Our second site visit in Cornwall on the Summer Solstice was to a very famous site called “Men-An-Tol“. This is one of the strangest configurations you’re likely to find in terms of megalithic sites. There are two standing stones about ten feet apart from each other, and in between is a holed stone just about big enough for a person to crawl through.
We approached the site from the small road from Morvah village which passes through Bosullow, heading south towards Madron. There is a layby at Bosullow Common which has sufficient parking for about three of four cars. Take the stile up the slight hill from the layby, and after about ten minutes walk you will find a small sign guiding you over the ditch and onto the moorland. In the distance you can see the remains of buildings at Ding Dong Mine. Such great Cornish names!
As I was beginning to accustom myself I took of my shoes and socks and approached the site barefoot. I’ve taken to doing this because it removes the need for any grounding routine, and in a strange way the site seems to know who you are by the time you arrive, so you don’t need to go through any formal introduction process as you do when you visit shod in rubber-soled footwear. Connection, I guess. It’s all about connection at the subtle energy levels.
Transporting rock
At the Boscawen Un stone circle I had picked up an interesting-looking rock which for some reason I felt the need to transport. Here, at Men-An-Tol I brought it out and made a note to leave it somewhere when we were leaving, as a gift. It was a local granite, speckled with pink feldspar, bright white quartz and a black speckle that I couldn’t identify. What is it about rocks – they call to us to have us transport them to other places. How odd. Odd that we oblige them.
At the site itself I sat in a suitable power centre to prepare myself. The power centre was just off to one side of the places where most would tread. I find this often at sacred sites – that powerful energy spots are in the quieter places where few would pass through. When I felt ready and protected I began to dowse the site itself – what was I dealing with here?
The standing stone at the “back” was a female stone. That would be my starting point. The central holed stone was neutral – a mix of male and female energies. The standing stone at the “front” was male. This would be my destination. I knew that I would be moving throughout he holed stone from the male stone to the female stone – that much was inevitable, but now I had to find out why I needed to do that? I went back to the power centre to try to find out why I needed to make this curious passage.
Healing attitude
As I sat in the power centre I let me mind move away from my body and into that zone where questions can be asked and answers received. It’s what we call “dowsing mind”, but it’s also a connection with The Otherworld, albeit a very loose and fragile link. I called upon the Spirit of the Place to answer the question about why I needed to pass through the holed stone in the order that I had just identified. What was the purpose for me of doing that? I listened intently, suppressing all of my own thoughts.
“Healing”….Of what, I asked? …. “Attitude”…. What attitude? …. “Attitude towards others – intolerance – aloofness”
The link faded as resentful feelings began to bubble up inside me. What attitude, I raged! Oh, THAT attitude! I smirked – yes, that would be the very kind of attitude that I was being told that I should attempt to “cure” by passing through the stone. Alright. Let’s try it!
I crawled through the holed stone from the female to male stone. It wasn’t unusual for me to start from the female side – that is my more familiar energy. I thought it was interesting that I was heading towards the male side. There’s an inherent instruction in that movement telling me to move towards the male energies a bit more. That had been a directive from previous quests, so I noted it.
As I passed through the holed stone I thought about my attitude, my reservation, my solitary nature. I asked that this attitude me modified so that I could be more in tune with the spiritual direction that I was being guided in. I didn’t feel any changes, but going through that holed stone was a bit like when I went through the “alignment portal” near to the Gawton Stone in Cheshire – a movement from the female to the male in this case, and the opposite way at Gawton.
The attitude which I need to change was my ‘hedgeyness’. I needed to be more tolerant of others. This meant learning to accept other people’s paths and directions. I needed to accept that other people had their own movement through life and that it was no use me ignoring other people because I had it in mind that they probably wouldn’t understand my path, and that I would inevitably find their spiritual progression incompatible with my own in some way. There is an inevitability about that which I need to come to terms with. The change starts here – Summer Solstice 2013. Let the healing begin…
Being Watched From Above
Do you ever get that feeling that someone is watching over you, or that there is attention upon you from an unusual direction? Both Kal and I did at Men-An-Tol. I sat back on my power centre and relaxed. I watched the clouds skitting across the sky, their shape transforming sometimes swiftly, sometimes slowly. Shapes began to form in front of me like the cardboard cut-out scenery of a puppet theatre, it’s third dimensional aspect imposing itself on my vision in stark relief.
I thought to myself – “I wonder if I can see a dragon form, something to represent the subtle energies of the site?“. I scanned the sky around and above. Seconds later I found what I was looking for….
The dragon’s head formed with my thoughts, and then as I admired it, it faded away into an unidentifiable shape as the wind transformed it again. Such is the way that Nature reflects information back to us. Such is the interconnectedness of all things through the action of Will. Only those who work in this way can receive such feedback, otherwise it is called “coincidence” if noticed, and goes unnoticed if the person is acting without Intent.
Having received such delightful feedback we decided to move on the next site – The Merry Maidens stone circle. On the way we were lured towards another site by a brown sign indicating a well and church. Sounded like the kind of thing we might be interested in, and the pull of the place became irresistible. As it turned out, it would be one of the most interesting sites of this Summer Solstice day. Isn’t that often the way when one follows intuitive guidance?
