Llangernyw, Conwy, Wales – 23rd October, 2010
For the first half of the year our visits to Llangernyw were characterised by Kal having experiences or encounters with death energies, earthbound spirits or shades, however you want to term the spirits of the dead. As befits a graveyard they are around and about and thanks to the pacifying influence of the yew tree in the churchyard they are docile. My visits to this churchyard were characterised by me taking the mickey out of Kal for being named “Spirit Walker” by the yew tree, and for having the kinds of encounters that he continually rejected. Then came Samhain 2010 and the tables turned.
We arrived at the end of our interesting Samhain journey at Llangernyw churchyard. The now familiar posters and small hand-made signs greeted us telling us all about how the Christian profession was going to celebrate this turning point in the year. This always makes me consider how long the yew tree has been there on that ground – long before the Christian religion was even invented, yet along when this particular church was built.
I immediately went to speak with the tree. Kal had wandered off somewhere else, but I was dead set on finding out what the next part of the year held in store for me. Little did I know what I was about to let myself in for! I meditated a while and connected to the tree, introducing myself as usual, and asking the tree for guidance as to what my quest might be. In my mind I got a picture of the portal stones at the rear of the church and heard the words “Go to the portal stones” in my mind. As usual this was in my own voice, but a deep version of it, and I felt it was some otherness that was producing that phrase. I thanked the tree and swiftly moved around to the other side of the church to find the stones.
I stood between the portal stones and felt the energy flowing immediately. This was not my energy, but energy that is flowing between the stones by itself. I stood between them and felt myself go into a meditative trace, a receptive state of mind to hear whatever would arise in my mind. Very quickly the words came to me “Free Spirits“. Just that. That was my simply-stated yet clearly complex task – to learn how to free the energies of the dead. Niiiiice. Not something I had anticipated doing, and something that I knew Kal had already rejected. Still, I reasoned, if unquiet energies were disrupting a sacred site then they might need to be cleared so that I could revitalise the earth grid? We will see.
That was our amazing and enlightening Samhain day as we moved into the final stage of the year up to Yule. It seemed that I had taken over the mantle of Spirit Walker and would be the one who would be learning how to deal with spirits and to free them from whatever was binding them. All this was to be learned and practised until absorbed into everyday use. These are the tasks of a practising hedge druid.
Gwas.
