The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘signs’

This Saturday I had many tasks planned and as Friday evening approached I had lined all my ducks in a row ready for the weekend. However after Saturday mornings Costa coffee. I changed my mind and decided a good hike into the south was definitely required. Even as I returned back to my lodgings I felt I shouldn’t go out today. But I fought it and a quick look through megalithic had me opting for a 2 1/2 drive to the Merry Maidens and a nearby Fogou.

I got into my car and was off southwards within moments. Alas my intuition proved correct and within 8 miles of my starting point I had a rear tyre blow-out not only that but I was in the middle of no-wheres ville. Struggling a little I managed to pull into a farm yard lane and got out to change the tyre. my efforts on getting the nuts off was not up to the task I’m afraid and I eventually resorted to calling out an emergency service (which now that I’m wandering the country, i am a fully paid up member of).

As I waited the 2 hours that they said they would take I pondered my lack of following my intuition. Since I was in the middle of fields and a little wood, I decided to hike on over and do some communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with trees. Dowsing rods in hand I sat myself against a lovely beech tree and opened my senses. I was curious, was there anything to learn from this situation?

Now, between you and me, I’m not a believer in the we’re here to learn lessons idea about life, however within life I believe we can and do have lessons.

So I pondered the annoyance of having to wait for the emergency services and my lack of strength in removing the tyre. Of course I realised that if I’d take more of an interest in the gym (although I do quite a bit of running) then this wouldn’t have been an issue. I felt the nudgeof intuition whilst thinking about this and from the depths of communing a message was delivered from the brash young beech tree.

A knight has to have strength of arm

Wow! Seriously? No, it was just a flight of imagination I was sure. I got up from my hardseat, it was a mere 20 minutes from when I had called the tow truck only another hour and forty minutes to go. But even as signs and omens were clustering my thoughts I looked back to my trusty car and there coming up the road was the tow truck. As I ran to my car, the rods pure coincidence were ringing in my ears. But hey who was I to argue?

I thanked the chap who had my tyre changed in two minutes and he said that I was lucky that he had been so close by. Indeed. He did however make a curious passing remark, “how unlikely is it to have two blow outs on the same day?”  Hmmm I decided to not take another risk (see what signs do to you?) and headed off to find a garage to buy a tyre. The truck man had given two addresses and in minutes I was at the first, “sorry we don’t have your tyre” Okaayy.

I popped the second into my Sat Nav and a few minutes later it was saying you have reached your destination…No garage! Anywhere! So I trundled back to my lodgings and checked up on a place on ‘t Internet, found a nearby Kwik-fit and toodled off to find that one. Again I drove around the streets where it was supposed to be, nothing, nada, zip!

What in the name of holies was going on? I returned home and pondered whether this was coincidence or meaningful. Being unable to decide I asked the rods. Which returned meaningful 100%. I asked whether the bit of musing I had done by the beech was just that, some day dreaming? No. What? You mean that was a Key? Yes.

But, but why? I asked whether I had the puncture to give me the opportunity to discover the second key? No. Did I need to have a puncture? No. Would I have got this message anyway? Yes, but by another means and at a later date. Was there a time by which I was to have strength of arm? Yes. I counted months…1…2…3…4…

4 months and 3 weeks was the eventual answer. I couldn’t determine how much strength of arms I would need though.

I wondered why I had had these mishaps this day, was there any energetic reason? Yes, it was Leprechaun energyAn intelligent and aware energy with a penchant for causing mishaps, stealing treasured items, and being territorial.! Damn, Where and when had I picked it up. Apparently whilst I was at a pub the night before. Interesting…

I will do another post later on regarding my findings about Leprechaun energy and how to get an influence of it.

So, it seems that I have direction for my 2nd key to Knighthoods Door.

Kal Malik seeking strength of arm by mid June apparently!

It is usually wisest to notice signs as they happen and then to act upon them at the time. Less wise is to realise that signs were presented to you and you managed to notice them but do nothing as a result. Well, sadly it was the latter that happened to me recently over the Imbolc festival period. We live and learn, as the saying goes. Let me explain.

