Nine Ladies stone circle, Stanton in the Peak, Derbyshire.
The Harvest Moon has arisen. As it now customary, Kal and I try to get out whenever the moon is full in order to make the maximum use of the strong female energies which reflect down onto the Earth at this time of the month. When we discussed a possible site we laughed that Nine Ladies was the front-runner. We recognise that this is the site that we pick when it comes to the end of Summer. There must be something in the way that the energies form at this time of year which attracts us.
Again Kal and I split up and go our separate ways. I find myself drawn to a nearby rowan tree, and I can feel the pull of The Watcher – that otherworldly presence which seems to inhabit the Nine Ladies woodland in a silent invisible vigil.
Sitting in a preparation place I begin asking why I am here. I am reminded that my current quest is to see from the other side of an energy portal. Are there any in this place? Then I remember the Watcher’s Portal, and laugh. How could I forget that tussle? Here’s a link to that episode.
When I ask for an energy portal I am not taken to the Watcher’s Portal, Instead I am led to a bent over birch tree. Experience tells me that to open the portal I may need to search for a kind of energetic combination lock. I ask if there is a sigil protecting the portal and find that there is. I open its four locks by stating my druid name and visualising my intention to use the portal. I wonder what happens now?
When I see through the other side I see the energy of the plant life. Its “in-breath” is matched by its “out-breath”. The energy that the plants are absorbing into their soil is exactly the same amount as they are releasing into the atmosphere. Then it strikes me – The Equinox is very close.
I ask to see what the plants look like at Summer Solstice, and I see a huge out breath which is far longer than the minimal in breath. The plants have an abundance of nutrients at this point. What they don’t need they give back. I switch to Winter Solstice and see that there is hardly any breath in or out. It is like the plants have stopped giving anything out, and are only absorbing at this point (although there is little to absorb).
I see the full picture of the seasons now. In Spring the plants breathe again as they draw nutrients into the soil and begin to give nutrients out into the atmosphere. In Summer they are feeding the air with their energy to the fullest extent. As Autumn arrives the balance evens up again and the plants begin to take in more nutrients than they give out as they pass the Equinox point. In the Winter the breathing slows down to almost a halt.
That, my friends, is the breath of the seasons.
