Universal Great Spirit

week 42

Universal Great Spirit

Why is the great world spirit always referred to as a man? God is a Him. Allah is a Him. Jehovah.. Buddha... Grandfather Great Spirit is a Him. The male is the dominant fatherly spirit, whereas we refer to Mother Earth, Gaia and other nurturing spirits as She. Women have a duality, reflected in for example, Demeter - nurturing and mourning mother. Gives life and takes life in destruction whilst mourning the loss of her daughter Persphonie. It's an interesting way to look at things and it's deep rooted in most cultures, throughout recorded history. I don't know enough to really go in to it, it was a random thought, that found it's way through my fingers as I typed.

My mum gave me the book Black Elk speaks, which I thought was one of those automatic writing accounts from a Native American.  It wasn't. It's a book compiled by a journalist and published in 1932, who spoke with the holy man towards the end of his life. He recounts his memories as a young man living with his tribe, the changes with the forced locations to reservations and the brutal treatment given to them by the American government as their lands were stolen right from under them.  Mostly he talks about his journeying in to the spirit realms and how he became a great leader among his people.  It's not a how-to book, it's a biography, one which I highly recommend. You can read each chapter online via the First People website.

The True Peace
"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men."

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux


Earth Prayer
Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you -- the two-legged, the four-legged, the wings of the air, and all green things that live.

"You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in, day out, forevermore, you are the life of things."

Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice.
At the center of the sacred hoop
You have said that I should make the tree to bloom.
With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather,
With running eyes I must say
The tree has never bloomed
Here I stand, and the tree is withered.
Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.
It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.
Nourish it then
That it may leaf
And bloom
And fill with singing birds!
Hear me, that the people may once again
Find the good road
And the shielding tree.

" I think I have told you, but if I have not, you must have understood, that a man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see... It was even then only after the heyoka ceremony, in which I performed my dog vision, that I had the power to practice as a medicine man, curing sick people; and many I cured with the power that came through me. Of course it was not I who cured. It was the power from the outer world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish..."

Revealing this, they walk.
A sacred herb -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
The sacred life of bison -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
A sacred eagle feather -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
The eagle and the bison -- like relatives they walk.

"The Six Grandfathers have placed in this world many things, all of which should be happy. Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World."

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

It would appear that there are many cultures who do believe in a great spirit, a creator, a Universal being that resides at the centre of the Universe and in our hearts and minds.  Isn't it strange that so many peoples, have the same idea? And that idea is personified in male human form. I wrote in one of my first blogs about the All. About our connection to the Universe and standing there and feeling it in the world around us.  Those are hard feelings to put in to words and I'm not sure I can succeed in doing so. Besides, those would be my feelings about my perception of the Universe. It's different for each person.  Instead, I shall leave you with some inspirational images.

Remember my Truth and Trust blog. Don't be one of those people who tell others their path is wrong.

We are only here for a blink of an eye. Live. Laugh. Love.

Universal thinking

week 41

Universal thinking

Great. Looks like U has the same about of options as J - meh! Oh what to write... well I looked up 'universe spirituality' on Google and found this. Whilst it's on a Jewish forum, the thoughts by one of the greatest minds this world has ever known, is quite interesting, so I shall cheat and leave you with his thoughts.

Albert Einstein Quotes on Spirituality

1. I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
2. Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
3. My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
4. The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.
5. Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.
6. The scientists’ religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.
7. There is no logical way to the discovery of elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.
8. The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
9. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious; It is the source of all true art and science.
10. We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
11. Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
12. When the solution is simple, God is answering.
13. God does not play dice with the universe.
14. God is subtle but he is not malicious.
15. A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.
16. Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
17. The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.
18. Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
19. Only a life lived for others is a life worth while.
20. The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books—-a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.
21. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
22. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
23. The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties - this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.
24. The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
25. True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.
26. Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelationship of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to form in the social life of man.

