6 Beltane 2014 – Bel and Titania at Kerzerho

Kal walked into the wooded grove at Kerzerho first. He seemed to stand in awe, and went silent. As soon as I entered the space I understood why. I looked at him and he looked at me: “Faery glen!” he said. I agreed. The space was magickal, and bustling with subtle energy life of a kind which we rarely encounter. The space was beautiful – lit perfectly by the sun, dappled, with beautiful trees, mossy seats on the ground, and stones which seemed to be alive.

Kal did some dowsing, some meditation, and then left me to it. He knew I wanted to work here. All I could do was sit down and marvel at the space, but before I became “entranced” at this entrance into another world I regained my senses. I put up protection, lit several sticks of incense and placed them around the area. Then I sat back down and asked for my spirit guide to accompany on whatever journey I might be in for.

I set about trying to contact the spirits of  the glade. I came across two – the word “Beltane” split into two names: “Bel ” and “Titania“. Although etymologically the name “Bel ” means “Lord”, in the context in which I found myself it was clearly assigned to the self-proclaimed “Lordly” spirit of the faeries which inhabited this grove. I was being addressed by the Faery King and Queen.

In William Bloom‘s hierarchy of spirits the Faery race are found between the Gnomes and the Fauns. They are a stage further developed than the elemental forces, and as a faery responsible for the form of plants. The next stage, Faun, is responsible for trees. The King and Queen of Faery are therefore the spirits responsible for the development of all plants, according to Bloom.

In this context I was immensely respectful for this opportunity, and yet a delightful playfulness accompanied the whole encounter. I decided to honour them with a joyful impromptu ditty, and so I began to recite a limerick.

“There was an old man named Bel
Who loved the incense smell
We lit a few sticks
And did a few tricks
And didn’t we honour him well?!”

Not wishing to slight the fairer sex, I began to rhyme of a more sedate and serene nature to the fair Titania:-

“The fairy queen Titania
The queen of all the May
We honour you all that we can, yeah?
We honour you all of this day.”

I know, awful, but you try coming up with a rhyme for “Titania” on the spot! I did what I could. Did I hear the tinkle of faery laughter? By honouring them at Beltane I was allowed to ask for a wish. A wish from a faery? I was suspicious, and so I came out of trance in order to do some checking – one can’t be too careful in these matters. It all checked out, and so I went back into my connection with the spirits and came up with a request.

My wish was to be allowed to know the purpose of each of the parts of the site by touching the stones. No small matter to me, as this was the fundamental reason why I had got into the idea of visiting sacred sites in the first place – to try to work out their purpose. Now I was requesting all that knowledge of this site just by touching the stones! Would it be granted? Would it be possible to find this information out like this? Was I ‘entranced’ and deluding myself? I had to find out, and so I asked Bel and Titania for this request and felt a tinkle of distant laughter. Was I about to make an ass of myself, like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I wondered?

Decoding Kerzerho’s Secret Stones

I concluded my meditations with faery and felt them gather to follow me back along the path that I had come in on. This time, however, I stopped at each discrete collection of stones and touched them. Amazingly, they yielded their secrets to me! Here’s what I discovered:

1) Three standing stones, descending in height.

• They absorb negative emotions
• The smallest  absorbed jealousy, the largest took hate

2) Flat stone with holes in.

• The stone can undo events in time
• The holes are ‘anchor points’ to specific dates, like focal targets.

3) Three stones lined up at the edge of a field

• can promote good emotions
• the smallest promotes love, then honour, and finally the tallest does kinship (or friendship).

4) The Holed Stone

• if an offering is placed in the hole then healing energy is reciprocated

5) Paired tall male stones and large female boulders

• they promote fertility
• they bond male and female humans in marriage

Kal was done and moving towards the car park. I didn’t feel that I had time to learn more about these fascinating stones, yet I had been enticed by what I had learned so far. I hope someone can take these discoveries further, and maybe try them out in some way? Our visit was fleeting, and we are merely scouts, pushing forward in all areas, trying to bring out knowledge as we pass through.

As we were leaving I talked to Kal about the faery meeting. We agreed that we both felt their presence in that space. I told Kal that I thought I had met the Faery Queen Titania herself. “Titania?” He stopped and looked puzzled. “That was the name of that shaman lady I met a few hours ago!“. Well, what can you do with a coincidence like that? We shrugged, in a very Gallic way. That’s our strange life!

Kerzerho has been a fascinating place to visit, and I would recommend anyone to take the time to stop off and see how they feel about the place. For us it was magickal and instructive – just how we like it!