It was the finest day of a long series of fine days that were typifying the last of the lingering end of year sun. We were loathe to call this Autumn when it felt like Summer. The sun was shining, the air was warm, the ground was dry, and there wasn’t a hint of wind. We set sail for Derbyshire in the mid-afternoon, heading for Arbor Low. Surely, if any day, today was the perfect day to avoid getting blown over, dying of hypothermia or being flooded out? Surely, today was the day to have a pleasant experience at Arbor Low?
I had no set agenda when we arrived at the small lay-by near to the farmhouse (that is actually a guesthouse too!). I was here merely to bask in the rays of the evening sun and to marvel at the fact that it was pleasant to be here for once. As often happens when I head out on such journeys to sacred sites my expected peacefulness was shattered by a small amount of dowsing that I did. You know, sometimes you should just leave things be! No, I’m glad I did it because I got to meditate in the evening sunset and found out some useful information, and picked up a new skill into the bargain.
The Spirit of Arbor Low
I had entered the site asking to find the current location of the Spirit of Place. I was taken around the trench that rings the site in the shadow of the raised embankment. When I stopped I was standing at the left-hand edge of the southern entrance. I felt a little shudder, which is how I know that I am in the presence of an energetic form. I then asked to be shown the path that the spirit had taken, from the current moment back to midnight. I began to follow a path that curved around one of the many recumbent stones that formed the inner circle of Arbor Low’s henge, and then into a tight spiral that turned anti-clockwise.
I reversed the path so that I was now following the chronological sequence. I unwound the spiral, travelling clockwise as I traced the spirit’s path through the dark hours of the night and into the morning. At the position that represented dawn the path straightened, and then began to turn anti-clockwise as the “day” unfolded beneath my rods. This was the inverse path of one that I had dowsed for another Spirit of Place at Moel-Ty-Uchaf, which had followed what I assumed was a convention of being clockwise in the day and anti-clockwise at night. Clearly, such assumptions are fallacious, yet the principle remains that the Spirit of Place traces a double spiral pattern on its journey around the site during the course of a day.
I stood once more in the place where the spirit was currently located and tried to commune with it. As I entered into a trance state I asked, “What can I learn about my forthcoming task of meeting the spirit of Merlin?“. A feeling came through that made itself resolve into a notion that I could learn about invisibility here at Arbor Low, that this was a place where learning was easy, and in fact the site was designed for this purpose. I came back out of trance, thanking the spirit and began to dowse again, “Take me to a place where I can learn about invisibility.” I asked of them. They led me to a slight dip in the ground near to the central stones.
Underworld invisibility
As I sat in the hollow, near to the central recumbent stones, I gazed at the clear blue skies. Occasionally birds flew past, always tweeting at us as they flew overhead, and I watched their flight with a slightly detached gaze. I was slowly descending into a trance – I could feel the symptoms. The outside world began to quieten down, even though I could still see and hear it, it seemed more distant. I was becoming aware of myself blending into the surroundings, opening up to the totality of its sounds, smells, and feelings. Just before I disappeared into it completely I re-asserted a singular focus – the small voice that could ask questions and retain a certain level of awareness.
The dowsing rods guided me in a gentle sinew across the inner circle’s grassy plateau and ended their snaking movements with a cross inside a small depression alongside the inner recumbent stones. As the sun’s rays skipped along the top of the embankment I sat facing the first-quarter moon and began to connect to the Spirit of Place once more, this time seeking instruction.
After the world stopped inside my head then I began to ‘gnow’ certain things. I asked the Spirit of Place to show me how I could make myself invisible to shades in the Underworld, so that my passage through them might be safe. What happened next was quite unexpected – I felt my aura retreat from outside of my body and then sink through me, down inside of me. My aura continued to contract and condense until I saw only a small shining spark, a glowing bright ember at the core of my being. I knew, I felt, that this was my energy body condensed into a tiny point of light. Without thinking I put a small globe of protection around the small spark.