Crystals & Chakras

I'm staring at a blank page now for the last few hours... not feeling it this week. But will give it a go... (2 weeks later and I'm finally attacking it lol)

Crystals
I was introduced to these in 1998 by a friend who taught me about crystal healing and using them in meditation etc.  I have a big collection now and there was a period when I didn't touch them for a few years but I've rediscovered them and started using them again.  I haven't done any courses on it but I do have a couple of good books that I use for reference.

I have found that when I do a tarot reading for someone, I get them to pick a crystal from the box, they then hold this during the reading. After the reading, I look up the stone they've chosen in the book and every time, it's relevant to what's going on with them at the moment. The stone picks them.

I use crystals every day.  I usually wear a bloodstone bracelet and have a variety of necklaces with crystals in.  Each day I'm drawn to a particular one and I'll wear it.  Some times I carry them in my pocket, depending if I'm ailing, then I'll pick up my crystal book and look it up, pick a crystal and pop it in my pocket or under my pillow. I use two books 'The Crystal and Mineral guide' by John Lee - a booklet really that I got for £3.50. No pictures but very good for reference. The other is a bible sized book 'Love is in the Earth' by Melody, also no pictures but full of crystals you've never heard of and it's more detailed. My friend Andrea was lucky enough to meet her and helped her work on the second book.

Apothylite

I've heard people talk about working with crystals and some times, my fluffy-radar goes off and I glaze over. Scientific fact: everything on this earth vibrates. Each object has a vibration rating. We cannot see/feel those vibrations but they can  be measured with scientific instruments (don't ask me what ones, I don't know).  The theory is, and is one that I believe in, is that by placing an object with a certain vibration level, on an area that needs healing, it will assist in balancing that area and thus help with the healing.  Do I think crystals 'talk' to you - no.  Do I think they feel pain - no. Do I think they are the cure all for everything - no. Do I think they have magical properties - mmm some times but that depends on your definitions of magic.

Quartz ball

Crystal balls have always been deemed as magical.  Historically, crystals have been used as talismans and worn for protection.  Solomon wore Lapis Lazuli on his breast plate.  People have worn gem stones in jewellery for as long as people have adorned themselves with clothing.  Usually the early examples are those that weren't mined and were found on the beaches, in rock faces etc so amber (which isn't technically a crystal as it's fossilised tree sap), jet, amethyst, jasper, quartz ...  Those ruby, diamond, sapphire, emerald rings and fine jewellery are crystals - just a higher grade and 'flawless'.  People have always been drawn to crystals and gemstones.  I have a lovely ruby in fuchite piece with several rubies in it but it's a fraction of the price of a gem stone quality ruby you'd pay hundreds for at a jewellers.

Amber set in silver bracelet

I have quite a large collection now. I used to be able to name each one and tell you what they are good for but as they say 'if you don't use it, you lose it' and that knowledge is in the back of my mind blocked in by other things.  It comes back to me and I have started to use crystals again.

My favourite pieces at the moment are quartz, lithium, clear, rose and smokey; melinite, lapis lazuli and amethyst.  I have a lovely quartz crystal ball with huge infractions that look like an icy landscape. There is a piece of jewellery I bought off a friend that is copper with snowflake obsidian beads and the main piece is a triple terminated smokey quartz. It was one of those pieces I was instantly drawn too. I left it a few weeks and it was still on her stall, so I bought it. I put it on and was drunk within a few minutes. It was exactly like being really drunk! My friends were on the floor laughing at me trying to speak a straight sentence and I was slurring my words a bit.  Never had that happen to me before... so I only wear it now when I need to do some spirit work or during meditation.

click - Black Orchid Designs

I read in Caitlin Matthews book 'Singing the soul back home' that people shouldn't put crystals on 'just anywhere' and they can actually cause a lot of damage to the auric field if they don't know what they are doing.  I can see her point because there was a fad a few years back where colleges were doing two day courses and then that person was 'qualified' to be a crystal healer and at that time, they charged £40 for a healing session. It was a new age healing explosion and worth lots of money.  Another friend of mine did a course for nearly two years, where she learnt about the human body, the organs and intricate details about crystals, making elixirs and all sorts of things.  She knew was properly trained and knew what she was doing.  These types of courses are less popular at colleges now, the fashion has moved on to other areas thank gods!  So I have to agree with Caitlin, don't just go putting any old crystal on your chakras without knowing what you are doing. That crystal has a certain vibration, that is interrupting your energy field and energy centres.... wearing certain crystals around your neck is not suitable.  There are loads that make you feel spacey and open you up - why put that on all day? Are you mad?! Those are the ones you wear during meditation, spirit work, or dream time.  Do your research.

