The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘sandstone trail’

I had been out on a walk along the Cheshire Landscape Figure of the Hawk on a previous evening and had seen the sun set below the crags near to the Sandstone Trail at the village of Willington in Cheshire. It was a walk that I remember doing in part when I first moved to Cheshire, but I had never been able to find the path again (although I had not really tried that hard). This time I stumbled across it again, and remembered how nice it was.

I noticed that there was a path marked on the map that followed the Cheshire Hawk’s outline exactly. On my first attempt to find it – let’s call the first outing a “scouting” episode - I was scouting the landscape, feeling for what I should do to further my quest, and knowing only that the outline of the Hawk of May in the Cheshire landscape was part of that work. On that first scouting journey it was going dark when I found the crag-side path, and I was literally stopped in my tracks by the appearance of a badger at a fork in the path that evening. Not wanting to scare the badger I was forced to take the lower path back down to the road. I vowed to return and to walk the path all the way along the crags at a time when Nature gave me the right signs.

A badger makes me change my path

I went back one cool but dry evening in early June. I was properly equipped this time with crystals, incense and the right intention – to meet The Hawk of May (Gwalchmai). I knew I had to get this completed before my Summer Solstice pilgrimage, and I wanted the “decks cleared” and this quest completed before then. Solstice is always an amazing but wholly engaging experience, so it was important for me not to have any residual side-quests going on.

Just a reminder, my Beltane quest had developed through the use of Tarot card that had been giften to me by a friend who is very intuitively connected, shall we say? The cards (see previous post) had told me three useful things:-

1. I would meet the Hawk of May in the Underworld
2. I would need to provide him with an intuitively-selected gift
3. The result would metaphorically to be able to ”control the winds” and take on “the power of lightening”.

All very mystical, unlikely, but exciting as a prospect, and certainly a challenge to my abilities. It also held the promise of an enhancement to my abilities – just like the last quest for Spring Equinox. I’m all for that! So now this brings me to the part where I went to meet The Hawk of May.

The Way Is Easy When It Is Right

I walked along the hidden path that hugged the crag above Willington and found that it was carpeted with soft small pine needles> The soft feel of the path made me hanker for walking un-shod again, so I took my shoes and socks off and walked barefoot along the path in the setting sun light.

At Lammas (or Lughnasadh) I was with a group of friends who had collectively decided that we will walk the Sandstone Trail thorough Cheshire in September. In order to get some meaningful practise in we were doing the 17 mile stretch from Beeston Castle to Frodsham, where a pint of alcoholic ginger beer over ice awaited us. What more incentive could be required?

I was particularly aware that this weekend was one of the special dates in the Druid calendar, and so was looking forward to being out in nature, walking the countryside, and was looking to take any possible chance to have a long old commune with anything that I was passing.

When I had walked this section previously I had seen a group of llamas (or alpacas, couldn’t tell you which was which) that usually grazed behind the tea rooms atop the village of Utkinton, but sadly the field was empty. Nevertheless, I took the chance to pass my regards to various species along the way: all types of trees, some rabbits, several colourful butterflies (cabbage-whites are particularly plentiful right now), and many more.

I was really in a fantastic mood, reciprocated by the whole of nature as I passed over her body as it languished in the day’s sunshine after having been washed by rain for every day in the past fortnight. How coincidental?! For me, this WAS celebrating Lammas. Making crude corn dolls, picking up stones in my path and energising them, and speaking to all the animals and large trees as I walked past. Luckily I was mostly up front or at the back so my madness was not particularly remarked upon!

Towards the end of the walk several of the less fit members of the group were really feeling the heat and the distance. Blisters were forming, old injuries were flaring up, and people were generally getting very tired. I, on the other hand, had been drawing energy from the landscape as and when I needed it, but now here was a chance to help the others too.

To do that, I located energising spirals that helped my friends to recover their energies. Yes, they looked at me strangely. Yes, they probably think I’m crazy. Yes, I could have kept my mouth shut. But instead I got my rods out and dowsed for the location of any energy spirals or power centres that could provide beneficial healing energies for them. I looked for and found two quite soon after asking.

The first spiral was one that I recognised that I had discovered many months ago when M and I were walking through Delamere Forest together. It was a small spiral at the base of a tree, where lush moss grew. Then it had healed her of her painful ankle, and on this occasion it served the same purpose, healing several people of aches and pains. Mostly unbelievers, it should be pointed out! All who tired it said they felt much better very quickly. I argued it away by saying that it must only be psychosomatic, psychological or they were just trying to appease me by being kind. But actually, one lad who was ready for giving up at that stage suddenly was bouncing around like a spring lamb! He was utterly bamboozled by the experience.

The second spiral was found, again, under the boughs of a tree at a spot where the grass was tough and different from the surrounding area. This time I had asked to find a spot where the people who stood on it could be re-energised. Two people tried it and came away refreshed after only two minutes of exposure to it. They then finished the walk, although I suspect they’re not so relaxed today!

So, next time you’re out with your dowsing rods and wish to find and benefit from the healing properties of any nearby trees, then you should ask the rods to locate a place suitable for whatever your healing needs are. In a suitable environment such as a country walk I can say that they are easy to locate, and seem to be in plentiful supply!

Gwas.

Finding the healing power of trees.