The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘transformation’

This week Kal and I visited a graveyard in the small village of Rhosesmor in North Wales. Kal had been there previously on the recommendation of a friend who had talked of the unusual atmosphere of the place, and how it was surrounded by ancient yew trees. During the visit Kal and I both surveyed the site with dowsing rods, and meditated under the canopy of a triangle of yews.

We dowsed quickly, affirming some of Kal’s previous findings concerning the location of power centres for each other respectively. Soon we decided that meditation was the order of the evening, and so found places close to each other in a triangle of yews to one side of the graveyard. After settling down, quietening and protecting ourselves we each went into our own meditation. Here’s what I found out from this encounter with one of nature’s teachers concerning the subject of rebirth and transformation.

Rebirth

1. Asked about the process of rebirth:  the tree showed me someone having a revelation after a near-death peak experience. I compared this with Hamish Milller’s near-death experience and how that turned him on to dowsing.
2. Asked if there was a slower way of achieving the same result, and the tree showed me smaller time slices but emphasised that each slice should work on a particular aspect to be changed, eventually achieving the same ends as the revelatory approach.
3. Asked where this should be done and I flicked through several typical types of megalithic site in my mind, hoping that the tree would show me which type I could use. It responded that each site is unique. Unique, like each type does one thing? No, unique in every respect – the energies it transforms, the memories it holds, the effects it can have. Each site has a unique combination of energy fields, and you need to find the one that fits you at the time that you need it in order to transform and rebirth yourself into a higher state of mind.

Lessons about the life force

Then I was swept up inside the tree’s inner core. Inside I could see the inner life force of the tree snaking upwards, its lively redness coiling and curling up and down inside the tree. Around it was a thin black sheath forming the inner core.  It showed me that this life force is always active, even when the exterior is dormant or appears dead. That’s just a shield to the world. Inside the life force flows excitedly. I knew that this life force was fed by the death energies and earth energies around the graveyard.

Transformation

1. The yew tree told me that when I go through transformation experiences I should retract an inner core of my own life force energy. When the outer shell of my body was cleansed I could then let my life force flow back into the body’s field and I would re-fill the empty vessel I was previously, but still with an inner core that was me up until that point.
2. I suddenly saw that the inner core that was black in this tree was very thin. Like the tree, I too had such an inner core of blackness. The tree showed me that it had to work on removing those inner darknesses until the majority of its trunk was its natural reddish colour. Only a thin sheath of black remained inside. I saw that this was a state that I would progress towards by working on my own inner weaknesses. Each transformation would be a rebirth process and would thin that inner dark core a little more each time.

This was the lesson of the yew tree concerning rebirth and transformation.

Gwas.

Learning every day.

In August of 2008 Kal and I visited several sou-terrains (chambers constructed by the placement of supporting stones and a large capstone, often beneath alternating layers of clay and earth). At each site we visited we asked the dowsing rods whether the purpose of the site was the burial of the dead. Our responses led us to the following conclusions:-

• Dead people had been buried at these sites, but in very small numbers
• The burials we performed much later in the development of the site, not as part of its initial construction
• The primary purpose of such sites was for the transformation of consciousness (to connect with another form of intelligence)

During these investigations we repeatedly got this intuitive response – so much so that we began to get rather annoyed by the labelling of the sites as “burial chambers” because to us this was clearly not the case to us.

David Cowan in a souterrain

During this Winter I have started to dig into my ever-expanding collection of books about earth energies, and thankfully I have re-discovered David Cowan‘s amazing work that he did up in Perthshire decoding the cup-mark ley systems that he spent many years travelling with dowsing rods.

As well as opening my eyes to a previously unexplored connection with The Dead, in terms of the energy that recent or notable burials can engender into such circuits of energy, he has confirmed for me the true purpose of the chamber sites that we have been exploring. Here is what he says about it:

“If the energy from cup-marked stones can, indeed, allow access to the system for the spirits of the dead, then it must also do the same for the living, so building an underground chamber or souterrain with a powerful cup-marked capstone in the roof and below it, in the passage, another upright inside the entrance so that initiates, wizards or shamans could meditate or perhaps retrieve knowledge would be an important part of the ceremonies of the ancients. The Native Americans had a similar procedure, building subterranean kiva (magnetic chambers), where they could achieve lucid dreaming and imagery, helped by hallucinogenic plants.”

“Ancient Energies of the Earth” – Ch.14 ‘Rebuilding the Ancient Magic’ pp.170-171.

It seems that field work does eventually yield concrete results, even if you can’t immediately get the confirmation that your rational side craves.

Related posts:

• Trance-formations in Lligwy Chamber
• Lligwy Chamber: a tranformational vision
• Bryn Celli Ddu visit in August
• Bryn Celli Ddu visit in July

Gwas.

Follow to the hollow.

3rd November 2008

This is part two of a three part account of our time at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire. We visited in the late winter evening and in this part we found out the importance of particular stones in the circle.

PART TWO

We continued our dowsing in the moonlit deep and misty darkness of Stanton Moor’s finest neolithic structure – The Nine Ladies stone circle.

Something important would be revealed to me soon – I could feel it. This is how it had worked so far. I was sure there could be a confidence in this notion if I played by the rules and didn’t blow it. So many ways to fail – you have to develop the desire to have a resolute intention, yet passively impartial enough to assess the information you receive with both sides of your brain. Achieving balance is the druidic way I was following. Balance ensures grace. Grace provides a connection between body and spirit, and my mind with these ancient site spirits, whatever their energetic make-up. So I needed balance. Kal pointed to the flat stone that looked like a perfect seat. “The grounding stone?” he suggested.

We had identified this particular flat-topped square stone in the northern side (due north), when we had dowsed the circle earlier, as being a stone that had a mixture of male and female energies. When we sat upon it there was the distinct impression that something was being drawn out of you slowly. If you sit on such stones in circles for more than a few minutes you feel sapped of energy, literally lethargic and your mind is drained of will power – you can’t think of anything worth doing! It’s very strange. You have to try to shake yourself out of it – almost re-invigorating yourself to make neurons fire again and generate some momentum. Kal called these stones “grounding stones”, which contains the implication of in some way discharging the body of electrical energy, of neutralising it.

A test of this phenomenon might be to identify people with different energy levels, and to see what effect the stones have on them. Is the draining effect stronger on those with more energy? Would this mean that we should see the greatest effect with such people, the greatest degree of change in mood and activity? We will check this in due course.

In addition to any grounding effect Kal identified that this stone would also be the stone to re-balance any imbalances in our own energy fields. I have little experience in such things, so I am open to simple experimentation, and I usually try these things out. This time I found that when I sat on it I got the same draining effect which I left until the very last moment when I felt I had enough will power to do what I needed to do next! Which was to head for the main power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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. to “re-charge” myself – which it duly did, and very quickly. I noticed this at Cerrig Pryfaid recently too. A discharged body feels a much greater surge of energy when standing on a power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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. in a stone circle than if you are already well balanced and full of energy. Feel free to disagree with that outrageous generalisation and irrational assumption as you see fit. I would go test it for myself, if I were you.

