ancestor energies – The Hedge Druid

Winter Solstice 2013 – Saints and Druids in Llangollen

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 Gwas 2 Comments

Ancestors, Other Entities, Wheel of the Year

Winter Solstice was spent in and around the Llangollen area. It’s not only easy for us to get to, but there are some favourite sites which we know always deliver when it comes to both scenery and ‘sorcery’. Kal has already covered our visit to St.Winifrede’s Well in Holywell, which was a shared experience. The next couple of posts will concentrate on our next two places – Vale Crucis Abbey, and then the hillfort of Dinas Bran and I will describe the visits in terms of what happened to me.

Before we arrived at Vale Crucis, though, we came through some back roads from Holywell which meant that we came over Horseshoe Pass. At that time of the morning and at this time of the year the views were stunning:

Vale Crucis – free and open in Winter

We began our visit by taking some photographs. You have to get the fiddly stuff done first in this weather or your fingers freeze up! Having got that bit done we circled the site in opposite directions, each of us choosing our spot through a combination of dowsing and intuition.

Conversation with Collen

St Collen is famous for having refused firstly the invitation of, then the hospitality of Gwyn Ap Nudd – the Faery King. After causing him to disappear through the application of holy water, little more is heard of Collen. The story, from the ‘Life of St. Collen‘ and quoted in Lady Charlotte Guest’s translation of The Mabinogion, is reproduced here. [Thanks to Ian Pegler for correcting that].

Samhain 2013 – Tinkinswood and The Blood Ring

November 11, 2013November 8, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Magick, Quests, Staff, Wheel of the Year

Samhain is a point of extreme contrast. It is in opposition to the bright awakening of Imbolc, and is the point of darkening – the clocks go back, the days shorten noticeably, the sun weakens, and the separation between the souls of the living and those of the dead is momentarily dissolved. This last aspect is almost completely forgotten by mainstream society now in favour of the costumery of Halloween. For many in the pagan community it marks the end of the year and the beginning of the new year.

We had decided to go back to South Wales, and then to work our way back up north through The Golden Valley near Hay-On-Wye. Our first site visit was a re-visit to Tinkinswood burial chamber. It had had such a positive effect on my ash staff (which I lost this year) that when I replaced the Ash Staff with a new Yew Staff, my first thought was that I ought to go back to Tinkinswood. This was my first clear opportunity to ask the spirits that inhabit this sacred site whether they would consider charging up my new staff.

As we arrived, parked up at the convenient small lay-by, and made our way through the dip towards the stone, the antitcipation level;s were rising for me. We stopped, me with staff in hand, at a recumbant set of stones near to a signposted old quarry. For some reason we were both drawn to stop here, and we knew from experience that this was our cleansing point. A place to re-attune our energies to those of the site nearby. A place to shed our modern world taint.

As we stood at the flat stones I felt like I should sheathe the overhanging power cables with some protective energy to prevent them affecting our work at the site. A moment of concentration later and the effect was realised. I didn’t mention it to Kal, but later he remarked how quiet the cables had been during our visit. When I revealed my preparation work he had to laugh: “That will be why, then!” he giggled.

Now we come to the work that was done at this powerful site on this special day…

Claiming The Torc of the Hawk

October 30, 2013November 8, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Hedge Druidry

It is becoming less surprising when the threads of my path’s journey knit themselves into a situation where opportunities can arise. I had the chance to visit Ireland with my wife. She was working in the week, but at the weekend I could join her before she went elsewhere in Eire. Initially the venue was Dublin, then her work changed and it was Belfast. Then, though a mutually beneficial arrangement it was somehow back to Dublin, though no pressure of mine! Well, well. So be it. Now was the time for me to fulfil a quest that I had been given at the start of the year.

The Torc of the Hawk is an artefact that is of especial significance to me. I had been given a quest at Imbolc by the female energy known as ‘Brigid‘ in lore. In her Maiden Castle in Cumbria, as the day’s rays faded to a pink sunset that I will never forget, I was informed that I had to seek out this golden torc.

The torc, I would discover through dowsing, was an artefact from my ancestry in Roscommon in Ireland. It had been worn by the spiritual warrior that I had fought at The Fort of the Bulls – an ancient site of contest in the heart of western Ireland. You can read about the background to this whole Ireland quest here. The essential aspect is that in order to inherit the spiritual energies of my ancestors there are several artefacts that I need to recover. One of them – The Eel Sword – I had already found. This second one – The Torc of the Hawk – I knew from research had once been in the National Museum of Ireland. I had no idea if it was still there.

