The Hedge Druid

You can’t come to Egypt and not take a ride on a camel, apparently. So, we did. We got up early and crossed the Nile from Aswan‘s east bank across to its west bank, where all the culture related to the afterlife was situated. On the western bank, just below the tomb for the Aga Khan III, is a small stable of camels and their keepers – mere slips of boys with eager grins.

The Nile near Aswan

We ensured the indignity of our unpractised and unbalanced mounting of the Desert Taxis didn’t go unrecorded, and then began our stomp up through the sand and rocky paths towards the remains of the monastery founded by the legendary Saint Simeon (or Simon The Tanner, as he was also known).

Who is more indignant - camel or rider?

Our guide for this short expedition was the delightful local lady “Maggi” (a shortened version of a lovely Nubian name that she knew we wouldn’t be able to pronounce, let alone retain in our tiny western brains. She was right – we couldn’t. It must be the effects of the sun?).

Sat atop the rocky ridge overlooking the Nile at Aswan the monastery initially appears to be quite compact, but as you enter the building you realise that it is split into the lower religious section consisting of a large courtyard and a small church. Up some stone steps the larger expanse of the functional elements of the complex become apparent, with areas for stabling camels, toilets, a laundry, extensive sleeping quarters and storage rooms.

After our guided tour we were left to our own devices for as long as we needed. Up here, on this deserted desert ridge we were the only visitors, and we left to explore the place at our leisure. Immediately I got my dowsing rods out and began to investigate the area for interesting subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified. spots.

My first quest was to find whether there was any Spirit of Place at this location. There was. I asked to be taken to the spirit’s current location and the rods began to direct me to an area of the monastery that I hadn’t been to as yet. Eventually I arrived at a small room with one triangular end which had no windows. This would surely not have been a place of residence without windows? Mind you, from what we had heard St Simeon was a strange man. We heard the story of a hole in the ceiling through which Simeon had his hair held by other monks so that he wouldn’t fall asleep while reading scriptures. If his eyes drooped then the monks gave his hair a tug to keep him awake! And I thought I was dedicated to the cause!

The rods twirled around into a circle at a spot to the southern end of the room.Q. Was this SOP the spirit of St.Simeon? YES. Further inquiries began.

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Pyramids and Pyramyths

The only question I needed to answer when faced with the gigantic step facade of the Great Pyramid was whether I wanted to pay to go inside the structure. Of course I did! I hadn’t come all this way not to take an opportunity like that. We escaped the afternoon sun and the pesky traders who swarmed like sand-flies around the pyramid’s lengthy base. As we stepped inside a frisson of excitement and awe pulsed through us and we exchanged glances – yes, we really were inside the Great Pyramid of antiquity.

We climbed the steep wooden-runged ramp with heads kept low until we reached one of the vaulted inclined chambers. There we caught our breath in the humid and close stale air before continuing another steep climb up to the King’s Chamber. Once inside we were pounced upon by a local man of overwhelming insistence who ‘guided’ us through some basic facts and figures, dragging a different lady to each point in the chamber before performing a very physical demonstration of the chamber’s position inside the pyramid’s structure, making us feel the inside of the remaining sarcophagus, and shining a torch so that we could see the vents and shafts at various points around the room. Then he flattened his hand in a gesture anticipating kind donations, Few were forthcoming, and most people escaped his avid attentions and the stifling closeness of the air as they exited the room. We lingered for a while because M could see that I wanted to check some things out. However, I didn’t do any dowsing – I just ‘felt’ around using my senses and my intuitive responses.

Why didn’t I take the opportunity to dowse in there? Did I feel anything? Were there incredible energies in that chamber? There was nothing. No feeling of any energy at all. Whatever that chamber’s previous or current purpose or activity there was none of it going on when I was there. The chamber was devoid of subtle life, only tourists. I wondered at this point whether the idea that this chamber might seal off energies from outside could be true? I tested the seals between the stones in the walls and found that I couldn’t even put my fingernail between the stones. Why would this degree of perfect fit be necessary for such a room unless it served some function? Nowhere else in my subsequent travels to temples would I find anything like this kind of perfection in the remains of temples. It certainly begs the question!