I was driving home from work the night after Kal and I had been to Yorkshire in search of inspiration. The sun was just about to set below the horizon, a soft ice-cream sorbet sun melting deliciously below the black rim of the foreground hills. The sky was a clear azure blue prickled with stars that were eking their way into the evening’s display. As usual I was half concentrating on the road and half on the surrounding loveliness. I have learned to be wary of this state of mind for something always happens when I do that. Something happened.

In the remains of the day a sleek ginger fox slunk across the road, barely slowing as it spun its head to check that I was sufficiently slow to allow it to cross only feet in front of my car. Luckily I was going slowly in this residential area, so I got to see its full shiny copper shape. I gogged. I had been doing this route from work to home for the last twelve years and had never seen a fox cross with such nonchalance or so close. Sure, I’d seen what looked like a fox one morning dash at full pelt half a mile ahead of me once, but this was an intimate meeting.

Red fox crossing close

I continued to chase the setting sun. The ambient light was still enough to see clearly, and miles later down the road I was still bubbling with excitement at having seen that fox. What was it doing out that early in the evening, and so close to civilisation and to me? Still, it was a once in a long time encounter that would stay with me until..until I saw another fox crossing in front of the car, this time going the other way, right to left. Just as clear, just as unhurried in its crossing, and with that same lingering look into my eyes as I approached slowing the car as I neared. Wha…? Impo…..how? Why tonight? Within the space of thirty minutes two red foxes had crossed my path very near to me when none had done so for the past twelve years!

I decided to do some research to try to explain it. Here’s what I found out about the habits of the fox at this time of the year – Imbolc, late Winter:

“This is the mating season and when young foxes disperse from their natal area. Males follow females at close quarters. This is the period when fights and vocalizations are their highest. Towards the end of the winter, the female will look for a suitable den where she can give birth to the cubs.” (source: TheFoxWebsite.org)

Maybe this is the outcome of the fox-hunting ban that the previous government had put into law? Maybe this was a sheer coincidence. Maybe this was significant? I didn’t see how at the time, but then slowly things began to come together.Let me set the chronology clearly for you. I had been out at a stone circle a few days before Imbolc trying to discover my path for the next part of the year. Nothing happened. I forgot to try even! It was like a door that had got stuck because the hinges had rusted through lack of use – I couldn’t open the way into the Otherworld.

Then I saw the foxes. The next evening I was able to sit beneath an old oak tree and made a connection with it to discover my task for the next part of the year. I was startled out of my trance at the exact moment when I connected with the oak tree. It was a fox – it had reached the perimeter of my aura and had startled itself by touching it. Moments later I crossed the threshold between worlds and got my vision of chakras and sound that would form my journey for the period between Imbolc and Spring Equinox. I can see now how it was the ‘invitation’ of the foxes that guided me to cross the threshold to discover my next part on the journey.

The day after my Imbolc revelation I happened to visit Gwydion’s “Sparrowhawk Haven” website. I had read most of the posts on the blog, and followed most of the links but one link that I had not visited was his “This Month’s Animal” link. I knew the basic concept – he would draw a tarot card from his animal tarot pack each month and that would become the feature animal – the totem for the month’s meditation, if you like, the symbol of the time’s powers and frequency. I reasoned that if I needed such a symbol I would draw my own from my own tarot pack. Anyway, today, a day after Imbolc I clicked the link. I was soon face to face with a picture of a fox!

The Fox Dance in full swing by Mister Fox at Marsden Imbolc festival

Gwydion explains the significance of the fox like this:

“fox…leading its ‘followers’ through a particularly difficult or impassable door.” (source: Sparrowhawkhaven)

I hadn’t connected the three things until Gwydion mentioned that interpretation of the fox on his web site. The foxes has been symbolising some form of release for me – a way for me to break through my stale habits and cross into another dimension. This seemed especially symbolic as they were both crossing a road, from one wild area to another. They were making a crossing, out of their comfort zone, breaking their own habits in search of something primal and instinctive.

Interesting….As if by another strange coincidence or crossing point on my path, this article reared its head just as I was writing this post. It suggests that foxes are able to sense the earth’s magnetic field and use it in order to catch their prey. Well, these foxes just keep getting more and more cunning!

Gwas.

Two Crystals at Nine Stones Close

Apparently I had loaned/given Gwas some crystals a while ago and as we met up for todays journey he handed me a pouch which contained five crystals. I had forgotten them entirely but as they say…

Never refuse a gift

So I accepted them and we were off. I had a hankering for 9 stones close (one of my sites of the year) and since it had been a while since both Gwas and I had visited it, that was first on the agenda.

