At this time of the year I am on a “wind down” to the Winter Solstice. Visits to ancient sites are rare, but when an opportunity arises like the full moon and a free evening, well what can a jobbing hedge druid do but heed the call. Actually, the call was pulling at my feet the day before, at the height of the Hunter’s Moon, but it transpired that both Kal and I were free on the third day of its phase. So be it.
The temperature was sub-zero, the ground dry but frost-laden, the sky was heavy with cloud and the moon was nowhere to be seen. Yet still, the lure was too strong and the moon pulled us out towards the Derbyshire/Shropshire border as we headed for the obvious place to go – Lud’s Church. Why obvious? Well, I’ve been feeling the presence of the energy form that I have come to know as Gwalchmai all year. Gwalchmai directly corresponds to the later Arthurian name of Gawain. The one site that I knew that was definitely associated with this energy is Lud’s Church. With Gwalchmai one of the god Lugh/Lud’s offspring, it seemed a natural destination for a moonlight walk.
At this point I will simply re-iterate one important point – this moon is called Hunter’s Moon in the old English designation. You’ll come to see why this is important later. For now, the tale continues with me blissfully unaware of this fact, and with my staff and trusty sidekick in tow, parking at the Scout Camp car park at the top of the hill of the valley through which the Black Brook flows. It had been cloudy all the way to the stopping point, but now the clouds ‘miraculously’ parted to reveal the full glory of the full and close moon, which shone with such power that it seemed like the area was floodlit with a pale beam that cast deep dark shadows.
We went through the beech tree portal at the bottom of the vale with only a few mishaps on the part of Kal and his inappropriate footwear. We began to count the number of falls just as a kind of memento The trees seemed pleased that we were there, but sleepy and distant in terms of communication. I let them be. We shouldn’t be going around waking things up just because we are able! We had already been given that message a few weeks before at Gawton’s Stone where we had disturbed a sleeping earth spirit. The advice was heeded this time and we hurried onwards up the slope as though following a pale blue torch’s path. Kal remarked that on any other night this would have been unbearably creepy. True! Yet the reaching dark fingers of the bare trees were enveloping arms shielding us from the edges of the path, I felt. Everything felt very positive and benign on this night.
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