The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘trees’

It is with the greatest of joy that I impart the news, if you haven’t heard it already, that the UK Government has decided to NOT go ahead with the plans to sell off the forests that it controls. This is fantastic news for all of us who enjoy and see the benefits of our local woodland.

In the podcast that I released only yesterday I was calling for everyone to keep up the pressure on the powers that be so that we can ensure they do not try to divert or deflect the criticism they have received so far. It would seem that they have realised now how globally unpopular this move was seen as.

Some recent headlines about the campaign victory

The 38Degrees protest site was jubilant at the news:

“Victory! The Guardian, BBC and Independent are reporting that the government is about to scrap plans to sell our forests. Over half a million of us should feel very proud of what we’ve achieved together. Let’s keep watching but also celebrate what we’ve done!” (source: 38Degrees)

The Woodland Trust were slightly more guarded in their response to the news:

“Commenting on the decision, Sue Holden chief executive of the Trust said, “We welcome the opportunity for a more considered approach to the future of our much loved woodlands but our campaign continues. Whilst we welcome the removal of threats to public access,  there is still an acute need for better protection of Ancient Woodland, our equivalent of the rainforests, and restoration of ancient woods planted with conifers.

Even if there are no sales of publicly owned forests, the worst of all worlds would be for there to be no change to the loopholes that have allowed 850 ancient woods to be threatened by built development over the past decade.  Ministers have made strong commitments over the past few weeks to increase protection for ancient woods, and we will be holding them to these commitments.” (source: Woodland Trust)

Thank you to anyone who lifted a finger to assist with this campaign. Your rewards will be to know that your local woodland is safe for now, and that you can continue to enjoy the fresh air, the windbreak and soil management, the biodiversity, and the recreational space that these woodlands provide.

And I thought democracy was dead! Today I feel slightly less cynical. Power to the people!

Gwas.

Things are heating up with the UK woodland sell-off debate. Actually, there is no debate. At least three-quarters of those surveyed did not want this legislation to go ahead. I think this is quite heartening – there is an obvious wave of objection to the idea of putting our woodland areas into the hands of private companies for “management”. For ‘management’ read ‘commercialisation’. And for ‘commericalisation’ understand that this means ‘profit’. How, exactly, does one make a profit from woodland by keeping it unchanged, properly managed and available for locals to wander around in? You don’t! That won’t happen.

Delamere Forest in full autumn splendour

What will happen is that woodland will be subjected to:

1. Being turned into some kind of theme park – by adding ventures such as ape-like climbing facilities, mountain biking trails, gift shops and food stalls.
2. Having ancient trees mown down and sold off, to be replaced by the faster-growing varieties of wood such as conifers, thus reducing the inherent biodiversity of what is left of our native primitive woodland.
3. Accessible public woodland being fenced off in order to protect the commercial investment.

Access to woodland will inevitably become more restricted – it’s just in the nature of people who make investments that they become territorial about land. Just look around you at the bigger detached houses in your area – are they open? Are you allowed to walk across their gardens? Of course not – they’re in private hands and fenced off.

These are just the inevitable consequences of the commercial mindset. There is no profit for commerce in preservation. It’s just not how they work. If the present system of woodland management is cumbersome and overwrought, then reform it. The current government’s answer is to sell the problem off to the highest bidder, and TRUST that they will “do the right thing”. Of course, it’s not the government’s fault if they don’t. Then it’s an issue for the individual citizen to take up directly with the offending corporation. That is called the devolution of responsibility, and it is a shameful act by any government who is supposed to care about our nation’s heritage. Our birthright, I would say.

The statement below is from the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website, and states quite categorically that 15% of the available woodland has ALREADY been given away BEFORE the consultation. The rest, it says, is open for discussion:

“The Government has already committed to taking 15% of the public forest estate out of state control over the course of this parliament, generating up to £100million of receipts. The consultation paper launched today invites views on a range of ownership and management options for the remaining 85% of the estate.  This will be an open consultation and Government will listen to all responses before publishing its response in the summer.” (source: DEFRA)

38 Degrees protest site

I recently wrote to my MP about the issue (with a helping hand from the ‘38 Degrees‘ protest site), and I received a response that was trying to be palliative and re-assuring, but which in fact just raised a number of deeper concerns for me. I will now be posting this response onto the 38 Degrees site to see just how pre-determined the response was.