Although it was a fresh, late Autumn day we found the weather to be auspiciously dry and calm. I have to say I love this site, ever since I was engaged in healing the aura of the Oak tree there I have felt a strong affinity with it. This visit was no exception.

As we walked up the short incline to what is called Robin Hoods Stride I turned to Gwas and said, I think I will leave two of those crystals here at Nine Stones.

As Gwas moved about the sacred site getting his own unique connection with it. I clambered over the wall to commune with the grand Oak.

In our divided way we both made our own greetings to the site and its energies sentient and non alike. It was whilst in the midst of this that four people joined us. Two ladies and a gent. They wandered around the site and I could tell they were energy aware.

A few minutes later Gwas was speaking to the gent and the the other two presented me with a conversation about energies. As we talked the conversation moved to crystals and without thinking I drew out the pouch and offered a crystal to each of them. One the ladies had no clue about which crystal was which but “felt” that one of them was calling to her and she chose it.

The crystal she had chosen was a dark blue Sodalite one and after failing at some guessing games I decided to let them out of there suspense and told her that it was a Sodalite. She became really surprised at this because…

She had just (the day before) returned from Singapore and a healer there had told her that she needed to get hold of some Sodalite to help her heal a throat condition.

I was as amazed as they were at this synchronistic event. I think I will always be. I am fortunate these days to have them occurring frequently. Soon after this event the gang of four wandered of to other pastures after having told Gwas about a Five Chambers, a site that we had not heard of but vowed to visit.

As we walked back towards the car (perhaps at the same point as when we were coming) I turned to Gwas and remarked…

Hey, I told you I would be leaving two crystals at Nine Stones Close

Kal Malik – reading the signs aright.

Although I am a very spontaneous person. I also know the value of setting up expectations. So here are some expectations for 2011:

• Abbeys and Cathedrals

As you know new religions replace old ones often by taking over the old ones places of worship and ceremony. So it wouldn’t be surprising to find sacred energies at such places. Couple to this the notion that energy and thought are closely tied then such places would have any energies there enhanced. Well lets find out. So in 2011, I (we) hope to visit some newer (from the perspective of Megalithic sites) locations and divine there energetic states and value.

• House Dowsing and Energy Transformations

Ok, I have experimented with this over the last couple of years and have had a lot of success. Specifically I will be hoping to explore energies in homes and how to transform them to make the places energies more in line with the wishes of those who live there. Whether this be for healing, creativity, prosperity, etc. Gwas, I believe maybe looking at a similar type of thing but from the perspective of spirit/shadeA shade is the energy body of a human being that has become transfixed at a geographical location. The shade retains many of the qualities of the human that it was attached to (memories, character traits, a level of sentience, movement between places known in life)./death (we have to get our naming conventions sorted) energies. My area of investigation/work will be more in line with what is called Feng Shui (using intuition and dowsing rather than the – various – laws of Feng Shui).

• Signs and Synchronicities

This is a difficult one really, because it is not so much doing anything but reading them. Although (at the moment) I don’t believe that there are any hard and fast rules to this, I do want to see if I can get really good at reading omens and determining what they are and why they exist? For example, are they here to show us our destined path? Or to help us avoid certain dangers? I have been interested in Synchronicity for many years through my Paranormal investigation/studies so I know there are any number of reasons (which I will explore later in the year) as to why of these.

• Energy therapies

Having had my own complementary therapies practice for a few years I know the value of such. Over the past year or two I have done the odd experiment with dowsing and therapies. However I would like to do a lot more with them. The healing modalities I am speaking of are of course, Reiki, Bach Flowers, Homeopathy, Blessing Water, Water Crystals. No promises with this one, but it should be fun to explore.

• Wand making

This has been left, sadly, by the wayside. However I really want to see if I can make some progress with this this year. It is a task that really caught my imagination when I was presented with it at Alderley Edge (The Wizards Forest) at the beginning of 2010. Being given the name of Wand Maker was also a good indicator (and sign?)

