March 2013 – The Hedge Druid

Spring Equinox 2013 – Day of the Crow Part 3

March 31, 2013March 31, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Hedge Druidry, Spirits, Trees, Wheel of the Year

In this third part of my Spring Equinox quest to link the four sites of a landscape sigil based on the elements we come to the Earth site – Caer Caradog. The snows that covered the hills on that day are still with us weeks later as we go into April, that’s how embedded this cold snap was. On the Spring Equinox I had to be quick at my work because this was no time to hang around enjoying the views!

Saying that, I was lucky to get to Caer Caradog at all. Although I had it pinned on a map as a specific location down to the smallest possible degree, that wasn’t the issue. I knew where it was – I just couldn’t get to it! As I came up through the slightly famous village of Cerrigydrudion (partly thanks to Julian Cope‘s song) I came across my first barrier – a diversion sign due to a roadworks on the tiny B5105 country road that led straight to the hillfort.

Two way to get to Caer Caradog - the hard and the harder way — Two way to get to Caer Caradog – the hard and the harder way

I circumvented the roadworks by going all the way around the hill and up the other side of it to arrive on the top and drive past the top of the hill whilst looking for s stopping point. Ah! The next barrier is parking. There isn’t any. I took my chances with the roadworks and parked up at pretty much the only space in the tiny road where two cars could pass safely. That was almost at the bottom of the slop, so that meant a long climb back up to get to the hill. *Sigh* – another climb today. I hope the universe is watching this display of dedication!

If you’re thinking of visiting yourself I’d have a read of the accounts on the Modern Antiquarian site. They give you a flavour of the ‘welcome’ you can expect – public rights of way ignored, new fences of barbed wire criss-crossing your path, and lots of mud on the way up. I fought all the barriers, all the methods intended to dissuade the casual visitor and trepidacious tourist – I am neither of those things – I had a mission to accomplish.

Spring Equinox 2013 – Day of the Crow Part 2

March 29, 2013March 29, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Celestial, Dowsing, Hedge Druidry, Wheel of the Year

In this second part of the Spring Equinox tale I begin with a bit of a soap-box moment, but quickly move on to talk about my favourite stone circle, and finally introduce a new sacred site. Let the wordage begin!

I begin this post with a bellyache. I’m going to get riled, spill bile, make a pile of fuss. Possibly about nothing, but let’s get it out of the way first. I’ve been stewing on it for years, and I think it’s about time I got it “out” into the open.

It pains me the way modern farmers slash hedgerows!

To me this is akin to punching small children in the face. “Look,” you could say, “They’re bleeding now, but in a few weeks they’re back to normal.” Hardly the point, is it? Just because something heals doesn’t mean we should make them go through the initial trauma of being battered. Ask any victim of domestic violence. “Ah, but you’re alright now, yeah?”

Moel Ty Uchaf - Spring Equinox 2013 (1) (Medium)

I’m not saying that I’m an advocate of the Backster experiments on plant feelings. Instead, this is a respect issue. I was under the impression that part of the duty of care that farmers were supposed to adopt as custodians of the land could be employed in their treatment of the trimming of plant life. This “hack and slay” policy, done for expediency and efficiency, is not only damaging to the main trunk and branches of the plant, but it’s also a display of contempt for the hedgerow, and damned ugly to look at!

Phew – I’m done. It’s in print. but I’ll still die a little when I see such a close haircut. I urge anyone with influence over these things to try to find a better way. I keep putting my thinking cap on to come up with something. One day.

</ END RANT>

Moel Ty Uchaf Un-Spring-Like

As I climbed slowly up the steep road to the circle at the top of the hill there were several things that caught my eye. Firstly, there were the lambs bouncing around in the lower fields as though Spring had arrived. There was certainly spring in their legs, so perhaps they were just keeping themselves warm. Such a bad year to be born into a cold snap, I thought. A week later there would be reports of many sheep and lambs dying due to the snowfall in placed like Derbyshire and North Wales. Joy and sorrow are close companions.

Spring Equinox 2013 – Day of the Crow Part 1

March 27, 2013 Gwas 5 Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Hedge Druidry, Other Entities, Wheel of the Year

It was the Spring Equinox, as the title suggests. Contrary to expectation it was freezing cold, and my idea about visiting at least three elevated sacred sites seemed even more foolhardy than it had done when it had first been “suggested” to me through a vision received at Dinas Bran in Llangollen. Would I prove hardy enough and stubborn enough to persevere and visit them all? Of course I would. There is a saying: “There is no bad weather: only bad clothing.”

First stop: Dinas Bran. For a moment I thought there might not be snow on top, then as I approached Llangollen a white-capped hill hove into view and I knew it was going to be a tough day. The long climb in winter clothing began. This early in the morning – 8am – there were no other visitors, even on this special day. Just me, the mist, the snow and the crows. Crows! Crows were following me all the way up. They cawed as I arrived, hopped out of my way as I passed, whirled in front of me as I climbed, and then performed aerobatics displays around my head when I stopped at the gate.

