This is a post related to the quest “Become The Giant” that I was given at Spring Equinox.
As the weather was fantastic for April, and Kal was eager to go out, I was easily persuaded to venture forth into Wales. Having no destination I suggested Gop Hill. Within half an hour (through heavy commuter traffic) we were zooming down the A55 towards the special hill.
Then, out of the blue, I thought we’d gone past the junction. We’d been chatting and it suddenly occurred to me that I had already gone wrong. Kal suggested a new destination: what about Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey? We had time, petrol and inclination. Let’s go!
As we approached the Jubilee Bridge over the Menai Straits I got a different feeling – I should visit Lligwy Chamber – the one part of the “Follow The Bear” (a Great Bear Landscape Zodiac quest) that I hadn’t managed to visit this year. Now was the time, I felt. And for some reason, I knew that the two quests would come together in that location – one to be fulfilled, the other to be expanded.
Feeling The Movement of the Universe
I was shown a cleansing place – one of the lumps of stone outside of the iron-clad fencing around the huge cap-stoned chamber itself. I used the dowsing rods to find the correct alignment for myself – which direction to face whilst cleansing. The detritus of the modern world sloughed off me like a snake’s skin shedding.
Next I was shown to stand on another of the lumpy stones. This time I felt inclined to discover the whereabouts of the Great Bear constellation (Ursa Major). It was directly above me! Perfect, I felt. I closed my eyes and felt something that I have never felt before. I felt that inside my head was a three-dimensional representation of the panorama of stars and galaxies. I could see and feel the gently rotation of the Earth in relation to the backdrop of other energy sources – the stars, moons, planets, asteroids – the whole constellational tapestry, sliding… shifting… swirling.
I nearly fell off the stone several times! With my eyes open the movement became the usual imperceptible shift, but once my eyes closed while standing on this stone then I felt the Universe’s subtle movement in three glorious dimensions.
The Giant Revealed
In my previous vision on this quest I had seen through the eyes of The Long Man of Wilmington as he turned into a giant Green Man and walked across the landscape towards the North West. Now, in a trance state and connected to Nature I was seeing some more detail about this journey. I realised that The Giant had reached this very place – Lligwy. Now, he was starting to walk again.
He rose from slumber within Lligwy Chamber, and now I could see his features clearly. It was the giant Bran! Bran The Blessed, whom I knew well from Dinas Bran in Llangollen. Once again I became the giant. Now, as Bran, I strode across the Irish Sea from Anglesey towards Ireland. On my shoulders I was carrying seven followers. They were seven of the major stars of the Ursa Major constellation.
This was “the next chapter” in the tale that began with Bran carrying the seven remaining soldiers back from the war with Ireland, as recounted in the Mabinogion tales:
“Bendigeidfran (Bran) gathers his army to invade Ireland and rescue Branwen. His men cross the Irish Sea in ships, but Bendigeidfran is able to wade across, such is his height.
With the Irish defeated, just seven Welsh soldiers survive the battle, including Bendigeidfran, his brother Manawydan, and Pryderi. Bendigeidfran, mortally wounded by a poisoned spear in his foot, orders the soldiers to cut off his head and take it to be buried in London facing towards France, ensuring that the country will never be invaded from the sea,” (source: BBC Wales)
The seven stars are being carried around Bran’s head, as though to form a crown. Technically, of course, there would only be six to carry, as Bran was one of the survivors, but I don’t think that is important. What is important is the number 7, and the fact that they form a crown, and that the crown is being transported to Ireland. Those are the salient “facts” of this vision.
The seven stars are those which form The Big Dipper:
These are Arthur’s stars. Bran strides across from Anglesey, across the Irish Sea, and walks into County Meath, stopping at The Hill of Tara. Here he plants himself and connects himself to the land and the stars at the same time, connecting the male/female energies from both in a two-way double-helical flow that forms a swirling column of energies.
The Axis of Time
The pole is an axis – an axis mundi. It forms a link between the stars and the earth, and brings Arthur to Tara. The stars around Bran descend into the earth at Tara, and they can be used as part of a crowning ceremony for when Arthur returns. I know this, although I don’t see this being played out, because the crowning may not have happened yet.
Then the giant Bran twists the pole. When he turns it anti-clockwise he turns back time and the world around him spins in response to the turning. Then he turns the axis the other way, clockwise, and the world spins the other way, winding forward into the future. I am reminded of the film of H G Wells’ “The Time Machine”.
I know that he is demonstrating control over Time itself. Maybe, he is showing me that I can go there and do the same? Maybe I need to be crowned with the seven stars? “Arthur” is a title, not a person. Do I need to become Arthur at Tara? It’s an exciting prospect, and how does that relate to the control of Time? I’m really excited about this, if slightly mystified! Intrigued is the word.
The visions faded and I was returned back to the present, although I speak of it in the past tense. The next stage of my quest is clear to me now – I need to visit The Hill of Tara, and maybe I need to go in preparation of something or with something. That’s not clear yet, but the drive to get there is real.
Chris.