• Tarot

In the background of the last four years or so I have been studying Tarot and it’s uses. Although on several occasions I have been shown that future prediction is a non-sense-ical endeavour. Using the Tarot for getting a perspective on situations is brilliant and since it is a bit of an arm chair activity you can play with it anytime. So expect more of this to be cropping up. And that is just on the Edge Wizardry front. The other fronts of my life are going to be spectacular this coming year too!

Kal Malik – Co-Creating the Future

 Eagle Tor, Derbyshire – 27th February, 2010

This is part two of our Derbyshire adventures. In part one we visited Nine Stones Close and had an encounter with a Pan Nature Spirit. In this part we visit a new site for us – Doll Tor – reputed to be in a lovely woodland setting, and so it turned out to be. It was  bit of a bugger to get to though. I think we probably came in from the wrong direction, because we had to hack our way across rutted fields at peculiar angles to reach the narrow strip of woodland that the GPS unit was insisting housed this new stone circle. Rarely have I been quite so relieved that modern technology saved me (mainly from the perishing cold).

Doll Tor: Mist and Mysticism

Having gone through such an ordeal I thought there was unlikely to be anyone around. I was wrong. Two ladies were perched on adjacent stones in the circle as we arrived. We exchanged pleasantries, but I was keen not to disturb their peace, even though I knew that even being there had already done just that for them. I was apologetic for that but Kal was less so, indicating that we were probably enlivening the atmosphere. Er, yes, quite. I’m sure we were.

 I set about dowsing the circle, essentially buying some time while the ladies inhabited the space. I would do my thing when they had done theirs. Kal went off hugging trees and generally making a holy show of himself. He was acting very strangely today. I mean, stranger than usual. I kept one eye on him while I dowsed around. There was some negative energy to one side of the small stone circle – down the slope, beyond an inlaid stone that had some engraved words on it:

Renovation engraved inlaid stone

The stone was marking the renovation of the site in 1993, apparently re-erecting a stone. The negative energy source was an engraved stone at the side of the circle. Well, whatever they had done something was amiss with the energies from the plaque downwards. There was a wide pool of negative energy hanging around. I decided that I should do something about this straight away, especially as people were there and using the site. I asked all the appropriate questions such as “May I?”, “Can I?”, “Do I have the ability..?”, “Is it the right time…?” all with  positive response. I got my incense out and began placing the five sticks that I had dowsed for. I knew it was a temporary measure, but I still wanted to do it.

Then a funny thing happened. I know the light wasn’t great, but the space was quite intimate and there were very few paths. Yet, somehow, I counted out five sticks, planted five, then could only find four of them when I came to light them in turn. The ladies watched me in amusement. “Lost something?“, on asked with a wry smile. “I thought I’d laid out five sticks, but I can’t find one now…”, I complained. One of the ladies said, “Why don’t you try putting one there?” and she pointed to a space at the edge of the circle, in the negative zone, which had a ribbon tied to a branch hanging over the spot. I dowsed warily….but the rods turned strongly at that point! I was more than a little surprised, but placed another incense stick and began to light them all. I thanked the lady for her keen ‘observation’ and she waved it away as though she did things like that all the time. Don’t you meet some interesting people at stone circles?

Lovely site - a staff, some mist, a ribbon

The ladies took their leave at this point and we have the place to ourselves as the sun began to make a more rapid descent towards the horizon. It was still light, however, but the mist was cooling us quickly, although Kal was hopping all over the place keeping warm. I decided to engage him in the process and asked him to dowse for the name of the Genius LociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place.. His initial objections melted away as he realised that I wasn’t joking. There are nine letters in the name, I stated, helpfully.

With that information, and the knowledge that we were dealing with an aether spirit (using Jaq D Hawkins’ definitions) I began to ask about the reason I had come: when should I have the first carved sigil on my new ash staff done by? The answer that came back through my meditations was not what I had expected – it was quite poetic and a little cryptic, and yet because of the style of language used I was able to understand it in terms of pictures rather than words. I was shown pictures of daffodils and saw them dying, accompanied by the phrase, “…by the time the daffodils disappear.” Er…end of April kind of time? Beltane? Anything else about it? I saw the Sun and Moon in the sky together – strong and vibrant – and knew that this meant a specific time of the day, month and year – when the Moon is full and the Sun is high – noon on a Full Moon day!