I remember walking for over and hour and a half, and finally up a very steep hill to get to Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire (see previous post). By the time we arrived at the stunning cromlech I was exhausted on what was a very warm day. I will never forget the feeling that both M and I got from standing with our backs to the central pillar stone. It was a surge of joyful energy so emboldening that I burst out laughing and had a moistness in the corners of my eyes. It was that incredible. Never forget it. I haven’t laughed so much since the last time I saw Bill Hicks. Except this was a rush of pure joy. An ecstatic moment.

Oh, I’m rambling again. Back to the story for a brief spell (there’s one of those puns again). Feeling re-invigorated we wondered at the purpose of these stones. Were they for discharging energies that were blocked, absorbed by people, or built up to harmful levels? How was this stone being powered? What was the nature of the energy exchange in and around this stone?

Kal identified that the stone was the most important stone in the circle, but not the most important at the whole site – that was the King Stone. Again we spent a moment considering the implications of this gnowledge we had been given by the dowsing rods. Even if we were merely expressing some of our own guesses at a subconscious level this was taking us in an interesting and very coherent direction. It was suggesting to us that the King Stone as the engine of the energies. With it being the source of the twin energy streams that formed the double helix which ultimately encircled the whole site the King Stone was vital, in every sense of that word, to the functioning, the correct and continued functioning of the circle’s energies. This was a very important working assumption that felt like confirmation of something we had guessed but never really thought about.

Recently, after this episode, I found a site where energies were again fed into the circle by an outlying stone, and which also split into two streams – a male line going anti-clockwise around to join a large circle stone, and the female line that went in a clockwise direction to also re-join in the same large stone. Clearly, to me, this was showing me that the circle was powered, and its energies contained, by the outlier, or King stone, and that the two streams formed a complete circuit of energy. Does this specific formation occur naturally anywhere else? Has anyone found such a formation anywhere else? I haven’t heard of anything like that elsewhere, or found anything similar at natural features such as Lud’s Church ravine, or in a cave. In places such as that the energies are much more organically distributed and connected, whereas at man-made sites the energies form geometric patterns, shapes and alignments.

So, what was the grounding stone’s part in the circle. Kal identified that it was important to the circle, and it’s functions. We determined to find out a bit more about its function. I suggested we start by determining how the stone was using energy. For every question we asked we told each other what we were going to ask so that we could do the same. Even though we were only feet away I couldn’t see what Kal was doing other than making out that his shape was getting larger as he moved forwards. Well, another validating test, I mused. We looked up at the bright full moon. Hmmm. We asked about the stone:-

• Was there moon energy going into this stone? – Yes. Strongly yes. Full across-the-chest crossing of the rods.
• Was there sun energy going into this stone? – A tiny bit. A tiny bit? Well, we considered, moonlight is actually reflected sunlight, so…. we suppose that’s technically correct!
• Was there star energy going into this stone? – Yes. A small amount. A bit more than the sun energy registered for.
• Was there male energy going into the stone? – Yes.
• Was there female energy going into the stone? – Yes. Oh – so both – that confirms our earlier dowsing findings.
• Was there neutral energy going into the stone? – No.
• Were male/female/neutral energies coming out of the stone? All three got a positive response.
• What about a combination of the types? Was the sun energy the same as the male energy? Yes. And the moon energy was the same as the female? Yes. Was the star energy the neutral energy? No. So there was some 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. there, but neutral was not the same as starlight energy.

On to questions about how the stone worked now. Still with us? Good. We asked:-

• Was the stone absorbing the moon and other energies? Yes. Tonight it was predominantly the moon, of course. You could almost feel it being stood over it – the top of the stone was perfectly reflecting the moon directly above it. It looked like a lunar and solar panel. not forgetting starlight.
• Was the stone literally transforming the moonlight and starlight into energy that fed into the circle? Yes. Strongly yes. Strongly is not the right word. More…encouraging: “Well done, you’ve got it!”. It’s funny, You feel a little pleased during the reaction of the rods that you asked the correct question.
• Were the male and female energies coming out of the stone powered by that transformation of energies? Yes. I’m giving you the highlights here.

There were some stupid questions that I’ve omitted for brevity (Ha ! Brevity !) and you’ll know which those are as soon as you dowse them. I try to ignore my stupid questions and hope they’ll go away in their own time.

Our next set of questions related to, well, how we related to the stone. How else can I say it? We didn’t intend it that way, but that was how it turned out. I asked whether the stone was inherently ‘male’ in itself. I got a positive response. Kal did the question and got the same response. I asked if it was also female. It was. Kal dowsed it and got his funny reaction again. He got one rod turning in at 90 degrees, the other didn’t move. Aha! A chance to see if we could work this out. I got Kal to ask exactly what I had asked. Same response. But I got a positive response – clear – typical. Kal’s was atypical, that’s for sure.

I asked a straight out direct question. Was the reaction Kal was getting due to our own differences as people? Yes. Kal confirmed this as he dowsed the same question. We already knew that Kal had more favourable responses, and was intuitively guided to, power centres of pre-dominantly male energy, whereas I had an affinity for the female power centres. Here was Kal being unable to dowse for the inherent female-ness of the stone, but he could for the male. Under the strong moonlight I could do both. Was the moon having that effect, or was there the possibility that the roles may be reversed elsewhere in bright sunlight? We wait for some bright sunlight to test this! It is winter in England.

Sunlight is at a premium!

Gwas

Follow a moonlit path.

East Wales, Sunday 12th October 2008

1. Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall

We started our day in bright sunshine, heading south towards the town of Oswestry on the A483, close to the border between England and Wales. Three times previously Kal and I had tried to find a waterfall called Pistyll Rhaeadr. I think our misdirection had come from a mapping web site’s mistake which meant we were looking in totally the wrong area! This time I had prepared – I had cross-checked, double-checked and validated the directions until I could do them in my sleep. This time – we found it. As we approached the view was stunning….

The road to the waterfall was narrow and winding, but that morning we encountered no problems with other traffic. We parked at the base and headed straight to the bottom of the falls. A few other people were knocking about too. I headed off to the far side, across a bridge, and up onto the slope amid the pine trees to get a better place to take photo from. On the little promentary I could only see the waterfall in front of me, and it felt like I was alone with the tumult of water. I stood soaking in the awe-inspiring power of the falls, and feeling the light mist of droplets wash my face. Stood there with my staff it felt wonderful to be alive. I drew in that feeling, deep into myself.

