me to re-awaken many of the old bardic skills I used to use, but have since forgotten in all the excitement of my questing.

I had to visit several sacred sites to recover fragments of poetry in Old Welsh, then translate them, put them in order, and learn to recite the poem! I used to play musical instruments, write poetry and be able to recite some of it. I think I need to do this once more, so I will use Winter to begin again because I rather enjoyed the challenge of learning the poetry.

POSTS: A Song for Merlin – Part 1, A Song for Merlin – Part 2

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Aliens, Angels and Giants

Towards the end of the year things veered away from normality and into the kind of territory that I usually enjoy reading about but would not contemplate getting involved in. I got involved. I found that an energy that I had simply identified as “alien” was in fact angelic in origin, and  on Iona this energy had been deliberately infused into a stone that had been placed by a giant who had come over from Ireland. Well, I’ll leave that one there, I think! This kind of thing was the very reason I stopped looking at crop circles. Things got too weird!

POSTS: The Watcher, Giants, A Giant’s Grave, Angel Hill, My Own Angel

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Campaigning

As might befit a move into the realms of the “Druid” level (my own certification, I hasten to add - I’m not on the OBOD course or anything like that) I have begun to involve myself in local ecological campaigns. I have been supportive of the bees, the ash trees and local tree planting initiatives. I have also been working on a subtle energy level to re-balance and re-energise several sacred sites. This has not been arbitrary work done in passing, but work that I was called to do.

Most of my charitable work I do not advertise here on the site because it’s personal, and I’m not trying to tell people what they should do. You are your own example, I believe.

POSTS: The Bee Campaign

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SUMMARY

The year began with a frisson of anticipation. Would this year bring the catastrophe predicted for a long time? Would it bring the energy shift that was a hot topic in energy-worker circles? Would it bring an alignment with a galactic centre and a rush of transformational celestial rays that would sweep mankind into the next generation of being? Well, even in January I had the feeling that the answer was “No”. All through the year I was re-iterating this to all and sundry. The only transformation possible is within YOU and initiated by yourself. I have found this year that our personal energies ARE linked to the celestial influences, yet there has been no general “cosmic download” this year. My cosmic download came in May when I visited Ireland.

For me the year has been one of working with The Past. I have been healing energy ripples from earlier in my life, re-uniting my current self with my ancestral selves, and learning about the power of re-unification generally from bathing in its frequency, to discovering its colour vibration, to washing myself in the uniting waters of three waterfalls. The year has all been about re-unification. The energy that has come from this process has been what I call “renown”. This is the energy that increases one’s personal power. A signifier that this was happening was my move into the druidical final grade – “druid”.

Thank you for reading our exploits on this year’s turn of the spiral. We are very grateful, and as we await another amazing year beginning in February 2013, we hope you continue your journey with us.

Gwas.

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

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

The stone circle has a Watcher.

Birch trees sheltering Nine Ladies stone circle

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

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

‘Dark Figure’ by GuitarGodd97

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

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

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

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On a path such as mine I have a few rules – “reciprocal investments” you might call them – tacit agreements. The idea is that if I “tune in” to the Flow of the Universe in search of inspiration, then I must be prepared to act upon its motivations. In other words, if I ask “What is there to do?” then I can’t argue if it comes back and says, “Go to this place!” I just have to go. No arguments. So, I time my ‘requests’ carefully, and make sure that I have every possible opportunity to take advantage of such moments because I could be asked to go anywhere.

Your next question is probably, “But why?”. Well, my motivation is always to progress on my spiritual path. Therefore, my question is always, “Is there somewhere I could go, or something I could do that would progress me on my spiritual journey?”. Then I wait for a response. Who from, you ask? Well, that’s where it gets interesting, but I’ve spoken about that on many occasions – sometimes in a veiled way, sometimes quite explicitly. If you need to know, then check back on previous posts. For now, let’s move on with today’s tale.

