First Crop Circle in Beautiful Barley

Today Cameron and I went to find the new formation at East Kennet, the first of the year in barley crop.

From our cottage it was a short journey of just seven miles but one packed with fabulous sites on the way.
The Cherhill White Horse was the first to be seen, gleaming in the bright sunshine of this May afternoon. Only a mile further on and completely unmarked except for the layby parking sign was Knoll Down, the sacred grove of trees that marks the tail of the Avebury Landscape Serpent. Crossing Beckhampton roundabout, with the Beckhampton long barrow hidden off to the left, we ignored the road down to Avebury itself and took the Marlborough road. Very soon the colossal figure of Silbury Hill loomed large in front of us, majestic and awe-inspiring in any weather, and today looking resplendant in her new green cloak of fresh spring grass.

No sooner do you pass Silbury than the outline of West Kennett long barrow can be spotted on the hill crest to the south. This area is packed with sacred sites around every corner but today we're not stopping or we'll never get to the crop circle!
We had a pretty good idea of which field the circle was in from the aerial photos on Crop Circle Connector, so we turned off down a side lane and crossed a charming bridge over the River Kennet.

All of these places have stories to tell but that will be for other blog entries, today we contented ourselves with watching mum duck and her brood of chicks enjoying their watery home. A nearby Hawthorn tree in full bloom confirms that Spring is in full flow here. In some country regions this tree is still referred to by its other name - the May. I smile at the sight of this because every year when I was little my aunt would remind me of the country rhyme "Ne'er shed a clout 'til May's out!" meaning don't discard your winter clothing until the May blossom is out.

This straight lane called Gunsight Lane ends at a farmyard where we know we can park right by the field, and as we park we know we're right because there's a car here with dutch licence plates and we see two people in the middle of the field. I suspect its the dutch researcher Bert Janssen as he was the one to initially report this circle. This field has had other circles in recent years including the yin/yang formation and the famous Mary earth energy current associated with the St Michael leyline passes through here on her way from West Kennett Longbarrow to the Sanctuary. Round the back of a small brick barn we enter the field and follow the tramlines (tractor trackways) through the crop, you should never walk through standing crop itself. Oh what a treat to be back in a field of young barley again!

In our opinion its the most beautful of all the crops to be blessed with crop circles. The whispy tendrils that  flank the seed heads are so soft at this time of year and they create the visual effect of walking through waves when the wind is blowing. There's no wind today, just glorious sunshine and I notice that all the barley heads are angled over to the east, to the rising sun? I make a mental note to check other fields to see if this is always the case with barley.

Reaching the crop circle just 100 yards into the field we greet Bert and his American wife Heather and compare notes. Bert is keen to show us something he's never seen in a crop circle before, a white powdery substance on just the twenty standing stems that mark the centre of the formation. We've never seen this before either. Rubbing a little between my fingers this odourless substance felt gritty or crystalline and seemed to be held together by gossamer like threads, in appearance almost like cobwebs dusted with icing sugar. Bert took some samples to have analysed in a laboratory, so we look forward to hearing the results.

None of us felt that we should venture beyond the tramlines as the crop was laid so lightly. It was very unusual, not at all like the usual clearly defined areas of laid and standing crop. This was almost like half the crop was downed loosely and the other was still standing and the two merged into one another. Using the analogy of colour, most crop circles are black and white whereas this one is definitely gray. Without the aerial photos it would be hard to imagine that this would look anything other than a mess from the air. The lay appeared to form a spiral clockwise out from the central standing stems. This continued forming a large disc that has a ring surrounding it, the whole being about 30 metres in diameter.

Thanks to Steve Alexander of Temporary Temples for these aerial photos.

This is a lovely field in a gentle dip in the landscape with West Kennett Longbarrow on the rise to the west just one field away and half of Silbury Hill visible to the right of it. I looked to see if East Kennett Longbarrow was visible but it is over the crest of the hill to the east. I did wonder however if thic circle aligned with these momuments in any way. Back at the car I studied our detailed map of the area with a woman who had come to visit the circle and noticed that a line projected along the length of East Kennett Longbarrow going northwest would pass through the crop circle and continue on to tangent the right side of Silbury Hill. This is a rough calculation at the moment not having a GPS reading of the circle's exact location. We may have to climb Silbury to get a visual sighting.