Here is a link to the latest news about the swell of opinion about this issue. If this goes ahead I am going to take direct action. I really object to having the course of my life diverted away from my spiritual quest in this way because I normally try to stay out of politics, but this is a truly objectionable piece of legislation that MUST be stopped.

I hereby predict that the current public consultation “exercise” will be nothing short of a scam and a farrago. Nothing will be decided except the existing course of action – the commercialisation of (apparently) 18% of our woodlands.

The Government have today back-tracked in a major way, getting their prettiest speaker to release a statement that included the following stated safeguards. Here they are listed out, and my interpretation of what I think they really mean:-

“There are numerous safeguards in place which will ensure that public benefits provided by our woods and forests are protected if they pass into private ownership.  These safeguards include:

• regulations governing felling and replanting; [the guys with the chainsaws will have to wear hard hats and goggles]
• protection for biodiversity through the Wildlife and Countryside Act and Sites of Special Scientific Interest; [if your local woodland isn't scientifically interesting and unique then it's for the chop]
• incentives to protect ancient woodland; [companies will have to weigh up whether the measly 'incentive' from the Government outweighs the massive cash they will get from chopping it all down]
• guarantees for public access – the majority of the freehold areas of the public forestry estate are protected for access on foot by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act; [areas that are already well-trodden and full of mountain bikes will remain so - quiet woodland paths will be fenced off]
• protection of ancient monuments is overseen by English Heritage; [and what a fine job they've done of places like Silbury Hill - now inaccessible for the last seven years since they allowed its summit to collapse]
• any proposals for development would be subject to the Town and Country Planning process; and [planning applications will be dealt with by the usual 'buddy' system of back-handers on the gold courses and favours for companies that the planning committee have a stake in]
• Biosecurity – the Plant Health Act sets out a legal framework for the control of pests and diseases of forest tress and timber. [if the trees we're selling are no use, it's not our fault - it was sold as seen - just cut it all down and re-plant with conifers] “

Now, I’m not trying to tell you what to think, or how to react, but I am getting vocal and physical about making my own point of view heard and seen on this issue. I ask you to look at how you feel about this too, and then take whatever course of action you feel appropriate and worthy.

No polls. No petitions. No lobbying. Just action. Can you hear my anger? Good.

Gwas The Arborophile.

I don’t usually get political but when it comes to trees it’s a different matter. Over the last few months I have become quite passionate about the preservation, conservation and re-planting of trees in the UK. Recently my attention was drawn to the flooding happening in other countries, so I decided to see if there was any link between deforestation rates and the chances of flooding. What I found shouldn’t have astonished me really, but it did. Every country with a high rate of deforestation was being affected every year by devastating and widespread flooding. Surely no coincidence?

Can a connection be made or is the weather system on a global scale too difficult to determine and makes such connections seem pointless, and the flooding is just a coincidence? Here are some statistics on deforestation rates, and some links with recent flooding stories.

Coming to a city near you?

NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA

I visited Brisbane in 2009. It was a city that made me fall in love with it, but I couldn’t live with the flies pestering all the time. I became accustomed to the “Aussie Wave”, a motion one performs when brushing flies from your face all the time. It’s true – everyone looks like they’re waving all the time. That was its endearing side, but on a more serious note the papers regularly seemed to have articles discussing the degree of deforestation – for and against battling it out in the media for the voters’ attention. Well, perhaps the floods have caught the attention of the people of North East Australia this year?

Here’s an article from 2009 stating that Queensland’s deforestation rate is higher than any other part of Australia: http://www.wwf.org.au/news/queensland-land-clearing/

Here are some figures about the increase in rates of deforestation between 1995 to 1999.

SRI LANKA

I visited Sri Lanka on my honeymoon way back in 1995. I loved the place but was overcome by the degree of poverty that the majority of people lived in. One of the main ways they could try to overcome that poverty seemingly was to cut down their indigenous forest and sell the wood for making furniture that ended up in our stores in the UK and elsewhere. Well, those trees “don’t grow on trees” as it were – they’re not growing back at the same rate that we’re cutting them down.

