Spring Equinox 2013 – Day of the Crow Part 1

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.

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.

At the entrance to the outer earthworks of the ruined fortress I asked for permission to enter, and got a surprising thought arising. Instead of waiting for some kind of response I got something else – the information that I didn’t need to ask! Inside the outer ring of protection I felt “at home” as much as anyone could do on such a cold morning.

I followed dowsing rods asking to be taken to where Bran was. They took me close to a sheltered corner of the ruins near the centre, but then veered off to swivel around at a spot I hadn’t stood at before. Apparently this was Bran’s “Spring” position. I know he moves around during the year, and this spot I found was his position for this part of the year. It was different from the place I had been led to only a week before. From this evidence I can see that Bran moves according to something I haven’t yet determined, but it’s not a gradual path such as one that traced the movements of the Moon or Sun. Perhaps it was linked to a star?

That thought reminded me that I needed to be thinking about the constellation Corvus – the Crow. I got out my StarWalk app and entered the name in order for the application to tell me where this constellation was relative to me at this moment. It turned out to be…well…right underneath me, in direct line with the power centre I was standing on!!

I did a meditation to contact Bran. I had a question – was there anything I needed to do at this time in this location? The answer came back – NO, I had already taken possession of this site. Move on to the next place.

The next place I felt I should visit was Valle Crucis. I have visited this site before around this time of the year. For some reason it draws me to it in early Spring. I made my way back down and began to think about why I wanted to visit this Grail Abbey.

Valle Crucis – Abbey of the Grail

Two books had made me curious about Valle Crucis. The first one was Ian Pegler‘s “Valle Crucis and the Grail“. This book made some assertions as to the possible links between Glastonbury and Valle Crucis, and raised the prospect that Grail stories had also been relevant to this abbey too, and that an ancient book containing Grail information has been loaned to the abbey at some point in its history, and then had gone missing. Was an ancient artefact found at the site actually a grail?

The second book that made me interested in the white stone abbey’s ruins was “The Secret Tradition in Arthurian Legend” by Gareth Knight. This book made mention of Galahad‘s shield being  “found at an altar in a white abbey”. It said that Galahad’s shield was made of faith, and bore a red cross. As my year had been destined to be a story about “the sword and the shield” and seeing as I was also in a  year when I was researching and following the principles of the Galahad character then this made me doubly interested in seeing whether Valle Crucis was “the white abbey” in question.

Energy at the gate

My first question on arrival at the abbey was “Is Galahad’s shield available from this abbey?“. The answer was YES. Excellent. The timing, the place and the intention were all right (now). On approaching Valle Crucis and asking to be led on an energetic path to obtain Galahad’s shield and got taken to the large old wooden door set into the tall façade at the front of the abbey building. Symbolic!

I felt like there was an energy form at that spot, so I dowsed for its pattern and the following formation was revealed within the confines of a ley line going straight through the door (‘n ley’ side on in the diagram).

Further research at home is suggesting that this ley line going through Valle Crucis may connect to such points as Snowdon to the west and St Nicholas’ Church in Kings Lynn to the east. When I next climb Snowdon I must remember to try to verify if that ley line connects there. Sometimes it’s difficult to dowse on top of Snowdon – sub-zero temperatures, 90 mph winds, sleet in your eyes, that kind of thing. You rarely want to hang around up there!

Back at Valle Crucis I was taken “through” the door (around it to the same spot on the other side) and then led along the right-hand side of the main hall past the remains of the columns. Then out through the open doorway to cross the small walls showing where buildings used to be. I arrived at a space that I can only describe as a “seat” or a pedestal for a statue (which is what I felt it was).

The Faint Echo of Collen

Sat at this place near to the corner of the abbey’s grounds I felt like someone else was there. I tuned in as best I could and had the feeling that it was St.Collen – the remains of a statue and energy that described itself as such, anyway. All I could faintly get from this encounter was that if I was seeking the energetic shield I wanted then I had Collen’s permission to do so, and I should continue. OK – well, that was better than a refusal, I guess. The impression was so faint that it was difficult to get anything that I couldn’t attribute to my own wishful fantasy.

Next I was taken to a square low wall that was a well filled with frog spawn and weeds. I sat at one side and peered in. The water was clear and I knew what I was being invited to do. I reached into my coat and pulled out my “shield” stone – a remarkable stone with a set of crossed veins of quartz which form a cross. You may remember this stone from my Bridekirk church encounter with its wooden counterpart. I dipped the stone into the freezing cold water and washed it. Yikes! The cold!

With the shield stone cleansed and prepared I used the dowsing rods one last time to discover the best place to put it in order for it to receive the energies of this special shield that I was associating with Galahad. The dowsing rods led me into the area of the abbey known as the Chapter House. According to one archeological web site this has traces of architecture going back to the earliest structures on this site. I didn’t know that at the time, yet a bit of questioning of the rods led me to believe I was standing on the site of the original altar stone of the first sacred site established here.

I simply had to place the stone onto this little pedestal and to leave it there to absorb the energies of the Galahad shield. At this point, all I knew was that the stone was absorbing some form of energy which I was calling a “shield”. I didn’t know what the shield was for, or why I was doing this yet, or what its relation to Galahad could be. That would all be revealed by the end of the day as I began to piece together the various aspects of the work through the day.

I left the stone to “charge” and went to stand in the green space behind the Chapter House. I saw that someone had left some bunches of daffodils already. I smiled – perhaps the old ways were still alive in small tokens such as this that often go un-remarked. I noticed it, and I knew it was a gift to The Spring in whatever form it was intentioned at the time.

Thai prompted me to do my own thanksgiving. I stood at a spot that the dowsing rods said would be appropriate and energetic, then I turned to each of the four stations of the compass, addressing the elements in turn, and thanking the forces of Spring for the continuing turning of the great wheel we call the seasons. Little did I know that the wheel would be turned back a little the week after when the snows came down! Nature has her own will. We small people must keep that in mind.

I went to retrieve the stone. The dowsing rods confirmed that its energetic configuration had changed. It hadn’t lost its original shielding properties (picked up from Iona) but now had additional capabilities that I could tap into and call upon when I needed them. Yes, all well and good, I thought, but what could I use them for? Patience. On to the next site.

Gwas.