Kal and I had decided at our last meeting that we would try to get back to the Nine Ladies stone circle on Stanton Moor in Derbyshire as soon as we could manage it. So, on Tuesday I took my chances with the changeable weather and headed out to the site in my trusty little banger.
As time was limited I approached the circle from the Stanton-in-the-Peak village side, rather than my preferred option of the Stanton Lees end, which entails a long walk over the moorland, but allows you to pass by the impressive 12′ stone block which stands in the middle of the moor. Annoyingly, some ‘authority’ has taken it upon themselves to drop huge blocks of stone into the parking bays preventing cars from pulling over close to the entrance to the access field. 🙁
I grabbed my staff and marched over to the circle, through the lovely birch-laden wood to arrive at the circle in the late afternoon sun. Rain clouds were scooting across the area in an intermittent wind, however the site looked as beautiful as ever. It is certainly a place to engender a feeling of beauty and peacefulness, as there are no roads within earshot.
I immediately started dowsing from the ‘King Stone’ which is situated about 20-30 feet away from the main circle, up a small rise. I firstly asked for ‘sun/male’ energy, and found one leading from the stone to the right of the circle, where it ended at a swirl on the right-hand side. Then I went back and tried the other side of the stone – this time I found another similar energy line which didn’t go far, but ended in a swirl within a few feet from the King Stone. Previously I had dowsed lines connecting the King Stone to the circle, so I wasn’t going to do that again. Therefore I decided to intensely study the circle itself.
I started at each stone, and dowsed for both female and male lines coming out of the stones. A female line projected from each stone (except one, which registered as “dead”, ie. emitting no energies at all), and each female line ended quickly in a small swirl.
Then I did the other energy – the male – and found that most of the stones had a counterpart to the female lines. The male energies emerged from the edges of the stones and circles around back into the flat of the stone inside the circle, in a short loop. Again, the “dead” stone had no such lines, but the others mostly did.
Walking around the circle I found a line going around from the “entrance” (i.e. the largest gap between two stones) it went around once, then into the entrance to go in a long spiral into the centre of the circle – the bare patch of ground near the middle. I traced it back out and it ended just outside the circle in a large spiral on a faerie ring clump of grass.
Now I wanted to see whether the large oak tree which was close to the circle played any part. I started at the trunk of the oak and found a line on the side closest to the circle. The tree itself was decorated with ribbons and “wishes” tied to the branches. At the base of the tree there were many floral tributes laid, some of which looked quite recent. Someone else obviously venerates this tree too. I had seen similar tributes at a well in Alderley Edge.
The line from the tree led straight to the outer edge of the circle, where it followed the edge into the entrance gap, and then swung past the centre and into another barely-visible faerie ring offset from the centre of the circle. I had an inkling this would be a special hot spot, so I moved away and asked a different question of the rods: “Lead me to the location of a power centre that is I am best attuned to.” The rods swerved and as I walked they led me directly back to this faerie ring connected to the oak tree. I was pleased about that, as there are other power centres at this site to which I could have been taken. The oak tree-powered centre seemed appropriate to me too. I stood on it for a few moments, and felt a tingling through my feet which rose up through my body making me smile. Oh yes – this was “my” centre alright!
I felt energised from that, and so decided to sit beneath the oak tree and have my sandwiches and fizzy pop (+obligatory flapjack). Once comfortably seated I noticed that the sun was emerging from the clouds, and the light was twinkling through the ring of birch trees that skirted the circle area. As on previous occasions this set a trance state going and soon I had developed a distant hazy gaze. Time to talk to the tree?
I attempted to tune in to the oak. For a minute I felt nothing, then in my head a very low slow voice rumbled a response. I was a little bit nervous. This voice sounded different to the other times this had happened, where it was my own voice that responded. As if feeling my unease the voice mutated to a much higher speed and pitch to match my own!
I initiated a conversation about the pace of modern life (don’t ask me why – I hadn’t come there with any kind of agenda!). The sun was now visible as a dappled circle through one birch tree’s branches and as I started at it’s fabulous corona of light rays I heard the voice say to me “The Sun is the Key, the Moon is the Door.”, over and over as it faded away and I came back to full conscious awareness.
What on earth did THAT riddle mean? Was that advice in relation to ancient sites? Was it saying that the sunlight opens some kind of portal to another dimension on days when the Moon is at a specific point? Or something else? I needed to muse about this more and discuss it with Kal. He’s always good for sounding out and propounding theories.
All through this episode, out of the corner of my eyes, I had been looking at the stones that were clustered just a short distance to one side of the circle. Why was I drawn to them? I decided to go over and dowse them to see if they connected to the circle at all.
What I saw carved into the rock (apart from the graffiti) made me audibly gasp….
There were nine holes and a line connecting two of the stones. Also, it seemed to show the energy centre, slightly offset from the middle, that I had taken a particular liking to, and which was connected to the oak tree. Of course, it could have just been a mark, but it seemed coincidentally placed! I decided I should have dowsed the inside of the circle too, so headed back to the circle to find which stones were connected.
I held the picture of the “map” in my head and dowsed across the inside of the circle. Asking for a “strong power ley that linked two stones” I found it within moments. The stone closest to the oak tree was linked to a stone on the opposite side, passing through the centre of the circle.
I drew all my findings on a little map in my dowsing notebook, then packed up ready to leave. Before I left I wanted to give an “offering” (which for me is usually a native plant or flower – nothing fancy). I picked up my coat from under the tree to go and look for something. Hanging from the velcro on my coat sleeve was a sprig of heather! Wha….? I almost threw it away before I caught myself and realised that this was exactly the offering I had been looking for! I placed it at the base of the tree and said “Thank you.”
Then I took my staff and walked the circle three times clockwise, entered the gateway, stood on “my” spot, thought happy thoughts, and imagined donating my energy to the ground on which I stood. Again, as I left, I respectfully said “Thanks”.
It had been a really soothing, pleasant and peaceful visit, and I had found lots of energy lines that I had not seen last time I visited (when I was a dowsing “youngster”). Now I could barely make out the many shapes and lines on my diagram there were so many! I left in a buoyant mood.
Gwas.
Follow your true path