In the last 20 years Sri Lanka has lost 20% of its rainforest cover, some 490,000 hectares. Here is some of the History and effects of deforestation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka gets flooded again

Top 5 nations for deforestation in 2005:

Take a look at this chart which shows the Top 5 nations for the amount of deforestation of primary forests in 2005. Now, as an experiement I went online to see if there had been any recent news of flooding in those countries. Well, here you go, these are mostly stories from 2010/11:-

1. Nigeria – http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/09/24/nigeria-floods-dams.html
2. Vietnam – http://www.gmanews.tv/story/203798/41-dead-in-vietnam-floods-19-on-bus-still-missing
3. Cambodia – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39755855/ns/business/
4. Sri Lanka – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/13/sri-lanka-floods-people-flee-homes
5. Malawi (2006) – http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Malawi-floods-displace-thousands-20060102

By another calculation of theannual change in forest cover (1990-2005), here’s another catelogue of destruction, all taken from 2010 only:-

Highest annual change in forest cover 1990-2005

1. Brazil – Flooding affects 97,000 homes in North East Brazil, and the current headlines,
2. Indonesia – Flash floods kill 108 in Indonesia
3. Myanmar – 63 die on flooding in Myanmar

Believe me, the rest of those nations cutting down trees don’t fare well either! Congo had terrible floods last year, and the list goes on and on and on. Just pick ANY of those countries listed in that graph and do a search – flash floods, death tolls, reservoirs and rivers bursting thier banks, people displaced, lives ruined, homes swept away.

WORLD STATISTICS

In total, between 2000-2005 the world lost 3,745,546,000 hectares of forest in the most active 20 countries. We don’t have figures for the rest of the world as well, but we can guess that the figure would only increase substantially.

Pretty Nature

WHAT CAN WE DO?

1. Plant a tree.

Make it your mission this year to plant at least ten trees. I will be doing this – buying rooted young trees and planting them on common land. You could do this too, and you would start to make your own tiny tiny impact upon reversing this figure. To help with that aim I have joined the Landshare scheme (details below).

2. Sponsor a tree-planting charity in one of the nations affected.

Harder, and you can never be sure the money is going to the right place, but if you want to go on holiday to one of those coutnries, then why not take your tree-planting initiative with you? All it takes is to find some seeds whilst you’re there, and plant them in fertile ground.

Here’s a start: Tree Aid

Tree Aid - a way of replenishing the tree population

This is the charity to which I have started regularly donating money this year. If you would prefer a UK-based project, they have one of those too:

UK-based scheme: LandShare, Blackmoor Nursery & Tree Revolution

It may not be affecting you personally, but it’s affecting someone not too far away from you. We’re not immune to the effects of flooding in this country. You can make an impact even in a small way by either fighting to preserve your local woodland, parks and lone trees against inconsiderate felling. You can re-plant trees yourself. Who else is going to do it?

Gwas.

Saving his home one tree at a time.

UPDATE: Talking of getting political, here’s a post on Philip Car–Gomm’s blog which talks about The Conservative Party’s environmental record as it affects trees.

In an attempt to appear well-read and topical I have gathereed together a series of news articles that have garnered my interest this month. They are on a wide range of topics, some environmental, some energy-related and some beyond those. Here are some stories that roused my interest this month:-

1. Wi-Fi is killing trees

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1332310/Is-Wi-Fi-killing-trees-Dutch-study-shows-leaves-dying-exposure-Wi-Fi-radiation.html

Comment: Nothing riles me more than stories about the abuse of trees. This was bound to “push my buttons”. I think that our headlong leap into new technologies has always happened without proper consideration of the consequences – that in itself is one of the consequences of our Aquarian quest for The New. However, once we have identified a potential issue like this, surely we should be considering the wider effects on us too? Some dowsers have been raising this issue for a while in the health forums, but of course no-one takes dowsers seriously.

Here are some useful links on this topic:-

1. Glastonbury’s reaction to being bombarded by wifi signals: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3966373/Alternative-health-capital-turns-its-negative-energy-on-pioneering-wi-fi-system.html
2. The GeoPathFinder site’s explanation of the elements involved in this discussion: http://www.geopathfinder.com/9801

2. We CAN predict the future, study shows

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1330596/Humans-psychic-powers-New-study-proves-future.html

Comment: Some of us have known this for a long time. Those of us who have had experiences of time distortion already know that time is a mutable and flexible concept. This study is once again demonstrating that we have the everyday ability to warp time in order to sneak a peek at the near future. Those who communicate with entities who are outside of our normal scale of time will also know that time is an elastic concept which only becomes solified under common concensus. Here, at last, is some definitive scientific proof that will get swept far far underneath the carpet, and then trampled down for good measure. You heard it here, folks.