Sonic experimentation

Trying to avoid the attentions of a pesky “guide” who was angling for money off anyone lingering in the chamber I tried an experiment that came to mind. I began to hum to see what the effect was of sound made within the chamber. I was expecting an intense resonance off the sleek and tight-fitting walls but instead what I got back was a dulling of the sound, almost an absorption. It felt like I was humming slightly in my own head. My sound was not ‘bouncing off the walls’ in a ‘sonic cathedral of sound’, but instead it was being pushed away by the angles of the chamber until it almost cancelled itself out! The effect was quite disturbing, and I stopped any further humming, not knowing what to try next. The ‘guide’ became insistent upon payment for his meagre services in a most leering manner, and I decided to get M out of the small space before something untoward occurred in this special place.

As we re-emerged sweating from the humidity inside I turned my attention to some of the other tales I had heard about the pyramids.

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This is the first in my tales of energy investigations in the land of Egypt. Whether you plan a visit there or not I think you will find the tales interesting, and the findings got stranger as I became more embedded into the feel and culture of the land where Pharaohs and Pyramids haunt our imagination. Here’s the first account.

Cairo is a hustle of overcrowded people, and a smog of battered cars ferrying them around. In between the dinted cars wary pedestrians and bored donkeys dodge through the gaps with breathtaking complacency. In this torrid environment it is difficult to know where to begin to look for sacred sites or energy centres. Luckily, on our two-day venture into the heart of this madness we had a guide who was as unfazed as he was educated. Emad, a young local man with journalistic ambitions, wove together a tapestry of sites that were in the top ten of every tourist visiting Cairo for the first time. For him, this was an easy task. For us, it was a whirlwind of back streets and chauffeured limousine rides that left us dizzy and exhausted.

I only had two ambitions for the two days. The first on my list was to confirm the stories as to whether the pyramids of Giza really are as powerful as they ought to be, considering that they are considered to be at the “navel of the world” by so many scholars of earth energy lore. The second task was to discover which of the many tourist sites we would visit would actually have strong energies – the expected places or the unexpected? As it turned out it was the unexpected. I will spare you the many details of each tourist attraction in Cairo even though the temptation is to offer you as much information as I received during my whirlwind tour. Instead I will restrict this blog post to the places that any energy-aware visitor should consider including in their itinerary.

The Coptic Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga)

Our first place to visit on our first morning in Cairo turned out to be the best place energetically. There is no way we would have found the small entrance to the inauspicious church of Abu Serga – a small wooden door down a few steps in one of the back streets away from the busy hustle of the main streets. The church was identified to us as the earliest Coptic Church in Cairo. Our guide, Emad, gave us a brief history of the church’s construction, showed us some of the architectural and artistic highlights, and then led us into an area that he described as the oldest part of the church where it is rumoured that the “holy family of Jesus” took refuge during their flight to Egypt from the Holy Land.

Fra Angelico's Flight Into Egypt painting

Now – I’m no Christian believer, but something was vibrant in that church, so I set about trying to find the source….

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Following on from Kal’s strange tale of the disappearing citrine cluster, here is the story of the things that happened to me on Dinas Bran that peculiar evening.

As he mentioned I was eager to test out some of the supposed powers that my staff had seemingly acquired. In the event I never got to do much with the staff as other events overtook my original intentions – we must always expect to give in to the Flow of the UniverseTo join with the flow of the universe is to follow a natural progression in tune with Nature’s own direction of development. Religion has called this concept “following the divine will”, but then has proceeded to make it a law, rather than a useful option for personal and communal progress., I feel. I now go with whatever I feel is right, not with what I plan. I would get my chance to play with the staff soon enough.

My first question on the top of the hillfort was where the spirit of the place – Bran himself – could be located at this time of year. I had become accustomed to finding the spirit in one particular place, but earlier in the year I was surprised to find the location had moved to the far west end of the hilltop. On this evening the spirit was to be found in another new location – behind one of the western outer walls.

I felt I should use the crystals I had brought and so laid them out around me, holding the ‘spirit’ quartz stone to form the central point, the spoke in the wheel of the elemental cross. As I began to commune with the spirit of Bran I felt like I was able to ask him some questions. I thought about what to ask and came up with a question about the purpose of the hill as a sacred place – what made it sacred – its properties? With the question launched I sat back to receive the answer.