Black Kyanite

Another interesting debate came up on the pagan group I'm on, the other week.  What are your thoughts on ripping crystals from the earth and does it affect their 'power' from the trauma of the extraction?  There are parts of the world where people are forced to mine these gemstones, living like slaves and being paid pittance.  Most of the time, this is for the high grade gemstones.  The crystals on the market are a bi-product of mining, things they find along the way, things that don't aren't flawless.  Malachite is a bi-product of copper, so you will find tonnes of the stuff around copper mines, just thrown away as slag.  I love malachite, the colours are amazing and it's highly charged like copper.  I think if people mine ethically, pay the locals a good wage and don't exploit them, then I don't see the issues.  You're never going to know 100% what you have in your collection was extracted ethically and if they've lost their power from being torn from the earth, then how come they still buzz in your hand and you're drawn to one stone in a basket of many?  I don't think they have feelings, they are lumps of compressed particles.. get a grip people lol.

Multi Chrysoprase

Chakras
I bumped into a chap who comes to the local moot and we were having a great chat about chakras in the crisp aisle in Morrisons.  I was wearing a lapis luzuli necklace as I had a sore throat and blue is the throat chakra colour.  He picked up my sore throat and started to dry cough, I wasn't coughing but I was dying for a drink as my throat was thick and dry.  I picked up off him, like the top of my head was coming off.  This is all whilst chatting about stuff.  He hadn't shut himself down and he'd been told that you don't close your base and crown chakras. This isn't the first time I've heard this and you know what, that's utter nonsense!  You can't shut down an energy point, you won't die if you do either! Who makes this stuff up?!  I went on to describe to him how to open/chose your chakras (and by that, I mean the main 7) when you want to be open/closed for spirit work.  Think of it like a dimmer switch I told him. When you want to open up, you turn the switch round and the light is brighter, when you want to close down, you dim it right down.  Turning a light off doesn't mean it's broken either or we'd never turn our light bulbs off.  He also said that he couldn't visualise things in meditation.  Imagining an image and visualising it are THE SAME THING. When I sat in circle and we opened and closed our chakras, each time I would visualise it differently, your mind will find a way of relating these things to you.  One week it would be a spinning coloured ball, another it would be a big bubble, or my fav would be sitting in a big coloured flower and the petals open/closing around me.

Aha! Another flash of inspiration...  a flower opens in the morning light and follows the sun. It closes at night. It does this every day.... and doesn't die does it?  So closing your crown and base charkas won't kill you.  You can't keep them spinning madly whilst the others are dimmed cos you will be totally imbalanced and like my friend, have headaches, unwanted spirit attention and at the other end, your over active base, governs your bum and down.  If you're having issues below the waist, dowse your base chakra and I'll bet that it's off balance.

Keywords here would be: DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING SOMEONE WRITES IN A BOOK. It is after all their opinion and most of the time, they are fluffy and don't know what they are on about. Don't read their words as fact and base your practises on them.  I've been there and done that... take everything with a pinch of salt and question everything.  You will know in your gut if it's true for you or not. Go with your gut always.

Righto then... I have another two blogs to pen later but first, I'm off to circle, which I've not been to for weeks for a variety of reasons.  As I said to my friend earlier, I can't write about these things if I'm not practicing them!

B is for - Blue Crow

What I'm about to share with you now is very personal. It is about my spiritual path and how I was given the name Blue Crow. I'm a bit wary expressing it as it goes but I think it's time.

Back in the day of forums, we had to invent a user name. Remember those? Lots of well known goddesses and the such were used.  I used to be IckleSlaine after my tattoo of an ickle Slaine McRoth (2000ad geek n proud). This was circa 2002. I then shortened it to Slaine, which I used for a few years.

