Natural Magick – Page 4 – The Hedge Druid

Dyserth Castle – How to call an Air Spirit

September 18, 2013September 18, 2013 Gwas 3 Comments

Elemental, Hedge Druidry, Natural Magick

Following on from my previous encounter with a Nix – a Water Spirit associated with a river which became a waterfall in Dyserth town – we moved to the nearby site of Dyserth Castle.

It is a short drive away from the town towards the hill of Graig Fawr where it’s possible to park easily. I wasn’t expecting anything from this visit. I was really here to humour Kal who had been keen on re-visiting the site. Previous visits to Dyserth castle had been vaguely interesting, but never mind-blowing. Well, you just never know what might happen when you visit sacred places. Here’s my account.

Working in peace

I’m old-fashioned like this – I like to work in peace. I need silence to concentrate and to become more aware of my surroundings through extending my senses outwards into the slient space. So, it was a rare pleasure to have the area around Dyserth Castle to ourselves. We call it a castle, but as Kal frequently says “It’s not another of those castles with only one stone, is it?”. Well, not quite, but close. The castle has earthwork ramparts covered by trees and hedges below, and may have more remains on the top of the steep cliff, but we’ve always been satisfied to hang around in the quarried region below the actual castle. One day we may climb up and see what’s up there!

Despite being in the nether regions of this unusual place there is something interesting about the space. We split up as usual and found respective places to work. Kal seemed drawn to a corner of the area nearest the trees which lined the entrance. Then later he moved to the mound which must have been created from the debris left by the quarrying work.

I on the other hand was taken to a seemingly innocuous space which was a compatible power centre for me, bubbling with spirals of subtle energy. I lit some incense and placed it around me. Kal call s across that he can feel a presence and asks me if I can feel it too. Indeed I can – there is something invisible moving around the area, tracking our movements, trying to sense our purpose. It has the qualities of an air spirit, and just at that moment Kal says that he thinks he can sense air spirits. They’re all around us – moving through the trees on the top of the tall quarry, and occasionally swooping down to pass around us – sensing what we’re up to.

Dyserth Waterfall – How to call a Water Spirit

September 16, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Crystals, Dowsing, Elemental, Hedge Druidry, How To, Natural Magick

Following our Lunasa outings, and then the trip to Mitchell’s Fold, we were laden with quests and questions. Frankly, I had enough spinning around in my head at this stage and didn’t need any more. So, when Kal suggested going out again before he went away I was sure I wanted to go , but equally sure I wasn’t going to be taking on any more spiritual work. No more information relating to the quest, please!

It was a lovely evening to visit a place that was far far back in the memory – Dyserth. Kal had dowsed that this was the best place for him to visit, and that he needed to visit the waterfall and castle. Good enough for me – I could do with a cooling down from the waterfall. Its ionizing properties may be the relaxing and soothing balm I needed.

Water way to go

For some reason I needed to bring a specific crystal. Only one. It was hidden on one of my taller shelves on its own. It was so hidden that I thought that the dowsing rods had made a mistake because I couldn’t see it at first. When I fumbled around my fingers felt its smooth small form and I picked a cloudy powder blue crystal off the shelf. Apparently I would need this, so I pocketed it before we set off.

The evening was delightful – sunny, warm, dry. We are having a brilliant summer this year. Even she short journey from the car into the area below the waterfall made us hot. The waterfall was rather refreshing in the late summer heat, and we basked in its light spray for a while before getting to work.

Dyserth Waterfall - August 2013 (6) — Approach to Dyserth Waterfall in summer

I washed the pale powder blue crystal in the wild waters of the reachable part of the waterfall. Should I offer it now? Apparently not, the dowsing rods said. It was pocketed for a later time. I went onwards to look at the waterfall’s full height and think about jumping into the seemingly deep pool. Kal asked how deep the pool was – apparently it had the same effect on both of us that hot evening!

Dyserth Waterfall - August 2013 (4) — The glory of Dyserth Waterfall in flow

Elemental experiment at Nine Pins

June 6, 2013June 5, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Experiment, Faery, Hedge Druidry, Natural Magick

In England one cannot fail to take advantage of sunny days. They are as scarce as hen’s teeth. So it was, on a Hen’s Tooth Day, Kal and I agreed to meet up to explore some places in Staffordshire that had been recommended to us. I had already been to Thor’s Cave myself, but the stone circle called Nine Pins was new to both of us, which is always an exciting prospect.

We drove past the Abbey Inn at Abbey Green village near Leek. Something tugged at me in a familiar way. I ignored it because I was “following a map”, however ten minutes later I was back at the pub parking in their car park. When will I learn to follow my intuition? Not only was the parking easier than the narrow hill road, but actually it turned out that the pub was the best place to walk to the circle from anyway. The helpful landlord of the pub directed us to the footpath to start us on our way. We would meet him again later when we sampled his excellent local ales.