We were very pleased to see that the farmer had put up a donation box and was allowing visitors into his field, thankyou Mr Hues! Leaving this circle we went to try and see the ghost circle of last year's formation below the white horse at Milk Hill but the oilseed rape is now so high that the tramlines are impassable without a lot of effort so we abandoned this adventure.
It was now 6.15pm and we were in need of refreshment. Knowing that Richard at the nearby King's Arms at All Cannings wins awards every year for the quality of his locally brewed beer we concluded our trip with a well-earned pint and convivial conversation.

Having  spent the afternoon on a dragon energy line I thought it very appropriate to sample their seasonal beer - St George and the Dragon!
Cheers!

Power of Stone and Water

Here is a lovely example of ancient knowledge being passed to us down the generations. Writing in AD 1200, Layamon recalled an even more ancient folk memory when he described a ritual use of Stonehenge in his poem "Brut" -
The stones are great
And magic power they have
Men that are sick
Fare to that stone
And they wash that stone
And with that water bathe away their sickness

Why would they think to do such a thing?
Reverence for flowing water as a sacred entity was once a worldwide attitude. Today it is only found in native cultures and ‘new age’ thinking. The problem arises when we look at water as merely a physical substance and only look at how it is physically needed by living organisms. There is much more to water if we see it as energy.

We find gems of truth in folktales if we take the time to interpret the symbolism. For example, it is said of several stone circles that the stones go down to the water to drink at midnight or on a full moon. This folktale speaks of the connection between the stone circle, Earth energy and underground water. It is now known that there is underground water present beneath every sacred site in the world. In fact, dowsing shows that most sites are animated by the serpentine currents of electromagnetic energy which course through the ground following the subterranean streams of water, and which vary according to the seasons, the phases of the moon and even day and night. All holy wells have stories of healings attached to them. When we realize that strong Earth energy currents have turned the waters into something akin to a homeopathic remedy, these folktales make perfect sense.

Our ancestors also understood the energetic properties of stone. The stone circle builders utilized primarily crystal-studded granite or sandstone blocks. Both stones have a quartz crystal content of over ninety percent. We are all aware that our wristwatches and computers operate because of the energetic properties of their silicon chips. Well silicon is the same thing as quartz. So the circle builders chose these energetic stones in order to have control over the build-up of earth energies in the stones and within the space they enclosed. Tom Graves compared them to acupuncture needles in his book ‘Needles of Stone.’
Here are two ways of looking at it.
Left-brained
The Earth is a huge generator with a crystalline iron mass core spinning at 1100 miles an hour ringed by a gravitational field. The resulting electromagnetism that is generated makes its way to the surface via geological fault lines, beds of crystalline rock or underground watercourses. The water rises under pressure towards the surface but is often blocked by a ‘dome’ of solid impervious rock that diverts the water laterally. However the energy, having no physical substance, carries on vertically to ground level where it is detectable as an energy hotspot or vortex. The frequency of this energy is approximately 8 hertz, the same as our brainwave emissions when we are in a deep meditative state. Place a crystalline stone in the ground at this point and –bingo, you have a healing stone.
OR…
Right-brained
The Earth is alive and is our mother, creating us, nurturing us and taking us ‘back home’ at the end of our lives. All life comes from Gaia, or the goddess, she is the great giver of life. The underground streams of life-giving water are her blood supply maintaining her well-being and nourishing all life on the planet. She sends vitality to all parts of her body through potent currents of energy that we can access for healing and spiritual purposes. Her breath is our breath and we share the same heartbeat and pulse. If we honour her we honour ourselves, if we abuse her we abuse ourselves.
So now re-reading Layamon’s poem it makes perfect sense. The only question is ‘Why don’t more of us still perform these ceremonies?’ Will sacred sites ever look the same again?!

Glenn presenting on Sacred Water Sites

Imbolc

The Celtic year was divided into eight segments of equal length. The winter solstice (shortest day of the year) and summer solstice (longest day) divided the year into two halves. The spring and autumnal equinoxes (days of equal length day and night) then divided it into four quarters. These quarters were then bisected by the major sabbats or festival days of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.


We are now approaching the fire festival of Imbolc traditionally celebrated on February 2nd or the full moon nearest to it. Imbolc in gaellic means 'in the belly' and some have said this is because we are approaching lambing time, whilst others take a more spiritual perspective and say it means 'in the belly of the goddess' or the Earth Mother and refers to the growing new year that was conceived last November at Samhain or the growing light that started to make a return from midwinter day.