3. Giant Energy Structure at the centre of our Galaxy

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/new-structure.html

Comment: Is this a recognition of the emerging energy that will shape our consciousness in the next few years? Is it the light that will signify a transition into a new Age of Aquarius as it reaches us? Keep your antennae twitching, sensitive folk, this could be interesting!

4. Ball-bearing theory of Stonehenge creation

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1330917/Stonehenge-builders-used-ball-bearings-giant-slabs-stone.html

Comment: Balls being the operative word here. The article is pure speculation, but it’s a step up from the rolling logs theory. However, it only take a few seconds thought to imagine that it would have been one hell of a job for them to contain the spherical objects they used to prevent them from rolling awa out of the sides as the rocks were moved up and down slopes.

5. Druids alive and kicking and promoting Tory values on Anglesey

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2010/11/20/anglesey-blogger-the-druid-reveals-himself-55578-27683549/

Comment: If he was truly a druid he’s be independent, not allied to any party. Cheeky beggar! Using the Druids’ good name for his own personal benefit. Grrr!

Gwas.

A long time ago (although the way Kal and I are measuring time these days it might have been a few weeks ago) I took a friend who was getting into dowsing to a road that I knew well. I had been noticing lots of near misses along the road and had even felt peculiar passing over various places in the road. Now I wanted to check whether the road had any negative black streamA flow of subtle energy emerging from a source. The source is usually imbued with some negative qualities, for example, it may be a source of geopathic stress where geology is under pressure, or toxic gases are emitted. Alternatively, the source may be imbued with negative emotions such as anger, fear or hatred left there by the intent of a human being. The result is a toxic dispersal of flows of “black” energy. These flows can cause disruption to everything in their path, such as accident blackspots if they cross roads, or polluted streams if they contact water. energy passing over it, so I took my friend along to make the job of dowsing easier, and to see if we got similar results.

I sent my friend to the far end of the road, whereas I started at the near end. We were separated by about a quarter of a mile, and we walked towards each other. I could see in the distance that he was stopping every now and again, and re-tracing his steps. I had also found something. At several points down the road there were wide bands of dark energy flowing down the slope of the hill across which the road scythed. The bands were of a strength rating of around 7 (on a scale of 1-10) – a rating which meant that they were becoming a problem.

We met and confirmed each others’ findings. There were several streams of negative energy flowing across the lower half of the road too. Could we determine their source? If they were flowing down the hill, all of them, then wouldn’t their source be further up the hill? The rods indicated that there was a single source, and that it was near the top of the hill. As we were narrowly avoiding death by standing on this small country road as it was, and there was nothing visible near the top of the hill, I decided to leave finding the source until another day.

Several months passed. Spring and then Summer passed. I was travelling home past the top of the hill several times a week now, and my eye had begun to be attracted by a lane. Where did it go? It looked like it might go to the top of this “problem hill”. Might the source of the black streams be found along that path? The pressure mounted and the near misses on the road below seemed increasingly dangerous until one evening I decided to go and look.

The track was used as an entrance to one house, but was at the back of others which bordered the problem road below. The land was easy to walk, slightly overgrown and peaceful. Was there really a source of black energy up this way, I wondered? I got my rods out and dowsed:-

1. “Is there a source of black streamA flow of subtle energy emerging from a source. The source is usually imbued with some negative qualities, for example, it may be a source of geopathic stress where geology is under pressure, or toxic gases are emitted. Alternatively, the source may be imbued with negative emotions such as anger, fear or hatred left there by the intent of a human being. The result is a toxic dispersal of flows of “black” energy. These flows can cause disruption to everything in their path, such as accident blackspots if they cross roads, or polluted streams if they contact water. energy accessible from this lane?” – pretty precise, I thought. YES, came the response.
2. “Is the source of the black streamA flow of subtle energy emerging from a source. The source is usually imbued with some negative qualities, for example, it may be a source of geopathic stress where geology is under pressure, or toxic gases are emitted. Alternatively, the source may be imbued with negative emotions such as anger, fear or hatred left there by the intent of a human being. The result is a toxic dispersal of flows of “black” energy. These flows can cause disruption to everything in their path, such as accident blackspots if they cross roads, or polluted streams if they contact water. energy within half a mile?” – YES. Good. I didn’t intend spending all evening finding it!

