essence of the merlin staff – The Hedge Druid

Summer 2015 – P4 – Tara Celebrations

August 1, 2015September 11, 2016 Chris No Comments

Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Circles and Stones, Dolmens and Chambers, Faery, Higher-Self, Hills and Mounds, Modern Druidry, Quests, Tarot, Wheel of the Year

Hill of Tara – County Louth, Ireland

It was still the first day of our visit, but we had checked into the B&B in order to get freshened up and prepared for an evening at The Hill of Tara. We were staying in Blackrock – quite a way out from the main attractions, but very reachable in our hire car. The travel gave us thinking and preparation time. Talking of preparation – before I left that evening I decided to do a tarot reading for the events that might happen.

In a bid to get one up on The Future I did some divination. Let’s call it preparation. I drew three tarot cards that would be my guidance for the events that were to come at Tara – one card for the Past, one for the Present and one for the Future:

Tarot for Saturday June 15 — Past,present,future: Summer solstice tarot reading for Tara visit

A Quick Reading

At the time I didn’t know what to make of those cards. On the surface they seemed to suggest to me that Tara – the place where my ancestors may have met – was brought out in the Past card. The Present card seemed to represent an aggressive attempt to capture something naturally difficult to deal with, and this was leading to frustration. I took this to be my strong desire to make spiritual progress and I wondered whether I was going to end up frustrated if nothing happened? Finally, the King Of Vessels seemed to indicate a Future where the emotional responses were under control. The tarot’s related question is “Where is tolerance needed?” That seemed to chime with the other cards. This is the year of patience.

Now it was time to bring the past, present and future together at the Hill of Tara.

Bull and Barbell Glyphs for the Merlin Staff

July 20, 2015July 7, 2015 Chris No Comments

Glyphs and Wards, Hills and Mounds, Merlin

I was on the hunt for the second pair of glyphs – symbols and shapes that were discoverable by dowsing at sacred sites, and which I needed in order to satisfy my requirement for creating The Merlin Staff soon. I had an idea that I needed to carve these four symbols into the staff as part of its creation. Carving would be the starting point for our journey, as I was soon to discover. We were going to Dinas Emrys now.

We had taken the “alternative” route to get to Beddgelert. The faster route was probably to go via the A5 and come past Snowdon, but today we had gone via Blaenua Ffestiniog on the A470. Scenic, but slow. However, as this year is all about learning patience, I acquiesced to the situation. So it was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived. No problem, we knew a quick way up Dinas Emrys, and so we set off – late but confident.

Until we met the landowner as we wandered through his caravan park. He queried our presence, and then re-directed our “hapless wandering” back down to the road with directions to visit the nearby National Trust site of Craflwyn in order to find the correct path. We drove the half mile back and parked up. There was a visitor centre with an exhibition all about Dinas Emrys, so we took the opportunity to see what it had to say.

Inside were information boards, videos and beautiful carvings depicting characters from the stories.

When we had had our fill, we re-emerged, examining a map that was neither detailed nor to scale, nor indicative of the contours of the land. So we picked a likely path that ended up at Dinas Emrys and set off, grateful for the shade in the sweltering heat.

We climbed. At first through the shaded beautiful woodland, then soon the path got steeper and broke out into the glare of the sun. Now we were getting hot. How much further until we could see Dinas Emrys, we wondered? The we saw it – but it was still miles away! And the path wasn’t going anywhere near it soon!

We had a decision – abandon now, or press on? We looked around for signs. I sat on the wooden “throne” overlooking the intended hill below, wondering what to do. A gentle wind cooled my fevered brow. We would press on.

Sun and Moon Glyphs for the Merlin Staff

July 15, 2015June 30, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Circles and Stones, Glyphs and Wards, Merlin, Modern Druidry, Quests, World Tree

The Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle high above the village of Llandrillo in North Wales is one of the toughest tests of determination and stamina. It takes around 40 minutes of relentless climbing up a very steep gradient to reach it. Yet, when a circle calls – we heed it! In this story I found that patience is rewarded, and that glyphs can unlock energetic forces at a site.

The agenda for this sunny Saturday outing was simple – two sites – Llandrillo and Dinas Emrys. Surely we’d be home for mid-afternoon? Ha! The Universe had other plans. In our way we had a panoply of tardiness-generating obstacles:-

roadworks on every major highway between us and the sites
weekend wanderers doing 30mph on major trunk roads
caravans and farm traffic using the main roads

It was an object lesson in giving in to the inevitable slowness. A journey that I had previously clocked at 25 minutes on my motorcycle took us 1 hour 45 minutes today. So far this year we are both learning that Patience is the watchword.

However, there was the promise of obtaining some vital information: I needed to find out the four glyphs that were the Essence of The Merlin Staff. They needed to be discovered before the Summer Solstice, and then I would have to get them carved onto the staff at some point this year.

The way up was hard. It always is. Yet we were in good spirits. We only needed to stop a couple of times to re-gain our breath and then we were approaching the circle in good spirits. Unusually, we both recovered from the climb almost instantly. It was a remarkable, so we remarked upon it. Now for the work to begin!

Belas Knap, Chakras and The Merlin Staff

May 28, 2015May 26, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Chakras, Dolmens and Chambers, Ley Lines, Quests, Staff

On a particularly sunny day Kal and I planned to venture forth into the world in search of adventure. We had a plan, of course. A rough plan. I wanted to go to Belas Knap long barrow, which I first and last visited in the autumn of 2013. I had been thinking about how I could achieve my quest: to find the essence of The Merlin Staff – an oak staff in preparation, but yet to be created. The ‘thinking’ involved letting myself be guided to the image of Belas Knap. On rational reflection it seemed to have all the right ingredients: I had met with Merlin there, brandishing a staff and inviting me to call down lightning.

Belas Knap Long Barrow - May 15 (3) — Belas Knap is at the top of a steep hill

This was Kal’s first visit, yet for both of us we were not allowed immediate entry to the site. Both of us had to go through an extensive cleansing process by waiting at various power spots until our energies were sufficiently re-attuned. I had to sit on the mossy tree seat which is conveniently located in a shaded area next to the site before I was allowed to proceed.

Belas Knap Long Barrow - May 15 (15) — A mossy seat for cleansing at Belas Knap

Another regular feature of our site visits is the entry point. Finding the correct entrance is crucial to a positive experience. It’s not advisable just to assume that the people who administer the site know the “right” entrance. This is specially true if you intend to work with the site on any energetic level. The best experiences are those where the site’s energy is respected as part of your work.

Using dowsing rods I was taken to a part of the stone wall almost directly in front of the “false entrance”. The exact spot was kindly pointed out by two strands of tall grass which showed me exactly where I should climb over. If there had been anyone else there it would have looked odd when there was a perfectly serviceable entrance only twenty feet away!

Belas Knap Long Barrow - May 15 (18) — My entrance to Belas Knap

Did Belas Knap change to accommodate my current quest, or was I directed to come to the perfect place to be in order to get my questions answered? I don’t know, but when I began to ask if I could get answers related to the essence of the Merlin Staff then I was taken on a sinewy path to the back of the mound. There I sat out of the wind in a little oasis of calm with warm sunshine on me. Soon my question became interactive as I began to reveal the way the site was laid out and how that related to my own energy body.

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