What other instructions could I glean whilst this information was flowing so easily and vividly, I wondered.  I felt that each of the elements should be involved in the carving process (somehow), perhaps with a call to them to participate in being bound into the shape being carved. But what should the shape be? I should be the sigil of this site, came the answer. The combined powers of this site, my energies, my staff and the elements will all go into the carving of the staff. OK, very strange! Here’s the shape I dowsed after experiencing this:-

Doll Tor stone circle sigil

After experiencing this I felt quite “spaced out” and had to spend the next few minutes jut coming back to full consciousness, despite the impending gloom, mist and cold which ought to have revived me quickly. Kal had disappeared down the hill and was busy exploring. I waited for him to return and dowsed for whether I had had any effect upon the negative energy area – it was mildly changing, and slowly, but would return to its negative state shortly after we had left. Ah well, this was obviously something that was going to take quite a bit more work when we had more time.

Some people had hung ribbons on the positive energy side of the site, possibly in similar attempts to “ward off” the negative energy. They had constructed stick figure mobiles too, which looked quite sinister in the gathering darkness. It was all very “Blair Witch Project“!

 In the enclosing mist the site felt cut off from everywhere else. We could have been the last two people on earth. It was quite magickal, and we should definitely come back here in late Spring to finish what we had started. I have some carving to do before then!

Gwas.

One of the skills that ancient historians attributed to the Vates of the Druid class was the ability to divine the future from a number of unusual sources. One of the sources that doesn’t involve disembowelment and which would therefore be considered to be relatively acceptable to the modern druid is bird augury – acquiring knowledge from the observation of the flight patterns of birds. Some modern druids take this system a little further, reading signs of the future flow of the universeTo join with the flow of the universe is to follow a natural progression in tune with Nature’s own direction of development. Religion has called this concept “following the divine will”, but then has proceeded to make it a law, rather than a useful option for personal and communal progress. from the historical symbolism inherent in the type of bird. A good example of this is a recent OBOD seminar which can be read here.

I have noticed that I am beginning to recognise the interventions of birds, especially when I look to them for direction or advice on how to progress on my path. Whilst reading Jaq D Hawkins‘ book “Spirits of the Air” I came to realise that I could categorise the types of interventions and characterise each, in terms of what it signified or portended for me. Of course, one remembers the times when the event subsequently took place, or the right outcome happened – but then, that’s the trick of birdwatching!

So far I have identified relatively few birds that seem particularly significant to me. The wood pigeon‘s call reminds me of a time when I came across a tramp sleeping in some woods in the grounds of a large stately home. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his look of sad discomfort and the feelings of helplessness and pity on my part. The tramp’s discomfort was a mirror opposite of my own feelings of comfort and security in those woods, or in fact, these days, any woods. For me, then, the wood pigeon’s call signifies COMFORT. It makes me smile when I hear it’s trill. It’s also strangely hypnotic for me. Often I am lulled by the continuous warble, and when I imitate the sound in forests it’s like the forest enjoys the fun of my attempts, and the mood lightens even in the densest depths.

We are almost saturated with media renditions of the common crow. They are prevalent in most sinister contexts, from sound effects to super heroes. For me the crow has come to symbolise KINSHIP. Generally, if a crow makes its presence known when I am scrying for guidance then I know that the thoughts of others are with me, and that I can tap into their wisdom and advice concerning directions in life. They help me make decisions, although the final say is always mine to have. The crow is also significant to Kal. Usually when I see a lone crow land near to me and look at me I know that this is a sign related to Kal.

Song birds as a whole seem to symbolise my family. That’s probably because I haven’t yet trained myself to differentiate their intricate identities. Nevertheless, when I hear their song my thoughts are tuned into my family. The appearance of this type of bird will alert me to imminent family contact.

Finally, there are birds of prey. Seeing one of these is always a special event, but their frequent appearance at moments when I am strongly connected to nature is uncanny. It is far too frequent for me now to think of it as anything less than a handshake, a sure sign, and thus birds of prey signify TRUST. I always feel immensely privileged and trusted when I am granted a meeting with these graceful creatures. Their majesty exudes from them, and they make ideal avatars for nature’s subtle assent. I also feel like I am within their protective circle when they cross my path, and I know they show me that I am on the right path with my actions.