I didn’t have long to wait. The lane bent slightly and suddenly the road that I had walked in from disappeared from view. Almost immediately I saw a heap of whiteness ahead of me. What was it? As I neared I began to recognise shapes – bit of plastic guttering, sheets of plasterboard, mastic casings, cardboard, lengths of painted wood….the list went on and on. Here was a dump of faded building material, clearly ripped out from a house nearby and then dumped by an unscrupulous builder to avoid time, expense and hassle!

Take a dump in the countryside

As I stood there aghast at this blot on the country loveliness around my head began to tighten. I was developing a headache! I moved away until the pressure eased, which was about twenty feet back down the path. Something had to be done. By me. I mustered my resources, put up some protection, and then ventured back into the fray to sort this out.

My protection guarded against being drained by this black source, yet I looked around for any alliance upon which I could draw. This was going to take more energy than I had on my own. I went into trance and felt around for compatriots amongst the nearby trees – some were willing but most were afraid to get involved. I admonished them (yes, I did, I told trees off – but it worked) and they relented in the face of my passionate plea. I called upon all the trees within the line of sight, especially the bigger ones, all the hedges, and finally all the shrubs and plants, to join together to help me put an energetic cage around this heap of crap in order to seal the dark force inside it and let the land heal. As I shaped the sphere of white strands of light around the pile I felt the gradual inclusion and collusion of the local plant life working with me. That made it really easy. Once the work was done I went around thanking the trees for their help.

A day later I dowsed for the effect: before I shielded the pile the black source was registering as a 9 out of 10. A day later the influence was at a level of 0.5 on the scale. Nearly dropping off the scale! I drove down the road affected by the black streams too and the road felt a little wider somehow! All I need to do now is convince (or shame) the local council into removing the rubbish. Or doing it myself if they won’t.

Gwas.

Section 3. Tree Spirits, Elementals and Death Energies

This is such an important set of topics that I feel I have to provide some context and background information on them. How, exactly, did we get from the position of not believing in spirits of any kind at all, to having contact with tree, elemental and death spirits, all within a year? Well, it was something of an experiment that wasn’t supposed to work that worked, and which then caused a complete reversal in our understanding and belief system involving the world of energy.

This year we have gone into areas that we never thought we would need to delve into. Kal became embroiled in an interesting spiritual life choice: to become a “Spirit Walker”, or to choose the life of an ordinary person. By making this choice to become a Spirit Walker (as he terms it – i.e. one who walks with the presence of spirits) he has chosen a path that he would not have carved out for himself, as it involves becoming used to the energy formations of death. Even though his choice is made, I know he is reluctant to accept this. Nevertheless, it is an area that we now are engaged with to some degree. I will leave him to summarise this in the final summary post of the year, as it has been exclusively his work.

Kal’s other development this year has been to finally overcome his inability to communicate with trees. Now he has become their friend, to the point where his first contact at an ancient site if usually with any nearby tree. I have also retained this connection, but have not sought to develop it much further yet. It has been enough for me that I have overcome my reluctance to speak to Yew trees, for fear of what they might reveal, being associated with death, rebirth and transformation, as they are.

Influential book

My greatest development this year has undoubtedly been in the area of elemental spirits. Kal has a tentative relationship with his death spirits - I have developed a relationship with earth, air, water, fire and aether spirits. Obviously, I don’t say that kind of thing lightly. One doesn’t simply come out one day saying “Today I recognise the existence of spirits.” Such a development has been a progression from my work with the spirits of trees. Once I understood how to communicate with trees I could attempt to contact other sentient entities. During my researches I had read of the possibility in the book “Walker Between The Worlds”. I invited any sentient spirits in the area of a benevolent nature to enter into my wooden staff that I leave perched against an apple tree in my garden. I forgot about having made this request for several weeks, then one day I just really noticed the staff – standing against the tree – making itself known to me. I grabbed my dowsing rods and began to ask questions. The result was my first encounter with a spirit of the elements,(although she insisted that she was not a being known as an ‘elemental’, she was a spirit who had command of the air element – altogether different, apparently).

