The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘water spirit’

Towards the end of the first day on Iona we walked to the northern end of the island to climb the hill known as Dun I (‘Dun-ee’). It was only a short distance from the abbey’s grounds, and according to the signposts there was only a 600m walk to the top. I was determined to go because there are so few sacred places on this small island that I wanted to see them all, and with no rain in sight this was a perfect opportunity to do such a climb. It was my belief that somewhere up on top of the hill there was a healing pool, and I was keen to find it and use it. Besides, this would be a great place for me to find out what the quest was for the next part of the Wheel of the Year. I was hoping this would be the place to find that information. So it turned out to be,

There are few signposts on Iona. Locals know where they’re going. Visitors should have the time to find what they need without needing direction. There was one small, and I mean small, concession to this rule and that was the inch-high sign pointing out the footpath to the mountain/hill of Dun I, and the sign on the gate alongside it re-iterating the route. Frankly, you’d be hard-pressed to miss it anyway, even in fog! It’s only five minutes walk north from the Abbey.

Dun I – the only tall thing in the North of Iona

As we stepped onto the smooth grassy path something ached in my feet - a longing to be free of the shoes that I had spent all day walking around in. I set my feet free. They practically sighed at the coolness of the mossy grass path and delighted in the cooling dew and occasional crossing rivulet of water. This lasted for about two minutes, then they began to get cold. My brain chimed in with a gentle reminder that this was September, and that I was in Scotland. Thanks, Rational Mind – you’re always useful, never superfluous! Another minute and the climb up the hill began – it was slippery, muddy, rocky and cold. Was this a wise decision now? No, but I continued anyway. Sometimes hardship leads to a better insight. Reward comes through effort, as they say (Who says this? They need a smack!).

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This is the fifth and penultimate part (you’ll be pleased to hear, I’m sure) of the Spring Equinox posts concerning our day out in Cumbria. Following on almost immediately from our visit to St Catherine’s Well we wandered down to the banks of the River Esk. We had originally gone in search of one of the several waterfalls in the area, but time was getting on and the recent fine weather would have meant that the falls would be a mere trickle, so we decided to return to the beautiful spot we had passed on our way up the river, and to see what would happen if we meditated there instead. It was still a water element, and it might even be a powerful one. So it turned out to be!

Kal and I sat on opposite banks of the river. I had chosen a precarious perch that was calling to me, and which had a natural seat which let my legs dangle high over the river’s flowing cold water. For several minutes I simply absorbed the surrounding sounds before I felt myself begin to blend with them. My aura had loosened itself from my usual tight grip and was naturally expanding and relaxing from its usual tight circular form and melting into the landscape. I let it. This usually signalled the beginning of something wonderful.

The sounds of birdsong, sheep, trees and flowing water filled the space between my ears and my breathing returned out to join the natural sounds of the early Spring song. I gathered some of my energies from inside myself and began to work them into a swirling pillar of twining strands that flowed up and down, into the earth and up beyond it. Soon the energy pillar settled into a central place around me and I knew I was centred and energised. I put up a slight protective field around me so that I could work undisturbed. This was, after all, a public pathway and there’s no telling what is around you when you commune.

I ventured a question into the depths of my inner silence. “Had I already found my task for the Spring Equinox season?” In the intimate silence of those moments a voice began to emerge in response to the descending and fading question that had been thrust out alone into the void. The voice had certain characteristics of my own vocal sound, but the content was not mine. The voice tinkled like a stream, dove in and around on itself like tumbling water, and held an innate wash of emotion that swept along with its content: “No, you have not yet been tasked.” “Do you have a name?”, I ventured. It did, and it was a name that evoked childhood memories and playfulness, and it made me smile broadly. I tried not to laugh at the name, the I reached into my pocket. It was time for a trade.

I settled back into the depth of the trance to continue my questioning, letting the babbling brook beat out a constant stream of tippling tones. In my hand I cradled an egg-shaped stone that I had found on my travels through Wiltshire, and which held memories of my journey following ley lines and visiting sacred sites in southern counties of England. I offered a trade of this memory-laden stone in return for some information about my next quest. The response was a pleased murmur of consent which rippled in my stomach and which made the invisible threads of my energy perception quiver and waver. Good.

Now the questions received instant answers. I asked whether my recent energy healing work for Japan had been purposeful, and the response was that “Along with the 100,000 other people’s wishes, your energies will all counteract the negative energies of those traumatised by the earthquake and tsunami.” I was both chastened and gladdened by that response. Some good was done, but it felt like I should overestimate the near in-consequentiality of my work.

