underworld – The Hedge Druid

Puzzle Hill and the Black Anaconda

September 7, 2016 Chris No Comments

I have not been out recently. Circumstances. Laziness. Work. Combinations of all three. This has led me to run out of posts for the first time in a long time. Trawling back through some of the drafts which I haven’t worked on yet I found one about a visualization which occurred during a session of … Read More “Puzzle Hill and the Black Anaconda” »

Bull and Barbell Glyphs for the Merlin Staff

July 20, 2015July 7, 2015 Chris No Comments

Glyphs and Wards, Hills and Mounds, Merlin

I was on the hunt for the second pair of glyphs – symbols and shapes that were discoverable by dowsing at sacred sites, and which I needed in order to satisfy my requirement for creating The Merlin Staff soon. I had an idea that I needed to carve these four symbols into the staff as part of its creation. Carving would be the starting point for our journey, as I was soon to discover. We were going to Dinas Emrys now.

We had taken the “alternative” route to get to Beddgelert. The faster route was probably to go via the A5 and come past Snowdon, but today we had gone via Blaenua Ffestiniog on the A470. Scenic, but slow. However, as this year is all about learning patience, I acquiesced to the situation. So it was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived. No problem, we knew a quick way up Dinas Emrys, and so we set off – late but confident.

Until we met the landowner as we wandered through his caravan park. He queried our presence, and then re-directed our “hapless wandering” back down to the road with directions to visit the nearby National Trust site of Craflwyn in order to find the correct path. We drove the half mile back and parked up. There was a visitor centre with an exhibition all about Dinas Emrys, so we took the opportunity to see what it had to say.

Inside were information boards, videos and beautiful carvings depicting characters from the stories.

When we had had our fill, we re-emerged, examining a map that was neither detailed nor to scale, nor indicative of the contours of the land. So we picked a likely path that ended up at Dinas Emrys and set off, grateful for the shade in the sweltering heat.

We climbed. At first through the shaded beautiful woodland, then soon the path got steeper and broke out into the glare of the sun. Now we were getting hot. How much further until we could see Dinas Emrys, we wondered? The we saw it – but it was still miles away! And the path wasn’t going anywhere near it soon!

We had a decision – abandon now, or press on? We looked around for signs. I sat on the wooden “throne” overlooking the intended hill below, wondering what to do. A gentle wind cooled my fevered brow. We would press on.

The Yew of the Four Glyphs

June 28, 2015June 16, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancestors, Churches and Temples, Glyphs and Wards, Higher-Self, Staff, Time and Space, Trees, World Tree

On a delightfully warm and sunny Summer’s evening the intrepid duo ventured forth into the heartlands of Northern Wales in search of inspiration. Our destination was the ancient and venerable Yew tree of Llangernyw.

The environs of Llangernyw were beginning to flourish with a beautiful display of wild flowers.

Llangernyw Yew - June 15 (1) — Llangernyw wild flower hedgerow

We entered the graveyard, drinking in the sounds, smells and sights of Summer as though to store them in memory for the ‘leaner times’. As we began to follow the dowsing rods I noticed that Kal was following my footsteps exactly! He was chuckling to himself as he realised that his path to the perfect spot was exactly the same as mine. How amusing! At that moment a chorus of birdsong arose from the surrounding trees – a welcoming chorus of delighted cheeps and warbles which almost drowned out any thoughts!

When Formalities Are Dropped

We both came to a halt at the same time and in the same spot. It was just inside a clump of young yew trees with fresh growth at their tips. The spot on which we were stood was lain with a carpet of damp grass cuttings, and this made me think of a time when I had stood on other grass clippings and had an encounter with the spirit of the Green Man [see this post].

There was no need for either of us to ‘cleanse’ today. For some reason we were already cleansed of outer worldly energies, and ready for work. The spot with the grass clippings was a place for us to simply tune our energies to place. It was simply about getting into the right energy state.

As we walked up the sloping path towards the grand old yew tree, following the dowsing rods to find the bets place, I felt like tree knew I was coming. Indeed, although I stopped at the perimeter of its canopy before entering, there wasn’t the usual ‘resistance’ or barrier in place. I realised that I didn’t need to ask permission to enter now. Perhaps we had become such good friends over the years? The balance of ‘power’ had shifted somehow, and was much more equal now, I felt.

Llangernyw Yew - June 15 (10) — One day I’ll get a good picture of this tree without ‘misting’!

I had two purposes for being here this evening:

to see if I could help my wife get through a forthcoming exam, and
to see if there was any work I could do to discover the Essence of the Merlin Staff

Death is coming

March 3, 2015 Chris 1 Comment

Hedge Druidry

A druid is asked to work with both light and darkness. The concepts of druidry seem to me to be centred around the concept of balance. All too often the concepts of life and death are separated out into their extremities. I like to think of existence as a sphere across whose surface we move from the reflected light of life through to the shadowed dark side of death. Often clouds of darkness move over our existence, or spots of intense aliveness light it up. This particular experience made me think about a darker aspect: death.