The view from the other side

The answer came back as a visual composite in which I saw images of various viewpoints around the hill from an aerial perspective. Then, just as I was about to ask why I was being shown this my vision was shifted into a vision of my body sat at one of these points on the edge of the hilltop. I could see the distant hillside opposite through my new perspective. Then I could feel that I was being asked to pick a point on the hilltop opposite. I opened my eyes in reality and picked what looked like a standing stone on the far hillside. I was back in the “vision body” and saw the stone on the opposite hillside through those eyes. Then an astonishing thing happened. My vision switched to the hillside opposite – exactly where the stone would be! I was looking back at myself sitting in the edge of Dinas Bran, meditating, and I could see myself sitting there with my eyes closed. I was seeing the view from the opposite side of the valley – from the point I had chosen just moments ago! This was remote viewing, I knew. And I was doing it. Bran was telling me that such a thing was possible, nay easy to do on this special hilltop.

Seeing through the eyes of Bran the Raven

Almost as soon as the question as to how this was possible was nascent in my brain it was being answered. I was being shown that wherever I sat around the hilltop I would be able to direct my attention away from the hill in a straight line and send it to any point along that line. Once it “landed” then I could view what was there. This was the concept that I was beginning to understand, and I had been given an example of how that would work already.

Vision of Bran as the Hill

I marvelled at the prospect. Imagine – being able to use the hill for remote viewing? I wondered if this was a special property of Bran himself? Again, no sooner considered than images were beginning to coalesce on the film-screen of my third eye. I sat back to enjoy the show. What I was shown was a short sequence where accompanied by a sort of narrator who gave me instructions on how to direct the sequence. The conversation went something like this:-

“Picture the whole of the hill…” said The Narrator. An image duly appeared. “This is the body of Bran.” he said. The image began to fluctuate between being a hill and being a body in an earthen-coloured tunic, much as one would imagine a mediaeval peasant to wear. The feet of Bran were stuck in the earth below the hill, I noticed. The hill had no head. No, Bran had no head! I noticed that too.

“Where is Bran’s head?” taunted The Narrator. “It is anywhere he wants it to be!” came to immediate and triumphant response. The image in my mind now included Bran’s smiling and dark-haired head, but the head was sliding around on the horizontal plane, able to move off in any direction away from the hill.

Suddenly I was seeing through Bran’s eyes and with only a moment’s thought he was seeing through mine. That was an unusual feeling! As though I was watching someone using my eyes to observe from my seated position. I understood the lesson. Having allowed Bran to see through my eyes recently, now the favour was being returned ‘three fold‘. Dinas Bran is a special place, and my relationship with the spirit of Bran has become such that I am being permitted to share the use of his legendary abilities. This is at once humbling and slightly daunting. I endeavour to remain worthy of such experiences.

Gwas.

Cows

Dinas Bran

I had arrived back from the States only two days ago and Gwas and I decided to take a trip out into the mystery (my new term for nature). Gwas had told me all about his Staff experiences. We were eager to go out and explore this (these) phenomena. Gwas picked the location and we ended up at an ancient hill fort (Don’t get excited there was no sign of the fort at all now. Just a farmers field). Personally I prefer forts that at least have a few boulders floating around. Anyway, I will let Gwas relate the actions and results of that episode. I have interesting tales to tell.

Although we had only been on the hill (fort) for about 30 minutes we were driven from further experimentation by the crowd of cows that seemed intent on spoiling our evening.

Dinas Bran

Since we had much time left over, I pointed Gwas towards the direction of Dinas Bran and there was no stopping him. Of we toddled. As you will know Dinas Bran is the place of amazing experiences for both of us and we have never been disappointed. The climb up the hill was challenging (a testimony to too many cakes). As per usual Gwas and I separated once we gained the heights. Both went our ways.

My entrance to Dinas Bran was different than usual. I wandered around the outside of the castle for a while somehow needing to connect at a deeper level with 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. of the place. After many minutes I decided on an entrance path and walked in.

Just a note. I am going to describe in detail what I did because something rather unusual happened near the end of our stay at Dinas Bran.

Hand sized Citrine Cluster

I was bit hot from the climb and took my jacket off and put it over one of the rocks. I had brought with me a hand sized citrine crystal. Which I asked the rods as to where a good place to put it would be. The rods directed me to a 6 ft high jagged part of the wall. So I stuck the crystal on there making sure that it could capture some of the final rays of the sun. I then returned to the rock where my jacket lay and meditated for a few minutes whilst taking in the sun light. Nothing of note happened during my meditation and I finished it of by requesting the rods take me to a place where I could learn something of value (of course I asked first whether there was indeed anything to learn). 

