yorkshire – The Hedge Druid

The Maiden Enforces Rest – Solstice 5

January 19, 2015January 8, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Elemental, Hedge Druidry, Modern Druidry, Quests, Spirit Guides, Spirit of Place, Wheel of the Year

We weren’t sure how to approach Maiden’s Bower – a turf maze in Yorkshire. Coming from Ripon, down the A1(M) once more, ending up in the village of Topcliffe. In the village we took Winn Lane, which goes back over the A1 road. On the other side there was just enough space to park the car, and then we followed the straight track until a stile took us across the farmland.

The first feature you encounter is Cock Lodge – a raised earthwork of substantial proportions. At first we thought this might be the thing we were looking for, but luckily I had seen a picture on Megalithic Portal of the place we were searching for – this wasn’t it.

I asked the dowsing rods to lead me to the correct place, and they took me alongside Cock Lodge earthwork and over a fence on the other side. Suddenly Maiden’s Bower turf maze was visible between some small hawthorn trees. Even in the fading evening light it was impressive and unusual.

Kal wasn’t far behind but I got started straight away – time was pressing. I felt like I needed to walk up the mound barefoot. In the depths of Winter? Was that sensible? No – but at least there wasn’t any snow on the ground! However, within a few steps my feet were almost numb with the cold dew. I ventured on, following the dowsing rods after asking for the correct path for me to climb the mound in order to meet with the Spirit of Place.

Oak Healing and Ley Lines – Solstice 4

January 17, 2015January 10, 2015 Chris 2 Comments

Dowsing, Energy grid, Healing, Hedge Druidry, Trees, Wheel of the Year

In the fourth part of my Winter Solstice outing I provide an example of what can happen if you let yourself be intuitively guided when you are out and about. Fixed agendas are all very well, but when following an energetic spiritual path then fixing events can be counter-productive (to say the least).

We were hungry. We had been up since early morning, travelling to Yorkshire, and then moving around the Ripon area for several hours seeking adventure. I wondered whether the National Trust property of Fountains Abbey might have not only a cool holy well to visit, but also a good cafeteria where we could get some warming food. Turns out they have both, but we only got to sample the food. When I thought about the size of the estate and the amount of daylight we had left – it wasn’t feasible to traipse around Fountains Abbey estate in search of its treasures. That will have to wait until the summer.

We were about to leave, heading back to the car park after a hearty lunch, when we saw a wooden sign pointing to something called “St Mary’s Church“. Hmmm… we had visited a Michael church that morning – maybe we should balance it out by visiting a Mary church? Game on! We walked through the puddles and mud to get to the site – a good ten minute walk.

St Marys Church, Fountains Abbey - Solstice 2014 (3) — St Marys Church, Fountains Abbey

The first thing that strikes you about the church is that is near to a sandstone obelisk which is aligned with its front entrance. For energy workers and seekers such as ourselves this was too much to be ignored – was it a ley line alignment that was being signified here? Was the energy of the ley being concentrated and directed through the church?

I took a bearing in order to check the alignment on a map later….

Arrows point to Arthur – Solstice 3

January 7, 2015January 2, 2015 Chris No Comments

Ancient Sites, Arthurian, Celestial, Dowsing, Meditation, Quests, Spirit of Place, Wheel of the Year

If I had researched the geographical locations of the sites we were intending to visit I would have placed this one last.As it happens it was positioned in the middle of the day, but as you may have come to expect – it turns out we visited the site at exactly the right time. Here’s why.

The Devil Points North

There are three remaining tall standing stones close to the A1(M) road that passes by the town of Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. Collectively they are known as The Devil’s Arrows. There is the usual story about their placement – the devil threw down the ‘arrows’:

“The name stems from a legend traced back to 1721, where the Devil was supposed to have thrown the stones, aiming at the next town of Aldborough. He stood on Howe Hill and shouted,

Borobrigg keep out o’ way,

For Aldborough town

I will ding down!

But obviously his aim was not that good, and so they landed short of their mark.”

(source: Brigantes Nation)

Devils Arrows - Solstice 2014 (1) — The southern most Devil’s Arrow stone

Ooh – that angry old Devil! When will he learn that his aim is never that good when he’s hewing these menhirs around? Silly billy. Anyway – there they stand, up to 30 feet tall and in a not-so-straight alignment, said by Paul Devereux to link the southern-most moon setting with an ancient fording point across the nearby River Ure. There is an assumption that they formed a part of a larger complex that includes the three Thornborough Henges.

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!

Yorkshire Imbolc 2011 – Part 1: Shipley, St Helen’s Well and Malham Cove

February 3, 2011September 10, 2026 Gwas 6 Comments

Ancient Sites, Dowsing, Wheel of the Year

Imbolc – 29th January, 2011 – Yorkshire It had been a long time coming. Kal and I had intended to go to Lindisfarne in Northumberland for Imbolc, and in fact I had stated as much in the previous podcast for January, but when I worked out how much of the short day I would be … Read More “Yorkshire Imbolc 2011 – Part 1: Shipley, St Helen’s Well and Malham Cove” »

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