Dawn broke on Burrator Reservoir. Very few people noticed this fact, for three reasons: it’s a ridiculous hour of the day to be awake; there were only a handful of visitors to the area; there was such a dense mist that you couldn’t see the reservoir unless you were actually in it. No-one was in it. A number of wild ponies prepared to play hide and seek with each other. The air warmed to a jot above freezing, and the day relaxed a bit now that the cadavers of the victims of the Beltane Death Cult had no doubt been discovered and recovered.
We had done the hard work the day before, by driving for a number of hours (incalculable due to boredom) and now we were in the vicinity of two interesting stone circles that I am going to use the adjective “new” to describe, although in the context of their construction dates that is obviously stupid. They were new to me. It’s like those megalithic structures in Wales named “New house” – when does a new house become an old house?
He’s here
Over the years I have developed a relationship with a number of spirit forms whom I have come to know by a tell-tale sign that they have used to indicate their presence. It’s like an energetic signature which they manifest in my body to let me know that it’s an authentic experience from a known source. Such a thing happened as I woke this day.
I felt a twinge to the right-hand side of my heart. At first I thought I had indigestion, but then an echo, a fragment of memory, came back into mind so quickly that it nearly floored me – that was the same pain I had felt the night Kal died. Even then I had known that this was information from him – it was his signature – his way of saying “I’m here“. I was astonished, but at the same time really comforted. Of course he’d want to let me know he’d be with me – we would have been down here together for something like this.
Reacting before thinking I turned to M, clutching my chest with a funny look on my face and said: “I’ve got a really funny pain here.” She looked at me with a face filled with panic, as though emergency services ought to be alerted. Eh? “No, you’re not understanding – this is Kal!” She shot me the kind of look that I have come to know means: “Stupid boy!“. I realised that it must have sounded like I was trying to tell her that I was having a heart attack! Oops.
New circle 1: Down Tor
We moved to park at the “designated car park” to find a small band of Beltane revellers who were quite thankful that the sun wasn’t bothering their party-weary eyes. Being early we could park the motorhome easily and were right opposite the path which leads to the moorland to the south of the reservoir’s eastern end.
Down Tor circle was not easy to find. On a sunny day it would be simple, but in the mist it was only the omni-present usage of the Viewranger app that saved the day. Luckily I had been prepared and downloaded the necessary map tiles before leaving home. Techno-druidry wins again! We were accosted on our journey by a group of ill-prepared Czech boys. They were lovely and chatty, but the trainers and no maps told me they were here “on spec”. Kids, eh? You can’t flog them, or send them to workhouses any more. Every hundred yards they checked in with us – “This way?” (pointing the wrong way). “No – this way” I would reply, never tiring of correcting them with an infinite anticipate born of being a dowser who is continually asked “Are you looking for water?“. The Czech boys sprang like young chickens through the heather and seemed not to notice that Down Tor is a rather interminable uphill slog through difficult terrain if you couldn’t see that paths, which we couldn’t in the mist.
The structure is described as a “cairn” circle. For my purposes it’s a stone circle, and the stone circle of Down Tor is worth the climb. It is a beautiful construction which has a tall standing stone which marks the start of a long line of stones which decrease (generally) in size as they appear to me to describe the line of the rising sun along the hill’s plateau. Not a chance of seeing that today!
M appeared to be resting, and to stay in the circle area, while I am led by the dowsing rods away down the adjoining line of stones in search of something which would be “beneficial to my spiritual progress”. A question which often leads to the purchase of more books, doing more courses, and spending a long time in meditation. Still, I didn’t come all this way to tick a box. The Czech boys have already been out down the line of stones, and inform me that there’s nothing much to see down there. They mill around the circle wagging their chins and uttering platitudes in good English.
The Chakra Map and The Fertile Union
I dowse a weaving path through the line of stones which occasionally stops at a particular stone to circle around and into it. Whilst standing against one of the stones I can feel it operating on my heart chakra. Aha! What’s this? Are there certain stones which work on certain chakra points, I wonder? A tingle suggests I’m on to something.
I find that there is a male/female starting point and I work my way back up the line of stones counting the distances between any of the stones that register as suitable for working with particular chakra points. From the flat round female stone, counting back towards the circle, the relative position of the stones is:-
- Root – 5th
- Sacral – 15th
- Heart – 30th
- Throat – 42nd
- Third eye – 56th
- Crown – 69th
It’s difficult to know whether this is a valid mathematical sequence, as I understand that some of the stones which had been toppled were reconstructed in 1894. Sequence of not, there was a definite process from one chakra-related stone to the next, until the root chakra point was reached some five stones away from the stone circle itself.
The Phallus and The Pregnant Lady
I felt like I should stand at the tallest stone. At the same time I noticed that M had moved into the centre of the circle to sit on top of a mound which contained some egg-like stones. The tall stone was a preparation spot for me – preparing me for the new quest that I was going to receive. Now I was excited. I closed my eyes as I relaxed against the stone. Soon I would dowse for where to find the new quest.
As my eyes closed I got a vision. I saw a couple frolicking naked in a forested glad. The stones and the circle were here too. This was a vision of the past. It was much warmer than now – like a humid summer. I knew why they were here – to make a family. This was a place of fertility – designated for this purpose. The tribe recognised the powers of this spot as being suitable for that purpose. It was May. This always happened in May. The vision faded. Dammit I always lose focus just as the fun starts!
I gave thanks to Bel and Titania – the King and Queen of the Faery kind. Their influence pervaded this place. If not now, then once.
The New Quest
I moved into the stone circle as M was moving out. She went back to sit on the first spot where she had been sitting when we had first arrived – sort of overlooking the site – overseeing proceedings.
My dowsing rods directed me on a spiral path through several of the outer stones and then on a regular spiral into the centre until I was sitting in the egg-clutch of stones in the central low mound area.
I sat in meditation, facing the direction that I felt was most powerful – on this occasion it was facing the line of stones – towards the rising sun. Within moments I was in a state of stillness which is suitable for natural meditation. I checked whether I had completed my last quest – to collect moon water and use it. Yes, I had.
I set my intent: What is the next quest I should undertake? My mind went dark and still. Then a strong image emerged with a spoken clear voice over the top. The image was of an owl. The white owl took off from his low branch perch. He flew quickly through the night air, and without being able to calculate his path he manoeuvered through the branches and the complex web of twigs without any contact with them. A voice said clearly:
“The owl flies through the woodland canopy at night. It does not hit a branch.”
As I come out of the meditation I am perplexed. What was this about? Flying? Navigation? Using intuition, perhaps? I left the thoughts to brew in their own time. It will become clear when an opportunity presents itself. I just have to be ready to recognise it.
I get back to the circle to find M is quite animated. She likes this circle. She thinks it’s a chakra map of a woman’s body, and points to various lumpy features, and finally to the “sacral chakra” which marks the belly of a pregnant female figure – it’s the centre of the cairn within the circle. When I tell her my own findings about fertility and chakras she’s astonished.
I’m sure she thinks I’m making it all up! These coincidences happen when you’re on to something. Now on to Yellowmead circle.