It’s difficult to say whether I had put my ‘feelers out’ or if an overwhelming idea came upon me. It doesn’t really matter. The culmination was that I knew I had to go somewhere. I turned my attention to discovering where this was. I had just got back from punishing fitness class and frankly all I wanted to do was collapse and eat unhealthy carbohydrates. Instead I began to prepare for an excursion – I was going somewhere and I’d better resign myself to it. I asked where I would be going and the shape of a familiar tall and steep hill came to mind. Oh great – s tall steep hill – just what I needed! Thanks.

I would be heading to Llangollen and climbing up Dinas Bran.

John Everett Millais’ The Head of Bran pastel

I wondered whether this was to do with my stars quest, or perhaps it was a chance to renew my elemental connections – something I had been planning to do? Apparently neither of those, as it turned out, but this was what was uppermost in my rational mind as I made my way through the deserted Welsh villages and towns on the way to Llangollen. Monday night, stars aplenty, and not a soul to notice them. Sigh. Hey – TV is a powerful drug. Drug of a nation, if I remember my Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy correctly.

A Twist in the Mist

I decided to try to find the road that wound up the back of the hill. In late summer Kal and I had walked around the base of the hill and found this steep and narrow road, and we saw that cars could park much closer to the top than on the town side. Given it was late I thought I would try to save my legs by finding this “easier” route. I hadn’t bargained on the fog.

I found the road, but above a hundred feet in altitude the road disappeared in thick patchy fog. The road was barely passable for one car. If anything had come the other way there was simply no way back. A challenge – a test of faith. How much was I prepared to endure to heed the call of Bran? I endured. On the way up the hill I had several moments where I couldn’t see where the path was. I had only been up the hill this way one and it had been in daylight, oh and they had been repairing the path so there was a diversion to the normal route. Hmmm.. would I make it back alive or tumble off the sides into a pit of mud and gorse bushes? Half way up I wished I had changed into my walking boots. Now I felt like Kal – climbing in terrible conditions with inappropriate footwear.

Something moved towards me out of the hazy gloom and a scuffling noise was approaching… it was a pair of sheep wondering who would be stupid enough to join them on their hill in the middle of the night. I put my hand up – me, sir, I’m stupid enough.

Dinas Bran with mystical ambience

Making a home in fog

As I reached the top I found the path again. It had been there for some of the journey and then absent again. Now I stood at the entrance to the great fortress  but something was different  There were new paths, and curious piles of chipped slate everywhere. Looks liked the reconstruction of new paths included inside the fortress too. I found my bearings and, after introducing myself again and asking for permission to enter, I walked in.

Inside I felt completely at home. Bear in mind this is late at night, it’s dark, and I’m on my own. I felt at home in this netherworld of fog and shadows. Nevertheless, I put up double protection so that I could occupy my mind with more useful thoughts should I feel anything untoward up there. You never know what’s been going on since your last visit. It felt redundant, however. I was in the hands of Bran – here at his request. That felt good.

A solitary candle was lit and placed into a crevice in a remaining wall, out of the way of the teasing draughts. This is not something I usually do, but it made me feel less alone up there, and again added to the sense of homeliness. The candle was also a good meditation point to concentrate on until it went out, then my eyes got accustomed to the gloom anyway. Three incense sticks provided me with a working cleared circle. The staff drew the rest of the circle around the swirling scent, and I stood with my staff, poised and awaiting a connection.

Bran’s Head re-discovered

My eyes were drawn to one point in the sky even though I couldn’t see anything. It was Sirius. I simply knew. For a fleeting moment I thought of confirming it with my phone’s Starwalk application, but that wasn’t what I needed to do. I needed to keep connected, so I stood where I was and followed the connection. I was drawn along a tunnel of subtle energy that I was now noticing (co-creating) between Sirius and this power centre – the place where I usually found the spirit of Bran here on the summit of his hill.