If you look at the image of Dinas Bran above, see the two window like holes? Well I was on the outside of the right one (Just to note that as I was led this way. I saw the glint of the Citrine that I had placed on the rock a few minutes earlier and made a note to myself not to forget it). The wind was really blowing a gail, fortunately I was protected by the wall behind my back. I sat in this place, not really meditating or visualising. Basically just letting my thoughts go free fall.

Moments later I was thinking about my Energy Double and how I had learned more about what it was from my Native American adventure. I wondered when I would be catching up with it again when an insight hit me. I would have to travel to a place to make that encounter happen. Curious as to where this knowledge had come from, I asked (myself?) in which direction I would have to go? The answer was immediate. In the direction you are facing. Doh! Obviously. But how far? I admit that my geography isn’t brilliant, however even I know that there isn’t much in the way of sacred sites in the direction that I was looking. Then a thought hit me. It is out side of Britain. What!?!

I grabbed my trust iPhone and examined a bigger vista. France? Italy? Turkey all felt a NO. Then my thoughts turned to Greece. Yes. Okay…although I like fantasizing this needed some dowsing behind it. So I jumped down from the rock and asked. Do I need to go to Greece to learn more about my Energy Double? Yes. What?!?

Adventure to Greece

I’ve never been to Greece before. But as I clambered back upon the rock and gazed out across the imagined distance, I felt the pull of a song. Day dreaming mixed with adventure as Gwas came out from behind a wall dowsing rods in hand. He shouted up to me “Got to find a feather” I laughed, good luck with that, the wind was howling.

About ten minutes later Gwas returned laughing, he had a feather in his hand. I watched him as he did some more work and we were done. I grabbed my coat and we both went to the rock where I had placed the Citrine. It had gone! There was still light from the setting sun but the rock was nowhere to be seen.

Remember that this was a hand sized citrine cluster not a small pebble. There was no way it could have been blown of the fragment of wall and there was no way I had mistaken the wall that I had placed it on. But nevertheless it was gone. The only other person on that hill was Gwas. So I turned to him and pressed him for an explanation. “It wasn’t me”

I believed him for three reasons. The first is that I trust him, the second is that he didn’t know I had placed the crystal on there and third, even if he had seen it, he wouldn’t have removed it. That just isn’t done, to interfere in each others work, not even in jest.

Where then is that hand-sized crystal? I have yet to come up with an explanation. It worries my rational brain no end. It is a mystery extraordinaire because a rational alternative cannot be found.

Since that time and this, Gwas and I have discussed that simple Citrine Crystal many a time. It still remains a mystery.

Kal Malik

Tarot weirdness

Something weird is happening. Over the past year several people have described me as shining. You guys know that I am not averse to a little ego expression (well perhaps a lot). But seriously, what’s with this shining one stuff? From real people to communed entities I have to deal with this in-your-face testimony to me shining with energy. One such incident occurred whilst over in the States a few weeks ago.

It was about 1 week prior to the events described in the Going Native adventure. I was passing through a festive Union Square. 14th Street (in Manhattan) when I African lady shouts me over and literally grabs me by the arm and says that she must read my cards. Being a rather astute card reader myself I thanked her for the offer but declined. She insisted so I used my final defense. “I don’t have any money”. She laughed “No, No, for you it is free” she said with the lilt of an African tongue. So, begrudgingly I sat down.

She brought out the grimiest deck of cards that I’ve ever seen. The images were so faded that it was hard to see if they had any image at all. With these she began her reading.

With a quick hand she slapped down one, two, three cards. One on top of the other. She didn’t even look at them. The final card was unrecognizable to me. “You have a message to share”. I shook my head hesitantly and she laughed. “No, no, you can’t hide from me”. I shrugged. Another 3 cards. “You are shining with this message.” Okay, not shining again! I waited for her to continue. Another 3 cards. This time I saw the middle card. It was the Hermit. Your message will shine in the world this year! And you know what? She actually poked me in the chest. “This” poke, “year” poke, “your” poke, “message” poke, “will” poke, “shine” poke. although I think I managed to avoid the final poke.

She picked up her cards and shuffled them up, “I’m done with e” and turned her back on me. What?!? I muttered a thanks to her back and walked away. The world be filled with weird folk!

Kal Malik

A short post this time to tell you about an amazing thing that happened at West Kennett Long Barrow.A few weeks ago I visited Wiltshire for the OneFest festival. It was OK – some surprises and some people who should have done better, but the real fun was actually our visits to the sacred sites in the area. For the first time I got to take my wife around the places that have almost become a second home to me I’ve visited them so often! On our lists were Avebury and my favourite West Kennett Long Barrow, in the shadow of Silbury Hill.

