The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘silbury hill’

Dowsing Results for 2009

At the start of the year I faithfully followed the proposed dates that aligned with the current Gregorian calendar. As the year progressed beyond Summer Solstice I came to feel that the dates that were marked as celebration dates bore little relation to the times when earth energies were specifically active. The Gregorian dates for the Pagan Festivals in particular felt wrong, and were egergetically unremarkable. I started to align my visits with other criteria. My reasoning was that, for Equinox and Solstice days - celebrations of the sun – then the exact day as stated originally was accurate. For the pagan festival dates I took the nearest full moon date to be the correct day to try to do some dowsing. Often, this didn’t quite work out because I had already booked the Gregorian dates off work and so was often only free to dowse at sacred sites on those dates.

Here were the dates that I had written down as being the days to test for subtle energetic potential:-  

• Imbolc – 1 Feb (First Quarter moon)
• Spring Equinox – Thu Mar 20 5:48 GMT
• Beltane – 1 May (almost First Quarter moon)
• Summer Solstice – Sun Jun 21 0:59 BST
• Lammas – 1 Aug (six days from Full Moon)
• Autumn Equinox – Mon Sep 22 16:44 BST
• Samhain – 1 Nov (Full Moon)
• Winter Solstice – Sun Dec 21 12:04 GMT

You will notice that I have used the original Gregorian dates rather than those that I shifted eleven days prior to these trying to account for the calendar shift in the Middle Ages. Here were my original propositions and thoughts as a reminder of what I was trying to do:

We’re going to have to dowse on those days as we go through the year and see what happens. When does it feel right, and when are the energies particularly active? … I would hope that the male energies would be more active on the days of solar worship such as Summer Solstice, or the Equinoxes. If we get sun in Britain on those dates then we have a chance to test this theory out by visiting some of the sites we went to over this Winter period, when the energies seemed distinctly quiet and weak, with no evidence of male energy activity at all. On active solar days we would expect to find the qualities associated with maleness – protection, transformation through initiation, and the manipulation of energy.

The festival dates when the moon is very present coincide with the lunar festivals of the cross-quarter days (Beltane and Samhain) this year. That’s lucky for us and we can report on the status of the female earth energies at sites on those dates. We expect that the traditionally female aspects will be in evidence on those dates, that is fertility powers, sanctuary and healing.

We hope to be able to answer whether the times of year of the festivals correlate to a particular quality of the powers of the moon or sun at that time. The White Virgin (the first stage of the goddess) is linked to Spring. Are fertility powers stronger at Beltane and Spring Equinox? May Day was always seen as a fertility festival. Imbolc is associated with Brigid and healing. Are the healing energy frequencies strongest at this time?

Not all dates were able to be tested due to circumstances or time restrictions, but where they could then I have recorded the results. My conclusions will be compared with my expectations as recorded at the beginning of the year.

I am very unhappy with the quality of the results for this experiment. There were notable times when we didn’t take any measurement of the relative strengths of the energies and this has made the results quite inconclusive. Therefore, I will endeavour to be more rigorous this year and to try to capture the information more reliably and objectively. Therefore, please consider these results as an “indication” of what might be the case.

I also believe that there are some factors that have come to light this year that affect the results, i.e. the position of various planets at that point in the year, the position of the sun and moon, how clear the skies were, and to take into account the strengths of male and female energies separately, as well as differentiating between earth and radiant energy strengths.

Therefore, all in all, I feel the results from 2009 are of purely subjective value. However, I am including what data I did gather so that I can compare this year’s information with it to see if anything at all does begin to form a pattern.

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IMBOLC – February 1st

Actual visit date(s): February 1st & 2nd

Moon Phase: Almost First Quarter

Location: Dyserth village

Sites visited: St.Bridget’s Church, Castle Dyserth (quarry where we made a stone circle), Graig Fawr hill, Dyserth Waterfall, Gop Hill

Dowsing results: A significant change in the strength of the male energies from 1st to 2nd February. As there was significant cloud cover I could not attribute this increase to the appearance of the sun.

Activities: Only dowsing. Nothing relating to energy specifically.

Post Link: Dyeserth 3

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SPRING EQUINOX - March 20th

Actual visit date: March 20th

Location: Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey

Sites visited: Bryn Celli Ddu, Penmaenmawr stone circle

Dowsing results: The energy “felt” balanced. We were not inclined to dowse much at all. What dowsing was done turned up a perfect balance between male and female energy strengths. Was this purely suggestive, or was it real?

Activities: Attuning ourselves on top of an ancient mound, healing a stone circle with positive balancing energies.

Post Link: A Balance of Light & Dark

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BELTANE – May 1st

Actual visit date: May 1st

Moon Phase: Almost First Quarter

Location: Helsby, Cheshire.

Sites visited: Helsby Hill, Woodhouses Hill and a modern man-made mound.

