shropshire – The Hedge Druid

The Green Lady and the Copper Dragon

September 9, 2015September 4, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Circles and Stones, God or Goddess, Modern Druidry, Sylphs

Having flown and tumbled with the Mountain Wind down Corndon Hill I was in a state of exhilaration. How, then, to come down from that? Why, with a simple spot of meditation inside a fantastic stone circle, of course. Kal also had some work to do at the circle (he hadn’t really wanted to needed to go up the hill), and so we walked the half mile span back along the gravel track and across to the circle with the stunning views.

The Goddess UnFolds at Mitchell’s Fold

As has become usual my approach to the circle was measured and peripheral. Kal walked directly into the circle from the King Stone, but I had to wait until I was returned back to a sympathetic vibration before I could move on. Once I felt I was ready I was taken by a path which initially takes you further away from the circle and heads downhill. It was as the end of that path that I had to stand at a power centre and face the sky. There I saw a female face – it was Cailleach again! As is often the case I was busy watching the face before I realised I should capture it on camera, and by that time the sharpness of the features had shifted. Nevertheless, the face is still somewhat discernible in the photo.

Cailleach in the clouds - Copy — Cailleach looking like Marge SImpson in cloud form

After my Cailleach encounter I was taken from the power centre towards the circle at last. I moved along the wide winding path into the circle by the north side and to another power centre which I have worked at before (once dowsed as being the best place for me to be – the most magickal). It was here that I managed to settle into a deep meditation and attempted to connect to Cailleach again to see how we could work together today.

Song of the Mountain Wind

September 7, 2015September 4, 2015 Chris 3 Comments

Energy grid, Hills and Mounds, Quests, Visions

When I had a day to spare I already knew where I wanted to go to find the Song of the Mountain Wind. Corndon Hill in Shropshire pulled me towards it. Since discovering Mitchell’s Fold stone circle nearby, and then having a remote viewing of a cluster of cairns on the top of the hill, I had wanted to visit it. This day, I felt the added pull of the wind that I knew would be running around on top of that peak, and it became irresistible.

That’s not to say it made itself easily accessible. When we arrived we had to work our way around the entire hill looking for an accessible way up before ending back where we started at the car park at the road intersection which has the track to the stone circle coming off it too. The track opposite that would lead to the base of the hill, and would be the starting point for a very steep sharp climb up.

The attraction of the destination was the pull of the mountain wind, yet at the bottom of such a daunting hill both Kal and I looked at each other with a “Do we really have to do this” kind of look. Yes we did. So we set off. It took us about half and hour with frequent stops to give our calf muscles a rest. My word it was steep!

As we got to the top the temperature changed. The wind was racing around the top of the hill and we fastened up our clothing against its worst effects. The views were stunning – you could see for tens of miles around in each direction.

Meditating in a Gale

The wind was ripping at anything it could find. I hunkered down into a slight dip which the dowsing rods said would be the best place to meditate and found that it took the edge off the worst of the cold and noise. Nevertheless, anyone not used to meditating outdoors would probably consider it an impossible place for such work. Luckily, it was a familiar scenario for me and I began to get into a connective state of mind. Soon I was one with the space around me and the forces of Nature within it.

I put up a crystal globe of protection which spanned the whole hill as I worked. Visualising a barbell shape I created a connection to power sources which encompassed sun, moon and earth. At that point I felt like something was about to happen, and sure enough it did.

Read More “Song of the Mountain Wind” »

The Whetstones and The Hoarstones

December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 Chris 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Healing, Hedge Druidry, Staff

In this second part of our Winter expedition to Shropshire we re-visit two circles that we have only been to once before – the so-called Whetstones and Hoarstones circles. Having had such a wonderful experience at Mitchell’s Fold there was little or no expectations attached to our visits to these much smaller circles. As this tale of healing shows, you can’t always judge the power of a circle by its size!

The first of the circles was The Whetstones, a semi-destroyed circle in the lee of Corndon Hill, less than a mile away from Mitchell’s Fold.

Sharpness at The Whetstones

We parked on the small road which passes the base of Corndon Hill, and looked for an entry point into the field. We could see that there was a cluster of stones in the second field away, but we couldn’t remember how we had got there previously. Over a rotting wooden stile, slippery with moss, and then into an empty field. We walked along the barbed wire fence until we found bunches and branches of prickly holly, ripe with berries, but slashed from the bushes, and now lying forlorn in the field. We both carefully gathered a small sample – only taking the fallen bounty.

We found a slack part of the barbed wire where others had obviously gained entry to the stones as well, and we hopped over into another field empty except for some distant sheep and a cluster of recumbent stones only feet away on a low rise. The circle was energetically defunct – that much we could tell from its feel and when we dowsed this only confirmed what we already ‘knew’. We’re getting good at identifying subtle energy forces now, and the rods only act as confirmation most of the time.

We checked whether it was suitable and proper to try to re-energise the circle. There was no spirit of place to connect to – one did not exist for this site, and so we only had our intuition and the dowsing response to work with. This informed us that it was okay to try, and we both got the same reply. Independently, and in our own ways, we both laid down offerings at different parts of the circle. I had with me the recently acquired holly, a stone that I had picked up when walking to the circle, and some old bones that I had obtained from Five Wells Barrow in Derbyshire. Now was the time to use these objects to set a new intention – to re-energise this site.