I knew that I could re-expand that spark when I needed to. I concentrated on expanding it and it suddenly re-inflated back to its normal size, some three our four feet around me in a glowing sphere. I was relieved that I felt normal again. There was something a bit unusual about having my aura compressed into a small point – I felt…vacant and empty, numb even. Now back to full life I got up and went back to the place where the Spirit of Place.
The Shade Test
I thanked the entity for assisting me with that idea. I wondered if there was anything else I needed to do in relation to the new skill, so I dowsed for it. Out came the rods and I asked: “Is there anything else I need to learn about Underworld invisibility?” – YES. “Take me to somewhere I can learn this skill.” The rods swung away along the inside of the circle leading me towards one edge, to a group of three seemingly fallen rocks. I had walked past the rocks many times over the years but suddenly I realised that they looked like a dolmen whose sides had fallen in.
I had recourse to use the dowsing rods again because I was stuck (for “stuck” read “thick”). Why was I standing next to this particular pile of rocks? I began questioning:
- Was there something that I could learn at these rocks? – D’uh! Obviously! YES.
- Er…was it to do with the rocks themselves? NO.
- Was it because the rocks used to be a dolmen? Hmmm..sort of (rods slightly cross but swing open again).
- Is something buried at these rocks? (taking a wild guess) – YES. Aha! We’re on to something here (you see how scientific this dowsing lark is?).
- Is there a shade around these rocks? YES! (Finally)
So, this seemed like a perfect place to get some practise in with my newly-acquired skill of reducing my aura. I’d better check out some aspects of this shade, though, before I begin because I don’t know what I’m letting myself in for otherwise. Here goes with another 20 questions:-
- Is this shade real or has it been conjured for this purpose? REAL.
- Is it a good-natured shade, or was it ill-disposed towards me? MALIGN. Oh, fantastic!
- How powerful is it on a scale of one to ten? EIGHT. Oh ….good! So, a nice easy gentle introduction then?
I moved a few feet away on asking that last question. Time for action. I put the rods away and began the process of pulling my aura into my centre. Within a few minutes it was safely tucked away with a sphere of protection around it. I felt that numb, dead-headed feeling again and couldn’t think properly. Luckily thought was not required. I simply moved, slowly and sluggishly, onto the pile of rocks. I stood there for an indeterminable amount of time. Telling time was really difficult in this state of mind. Thinking was difficult full stop!
I decided to move around the rocks a bit to find the exact location of the shade. Within a few footsteps I felt a little tingle down my spine. This must be the place where it was, in another dimension of being though – this was something I knew, and yet I also knew that if it could detect me it would be able to drain my energy and possibly latch itself onto me in a way that other shades had attempted to do before. I didn’t feel like that was happening at the moment, but I didn’t know what was going on really. Time to dowse again!
I got the rods out and asked them, “Am I in the same location as a shade?” YES. “Can it detect me?” The rods moved slightly apart meaning NO, but then slowly began to move back towards each other. So – the more I dowsed, the more I came into my mind again, the more I was losing my ability to be invisible to this shade? YES. I dropped the rods and made a concerted effort to draw my aura back in. I felt that it was beginning to slightly expand again. Dowsing and thinking had done this!
So now I knew what it took to maintain this state of mind and what things could cause it to change back to normality. I was still woolly-headed and in a sort of zombie state, but I asked Kal to come and dowse for where my aura was at that point. I expected it to be invisible, but actually Kal found it to be about ten feet out! Ah, I said, but what about my aura in the Underworld? Three feet in size. Still not good! Clearly, some practise is still required to master this skill.
Again I returned to the spot where the Spirit of Place was standing. I thanked it for giving me some valuable lessons, and then we both left Arbor Low. The sun was behind the hills now, and the shadows were cold and long. We chatted animatedly about our experiences in the henge. What a fantastic learning centre Arbor Low is! We could have spent all day there, but then we would definitely have got rained on, wind-blasted and come away freezing cold. That’s just Arbor Low!
Gwas