Dowsing results: Again, we failed to measure the relative strengths of the energies. Energy was successfully sent from one site to the next, however.

Activities: Lighting incense and manifesting energies from hilltop to hilltop.

Post Link: Firing Manifestations

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SUMMER SOLTICE – June 21st

Actual visit date: Jone 20th and 21st

Location: Glastonbury, Somerset,

Sites visited: Barrowbridge Mump, Wearyall Hill, White Spring, Glastonbury Tor, Gog and Magog trees

Dowsing results: Very strong male energies, overwhelming the female energy (which wasn’t weak either). Strongest male energy of the year.

Activities: Meditating at various sites, being intuitively led to them, and instinctively having our chakras opened at those places to receive an influx of positive inspirational energies.

Post Link: The Opening of the Chakras

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LAMMAS - August 1st

Rejuvenated forest clearing

Actual visit date: August 1st

Moon Phase: 5 days from Full Moon

Location: The Sandstone Trail, Cheshire.

Sites visited: Beeston Castle, Peckforton Castle, Utkinton, Delamere Forest, Frodsham.

Dowsing results: Finding healing white energy spirals (composed of female tree and earth energy).

Activities: Drawing energy from the land (energising), healing,

Post Link: Llamas and Lammas

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AUTUMN EQUINOX – August 22nd

Actual visit date: August 19th and 20th

Location: Wiltshire and Oxfordshire

Sites visited: Alton Barnes White Horse, Wayland’s Smithy, Uffington White Horse

Dowsing results: Unusually strong male and female energies that were well balanced. The sun was glorious for these two days, and I felt completely relaxed, to the point where I was “spaced out” by being at sites – this “good feeling” was due to the “white” energy of the balanced and combined male and female energies, I believe.

Activities: Using sigils, following intuition, a pilgrimage of ancient sites, balancing chakra energies, transformation process.

Post Link: Trail of the White Dragon

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SAMHAIN – November 1st

Actual visit date: November 2nd

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Location: Wiltshire.

Sites visited: Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow.

Dowsing results: Stronger response than first visit I made some months earlier. The energy was male energy atop this mound. It was so strong it made me dizzy! I felt highly charged with subtle energy, and I could draw upon both male and female forms. Dowsing response was incredibly strong under the full moon.

Activities: Meditating, shamanic flying, empowerment of energy fields.

Post Link: None.

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WINTER SOLSTICE – December 21st

Actual visit date: 21st December

Location: Anglesey

Sites visited: Bryn Celli Ddu, Bryngwyn Stones, The Soar Stone, Lligwy Chamber

Dowsing results: Stronger female energies surrounding Bryn Celli Ddu; minimal male energy coming only from the stones. Male energy at Soar Stone restricted to close to the stone. Weak in nature. Male energy at Lligwy was confined to power centres, whilst female energy was again enclosing the central stones, as though protecting them? Our normal alignments (m/f) were reversed for this day – Kal went for female energy whilst I sought out male energy.

Activities: transformation, shamanic flying, empowerment, balancing of chakras.

Post Link: Anglesey Winter Solstice

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CONCLUSIONS

There are hints within this set of information that various factors such as the time of year, and the position of the sun and moon, all affect the strengths of the subtle energies at sacred sites and elsewhere. However, the poor quality and consistency of the information I gathered does not allow me to make any clear statement to that effect. Therefore, this year I will try to take more accurate, consistent and objective records of this data, including the new factors that I believe may be relevant including the influence of planets, and whether the sun or moon are visible when the dowsing takes place.

Watch for this post next year to see if I can get anything that might be approaching a conclusion!

Gwas

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.

I have put some new entries into the Tree page, and have added some more details about the exact locations of the trees, including detailed MultiMap locations, directions on how to find the trees, and better location descriptions.

New additions:

• Hawthorn at Long Meg
• Rowan at Pendle Hill
• Oak at Nine Ladies
• Tallest tree in Wales
• West Kennet Guardian Oak

Now updated again (9th Dec). So go see a tree!

Gwas.

Silbury Hill, Wiltshire – September 2009

It’s time to introduce you all to the concept of Guerrilla Dowsing. It was invented by my colleague Kal on your first visit to Stonehenge. He was a bit miffed by the fact that we had travelled a long way to visit the site and it was all cordoned off. You couldn’t get within two hundred feet of the actual stones, unless you had made a prior arrangement to visit after normal visiting hours. Well, we were only down for the day and hadn’t made such arrangements. Consequently, Kal was all for jumping over the low cable strung around the edge of the site and dowsing until he was forcibly ejected. It was only my protestation that made him reconsider. On reflection I wish I had not said anything. We should have just done it, but I am a bit less gung-ho than Kal when it comes to breaking the rules. That’s a lifetime of English culture bearing down on me, I suppose.

