poetry – The Hedge Druid

Shamanic Lands 1 – Discovering the Twelve Winds

June 18, 2016June 16, 2016 Chris No Comments

Other reports

At the beginning of June I was privileged to attend one of the most inspirational and heart-warming, not to mention educational and amusing weekends I have ever known. Shamanic Lands is a series of seminars which seemed custom-made for me. Not only was it centred upon the notion of recovering the shamanic teachings of our … Read More “Shamanic Lands 1 – Discovering the Twelve Winds” »

The Certainty of Things

March 26, 2015June 8, 2015 kal No Comments

It was exactly 1:08 in the afternoon. I was sat with a couple of friends at a cafe when the question of, “what next?” arose. This inevitably led to a glance at the time-piece replacement that we all carry now. Our mobile devices. Which of course have several other distracting features.

In order to respond to my friends question I had glanced at my phone and seen an overdue message. In essence it was saying that I had “Maybe’d” to an invitation to a talk in a nearby town and that the talk was starting soon.

Some very quick mental calculations along with an internal – emotional – search of the Desire to Attend cupboard produced a “let it go” result and I told my friends, “nothing much, just some food and home.”

We parted company and I headed towards a food outlet. Minutes later I was in my car, sans food and heading to my rooms. Even as I drove, there was a nagging thought at the back of my mind…

“Go to the event…”

I looked again at the time, 1:25. There was no way I could make the event. It started at 2pm and the traffic going into the town would be atrocious. I arrived home and filled the fridge with food whilst considering other, more available options for the afternoon.

“Go to the event…”

The event in question was a talk about the poetry of the famous heart centered poet Rumi. Paying particular attention to the aspects that related to Sufism. Both are topics that I am interested in, hence the “maybe” response I had given to the event invite.

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Muse of Taliesin 2 – Inspiration Re-Kindled

May 3, 2014April 17, 2014 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, God or Goddess, Natural Magick, Quests

In Michael Dames‘ book “Taliesin’s Travels” the famous bard moves from the dolmen of Maen-Y-Bardd to Llyn Geirionydd (“Lake Language”). Completely unbeknownst to me, I followed in exactly the same path! I had used the book merely as a quick reference to discover some of the sites, and they had been lucked out at random. Then I had used the dowsing rods to determine which sites I should visit, and in which order. Behold, the order mimicked the text when I went back to read the text properly. Quite a surprise, and another beautiful coincidence.

On the way up through the forest from Llanrwst to the lake we missed a very small turn off to the right and continued up the hill. The road became more of a single-lane rally track through Gwydyr Forest, and I rather enjoyed putting my car through its paces. Kal probably wished the car had an on-board bucket, or at least ‘bucket’ seating! After a few miles of fun/terror we arrived at a small car park at the end of Llyn Geirionydd – the supposed birthplace of the legendary bard Taliesin. We would take the ‘proper’ road back down later.

I quickly realised that the monument that was my intended destination was on the other side of the lake, so Kal dutifully opened the gates along the road – out, open, in, out, open, in again – until we were able to park at the far end in a lay-by at the bottom of a pine-laden hill. The monument was a minute’s walk along the edge of the lake to the small mound upon which it stood. Now the fun could begin.

Muse of Taliesin 1 – Birth of the Quest

May 1, 2014April 16, 2014 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Energy work, God or Goddess, Quests

We couldn’t help ourselves. We were having a stretch of great weather in England and it was only the middle of April. We had to go out. I was running out of time to begin my latest quest – The Muse of Taliesin. Therefore, a couple of quick texts, a designated date and time, and the “game was afoot” as they say. I waited for Kal and watched a hawk circling the house. A good omen.

We were heading into the depths of North Wales on the first part of my quest. I had a list of sacred sites associated with Taliesin the bard. Tonight we would visit the first of them. I drove with Kal in keen conversation mode to Rowen village near Conwy. I sort of remembered the way to my intended destination – the dolmen of Maen Y Bardd. I know it was up on the hillside at the back of Penmaenmawr, but I also know that I didn’t want to take the narrow steep road up. We drove through Rowen village and ended up on the narrowest, steepest road in North Wales. A road we said we’d never do again after last time. Something was making me work hard for this sacred site visit! I hoped it wouldn’t become a theme on this quest.

We parked and walked down the water-ridden track to a standing stone with male energy emissions. The flat blade of the stone marked the path to the dolmen. One could almost follow its shadow. It looked like a giant had thrust a blade up through the earth.

The wind picked and so did my excitement. Soon, back on the track, I was able to point out Arthur’s Spear in the field opposite the little dolmen. An old tale tells of a giant throwing the stone to account for its positioning. My experience with such stones told me that it was probably pointing at a particular star, but this was not an evening to be hanging around trying to determine such things. The wind grew more bitter as the sun lengthened the shadows, but the atmosphere was still vibrant and expectant. On to the dolmen!

Bardic Shape-shifting

April 13, 2014March 30, 2014 Gwas No Comments

Hedge Druidry, Quickie

I am now adept at putting my consciousness outside of myself. The great Bran taught me many of these skills, and others I have worked on through my own training, guided as always by those forces unseen which lend their collective hands to guide me along this druidic path. Consciousness relocation is a skill which … Read More “Bardic Shape-shifting” »

Death of an Amateur Turf Cutter

August 30, 2013August 30, 2013 Gwas No Comments

Bookshelf, News article

Seamus Heaney – poet, Irishman and amateur turf cutter – died today aged 74. He was one of the poets whom I truly enjoyed when I was studying poetry at university. As his spiral turns to completion we can only wonder at where such genius with words will re-appear amongst us. Here are some of his inspiring words … Read More “Death of an Amateur Turf Cutter” »

Lammas 2012 – The Quest to Free Merlin

September 1, 2012 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Wheel of the Year

In part two of my Lammas adventures for this year Kal and I were fooling around at the top of the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall in East Wales. I had just settled in after my healing experience at the re-union point of three streams, and now I was gazing down the valley from the top of the waterfall, listening to the sound of the plummeting water, when Kal skipped in front of me to knock me out of my reverie. He had a look in his eye that meant that something foolish was in his head, I was right.

Pistyll Rhaeadr

I saw Kal moving towards the very edge of the waterfall’s head were the rushing water began its first descent over the edge before soon dropping down into the deep gorge below. I was nervous and curious – what was he doing? When I asked him he told me that he was testing himself – he had been challenged to make the leap as a “leap of faith”. Well, I wouldn’t stop him, but I would certainly make sure I was around in case it all went wrong. I was now on high alert, but also a small smile had begun to form on my face – this could be quite amusing, I thought. I would watch this, and if necessary record the outcome. Someone else who was visiting the waterfall who had a big camera had similar ideas, and began to focus his lens on proceeding as Kal swayed back and forth on his launch spot, contemplating the leap of four feet across the churning waters. One slip…..!

My mind moved to the Fool card in the Tarot deck. Notice in the original Rider Waite card the Fool’s proximity to water and that he’s working at heights, and also that he’s drawn out the Sun to witness his folly!

Kal swayed for the fifteenth time. “Jump! I shouted encouragingly. “Jump if you’re going to!”. Could this be considered aiding and abetting a criminal act of stupidity? Kal took the urge and made a half-hearted leap to the other side. His right foot landed but his weight was uneven. He lurched towards the safer side of the falls, but then tried to regain his balance so as not to fall into the deep waters. Too late! He had lost his balance and his right foot dropped into the deep pool of the river. Shortly to be followed by his left foot. Then his arm. Then…well, he was practically swimming! I heard the quiet continuous click of a camera’s shutter as each calamitous step was recorded for posterity.

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