Having made an initial contact I went on to contact three other elemental spirits, and now my ambition is to foster and work with those relationships in the next year to see what can be achieved for both my ambitions and theirs. One spirit, however, was different. It dowsed as an aether spirit, and came about in a different way. Again, prompted by the Walker Between The Worlds book, I attempted to initiate contact with my “spirit guide”. Another concept I had great difficulty in accepting, and was highly sceptical of, but I was curious too, and eager to learn what did and didn’t work in this magical world of spirit. One deep meditation later I had made contact with an entity in a dark cloak who would never show her face. I dowsed the alphabet to determine her name, and since then she has been my constant companion in my magical journeys and at sacred sites.

So, this year, both Kal and myself have done a volte-face on such topics. We still deplore the sensationalisation of many of the so-called proponents in this sphere of magical working (you all know such people – Derek Akorah and his ilk, who prefer to be ‘entertainers’ rather than researchers), but we have had to come to terms with the presence and guidance of some sentient entities that we had previously dismissed and deplored ourselves. What a curious world this is!

Here are some things we have learned about spirits and spirit energies of all kinds:-

3-1. Guide Spirits: I have obtained the assistance of five spirits: four elementally-based spirits, and one that is what can only be described as “an ascended master”. They can be contained in a set of crystals chosen for the purpose, and invoked during natural magic to assist with elemental-based energy work, or with vision quests and guidance on the path. These spirits operate in a hierarchy of sentient energies, despite my protestation to the contrary. I now have to retract that. I have used dowsing rods and tarot cards to determine this, but have not continued the investigation beyond determining that there IS a hierarchy.

3-2. Connecting with trees: both Kal and I are able to connect with trees, to retrieve stored history, have questions answered, and to receive empathic responses in answer t our enquiries. Sometime we are shown visions, or given emotions that correspond to affirmative or negative responses to our questions or intentions. When deep connections have been sought then the presence of a voice can emerge through our thoughts, and internal dialogues begin, sometimes in our own voices, often in voices that are quite definitely not ours. Knowledge of things unknowable to us otherwise can result from these interactions – and this in particular is some kind of confirmation that it is not all thought-play or invention. Facts that are testable are often delivered to us, and we can then check them. They always turn out to be true. This is, clearly to us, some form of more wide-ranging and more ancient knowledge source. The trees are very wise and know many things that we don’t. Their counsel is balanced and meaningful.

3-3. Healing trees: Kal and I can also heal trees that have diminished auras, using techniques similar to those we learned to re-attune geopathic stress in houses or at sacred sites. We have re-established auras (nemeton fields of living energy) by clearing blockages much like the process of acupuncture.

3-4. Cloud sylphs: Never thought that the unusual cloud formations sometimes seen were anything other than unusual cloud formations – then I had a face loom out at me from the sky when I was communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with Nature under an old pear tree one day, and it blew me away. Since then this has happened several times, and each time it is incredibly overwhelming. They are there if you choose to look for them and to recognise them. I notice this has only happened since I got in touch with an Air Spirit, though.

3-5. The spirit of ancient mythical figures can be contacted through visits to the sites associated with them. For example, Dinas Emrys, long associated with Merlin, produced contact with an eagle that dowsed as being the spirit of Merlin. I will be trying this out at other associated sites in the near future to check it again.

3-6. Yew treescan be communed with to learn lessons concerning rebirth and transformation processes in your life. I have contacted several different yews over the course of the year, and each one was able to show me the potential for a transformation. The actual process of transformation always seemed to be something that I had to create and make happen, though. Despite their proverbial connotations of death and morbidity, I have found my connections with yew trees to be nothing other than profoundly moving and rewarding. I have come away from the experience feeling entirely relaxed and peaceful. For me, the yew tree represents peace, and they are not the fearful monsters that I expected. Quite the opposite.

3-7. Site guardians: CommuningAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with some ancient sites involves asking the permission of the genius lociGenius Loci means 'spirit of the place' and refers to the geological/gaian spirit of place. It is transfixed to a place – being an embodiment of the collective intelligence of the place. – the site guardian. Not all sites have one that is accessible to me, but where I have felt their presence and have dowsed for their permission, I was often able to obtain it (not always at the first attempt, though). Once permission is obtained an interesting experience is guaranteed. I found that the site guardians, when worked with appropriately, guided my experience through intuitive suggestion, and if I responded appropriately then a chain of such intuitive responses could be followed leading to a rewarding experience spiritually or intellectually.