Whetstones - Dec 14 (5) (Medium) — Bones used to energise a sacred site

After setting our intention we did a bit of dowsing to see whether our work had attracted a new spirit of place or not. We both learned that the new spirit would be an animal spirit, and that it will come to the circle some time in the near future, although we couldn’t tell when. Kal dowsed that it would be a rabbit!

With that done, we felt ready to move on to our next objective – another small stone circle in the marshlands about a mile or two further on close to the village of Hemford.

The Crowning Stone of Corndon

September 12, 2013September 11, 2013 Gwas 1 Comment

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Remote Viewing, Visions

August 22nd 2013 – Mitchell’s Fold stone circle, Shropshire.

I had three questions to seek answers to at Mitchell’s Fold this evening in late August. One had been answered already, and now I had a second. The ever-informative Mr Ian Pegler (of the British Society of Dowsers and Vale Crucis Abbey research fame) had mentioned that Mitchell’s Fold was also called “The Hag’s Milking Fold” and that Corndon Hill had been associated with witches in legend and lore. Dan’s Jotter has a typical tale about good faeries and bad witches, which is a re-telling of the milking tale which is associated with many sites where The Hag (Cailleach) is to be found. Another cautionary tale about abusing gifts from Faery.

As we approached the hill that evening Kal remarked upon how pyramidal the shape of Corndon Hill was. It’s true. Approached from certain angles the hill looks almost like it has been drawn with a set square. To me it reminded me of the traditional witch’s hat. Together with Ian’s comments I felt like the Blue Moon was the perfect time to ask about the nature of the relationship of witches, the structures on top of the hill, and anything else relevant. I would leave the exact question to the spirits of the circle at Mitchell’s Fold to determine what they felt I might really want to know about. Sometimes a question can be too precise, you know? Dowsers tend to ask precise questions, but sometimes a general question gives more scope to be taught what we need to know, not what we think we need to know.

For this second question I was directed to go and sit in a power centre just a few feet away from where Kal had been spending almost the entire time at the circle. I was facing the hill but realised that I was also yet again forming this cross shape between the setting sun, the rising moon and the constellation of Orion behind me. I stretched my arms out to gather in the celestial energies to ensure I had enough personal energy to charge the experience of crossing the hedge into relationship with something from The Otherworld.

On my previous visit to Mitchell’s Fold in June I had been struck by the idea that “Corndon” might be a contraction of “Crowned On” or “Coroned On”. I had taken the idea no further at this point, but something was about to change that. I must add that the information I am about to reveal is speculative. It is the result of a vision and I haven’t yet been able to verify the content by visiting Corndon Hill.

Mitchells Fold and the balance between East and West

August 14, 2013December 2, 2013 Gwas 4 Comments

Ancient Sites, Arthurian

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?

Moonlight meeting with Gawain

December 18, 2012December 18, 2012 Gwas 2 Comments

Ancient Sites, Hedge Druidry, Visions

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.

Fitzalan’s Lessons – Water Magick

November 2, 2011 Gwas 6 Comments

Ancient Sites, Hedge Druidry, Modern Druidry, Natural Magick

For several weeks I had been passing by Old Oswestry Hillfort in Shropshire on my travels to Wales and to some of the closer megalithic sites in North Shropshire. Every time I passed it my eye was caught by its level top and the sheer size of it. I loved the sight of its steep front, and wanted to see whether it had any energetic remainders or interesting energy forms in it. One evening I couldn’t contain myself any longer, and I got on my motorbike and rode down to Oswestry on the pretext of giving the bike a bit of a run to charge up the battery. Any excuse!

At the back of my mind I had another agenda too. I had wanted to find out whether I could really make use of The Fitzalan Shade that I had picked up from Clun Castle the week before (see previous post: Clun Castle and the Shade of the Warlock) – the spirit of a warlock with whom I had negotiated a bargain for knowledge sharing. Now was the time to test this out. Would the arrangement be up to anything at all, or was I wasting my time?

Guinivere’s Touch

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this story, let me take you on an interesting diversion. As often happens in my unusual life when walking The Shining Path (I give this questing life many names) I go to places that have intuitively called to me. Afterwards when I do my research on the sites I find that they have some link to my spiritual progression that I had not expected. Such was the case with Old Oswestry. To me, it was that hill fort that I kept seeing and which called to me this year (even though I have been passing it for many years now). This year has seen a change in my Arthurian archetype. Last year I was completely bound up in quests for Merlin, culminating with his spirit merging with my own at Dinas Emrys.

This year I have been inextricably woven into the fabric of Arthur’s life – first at Tintagel, then at places such as Arthur’s Cave at Symond’s Yat, then Arthur’s Grave in Pembrokeshire. The sites have been never-ending, each linked to King Arthur and me seemingly destined to visit when my tasks and destinations have been dowsed and plotted on maps. Such has been the course of this year. How intriguing then that when I researched Oswestry Hill Fort I find that it too is strongly linked with the Arthurian myth. More weft for the rich tapestry.

Oswestry: The Welsh name means City of Gogyrfan. According to legend, Gogyrfan was father to Queen Guinevere and therefore father in law to King Arthur. This fort was said to be Guinevere’s birthplace. (source: Oswestry Town Talk)

Old Oswestry Hillfort sq — Ariel view of Oswestry Hillfort

Now I will tell you all about my first usage of the Fitzalan Stone and whether it truly does have magickal properties.

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