Next I asked this water spirit of the Esk if she could tell me the next part of  my year’s quest, and in way of an answer she showed began to form a picture in the darkened cinema screen of my inner mind. I was an animation of a hand cupping the flower of a plant (a yellow flower, possibly a daffodil) and by placing the hand under the flower the flower grew to several times its original size and with much stronger qualities such as colour and shape. The inference was clear to me – I would need to learn how to promote the growth of plants. I asked the water spirit to confirm my interpretation, which she did.

I wanted to know a little more about this task. I asked if she was indicating that I should learn how to promote growth in plants through the development of energetic powers – she said it was exactly that. I would have to undergo some form of energetic change in order to learn how to do this. Quite what that change would entail I didn’t feel as though I could enquire at this stage. I had only just had the task revealed, and I wanted to let it sink in before I did more work to reveal the nature of the quest and what I would need to do.

I said my thanks to the helpful spirit, wished her well, and in an act of love and appreciation I came back to full consciousness and threw the egg-shaped stone into one of the deeper parts of the river where it went to join the turquoise colour of the Esk’s clear waters.

In fact, I wouldn’t have too long to wait to find out some more details. For the rest of the day the idea was at the forefront of my thoughts, and as Kal and I moved to the next few sites the opportunity arose for me to ask some more questions and find out more about this quest. In the final visit of the day I would find out more about how I could achieve those powers.

Gwas.

High Harrington – a return to dowsing roots

On our way over from Castlerigg to Ennerdale I noticed that we would be going within a short distance of the village that I used to live in when I lived in Cumbria. It was too good an opportunity to miss, especially as I suddenly thought of something that might make the visit a bit more interesting – High Harrington was the first place that I ever dowsed, when I was about 11 or 12 years old. How about going back to discover what it was that I found int he field opposite my old house?

Despite the fact that the satellite navigation on my phone was really playing up that morning I still remembered enough about the area to be able to navigate us to the right place (after one false alarm due to new construction). I pointed out old haunts on the way through the village from the east side and eventually we parked opposite my old house, next to the field I had first dowsed in (not the house pictured, but similar if much smaller).

Yes folks, it really is as exciting as it looks!

The first thing I noticed about the house was that the neighbours had cut down their beautiful cherry tree – the one bit of joyful colour in this otherwise drab street. Shame, because it would have been in bloom at that time of year. Now there was just an bland gap. Fools! We made our way to the field and hopped over the gate for a swift bit of dowsing – surely no-one would mind two fellas swinging rods around in a grassy field?

I asked the rods to find the exact spot where I had got a dowsing reaction 30 years ago, although back then I knew not why, of course. I was within ten feet of the spot and it only took me seconds to locate it. Now I had the knowledge to find out what the reasons for the reaction were. So, I asked the rods for more information about the spot. It turned out to be a very weak female spiral caused by some underground water at that spot. Wow – after all these years the round trip was completed, and the mystery solved!

Just as we were climbing back over the fence a farmer appeared asking what we were up to. Funny how he appeared just at that moment – almost like one of the locals tipped him off, or something? Still a bunch of close-knit nosy parkers then? Nothing changes up that part of the country. I explained my situation, my history and what I was doing. Farmers are often sympathetic to this. Indeed he was quite reasonable, not flinching one bit at the dowsing, and in fact confirming that there were several water springs in the field that he had come across when working the land over the years. Excellent – conformation of my findings too. What a bonus! I thanked the nosy parkers for their hidden intervention, and turned my suspicious thoughts into unqualified thanks.

Ennerdale Water – an exchange of spirits

The next destination we headed for was another one of my re-visitations. We drove to Ennerdale Water, one of the smaller lakes and the one closest to High Harrington (okay – maybe Loweswater is slightly closer – don’t be pedantic – it’s poetic license). I remember cycling to Ennerdale on several occasions on warm weekends and when I arrived I would usually walk around the lake, up into the hills, and sit by a stream or just look out over the lake for a while, then ride all the way home. No wonder I had legs like tree trunks as a youth!