But tonight I was heading across country with two purposes in mind: firstly I wanted to confirm my findings at West Kennet, and secondly, I was just going to climb Silbury Hill and dowse on top of it – to hell with the consequences. And so I did just that, and I’m glad I did. Barbed wire or no barbed wire I wasn’t going to be denied “my heritage”, especially not now that I have found the Way of the Druid. Silbury Hill was made for people like me, by people like me, and is NOT the preserve of some archaeological unit. For some reason English Heritage have not seen fit to re-open the site despite stabilisation work started in 2007 that was due to be completed in Spring 2008. It’s late Summer 2009 and the site remains closed off to the public. For our own safety and the preservation of the site, of course.

It was a very steep slimp up the 51 degree slope. Apparently this angle is the same angle that the Great Pyramid of Giza shares with Silbury. Perhaps the designers conferred before construction, or maybe they got the same guys in to design it? I followed a well-trodden path up the ‘back’ slope away from the lights from passing traffic on the A4. After a few minutes of excited but exhausting climb the slope levelled out briefly before descending into the circular depression that had presumably been repaired. I trod carefully watching out for potholes or sinking chalk, but the ground was stable. Perhaps it would be less stable if we had rains like those of 2002 when the site was closed off?

Moon over Silbury

It was a beautiful night atop the hill and despite the darkness the view was stunning – twinkles of lights in the distance all around and the occasional sweep of car headlights rearing over The Sanctuary and then passing behind me. Above me was the celestial majesty of a curtain of stars laid out all around. Directly above me was The Milky Way, and I haven’t seen it so clearly since I went up onto Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle above Llandrillo in North Wales last year. It seemed to me that the centre of the Milky Way was directly above me and craning my head back made me want to sit down to get an easier view. I vouched to do that in a minute or two.

Firstly I soaked up the atmosphere a bit more. A slight breeze was blowing, just enough so that you would know you were on top of a hill, exposed, but ducking down into the hollow immediately engendered an almost complete silence – not a breath of wind was felt. I marvelled at how I could see so clearly and looked up to the east to see a quarter moon bathing the hill in moonlight. I was quite incredible how the hilltop caught the light like I was on stage or something.

Time to dowse, I felt, before I did a bit of meditating. I picked up my dowsing rods and walked to the edge of the hollow area, edging towards the steep slope from which I had come up. From there I asked to find my power centre, and was led back to the hollow, but instead of going into it I began to circle around it, widdershins (i.e. anti-clockwise). I traced a path around the edge of the hollow, and then began to spiral inside the hollow ridge. I must have circled around some six or seven times before eventually reaching the spot near to the centre of the hollow – right where I had first sat! I looked around – yes, I had managed to put my bag right on the power centre in the absolute middle of the hollow without realising it (because initially I had no idea how far the hollow extended when I put it down). Another startling coincidence in a long catalogue of such things.

I dowsed to find out which energies were present at this power centre and got reactions for male, female AND neutral. So, it would seem that I was situated on a ley line linking with other nearby sites (not surprising considering where I was, close to Avebury, The Sanctuary and West Kennet). The combination of male and female energies also meant (to me) that I was on what we call a “white stream” – a very positive energy centre. It certainly felt strong – streams of energy could be felt rising out of it if one quitened down and tuned in keenly to the body’s sensations.

I wanted to dowse one more thing before I stopped – what could the purpose of this hill be? This is a altogether trickier thing to dowse for, and usually involved a combination of educated guessing and listing things that have previously given a response at other sites, as well as some creative questioning. “Proper” dowsers would be abhorred by this, I’m sure. Scientists would wet themselves laughing, but I have found that some sense can be gained if one tries hard enough. The technique I use is to quiten down the mind and allow the genius loci of the site to speak for itself. Sometimes a response can be heard, or a thought pops into your mind that you wonder where it came from. That’s often a good starting point for investigation and confirmation with the rods. I did this, and the thought arose that the combination of energies at a single point was significant, as was the structure of the mound itself – the shape rising to a pyramidal point suggested the concept of “focus”. I heard myself repeating this word, so began to ask questions about the concept of Silbury being a focal point. Soon enough I hit upon positive responses, and finally I concluded that the best guess I could make with the rods was that it was a central point in the surrounding complex of sites, and the hill shape was constructed to be the focal point for all the energies travelling through it from connected sites. The question of why this should be so is much more difficult to get at and will require further visits, I feel.

