Tag: 12 steps

Twelve Steps to Creating a Sacred Site

Posted on By Gwas 6 Comments on Twelve Steps to Creating a Sacred Site
Hedge Druidry

As a prelude to what is to come, I think this is the most important post I have ever written. If you have any interest in megalithic sites, then I think you will enjoy this, and I am hoping it will generate a lot of discussion.

One fine evening Kal and I had an outing to Mitchell’s Fold stone circle. We had been talking about it for a few weeks, but the fine weather finally goaded us into going. Neither of us had an agenda, which seems to be the theme of the year so far, but as Kal said, we had nothing to do because we’d done it all at Brittany!

On my approach to the site I feel that I should begin at the King Stone outlier. The site looks nude with all of the bracken removed and just starting to grow back. I feel rather exposed – just me and the stone with no vegetation to hide behind. As I try to get into the right state of mind I am plagued by the noise of trials bikes and a helicopter buzzing around. Luckily they soon get bored and disappear.

For the first time my dowsing rods lead me to one of Kal’s usual power centres in order for me to ask about my current quest – to discover how sacred sites are created. Kal objects, but gallantly allows me to stay there, as I got there first. I begin meditating and am encouraged to invite Ash – my spirit guide – to join me, as he has a strong interest in this topic.

Mitchell's Fold with Corndon Hill in the background
Mitchell’s Fold with Corndon Hill in the background

I connect with the Spirit of Place (Genius Loci), and ask if I can discover more about the quest. I am encouraged to explain what I know so far, which throws me a little bit – I am not prepared for this! P pause, think, then talk about my vision of a giant removing a pillar of stone from an existing site; then he moves twelve steps; then… “Stop! Go back!“. I hear a conversation in my mind. It’s not “move twelve steps”, it’s “follow twelve steps“. It’s a journey through a process, not a distance to travel.

Momentarily the shock throws me out of the trance state. Dammit! I must learn to control my emotions better! When my mind has calmed down I decide to go back into trance to see if the Spirit of Place can help me understand more about this revelation. The dialogue continues….

  • Can you tell me the 12 steps to creating a site? NO.
  • Do I already know some of them? YES, three.

I consider the process. Here are the steps I know about:-

  1. A key stone is removed to destroy the old construction
  2. A distance is travelled to move to a new site (now I know it’s not twelve ‘steps’)
  3. A new site is chosen based on some criteria which I don’t know yet.

Correct. I take a punt and suggest a fourth step is

4. The stone is replaced at the new site to begin construction? YES.

Oh! So, you’ve just confirmed that I now know four steps. CORRECT. So…. I can make a guess as to the steps, and you’ll confirm or deny them? YES. Well, then – let the guessing game begin!

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10 Beltane 2014 – Lair of the Land Giant

Posted on By Gwas 1 Comment on 10 Beltane 2014 – Lair of the Land Giant
Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Elemental, Faery, Modern Druidry, Wheel of the Year

Walking through the Broceliande Forest the next site that I had in mind is called L’Hotié de Viviane, or Viviane’s house (it is also called The Tomb of the Druids). The clouds are still a dull grey colour, but by now sunlight is beginning to pierce through the cloud cover, sending light scurrying through the lime green branches. It is Kal who points out the direction we need to go in, which is odd because he’s never been here before and I have! We reach the top of the hill above the main part of the forest, and I sit on the summit. The energy is male, and strong, yet not harsh, but energising. Kal is “away with the faeries”, off on a ramble, so I begin to descend the hill towards the sacred site. But I don’t get there!

The Oak at Viviane’s Tomb

On one side of the path is a beautiful symmetrical oak which positively invites druids to enter beneath its canopy. Never one to refuse an hospitable invitation from a tree I make my way under the leafy shade and sit on a dry clump of shrivelled leaves in perfect comfort. I settle in, do my introductions, and begin a process of matching my bresthing rate to the rate at which I feel the tree is breathing. Each breath takes just short of a minute to go from full in-breath to full out-breath. In this way, soon a dialogue with the tree begins. I am hoping that it will be able to help furthe my current quest relating to my vision of a giant destroying and creating a sacred site.

I ask why giants take stones from the earth and re-plant them. The youthful oak takes a cross-wind tack on that question and says something very revealing. It says that trees desire the destruction of a site which no longer has energy that can be used to sustain them. Also that the trees in the new location must be asked permission before a new site is created. The trees will maintain any energies associated with working sites if they are close enough. Presumably as long as the energies of the site are useful to them, and they can feed from them?

Vivien's Tomb - Broceliande Forest - Brittany 2014 (16) (Large)

In the past Kal and I have worked at many sites where we have discovered links between nearby trees and the sites themselves. We haven’t really investigated the nature of this link, believing it to be one of the trees sustaining and feeding into the sacred site’s subtle energy network. Here I was finding that there was actually a mutually-beneficial two-way link going on. The trees are sustaining a sacred site’s energy fields, and are also linking to these sites in order to “feed” off them.

This was a very slow and laborious conversation! What you are reading in a minute took me fifteen minutes of slow rhythmic breathing to extort from the oak.

I notice that a young lady is passing me by, and she notices that I am sitting with the oak. She has a faraway look in her eyes. She goes to sit on the top of the hill – the exact same spot I sat at. Later Kal would tell me that she was “one of us”, but that’s his part of the story. Here’s the rest of mine….

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