2013 – Page 4 – The Hedge Druid

Samhain Pilgrimage 2: The Sign of the Crackling Crow

November 22, 2013November 19, 2013 kal No Comments

Pilgrimage

Julie, my Shamanic visitor from the USA and I set off on our first (of many) sacred site visits. It was to be one of my favourite sites, the Nine Ladies in Derbyshire. Throughout the week various friends had consoled me that the days of Julie’s visit were going to be rainy and cloudy. Oh Ye … Read More “Samhain Pilgrimage 2: The Sign of the Crackling Crow” »

Samhain Pilgrimage 1: A gift

November 20, 2013November 19, 2013 kal No Comments

Pilgrimage

With great delight I welcomed a dear friend who was visiting Albion from across the great Atlantic. I had only recently returned from San Francisco myself and had spent the most amazing and cared for time with a truly dear friend of mine Tamara. I am a great giver, if I do say so myself, … Read More “Samhain Pilgrimage 1: A gift” »

Samhain 2013 – Arthurs Stone, Henbane and the Builders Path

November 18, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Hedge Druidry, Quests, Wheel of the Year

My previous visit in 2011 to Arthur’s Stone had been in full sunshine. Today, Samhain, was very different with a blanket of grey cloud shedding rain all around us in sporadic bursts. I felt sure that we were in for a damp visit, but on arrival the clouds stopped dispensing rain and left only a wet sheen over everything, clouds still deepening in the background.

Kal set about trying to make the sun appear. By now I knew better than to vocalize any doubts about his abilities, but I have to say that I was really doubtful that he could penetrate the dense grey could cover that was all around us, and had been for most of the drive into Herefordshire. If anything, it was getting thicker and darker with every passing minute. Nevertheless, he stated his intention and I left him to his impossible task.

Kal makes the sun appear in the middle of a rain storm

Samhain 2013 – Hay Bluff stone circle

November 15, 2013November 13, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Energy grid, Energy work, Experiment, Spirits, Wheel of the Year

The second place we intended to visit on Samhain this year was a newly-designated stone circle on the exposed side of Hay Bluff. Hay Bluff is a beautiful bracken-laden burgeoning hill which rolls gently upwards from Abergavenny until it tilts downward towards its English cousin Hay-On-Wye. As we rose towards the top of the hill we simply had to stop and take some photographs because the vista was so stunning.

The drive up revealed the autumn rust colours of the bracken contrasting beautifully with the remaining greenery. The narrow road gave us a few heart-stopping moments, but on the whole most people were very courteous in letting us past or negotiating a passing place. It was worth the treacherous and tortuous tiny road required to reach the top.

A Sad Little Circle

On arrival we found that the exposed ‘circle’ was too windy and wet to do much for any length of time. We had to work quickly. The circle has one standing stone a few feet tall and angled. Other stones are small, buried and often missing. The size of the circle is about ten feet in diameter. It doesn’t dowse as being very strong. No wonder it had gone unrecognised for so long!

My reason for visiting was that I thought we have some work to do here and I want to find out what that was. Were we expected to protect it, put energy into it, clean it up or restore its spirit of place? I got out of the car and began to dowse despite the howling wind that was causing people around us to pull hoods up tight and shuffle off on their walks with some element of doubt about why they had chosen this day.

The dowsing revealed that we should work to restore the circle’s part in a larger network by inviting back the missing Spirit of Place.

I turned to Kal and explained my findings. He explained his. They were the same! With that kind of independent correlation we knew we had to do something. We split up again and began to work how each of worked best.

Samhain 2013 – Charging the Stag Staff

November 13, 2013November 12, 2013 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Magick, Staff, Wheel of the Year

In this second part of my Samhain visit to Tinkinswood I tell about how I negotiate the charging of my new yew staff at a sacred site near to Cardiff. The site is a ‘burial chamber’, and was chosen due to the amazing response we got from it on our last visit. Having travelled over three hours to get here, we were rather pleased that the site was in a powerfully energetic state as this time of the year. “Lucky”, I guess, right?

At the entrance to the site is a new audio feature powered by cranking a handle. We listened to the various sections which speculated as to the purpose and use of the site in relation to the archaeological evidence. This kind of thing always makes us smile. Looking at the archaeological evidence of a sacred site is like looking at the waste products of a household and deducing their philosophical predilections from the packaging they discard. A mere sliver of the total amount of available information, as any psychically-oriented person will tell you,. The key phrase which sets us off is the phrase “…for religious purposes…“. We love that.

Here’s a snippet of what’s on offer:

Charging the Stag Staff

Interesting – that’s the first time I have written “The Stag Staff” as a description of my new staff, and yet that’s what I should always have called it. I will call it that from now on.

Tinkinswood Chamber - Samhain 2013 (canon) (15) (Large) — An inner chamber where The Elemental Masters congregate

I ran through my usual “dowsing etiquette” questions – the ‘could I’, ‘should I’, ‘may I’ type of preliminaries, and getting a favourable response I began to search for the best location to station my staff while it was worked upon.

Samhain 2013 – Tinkinswood and The Blood Ring

November 11, 2013November 8, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Magick, Quests, Staff, Wheel of the Year

Samhain is a point of extreme contrast. It is in opposition to the bright awakening of Imbolc, and is the point of darkening – the clocks go back, the days shorten noticeably, the sun weakens, and the separation between the souls of the living and those of the dead is momentarily dissolved. This last aspect is almost completely forgotten by mainstream society now in favour of the costumery of Halloween. For many in the pagan community it marks the end of the year and the beginning of the new year.

We had decided to go back to South Wales, and then to work our way back up north through The Golden Valley near Hay-On-Wye. Our first site visit was a re-visit to Tinkinswood burial chamber. It had had such a positive effect on my ash staff (which I lost this year) that when I replaced the Ash Staff with a new Yew Staff, my first thought was that I ought to go back to Tinkinswood. This was my first clear opportunity to ask the spirits that inhabit this sacred site whether they would consider charging up my new staff.

As we arrived, parked up at the convenient small lay-by, and made our way through the dip towards the stone, the antitcipation level;s were rising for me. We stopped, me with staff in hand, at a recumbant set of stones near to a signposted old quarry. For some reason we were both drawn to stop here, and we knew from experience that this was our cleansing point. A place to re-attune our energies to those of the site nearby. A place to shed our modern world taint.

As we stood at the flat stones I felt like I should sheathe the overhanging power cables with some protective energy to prevent them affecting our work at the site. A moment of concentration later and the effect was realised. I didn’t mention it to Kal, but later he remarked how quiet the cables had been during our visit. When I revealed my preparation work he had to laugh: “That will be why, then!” he giggled.

Now we come to the work that was done at this powerful site on this special day…

Medicine Wheel and Loyalty

November 9, 2013November 8, 2013 kal No Comments

Ancient Sites, Natural Magick, Other Entities, Spirit Guides

This is definitely going to be one of many. However I would like to share my first encounter with the medicine wheel. If one goes up the slope of a certain ranch just on the outskirts of San Francisco you can find a gateway into the old world. This morning I was led along the path by … Read More “Medicine Wheel and Loyalty” »

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