October 2015 – The Hedge Druid

Autumn Equinox 2015 P1 – Heavy Water and Deep Thoughts

October 30, 2015October 13, 2015 Chris 2 Comments

Elements earth-water-fire-air, Lakes and Rivers, Spirit Guides, Undines, Wheel of the Year

So the Autumn Equinox arrived. It would be my first outing without Kal being around. I had to steel myself to make the preparations to go, but I did so knowing that I could spend a day out in Nature and take some time to go to a place that he loved.

I knew where I was intending to go. The place had been suggested to me by my water spirit guide. Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall had all the elements I needed to fulfill The Song of the Waters – a fall, a river and a pool – water in three conditions.

Autumn Equinox - Sept 15 (5) — Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall in full flow at Autumn Equinox 2015

Never Ride The Lonely Road…

For some reason I wanted you to hear the first few seconds of this “Lo-Fidelity Allstars” track which has a rather creepy snippet of cautionary advice. I’d recommend the album by the way – it’s one of my all-time favourites. It came to mind as I began to write this.

I didn’t know where I would be going today. On previous visits Kal and I had usually gone fairly quickly up to the top, but today I felt like I wanted to spend more time at the bottom half. Following the dowsing rods I was taken into the woodland alongside the waterfall and specifically to a junction point where two paths met.

This was my preparation place and I asked permission to create a posy of wild flowers – Herb Robert and Bracken primarily. I laid the posy at the meeting point of the paths. It felt symbolic and reminiscent simultaneously. I let out s sigh…this was going to be a long road back to The Way…

Spirit of Place in the Meditation Circle

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015 Chris No Comments

Energy work, Land healing, Meditation, Spirit of Place

I started a weekly meditation circle last year. I was impressed by how many people turned up regularly, but this year the intake was even bigger. I made a few changes this year. I moved the venue slightly to provide a more intimate working space, and to accommodate more people. Part of that work involved me clearing out a place that was overgrown and full of old rotting and rusting junk. It took me a couple of days to clear, but when the space was finished it felt amazing.

Before I had done any work I had entered into a dialog with the Spirit of Place. Was the space suitable? Would it be alright to use it in this way? Was the spirit happy with me preparing the space or should it be left as it was? All these questions were asked and more. So, I already felt comfortable with working with the spirit of this new space.

For the last 16 weeks the group has been gathering momentum and getting familiar with each other. Now they are at a point where they have shared experiences, and lasting friendships have been formed. There is a lot of love circulating amongst the group, and that is a lovely experience. Tuesday evenings have become very special.

A few weeks ago we did “Connecting with the Spirit of Place” as the topic. It was particularly remarkable, and so I want to tell you about it here.

Reconfigurations and Repurcussions

October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 Chris No Comments

Castles and Forts, Crystals, Energy cleansing, Hills and Mounds, Ritual, Shades and Death Energies

It was the first energetic thing that I could bring myself to do after Kal’s death. I knew what needed to be done, but I needed a week away to even begin to get enough space between the event and what I needed to find the strength to do. Energetically, shamanically, we had discussed the concept of clearing death energy many times. This was not the circumstance in which I ever intended to use such practices.

Yet the fact remained. Kal’s energy needed to be released from the spot where he had died. Only I knew that. Only I knew how to do that. Only I cared that it was done. He would only have wanted me to be the one to do it. So I had to stiffen up the sinews and go back there. Back to the slopes of Dinas Bran in Llangollen.

On the way it looked so familiar. I remembered all of our conversation that day – his hopes for the future; his travel plans; how other people seemed not to share our levels of commitment to this kind of spiritual work; our shared admiration for Carlos Castaneda’s accounts; and how I was dressed in white and he was in black. Some things were profound, others insignificant. At the time we may not have known which were which.

A Hard Rain

As I began the climb memories came flooding back as though a sluice gate had been opened. As I walked I re-traced the path as exactly as I could, in a meditative state of mind all the way. I walked past the fateful spot and felt my heart ache. That feeling again. A feeling like someone was gripping my heart in some kind of Dim Mak move from a martial arts film.

Heartache through combat — Van Damme makes his mark

I reached the top and the strain on my heart got stronger with each step. I was re-living Kal’s experience, I felt. To the point where I thought I might suffer the same effects! As I reached the top the rain began, and I knew this was the beginning of the cleansing process.