Here’s is a summary of the characteristics I have been able to associate with some birds:-

1. Wood pigeon or Dove – comfort, companionship, direction of flight as indicator of event or place
2. Crow – friendship, group flight direction indicates path of a decision
3. Birds of Prey - magic, druidry, spirit of Merlin, right path, protection, apprenticeship

Gwas.

Watchin da boidies.

Wiltshire – August 20th, 2009

There’s something mystical about Wiltshire. This county has more than its fair share of ancient sacred sites and now crop circle formations too. Wiltshire boasts Avebury, Stonehenge, Old Sarum, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Ridgeway ancient track, the list goes on and on. ‘Plan A’ was to find any remaining crop circles to dowse them – ‘Plan B’ was to ‘follow my nose’ and see what happened.

Yes, We Have No Crop Circles

If you intend to visit and stay in Wiltshire you could do far worse than to stay at The Seven Stars pub. It is close to Marlborough and the Ridgeway, and more importantly for cereologists, it is close to Alton Barnes and The Barge Inn – now landmarks of renown on the crop circle tours. The landlord and landlady were incredibly helpful and the food at this pub was outstanding. Highly recommended if you plan to stay in this area. If you want to see any crop circles, however, I’d recommend going in July.

The names of the places are all vaguely familiar if you’ve been reading books and web sites about crop circles for long enough: Alton Barnes, Ogbourne St.George, Banbury Castle, Silbury Hill. These are quaint names that evoke thoughts of ancient Britain, stone monuments, wheat fields, chalk figures and old churches. They are also places of renowned earth energy – possibly not a coincidence to the crop circle phenomenon.

There’s one thing that’s modern about Wiltshire though: the farming methods are bang up to date. On the day I arrived, a new moon, there seemed to be a note in every farmer’s diary – “Thursday 20^th: Harvest stupid crop circle fields today.” Sadly, by the time I had travelled down from Cheshire and then had dilly-dallied with a handful of the wealth of sacred sites that are sprinkled liberally around this part of Britain, all of the crop circles that remained only day earlier had been harvested. In fact, the last one was being bailed as I drove out to find it. Ah well, maybe a slight change of plan was required for the next day. Nevertheless I had spent an intriguing day travelling along the white dragonDragons are spirit or energetic beings that reside in sacred sites and have a particular location in them and also move throughout the day (and or season). They also leave the sacred site on occasion, which again differentiates them from Genius Loci which don’t.’s trail. What dragon’s trail? I’m so glad you asked! ‘Plan B’ was in action.

The Setting

The Ridgeway is a line of chalk stone that forms a ridge running from Overton Hill near Avebury in Wiltshire to Ivinghoe Beacon hill, near Tring in Berkshire. It’s around 87 miles in length and predominantly runs along a chalkstone ridge. It is an ancient trackway, possibly a ceremonial or processional path too. This links in with the recent idea that Stonehenge was once used for large-scale celebrations at specific solstice times of the year. The area may have harboured tribes who worshipped horse gods – the so-called Epona Cult – and consequently there are several white chalk horses carved into the hillsides of the valleys of the North and South Downs. The most famous of these horses – The Uffington White Horse – is something different, however, and I will come to that in the next post where some evidence suggests an alternative perspective.

An Old Straight Track

I parked at the Uffington White Horse car park, and headed for a site that I had longed to visit: the intriguingly named “Wayland’s Smithy“.

The character of Wayland The Smith has a long pedigree. I first came across him in Susan Cooper’s trilogy of books called “The Dark Is Rising” in which she interwove a modern setting with traditional Celtic characters and motifs. John “Wayland” Smith makes an appearance to forge magical symbols from elements to create a crossed circle which was then fitted to a belt of power. The elemental magic item was then used to repel the rising forces of The Dark, symbolised as the forces of Winter.

The essence of the Western Mystery Tradition was embedded in these excellent stories, and the maturation, the transformation and rebirth of a young adult named Will Stanton, a solar hero. His achieving union with the forces of The Light and Summer was the grand finale of this epic struggle. Another elderly character, Merriman Lyon, is a thinly-veiled personification of Merlin meanwhile.

The Ridgeway was evocative of The Old Straight Track of ley lineThe term used by many British dowsers to describe an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies.. It is easily confused with ley and therefore its use is not recommended by dowsers. history, or the track spoken of in the rhymes in her books that I used to memorise:

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

As I walked the chalk track up to Wayland’s Smithy, such thoughts came back to me like a much-loved song.