This year has been the year for contacting and communingAn interaction with an invisible and natural sentient force that is independently identifiable, even if it cannot be named or classified. The interaction takes place at the level of a subtle amalgamation of the mind of the perceiver such that a dialogue or transference of feelings may occur between the two sentient parties. The interaction that is ‘communing’ is purposefully initiated by the perceiver for the express purpose of learning or simply to transfer feelings in a sympathetic manner. with spirits of all kinds for both myself and Kal. We have gone from neither of us having any belief whatsoever in any form of spirit, to a healthy relationship with spirits of all sorts. Let me qualify that a little – I think that by November, 2008, I was beginning to think that trees as living entities may be contacted in some way, but that was the start of it, I would say, and not much was done after that until 2009.

I would not say that we have opened the floodgates wide to these things. Instead we have been measured, and have trodden very cautiously and with a great deal of preparation before we attempted to open ourselves up to such an experience. Caution is still our watch-word, and we still analyse the experiences carefully to ensure that we have not just been fantasizing. The line between creative mental thought-forms and an interaction with nature spirits can be a difficult balance to strike, and we do not always get it right, I am sure. However, every experience we have is scrutinised for similarities, methods, structure, pathways and known psychological phenomenon to try to clear out the genuine encounter from a daydream, as far as that is credible to do so.

Gwas.

It was a stunningly hot and lovely summer’s day as we ventured north from Hockenheim in Germany, past the famous racing track. M and I were heading south-west of Heidelberg to reach the town of Schwetzingen. She had come to visit me for the weekend as I was holed up for two weeks in the Rhine Valley. I was determined that we would see the best of the sites in the area, and had been recommended the castle of Schwetzingen as it was reputed to have some extensive and well-designed gardens. How true!

The town is dominated by a castle that reminded me of The Palace of Versaillesin the grandeur and resplendence of its gardens. As the visitor’s web site states the gardens are divided into two main sections: a symmetrical french design of ornate manicured flower beds and ornamental trees, and a naturalistic English designed that orms the outer areas and incorporates the main water features of the gardens. Frankly, the English design is also the most visually and aesthetically appealing to me. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, I was so enthralled by it that I forgot to take any pictures of that bit, so you’ll have to make do with the French bits!

The garden design incorporates elements that any druid owuld recognise. Here’s a quote from the web site :

“The baroque garden is divided into the parterre, hedge zone and forest section. An unusual feature in Schwetzingen is the circular parterre formed by the “Zirkelbauten” (Quarter-Circle Buildings) and the vine-covered galleries, which distinguishes it from all others of the period.”

The quartered circle should strike a chord. As should the alignments, the correspondences, the nature of the tree planting, the labyrinthine beech maze, and a host of other esoteric elements that any studious druid would prick up their ears at. There was evidence of a great deal of sacred geometry in the design of the gardens, and I was interested to see what effect this woudl have on people. universal joy and contentment would be an apt description!

The gardens contain temples to several Greek God archetypes including Mercury (communication) and Minerva (wisdom). Here’s a link to a photo site giving you one of the pictures I should have taken of the rear of the Temple of Minerva: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4143935

There are many old and tall trees in the outer established (and less manicured) areas surrounding a beautiful lake. I was so entranced by the delightful asymmetry and naturalistic planting of the woods that I singularly failed to take a single picture of the best bits, but trust me – these pictures even fail to do justice to its majesty and beauty.

Just sitting beneath an old oak tree that hosted a thick old vine snaking up its trunk left M and I in a torpid state of semi-trance. Almost immediately for me I was beginning to venture down a corridor punctuated by doors of various rainbow colours. Interesting! I mused, however the reverie is soon broken by the joyous shouts of excited children let loose in the huge playground that the gardens provide – and who would deny them that joy? Not I.

If you happen to be close to Heidelberg, why not venture off the motorway a little way in order to visit this wondrous place? You can hardly fail to be disappointed. Four euros will bring you all the earthly delights you could take in.

Gwas.

Seeing both sides at once