It is also known as Brigid or Bride's day in honour of the Irish goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. The Christian name is Candlemas, not surprising when we realize that Brigid was also a goddess of fire and a perpetual flame was kept burning at her shrine in Kildare. Hilltop fires were lit and candles placed in windows of every house.
Corn Maidens or Dollies were fashioned from corn or wheat and were then dressed up and placed in a cradle or 'Bride's Bed'. These were then kept all year as a symbol of abundance and fertility. The homefire was extinguished for the first time all winter and the ashes raked smooth before going to bed. In the morning the ashes were examined for marks of Bride's passing through the house as a blessing and then the fire was rekindled as a sign of a new start or rebirth.

In northern New England, from where I write this, it seems inconceivable that new growth or even the beginnings of Spring could be marked by this festival as we still huddle up against sub-zero temperatures and the skiing season still has a long way to run. However, in Celtic Britain where I was raised and have spent most of my life, February is an exciting month for gardeners as this is when the first seeds of broad beans and garlic cloves can be planted out into the earth. It is also when snowdrops and crocuses thrust up through the earth and come into flower, the first signs of new growth in the new year.

So it is appropriate to celebrate by lighting a fire or a candle and having a celebratory meal to give thanks for the blessings of the dark winter now passing and to welcome the return of the light and new life. We can also do the same for our inner life giving thanks for the time of reflection and self-nurturing during the hibernation period and starting to sow the seeds of our wishes and dreams that we will nurture in the coming months and welcome into our lives later in the year.

Blessed be.

Holy Thorn Tree Glastonbury -a lesson in healing

             Holy Thorn tree before the attack

Under cover of darkness on Dec 9th the Holy Thorn tree on Wearyall Hill in Glastonbury was vandalised by someone cutting off all the branches at a height of about six feet from the ground. This senseless act of vandalism has shocked the local community and people around the world. As no-one has been caught by the police it seems to me to be pointless to try and guess at the motive for such a shocking act of violence. Instead I want to focus on a couple of positive observations.

If you dont know the significance of the tree, legend states that Joseph of Arimathea arrived here by boat in the middle of the first century to found the first Christian church in England. He is reputed to have stuck his staff into the ground and it sprouted leaves and grew. So there has been a middle eastern thorn tree growing in Glastonbury for nearly two millenia. Although many reports on the internet call the tree 2000 years old, it is actually a descendent of the original tree taken from cuttings. The famous Glastonbury and Arthurian writer Geoffrey Ashe in his book 'The Landscape of King Arthur' says that this particular tree was planted on Wearyall Hill in 1951. An earlier ancestor growing on this spot was attacked by Oliver Cromwell's men during Britain's short period as a republic, but the tree survived.

My point is that this act, terrible though it is, has not killed the tree because cuttings have been taken, it may resprout from the standing trunk and there are other descendents growing elsewhere in Glastonbury. It is much more resilient than one single act of violence can destroy.

                 Vandalised Holy Thorn tree

Fountain International propounds a wonderfully simple method of directing healing energy to your local community by choosing a focal point and spending just five minutes a day sending love and healing towards that point and visualising it radiating out into the surrounding community. I twice set up Fountain groups in English cities when I moved there. On both occasions within a week of us starting to send light and love to the chosen focal point a senseless act of vandalism occurred there. I saw these as thoughtless expressions of anger by sick people for whom the new light at this place was too bright to bear, and rather than accepting this gift of healing energy they tried to destroy it. We continued and no further acts of aggression occurred, in fact both places started to feel much lighter and more uplifting, even the man with the 'End of the World is Nigh' sign started smiling and then laid down his sign.

In recent times the holy thorn tree had become a focal point of healing energies demonstrated by the numerous clotties or prayer ribbons tied to the railings around the trunk. Let us maintain our positivity and continue with the healing work. Those in need who want to be healed will avail themselves of it, those who are too damaged to see their need will move away from the intensity of the light. Bless them!

The Dance of Yin & Yang

The dance of yin and yang, positive and negative, masculine and feminine is ever-present in nature and the universe at large. Nothing can exist without its complementary opposite to keep it in balance; summer/winter, day/night, hot/cold etc. The ancient sacred site builders recognised this in constructing their ‘temples’ by harnessing both the energies of heaven and earth. Stone circles, pyramids, cairns and cathedrals were all built on top of powerful currents of earth energies whilst also receiving cosmic energy by being placed on raised ground or having stone antennae. Even within each of these energies there are twin complementary threads such as the Michael and Mary energy currents that weave their way around the St Michael leyline. Many books have been written on such things, but today I want to recall an aspect of the Arthurian legend because it is so relevant for our lives today.
   