When I glanced over to Kal, he was slithering around on the flat rocks in the river trying also to get a good photo opportunity – splosh! Oops! I caught a sneaky picture of him standing deep in the water and laughed heartily – sorry, Kal! Looks like a damp start to a sunny day!

We hiked to the top of the waterfall (Kal took a little persuading – heights are not his favourite places). We found, on arriving, the most beautiful glades next to the gently rippling and fluming river that suddenly plummeted over the sheer precipice that forms the waterfall. It all had a very druid-like atmosphere and I felt very comfortable there.

2. Take your medicine

I had a headache which had persisted from the previous evening. I couldn’t relax and enjoy the surroundings with this tight head. I looked to the largest tree which stood in the lovely glade. I walked towards the tree by passing between two unusually placed stones. I asked to approach the tree respectfully, then placed my bottle of water in a handy knot-hole in the tree’s trunk. The tree allowed me into it’s enfolding nemeton, and I relaxed, seeking communion.

When connection was established I asked for assistance in getting rid of my headache. The answer came gently: “Take of the waters.” Just that. How quaint! I hadn’t heard that syntactical construct for years..”Take of…”. Lovely. The water had a brown rust tint to it, so I wasn’t keen on drinking it – nevertheless I carefully gathered some in an empty water bottle and sipped a bit. Yikes! Not the nicest I’ve tasted!

Minutes later we had ventured down to the, seemingly, purpose-made rock shelter that overlooked the head of the falls. My headache was still there. Then Kal had his boots off and was paddling in the river! Was he crazy? He invited me in too – no way! However, he persuaded me it was a nice feeling on the smooth pebbles in the shallow section, so I walked in too. It was freezing!!! But lovely. When I got out I realised my headache had gone. I had “taken of the waters” and was cured of my malady. Just coincidence I’m sure.

We dried our feet by lying with our feet in the sun beneath this superlative rock formation, gazing peacefully out over the head of the falls into the quiet valley beyond. “This is a good place to meditate.” Kal stated. Indeed it was.

We gathered our things together, put our boots back on, and I retrieved my staff, which I had placed in a slot between two rocks that was, well, almost custom made for it! See for yourself in this photo:

Before we left I picked out two smooth rocks from the river which appealed to me: one hand-sized and flat, the other the same size but round and with thick marbled veins. Handy for later, I thought to myself. With that, we descended back down the hill to head off to Llandrillo, on the other side of the mountains to Pistyll Rhaeadr.

Llandrillo – Moel-Ty-Uchaf circle

Kal and I have discussed this stage of the visit, and have considered that the whole episode was sublimely balanced, instead of, as we expected, an exultant experiment in energy work. It seems that Nature has a way of keeping the energy work within certain parameters, and with us being so powerfully energised and eager to dowse after visiting the waterfall, well, our positive energies got balanced out by a strong negative influence. The end product was a satisfactory and balanced result, which was more fitting. Let me explain!

1. The Lost Sheep

On the long steep slog up from the outskirts of Llandrillo village towards Moel-Ty-Uchaf we met a farmer blocking the road. He had stopped to rescue a young sheep that had got itself stuck between the wire fence and the short hawthorn hedge on the edge of the field next to the road. On our last visit we remembered coming down from Moel-Ty-Uchaf and finding a lamb in the road which had broken free from its designated field and was eager to return to its mother. On that occasion we helped by herding it back until it found the break in the hedge from which it had squeezed an exit. Now here we were helping again! We noted the coincidence, and forged upwards once the young sheep was safely on its way, thanks mainly to the rugged tugs of the old farmer, for whom this must be a daily occurrence.

As we got within a few minutes of the stone circle I got out my new list of dowsing questions. I had a new category: “Questions to ask on approaching a sacred site“. We will publish this list soon, once we tidy the post up a little. From this set of questions we determined that today was a good day for doing energy work, that we were in the right frame of mind, but that everything was not in order – a malevolent influence or unhealthy energy stream was causing dysfunction at the circle. We decided to wait until we were at the circle before we delved any deeper. This level of dowsing questions seems to be more effective the closer you are to the source of your inquiry. Of course this would be contradicted by quantum theory, in which distance would not need to be considered, but we have found that stronger readings are possible, and answers are clearer the closer you get to the source or object of the query. The circle was undeniably registering some sort of imbalance, and that was enough to spur us on.

We reached the knoll near the circle’s King Stone and parked ourselves in unceremonious exhaustion, to drink in the view over the western range of hills and lush Welsh valleys. Are you sure this is October in Britain? We were sweating like a nun’s…never mind.

After a few minutes of relaxation we grabbed our dowsing rods and started asking our next set of questions concerned with finding the layout and energy types that make up the outline and patterns of the site. We started at the King Stone and asked about its relevance to the site. One glance and Kal saw the face in the rock! Just like the stones at sites such as Lligwy Chamber and Alderley Edge (see previous posts on those sites). Interestingly, the top three holes form the layout of the three key energy points within the circle – the two power centres are the right eye and nose, whilst the left eye is the large female rectangular stone that dominates the northern edge. Their spacing proportions you should check with the map I drew of the energies in our Sacred Sites section. Look for Moel-Ty-Uchaf. Sometimes we find these “maps” on outlying stones – take a look at the outlying stones at Nine Ladies in Derbyshire, for example.

Kal dowsed that its eye sockets were a good place to leave our bottles of water, so we put them there and wandered off to the circle itself. later Kal would grab his water and decide it wasn’t such a good place after all! If you check the diagram you’ll see that he put his bottle where the female stone is – he has more affinity with male energies. My bottle was on the female power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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.’s location. I felt no such qualms at leaving the water there. Coincidences, only coincidences.

2. Describing The Circle

As we approached the circle we asked whether there was any particular entrance point – No, came the reaction of the rods. We instinctively wandered around to the northern side and began to ask more questions about the purpose of the site – was it for healing? No, not healing. What about communication? A slight reaction. OK, so not it’s primary purpose. Was it used for spiritual transformation? Yes. Strongly, yes.

We moved into the circle to look for the power centres. Kal found the same one he had last time, and I did the same. Kal’s registered as a male energy centre. Mine was a female centre. Typical! We’ve found this before at other sites too, although we don’t often find two centres in one circle.

We dowsed for any connection between the centres, as we had found at Arbor Low. Indeed there was. A neutral line connected the power centres. Kal dowsed further. We dowsed for aerial and underground lines – yes – they were there too. Also of a neutral type. But there was more to this connection than just its 3D neutral connections – there was a female line that went either side of the central mound that formed the centre of the circle. The lines (neutral and female) could be traced going into either side of the large rectangular stone that stood out in the northern edge of the stone circle. Intriguing, that they seemed to form a circuit weaving underground, along the ground and through the air as they traced paths through the three main elements of the female power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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., the male power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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. and then the large stone, and back.