A few weeks later I was reading Paul Devereux’s book “Earth Memory”, which talked about Silbury Hill in terms of it being the centre of the Marlborough Downs complex too, AND he displayed a diagram showing a ley line connecting Beckhampton, Silbury and West Kennet Long Barrow. Here’s a quote from Chapter 3 -”Being and Seeing” :

“Many people have commented how strange it is that Silbury Hill, a tremendous achievement of Neolithic engineering, should be located in such a low position, tucked away alongside Waden Hill. A superficial, imposing display had clearly not been the intention of its builders. As I looked at the great mound, it suddenly dawned on me that the focus of the Avebury complex was not the henge…but Silbury Hill instead….I suddenly felt as if the genius loci had whispered in my ear.” (p.75)

I felt completely validated by this! It was a wonderful moment. Until I visited the hill I hadn’t really considered how it fitted into the overall scheme of things because I couldn’t get to it to dowse it and verify things for myself. Now I knew that my idea wasn’t an isolated crazy notion. Someone else shared my madness, even if Devereux would be horrified by the flakiness of the energy dowsing that he seems to despise so. We had got to the same point by similar means – allowing the hill to speak for itself.

Back to the action. After my connection with the spirit of Silbury (however fleeting or superficial that was) I decided to sit back and admire the Milky Way and Moon combination that was hovering in the sky around me. I propped myself up on my backpack and sat looking directly up into the heart of the Milky Way.

After a few minutes I began to drift into the core of the galaxy, my mind travelling further and further into the dark heart of the universe. Then the Milky Way began to slowly churn around, lazily drifting clockwise around me as I ascended into it. This effect got stronger and faster the longer I held my gaze and suddenly I became cautious and awareness of what was happening dawned on me. As it did so I managed to pull myself free by seeing the periphery of my vision again, unfocusing from the centre. I had known I needed to re-engage with the earth because I was beginning to get physical sensations of nausea accompanying the ‘journey’ and it momentarily made me aware of my body again. I knew this sensation – it was dizziness! My eyes tried to hold onto something nearby, but I was spinning as though I had spun around twenty times! I stood up and fell over again immediately. Wow! What the hell…?

I had to roll myself away from the power centre quickly, I knew that. I crawled on my hands and knees to the rim of the sunken area and grabbed onto a clump of vegetation to steady myself. The feeling passed after a few moments anchored to the rim of the hill. I stared at the power centre where I could make out the shape of my bag in the moonlight, trying to take this in. Sitting and letting my mind wander on that power centre had been a trip and a half! Such an upsurge of energy! Now I was in no doubt at all – this place certainly was a focal point for energy and I had been foolish enough to let myself swim in its effects for a few moments, and was nearly swept away!

David Inshaw's 'Silbury Hill on a Starry Night'

This left me in no doubt – Silbury Hill forms a powerful link with other sites, and is a focal point for all three forms of energy (male, female and neutral) to combine with immense force. I felt that I had to reclaim the use of this site for energetic experimentation. It’s incredibly and indescribably strong and full of potential for shamanic uses. I for one will return again another day or night to work with these energies again.

Gwas.

Positioned on a point of power.

It was late in the day when I pulled up at the small lay-by within plain sight of the huge mound that is Silbury Hill. To my left was my intended destination – to revisit West Kennet Long Barrow. I didn’t expect to have this opportunity again, and I didn’t know if I was ready to go further than I had before, but here I was, so I wasn’t about to waste this opportunity. Besides – as England were playing Croatia in a World Cup qualifying game there was every likelihood that the traffic and the site itself may be less busy than usual, and I would prefer to be alone to do what I wanted to do, which was to complete the experience of meditating in each of the five chambers within the long barrow structure and then see what happened.

As expected there were several other people visiting the barrow. It still amazes me that so many people want to visit these sites, even so late in the evening, because I arrived at around half past seven, as the sun was dropping low om the western sky, filling the area with a pleasing orange hue, contrasted clearly by the bright blue cloudless sky above it. The perfect time for the purpose I was beginning to form in my mind: I was going to see if I could finish the job I half started on my last visit – to go through the barrow’s chambers, meditating in each for the requisite time, to see what the result might be.

Before that there was some dowsing to do. I walked up the long shallow hill to arrive at the front of the barrow, out of sight of the remaining group of fellow ‘crusties’ who were perched on top in the barrow’s saddle, and began some preliminary questioning using the trusted copper rods:-

• Was it a good time to do meditation here? YES.
• Was I in the right physical, mental and spiritual frame of mind to do this work? YES.
• Was I correct in my previous interpretation of the purpose and timings of the chambers within the barrow? YES.

Going well, so far! Very encouraging.

• Would my work be enhanced by the use of crystals? YES – the stones I got from Callenish that I had been using recently were the best ones to use.