So it came to be that I was granted the opportunity to go to Dublin for a weekend with no itinerary other than to visit the museum and fulfil the quest to absorb the energy of this torc, if I could find it. To make matters harder I decided not to take my dowsing rods. If I was going to find the torc, then it would have to be done by feeling alone. So I flew out to Dublin, met with my wife, and we agreed to spend the next day looking around the museum. What would we find?

Imbolc 2013 Part 4 – The Maiden In Pink

February 16, 2013November 8, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Wheel of the Year

In the final part of our Imbolc excursion to Cumbria I will be showing you another new site for us – Maiden Castle – near the village of Wreay above the north end of Ullswater Lake. The story of how we found it is the real tale here, and the communion we had while there adds the final flourish to the whole episode.

Having already taken a wrong turn trying to find the narrow lane that led to the field in which the castle was supposed to be, according to the maps, we were somewhat exasperated already as we cruised along the hillside at slow speed trying to get a visual fix on any form of earthwork or stone cluster that might indicate a ‘castle’. Kal had been fully expecting a proper castle with turrets, flags and portcullis, but I assured him that we were looking form something far more mundane and far less spectacular!

The light was beginning to dim. The sun was descending behind the huge distant hills around Ullswater Lake. I had joked at the beginning of the day that we would probably arrive at the castle for sunset, and the joke was becoming a reality. Would we find the castle site before it got dark and too treacherous to locate?

We were about to give up. I stopped the car and insisted that Kal dowse whether we should continue looking or go to somewhere nearby like Castlerigg. I ditched the OS map and instead used the Viewranger pinpoint that I had preset the day before.

NOTE: Viewranger is superb for outdoor work of this kind such as finding sacred sites. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a complete lifesaver sometimes.

Go check them out if you like walking, running or discovering new places.

This was a precise fix on the castle and should allow us to home in on it. Kal returned – we had to find Maiden Castle, there were no alternatives! What now?

At that exact moment, sat in the car wondering whether to drive home or head out into the dim light in search of something we were both startled from our thoughts. A hawk burst out of a bush next to the car and flew across the bonnet. It swooped down into the vale below and disappeared again. Well – did we need any better sign? One glance was enough – we were decided – that was the sign we needed to venture forth. Then we noticed the footpath sign next to the car. Well, obviously, that would take us to the castle, right? Let’s hope so.

Ancestor energies tarot reading

June 19, 2012November 8, 2013 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancestors, Tarot

After my Ireland Ancestor Quest I had one obvious question: “Now that I have recovered them and successfully fought to keep them – what can I do with them?”

Some tarot card readers say that they can’t do reading for themselves very well. I seem to be able to. In fact, my own readings are so spectacularly accurate that they really spook me out every time I draw the cards. So, when I did a tarot spread to try to discover the answers to this question I should have been ready for the unerringly accurate and uncanny cards that were drawn from the repeatedly shuffled and cut deck.

This tarot spread was the most unbelievably accurate and useful draw I have ever done. Of course it was using the wonderful Wildwood Tarot, a superb deck for druids. For me, it proves beyond any reasonable doubt that tarot is a means of interfacing with some form of intelligence that operates outside of perceived time, and with whose grace it is possible to obtain incredible occult knowledge of the past, the present and the future.

Before we examine the cards that answer this question, we must first re-visit the tarot card layout that I drew just before I went to Ireland to begin the quest. You will see how important this initial reading was, and how it correlates so much with the subsequent reading.

IRELAND ANCESTOR QUEST READING

I asked for two cards to show which energies I was taking in to the quest, and three to show what would happen during the quest

Two energies in – Page of Bows (Stoat) + King of Vessels (Heron)
Three events that would occur – Queen of Vessels (Salmon) + Knight of Vessels (Eel) + The Shaman

My interpretation of these cards:

GENERAL

Firstly, note the occurrence of Vessel cards indicating a lot of emotion in the draw. There was a lot of emotional content to the cards – they meant something precious to me, and their consequences would have a profound effect on my emotional state. So it proved to be. Note that they are both “court” cards too. These are indicators that the energies are related to my own self, but they also express a royal theme. How prescient this turned out to be as I was visiting the sites where Kings and Queens were ritually crowned and where they had their seats of power. The Bows card is showing a high level of motivation, intention, and will.

ENERGIES GOING INTO THE QUEST

The Stoat is showing me, depicted as having a hunger for knowledge, yet changing colour to match the seasons – adaptable yet driven.
The Heron is me again, but a different side of me – a solitary figure, said to be gifted with psychic abilities and the ability of reflection – my meditative spiritual self. Also linked with diplomacy and a broad perspective.

