In the middle of September I arranged a visit to Anglesey for my weekly meditation group. I had grand ideas, but over time I had slowly whittled the concept down from a weekend extravaganza for all and sundry, to a single day outing for a small group of people who attend my weekly outdoor meditation session.
Originally I had planned on visiting four sites, but it ended up being six due to the enthusiasm levels and the local knowledge of the attendees. This post will describe the first three, and then the next one will talk about the other three.
My meditation group consists of around ten regular attendees and a few irregulars. It was something of a shock to discover that nearly everyone wanted to go on my first megalithic tour! On the day I had a group of ten people, many of whom were regular meditators, all of whom were interested in finding out more about subtle energy and sacred sites. We met locally and then travelled in various volunteer’s cars heading towards our first meeting point: Bryn Celli Ddu.
Many sites, so little time
At the Bryn Celli Ddu car park we all gathered and I talked about what we might experience during the day.
All the way to Anglesey we had passed through numerous heavy rain clouds. Now we were here it was dry. Yet, it felt like it could rain at any time. We trouped off to the chamber together wondering what we would find.
Everyone got something different from Bryn Celli Ddu. All I asked of them was to find their own proper entrance point to the structure, pay respects before entering, then find their own special power place. Everyone seems to get it, and soon they were immersed in the feeling of the place, even if they weren’t sure what else they might experience there.
The inside of the structure was a space that everyone loved. The petrified tree pillar was a point of fascination, as expected. When we re-convened it was clear that people were beginning to appreciate the power of such sacred spaces when they are properly approached. Everyone felt empowered, embraced by the place, and came away with a positive loving feeling.
This method of approach and interaction would be a process that we would try to recreate at each of the places we visited that day.
Castell Bryngwyn and the Different Feel
The earthwork enclosure of Castell Bryngwyn seems at first glance to be an inviting space. I asked everyone to approach the site like the last one – with respect and to find their own entrance. Firstly, however, I made sure that everyone had energetic protection set up. They didn’t know why yet, but it would soon become clear.
Being meditators it didn’t take them long to get into the right frame of mind to do this kind of site approach. Soon everyone was spread out and having their own experience of the place.
I joined them, finding that my entrance point was a familiar one, but not the most frequent entrance for me. Feeling a slight uneasiness I moved around the outside of the space keeping to the hedges. As a hedge druid this felt right for me! Then I moved into the centre, sat, felt like I needed to offer something positive, and got a vision of rivers of blood.
I was, however, expecting something like this. I had found on one occasion that the central space had hosted a large altar at one time, and that as the Druids had come under pressure from the Roman invaders, there had been a great deal of animal and human sacrifice within this powerful place. It was energetically charge, but not with wholly positive energies. Many of the echoes of this space were dark and fraught. I let in the positivity, and did a small amount of recalibration.
When I called everyone back together there were some puzzled and dour looking faces. What? Hadn’t everyone enjoyed the experience, I asked knowingly. One after the other everyone told their tales of slaughter, vision, darkness, uneasy feelings, powerful forces and the colour red.
When I explained my own findings there was some relief, and I explained that despite our best intentions when visiting sites, sometimes the echoes and imprints at the places can be disturbing. Something to be aware of, especially if going to a new site on your own.
New Stones and The Feminine Portal
We went for lunch at the lovely Treaddrur Bay Hotel. They had a table set aside for us all, and soon we were fed and watered with staple British food and ale. During the conversations one lady, who knew the island well, mentioned a pair of standing stones nearby. Were the Penrhos Feilw stones on my agenda? They hadn’t been, but when she described them, and how close they were, I quickly added them to the agenda! We headed off and a few miles further towards the north-western headland we were parking walking and then arrived at a field containing two tall stones.
As we walked into the field some of us decided to walk off the path because it was the right approach for them. However, some sour-faced jobsworth ‘caretaker’ in the end house shouted at them to “stick to the path” (as though it made ANY difference at all – the field was full of scrub grass and weeds). We laughed but complied, and soon the energy feeling was back where it should be.
There was a feeling from everyone that the stones were feminine. In local lore they were called ‘sisters’ we discovered. Most people wanted to stand between them, but not pass through them (like a portal). Some had to approach slowly from the seaward side, whereas others felt the urge to stand touching them for a while. At one point everyone was lined up between the stones in a straight line without realising what they were doing!
Someone felt like there was a line of energy passing through the stones coming from the West and heading due East inland to some form of habitation. When we checked the maps there was indeed an alignment – with an ancient settlement!
It’s lovely when something more than a coincidence happens. Now we were getting into the swing of it! Let’s see what would happen as we visited other types of sacred site in the remaining few hours before the sun went down.