I asked whether the procedure was the same as I had worked out previously, involving a specific route up to a power centre on top of the barrow first? YES, and I should wait there until I felt a ‘calling’ to go into the chamber. Then the procedure would be:-

1. Cleansing myself of ‘external’ energies
2. Stating my intention
3. Getting permission from the guardian of the site
4. Re-energising myself
5. Undergoing a transformation process

Was I ready for this? Not really! I had no idea what I wanted to achieve yet, so I followed the rods up the right-hand side of the barrow to find my power centre on top, where I laid out my five Callenish pink granite stones around me in an unusual pattern, roughly circular. The route and location of the centre were exactly them same as on my last visit – every single step was the same. That gave me a level of confidence that my previous findings were accurate. Curiously, I would find when I got back that a kind gentleman from the British Society of Dowsers had posted in the forum saying that he had dowsed my initial findings and confirmed them as accurate in every respect, which was pleasing. Little did he know that I was about to confirm them in a very practical way myself!

I’m not going to reveal what my intention was that I finally formed. Everyone has their own path, and it’s not important to others what one wishes for. In the past I have had great difficulty thinking of anything to want to achieve. Perhaps this is a malaise of the modern world, but for me it was a tricky thing to find a balance between personal gain and the benefit of others – I wanted to achieve something in the world and not simply personal empowerment. Here was a potentially powerful tool that our ancestors had constructed and it must be respected, I felt. Whatever I asked for it would have to be something that would bring wider benefits. I thought of something, and formulated a clear sentence in my mind. Armed with that I felt ready. Well, not quite. I was nervous, and as the last visitors moved away I felt the need to relieve myself in the scrubland alongside the barrow. Hey, it’s a “call of Nature”, right? Maybe that was the signal to begin because then, alone on top of the barrow, I felt ready to go into the barrow and meditate….

About twenty minutes later I emerged. It hadn’t been the vision quest I had been expecting, but something had happened in there. I didn’t feel any different, but I knew something subtle had occurred. I asked the rods to confirm whether I had been successful – YES. Would I notice the difference immediately? NO – it would take several weeks for the change to take effect. OK. I was happy with that, and will look out for that. I may even report back when the change happens, because it will be the culmination of several years worth of effort if it works. I think I should document that if and when such an event occurs, don’t you?

I returned to my power centre to have a think. I sat quietly waiting to see what would happen if I could become as still in my mind as the air was outside now. A picture began to form after a few minutes peace. I saw Nine Ladies stone circle in my mind. A bearded man in a long white robe approached the circle from the moor side and stopped to touch the King Stone quite deliberately. In my mind I heard the term “Heel stone”, though, which is not a term I use, but I understood what was meant by it. Then the man went through all of the stages that I had just been through, but with slight variances. Those stages were

1. Touching the Heel Stone to activate the energy
2. Grounding or cleansing himself on the draining stone in the circle;
3. Walking around the circle clockwise three times stating his purpose
4. Standing in the centre of the circle, giving praise to the sun, moon, stars and the earth, facing north, south, east and west in turn
5. Sitting on a power centre in the circle to charge himself up and then receiving a revelation or inspiration

After this he stood and faced me and I knew that he was now in command of the energies of the stone circle. Now I knew what all this process was about – it was a generic process with slight variances to take account of the type of power place that the work was being performed at. I understood. And I knew that soon I would get a chance to try this out too.

Before I could, something was nagging at me – what was I giving in return for this knowledge? The nag got louder. I got the rods out again to help me, and after a short while I hit upon a positive response: I needed to give something of great value in return for my “gift” that I had meditated for. Well, that was something that I knew earlier cultures did – there are several lakes in North Wales and elsewhere that have been the site for votive gifts. Now I was beginning to understand why. Upon realising this I was restless to go, so I picked up my Callenish stones and packed to leave. All the while the sight of Silbury Hill was drawing me. The light was almost gone now, but there was a hint of lighter sky in the west which silhouetted the hill in a wonderfully dramatic way. Time for more dowsing, I reckoned, but that’s another story.

Gwas.

Putting theory into practice.

If you stand a bit further back when you read this post, say about ten feet away, then the scanned-in pictures in this post take on a whole new perspective. It wasn’t intentional, but when I spotted it I thought I’d leave it like that. Might get you into an unusual conversation with those around you. Don’t worry if you don’t see what I mean – it just means you’re pure of thought

Here’s another topic for your unusual conversation: the function and purpose of an ancient site, specifically West Kennet Long Barrow.  It’s purpose and function may be totally unique to me – I don’t know - so if you have any dowsing or druidry knowledge then perhaps you could verify how much of the following information holds true for you?

Before I decode the purpose, however, let me say a few words about the majestic oak tree at the edge of the ploughed crop field upon which the Long Barrow stands.

This well-balanced oak was awash with dangling trinkets – ribbons, hair bands, bells, even a loveheart perched in the heart of the tree’s canopy. This tree was well adorned. I made a mental note to look for something suitable to add later. Atop the next hill was a curiously geometric sloping mound that was drawing me up the path between the close-cropped fields.

As I approached the top of the hill the entrance to the barrow took me by surprise. Its entrance stones were massive – like huge lower teeth clamping the mound to the land in a pit-bull jaw lock.

