quest – The Hedge Druid

Samhain 2015 P2 – Saint Germain and The Boy George

December 2, 2015December 4, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Dolmens and Chambers, Saint George, Saints, Spirit Guides

I suspect that you’re a bit intrigued by the title? Well, it was an intriguing day down in the South West. I was at Belas Knap long barrow with a friend and I was enjoying the sunshine. I had absorbed as much of the sun as possible, and done a ritual to retain it. Now I was ready to see what it was I would discover as my quest for the next part of The Wheel of the Year – from Samhain to Winter Solstice.

Samhain 2015 - Belas Knap (18) — Belas Knap – the barrow of Bel

I extricated myself from the tail of the ‘serpent’ barrow and asked my dowsing rods to lead me to a place where I could discover my quest for the next part of the year. The rods began to sway and I began to follow. Now such a repeated and familiar pattern that I was easily able to traverse the barrow’s undulations to arrive at the entrance to the chamber which was on the sunny side of the structure. Not the chamber I had used for work before, but everything had changed since Kal so I wasn’t surprised.

Imbolc 2015 P4 – Germination at Trefignath

February 18, 2015January 26, 2016 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Arthurian, Landscape Zodiac, Wheel of the Year

We have been to the interesting island of Anglesey many times. We have scoured the island for sacred sites on many occasions. We have spent literally days of time researching places to visit. Somehow, two startling omissions had occurred. Firstly, Kal had never seen the reconstructed chamber of Barlodiad Y Gawres. Secondly, we had never found the Trefignath monuments. We set both of this things right for Imbolc 2015.

We’re not going to cover the reconstructed barrow of Barlodiad here. Let’s just say we visited it. It was cold and windy (as it always is) and there was nothing energetically significant about it. Let’s move on to the fun stuff!

We were at the end of our Imbolc day. The trail of Arthur-related sites had reached the furthest tail of The Great Bear and was pointing us to Trearddur Bay near to Holyhead. That’s where we headed now, knowing that we had never found these sites before, but today we were in luck.

Ty Mawr – The Trefignath stone

Ty Mawr standing stone is set alone in a fenced field. In the background it has the delightful soundtrack of swooshing vehicles hurtling along the A55 trunk road carrying potential ferry passengers and lorries to Holyhead on their way across to Ireland.

As a backdrop it has Holyhead Mountain in one direction and a skyline of dark and square geometric buildings from the neighbouring industrial estates. It’s not a pretty setting, and yet the local council have tried their best to give the stone pride of place.

This seemingly innocuous and out-of-place stone turned out to be strangely synchronistic!

The Holly and The Ivy – Solstice 2

December 31, 2014December 30, 2014 Chris No Comments

Hedge Druidry

Part two of our Winter Solstice story. In this tale I discover something quite lovely about the nature of trees. We had just finished at Thornborough Henge which had been a fascinating and enlightening experience. We wondered whether we would be able to top the day, but better was yet to come.

On our way to Thornborough we had taken quite a detour having misinterpreted some of the symbols on a new map application that I was using. This had meant that, even though we intended to go back to visit the church in Kirklington village, we had arrived back there even though we knew it was not the right way to get to Thornborough. We stopped and looked at each other. Something was clearly telling us that we needed to go back to Kirklington after Thornborough. Now we had finished at the henge it was a simple job to find Kirklington again – we knew all the roads well now!

In the centre of the village, standing in the arc of a long crescent sweep of the main village road, the church stood disproportionately dominant for such a small village. We were aware that the church’s dedication was to Saint Michael, and for us this meant that we may be looking at some pinned earth energies, or an important node point on a crossing of energies.

St Michaels Church - Solstice 2014 (1) — St Michaels Church, Kirklington, Yorkshire

We had no set agenda but the dowsing rods helped us with that. We each set about our usual routine – to find a place to start, and then to find something that might be of interest to us. Simple questions, but usually yielding interesting results, and so it was.

Thornborough and Arthur – Solstice 1

December 29, 2014December 28, 2014 Chris 1 Comment

Hedge Druidry

This is the first in a short series of tales about my journey into the darkest depths of Yorkshire for the Winter Solstice this year. It was only one day’s outing, yet it managed to encompass a number of new sacred sites and to throw up a number of amazing synchronicities between the work that I did and what Kal was experiencing at the same time. I’ll tell my side of the story, and then you can compare these to Kal’s tales. I think you’ll be amazed too!

A Lesson In Patience

The journey was unspectacular except for one incident. I had arranged to meet Kal at 8:30am and despite the fact that he wouldn’t mind if I was one or two minutes late I was rushing to get there on time. Some people were driving very slowly that morning, possibly having nowhere in particular to get to for any specific time. This was rather frustrating me, and so I was getting increasingly flustered. Then, just as I was about to overtake someone ahead of me I looked up at a tall telegraph pole, and atop it was a hawk – just sitting still, and being patient. I saw the message straight away and my foot moved off the accelerator. I would get there when I got there. Phew – and relax….

Then I realised that only two minutes earlier I had been wondering whether I would see a hawk today as a sign, because I so often see them whenever I am journeying on a sacred calendar day. Well, there he was!