I was thinking about how much of this blog deals with a balance of light and dark. I have skills that I used with the darker aspects just as much as I work with the light. I do healing, but it could as easily be used to harm. I do death eating, yet I use it to ground spirits for their benefit. I clean and clear sites, but that is a destruction as much as a creation. I energise people and places for their benefit, but I could as easily taint. The differentiator is only intention. I have almost exclusively chosen to work with good intention.

My wife is becoming more psychically aware. She’s doing a course on energy healing, and in a moment of inspiration she needed to find a way to get some of her questions answered. Speaking with her I said “Well you know, really it’s all about you…”. She stopped the sentence before I could go on. “‘All about yew’….’ she echoed. “Which yew tree?” she asked, “The one you visit?“. She meant The Llangernyw Yew. I knew this was the right place to take her for inspiration, so we decided to go that afternoon.

Llangernyw Yew tree - Feb 15 (4) — The Llangernyw Yew in full splendour

The Yew, the Tree of Life and the Golden Bough

April 17, 2014April 4, 2014 Gwas No Comments

Bookshelf, Staff, Trees

Since Imbolc I have been reading up on yew trees. The aim is to assimilate as much knowledge as possible about this incredible species so that when Spring Equinox comes around I will be able to begin the process of understanding my yew staff’s potential powers. At the moment it is merely a piece of yew with a stag’s antlers on top. Soon I am hoping that we will forge a relationship that will be as fruitful as the one I had with my ash staff.

To start the process off I read Allen Meredith and Janis Fry‘s book “The God Tree“, as recommended by Philip Carr-Gomm‘s blog post.

This book revealed many amazing insights which I had never considered before such as:

yew trees may have been transported here from the staves carried by such well-known early Celtic Christian saints such as Cadoc, Patrick, Christopher and Bueno
the trees may be the source of the myth of the “golden bough”
the yew tree is the origin of the concept of the World Tree – or the Tree of Life

Ionian Equinox 1 – The Colour of Union

September 26, 2012September 26, 2012 Gwas 9 Comments

Energy work, Hedge Druidry, Wheel of the Year

The following series of posts recounts the tales of our adventures on the island of Iona in the Hebrides in the west of Scotland. We went there for the Autumn Equinox. Of course, my tales will be primarily from my perspective as Kal has his own stories to tell, and amazing they are too. Of course, we journeyed together so our stories intertwine to some extent. Where Kal acted as a foil or sidekick I will include his aspects, otherwise you’ll get predominantly mine.

Scotland sticks in my mind for many reasons – I used to live there as a small boy, I love the mountains (they are my Air/Sky image for elemental meditations) and I hate the weather (muggy and midge-ridden in summer, unbearable wind and rain in winter). However, despite my reservations I had two necessary goals that Iona seemed to be the perfect place to satisfy. These were:

To discover the quest or task that would keep my busy for the next eighth of the wheel of the year, and
To learn more about an unidentified energy form that I had found at Karnak Temple in Egypt, and which I had subsequently map-dowsed as also being present in Iona.

One ferry, two ferries, three ferries, more

The first ferry is from Oban to the island of Mull. Oban is a lovely little town that deserved more time, and as we pulled away on the ferry I saw a rounded hill behind a castle on the shoreline and I made a mental note that I needed to come back this way again. There was something about that hill….The tourism tagline at the moment is “It’s closer than you think“. It’s not. They lie. I thought it was about a five and a half hour drive and I wasn’t far wrong. And we live in the North of England. From anywhere else it’s even farther. The tagline should be “It’s further away than you’d like, and then a wee bit more – but it’s worth it (if it’s not raining, which it usually is)”. Truth in advertising? Not likely. Not catchy enough.

The sun shone and we were able to stand on deck watching the waves churn into spume below the boat’s keel and the seabirds wheel and whirl in our wake. The rising mountains of Mull were a formidable but fascinating prospect for the drive across the island to Fionnphort where we would catch our second ferry – this time to the tiny island of Iona. The drive across Mull was idyllic. Rarely have I seen such beauty. Firstly over the mountain passes, then the road by the lakeside became picture postcard perfect. All too soon we were at the tiny ferry terminal and ready to board the ferry to Iona. So I left my staff behind in the tea room on Mull.

Of course I had to go back for it on the ferry. I can now say I’ve been to Iona twice. Settled and with staff, we were ready to begin our island adventure. We started at the first feature to make an appearance – the Nunnery next to St.Ronan’s Church.

View of the Nunnery from St Ronans Church — The Nunnery and St Ronans Church on Iona

I would say that what happened next was a perfect introduction to the uniqueness of this island, and it set the tone for the whole set of adventures that followed.

Ireland and the Emerald Dragons Soul 2 of 3

August 5, 2012September 13, 2026 kal 1 Comment

How To, Natural Magick, Other Entities, Ritual

Okay, I was concerned. As my last post mentioned… You will meet a Dragon and it will give you its Soul With that kind of pronouncement from the guides, what was I supposed to do? The next day being the 5th May 2012 Gwas and I continued on our quests for meaning. Our next stop … Read More “Ireland and the Emerald Dragons Soul 2 of 3” »

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