Ickle Slaine

I went to work for the MOD in 2004 at RAF Henlow and outside my window was the Hunter gate guardian and some chestnut trees that these two crows used to sit in. I always did stare out of windows as a kid and not much has really changed.  I'd just started discovering my spiritual path. I had been down the spiritualist route and was the Secretary of the SNU church in Letchworth GC.  By 2004, I had discovered that what I was had a name and that was 'pagan'.  Everyone had their paths and discussed these at length and of course, people had their 'spirit' names. Usually these had some mystical creature in them and they often assumed a whole new personality (online) to match their character name. Yes, I went there, character name.  It is too easy to get caught up in playgan roleplaying... yes I went there too! Aren't I naughty lol ! I think what I'm saying is that a fair few of these people were full of shit really.  They did it because it was fashionable and because the big kids on the forum did it too and looked cool and knowledgeable. Fair enough, it's easy to get caught up in it all.

The point is, at the time, I didn't really know what path I was on. I had been told by three shamans (proper ones, not like the latest fad of wannabes DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT FFS) that I was a shaman. I had no idea what that was, other than the American Indian sort.  I did some research and found an excellent book called Shamans through time - 500 years. It was a big fat book of written accounts by anthropologists, missionaries and that ilk who'd gone into the world to study/explore/convert and had found shamans in near enough every culture. Their accounts vary from Christian bias to those who went to live with the tribe for a month and learn how the shaman works in their community healing the sick etc.  The original term of shaman was used for a tribe in Siberia but it has since become a generic term throughout the world. Not that the know-it-alls on the forum cared, if you weren't from that tribe in Siberia you weren't a shaman and you were a fake. 20 posts per page, 15 pages later... I'm still being flayed for daring to 'come out' as someone who'd been told I was a shaman but didn't know what that meant.  Oh My Gods, it was horrendous.  Nearly a decade has gone by and it still haunts me... and that's why I get wary sharing! Nice way to help someone on their path isn't it? So much for peace and love! Don't get me started....

View outside my office window on a foggy day

Anyway, I digress!
One of the many lunchtimes gazing out the window, I was daydreaming (also normal) and I wondered what my spirit name was. The crows were out front, playing about, looking for food, chasing off the magpie (usual stuff for them) and I got the name 'Blue Crow'.  It was just there, in my head. I asked why and what it meant and I received no reply.  It was about two years later that I was told what it meant.

I was writing a lot of poetry at this time and here is one I penned about my friends the crows at work. My friend Cliff Carr turned it into a song and has performed it at Avebury, which is a bit surreal hearing your words being turned into music.

Crow he calls

Oh how he calls to me

‘Pick up your ears and listen

For I have much to say!’

Can you not hear the call?

Can you not understand?

You can see crow everywhere

You can hear his calls

Loudly he cries his message

Over and over again

I pick up my ears and listen

To what he’s trying to say

‘Come follow me!

Go deep within yourself

Close your eyes and slow your breath

Spread your wings and fly’

‘Fly above it all and survey the land

Call out what you see

Feel the earth and skies unite

Ride the updraft of the breath of life’

This is the path of Sacred Law

This is the call of crow

These are the words that reach my ears

Crows call penetrates my soul

December 2004

Time flies and roll on December 2007 and I had that 'aha!' moment and then it made sense.. for a short time because you're not supposed to make sense of your life, only the lessons passing through it at that time.

Blue is the sky

That envelopes us all

Blue is the healing rays

Blue is the deepest seas & skies

Crow is the Keeper of Sacred Law

Truth of Time kept

Blue Crow is the Keeper of what covers us all

The whole world

All times

I hold it all

I cannot unlock these secrets I keep

Only Time will reveal them 

when they need to be

So there you have it. How I got my name and what I was told it means. It's hard to believe it's been six years since all that happened.  I will probably write more about it when I get to the letter S on the blog project. Blimey, just thought, that will be nearly at the end of this year... who knows what will happen til then. 

That last paragraph of the last poem may need some explaining. All I can say for now is - it's a past life thing.