Then I concentrated on what this meant – an uncomplicated request to whatever was allowing me to notice this connection. It was Bran, and he directed me to my Castlerigg quest which had been to free Merlin from a spherical cage of tree branches. What was the significance, I urged to know? Now it was time to free the Gwalchmai energies. Gwalchmai is linked with Sirius and I should concentrate on doing this for the next part of the year from Samhain to Yule. Gwalchmai is also linked with the West and Water (sea), I found afterwards.

That wasn’t the end, though. Even though I was being given a quest to cover the next part of the year from Samhain to Yule, and it was being given early too, there was more. At Yule I should switch my attention to freeing the energies of Gwalchaved (Gawain). He is linked with the Sun and the East.

Looks like I’ve got my quests early, and a double quest at that! See – if you answer the call, are prepared to work for your rewards, then they are given multi-fold  Saying that, I’ve got one heck of an agenda lined up for the next few months until Yule. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gwas

In a way you judge someone by the quality of the places that they take you to. Recently I was taken to a place the day before Samhain this year. I had once so nearly visited but somehow circumstances had conspired to make me miss it by only a short distance. Now I had a tour guide with local knowledge. When Mike spoke of the place it was in reverential tones, and the hint was always that it was a magickal place. The kind of place where you may come away with the course of your life taking a slightly tangential turn. He had spoken of the place’s power for change in the way that people who have genuinely experienced life-changing moments do – hushed tones, distant eyes – as though recalling some kind or form of force that the Anglo-Saxon pillar was imbued with.

You are then left with a decision – do I believe the power of this place, or do I have to go test it our for myself? I have to test it, of course! Progress must take its course during the year’s treadmill. Places of power should be visited. The dilemma – who by? Yet the Land can have lessons for everyone, surely. Good or bad. Clever or stupid. If I tell of the place, then I advertise its wonder, and more people probably come. There are some wells near where I live that birthed and died through the advertisement of their miraculous energies, effects and efficacies. However, I will mention the place’s name. What people do with it will reap its own rewards.

Clulow Cross - A truly illuminating place

In a previous post about the nearby Bullstones I had supposed that this had been the magickal stone that Mike’s tales had been centred upon. I was wrong. The description of the surroundings had matched my previous finding exactly, so when Mike and friends had allowed us to follow them up into the Derbyshire moorland and hills I thought I knew exactly where we were going. As we parked and got out of our respective cars the other group appeared to be heading in the wrong direction, until I realised that it was me who had made the mistake. Clulow Cross was down in the field on the Congleton side of Hammerton Knowl, not standing on the other side of the Knowl’s ridge between Wincle and Wilboarclough. This was the pillar remainder of an actual stone cross, not just a place name to locate a hidden monolithic treasure. And hidden it is. Nestled in a clump of middle-aged beech trees, the cross itself is hard to spot until you are within striking distance with an acorn.

An Aside About Access

I have probably pussy-footed and tap-danced around this subject for many years on this blog. Let me state this right out now as an opinion, and then I will attempt to back it up.

I have a right to walk the land. My right. My land. I will walk it. I will be respectful, courteous, kind and gentle as I do so. But I will walk it. It is my, our, everyone’s land.

Anyone who believes they own land needs to consider this perspective – the land has been there before humans as a species were even invented. Once we were invented we were given intellect to allow the development of the concept of custodianship. We are all of us guardians of our own lands, the lands with which we identify in our hearts.

Yes, others may choose to abuse their rights, and those that choose to be discourteous and un-cooperative with the custodians will always exist, but they are a manageable minority who will cause ill-will in whatever environment they find themselves. They are a test of everybody’s patience, and are not exclusive preserve of the irate farmer, or the country estate employee, or the quarry worker, or the member of this and that Trust.

Those who consider themselves to be “land owners” will have to live with their own arrogance on a daily basis. You ought only to encounter it occasionally as you walk these lands. We have a right to roam. We always have. We always will.

So, now that you understand my position and haven’t yet stopped reading in outrage and humph-pah, well, you should read on to find out what magick awaits the pagan who claims the right to roam.