Kal then dowsed for radial (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.) leys running through the site and reported back that there were three lines that intersected close to the centre of the circle, running in the two main cardinal directions of North-South and East-West, but also one running NE-SW too. One seemed to be missing….

3. Hairy circles and a male embrace

The circle felt similar to The Nine Ladies circle in Derbyshire, so, like that circle I dowsed each stone for a reaction. Like Gors Fawr in Pembrokeshire too, this circle had a male spiral emanating from every alternate stone, and a female counterpart spiral on the inside. When drawn out it looked like a beard of spirals inside and outside the circle! You can’t get a more endearing image of gender equality than hairy males and females!

Our last ‘topograhical’ question concerned the male lines. The female lines were in the circle itself (again, a regular occurrence now). We dowsed inside and out for male lines and found one coming from each side of the King Stone, curling to an end alongside the northern and southern extremes outside the stones of the circle. It looked like the King Stone was embracing or cupping the circle! Like a game of ‘cup and ball’ (see Blackadder II for that reference: “How about a game of cup and ball and a slap-up tea at Mrs. Miggins’ pie shop?“).

We stepped out of the circle to do some testing of the perimeter. How far did the circle’s nemeton (or auric edge) extend? About ten feet, we found. We checked the direction of flow of the nemeton – anti-clockwise. Was that right? Surely not! We asked if this was having a beneficial effect on the circle’s energy systems – very strongly NOT. OK – but was the effect simply a matter of the time of day, or the time of year? Was it a normal effect that needed no attention? We double and triple checked our findings with variations on the questions. The answers all came back quickly and strongly – ‘Something should be done to correct this‘ – that is the purpose of your visit. Point taken. We can take a hint! This was an effect to consider correcting. However, we still had some more questions.

4. Rainbows and cute reactions

Further to our experiences with rainbow colour reactions at Runcorn Hill we tested for rainbow colours moving in from about twenty feet away. At ten feet we got the nemeton’s edge and it read for the colour ‘red’. Then we did ‘orange’, ‘yellow’, ‘green’, ‘blue’, ‘indigo’ and ‘violet’. We consistently got them in that order, but always at different widths from each other! Again we checked our results. Same. We picked random colours from the list – same results. OK. That tallies with our initial efforts at Runcorn Hill where we got that effect, but then as we agreed on questions to ask our results began to merge together. A lesson there. Today we kept our questions to ourselves!

We were just about to stop dowsing when Kal moved towards the circle and got a funny reading close to the circle’s outer edge – one rod was stiffly pointing straight forward, and the other had swung inwards at a 90 degree right angle. He tried again, Same result! “Hey – come and look at this!” he shouted to me. “What did you ask for?” I said, curiously. “A power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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. for spiritual transformation.” he said. Strange! We never get this odd reaction of one rod doing something different to the other!!! I tried. I got the same! It felt weird though, not like a normal reaction, and this formation wasn’t even in our dictionary! I walked slowly forwards, close to the circle. The left-hand rod continued to swing around, now pointing straight back at me, then stopped moving and went stiff like the right-hand rod. “Hey Kal – it’s turned right around, and what’s with this static solid right hand business?” I asked. We looked at each other blankly. What did this mean? We were very confused. Without any question being asked the rods were determinedly pointing in opposite directions along a North-South axis, through the gap in the southern side of the circle.

We shrugged and decided to peg out one of the female and male spirals with some ribbon Kal had bought, and some plastic pegs I had acquired for the purpose.

5. Transformers – robots in disguise.

We cleared the circle and commenced our energy work. As usual we had no pre-prepared ritual or script – this would all be done intuitively, and with dowsing to direct us. We asked if we should sit on our respective centres – Yes. Should Kal use the transformational power of this circle? No. Should Gwas use a druid connection to reverse energy flow – Yes. My turn to be the focal point, then. OK. I was ready, excited even.

Should we use crystals to focus the energies? – No. Oh! OK. Let’s see what happens. All we know is that we need to reverse the nemeton’s energy direction. Let’s see how it goes! Kal sat on his male centre. I walked around tapping my two stones against the stones with cup-mark depressions in them. Kal meditated. I asked him later if the sound had had any affect? No. Except to form a beat to meditate to. I hadn’t felt anything whilst doing it. I’ll try vibrational sound when I go somewhere a bit quieter.

I took my two stones from the top of Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall and placed the flat one underneath me, put my staff across my lap, and held the second stone in cupped hands. I meditated to try connecting to the energies of the site. Kal got up and started walking around the circle carrying his rods. I started to quieten my thoughts and relax into the energies of the site so that I could feel them. After a minute I was beginning to make progress, and barely noticed Kal parading around the circle’s outer edge.

6. The adrenal dump of Negatives

Suddenly there was a man’s voice! He quickly approached up the southern slope, and stopped at the southern gap, shouting questions at Kal with a very aggressive rather than inquisitive manner. Asked what the tapping noises were. Kal deflected his questions with innocent, curt, closed answers and carried on walking. I tried to block him out and maintain search for connection, but I could feel the huge amount of negative energy this man had brought with him seeping into the circle as he walked around with Kal, still quizzing him as he walked around, standing very close to him, observing.

“Are you doing a ritual?” – “What are you doing?” – “What was that tapping noise?” – “Did you know this site is protected by English Heritage, you know that?” – “Have you got the permission of the farmer? He looks after this site…..” The questions came regularly and I faltered in my concentration, becoming bound up in thoughts of this intruder into our work. I hadn’t put up a protective shell or circle to protect against this. This is exactly what Emma Restall-Orr warned about, as have many other druid books on these subjects. Oh no!

Kal started to clank together his dowsing rods as though to ward the stranger off! I wasn’t going to be phased by the commotion, though. I pushed out a protective ball of light which described my nemeton, and hardened it against noise and the negative energy. Then I imagined energy flowing through me from the sun, drawing it down into the stone, through my staff, and into the smaller stone I was sitting on. From there is circled around the inner circle, to Kal’s power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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., and then to the female rectangular stone, back around the inside of the circle underground, and back to me. Then it described the same path but in its opposite form – through the air, along the earth, underground, and back to me. And this flow got stronger and faster as I held the vision.

At first my eyes were following the flow easily, soon the flow was going around this 3D lightbulb formation that the inner energy paths were describing – but now too quickly to follow as a flow, it became the image of a glowing lightbulb. As I realised this the flow broke out to spin around the inside of the circle, sunwise. As this flow too became too quick to follow – forming a complete ring of energy with no gaps – so it moved through the female stone out to the outer edge of the circle’s nemeton.

On the outer edge the energy flowed sunwise, faster and faster as Kal walked around and around, seeming to pull it along with him until it overtook him. The energy became a complete band of light spinning around the circle clockwise inside and out and around the lightbulb formation in a dizzying formation that reminded me of those long-exposure photographs of car lights at night where the lines all merge into a blur of white curved lines.

