Tag: union

Crosses for the Bride

Posted on By Chris No Comments on Crosses for the Bride
Crosses for the Bride
Belief Systems, Power Objects, Ritual, Saints, Trees

In preparation for Imbolc I wanted to construct something similar to what I had seen at other sacred sites related to the goddess Brigid – a wooden cross. I decided to make two crosses – one for me and one for my friend Julia, who would be accompanying me for my Imbolc outing. My concept was … Read More “Crosses for the Bride” »

Summer 2015 – P4 – Tara Celebrations

Posted on By Chris No Comments on Summer 2015 – P4 – Tara Celebrations
Summer 2015 – P4 – Tara Celebrations
Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Circles and Stones, Dolmens and Chambers, Faery, Higher-Self, Hills and Mounds, Modern Druidry, Quests, Tarot, Wheel of the Year

Hill of Tara – County Louth, Ireland

It was still the first day of our visit, but we had checked into the B&B in order to get freshened up and prepared for an evening at The Hill of Tara. We were staying in Blackrock – quite a way out from the main attractions, but very reachable in our hire car. The travel gave us thinking and preparation time. Talking of preparation – before I left that evening I decided to do a tarot reading for the events that might happen.

In a bid to get one up on The Future I did some divination. Let’s call it preparation. I drew three tarot cards that would be my guidance for the events that were to come at Tara – one card for the Past, one for the Present and one for the Future:

Tarot for Saturday June 15
Past,present,future: Summer solstice tarot reading for Tara visit

A Quick Reading

At the time I didn’t know what to make of those cards. On the surface they seemed to suggest to me that Tara – the place where my ancestors may have met – was brought out in the Past card.  The Present card seemed to represent an aggressive attempt to capture something naturally difficult to deal with, and this was leading to frustration. I took this to be my strong desire to make spiritual progress and I wondered whether I was going to end up frustrated if nothing happened? Finally, the King Of Vessels seemed to indicate a Future where the emotional responses were under control. The tarot’s related question is “Where is tolerance needed?” That seemed to chime with the other cards. This is the year of patience.

Now it was time to bring the past, present and future together at the Hill of Tara.

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The Yule Union

Posted on By Gwas No Comments on The Yule Union
Ancient Sites, Visions, Wheel of the Year

I’m always at a loss as to what to do for Yule. Not being a sun-aligned person I just don’t get with the whole “welcome in the sun” thing. However, this year I was given the notion that I needed to be more welcoming of the sun, so for the first time I found a suitable place to welcome the sun back at Yule – Castlerigg stone circle.

When I had been trying to find a suitable location I had first considered some of the sites listed on the Aenigmatis.com we site:-

  • Newgrange
  • Crick Barrow
  • Harold’s Stones
  • Long Meg and Her Daughters

For various reasons these were not suitable on this Yule day, either due to the distance I would need to travel. The only one that seemed a likely candidate was Long Meg in Cumbria. I made note of the useful information about the Winter Solstice at the excellent TimeandDate.com web site. Here are the sunrise times for the Winter Solstice as taken from the west of England:

Date Sunrise Sunset

Dec 20, 2012

8:24 AM

3:55 PM

Dec 21, 2012

8:24 AM

3:56 PM

Dec 22, 2012

8:25 AM

3:56 PM

Dec 23, 2012

8:25 AM

3:57 PM

Just before I left, though, I found out that Long Meg’s Solstice alignment is with the setting sun! Oh no! A quick change of place, then. Same area, but now I would go to Castlerigg – a circle that held particular resonance for me this year, being the site at which I had freed and merged with a Merlin energy. With a time and place set I now began to consider what this particular Yule sunrise signifies for me this year.

Sunrise at Castlerigg – but not on the 2012 winter solstice!

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Ionian Equinox 1 – The Colour of Union

Posted on By Gwas 9 Comments on Ionian Equinox 1 – The Colour of Union
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:

  1. To discover the quest or task that would keep my busy for the next eighth of the wheel of the year, and
  2. 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.

Where the heck is Iona?

 

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.

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.

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