Thornborough By The Thorny Route

Finding Thornborough Henge should have been easy. I mean – you can hardly miss a henge in such a flat landscape! Yet it took Kal and I several attempts before we were on the correct small country road, and we had gone off track and gone through a lovely village called Kirklington before we spotted the structure in a field just beyond the village of Thornborough itself, heading towards West Tanfield. There was enough space to park outside a utility building, and soon we were walking through the impressive Thornborough Cursus – a long wide embanked structure which ended in a dog-leg right turn. What on earth was this structure for, we wondered? Soon we would find at least one purpose! I’ll come back to Kirklington later because the church in the village seemed to call to us.

For a short while we were the only ones inside the henge. The diameter of the embankment is quite impressive. It has an Avebury scale feel about it – far larger than Arbor Low, which is what we are more used to. Despite the cold dull day I felt warm and excited – something special was about to happen!

Direction from the River Dee

November 27, 2014November 25, 2014 Chris 4 Comments

Dowsing, Quests, Spirit of Place, Wheel of the Year

Needs must when you realise that you’ve forgotten something important and you’re not in the ‘right place’. Through a series of unfortunate events I had come to realise that I was not on “the path” – I wasn’t following my correct course of action in accordance with my spiritual direction. I knew this because I had succumbed to a cold that my wife had been sporting for a few weeks. As she got better I caught the offending cold. Now usually I simply breeze past such things with nary a glance, but this one had my full attention. It was all so unnecessary and I didn’t even feel like I had a proper illness – it was merely a ‘reminder’ that I was off course.

Several other happenings substantiated this condition of malaise, of dis-jointedness. They all culminated in my being offered an interview for a job. I have recently gone independent, as you know (see Reconstellation.com). I wasn’t really wanting to be put straight back where I had just escaped from, but this job was a shoe-in – a complete match for what I had been doing, and with the added attraction of working for a small company in the local area. Dammit – when temptation comes it comes in the form you most admire! I needed help to make a decision – back to where I was or continue on my new course?

In addition I had forgotten to ask for what my quest was for the time between Samhain and Winter Solstice! How could that have happened? Well, because I was seriously “off course”, that’s why! I needed to get back on, and quickly! Hence, with the restrictions I had on time and distance I opted for the nearest large water course – the River Dee. For some reason I felt I needed water. Water would help me decide.

The Cold Harsh Reality

River Dee - Nov 14 (1) (Medium) — The River Dee on a cold day

With some to-ing and fro-ing in Kal’s car we made it to the bank of the River Dee. At this point the river has been cultivated to run straight. The area is called Deeside, and soon the river runs out into the estuary to mingle with The Irish Sea. It felt industrial and unwelcoming, yet there was a certain power emitted from the expanse of water which made me sure it could help me. I considered my questions and prepared for my encounter with the spirit of the River Dee.

A Choice of Quests at Uragh – Summer 14 P8

August 13, 2014 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Quests, Wheel of the Year

Uragh stone circle, Kerry, Ireland

The solstice day is picking up in terms of weather. The sun comes out as we pick out way slowly down the narrow track which we hope ends at the picturesque stone circle of Uragh. We park when we can drive no further, and walk to a small rise between two lakes, and suddenly the view becomes amazing in all directions.

Uragh stone circle - June 14 (5) — View of one lake from Uragh circle

As Kal went straight into the circle I walked to the top of the rise to give myself an overview of the area. There was a large recumbent stone on top of the small hill, and this became my base from which to observe. I could see other people milling about in the area admiring the views and visiting the circle. I would wait until the place felt calmer before I descended.

When the coast was clear I came down to visit the circle. I waltzed around it seeing if I could sense the right place to approach it. There was a ritual creation on the grass a few feet away from an opening in the rib-like structure of the smaller set of standing stones. This was the entrance point that I felt was right for me. Clearly, it was right for someone else too, and they had got there before me. I approached the oval of stones, a shape typical of this region, and introduced myself to the site, hoping to catch the attention of the Spirit of Place.

I noticed that my black wings (see previous posts) once again gave me an unhindered access and an immediate welcome to the site. That is so refreshing! It was like having a calling card, or a free pass. I felt the Spirit of Place react to this and to my druid name. It would also seem that my family name has some resonance in these parts too, although not the same power as when I am farther north in this island. As I settled to lie down (the obvious thing to do in the slight depression) I felt comfortable, and the sun shone through breaks in the clouds to light the scene.

The Spirit of Place introduced himself as Igneorl. It sounded like it was based on the word “igneous” – a classification of rock. Now it was time to get to work.

Quest – The Muse of Taliesin

April 25, 2014April 15, 2014 Gwas No Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, God or Goddess, Quests, Spirit of Place

It was one of the first truly glorious sunny days of this Spring. Of course, such an opportunity cannot be passed up, and so Kal and I made arrangements to go to Dinas Bran. The views alone would be worth the journey, but I had a more pressing reason. I had been out for the … Read More “Quest – The Muse of Taliesin” »

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