Tag: alderley edge

This is possibly the most exciting, scary and powerful magickal experience I have ever had. It was the culmination of a whole year’s work, but it was also an opportunity that I thought I had missed. How wrong I was. I was about to be tested like never before, but the rewards would be all the more fulfilling. If you read no other post on this blog, read this one.

Alderley Edge is a fun place to spend a night when the moon is beginning to come into its powers. Kal and I ventured out to this magickal forest one evening as the moon was waxing to its fullest, but had not yet reached that point. Once inside the forest I dowsed that it was at nearly 10% of its full potential. The following evening it would be at 55%, and then it would rise to 100% in the middle of Sunday.The three days of the Full Moon – The Hunter’s Moon – would be useful for we Seekers.

For me, personally, I have been working towards Samhain all year, preparing for a predicted challenge. I did a tarot reading at the start of the year which indicated that there would be some point of recapitulation during which the opportunity would be afforded for me to raise my abilities and make some real profound progress on my spiritual path. Tonight was the night to meet this challenge!

This is how I read the Camelot Oracle cards at the start of the year:-

CARDS: Blaise in Castle Mortal at Samhain

CHALLENGE. Whatever you are waiting for, is delay the result of reservation or suspicion?

Arthur’s Stone in Herefordshire was the site I had in mind to begin the process of visiting Castle Mortal and meeting with the energy entity which I could identify as Blaise – Merlin’s teacher and master. Although this was an Arthur-related site, I felt it had a strong affinity with Merlin too. However, my visit to Arthur’s Stone had not yielded any information about the tarot challenge. This had bothered me. Had I missed the opportunity? The dowsing rods indicated otherwise when asked. My dowsing showed me that actually I had needed the Merlin interaction, and that there was still a chance for me to find out about my Blaise/Castle Mortal challenge. Alderley Edge was a suitable location, said the rods. Then I would take the chance.

Who is Blaise?

That turns out to be a more difficult question than it first appears. On the face of it you would think that there ought to be a considerable amount of information about a figure related to such a person as Merlin. Actually, there are only a few vague sentences.

“Robert de Boron lays great emphasis on Merlin’s power to shapeshift, on his joking personality, and on his connection to the Holy Grail. This text introduces Merlin’s master Blaise, who is pictured as writing down Merlin’s deeds, explaining how they came to be known and preserved.” (source: Wikipedia)

Adam Ardrey (web site) in his book “Finding Merlin” reckons he knows who the man might be:

“I have argued in Finding Merlin that the real ‘Merlin’ was a specific late 6th c. British man of central Scotland; a man who worked with Arthur, Arthur Mac Aedan, against the Angles; a man I now call Merlin-Lailoken.

In Finding Merlin I also identified Merlin-Lailoken’s teacher as a man his friends called Cathen the Druid.

It was this Cathen who came to be called Blaise” (source: Finding Merlin)

Cathen, the author goes on to describe, is a nickname for a fighter – a druid in active physical rebellion. A worthy adversary, and a glorious archetype for me at this point in the year.

Where is Castle Mortal?

If you thought the last question was difficult, this one is even more challenging. There is no information about this place outside of the book which accompanies the Camelot Oracle.

“The castle is sometimes known as the Dangerous Castle, and is often said to harbour temptations of some kind. Only those who accept their spiritual selves, who are humble enough to allow spiritual protection into their lives, and who know that the secret of the Grail is service to others can leave unscathed.”

I asked if I could try to complete my quest to find Blaise, and fulfil the tarot reading that I had done at the start of the year – to meet Blaise at Samhain at Castle Mortal where he would pose the ultimate question – was I committed or not to this path of druidry?

I let one dowsing rod describe a path to the place where we could meet. The meeting point turned out to be a tree just off one of the main paths close to the cliffs which gave Alderley Edge its name. The tree was a tall mature pine – the only one if its kind within visible range – and it was bathed in a powerful moonlight which threw pale shadows around as it lit the black and white scene.

After grounding, centring, connecting and asking the permission of the pine tree to work within its aura space I began to call upon Blaise to make himself known to me. As my head cleared out of the day’s junk so a presence made itself known, like an extra shadow slipping in behind a tree. I asked my first question:

“Where is Castle Mortal?”

The answer came back directly and succinctly:

“It is a place where you are in mortal peril.”

Somewhere in Alderley Edge? Well, interesting correlation because the Camelot Oracle defines Castle Mortal as being “Northwest following the Turning Path“. An apt description of where I was right this moment.

It didn’t take a genius to begin to piece together an Infernal Triangle of “mortal”, “edge” and “peril”. There was a hefty and audible gulp taken as I came back to normal consciousness and headed over to the nearby tree where Kal was standing. He had done his work, but I didn’t want to say anything about mine next, except to ask him a question – would he hold on to my car keys and phone. He might need them… if….

The sentence remained incomplete. But he knew something was afoot.

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