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Tag: vale crucis

Boyle Abbey – Tracking Down Duignan

Posted on June 6, 2012January 6, 2014 By Gwas No Comments on Boyle Abbey – Tracking Down Duignan
Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Quests

Boyle Abbey is a sacred place of worship that was gifted to the Cistercians. This order of monks built their abbey over the top of an existing pagan site (if I remember the guide’s introduction properly), and I would suspect that this was actually a druidic college that they built over. For me the abbey was an attraction because it was supposedly the resting ground of many of my forebears who had been buried in the abbey’s grounds. The list records burials from the 12th Century onwards, but suggests that there may have been many more before that which were not recorded for posterity. Having just finished one adventure at Lough Key I was in the mood for more. Where better, I felt, to go in search of the ‘wandering’ spirit of Saint Duignan than here?

With the mundane aspect of ancestor-spotting out of the way I was free to concentrate on finding and communing with the spirit that I believe might be present at this place, having been led here from that other Cistercian abbey Vale Crucis in Llangollen (see this post for that tale). In that story I had spoken to a spirit who identified himself as St.Duignan and then had indicated that he had moved to a corresponding abbey in my homeland in Ireland. From my research Boyle Abbey was the prime candidate. Seeing the list of my ancestor’s burials in the abbey’s gatehouse was a strong indicator that I was on the right track.

Boyle Abbey – being restored for your enjoyment

The Sun Wheel

One of the interesting aspects of the abbey was its age. The current abbey layout was built upon the foundations of an earlier abbey that was a pagan construction, although identifying exactly what this was is diffucult. Some archaeology has been done to identify the original design and there is a plan view on display in the upstairs ‘museum’.  In the architecture of the abbey are several examples of pagan stonework, such as a Sheela-Na-Gig and some rather raucous carvings of totemic astrological or heraldic birds and aminals atop the colunnades. Occasional reminders of this past lurk round many corners of the site, such as this sun wheel motif carved in stone:

A sun wheel carved into the original Boyle Abbey pagan stonework

Enough of the tourist stuff! We had the place almost to ourselves so I hid the dowsing rods away in a corner and set about ‘feeling’ for the presence of Duignan. Was he here? Was he contactable? Was I in the right place? Time to find out!

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Ancestor energies and conception energy

Posted on January 29, 2012 By Gwas 4 Comments on Ancestor energies and conception energy
Ancestors, Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Quests

In this post I will be explaining how I was shown that the next stage in my quest to regain the energy of my ancestors is in Ireland, and that a new form of energy at the other end of the spectrum from death energy was discovered, which I will call “conception energy”.

After visiting Dinas Bran we made a quick stop off at Vale Crucis Abbey, Llangollen’s imposing ruins that block the very light of the day. With its original furbishing it must have been resplendent. In the weak rays of a Winter morning the sun was trying to refurbish the walls with light and in parts it succeeded at re-introducing warmth. Out of the sunlight the shadows were seasonably chilly.

For me Vale Crucis Abbey was the location where I had been set upon a quest to recover ancestor energies when I encountered the shade of a holy man called St Duignan. St Duignan, I discovered through dowsing and research, had come over to Vale Crucis from Ireland. The Duignans were intimately linked to my ancestors and the region I had always known my family to have originated from. I could find no record of “Saint” Duignan in Ireland, so I presume that his canonisation may have resulted from his services whilst in Wales. I have more detective work to do concerning this.

Ancestor energy is a term I have used to describe the subtle energy imprints left at a particular place of power (a power centre, perhaps) by our ancestors – those family connections from whom we are descended and have a genetic link to.

Vale Crucis Abbey - January 2012

As Kal flitted around finding a meditation spot to work in I began to ask whether there was anything I could do here that would progress my spiritual path. Surely, in a place with such particular links for me, I would find some information source or task that I could learn from. The rods came out and I began to objectively quiz them. They gave a rapid response. NO. No? NO. Nothing to do here! Obviously, the next question is “Why?”, but as we know, “Why”-type questions are notoriously difficult to get answers to through dowsing, which requires something of a binary technique (questions with distinct YES or NO answers give the most trustworthy responses).

I began to narrow the scope down by investigating the circumstances of what I had been asking about. I had wanted to interact with the shade of St Duignan – the answer had been NO. I began to question along this line.

  1. Was the shade of St Duignan present here at this site? NO.
  2. Did the shade still exist in the form I had encountered it? YES. Then it must simply be elsewhere.
  3. Was the shade in this country? NO.
  4. Was it in Ireland? YES. Aha! But why….? Always the ‘why’!
  5. Had the shade returned to the place from which it originated? YES.
  6. Does that mean that it had returned to the place that it was born when physically human? YES.

I knew where this would be. I had done my research and have a trip planned there for late Spring this year. Now that I had located the shade, the remaining spirit energy of someone possibly linked to my own ancestors, I was curious to know why it was important that the shade returned to its place of origin. This seemed like the most important thing I could possibly need to know. An overwhelming feeling of importance flooded through me. I was riveted to the spot. This was something vital for me to know about my quest this year – something that would guide me way. The hunt began with the dowsing rods and I kept my intuitive senses alert for any other feelings or information that might filter into my tiny blank brain.

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Valle Crucis Abbey 2011 – the healing helper

Posted on February 22, 2011September 10, 2026 By Gwas 10 Comments on Valle Crucis Abbey 2011 – the healing helper
Valle Crucis Abbey 2011 – the healing helper
Modern Druidry

The intrepid duo of Kal and myself were out and about again in the middle of February. Call it my birthday excursion, if you will, for this Aquarian and Antiquarian had just arrived at another arbitrary date in his personal calendar. More importantly, Kal and I were out in the bright sunshine of the Welsh … Read More “Valle Crucis Abbey 2011 – the healing helper” »

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