Tintagel, you have to go there to truly appreciate the ancient magic that lives in that ground. I was tremendously lucky to have lived an hours drive from this place a few years ago and I this place of legend and myth was always vying for my weekends. When I moved away, I had though that that would be the last time I would be visiting this mighty place. Sacred paths, however, weave strange spiral designs.
So here we were approaching the final evening of this three day pilgrimage and already so many exciting events and experiences had occurred. Tintagel though, has a magic of its own for me and so I felt truly blessed to be here experiencing it again. It was here, some three years ago that I was visited by Cailleach, who had directed me to go to the waterfall below and collect a gift from her. That gift had turned out to be a marvellous quartz crystal the size of a bowling ball. Fondly I remember taking that across the country on many a sacred trail, until I was asked to leave it by a Yew tree portal.
It was late last year, when I was up on the mount of Dinas Bran, that I was told to go and collect that crystal again. Since it was some 300 miles away I had put off the trip (some journeys are a request rather than a demand, right?) However since our trip to Brittany had been cancelled and we hade decided to sojourn to Cornwall, I found that the opportunity to reclaim that erstwhile gift had become possible and probable. Indeed Gwas and I had planned to return via the home of that crystal to reclaim it.
There is a spot at Tintagel that I call my second home. It was at this spot where my commune with Cailleach occurred and it was to this spot that I now returned. The last time I had been there I had secreted a small recognisable crystal there, in gratitude for all that Genius Loci had given me. Now, as I sat there, I recalled that crystal and searched about for it. I found it! What a feeling! Connection flowed instantly and I fell asleep holding the crystal.
One of the things I really like about myself is the ability to recall my dreams. It was a skill I learned many years ago when I was practicing Carlos Castaneda’s Art of Dreaming. Anyway I awoke some forty minutes (long nap) later and recalled my dream. In the dream I had been visited by the Genius Loci. It had told me that I had no need to go and collect the crystal. It had simply been a test of commitment. One that I had now proven.
Really? I thought. Who had set this task and why? Alas, as many sacred travellers know, such questions are rarely answered but rather experienced. I arose and sought out Gwas to share experiences. He had dilemmas of his own however, in that he wanted to visit Merlin’s cave but was stopped because the tide had come in. Looking up the times for the tide we determined that for the moment we were done with Tintagel and besides the weather was turning. So we high-tailed it back to our – most aptly named – King Arthur’s Arms. We ate dinner and Gwas decided to visit the cave again just as the sun was setting and the tide was low. Seeing that the weather conditions had not improved, I decided to give this venture a miss and settled in for the night. The night or rather the morning had other plans.
Kal Malik – in the Arms of King Arthur