7. Blissed out but chastened

At that moment I came slowly back to an awakened state. I felt blissful. I saw Kal slowing to stop, and he looked over at me as he came back towards me. We knew we had done something positive, despite the presence of the inquisitive walker. I placed the stone I was holding on top of the stone I had been sitting on and walked towards Kal and the stranger.

Kal stormed past me onto his power centreA place where a person of a particular 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. (see ‘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.’) 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. and sat with his eyes closed, in a quite deliberate disconnection from communication with the stranger. Still feeling blissed out, but ensuring that my nemeton was firm and strong (I could almost see it at that point) as I gauged the distance to stand so that the man could feel its outer edge. Kal later told me that he had assisted me in protecting myself by imagining a protective sphere around me as well as himself (a ‘shell’ he calls it). I’m sure the positive vibes helped, because I was able to chat and answer his questions easily, and maintained an air of assuredness and content which seemed to neutralise his pointed questioning. Instead I ended up questioning him! “And so what is your purpose in visiting stone circles?” I asked forthrightly. He swayed a touch and muttered something about “History, and a bit of spirituality.” Indeed. Why not?

8. Manifestly a manifestation

Kal awoke and stated we needed to leave. We gathered up our belongings. Before I left I dowsed to see if there was a manifestation where I had been sitting (marked by Kal in the picture above) – a small four petalled flower had formed, interwoven with four larger petals that reached to touch the circle’s stones. I smiled.

We dowsed the nemeton again to check which direction the energy flowed in. It was now strongly flowing in a sunwise direction – clockwise. I had learned a lesson in protection. I had sounded the stones thinking I was connecting with the circle, or generating positive energies, when actually it seemed to draw towards us an incarnation of negative energy! When it happened I hadn’t protected myself against the effects of this and had to struggle to maintain discipline of mind to ignore his activities and deflect his bad energies. As we were leaving the stranger drifted down the hill awa from the circle. Within moments he had disappeared beneath the slope’s convex horizon.

I will endeavour to remember to invoke this protective sphere myself whenever I need to work again. Emma Restall-Orr says it, several other books about druid magic say it, the diminutive gentleman at Alderley Edge couldn’t contain himself from telling me that I should, and was astonished when I said I didn’t. Even my thick skull can sometimes be porous enough to absorb information. Lesson learned.

Gwas

Cup and ball – Holy Grail

Anglesey, Wales – August 25th, 2008

This is the third and final part of a three part story about the sites in Anglesey that we dowsed in late August 2008. In this part of the story you find the protagonists winging their merry way towards the north-eastern part of Anglesey, close to the coastal town of Moelfre

As the afternoon was ending and early evening was coming upon us the sun was beginning to move quickly towards the horizon. We still had several hours of light yet, but wanted to spend time at the Lligwy complex where there was an ancient settlement (not another!) and a stone chamber that sounded like more fun. As we approached on the narrow roads, dodging oncoming traffic, we saw a sign which we had seen a couple of times that day: an AA sign for “Songs from Stones“. We took an educated guess at what that was, and I considered whether we might host our own “gig” at some sites soon – Kal and I playing drums and whatever to get some vibrations going! Turned out to be an idea which we implemented sooner than expected. However, ‘Songs from Stones’ turned out to be an animation which was playing at Beaumaris Castle, and was themed on some ancient sites of Anglesey.

Kal has already posted about what happened at the site for him. I’ll just post my additional bits. We stopped, of course, to have a good laugh at the council’s attempts to describe the purpose of the site – the usual: ancient burial rites, etc. Yeah, yeah. I’d test that with a quick dowse in the chamber later to come up with another negative reading for that theory. We had our own theories we wanted to test out.

An entrance passage

For some reason I left my staff at the gated entrance, leaning on the railings outside the main site. So, I prepared my rods and began at the entrance while Kal settled himself on the stone next to the opening. I got a pattern of symmetrical teardrop shapes coming out of the holes around the big capstone. Each corner of the site was inhabited by a male line which came out of a hole, went around into the corner (N, S, E and W) then came back into the same hole it had emanated from. Cool! But how did these lines all interact inside, I wondered? I went inside to dowse and found that the western and southern teardrop lines ended in a spiral inside the chamber. The northern and eastern lines were in fact one line which curved around to meet near the northern side.

My next bit of dowsing was to trace the energies from the two outlying stones outside the gated perimeter. The smaller stone came into the gated railings and turned right, to swirl and terminate just inside the railings. The larger stone came in through the gate too (how odd, but a bit too convenient?) where it swung left, went around the big capstone, and formed a male spiral in front of the entrance hole.

A stone on the northern edge caught my eye. What about the energy from this? So far, every line had been a male energy. This stone emanated female energies, which went from each cardinal point to end in a small female spiral. On my drawing it looked like a set of curly handles! There was a link with the male energies, though. The female spirals closest to the chamber, one of them went into it, the other joined the male spiral in front of the entrance. Oh! I didn’t recall ever seeing a male and female spiral come together that closely before. So, an outlying stone gave out male energy which linked with a closer stone giving out female energy.

Kal pacing sunwise past the female stone

I now wanted to try some of the meditation in the chamber. I crawled in and sat near one side. Kal had taken it upon himself to pace around the site, at what seemed like an increasing tempo. Kal was now humming. It was loud and made the stones vibrate as it bounced around so that I couldn’t determine which direction it was coming from. I sat and thought about nothing (my wife tells me I’m good at that). Maybe so, for in a minute or two I started to recede from noticing what was going on around me as my mind moved into a trance and a picture began to form.

In my vision I saw a young man in a foetal position inside a semi-transparent membrane, like the albumen of an egg. The young man was pushing at the lining until it tore and he was able to emerge, standing triumphantly. However, the moment he emerged two or three black long-nosed faces screeched out of the air, diving at him with their long mouths trying to eat the young man. With his new-felt strength and courage the young man welled up to three times his size, filled with angry emotion until he was larger than the black screaming faces with the dark black eye holes. Now HE consumed the black faces – and when they were swallowed the vision dissolved, and I was back in the chamber – dazed and vibrating with the powerful force of the allegorical tale. I composed myself in the chamber.

I crawled out of the entrance way to recount my story. Kal then had a go and got his vision. Kal told me his vision, and suggested that he thought the shelf was for ritual offerings, not for resting on. With that idea I asked Kal if he would bring my staff in, as I couldn’t (I didn’t know why not – just that it was wrong to bring it in myself). I went back in and he handed me the staff which I placed on the resting stone. I meditated again, but this time I got no visions. Instead I felt a cleansing effect, as though all the energy that had been built up by Kal pacing around had been dissipated and neutralised, and I felt ‘clean’, fresh and alert. I suddenly got an overwhelming urge to look out of one of the hole, which was shaped like a ‘V’. I looked again – and it drew me out of my sitting position. I found that I hurled myself out of the hole up onto the grass outside the chamber! Literally threw myself out! Very strange. I lay on the grass giggling in the remaining evening light.