I deposited my bag just outside the nemeton energy field of the mound, which for some reason I could visually and energetically distinguish without needing the rods to know it was there, however I still checked. Not quite that confident yet, but getting there. If I was to cross this barrier then I should do so with a little awareness and a bit of an introduction. I got the rods out and asked to locate the entrance to the site. It was a short way back down the approach path, at a fork in the ways where another path crossed. The width of the energy gateway was a few inches wider than the chalk path that streaked across the mouth of the mound.

I asked to go to the ‘most energetic and suitable place for me to sit’. That usually produced good results, and I was led up a small path that snaked up the right front face of the mound, winding past two concrete slabs, to circle around in a spiral just beyond them, before the narrow paths down each side joined. It was slightly warmer on that spot than elsewhere, so I took the chance to sit down and admire the view around from this vantage point. I could see the remains of a crop circle, the greener shoots still swirled in circular counterpoint patterns.

I appreciated the silence as the wind brushed the grass atop this long and wide burial site. I felt like there must have been many a shaman, warrior or nobleman who wished to be buried here, in sight of Silbury Hill, in a mound composed of his or her ancestors. Yet I felt there was much more that was still alive and always had been within this earthen sculpture. This place felt like it still had purpose, and I felt like this was a good day to try to find that purpose out.

I picked up the rods again and asked to be shown the way into the mound. By now there were other tourists milling about, some more intrepid than others, some merely passing through on their way across this unusual landscape. Before I got lost in wondering about their reasons for visiting I dowsed my way down the other side of the mounds steep front slope. A young couple looked on at my activities like they were witnessing their grandmother lead away her imaginary friend. But I was in a zone outside of that space and time, and the rods moved lithely in my hands, tracing a curving flow through the stones that formed a neat mini labyrinth at the entrance. It was only up close that you realised there WAS an entrance. From further away it looked invisible.

I stopped in the sun-trap of a tiny courtyard that formed outside the entrance to the inner sanctum. Glancing up I could see some cup marks and holes int eh very tall middle entrance stone. It almost looked like a face, which made me giggle. HIS house, obviously. I asked quietly for permission to enter and felt no resistance, and so ducked inside into the darkness.

Inside the chamber

There were four neatly sectioned off chambers, two on each side. The entrance to each were curiously individual though. The fifth and largest chamber was facing me twenty feet away at the end of the inner chamber. Soft daylight permeated two glass bricks in the concrete slabs above providing an ambient light which one’s eyes quickly adjusted to. No torch required today. In amongst the other people dipping in and out, admiring the acoustics or the snugness of the four smaller chambers, I found a place for my bag near the entrance and began to dowse. Question after question emerged, and each time I worked rapidly towards finding the purpose of each of the five chambers. I first found the order in which they should be visited (marked as numbers aside each chamber on the diagram below).

Then I drew from everything I had read, and all my experiences of effects within other sacred sites like Bryn Celli Ddu, and I pieced together a sense of the purpose and method of each chamber, finally arriving at a complete vision of how a person could undergo a spiritual transformation by passing through each chamber in turn. Please consider that these steps may be for me alone, yet I felt they had a more general significance, so you might be able to confirm whether that is what you find there too.

This is how I noted the function of the various areas, and the approximate time in minutes that one should remain in there to make the function work for you:

1. For cleansing energies – like stone circle grounding stone – 7 minutes
2. For knowing and stating one’s purpose – having clear intention – 1 minute
3. For contacting the guardian spirit of the place, and for obtaining permission to undergo the transformation – 7 minutes
4. For charging up energies in readiness for the rebirth process or revelation – 1 minute
5. For transformation. A rebirth chamber, possibly using sound to achieve transformation through acoustic resonance – 1 minute

That last bit’s totally made up, but it was just a sense I got from feeling the reverberation from the walls to any sound. Even the thumping of people walking overhead was percussive and primal in that final domed chamber. The whole process could be done in less than twenty minutes if everything went according to plan. Was this too wacky, unfounded, plain made up? Only one way to find out – I’d better have a go!

Behold the orbs

Before I come to that, a word about ORBS.  When I was taking pictures of each of the chambers, for some reason I couldn’t fathom I took two pictures of chamber number four – the energy charging chamber. It had a feather and a small rock at the back of it, which interested me. Seemed like someone had placed a totem object there. Anyway – I took two photos of that – one right after the other, seconds apart. Not realising anything was on there I showed them to M and she pointed out the strange white blob on the second picture. Oh yeah! Then when I loaded up the pictures onto the computer I could see one in the fifth chamber picture too. Again, I had taken two photos of that chamber – one with a flash and one without. Both the pictures that showed an orb had used a flash. Well, there you go then – it was a reflection of a dust particle, that’s all. Well, maybe. The first orb appeared right on top of the totem feather. The second orb in the fifth chamber was hovering over the power centre that I dowsed in there. Slap bang on it – not one inch to the left or right, up or down, just on it. An interesting coincidence, a peculiar trick of the light. These are not the first pictures that Kal and I have taken that include such balls of light. It’s all very interesting given that balls of light are associated with the formation of crop circles. I also noticed that chambers four and five were the two chambers I didn’t feel ready to use yet, until I knew the right things to do in there, and these were the ones in which I photographed an anomalous ball of light.