ENERGIES EMERGING FROM THE QUEST

The Salmon – the fish of wisdom that heads back to the place of its birth in the face of all adversity, driven to find its spawning grounds. Seeking wisdom from a birthplace?
The Eel – of course, this was the Eel Sword, the vessel that held the noble ancestor energies themselves, and which I had to find on the shores of the lake of the druid Ce.
The Shaman – the culmination of my successful quest to retrieve and retain the energies sees me acquiring some of the properties of the shaman or tribal magician.

If you have read the series of posts on my Irish Ancestor Quest then you will know how accurate those cards were. Now it was time to see what I could do with the energies that I had ‘downloaded’ from my spiritual journey could be used for, and how I could access them. As well as being a practical lesson these cards were outright confirmation that divination is a powerful tool for the spiritual seeker.

Battle at the Fort of the Bulls

June 13, 2012November 8, 2013 Gwas 4 Comments

Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Hedge Druidry, Natural Magick, Quests

This penultimate post of my Ireland Ancestor Quest story sees the climax of the tale. Having been prepared for the forthcoming battle by a long chain of events, now I would have to face the final struggle to gain the right to the energies of my ancestors. I already knew the name of the battle ground. It was on the map, labelled as “The Fort of the Bulls”, or Rath na Dtarbh.

Stalking the Bulls

I have been a martial artist for many years. Since childhood I have been fascinated by the oriental fighting methods and have studied just about every one of them in my lifetime, becoming proficient at several. The prospect of a fight, whether physical or mental, was not something that I was in any way afraid of facing. Whatever would come I was prepared to face it on all levels – physically, mentally and spiritually. With this steely resolve I parked up alongside the Fort of the Bulls and scanned the surroundings, looking for the entrances and exits.

This warrior is ready for battle!

Lough Key – The Search for the Eel Sword

June 5, 2012December 18, 2012 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites

We couldn’t get into Boyle Abbey before 10am. No-one seems to get up early in Southern Ireland! It was 9am when we arrived there, so I decided to show Kal Lough Key Forest Park which was close by. It might be open and it would be a pleasant walk amongst some trees while we waited for the abbey to open. I had been there once before with M on our only Ireland holiday together. Seemed like a good plan to while away an hour. Turned out to be slightly longer than that!

Lough Key

Lough Key is a forest park. Is that a forest that contains a park or some parkland with a bit of forest? I’m never sure. Be one thing or another, I say. In terms of the name of the lake, Wikipedia suggests it has druidic connections:

Lough Key (Irish: Loch Cé) is a lake in Ireland. It is located in the northwest of County Roscommon, northeast of the town of Boyle. The lough’s name is believed to come from Cé, a druid; the lake was formed over his grave.

Whether by chance or be subliminal design I appeared yet again to be in the right place suited to my quest.

We parked easily and because the visitor centre wasn’t open (of course – before 10am?) we made use of the excellent relieving facilities (Kal rated them highly) before we thought about finding somewhere that we “should be”. The dowsing rods were our first stop for an answer to an esoteric question like that. When I asked the question the rods quite clearly led across a grassy field towards the middle of nowhere. Typical. Still, having nothing better to do we followed – all the way up to the point where they swerved around an old and glorious beech tree.

We both sat at respective positions beneath the tree and I began to look around. What a wonderful day! How beautiful the park is! How perfectly the tree’s hoary branches framed the delicate Spring flowers and mosses that lived in their protective cloak, and how dappled the sunlight was as it filtered through the lightly-leaved branches of the beech. Soon I was drifting away…drifting into one of my light druidic trances where my heart soars and my mind relaxes into communion with the surroundings….

Lough Key Forest Park - Ireland May 2012 (5) (Small) — Kal in a special place at Lough Key Forest Park

A vision appeared to me – the same sword-fight that I had seen the previous day at Carrowkeel. There was more detail this time. I could clearly see the protagonist – so much so that I knew I would recognise him if I ever saw him again, in a dream or in reality. I knew not which it would be yet, but I was sure our meeting was inevitable, like the inevitability that a thread will unravel a garment in intricate weaving.

Now the visions faded and was replaced by a spoken phrase that I didn’t understand at all. The sword I had seen in the vision, the sword that I was holding, it was given a name. Something told me that it was called The Eel Sword, and that I had to now find a sword that looked like an eel. This made no sense. What madness was this? Why did I need an eel sword? Where the heck would I find such a thing? Reality re-imposed itself and the connection wavered then released its trance-like grip on my senses as they re-absorbed the beautiful Spring sunshine and the fabric of greens that made up the forest park’s lush landscape.

Where was this sword? Here? The dowsing rods confirmed it even as I began to position them horizontally in preparation. It was here , somewhere.

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