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On a day that only a mother could love I dragged my long-suffering spouse into the farthest reaches of our lands to the western shores of Pembrokeshire. Why would I do such a thing to a nice lady? Well, I had taken the day off to celebrate Samhain, and it was part of my year’s quest that I should resolve the link between Berth and Death. That’s The Berth – a Shropshire hillfort – and Arthur’s Grave, the final destination for a mythical character and a hedge druid. If you haven’t read the beginning of this story, then may I refer you to this post? I feel compelled to do so.

So, the story was that “The Death of Scorpio”, or the coincidence of the constellation appearing at the point of the western sunset along the south-western axis that joined The Berth to Arthur’s Grave was the reason I was making a four hour drive along slippery autumnal-bedecked roads to hike into the back of beyond. As I journeyed that day I was continuously recognising places that Kal and I had passed on our journey to the same location earlier in the year at Spring Equinox. On that occasion I had come to Beddarthur (Arthur’s Grave) as the final part of a quest to use the energies of three stars to unlock an inactive part of my DNA sequence, and potentially unlock some hidden healing powers. At the time I had no idea what I had done. During the year I discovered that I had acquired an ability to draw energy from plants to use to negate the dark and twisted energies left behind by some humans upon death, and I had also unleashed a guiding spirit of a knight who had been enlisted to assist me with such work.

All that seemed far away and certainly locked deep in the back of my mind as I wrestled with the increasingly powerful and playful winds that rose to meet us as we crested the hills from which Stonehenge’s powerful healing stones had been hewn. Today my mind was focused on the mundane matter of the rip in my hiking boots that were making one foot wet and squelchy.

View across Arthur's Grave to site of the Bluestones

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You may have noticed the lack of podcasts this year on Hedge Druid? There’s a reason for that. In the first half of the year the reason could be put down to a mounting pressure of “work”. Mostly this was spiritual work, and with all the good weather we have had in England this year then the Great Outdoors claimed a large part of my time, and this was reflected in the amount of time-consuming podcast work that I could do. Right, that’s my pathetic excuse out of the way. Now, what about the recent months? I did intend to re-establish the podcast once the weather got worse. It has worsened, but still I don’t feel inclined to get back into the studio to record and edit an hour’s worth of audio. Why not? I think there’s a deeper and wider reason.

I have been noticing that other pagan blogs have also begun to falter in their regularity and their commitment. Could it be that we all expanded too quickly, and pushed ourselves too hard to produce content? Possibly, but I think the real reason is due to a difficulty in maintaining momentum when this year has been out of synchronisation with itself. Let me explain.

The Moon, The Sun and The Earth sources

Last year our blogs flourished. Mostly these are blogs that are talking about magickal work, mystical happenings and spiritual progress. What general effect has happened that could account for the difference between last year’s ease and this year’s difficulty? Simple. It is the synchronisation of the phase of the Moon with the Celtic Festival dates. Last year the high points in the solar cycle were matched by high points in the lunar cycle. In other words, at the major lunar festival dates the Moon was also usually in its Full Moon phase.

Celtic Wheel of the Year

The Celtic Wheel of the Year is a cycle that records the high points of the year’s energies. It tells the pagan watcher when the Earth itself is producing the most energy in its co-operative cycle with The Sun. In my experience, and I speak only for myself here, I do not use The Sun as my primary magickal power source. For me it is The Moon. Last year was therefore a “bumper year” in terms of the number of coincidences between the Solar and Lunar high points. Magick was abundant and easy. Motivation was plentiful, and so a great deal of work flowed, and many posts got produced. Blogs flourished that dealt with these subjects.

This year the story has been completely reversed, and how dispiriting must that have been to many of our pagan friends whose magickal sources are Moon-dependent? This year the Full Moon phases NEVER coincide with any of the Solar Festival dates in the Celtic Year. Only Spring Equinox came close. The result of this, goes my tenuous hypothesis, is that motivation has taken a battering. Magickal people must have found themselves either doing Sun OR Moon work, but never being able to being the two together.

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