We got out of the car facing Silbury Hill. I pointed it out to her and waited for her opinion…. “It looks like a big heap of soil.” she stated prosaically. I looked at her dumbfounded, then regaled her with facts about its construction and its energetic powers. She looked at me unimpressed. “It looks boring.” I gave up. Let’s see if West Kennett vould do more to break through. As we walked up the long slope to the barrow there was only a slight warm breeze – good conditions considering it was usually windswept and cold, even on a summer day.

The Pyramid of Power

As we approached I stopped some twenty feet from the entrance. I knew we stood at the outskirts of the aura, the energy field that the barrow emits. To transgress the boundary without acknowledgement or respectful entry is to arrive as a tourist. The rewards of entering as a shamanic visitor are much greater. I asked for entry for us both, and waited for a response. M knows my ways now and waited with me, remarking on the huge length of the construction, which is rivalled only by Wayland’s Smithy for size.

As we entered I said to M – “Why don’t we find which is the right way for you to enter?”. “Okay, ” she said, “but I think I already know.” I got the rods out and began to request a path for her to enter the site by the most energetic path. Doing this means that you arrive at your 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 ‘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. retaining as much personal subtle energyA form of energy that has so far eluded scientific definition. It is neither electric, magenetic, nor electro-magnetic, so far as our current technical equipment can measure. It does, however, exhibit many of the characteristics of magnetism and electricity in terms of its effects and properties. It may be a form of either or both of those energies that we have not yet identified. as possible. If you don’t follow such a path you risk losing energy by interacting with incompatible energy fields that interfere without personal energies. That’s how I understand it, anyway, and it’s something I’ve developed as a means of ensuring I arrive at the most energetic spot with the maximum energy of my own before doing any work.

I walked through the ‘entrance’ – a spot near to the side of the stone portal, and then the rods took me along the side of the earth mound for about fifteen feet before taking me up a thin path to the top of the mound. From there I was led back to the front of the mound where the rods circled some ten feet back from the skylight in the top of the barrow. Something wasn’t right, though. This wasn’t the “final destination”. It felt like there was somewhere else to go. M walked up to me and confirmed that the path I had taken was the one she was thinking of following herself! OK – but what about this “end point” that didn’t feel like then end? She said that she felt herself that her power centre was actually more to one side of the mound, some six feet away from where I was standing. I dowsed to see whether there was any connection between my finding and the one that M believed was her proper power centre. They were indeed linked. I asked if this energy path linked with anything else? It did – a third and final power centre. So, M had three power centres all linked in a triangular formation on top of the barrow. As a strange coincidence my power centre was in the middle of her triangle of power centres. Mmmm…something to be investigated at some further time.

Tears From Heaven

Then a really strange thing happened. One of those moments where you don’t really believe it’s happening.

We had both been standing in our respective power centres until we felt ready to enter the barrow. We stood in the countyard or parch area as I took some photographs, as I usually do. At that moment M exclaimed surprise and I turned around to see what she was shouting about. She held her hand towards me and said, “There is water running down the side of my nose!”. I went to stand next to her and see if this was true. Her hand was wet and there was a streak of water that ran from her forehead down the side of her nose. While I was looking at her the flow of water continued to drip from her nose, and she looked like she needed a tissue to wipe her nose, but it was definitely water.

M finds water trickling down her face

We both looked up to check if there was a cloud above us. No – clear skies and the occasional white and grey cloud high up, but passing quickly. She looked really shocked and puzzled.

This continued for another thirty seconds of so and then stopped. All the time I was next to her and could see that her hair was dry, blowing in the strong wind, and that there weren’t any rain clouds near by. Yes, there were some clouds with dark patches in them scudding by in the general vicinity, but if they were dropping water on her for half a minute then they would have had to stand still in the sky for that time, and why didn’t I get splattered too, when I was stood right next to her? She didn’t get any drops of water anywhere else on her – her coat was dry. But these “tears” just ran down her nose as though from her eyes, but actually from her forehead. It was very very odd to witness it. You wouldn’t have believed this if you hadn’t been there!

I reckon it was the tears of the site guardian. Perhaps there was some message in this act, but it has yet to be realised, and now seems like the association would be too stretched if we attached it to any event. It therefore remains one of those mysterious signs to which we cannot ascribe any meaning, but which we will tell as a strange tale of an unusual happening at a sacred site.

Gwas.