On the way up the hill behind the pub you’ll pass the site dedicated to the memory of “Tony Squires“. This is a combination of a bench with a breath-taking view and a quaint fence whose posts are carved with Tony’s memorial details. A wonderful tribute.

His shade is hanging around on the bench. Maybe it’s admiring the view? Or maybe it’s pinned there by the intention of his family? I imagine that shades see our world like the landscape in the film Constantine:

Is this what our world looks like to a shade?

On this occasion we left the shade to remain where he was. He wasn’t creating any energetic imbalance. On to the circle…

Making a Summer Nemeton

June 4, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Dowsing, Glyphs and Wards, Hedge Druidry, How To, Natural Magick, Trees

I set off on what I expected to be a simple walk in the evening sun, taking advantage of the last warmth of a wonderful weekend for weather. By the gods that warmth was welcome after the latest and coldest Spring in thirty years! For some reason I was compelled to walk along the sandstone ridges that a nearby to the village where I live. Pictures and memories of a special place kept arising in my mind like bubbles in a champagne glass. One particular ridge walk came to mind so I got out of the car and checked which direction I should head in using dowsing rods. The way I had pictured in my mind was the direction indicated to follow. What about the destination? Yes, the one I was thinking of was the most appropriate for any meditative work. Great – then I scarcely needed the rods so I put them away.

As I began my walk I was still believing that firstly this has been my rational idea, and that it was simply a walk. I’d even brought a book to read and a can of gin and tonic. My everyday self was walking around with the idea that I was just going for some kind of a light summer picnic or something. My druid self had other ideas that were bubbling under the surface, and the more I climbed the sandstone path the more these druidic senses began to make themselves heard.

As if by the same magick that was bubbling through this evening I am currently listening to “Ouses ;Ouses ‘Ouses‘ narrated by John Copper (Imagined Village).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR-Z1lg2Q_4

In this song the narrator is talking about his granddad having his ashes sprinkled on his spot with his favourite view up on the chalk hills of The Downs. By an odd coincidence that leads me into this story.

I walked up onto the sandstone hill through freshly unfurling stalks of bracken, shaded from the remaining rays of the day by the bright-leaved canopies of giant beeches, ancient oaks and sapling birches. The path was easy for me to read. I’d been that was many times over the years, but I only ever seem to visit when the summer comes. I don’t know why. This time felt different, and I was about to find out why.

Read More “Making a Summer Nemeton” »

Homage to the Hungarian Witch Hill

May 2, 2013May 2, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Hedge Druidry, Natural Magick, Other Entities, Ritual, Spirits, Wheel of the Year

Our holiday to Hungary was supposed to be a whole week off, and particularly for me a whole week of spiritual interests. In large part it was, but somehow the forces of the wild managed to break through into my full-on Tourist Mode in the middle of the week. It happened to be a full moon – Milk Moon – so I guess that was a contributory factor too. Budapest is a splendid laid-back city and after a couple of days touring around on a bus we knew where the interesting places were.

Budapest - Day 1 - April 2013 2013-04-22 056 (Large) — View over Budapest from Gellert Hill

On a typically sunny April day we were finding our way around the base of Gellert Hill. This hill was renowned for being the haunt of witches, which is always bound to interest someone like me. I like a bit of witchiness in life. We had just come out of the underground quaintness of the restored Gellert Hill Cave – a site still peddling its special aura on the basis of a later Christianisation.

Entrance o Gellert Hill Cave Church — Entrance to Gellert Hill Cave Church

Fertilise the garden

April 29, 2013April 29, 2013 Gwas 1 Comment

Crystals, Natural Magick, Spirits

I first came across the idea of Devas when reading a book that mentioned the work of the Findhorn Community in Scotland. I was intrigued that a group of people would dedicate their whole lives and lifestyles to the idea of working with the spirits of plants and elementals which governed the form of the physical vegetation. I wanted to know more and so I bought William Bloom’s book on the subject, and read anything else I could discover too, including Marko Pogacnik’s book on Deva forms.

This year we have finally transformed our patch of bare clay soil, with its patches of eternal dampness, into a landscaped concept garden that is in its nascent state. Having spent all of the early Spring digging, moving, turning and tilling the soil, adding conditioner and compost to it, finally it was in a state to accept some plants. The process took days, even though the space was only twenty feet by six.

The concept of the garden was typically druidic. M had given me free reign to design as I saw fit. As the pressure mounted to produce a design I turned to the inspiration of Nature and with a blank sheet of paper a form emerged in the symmetrical rounded rectangle: a quadrant of elemental ideals.

Energy Artefacts

April 13, 2013 kal No Comments

Crystals, Energy cleansing, House Energies book, Natural Magick, Quickie

Given that we have almost four years of posts on Hedge Druid I often forget the truly amazing amount of material and experience we have covered. With that in mind you might be surprised to learn that I often peruse the blog in search of nostalgia, missed exploration paths (there are so many) and just … Read More “Energy Artefacts” »

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