Check, Please

October 23, 2015October 23, 2015 kal 4 Comments

Belief Systems, How To, Quickie

NOTE from Chris: This is Kal’s last ever post. Even its title is incredibly ironic. There is this common misconception. In fact it is so common that I have fallen foul of it myself. But no more! A sacred life is one that has a reasonable amount of input from the universe or beings thereof. … Read More “Check, Please” »

Lammas 2015 P8 The Pink Knight and the Black Chamber

October 21, 2015October 6, 2015 Chris No Comments

Churches and Temples, Dolmens and Chambers

Kilmartin Museum was excellent. Lots to see and very interesting for us as well, which is not often the case. I particularly like their outdoor exhibit demonstrating the alignment of the nearby megaliths with the sun’s position. A quirky little pedestal which I’m sure many will have overlooked.

Kilmartin Church and Museum - Lammas 2015 (46) — Alignment explanations at Kilmartin Museum

We decided we had enough time to visit the church too, although I’m not sure what to make of my findings! Alongside the church building was a smaller stone building housing an array of carved stones ranging from 1100 to 1717 in date. The third earliest stone (cracked) dowsed as being energetically worthwhile me investigating. So I did.

Kilmartin Church and Museum - Lammas 2015 (50) — Inscribed stones at Kilmartin Church

I held my hand on the stone and soon I was in meditative mind. As my thoughts withdrew a picture began to form. I saw a knight in armour with a broadsword cleaving his enemies. His status was obvious. He was a nobleman, possibly a tribal leader of this area. Then came a series of much gentler images of walks, flowers and then… being with other men!

I asked what we had in common – cautiously. I introduced myself as a druid. This was our link, apparently. He was interested in the Unknown, in the Western Mysteries. He showed me how he had to send others in his retinue to talk to the Druids in his day due to his status. He couldn’t be seen in such company.

With that.. the energy link faded. Either I was “out of fuel” or there wasn’t enough around in this place. We decided that was enough for today and that we needed to head home now. I can’t tell you how much Kal laughed when I told him this tale. I think he stopped giggling at some point past Penrith.

Coat of Arms – Lammas 8

October 20, 2015October 18, 2015 kal No Comments

Churches and Temples, Shades and Death Energies

In hindsight, this was my final eventful experience in Kilmartin and it was a reminder of something long forgotten. Like I needed reminding. We had just finished up at the Castle and headed to the church in Kilmartin. It’s a small place and to be quite honest I wasn’t expecting much in the way of work. … Read More “Coat of Arms – Lammas 8” »

Lammas 2015 P7 – The Troll of Carnasserie Castle

October 17, 2015October 18, 2015 Chris No Comments

Castles and Forts, Elemental, Spirit Guides, Spirit of Place, Trolls and gnomes, Undines

After a hearty breakfast at the Loch Melfort Hotel – a hotel with stunning lake views and roaming highland cattle – we checked out and made our way back to Kilmartin. We had passed signs on the edge of Kilmartin for a castle called Carnasserie, and this would be our first stop today. Later we would head to the museum, but first we wanted to take a look at the castle.

Carnasserie Castle - Lammas 2015 (23) — Carnasserie Castle viewed from the northern ruins.

Kal and I split up to work separately, as usual. I asked for a place of preparation, and the dowsing rods took me over to the remains of what appeared to be an old outer wall or tower, which now afforded a stunning view of the valley below. This was located to the north side of the Renaissance castle.

As I began to allow myself to attune to the vibrations and energy frequencies of the surroundings a feeling emerged that this was the last of the summer’s energies that I was feeling. I sighed. Even though we had been spared any rain or storms for the duration of our visit, I felt that the strength of the summer energy was at last on the wane.

My attention was directed to my new water Spirit Guide. She said to me “Water is coming.”. I looked up, my attention moving to face the current wind direction where I saw from the cloud cover that there was every possibility that it was going to rain soon. In fact, later that day as we headed home it was incredibly wet! Pouring down for the whole journey! She was right.

Carnasserie Castle - Lammas 2015 (10) — Ruined northern quarter at Carnasserie Castle inhabited by the Spirit of Place

I’m the King of the Castle, and you’re the Dirty Rascal

When I asked the dowsing rods to take me to the location of the Spirit of Place for the castle I was taken right back to where I was standing! I had been in the right spot anyway. I decided to tune into a different frequency – that of the Spirit of Place- and so I held that notion in my head and then settled into a mindless state of meditation, waiting until I got to the right level and wondering if the spirit would want to communicate with me. It did.

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