The V-shaped birthing hole

Last thing I did was to hop up onto the top of the huge capstone to see what was up there. It was going to be yet another bizarre coincidence in a day of such things. Rainwater had carved unusual patterns in the top of the rock – two faces sharpened into focus. One was a small face with black holes for eyes (flashback!) and the other was a face with a long nose or beak (double flashback!). I nearly fell off the stone in amazement. These were the faces I had seen in the vision! Seriously! My legs wobbled as I photographed them I can tell you. I dropped back down, mouth still open with gaping disbelief.

Black-eyed face

Still in shock I asked Kal if he would come and collect my staff for me, but he told me he couldn’t! Somewhat miffed I gingerly felt inside the entrance hole to grasp the staff and pull it out. For some reason there was no way I was going back inside. I had had my information and it was time for me to leave. I had no idea what the information was that I was supposed to have learned, but nevertheless I had to go now. When I got to Kal he apologised, but explained that he felt he couldn’t go back inside the site now. At that moment I understood exactly what he meant! I too felt like that and I also didn’t have a good reason for it either.

Long-nosed/beaked face

As we walked back to the road, and along it towards the car, a murder of crows leapt from the trees in the field to our right, soaring and swooping, making a racket in the late still air. They swept in front of us, and danced in the air before careening off to distant tree tops. We looked at each other, and muttered about symbols and meanings. This was going to take more than a single cup of coffee to make sense of all of today’s events.

Gwas.

Follow your true path.

UPDATE 30th December 2008:

I have been reading David Cowan’s excellent books “Ancient Energies of the Earth” and have come across this paragraph, which I felt was pertinent. He had just been discussing how some burial sites have cup-marked stones placed next to or on the graves of reknowned people. Then he says:

“If the energy from cup-marked stones can, indeed, allow access to the system for the spirits of the dead, then it must also do the same for the living, so building an underground chamber or souterrain with a powerful cup-marked capstone in the roof and below it, in the passage, another upright inside the entrance so that initiates, wizards or shamans could meditate or perhaps retrieve knowledge would be an important part of the ceremonies of the ancients. The Native Americans had a similar procedure, building subterranean kiva (magnetic chambers), where they could achieve lucid dreaming and imagery, helped by hallucinogenic plants.”

“Ancient Energies of the Earth” – Ch.14 ‘Rebuilding the Ancient Magic’ pp.170-171.

Anglesey, Wales – August 25th, 2008

This is Part 1 of a three-part write-up of a visit by Kal and I to Anglesey. We visited several interesting ancient sites, dowsed them all, and as ever we both learned more and were more puzzled by some of the results. In Part 2 and 3 you can read about the visions we experienced in a chambered site, and about the amazing energy pattern we were able to produce at three standing stones. In this part I will describe taking Kal to Bryn Celli Ddu – the fantastic chambered mound – as well as various sites nearby the village of Brynsiencyn that we both visited for the first time.

BRYN CELLI DDU

A chamber remembered and the Hippy Oz Brother.

When we visit a site these days we hardly notice other people wandering around unless they take an interest in our activities. This arises from an increasing confidence on our part, rather than a desire to be distant. Most families out for a day trip to ‘do the sights’ because the weather looks crap, these generally consist of parents herding their children away from the crazy dudes with the metal sticks, and exiting once the children have bounced around for five minutes. Others, though, seem hell bent on satisfying their curiosity by enquiring as to whether we have found water yet. Another type altogether engages us in meaningful conversation, and that was our experience this day.

Bryncelli Ddu is a short way down the A4080 as you take the first turn off the Menai Bridge onto Anglesey island. Left again at the next turning signposted for ‘Newborough’. From there it’s got a brown sign indicating a right turn near to Plas Coch. What, cock? Don’t be tempted to translate – you’ll only be disappointed!

We arrived at the site just thankful it wasn’t raining and that we could spend some leisurely time looking around. The site, as always, was either letting people out or letting them in – it’s amazing how many people are visiting these sites! Before we began dowsing I was swept by an urge to stand on the top in the immense winds that were sweeping the site from the West. As I got to the top I watched Kal walking around the outside of the mound, looking for a ‘entrance’, I supposed. Indeed he was. I had found the entrance by ‘feeling’ for it on my last visit, now Kal walked up to the mound via the same entrance way, and I laughed into the wind. How extraordinary! I wondered if other people did that without consciously noticing? A group of middle-aged gentlemen, well attired, wandered into the site. Within moments one of their number went through the same entrance way. Another non-obvious occurrence!

Kal began to dowse the place, and I’ll leave him to describe the exact findings as he did most of the work.

The energy findings at Bryn Celli Ddu

Kal takes up the story….

“What a fantastic site this was. I got some really fabulous readings as well as a new discovery which makes me want to go back to Arbor Low!. And so it begins…

I started dowsing as soon as I stepped into the mound area from the main gate and found that there was a Male energy bound (band?) surrounding the mound. The band began about two feet outside of the ditch and included the ditch area (diagram to come). I followed this around the mound ‘expecting’ to find the Male energy surrounding the whole of the mound, when much to my perplexity I found that the energy shifted to Female energy about a third of the way round. It then remained Female until just before the entrance of the mound where it turned into male energy. Then about 3/4 of the away around the mound it turned to Female energy, finally ending up at Male at the starting point.

Having my expectations broken in such a spectacular way, I actually walked off into a corner of the field (to get away from other visitors at the site) and pondered this mystery. And how to proceed? I wanted to see if the energy was just around the outside of the mound or over it too! But before doing that I decided to check a my findings a few more times so as to confirm the results. This I did, always walking counter-clockwise, which seems to be a habit with me. The results were confirmed thrice! The site was gaining more visitors now and at what point I was forced to work my way around the mound in a clockwise manner and this really and truly confused me – for what I found was that walking clockwise my results were completed opposite to walking ‘widdershins’! For where it was Male in one direction it would be Female in the other!!!

Again, the doubting Debbie that I am, I checked my results again and again and found it to be so every time. These two results have totally made me rethink the Tao of things -

1. That the bands of energy surrounding an area do not have to be of one type
2. That walking in the opposite direction gives opposite results

I am still puzzling over this finding and in much need of coffee and cake to discuss these and other matters with Gwas.”

A chance meeting of minds

Whilst Kal was dowsing I was still atop the mound enjoying the feel of the powerful westerly wind that was roaring in from the Irish Sea that day. As I watched him from my perch atop the mound I saw the group of gentlemen entering the innards of the mound by the main entrance at the rear of the site. Moments later a pleasing whiff of sweet-smelling herbs wafted up to me, and I ‘dis-mounted’ to investigate, as the smell was new to me.

