This is part one of two posts describing the information that Dr.Patrick MacManaway presented at Shamanic Lands this year. I took so many notes that I could barely keep up and I had to take several photos of the screens because there was so much information on them! It was by no means a “dry” presentation though – far from it. Patrick is engaging and amusing, and he delivered his information with the authority that comes from hard-won practical experience married with a keen intellect.
Here are some of the main points that Patrick raised in his presentation.
European Magic and Shamanism
He began the talk by introducing the purposes of European magic and shamanic practise. He stated they were for:-
- personal evolution
- landscape fertility
- personal, regional and national defense (more on this later)
The Shape of Energy
He moved on to describe the shape of energy, taking it back to its elemental form which he said was the toroid shape.
In Patrick’s graphic the inner area was shaped like a cocoon, and I recognised the central image as the cocoon shape that I use in my protection ritual. I thought that was a significant correspondence and a nice bit of justification for why this shape forms itself as my natural protection visualization.
He then talk about the apple core image, saying this was a symbol that our ancestors had used as a means to pass on the information about the importance of this toroid shape. He talked about the concept of harmony – the vesica piscis, the musical scale (note distances are mathematical), and mathematics generally as a language to describe harmony and relationship between shapes, lines and sounds.
Landscape Intelligence
He talked of an intelligence in the landscape, and how our communication with the land is a dialogue. The process to follow when working with the intelligence in the land is:-
- Healing the hurts (tell it what we have done)
- Patterning the current use (tell it what we are currently doing)
- Enhancing or optimising the energies (tell it what we would like to do)
Healing the Hurts
He went into detail about each of these points, but the important one for me was the idea of healing the hurts that have been inflicted on the land in the past. This consisted of:-
- discovering existing spirits, and creating a communication
- removing trapped human spirits, bad intent or emotion
- releasing demons
Of Dragons
The most interesting part of the presentation was when Patrick began to equate the concept of the dragon with the telluric currents within our lands. Dragons are simply another way of describing telluric currents, he stated. They have a consciousness, and they are a pathway of moving energy. Here are some of the main points:-
- Above-ground dragons are straight, and are powered by and aligned to the sun. Underground dragons follow water on wavy paths, and are powered by and aligned to the moon
- Nodal points where two or more lines cross/meet allow a definition of tone, shape and quality to the energy
- Sacred sites were put up by farmers to control and promote the fertility of the land
He mentioned the book “Seed of Knowledge, Stone of Plenty” by Burke & Halberg – one of the best books on the subject that I have read.
Sick Buildings and Sad Dragons
With a lovely bit of humour Patrick talked about land energy issues being as though the dragons were upset, and he described this as “sad dragons” and said we had to make “happy dragons”. His main points were:-
- Sad dragons are a name given to Geopathic Stress
- World Health Organization says that 30% of building are “sick buildings” meaning that 20% of the residents in the building exhibit regular or sustained health issues
- 3 parts YANG energy (male) and 1 part YIN energy (female) is ideal for humans
- More YIN is draining
- Seratonin is particularly affected by this ratio – and imbalances in seratonin can result in unhappiness, and affects on the biological clock functioning
- Lines which affect us can be on the horizontal and vertical planes
How energy affects animals and plants
Patrick went on to discuss how animals and plants react to the presence of forms of earth energy. Here are the main points of his presentation on this subject:-
- Insects and funghi are attracted to underground water
- Collie dogs, sheep and cattle will lie in areas where the energy ratio is good. Cats are not affected by this energy at all it seems – I can verify this based on having six cats.
- Churches were sited where a white bull or white hart would lie down
- Some places have residual stress from quarrying or battles, for example
- J.Havelock Fidler reported a 30% decrease in dry weight of seeds after 10 days exposure to incompatible energies
- Beech trees don’t like underground water
- For other trees, YIN energy will pull their branches down
- Fertility is gained by right relationship with the earth energy
- Ancient sites mark the location of YIN and YANG energy united – what I call UNION energy
In the next post I will reveal how Patrick works with the elemental spirits of the land, sea and sky in order to promote fertility.
