This year, 2011, I spent Samhain at two places. Not at the same time, obviously. That would be impossible even for a hedge druid who is accustomed to the unusual. I first spent some time with a group of friends in Derbyshire (more about that soon) and then I went with my wife M to Pembrokeshire. In Pembrokeshire we first climbed the hills to visit Arthur’s Grave (see previous post this month) and then I made an unannounced stop off at Pentre Ifan, because I remembered that it was quite close to the route we would take to get back home. Never one to miss an opportunity, I saw this as a chance to discover what the remainder of the year might offer in terms of my healing quest.
As far as I was concerned the visit to Arthur’s Grave an hour earlier had been the culmination of a spiral that had begun at Spring Equinox and had completed this Halloween. I wasn’t sure, therefore, what I would get out of visiting Pentre Ifan. All I knew was that I felt drawn to it, and that i wanted to see whether its incredible energies would spark any further revelations about my tasks for the year. Perhaps it might confirm that actually all was done and I could rest for the remainder of the year? No more site visits or blog posts, perhaps? All quiet now? Rest and recuperation? Not a chance!
We stopped at the site information board to take a look at how the archaeologists have reconstructed the mound. Their representation seemed remarkably familiar – it matched the reconstruction done at Tinkinswood in South Wales. Perhaps the Neolithic people were all working from a similar template, or perhaps the geometry or the physics of the places simply suggested a natural configuration that was now generally agreed upon amongst The Intelligentsia of our times? I wonder what became of all the rubble that one surrounded the great stones? The site is so clean now. The information sign put the entrance portal at the south. I have previously dowsed the same, so that’s one aspect I agree with.
I re-introduced myself to the site,. seeking the permission of the Spirit of Place before attempting to enter its energetic boundary. Being successful (politeness and respect seem to be viable currency with the spirits that inhabit such places) I began to dowse for the best starting point for me at the site. It was a flat round rock at the eastern edge of the main uprights, and I recognised this as the same stone upon which I had started and energised when I had previously visited the site in the late summer of 2008. That seemed like someone else’s life, and a whole lifespan away, and I found it hard to relate to the person who had stood there only three years ago. Yet it was me. How would the site react to me now, I wondered?
I used the experience I had learned since then to quickly determine where I should stand in order to interact with any guiding spirits who may wish to assist me on my spiritual quest. I don’t differentiate as to which spirits may be the guides, yet I recognise familiar energies and I can feel the difference between the benevolent and those spirits who only sport with us. Very rarely do I encounter these types of spirits, especially when I have put my guard up and sought protection. I would encourage anyone else who works as I do to do the same kind of thing, as it will save you a great deal of time and energy. Literally.
I stood at the point where the rods twirled around and put them aside. Now it was all down to me and my intention. I looked at the view through the ‘portal’ provided by the uprights and saw two things of significance. Firstly, I was drawn to stare at the rock embedded into the ground at the base of one of the uprights. I realised I was trying to turn the curves and holes in the rock into a face. Yet a face suggested itself to me, and I recognised the Goat Boy image that I had dowsed those years previously. Ah, the Goat Boy was back! This was Pan – a Nature Spirit – as I now understood. This was a good sign.
I asked my question of the spirit, now that we had been introduced. I asked him what was next for me from Samhain to Yule this year? I waited patiently for his answer. I closed my eyes and within moments images were beginning to appear upon the inner screen of my eyes – my soul’s sight. I saw myself doing Chi Gung, slowly dipping into my two pools of energy (or dan tians) to stimulate their growth. Then I was pulling energy from all around me, from all the wildlife, the living organisms that were around me. As I gathered their energy and mixed it with my own I was crafting the energy into a series of balls. Then I would release the balls, directing them towards whatever I wished to send the energy to. I realised that they were balls full of healing energy. The image began to fade with this realisation. My head was lifted and my eyes opened to look out towards the south where I saw a windswept tree whose canopy made me imagine a fuzzy ball. A ball….a ball!
This would be a test of how well I could draw energy out of Nature, but also of how I could create a specific ball for a specific healing property, and then how I could gift that ball of healing to the intended recipient. I would begin the process by stimulating my own energy field, and then draw the required energy properties from Nature herself, craft them, and then send them to where they needed to be. Interesting idea, but was it possible, and was it practical? Would anyone actually be healed by this, or was it solely intended to heal Nature herself? To heal sacred sites, perhaps? I didn’t know yet. These were things to find out about as I began the journey.
The Berth, The Grave, and Scorpius
A little astronomical diversion now. A while ago I read Andis Kaulins‘ odd little book “Stars, Stones and Scholars” (heavily slated by real scientists, of course). For me the book has a certain value. I actually believe that many of the sites I have dowsed have corresponded to what Kaulins has said about their astrological alignment – when they were built. When I dowse the sites today and ask if those original alignments to stars are still energetically affecting the site I almost always get a negative response. So, the book has a limited usefulness to the modern antiquarian energy worker. It can tell you what the site was originally aligned to, but if you want to know which stars are currently aligned to the site you have to do your own detective work, and that usually involved being there at energetic points in the year, reading the clues from Nature, dowsing to confirm or deny, and working the stuff out by intuition and hard work. A somewhat frustrating exercise, and prone to all sorts of misleading results unless handled very carefully and methodically. It’s tedious work but rewarding when you hit upon the answer. My methodology to do this is:-
- Find out the most energetic time of the year by dowsing it, often backed up by the site’s mythology and local history
- Visit the site at that time of year (to the day and hour, if possible) and scan the sky using a star chart (smartphone apps are very useful for this)
- Dowse which direction the energy connection is coming from, and whether it is above the horizon or below it
- Starting with the major constellations begin to narrow down which ones might be influencing the site at that time.
The ‘Stars, Stones and Scholars’ book made some references to the Pembrokeshire sites that I was currently visiting, specifically Pentre Ifan. Remember that when I was at The Berth recently I saw the shape of a Scorpion? I interpreted this as meaning that I should visit the place where the constellation Scorpius sets with the sun between the dates of October 23rd to November 23rd. When I referenced the sites of Pembrokeshire in Kaulins’ book, which lists all the supposed constellations associated with cup and ring marks at particular sacred sites, guess which constellation he associates with Pentre Ifan and Carreg Samson at this part of Pembrokeshire? Of course, it’s Scorpius!
Unusually Pentre Ifan was originally aligned to Scorpius, and at this Samhain 2011 it was once again aligned to that set of stars, specifically the star Antares. You may notice also that The Moon, Pluto, Venus, Mercury and Saturn are all in that view South-West to the setting sun that day. Incredible collection of energies.
As we came to leave the site, my head reeling with the new realisations as to my end of the year quest, I realised that the whole site was full of bullocks. Perhaps this is more significant that I dare admit? I’m blaming fences that need mending.
Gwas.