Dinas Bran - Spring Equinox 2013 2013-03-20 001 (6) (Medium)

I don’t know how long the iron sculpture has been attached to the gate but I don’t remember seeing it before. A black iron crow was waiting for me as I hauled myself through the new gate structure that demarcates the steep part of the path at the back from the slightly less steep part. I looked at it in wonder – I guess this was the theme of the day? Crows. Not hawks? It was usually hawks….suddenly a hawk whirled above me too. Ok – hawks were still relevant! But today was about crows. I took the hint and moved on, making for the top.

I smiled. Bran was already communicating – this was an auspicious sign.

Nine stones, sadness and a question

March 25, 2013 kal No Comments

Quests

It was the day before the Spring equinox and I was wondering whether to go out somewhere way before work or just after? I had got in early today and so was heading home around 4pm when I felt a tug. As you know, I often felt that sacred days are rather fuzzy in their … Read More “Nine stones, sadness and a question” »

Noticing time syncs

March 23, 2013March 22, 2013 Gwas 4 Comments

Ancient Sites

In an article I wrote that is posted on this site I once explained how the beginning of process of awakening to a magical mindset is to notice synchronicity. In other words, if you want to train your brain to become aware and awake to the magical processes and interconnectedness in your surroundings then you … Read More “Noticing time syncs” »

A Yew and a Mirror Darkly

March 21, 2013March 18, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites

Have you ever been sitting comfortably in front of an open fire, munching on fine food, and chatting about philosophical concepts, and then suddenly you’ve jumped up and driven fifty miles into the middle of nowhere to visit a tree? We have. We had been discussing “the purpose of the purpose”, in other words, we had been asking each other how we could know why we did many of the things that we were directed/instructed/guided to do on our quests. Was there some overriding overall ultimate aim that we could fathom, or which we could begin to put together if we asked the right questions? Where did we get the answers from?

The purpose of The Purpose

Before I relate today’s tale let me take you off on a little philosophical meandering. What is the purpose of The Purpose. The Purpose is defined as being the reason why your are on a spiritual path. If you are on such a path then you must be heading somewhere. Is it possible to see the destination, and does that have any value for the seeker?

We discussed this and come up with a couple of points from it:-

We are far happier having a path to walk along than not having one at all and being aimless – walking the path is fulfilling in and of itself
The Purpose might be far larger than we can encompass in our lifetime, and may indeed span other lifetimes – how can one life know even all of its own current purpose, never mind the purpose of all of the possible lives it may have lived?
Our purpose may be guided by other forces that have interlinking, overlapping, and even at times contrary purposes. We may not be able to divine their intentions, never mind relate those directives to our own overall purpose and see how they relate.

This all seemed rather much out of our immediate control, and a far greater contemplation than our tiny minds could encompass. The only control we had ourselves was to make a choice about whether we acted upon the information we asked to receive. Yet living life without purpose was just “filling in time”.

Life's a purpose filler — Life’s a purpose filler

I recalled the words of a very wise woman who has been dealing with such questions for a long time. She said that we just had to ask the very entities that were giving us this guidance. If they couldn’t answer us, then why would we feel we needed to do the task? We pondered this. Did we know any good guides that we could both talk to about our current quests? Kal said. well why don’t we go to the Llangernyw Yew? We always get answers there! We downed our drinks in one gulp, and paid the bill for our food quickly. We were on a mission!

Read More “A Yew and a Mirror Darkly” »

Bran, Corvus and taking possession

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites

I love going out in the week. Everyone else is asleep in front of their televisions and our lands becomes the playground of this hedge druid. At least, that’s how it feels. On this rare dry evening I called Kal to come and share the wonders of Dinas Bran. It’s probably our closest amazing place. I felt like I had neglected Bran, not having visited him yet this year. Time to remedy that. Of course I took gloves, a scarf and a thick coat – I’m not stupid – it’s early March. Kal forewent such superfluous apparel.

We climbed up the back path (the eastern side) in the dark. I had a torch but didn’t need it – there was enough ambient light. Kal used his, though, and as we neared the top he suggested I had picked the harder way up deliberately. It’s all relative – a balance between distance and gradient. As the top levelled off our breathing was audible in the crisp cool night air. Now the wind began to make itself known to us. Dinas Bran is always windy on top whatever the time of year. Go prepared, unless you’re Kal, in which case – freeze!

Unusually, there was actually someone on the top, and they were playing with luminous balls on string, swinging them around in dazzling patterns. I’ve seen people doing such things at festivals. It’s very skilful. I decided to nestle into a quiet space out of the wind where the dowsing rods led me. It was my starting point – a power centre that I was familiar with. Why not? A boost of subtle energy would be good before braving the full force of the cold night wind.

Kal pointed out The Great Bear constellation that was directly before us – East in direction – and then he left to go find what he needed to do in the main castle grounds. Plough/bear/seven sisters – this constellation was many things to many people. I knew it as a representation of Arthur, but now Bran seemed to be indicating that he and Arthur were signified by the same constellation. Interesting….

“In the early Welsh poem “Preiddeu Annwfn”, Arthur visits the Celtic Underworld, Annwfn, and his adventures closely parallel those of the cauldron-seeking god, Bran the Blessed” (Source: Britannia.com)

Well, there you go. Funny how these things come together. I will now always consider these concepts as one – Arthur and Bran.

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