On a particularly sunny day Kal and I planned to venture forth into the world in search of adventure. We had a plan, of course. A rough plan. I wanted to go to Belas Knap long barrow, which I first and last visited in the autumn of 2013. I had been thinking about how I could achieve my quest: to find the essence of The Merlin Staff – an oak staff in preparation, but yet to be created. The ‘thinking’ involved letting myself be guided to the image of Belas Knap. On rational reflection it seemed to have all the right ingredients: I had met with Merlin there, brandishing a staff and inviting me to call down lightning.
This was Kal’s first visit, yet for both of us we were not allowed immediate entry to the site. Both of us had to go through an extensive cleansing process by waiting at various power spots until our energies were sufficiently re-attuned. I had to sit on the mossy tree seat which is conveniently located in a shaded area next to the site before I was allowed to proceed.
Another regular feature of our site visits is the entry point. Finding the correct entrance is crucial to a positive experience. It’s not advisable just to assume that the people who administer the site know the “right” entrance. This is specially true if you intend to work with the site on any energetic level. The best experiences are those where the site’s energy is respected as part of your work.
Using dowsing rods I was taken to a part of the stone wall almost directly in front of the “false entrance”. The exact spot was kindly pointed out by two strands of tall grass which showed me exactly where I should climb over. If there had been anyone else there it would have looked odd when there was a perfectly serviceable entrance only twenty feet away!
Did Belas Knap change to accommodate my current quest, or was I directed to come to the perfect place to be in order to get my questions answered? I don’t know, but when I began to ask if I could get answers related to the essence of the Merlin Staff then I was taken on a sinewy path to the back of the mound. There I sat out of the wind in a little oasis of calm with warm sunshine on me. Soon my question became interactive as I began to reveal the way the site was laid out and how that related to my own energy body.
The Merlin Staff and The Chakras
Sat in the “forked tail” of Belas Knap I began to connect with the inspirational forces around me. I didn’t discern of differentiate between them – I simply allowed any intelligence which could offer information to me, and which was working for my improvement, to connect to me. I remember invoking my Spirit Guide to be present and soon there was a tell-tale quicksilver thrill across my chest indicating that she was with me and attentive. A small amount of protection went up, but it felt unnecessary, yet experience had taught me to be prepared.
There was a buzz going on. It wasn’t the May insects, or distant traffic, it was an energetic buzz. A sparkle in the aura of the site. It was alive today! I asked to know more about the essence of the Merlin Oak Staff, and soon pictures and ideas were formulating in my mind’s eye.
I saw that the length of the oak staff was like the long barrow itself. Along the barrow’s length there were chakra points. So too, my new oak staff has chakra points along its length. I also have such points along my body. The three become one here – body, barrow and staff. The energy centres of the site and mapped on to my body and to my staff. Tuning them together produces a balancing of all three as one.
In order to understand the essence of the staff, all I need to do is to tune myself to it using the site’s power centres! I began to do just that.
Tuning Chakras – Bottom to Top
Before I begin I need to point out that I usually only ever use five of the chakra points when working. I don’t know why it has come about like this, but that’s what I do. So, you won’t see any information for “throat” or “sacral” here. For me, “root” mixes with “sacral”, and “throat” is encompassed within “third eye”.
ROOT: I worked out that I was sat in the Root chakra area – the base of the barrow. Here I came to know that the staff will be able to be used to work with ancestors. In order to attune I needed to clear my own root chakra, to release, and then this was revealed to me.
SOLAR PLEXUS: I lay down on the sacral power centre, just slightly up from the root spot. I was horizontally aligned to the barrow, and when I meditated an axis of light went through me, like a “pole”, linking me from earth to stars and filling me with their light. This was a process of energising – taking energy in.
HEART: As I sat down on the heart chakra, two curious men began to ask me general questions about dowsing and sacred sites. In a brief conversation I shared my passion for energy working at sacred sites but told them nothing about what I was doing today. They seemed genuinely and gently curious, so I gave them a quick dowsing lesson. Soon each of them returned to reveal that the question they had wanted answers to was whether or not to follow their life’s dream. I think the synchronicity astonished them both. For me, it was expected. Nevertheless, at this point I felt the energising force of the heart’s passion.
THIRD EYE: At the top of the barrow, in the mouth of the ‘serpent’ I sat trying to meditate. The site was becoming crowded now, with bands of schoolkids passing through. Nevertheless, having become adept at meditating outdoors I was able to get sufficient a connection to reveal a vision. I needed to use my new scrying crystal Merlinite ball to step into the future. This would illuminate the past. To encourage this I needed to go through a cleansing process on this spot. The path was now open.
CROWN: To get the final part of the information I need to go to small chamber off to one side of the barrow. Here I get a vision of cross axes of purple light meeting in my head, energising me with their light and trapping me with their fixedness. These are The Axes of Time. [C: More than one? My tiny brain is befuddled!]
I felt Merlin was present too – and I saw him outside by the ash trees, holding a staff and an orb. From him I knew to use the Merlin Staff in a similar way to the Giant I had seen at Lligwy Chamber recently – to stop the Axis of Time from turning. This would make all points of space accessible at once without the need to travel using time (in other words – connecting all places in the present moment and instantly – having no duration, traversal or momentum in Time).
Many mystics have spoken of the feeling of inter-connectedness. Here I was being given a way to use a tool to create that effect. Now, I felt, I understood the essence of the Merlin Staff. All I need to do is to let it season properly, and be crafted by one who knows how to do such work properly. A whiff of Kal’s incense told me that he was nearly done too. We struggled in the light wind to get some lit, and then we were ready for our next adventure of the day.