A wise tanned face appeared out of the entrance tunnel and smiled at me. “Nice smell!” I ventured. “Just smudging.” came the response. I didn’t flinch at the phrase. I was familiar with the term from reading druidry books. I watched him put his herbal bag back into his pouch, then smiled back, and began to dowse around the mound. I had some catching up to do, and I was eager to see whether I got anything similar to my last visit’s results. Also, the entrance way itself had a curious configuration that I hadn’t seen anywhere else, and I needed to get Kal’s results and then enlist his help in sorting out the energy patterns that had baffled me last time. Perhaps he had another view? He seemed able to dowse ‘areas’ where I would dowse lines, and this may be helpful in this case.

I think it would be better at this stage just to deliver some main points of the dowsing:-

1) There are points around the mound where standing stones once stood in the original site – confirmation from my last visit

2) The mound is surrounded by a quadrant of male and female energies

3) The five stones (not four, as I may have written previously) with their two ‘guardian’ stones either side (one is missing) form an eye shaped area of male/sun energies, possibly fed by the strong sun line that passes through the mound’s interior and out the entrance portal. Each of the five small stones has its own male energy forming in concentric circles.

The theme of the site, though, was the finding that dowsing in particular directions (either with or against ‘the flow’ of the lines) caused an opposite reaction of polarities. What I mean is, male lines gave female readings when traced backward, and vice versa. This was Kal’s baffling finding.

Oak leaf and snake spiral

Then we got interrupted by the group of gentlemen: two brothers and their friend. One of the brothers was a schoolteacher and the other was visiting him from Australia – this was the wise-looking smiling man who had been smudging the interior. We chatted generally about our findings, which I reviewed for them, and then, for some inexplicable reason, I was talking with the wise man, and Kal was chatting to the other two. Minutes later, I saw the schoolteacher walking around with Kal’s rods! And they crossed! He was simply walking backwards and forwards around the site of the old standing stone spots shouting “I don’t believe it! They’re crossing! Look at this!” every time he walked over a ‘hot spot’ of energy.

The wise man, called Russell (hope I remembered that correctly), was a very engaging man. We chatted intently for a good while about shamanic practises, dowsing theory, crop circles (I’ll need to look at those again), and druidic history and practises. Never once did I let on that I was a practising druid, even though I felt I could discuss anything with him, we had so much in common. Or rather, I felt I could learn so much from him; I wouldn’t flatter myself that I have anything worth passing on yet! It was the kind of conversation that I wished could have taken place for hours.

He noticed his brother dowsing and smiled broadly: “You have no idea how wonderful it is to see that.” he said. “I’ve been the crazy hippy in the family, and slowly I’ve been moving him towards some of my ideas, and now look!“. We observed the bemused grin on his brother’s face, then launched into a talk about Terence McKenna. Russell said he’d met him once, and performed the most startlingly realistic mimicry of TMcK’s voice that I nearly wet myself, and had to stop him.

The gentlemen took their leave of us. We moved into the chambered area itself to get the ambience of the place. I showed Kal the markings on the standing stone in the chamber, then noticed some other marks on the opposite wall, which I hadn’t seen before. They made me think of a ruler, or a time marker set at the kind of level that might measure the low point of where the beam of sunlight would enter the chamber through a gap in the back. Interesting. Something to think about, and maybe check that theory at sunset on singificant pagan dates? When were the marks made though, and would precession affect any readings taken in today’s orbits?

Sunlight markers in the chamber

We soon departed ourselves. On to the next site on our maps – Caer Leb. It was listed as an ‘ancient settlement’. Ok – let’s see what one of those looks like!

CAER LEB

We traveled further along the A4080 through the village of Brynsiencyn. Just outside the village we took a small B-road off to the right, and were soon in the right area for both Caer Leb and the Ty Mawr stone(s). As we parked in a small lay-by next to the site it held promise – an expansive 6 foot high earthwork spanned our vision to the west, and one of those “historical summary” signs beckoned us to the pathway into the site.

The ground was marshy. This was late summer, and there had been rain on and off for the last fortnight. We ‘gowned up’ and walked the short distance to the official entrance, oddly barred by a sliding wooden fence plank. As we approached we got out our dowsing L-rods and began searching for the ‘proper’ energetic entrance point. We still don’t know the full significance of this, but it feels right to ask for it, and usually leads us along a strong energy lineThe direction energy takes when moving. It may be straight or curved, in several dimensions and be composed of one or more different types of energies, i.e. negative, positive or neutral. Energy lines can be found at standing stones and ancient sites but are a general feature in all energy fields. into a site. The first corner reached twitched a response from the copper rods and in we walked – into a boggy marshy mass of grass and standing water! Abandon ship! Kal veered off to survey the inner raised earthwork, whilst I trekked stupidly across the floor of the site, getting my feet wet in the process.

Nothing to see here - move along!

At the far end we quickly decided there wasn’t much here, and the energy was weak, and wet! A small pile of three stones had ended my dowsing trail, so Kal asked if the stones had been used to mark something special. “Yes.” Was it a site of ritual practises, he enquired. “Yes.” That as enough. We were wet, and there was nothing else to it. Kal finished by asking if the site was simply a settlement, or something more. Just a settlement, came the rods’ answer. Then we’ll move on. That kind of thing is for the historians.

A TY MAWR STONE

Across and just down the road from Caer Leb we started looking for a standing stone marked on our printed-off OS map. Somewhere over to the right hand side of the road? At a grand stone pillar entrance to a field I indicated we should enter. I had no idea why, so I started to dowse to see whether I was just making it up, or if I had reacted appropriately. Apparently a stone was close, and the rods led us past some increasingly inquisitive cows, down a trackway beside a long hedge. Nothing in sight! “Are you sure it’s down here?” Kal asked. He had every right to be questioning my direction-finding abilities recently, so I double-checked by asking the rods to point straight at the stone. They moved to the right, pointing into the hawthorn hedge. Oh…..what’s going on?

I glanced through a gap in the hedge to be confronted by the sight of a large standing stone about twenty feet away. This was one of the Ty Mawr stones. Today, I was back on form, which made me more comfortable. We clambered into the field and spent a good half hour dowsing around. The theme of the day seemed to be “reversing the readings”. Kal could identify the opposite types of energies to me (as usual), but then could get the same readings from the stone if he dowsed in the opposite direction! Still puzzling, so I wondered if the male and female lines going through and around the stone were very close to each other (male through, female around – another common finding). We dowsed very closely, slowly, watching the reaction of the rods with every small step to gauge the changeover points. Indeed they did run side-by-side, only parting at the stone. We noticed that dowsing to one side of the stone would naturally lead you to think the energy lineThe direction energy takes when moving. It may be straight or curved, in several dimensions and be composed of one or more different types of energies, i.e. negative, positive or neutral. Energy lines can be found at standing stones and ancient sites but are a general feature in all energy fields. was feminine, whilst an inch to the other side of stone would give a male response. Aha! We were on to something to reconcile our frequently differing findings concerning the qualities of the energy lines. Perhaps this ‘coincidence’ of lines happened more often than we thought?

