More powers of the staff

In a previous post I talked about the recently discovered information concerning my staff. I had discovered that it had acquired some powers courtesy of the Elemental Masters that I had encountered at Tinkinswood Chamber near Cardiff. After doing a tarot reading I discovered the nature of those powers. To recap those powers were:-

1. Earth – the power to inscribe glyphs and symbols into the earth, and to cast circles.
2. Water – the power to energise and invigorate existing energy
3. Fire – the power to re-kindle energy where there is none, resurrection of energy
4. Air – the power to sweep energy away, to cleanse a place of energy

1. I decided that one fine evening, just before it got dark, I would use the fading light of a dry and relatively warm evening to find a place in which I could practise these powers and discover their extent, how they worked and how they might supplement any existing magickal skills I might already have as a practising druid.

To find a suitable place I dowsed for a direction and a distance. I got a north-easterly direction and somewhere within a five-mile radius. I knew what features were in that area – my local hill. I used the dowsing rods to confirm my feeling that a sandstone base was the best ground to test these powers out on. Indeed it was – a perfect mixture of crystalline texture and neutral base. I knew my local hill was at the end of a long sandstone ridge, and that somewhere on that hill would be a perfect place to test these powers out.

Did these powers that I imagined were in the staff really exist? How could they be used and called upon? How well would they work? Time to find out!

I walked up the hill by my usual route. Something felt different – there seemed more light. Was it the time of year? Possibly. I stopped at one of the junction points. My intuition was tingling like a Spider Sense. Following this feeling I veered off my usual course and onto one of the small paths that hugged the edge of the steep hillside.  Soon I came across a natural clearing amongst the spindly young birch trees that seemed like a perfect place to do some work. I put my staff to one side and did a recce with the dowsing rods.

Preparing the space

Was this a good place to do some testing of my staff’s powers, I asked. YES, cam the response, clear and true. Good enough for me. I asked the rods if the space was clear of energy, as I hoped. NO. Oh! Then what type of energy was present? Male? NO. Female? YES. I dowsed to find it and found a small female spiral of energy circling around a healthy-looking small clump of bracken that was twice as large as anything nearby. Was this a power centre, I asked? YES. What strength was it (1-10)? 3. Quite weak then.

I then asked if the staff had any powers that I didn’t have myself. I must admit I was expecting a NO response here. The response was YES! What? That went against everything I thought I knew. To my way of thinking the staff was a tool that was simply an extension of my own powers, which were solely based in my mind and soul, and which were a product of my will and intent. Here were the dowsing rods saying, “Naw…it’s not like that – this bit of wood can do things you can’t!” I needed more answers, and I reckoned that only some testing would prove that bit of dowsing correct or not. With my basis for testing established, I put the rods down and turned to test the supposed powers of my staff.

AIR – for clearing

The first power to test was Air. The tarot had suggested that this was an ability to clear energy. To test this I attempted to clear the energy of the power centre using three different methods, and then dowsed after each one.

1. Using my intention alone. Result – no change. The power centre still registered as 3 strength.
2. Using my intention and a call to the Air elemental that I often work with. Result – no change. The power centre still registered as 3 strength.
3. Using the staff and calling upon the powers of the Air to clear the power centre. Result – the power centre was gone! The former energy centre dowsed as having NO energy at all – a zero on my scale!

I was a bit shocked by this. It seemed to be indicating that if I used the staff to clear the energies then it worked, but now I had a negated power centre on my hands, and I was worried for the bracken that was growing there. What if I couldn’t get the power to come back? What would I do then? On to the next power in the staff, which I hoped would resolve the problem.

FIRE – for rekindling

I tried the same experiment as last time, using the three different methods of restoring the energy to the site that I could imagine working:-

1. Using my intention alone. Result – no change. The power centre still registered as having no energy.
2. Using my intention and a call to the Fire elemental that I often work with. Result – no change. The power centre still registered as having no energy.
3. Using the staff and calling upon the powers of the Fire to rekindle the power centre. Result – the power centre was back! The energy centre dowsed as having a 3 energy again on my scale!

WATER – for invigorating

I cut to the chase this time. The power centre was back and the bracken was safe. Now, what if I used the staff’s water power to invigorate the energy of the power centre? What would happen? It was a fairly safe experiment given that I knew how to clear and re-establish the power centre now. I stood with the staff in hand and concentrated on the power centre, calling upon the powers of water to invigorate the energy. In my mind I felt a mini-tornado of swirling energy that appeared to arise out of the power centre. All in my mind? Again I dowsed for the result…

…the power centre registered as being a 9 strength! I dowsed again. Now it was a 10! A 10/10! It couldn’t be stronger! Wow! I was impressed. The bracken might be ten feet high next time I visited if I left it like that! I used the Air power followed by the Fire power to re-establish the power centre back to its’ normal levels. Then I did the experiment with water again. Yes, it was back to a ten within a few seconds of me doing the work with the staff. I was amazed. Again I reset the experiment.

EARTH – for protecting

I wondered about the final power in the staff – that of Earth. Unlike the others this power seemed to be related to an ability to draw shapes and symbols on the earth that would then express the powers of that shape. This was a very deep and significant power and not one that I wanted to “toy” with. Just in order to prove the experiment I decided to go with a shape whose powers I understood. I decided upon drawing a circle. This must be like casting a circle, I reckoned, with the same protective powers that come along with the unity form of the circle. It seemed the safest option. I knew other glyphs and power symbols, but could I control them if I drew them successfully? The circle was the safest option.

Again I tried to cast a circle with my fingers. Something was there but it was weak and feeble and I dismissed it. I drew a circle using the staff – first in the leaf-laden floor and then simply hovering in the air forming the circle shape. Three times round and then I reached for the dowsing rods.

What level of protection had my original hand-drawn circle provided the power centre’s energies, I asked. One out of ten. In fact the rods crossed before I even got to one. Less than one. How about now that I had used the staff? Ten. 10/10 strength of protection. That was some major energy difference between using my own energy and using that of the staff! I still think that in the right place, and with the right preparation, I could “manually” generate the same effects, but circumstances would have to allow for it. What the staff seems to offer is an immediate access to these powers, and at a level that I would have to stretch to muster by myself.

Truly I was astonished by this experiment. My little wooden walking stick had just become the most important magickal tool that I had ever known. A new sense of care, duty and respect came over me and I vowed to take greater care of the staff n future.

New path, new growth

Someone walking on the top of the hill disturbed any further work, but I was done anyway. I climbed up to the edge of the cliff top and in a sheltered area I lit some incense and offered my thanks to the spirit of the hill for affording me a place to experiment and do magickal work. As the whiff of incense drifted upwards I climbed to the top of the hill to meet the main path.

At the top I noticed that the path had been changed – it was now more level and even, filled in with sand where previously there had been uneven natural rocks and holes. The path was wider, and the bushes and small trees that had been close to the path causing it to snake around the natural features had been slashed back and dumped by the side of the new sandy-red straight, smooth and shallow path. Oh dear! What a shame! How odd that, even though I had not noticed the new path when I veered off, I had been intuitively guided to go to an undisturbed part of the hill. Again, the guiding forces that surround me are beneficent and caring, and I thank them for helping me in my work.

As I walked back down the hill I turned to face the devastation that had been caused in order to create the new path. I worked through the staff’s powers – first clearing the negative energies, then re-kindling positive energies in their place. Then I encouraged the growth of those new positive energies, and finally I ring-fenced the new energy forms in a protective sphere that would last until they could establish themselves as the new growth on the hill path. I hoped this would be a good use of my new-found powers.

Gwas. Investing in testing.