Situated just thirteen miles inland (as the magical crow flies) from Arthur’s legendary birthplace of Tintagel, lies Dozmary Pool. This is the reputed home of Nimue or Nineveh, the Lady of the Lake. In reality its nothing like its Hollywood image, lying on the treeless expanses of Bodmin Moor. However it is a numinous place that invites you to go within and meet the Lady for yourself. It’s recorded that it was she who gifted Excalibur to Arthur along with some advice that has mostly been ignored. She said “This sword’s name is Excalibur and it is very powerful even being able to cut through steel”. Most of us have heard this part of the story but she went on to say something even more important, “but the true power lies not in the sword but in the scabbard. Whosoever wears the scabbard shall never bleed to death of his wounds – guard it with your life!”

The sword of course represents the yang or masculine power, the seat of kingship, of logical thought and direct action in the world. The scabbard or protective sheath that ‘holds the blade’ is the yin or feminine power, that of insight, intuition, connection to source, the true lifeblood of our spirituality. This is what needs to be the guiding light in our lives supported by the yang action out in the world. The symbolism of the chivalrous knight risking all to do the bidding of his ‘queen’ is another allegory for the same thing. Shakti Gawain put it very well many years ago saying that our inner ‘feminine’ or our connection to spirit knows best what course of action to take at any time, and that our inner ‘masculine’ is then great at putting that plan into action. Applying both aspects in their respective areas of expertise brings us into a state of dynamic equilibrium or health. Of course, all of us, men and women, have both aspects within us although we haven’t been taught that. Our inner feminine has been ignored by our society and religions have transferred our true power to god or even the church.

The world has passed through ages of intolerance, ignorance, rationalism, and material pursuit. As we are now emerging from this long painful journey or dark night of the collective soul, the memory of who we really are is reawakening within us. The keys are shown to us through the myths and legends handed down through the centuries. We can unlock the secrets of the ages, and discover the true Grail within ourselves. In this way we shall not die of the wounds inflicted on us by life but rather awaken to our true nature.

Restarted under new name

This used to be 'blog from the fields' and I admit I didnt do many blogs from the fields! So I'm now restarting a blog with a wider scope - anything that I think is of interest under the umbrella subject of earth mysteries. I'll be including regular articles on various sacred sites worldwide, earth energies, crop circles and the importance of water. I also want to share books, websites and videos that I've found inspiring. We're rapidly approaching 2012 and events in the world change very quickly nowadays. My interest in ancient cultures and sacred sites is that I believe our ancestors knew things that it would benefit us to know and apply in the world today. Whenever I come across such wisdom I'll share it in this blog. A very obvious and pertinent one for us today is how the ancients lived in harmony with the Earth and used her natural energies in a healthy way. They also understood and respected the natural law of complementary opposites and the dance of energy between them. This is an immensely important thing to know and live by and will be the subject of my next post.
I hope you enjoy this revamped blog and send me your thoughts, comments etc. I'm learning how to use this technology so it wont be perfect, more of a process!
Yours re-enthused
Glenn

Rosslyn Chapel

The Lady Chapel

The Apprentice Pillar

Today our Sacred Celtic Pilgrimage started with a visit to the remarkable Rosslyn Chapel close to Edinburgh. Our expert guide Margaretanne explained many of the puzzles that surround the mass of stone carvings that adorn the interior of this enigmatic fifteenth century chapel. It was built by a member of the Sinclair family who still own the building today and has many connections to the Knights Templars, the mysterious society who were attacked by the Catholic church in the early fourteenth century. Some of those who survived found safe haven in Scotland because the king of Scotland had already been excommunicated by the Pope.

Because of the popularity of The DaVinci Code visitor numbers to the chapel have increased more than five hundred percent in recent years, so a new visitors centre is being built. Also the huge renovation project to preserve the chapel is still underway and the large protective canopy covering the whole building will remain there for another year at least allowing the building to dry out slowly while the roof is recovered.

There are so many mysteries surrounding the building - is the ark of the covenant hidden in the sealed crypts? does it prove North America was visited long before Columbus 'discovered' it? what secrets did the Templars discover in Solomons Temple in Jerusalem? what do some of the puzzling carvings mean? and did Jesus marry and have a child?

Temple
Following our visit to Rosslyn we explored the ruined 'kirk' (church) at Temple, once headquarters to the Knights Templars. The surrounding churchyard contains many old gravestones with Templar carvings such as the skull and crossbones. Our group decided to say a prayer to honour the Templars and the legacy they have left us, and to send healing back in time. The atmosphere of this place was very tranquil and peaceful, the sun was shining and the birds were singing - Scotland at its best.

Tomorrow we head towards the Highlands!