We agreed that whenever we got such crossed readings at other sites we would dowse the type of line very closely to see if there were actually two energy lines, not one. With that, we left to go further around Anglesey to pick up some of the sites nearer the north coast, which you can read about in Part 2.

Gwas,

Follow your true path.

I had taken my motorbike in for an MOT in the morning, and had the rest of the day booked off work. As it was a day that looked promising for good weather I decided to use the remaining sunshine to visit Anglesey again. I had biked over there a month ago to see what was there, and see how long it took to get there. One hour exactly by bike. Relatively easy reach then.

M and I headed off in my banger of a car and sat in the holiday traffic in the burning heat. Well, it was almost inevitable. We detoured around the worst of it by going through Rhuddlan, past the castle that Kal and I had visited recently, and had found lots of faerie rings in the castle and around its battlements. As we passed I said to M : “There’s Rhuddlan Castle on your left!” – she looked right and we zoomed past. Oh well!

The site of many faierie rings

In the back of my mind I had an escape plan – if we hit traffic on the A55 again we’d turn around and I would take her to Dyserth Waterfall, which is a beautiful location to relax at on a sunny day.

As it turned out we bypassed the queue of traffic and were soon hurrying towards Bangor, racing the dull clouds that were forming to the south-east of us, at the edge of the Snowdonia range. We took the first turning off Britannia Bridge and followed the brown signs past Plas Newydd. As we approached the turning for Bryn Celli Ddu we were directed through a car crash scene by a policeman. Looked like a nasty shunt for a little blue Peugeot. We were also in a little blue Peugeot and that made my spine crawl in my seat.

We parked and walked along the well-constructed path that zig-zagged towards the site. I like the way you don’t get to see your destination until the last moment – it really adds to the surprise of seeing it rise up in front of you as you round the last turn.

As we got to the entrance gate we saw a cow calf which was stretched on othe other side of the hawthorn hedge. In the field on the right side of the entrance was a cow looking very concerned for the little calf – it was agitated, worried by our presence, and kept staring at the calf “with cow eyes”, as they say. M immediately began to fuss over it tenderly. She knew it wasn’t well, and for the rest of the visit she would be only concerned with the calf, leaving me to dowse around the site.

It had once had 12 standing stones around it, but when I was last here I had only found 11 places where I got my dowsing rods to cross. However, this time I wanted to know more about the energies going into and out of the mound. I started at the back edge and dowsed for a ‘sun/yang’ energy lineThe direction energy takes when moving. It may be straight or curved, in several dimensions and be composed of one or more different types of energies, i.e. negative, positive or neutral. Energy lines can be found at standing stones and ancient sites but are a general feature in all energy fields.. Quickly I latched onto a powerful straight line heading straight for the back of the mound.

The back was almost more elaborate than the front. It had a stone placed on the left side of a small enclosure, and above the enclosure there was a long gap between two tall stones placed inside the mound to allow the sun to enter, at a particular angle corresponding to specific times of the year, I would suggest. The energy lineThe direction energy takes when moving. It may be straight or curved, in several dimensions and be composed of one or more different types of energies, i.e. negative, positive or neutral. Energy lines can be found at standing stones and ancient sites but are a general feature in all energy fields. went straight into the gap on this day.

There was a spiral energy circling this stone, and it could be traced in a wavy line around the right side to the front of the mound, where it went out to link to one our four faerie rings which were in a semi-circular formation just above the entrance. Below these faerie rings were four small stones placed in a line about four feet from the entrance passage.

Four stones lined up with four faerie rings

As I hovered over these stones I got very strong energy readings, but didn’t have time to trace their intricacies. I needed to get a clear picture of the main energy paths. I went into the entrance way a crouched through the tunnel. Inside it was a homely space, suitable for one person to meditate with good space, or up to five or six people to squeeze in.

On the right as you enter the inner sanctum is a tall stone darkened with age possibly, which is aligned with the other stone at the back of the mound (which is pictured above). How coincidental! I also noticed a small circular depression just as you enter the space. I ran my rods over it and they spiralled furiously! I didn’t need to do anything else to realise this was a “hot spot”.

My staff against the central stone

I placed my staff against the stone pillar, and the stone I had been “given” in Delamere Forest a few months ago (another story!) to ‘charge’ them with the energies of the place. Then I carried on dowsing the lines inside the mound.

Entrance to chamber

From my quick survey I found two strong female energy lines eminating from the circular depression inside the mound. They moved along the edges of the corridor to emerge at the entrance, and then take a sharp turn up the mound on either side, to spiral into themselves on either side of the entrance. A male line pushed in between the two female lines, coming from the gap in the rear, flowing down the corridor, and emerging straight out of the entrance, and proceeding over the field towards the nearby farmhouse.
I could see that M was getting fidgety, so I quickly drew myself a map of the lines, and we started to pack up and leave. On our way out we wished the calf well, and headed off back to the car.

And this is the bit that begins to get weird. M needed to relieve herself, and we knew we were miles away from anywhere convenient, and that no-one was around. So, having had the same experience when I was last there I was able to direct her to an appropriately concealed corner of a field for her to use whilst I kept guard.
I stood on the little wooden bridge and looked at the weather closing in – any second now it was going to rain. Dark ominous clouds were rolling over from Snowdonia, and the wind was picking up to bring them in all the quicker. I thought to myself, “I hope it doesn’t rain on M while she’s busy! I wonder if I coud keep the rain at bay?”. What a crazy notion! As if!
But I’m nothing if not hopeful, so I ‘zoned out’, as I had learned to do with the sun/trees/dappled light episodes of recent posts. I stared lazily at the flowing river beneath me, and held my staff in front of me with two hands. “Keep the rain away. Hold back the rain.” I thought to myself, as I tried to form a connection with the elemental forces at play around us.
At that moment, just as I was trying not to let the thought of how ridiculous this all was overcome my concentration, the sun shone through the gloom and highlighted the area I was standing in!
Trying not to break my concentration, I felt a surge of excitement mixed with incredulity. Surely this couldn’t be happening? I shelved that feeling whilst I maintained my ‘connection’.
M re-appeared, and I snapped back to reality. I smiled at her. “What?” she said. “Nothing.” I beamed, and we headed off up the path.
Fifty yards later we nodded our “hellos” to a family heading to the site, and then the rain speckled our cheeks as the remaining sunlight was squashed by the dark clouds.
I need to think about this – I wouldn’t believe such a tale myself if I hadn’t been the one experiencing it!

Gwas
Follow your true path