Here’s the orb in the fourth chamber: notice the feather next to a pale stone at the back of the chamber in the first photo, and how an orb appears above the feather in the second picture. No other strange light phenomenon is evident. No other particles of dust.

The pictures were taken seconds apart, and with the same lighting conditions and camera settings. In the fifth chamber I would capture something similar, again without me realising until I got home that anything else was in the picture in the centre at the bottom of the frame. The glinting ‘eyes’ are pairs of tea light candles decoratively arranged to make an amusing and potentially startling statement:

Some theories have emerged regarding this phenomenon, the most plausible explanation of which is that the flash is picking up specks of dust and reflecting them back into the overall picture, making them seem larger than they are. Very plausible explanation. What I want you to consider, though, is two things. Firstly – why is there only one speck of dust being picked up? Secondly, why do these orbs happen to appear exactly where the centre of the spiralling energy was dowsed? I don’t know what they are, but they keep appearing. Time for a new camera?

Let’s ‘Ave A Go

I retreated to my power centre on top of the mound to mull over my re-discovery. If this sequence was real, and the chambers did what I thought they might, then there was only one way I could prove that – by experience. I would have to go through the process. I had a spare twenty minutes. I wasn’t afraid to die! I wanted to double check first. Had I got the right path for me today to go through the chambers? I dowsed my trail: chamber 1, then 2, then as I entered the third chamber I started an inward spiral into the power centre in the middle. NO! What was this? Stuck at the third chamber? Not enough energy? Wrong day or time? No – something to do with the purpose of the third chamber….I knew I wouldn’t be able to tune into the spirit of the place at this time. It was either the wrong time, or I wasn’t ready. Either way, it wasn’t going to happen today.

Disappointed, but still elated at my findings, I packed to go. I said my farewells and vowed to return when I was ready for the experience. On the way out I couldn’t help but glance up to see the laughing face of the tall stone guardian that mocked with a wide grin. Well, one day soon I’d learn that lesson and would be back to undergo the transformation process. Then I would know whether I was in any way right about how this site worked. I chose my paths carefully as I left, leaving no trace of having been there, except a marker saying “I’ll be back“.

As I strode down the hill between the ploughed and cut fields I enjoyed the sight and fragrance of the wayside wild flowers. Seeing one plant’s tendrils wrapped around another I excused myself, explained myself, and plucked them. These two would form a perfect parting gift to the old oak tree to show my gratitude. I wove a cross-shaped dolly from the flowers and tied it to the tree. This action seemed to rouse the cattle int he field and they began to hasten towards me, following me through the nearby open gateway into the next field. I remembered an old wives saying about cows and rain, and checked the sky – sure enought eh clouds were forming not many miles away. Briefly chatting to a nice Polish man about ancient civilisations, I made my way back to SIlbury Hill and then headed off home in the trusty Peugeot. For some reason I had called it a day at that!

Gwas

Finding a level.

As fortune would have it – I set off at about 6am on a fine summer’s day heading southward to meet up with Lucy Pringle and a few other cohorts to tour around some of 2009′s crop circles in Wiltshire.

I arrived at Silbury Hill (our meeting place) at 10:00 am on the dot to find it pouring with rain – nothing new there then! We all clambered into the least number of cars possible and set of for the first circle.

Which indeed was a circle unlike most others which can be described as crop patterns. Anyway this circle was pretty un-assuming as a 10 page trawl on Google didn’t find any reference to it!

Anyway the circle had two arms coming off at opposite ends and internally was split into f0ur sectors. The crops were flattened in such a way that they were matted – kind of like a checkers board. Strange thing was that opposite segments were thatched the opposing way so that the four sectors looked – dark – light – dark – light.

Ok – enough description – what about the dowsing…?

Well – the circle’s energy was much less than any stone circle I have visited. It had an entrance – which happened to be where our party entered. It had two power centres which were about ten feet either side of the entrance and some ten feet into the circle. Both the power centres and the circle itself were female energy. And that’s how far I got with that one before the group disembarked … a bit of a touristy bunch if you ask me.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention one thing. The circle had a diameter of about 60 meters and an aura which extended some 100 meters!

The above is the second circle we went to. Wow! It is quite near a road and easy to get to. The rain had eased off and so we spent some time in this one – thank the stars!

