gawain – The Hedge Druid

Mitchells Fold and the balance between East and West

August 14, 2013December 2, 2013 Gwas 4 Comments

A little hop back in time for this one. It’s out of sequence, but it shows that the preparations undertaken before a Festival date like Lammas are done well in advance, and often with a certain amount of “unknowingness”, at what psychologists might call a subconscious level. I prefer to call this the natural unfoldment of The Path, like the descent of a hill might lead naturally to a stream at the bottom.

Here, then, is my account of some preparation work done before Lammas this year at Mitchell’s Fold stone circle in Shropshire. Having now gone through the Lammas work I can see how useful the preparation was! Hindsight, eh?

Mitchell's Fold - June 2013 2013-06-16 008 (Large)

An Unusual Approach

I rode to the circle on my motorbike as the weather was still fine. We were having a long spell of dryness that was encouraging me to go further and out more often than usual. The track to the circle was fun on a bike! I left my things at the King Stone outlier and then took some photographs.

I used dowsing rods to determine the correct approach to the circle. Unusually, it was from the East – a direction I’ve never come to the circle from before. Was this a signal that something different might be about to happen here?

Solstice 2013 – Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Energies

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 Gwas 3 Comments

Wheel of the Year

For the Summer Solstice this year Kal and I went out for a long weekend to Cornwall. On the way there and back we managed to visit Glastonbury. I used to think of Glastonbury as the ideal place for spending the solstice, but in recent years the attraction had worn off. However, on Kal’s suggestion we added the town to our list, and I booked us a stay in a hotel in nearby Taunton to give us the maximum amount of time in Glastonbury given that our true destination was still hundreds of miles further down to the south and west of the country.

From ‘Arthurian’ to ‘Zoe’

As is usual Kal and I split up to do our separate searches of the site. My goal was to see whether there were any remnant energies in the abbey grounds that I could characterise as being related to Merlin, Arthur, Galahad or Gawain – my Arthurian Cross – a concept that I was seemingly getting very engrossed in, almost obsessed with.

Having dowsed that such energies were available in the abbey I set about locating them. I didn’t choose any order – I asked the dowsing rods to take me to one of the energy spot and then I would dowse for which energy form it was on arrival.

The Arthurian Earth Energies

June 12, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Spirit Guides

In early June Kal and I visited The Druid’s Circle at Penmaenmawr near Conwy. We arrived there in time for sunset, and the western skies filled out with ever-deepening shades of red until the whole sky turned inky-blue as the sun retreated beneath the sea. Before the light around us completely faded I had some work to do. I was here to try to find out more about my spirit guide who was relatively new to me. My previous guide Theodora had been unfathomable, but honestly I had stopped trying to know more at the first hurdle, not wanting to upset her. Now I had Ash, and he seemed more amenable, so I felt it was incumbent upon me to make the effort to forge a strong relationship that could be mutually beneficial.

With that in mind I made my way towards the stone circle’s long teeth and stood poised at the edges while I worked out what I needed to do next. I needed somewhere to “be”, so I used the dowsing rods to find me a suitable location to make the connection. Surprisingly they led me not to my usual stone, but to one of the larger stones next to it. I hadn’t worked at this stone specifically before. I had worked at those on either side of it, but not this one. I stood in the lee of the stone, against the flat of its back. The stone was almost my height at its peak, and I’m tall.

The tall stone in Druid's Circle was my workplace — The big stone in the foreground was my workplace

It was time to get to know this guide of mine. I was eager to know whether the tarot reading I had done fitted with how he revealed himself through this spiritual connection, rather than through divination. What was he here for? What could we learn from each other? Time to find out.

Alderley reveals The Sword of Galahad

April 7, 2013April 7, 2013 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Quests

When the weather has been dry for several days in England then it would be rude not to go out into the world and see if you can feel the forces of Nature at work. Not wanting to be rude Kal and I gave a large part of our eating and drinking time over to a journey to our favourite magical woodland – Alderley Edge. It was the first visit of the year, and although it was definitely not Spring-like weather yet, at least it was dry and had been for days, which meant that we could walk around without fear of falling foul of a foot of mud and slutch.

As if our wont, we had to have a question to be working with in order to make the experience bring true reward (yes, wandering around aimlessly can be its own random reward, but if you want to make steady and sure spiritual progress then you need a mission, a plan, a guided meditation). For my part, I had questions about my recent work with The Sword and The Shield. I had managed to absorb some energy into my shield stone and this was very satisfactory. Now, I wanted to know about the Sword aspect. What was it, and how could I go about obtaining it so that I could fulfil my healing potential using these two magickal symbols and their associated energies.