For more about Wayland, here’s an article from a Berkshire history web site. For me, Wayland symbolised a place or person who could help you to forge a symbol or sign of value that could be used to advance one’s learning and progress in the ways of the western mystery tradition.

Lucky for me then, that without any forethought that’s exactly what happened. Symbols must have been on my mind.

Lair of the White Dragon: Wayland’s Smithy

The site is almost hidden by trees, and is only noticeable because of a small signpost pointing the way to the copse of beech trees huddled amidst farmed fields. I dowsed straight away for an entrance point to the site. As no-one was around at the time I respectfully waited at the two tall beeches that guarded the entrance way and felt a gentle tug at my sacral chakra point, which indicated assent, so I entered.

I then asked to find “my place” or power centreA place where a person of a particular alignment (see ‘Alignment’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. where I could take stock of the site from. I was taken to a place on top of the barrow where I de-camped my gear. Next, I wanted to determine what type of energies were present around the site. No matter where I went I read for male, female and neutral energies all around. The whole site seemed to be a complete white streamA flow of positive energised and healing subtle energy. The white streams usually emanate from a source of good energy such as a holy well, a sacred site, a power centre or a place of worship of good intent. We have found that white stream energy consists primarily of male and female energy combined in a balanced and harmonious blend, such that the two streams “play” with each other, warping and wefting in a dance that invigorates and enlivens everything that comes into contact with it. If a human stands in such a stream then they will feel positive, happy and energised, warm even. energy field encircled and enclosed by a ring of old beech trees.

At the back of the barrow, off to one side in a small circular clearing where someone had had a fire I found a strong terminus point for a white stream. At this spot there was a bare patch of earth. I decide this would be the place to ask for a manifestation of the site’s own symbol, as I had done at other sacred sites before. The shape that had been manifested I took as a sigil of the site – it’s symbolic expression of energy – it’s signature, if you like.

A sigil generator based on Rosicrucian ideas

I don’t know how the Rosicrucians derived their  ideas of how to discover such symbols, but my own sigil was discovered through deep meditation. Finding the sigil for the spirit guardian of Wayland’s Smithy was done by asking and then dowsing the shape. Perhaps it was my polite manner, or good fortune, but one appeared for me at the termination point of the spiralling white stream energy that flowed across the site. Here is the symbol I dowsed – Wayland’s Sign:

Wayland's Sigil

As I wandered back to my power place I contemplated the mood of this site. It seemed like a great place to prepare yourself, perhaps for a spiritual journey – very calming, peaceful, and reassuring. The dappled light from the tall beech trees made it feel calming and I found myself smiling a great deal while I was there.

I went back to the entrance to the site, between the two tall beech trees in front of the main large stones, where there is a small bare patch of earth. I drew site ‘key’ sigil in the earth with my staff and felt a much stronger pull from the guardian trees. I walked back up to my power centre and ate my lunch whilst various visitors briefly inspected the site, then left contented that they had ticked their itinerary box.

As I sat on my power centre located on one of the three capstones to the chamber’s entrance, seated in a small depression in the rock, it occurred to me to draw my sigil in chalk on my power centre. As I did this my attention was drawn to the cup marks in the stones on either side of the chamber. I wondered if they were anything like the marks in the stone at Nine Stones Close in Derbyshire. I wondered if they would activate the site in some way. I dowsed the marks and found that I got agreement with this idea, but today was not the day to work with this site, I felt. I wasn’t ready to do that yet.

Instead I just meditated in the cooling afternoon breeze, lulled by the sound of the tree’s branches brushing each other gently. As I went into a trance I heard a phrase repeated over and over. “Go for a ride” it said. Go for a ride? On what, I wondered? On the nearby white horse of Uffington perhaps? I sprang up, mobilised. Of course it was. I packed and left to head back to where I had parked – I could pick up the path to the chalk horse from near the car park.

En route I picked up a small crab apple lying in the path heading for the chalk horse – it seemed like an apple might do very well for a horse! I made my way towards Uffington Castle to reach the great carving. Little did I know that a revelation was awaiting me.

Gwas Myrddyn

On the trail of the White Dragon…