In my mind I had a vivid memory of standing on the shore of Ennerdale, almost saying goodbye to it before I moved away. Now I was back. We parked at the car park and walked the short walk down to the edge fo the lake. There was no obvious way to get TO the lake itself so we walked around for a while, and then I insisted that we find a way down to the lake shore, so we plunged through the long grass whereupon I found an almost invisible animal track and we followed that. At the end of the track it opened out onto a pebble-strewn cove of some fifteen feet across and only a few feet in depth. I stopped shocked. This was the exact place I remember last standing in my memory of the place! I had found the exact point thirty years later. The power of the subconscious mind, eh?

It wasn’t warm, though. Kal and I skimmed some stones for a few minutes, admiring the ones that bounced several times and boo-ing the ones that plopped unceremoniously into the dark blue repository. It was a moment of youthful playfulness. Then I felt a tug, a need to connect to the lake. I have always had good experiences connecting with the spirits of lakes, but despite that I put up some protection. One never knows what’s out there, so it’s best to be safe.

The Blue Stone to White Stone exchange

With my protection in place I extended my aura out into the lake asking for any water spirit that wished to connect to do so. I also took out my set of elemental crystals (the only ones I had brought with me to the lake) and tried to remember exactly which one was for the water spirit. After a minute of deliberation I chose a blue agate that I had recently introduced into the set for some reason. I called upon the water spirit that I have become familiar with to move herself into this crystal so that I could work with her.  I felt a distinct..unwillingness for her to do that! I picked out the other crystal that she might reside in (or through which I could contact her) and asked if she was in that one – YES. But it was an indistinct clear quartz crystal and it was easily confused with the other one in the collection. I needed to change this, so I asked the lake spirits if I would be allowed to remove a stone from the lake within which to re-house my familiar water spirit. The roar of approval was almost deafening to my internal ears, as it were. The overwhelming feeling of “rightness” was the permission I needed.

I picked up my staff and looked into the lake – which one to choose? There was a small white stone about six feet into the shallows that caught my eye. I asked, would that stone be suitable? Again the lake’s spirits responded encouragingly with a tingly pleasant feeling in my stomach, like excitement.

By the way – some signs for disapproval include birds making noises around me, anything that is very distracting just after the question is asked, or a feeling of queasiness in my stomach. The birds I take as a warning, the distraction is telling me that I should be looking elsewhere for an answer, and the queasiness tells me that the thing I am about to do is not good for me.

I fished out the stone, not wanting to touch the lake until the last moment when I picked the white Dolomite stone out. Kal kept saying, “Come on! Just pick it up!” but I had to do it carefully, with the minimum of disturbance and not too greedily. It had to come because it wanted to, not because I wanted it to. It arrived easily and willingly.

On the shore I held the stone for a short while and then was pleased to find it was warm and perfectly dry, despite the cold weather and my cold hands. Odd, but a good sign – it meant we were compatible. I asked my water spirit ally whether she would transfer her connections into the new stone and there was a whoosh of swirling energy around my head as the transfer took place. This was obviously a better place to live!

I took the blue agate stone that I could find no use for and filled it with my own energy – experiences of this day, my feelings for this region, my memories of the place, my stories from a life lived here – and then I hurled the stone into the lake where it disappeared instantly, never to be seen again. It belonged to the lake itself now. We had exchanged energies. The lake spirits had given me one of their precious stones, and in return I had done the same. I like that – I like to be in balance, neither in debt nor owed anything.

That was all we had to do – to evoke memories and exchange spirits. Quite a beautiful experience amid the dramatic cloud, water and hills around.

Gwas – finding a new home for an old friend

I awoke to a wonderful sunny day today and since such solar energy is not to be wasted I decided to hit the road and see where it took me…

Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown,

And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known.

(Source J.R.R Tolkien ~ The Hobbit)

Before I knew it, I was heading towards the hills and dales of North Wales. As I drove along, several destinations came to mind.

• The 4000 year old Yew tree?
• Pistyll Rhaeadr ~ waterfall
• Llandrillo Stone Circle
• Penmaenmawr ~ Druids Circle

Decisions, decisions. I thought to stop the car and grab my dowsing rods and let them decide. However as I turned the car off the road I realised that I had arrived at the place where I had done a “sea meditation” many months ago – with little success I might add.

Since I didn’t blog that event – let me take a moment to embarrass myself…

It was a nice sunny day some months ago, when I felt the desire to connect with the ocean – or with some feminine energy that water provides. Thus it was that I found myself sat between two large boulders on the Welsh coast looking out at some rolling waves.

