There was more to my visit to Gawton’s Well at Imbolc. Not only had I been fortunate enough to be given my new quest for the Imbolc to Spring period, but I was also about to learn something important about the way that land spirits are formed and how their influence is distributed.
Having felt that I could no longer maintain the energies required to keep a strong subtle energy connection to the Brigid spirit, I turned my attentions to an altogether different task – I went back to good old dowsing! Gathering my trusty rods (only recently re-discovered hiding in a drawer all Winter) I sought a starting point for some investigatory work.
I knew that Imbolc signalled the return of the male earth energy lines, so that seemed like a good concept to begin working with. I asked to be taken to the nearest male energy line, and didn’t have to go far. There was male energy flowing up through the well water and into the tree at the well head.
The Motherly Matrix
I followed the male energy line out of the enclosing walls, through a broken-down part and traced the gently waving energy line as it began to align itself with a faint path. The dowsing rods soon pointed at another tall and sturdy tree and I knew that the line went through that tree too.
From mature tree to mature tree. It wasn’t the species that were the similarity, but the age – the presence – the energy profile of the tree that determined whether it became a waypoint on the path of the male energy as it travelled away from the site.
I wondered how far it would go and so I began to test the ultimate distance of the line using the reaction of the dowsing rods as I listed various distances. Was it best expressed in yards? Hundred of yards? Miles? Somewhere between hundreds of yards and miles was the strongest response. My intuition helped me conjour a vision of the span – it was the span of the parkland around the reservoir.
I turned my attention to the female earth energy. This was usually more local than the male energy. Where did it go to at this time of year, I wondered – near or far? Within minutes of dowsing and walking I had a picture of the female energy patterns. They were at right-angles to the male energy, and together the energies formed a grid pattern. The female energy was indeed more local, though. Whereas the male energy flows travelled to the extent of the grid pattern’s borders, the female energy was clustered in a patch within the well site. Each female line could be found to end in a spiral somewhere within the well enclosure.
Again I stood in one of the female flows and asked for a vision which would give me a fuller picture of the grid that I was interacting with. What I perceived was rather unexpected. The grid of squar(ish) energy cells with intersections and node point began to rise in contours upwards and downwards. It was forming into a three-dimensional shape! I couldn’t clearly see the whole of the shape. There wasn’t enough energy for me to get a clear overview. However, something came back as the important information – this was one entity. This shaped formed grid of male and female energy lines was like the blood vessels of an energetic entity. A land spirit.
The spirit only becomes integrated, extant, from February onwards as the two types of energy re-unite and mesh together to form the spirit of the land. During the Winter the land spirit is absent, elsewhere, other. It is Union Energy that shapes the spirit and brings such life to the area.
The aim of the spirit of to exist, and to form a framework of energy within which other forms of life can connect and gather energy in order for them to exist too. Once life exists the spirit’s purpose shifts towards stewardship and nurturing. At Samhain, as the male energies begin to dis-integrate, then the spirit begins to fade and recede too. The area covered by this particular spirit is the whole of the Greenway Bank Country Park domain, which incorporates the well, the nearby stone, the reservoir and the forested land around.
The George Cross
I did a check of my energy reserves. I knew that at this time of year it was easy to deplete personal reserves, making you feel tired and listless. I also knew that it was difficult to replenish those energies from the land around as there was not much to obtain energy from at this time of year! My check indicated that I had about enough to contact my spirit guide and do a short period of work.
I checked in with him and asked for the first thing that came into my head. I knew that I could call him by making a cross sign on my face with water, but was there any other way? Seconds later the result came back. I could simply exclaim “By George!” and he would be with me! I laughed out loud at that one! This really was shaping up to be a year of laughter and fun.
I disconnected and turned around to get my bearings and see how Julia was faring. Right in front of my face as I stood up was a mark on a tree. It was an enclosed cross! I got the message.
Faery Fun
Julia was feeling the presence of faeries. I had felt their presence since we had arrived, but now I specifically went into a mental scanning mode. Indeed there was an invisible “milling around” all round the edges of the well and close to the larger yew trees, especially the one against which my staff had been placed Julia found a Y-shaped twig and asked me if it was suitable. I demonstrated its dryness and unsuitability as it snapped the moment I flexed it. I found her another more suitable one, and she went off in search of the faeries for herself.
I watched with a sparkle in my eyes as she dowsed around and I watched the faintly visible cluster of dancing forms play all the way around her path, moving her this way and that as the dowsing rod responded to their playfulness. Finally, as she reached a beech tree the faeries stopped jigging about and let the rod find them. Once discovered they registered a happy vibe at the fact that she had persisted with their game long enough to become aware of them. This awareness pleased them, it seemed.
We packed up and moved off, leaving our respects and thanks for the invisible residents of Gawton’s Well. We had a light lunch at the nearby Gawton’s Stone. Without the customary backdrop and shade of greenery it was easy to see the face in the stone with its pointed nose and slanted eye. Today it appeared to be devouring the smaller stone.
As we sat I tried to connect to the beautiful female spirit that I associated with many encounters at this stone previously. Today, however, she was not there. I felt like she wouldn’t be back until the warmer months. She was a spirit of the plant life, and there simply wasn’t enough around for her to form yet. I think I am beginning to understand how these spirits are integrally linked with the energy framework of the wider area, and how this begins to filter down into the smaller spirits as the energy levels increase.
Such a wonderful learning experience! I’ll be back.