Ok, I asked if the whole circle itself had a power centre – yes! If you look at the pic above and start at the arm that has a missing ring. Using that as 1, count the arms left ways and when you get to arm 3 then using the centre circle as 1 count outwards 5 circles. in this circle, near one edge was the power centre of the whole thing!

How big is this CC? Well see the really tiny circles on the arms? those were about 5 ft wide!

I got a lot of info from this circle about the makers – hold on to your hats!!

• was this circle made by humans? no!
• was it made by aliens? yes
• are these aliens denizens of this planet – i.e. some kind of fairy type creature? no
• are these aliens from another planet? yes
• are they still here? yes
• do they live here now? yes
• did they use some machine to make these? yes
• did the machine use EMF? yes
• did this EMF propel the wind? yes

You have to understand that there were a lot of questions in between that I got “no”‘s to!

• is this crop circle of benefit to us? yes
• is it of benefit to the aliens? yes

And after this unbelievable exchange we were off to the next CC!

The Serpent God

Wow – what a crop circle this is…right by Silbury Hill. Here I spent some time finding energy paths through the paths that make up the pattern. I also confirmed the answers above for this circle too.

Note: It often happens that when Gwas and I are dowsing energy patterns at home or looking for energy entities – we come across some kind of mental barrier – as if the energies don’t want to be dowsed (anthropomorphising?) or that they have some kind of deflection around them – which means that – we will often just forget to dowse, or just do something else instead. Only to recall afterwards that we were “supposed to be dowsing”. We have been able to get round this on the 3rd/4th attempt by really “consciously” reminding ourselves to do it.

The reason I mention this is because at the circles I felt the same – a kind of lethargy towards wanting to dowse – I had to fight this a lot to get even the work above done. To this end Gwas and I intend to return to visit some crop circles in a week or two to garner further information.

On the above circle – there are a couple of really interesting things to note (from the point of view of its creation). Looking at the picture you see there is an outer circle – then a sort of semi circle – where the corn thins out in the middle of it and also another semi circle where the corn thins out at the outer points. When I was there – looking at these “thinning edges” they were really fine – I can’t see how they were made by some machinery of terrestrial origin!

It was quite nice wondering around this “serpent god” and dowsing was left aside as the sun revealed itself and we took the time to just enjoy being out and about.

Is it a Real crop circle?

From the above crop circle – which was on a hill – we spied another about a mile away. During the trip so far I had made a new friend in the person of one Hanna, from Finland. Together we decided to go and examine this crop circle.

Along the road we got a bit confused as to which path to take that would lead us to the circle – fortunately the rods did a good job of directing us. So it was about half an hour later we were at the circle we spied. It was laid out like a paired yin/yang design…

As Hanna and I walked up to the circle we found that a couple of our fellow tour groupies were returning from it – they had not been impressed and thought that this one was a fake! We carried on to see for ourselves. Hanna – who had spoken with our tour leader about it earlier had said that Lucy considered it to be genuine.

According to the picture we arrived either from the left or right along the middle track. I could see immediately why the other members had put it down as a fake. Although it looks quite clean cut from the air – take a look at this picture from the ground (all are on this website where they claim that this one is real!).

Can you see how the crop is lifting up and also the edges are not smooth? If you visit the link above you can go to the site this image was taken from and see a much larger view as well as other pics.

A lot of the crop in the “flattened” area was not as flattened as the other circles we had visited. Hmmm…As Hanna wandered over to go and speak to/observe a group of people meditating – I did some dowsing.

• Was this crop circle made by aliens? No
• Was it made by humans?Yes
• Is this then a fake crop circle?Yes

Er…what else is there to say? Hanna returned and I informed her of my findings, she was half convinced from the layout of the crop. But I could see she was still leaning towards wanting to agree with our tour leader, Lucy. I had given Hanna a quick lesson in dowsing up on the serpent and she had proved quite skilful – so I handed her the rods and said “Check for yourself“. I lay basking in the sun whilst she wandered back and to with the rods, occasionally shaking her head. Finally she returned to where I was sat and dropped the rods at my feet, “its fake” she said in her Finnish tinged accent – with some disappointment. I shrugged and we both walked away feeling a bit cheated. On the way down Hanna bumped into a person who had spoken on crop circles a week ago at a symposium she had attended in Glastonbury – as she passed him by she shouted, “Don’t bother. Its a fake” – She had become a believer in dowsing intuition!

All in all, quite a good first trip to crop circle land. Definitely requires one or two more trips. Also there are many more questions to be asked…particularly around the “why” of these as well as whether there is any relevance to “all” the crop circle <-> 2012 connection(s).

Stay tuned!

Kal

PS – you should see some of the images and article on the site linked above…for example here is another image close-up of the crops in another (2008) crop circle…

Compare the “flat-ness” of the crops in both these pics – clearly the bottom one has more foundation for being a true CC. Maybe the Yin/Yang one was made with a blunted alien machine?

PPS – Aliens?