We begin this year’s Beltane celebrations with a set of tales that are like ripples in life’s pond. They form concentric circles within each other, being made of the same substance, and affecting each other. So, I start my set of stories with the largest of the ripples – a ripple going back through time to loop around to the very beginning of our questing.
This first story is the longest, and the rest get progressively shorter. Strap yourselves in!
Beltane Bashing Background
Long ago, when we were young and the world seemed idealistic, we had a notion that we could create a stone circle. Surely, all that would be required is for us to gather some stones together, maybe put them on a hill, enchant them, and then we would be Circle Makers? That, dear readers, is what we did many years ago.
The action was full of difficulty – which should have been our clue, but we were less aware in those days. We hauled some rocks around up a steep hill in Wales on a hot day which then turned cold on us. The rocks cracked as we attempted to “tap” them into place in our makeshift circle. The energetic imprint we created has ever more been a source of slight guilt for us, as we came to learn more about what we were doing. We always said that one day we would return and right our wrong. This was that day.
The way this story works out is astonishing. My intention was to start the afternoon at St.Winifrede’s Well in Holywell. It was the head of an old pilgrim route from the North coast down into the heart of eastern Wales. My idea was to start with a cleansing, and then move on to somewhere that we could energise, and finally end up at Moel Y Gaer above Bodfari where we could harmonize our work, right our wrong, and find out what was next on our quest. Three simple steps, if somewhat vaguely defined.
Three simple steps that were immediately shifted away from MY plans, and instead worked themselves out in a completely different and most magickal way.
Four Washed Stones
We got to Holywell easily. As we drove down the hill to the well’s entrance the site was clear – few visitors and lots of available parking. However, something was telling me that I needed to get to the coast. But…. but… I was here now, I argued. “Get to the coast!”, I was told.,
I drove on until we reached a junction. Left or right? Left. We were within a hundred metres of the sea – we could see it from the road, but could we get to it? No! The road ran parallel but there were no entry points to get to the shore! After a brief rant The Universe delivered us to Talacre Bay. On a Bank Holiday. With a million cars parked in every available space. It felt like we’d arrived in Paradise only to find we had to park in Purgatory first!
Then, at the end of a small road – a completely clear car park right next to the beach! It seemed impossible. Oh, and it was free. Riiiight… what kind of game was being played here? Were we on Candid Camera? We smiled just in case.
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Talacre Bay on a Beltane Bank Holiday 2015
Once over the high dunes we emerged on the beach. A few quick snaps then to work. I felt like I needed to collect some sea-washed stones, so I used my dowsing rods to identify which ones. I collected four beautifully smooth differently-coloured stones which I put in my bag. They seemed to represent the four elements, and so I named them as such.
First task done. Now what? Back to St.Winifrede’s Well, I assumed.
Winifrede’s Not Well
On our return, nary an hour after first passing that afternoon, there was not a parking space to be had near to the Well! Not one! Suddenly, hundreds of people had decided that their top destination on a Bank Holiday should be Winifrede’s Well!
We crawled up the hill and turned around. I was just about able to squeeze into the top-most slot of a lay-by near the top of the hill. We got out and walked down the hill but only managed to take ten steps before we got a “pull”. We stopped at a gated entrance to two grand crenelated buildings. We had both felt it. We were being invited in! So we went.
Inside the gateway we read the plaque on the nearest building – “St. Winifrede’s Chapel“. Ahhhh.. so we were to meet her up here, rather than down in the Well itself. But what about the washing of the stones, we wondered?
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Winifrede’s Chapel sits above her Well
We were led to a quiet spot around the back of the chapel. Some quick dowsing questions revealed that Winifrede’s spirit energy walked a path from the adjoining church building in the morning, then to a point overlooking the Well’s pool of water. From there, at around the time we had arrived, she was close to a small door going into the back of the Chapel. This was where the dowsing rods indicated that we should assemble our pile of rocks for an air+fire cleansing with incense.
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Elemental seas stones are blessed by Winifrede’s spirit
It seemed curious that Winifrede’s spirit should walk above the waters that so many living humans interacted with, believing it to be blessed by her spirit. Yet she seemed to be only occasionally called down to interact with the water itself, and instead walked a path far above the Well.
We imagined that the stones were being cleansed in some way by this process, but as Winifrede’s spirit stood over them I felt that instead they were being energised by her. With the stones now prepared, it was time to consider our next move – using them to create a proper energetic stone circle.
The Elemental Circle of Moel-Y-Gaer
Ironically we circled the hill looking for a place to park that would give us suitable access to the hill. We ended up going all the way around until we found a place that was exactly the same place as we had parked so many years ago on our first visit. Funny that? The hill was above the village of Bodfari, and housed an ancient hillfort on top called Moel-Y-Gaer.
We carried the stones we had gathered today up the hill – just like we had done long ago. We were taking an energetic path – a path that would allow us to retain as much energy as possible for the work ahead of us. As we reached the top I was stopped twice. There were two energetic boundary thresholds to cross.
To gain admittance I stopped an allowed myself to come into harmony with the frequency of that energy. Then I introduced myself as my Druid name, connecting with the Spirit of the Place in order to make my request.
We were remembered.
Image may be NSFW.
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On the summit Kal collapsed exhausted on one peak. I moved to the adjacent peak which I recognised as being the one we had originally worked on. I connected with the Spirit of the Hill, and soon I had a picture in my head of the steps that needed to be done.
As I have been teaching through my reconstellation process, first is the cleansing stage. I used the Death Energy technique that I had learned from the Llangernyw Yew tree in order to draw up the energetic memory of the failed stone circle. Of course! It was just like hovering up the memory of a dead person from a graveyard – I could see the parallel for this now.
I made a new circle – one inner circle forming a cross of stones, and an outer circle of crystals. When I looked up I could see Kal making one too. I used crystals around and a line inside to form an energy pathway to create form and movement. The four elemental stones were placed inside the crystals and energised by me standing at a small “King Stone” to one side of the faery ring that formed the centre of my circle on this summit.
Image may be NSFW.
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I began to energise the circle, bringing the energies up from the earth, through the hill, then from the sky; from the Sun, the Full Moon and the stars that were aligned to this hill. Soon there was a tall vortex of energies centred on the summit, whirling around the new circle in a storm of invisible threads that only I could see.
I could see a formation coming together. The tops of all of the hills that surrounded Moel Y Gaer were beginning to link in to this circle! The other hills were adding their energies to the work somehow, and the result was a massive influx of connectivity, as though this hill were being welcomed back into the energy grid. As though it had been in quarantine since…. well, since we worked with it last, perhaps?
The work felt good. The Spirit of Place was very much happier about this process than it had been about our last efforts. I left the summit to go and see what Kal had been up to. He had a similar story to mine and had done a similar layout of the circle within a crystal layout too.
As a finale, I went back to my circle and began to connect our two circles together forming a huge ring of energy that appeared to me to be like an energy portal. Not only have we repaired our previous amateur attempts, but we have also created a new energetic form. Both the Spirit of Place and now use, we’re all happy we got around to doing this work at last.
Chris.