A funny thing happened on the way to the Ring of Kerry…. so begins a new twist on an old joke. In this case the Universe was playing with us a little bit. We are on the plane over to Ireland and it suddenly occurs to me that Kal should consider finding out which spirits are around him this weekend. I’ve never said that to him before, but on this occasion the impetus to say it causes me to interrupt him listening to music on his iPod. He nods with a kind of “if you say so” look on his face, then tells me that he is currently listening to “There may be an angel” by The Eurythmics at that precise moment . This will be the first sign that something synchronous is happening between us on this day – Friday 20th June – the eve of the solstice.
Eightercua stone row
Once we have found our lodging – the delightful and highly recommended Two Mile Lodge situated two miles out of the town of Kenmare – then we’re straight out to visit a bunch of sites. We don’t hang about when there’s work to be done! I had decided to do the sites situated around the Ring of Kerry first, as they were fewer in number and clustered relatively close together. Therefore, our first destination was Eightercua stone row near to the village of Waterville.
The road to get there was ‘interesting’. The hire car strained under the up, then down, left then right, round hairpin bends, over blind dips, huge holes in the road, and our occasional screeches to a halt as we realised we were going the wrong way. As the sun began to descend we suddenly caught sight of the Atlantic Ocean as we descended towards Waterville and saw the stone row on a small hill near to a house, just off the N70 “main road” (known as the Ring of Kerry road). [TIP: If you reach the golf club on your left then you’ve just passed it!]
The Hare shows the way
As we walk up the narrow road searching for a way to reach the monument I glance across into the field. A hare suddenly breaks cover, startled by our presence, and streaks across towards the monument, which sits like a crown on the crest of the hill. A hare? My mind shoots back to the tarot reading. The first card indicating a change of energies during this period is The Hare. It’s a clear sign, and so we make our way towards the stone row, much more confident than we had been about reaching it. Sure enough, we are able to get access to it unhindered.
As we arrive and take photos of the stunning views the hare leaps out from the centre of the stone row and darts for cover down the hill. I dowse that there is certainly work for me to do here, and when I ask for a place to work at, the rods take me to the exact location that the hare was hiding. I sit down between the third and fourth stones, and firstly admire the views.
Within minutes I feel that I am connected back tot his land. I do my usual connections, grounding, centring, and introducing myself. Interestingly, although I use my new druid name it is my birth name which seems to aid the connection best. That’s probably because that name still resonates in these lands, and still has a strong vibration here. I feel “at home” once again, as though “attunement” is entirely unnecessary for me in these lands.
Bringing the elements together
You will have read in Kal’s story of this site that he was seeking to find some information about elements. Without knowing what each other were doing it turns out that we were working in similar ways. My first task was to bring together the four elements, to gather their respective energies and centralise them on this site, as though to energise it. I didn’t know why I was doing this – it just felt like the right thing to do.
I ask if there is anything to give to the site, seeing as I have all these four elemental energies in play, but there is nothing that the site needs from me, so I turn my attention to making a connection with the Spirit of Place. What would it be like, I wondered? How would it present itself? What information would it reveal?
As I call upon the Spirit of Place I notice that it flies in from above. The spirit is a huge black dragon. The dragon lands and we begin to exchange introductions. I explain my purpose in being here at this site, how I was led here by the hare, and that my intention is to find my purpose for the next turn of The Wheel of the Year. The black dragon listens politely, then offers his assistance. He tells me that because of who I am he will offer me his personal protection. I see two pairs of black wings appear in my mind and they are given to Kal and me. I barely need to formulate the question about what they are for before the answer is being given to me. The wings offer the black dragon’s protection. Wearing the wings will give free passage to all of the sites in the area. The black dragon lifts me up and gives me an aerial view of his territory – it is practically all of the south west of Ireland! Certainly his jurisdiction covers all of the places that we intend to visit on our weekend journeying.
I offer the dragon my heartfelt thanks for his generosity. A part of my mind wonders if there is some recompense to pay for this, but I don’t feel that this is the case. It feels like a genuine offer of help without any requirement to reciprocate. Hey – given our previous encounters in these islands with the leprechaun energies I am really grateful for any help, and I tell the spirit this. He laughs and flies back off into the sky, receding and fading as I come back to reality.
As we often do Kal and I swap tales of our encounters at the site on the way back. It is with some disbelief that I find that Kal has also experienced the black dragon when he interacted with the goddess Cailleach. What are the odds of that specific image being offered to two people at the same time and place? It defies any rational explanation. We know something incredibly special is happening. The summer solstice energy is in full flow!