My research into the figure of Galahad had shown that he had encounters involving a sword and a shield. For Galahad they were to be found like this:-

The Sword of Spirit – a sword drawn from a rock
The Shield of Faith – a shield found at the altar of a white abbey

Galahad or Arthur pulling the sword from the stone?

Well, that was all to plan so far. I had found a white abbey (Valle Crucis), its ancient altar location, and had transferred the energy of the “shield” into my shield-like stone, and was now able to use that to quickly protect and retain energies for sacred sites. My thoughts thus turned to The Sword. Drawn from a rock? Really? Like Arthur’s sword, Galahad also had to draw a sword from a rock?

Who owns the sword?

Last year I had been doing some research into Gawain. During that year I had some experiences, particularly on Iona, the led me to believe that the Sword is identified with the Will. This is especially true in magickal work. However, was the sword that I would work with this year related to Galahad, Arthur or Gawain? It was a confusing picture! Did it matter? Could the dowsing rods sort it out for me? Or maybe a tarot draw?

The dowsing rods were able to help me divine the answer. It is Galahad’s Sword that I am to find and work with.

“Sir Galahad survives this test [being sat in the Seige Perilous seat], witnessed by King Arthur who, upon realizing the greatness of this new knight, leads him out to the river where a sword lies in a stone with an inscription reading “Never shall man take me hence but only he by whose side I ought to hang; and he shall be the best knight of the world… Galahad accomplishes this test with ease, and King Arthur swiftly proclaims him to be the greatest knight ever. ” (Source: Wikipedia)

Now, on to the Alderley Edge tale, where I find out more answers than I bargained for!

Spring Equinox 2013 – Day of the Crow Part 5

April 5, 2013 Gwas 2 Comments

Ancient Sites, Healing, Natural Magick, Quests, Spirits, Wheel of the Year

In this final part of my Spring Equinox story I reveal the reasons why I had been linking the four elemental sites around Llangollen. I am also shown why this link was important, and how it relates to my work with the energy form of Galahad this year.

Ffynon Sara

Only a few miles from the edges of Clocaenog Forest is the beautiful secluded site of Sara’s Spring. The Sara in question may well be the Patron Saint of Laughter that Kal talked about after he visited the site. This day I wasn’t interested in discovering more about the energy form at the site, only to come with questions that needed urgent answers.

I began by offering an energetic gift. I placed incense all around the spring’s rectangular wall and then offered all of the story of my day and my quest for this part of the year. This was offered through my heart chakra, freely and with love. I hoped that this energy would be sufficient as an exchange for what I was about to ask.

I used the dowsing rods to confirm whether I could, should and may ask these questions here. Luckily the answers were all a positive and the feeling generally was that I should finally get some answers to my puzzling quest after such hard work this day.

Q. What was the purpose of linking the four sacred sites around Corwen?

In answer I was shown the white shield in the stone that I had energised in Valle Crucis Abbey. With that image came the following explanation:

The White Shield of Galahad is emblazoned by a red cross. The shield shape is formed by the four sites. The cross shape is formed by drawing links between them. I needed to have that symbol in my head as an elemental cross so that I could emblazon it on the shield that I had acquired from Valle Crucis. Without that emblem the shield would not be at full strength.

Ffynnon Sara - Spring Equinox 2013 2013-03-20 063 (1) (Medium) — Sara’s sacred spring – a place of inspiration

“…at full strength”. That was an unusual phrase that I would try to deconstruct later. For now, I wanted to know more about the rituals at the four sites.

Imbolc 2013 Part 2 – Jilted By The Bride

February 8, 2013February 8, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Wheel of the Year

Our second sacred site to visit on this glorious Imbolc day – February 2nd actually – was the church of The Bride herself – St Bridget’s in Bridekirk. Well, what else could you call a church in a village called Bridekirk – “kirk” being the old word for “church”? It’s The Bride’s church!

We must have missed all the fuss the day before when it was the official celebration day, because we were coming out on the 2nd February instead of the 1st. In every way the second felt like the better day! The weather was better, the day warmer, drier, and the scenery at least viewable on this day! Bridget wouldn’t mind, we felt.

As I wandered gently through the churchyard I saw a sight that caught my eye. It was a section of a yew tree, and it had been decorated with stones and other objects – like the Yule Log of old tradition, I thought to myself. How odd! But how nice too.

As we continued through the churchyard Kal zoomed off. I switched on my dowsing senses but not using the dowsing rods, only using my dowsing sense. I asked to be taken to a place where I need to be. It turned out to be quite an unusual place!

2012 – Summary of the Year by Gwas

December 27, 2012December 28, 2012 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites

My summary of the year could easily take up several posts, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to highlight the many important distinct elements that have taken place this year, and then provide links to the posts that illustrate these elements. On the whole it has been an amazingly packed, dense, active year. … Read More “2012 – Summary of the Year by Gwas” »

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