I sat and reflected on the ocean, waves, water and gods. After some time of quietude and reflection I found my thoughts wandering to the great Poseidon. With my recent success with Tree, I wondered whether I could beg an audience with the Oceanic God.

Thus you would have found my small voice calling out to the great wide expanse and listening for some sense of acknowledgement. Alas it was not happening! At some level I knew that my call had gone out, but the over-riding impression I got in return was…nothing. I would have been happy with a acknowledgement of my existence, even a sniff of disdain from His Majesty, but no. It was as if I didn’t exist. It was a blow to my vaulted ego. Never mind though eh? My ego can take it

Never a one to give in after a first attempt, here I was ready to knowck on them there vaulted doors. So it is that I found myself sitting upon – quite probably the same rock – and watching the waves on a sunny but windy day.

Was I going to be fool enough to commune with Poseidon? Nah, I am good at learning lessons. This time I sat there and put out a call for something more communable. My intent was simple…If there is anything out there that is “of-the-water” and would like to chat and exchange energies, then I was available for the duration.

For many moments I sat and patiently waited, not knowing in what form (if any) a message would appear. Would it be a feeling, a visualisation or what?

After a while my gaze wandered from the sea and to the rocks, pebbles and shells that surrounded me. A large shell caught my eye because of its peculiar shape and that it had water in it. I turned my attention to it wondering if it was something to collect…

As those avid readers of this blog will know – Gwas and I have discovered the ‘meaning of life’ – or at least one of the meanings of life, and that is to move rocks from one place to another. In more extreme cases this has been elevated to include feathers, seeds, crystals and conkers. Perhaps it was time to include shells?

As I looked down on this little container I imagined its edge being the shape of a face. Like cloud viewing the shape morphed in my imagination and with a bit of start I realised it had the shape of one of the statues of Easter Island fame.

Easter Island Statue

It was quite uncanny how I managed to see the profile of the above image in the simple cracks of a shell. As I observed this morphing I recalled something that had come to me the other day when I was wondering about Wand creation.

One of the requirements for my wand would be to acquire water from the middle of the pacific ocean. Yeah right! Further deliberation on this revealed more detail, in that the water was to be collected from the beach, off the coast of Easter Island. Now, as I sat upon a rather hard rock, letting myself drift into a hypnagogic state I felt a connection come into existence. It wasn’t with Poseidon – that would have been improbable (o.k. impossible!) but rather it was with a water spirit. Indeed it wasn’t the little bit of water that was in the shell I was focusing on. More accurately it was “using” that water as a conduit to commune with me.

Yes, I took all this with a huge dollup of salt, but suspended judgement whilst the “instruction” took place.  It is interesting to note that the “voice” of the spirit was actually more like air than water. How can I know? Good question.

Anyway the instruction took on an interesting aspect as it went into the particulars about why and how I could infuse the energy of the oceans into my wand. For more details on that you will have to nip to the wandmaker site.

How did this commune work? Quite simply it was like a chain of questions, I would ask a question, receive an answer, which would lead to another question. Yes, I could have just been talking to myself. But as Gwas and I have pointed out on so many occasions. How come the answers aren’t anything like what we would have come up with on our own?

In essence it boils down to this…what ever the source, the path becomes more interesting every day and for that, my dear reader, for that, what price would you pay?

This “QnA” continued for a while and then it bumped into a wall. How do I get to Easter Island? An interesting pause occured, which kind of seemed like a small crack opening in front of me and then growing wider and wider. I looked down into the chasm and it was quite deep, bottomless is probably a more accurate description. I paused until the “vision” faded and asked the same question again, with the same response.

But I don’t know what that means! Darn these communes, they don’t half leave you puzzled!

It looked like this was going to be the end of this commune and indeed this unanswered question marked an end. I bobbed down to pick up the shell I had been gazing at and a handful of seagulls caught my attention…Ah a sign? I grabbed my rods and asked, “Should I take the shell?” No, was the sharp response. At last a sign that I understood. Progress!!

I felt the need to create an appreciative gesture and though I am certain that a simple thank you would have sufficed I decided to go for lighting some incense sticks.

It’s not so much what you do, it’s the intent with which you do it.

Oh, and on a complete aside – for those of us that have intent issues such as…”the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Let me ask you this simple follow-up question to that, “What is the road to heaven paved with?”

Waves

It seems that life is getting to be more interesting by the day.

Kal

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 communing 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: Communing with some ancient sites involves asking the permission of the genius loci – 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 communing 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.