All

Hylo again!

Well it's the early hours of Friday and I'm itching to get my next blog out. I've lit a candle on my altar, lit a shalimar joss stick (so hard to get hold of now) and have some Nigel Shaw playing. What's this... and some honey jack and mead to hand. Ace... so let's start.

To be or not to be

To be standing in the sun

To be bathed with light

To be intouch with yourself

To be surrounded by natures beauty

To be part of spirit

To be one with it All

To be one with it All

Standing in the sun

Arms stretched out wide

Twirling in the sunshine

Absorbing the healing rays

Soaking in the light

Feeling elevated and free

At one with it All

A physical body

A free spirit

As it should be

We are all connected. You've heard of the 7 degrees of separation and those on Facebook, are always amazed by 'mutual' friend connections. With the advent of the internet, this is becoming a very small world indeed.  There are other ways of being connected of course, those who are open to the All can link in to people and the places around them.  I haven't tried to explain this before, it's more difficult than I thought.

The moment you climb over the sand dunes and see the vast expanse of the sea. The salty air whips your hair in gentle wildness, the waves crash on the beach and the gulls cry.  The sun breaks through the clouds and beams on the sea.  Or maybe the moon reflecting millions of smaller moons on the forever moving surface. That moment you feel in awe of the scene, the rawness of nature and feel that awesome connection to the All.

(Click the pictures to view full sized)

Whitby Regatta

Oh the moon! You step outside to empty the bins and look up to the clear nights sky. Stars and planets beam their lights down and we feel part of it All.  Small in the great Universe but still part of it. Or my personal favourite, you're lying in bed and the full moon fills the world with silver. So you open your curtains and lie there in it's silvery liquid magic. And it is magic to me.

That moment you're standing near trees and can hear the wind blowing the leaves, reminding you of the sea as it hits the beach.  The feeling of growth under your feet as the roots reach down, the bark and the endless patterns before you as it envelopes everything, the colours of the leaves and the dapples the sun makes.  The sense of beauty and life and life within this living ancient thing. Connection to the spirit of the All.

The way you can stop walking in a seemingly plain place and stand there, still, absorbing the life around you. The birds calls - mating, protecting, warning, greeting.  The little usually unseen creatures darting past like you're not there.  The grasses waving in the breeze. The river eddies swirling, rippling, running forever on as life goes on under it's surface.  The clouds up above - huge rain clouds or high wispy ones. The colours of the day as it starts and ends - the world as it becomes lighter and darker.

Princes Risborough

Watching our creatures of the the world. That moment an owl swoops across your vision as you drive along, lit up by your headlights, a ghostly wonder. I love seeing owls, it makes me smile.  Or seeing a huge buzzard being chased off by a gang of crows.  Crows... I could watch them all day! They don't take any shit of anyone, regardless whether it's prey or maybe a great hulking grey heron. They stand their ground, chase off any invaders and protect their territories.  Their calls change in the year too. You get the spring time calling of their territories, their body bobbing up and down with each shout, tales go up.  Then there's the mating game shortly after this.  They seem to go somewhere for a couple of weeks in the summer and you suddenly realise it's been rather quiet outside, the usual racket has dimmed.  Then they are back.  Crows are fun to watch.  I used to spend hours gazing out of the window at their antics.  That is where my name comes from... which is for another blog!

White Crow

Crow at Castlerigg

Then there are the extraordinary places. Those truly sacred places built to honour something long gone from a world that demands evidence and proof or reason.  Yet these places tap into something deep inside our psyche and wake us up. We are drawn there, we feel the need to gather there, to raise our cups and give thanks to our ancestors who built them thousands of years before us.  These places can be a great stone circle, a burial chamber, a henge or perhaps ancient woodlands with trees that saw out world wars, some times hundreds of years old, standing guard, watching over Time as it sifts past.  We connect to our ancestors there, we wonder how they built these great stone circles and why.  The scenery is usually wild and spectacular too, add the rising or setting sun and the world around this space explodes into colour.

As I said to Warwick Davies whilst filming at Long Meg last summer; each place is different, each place has it's own special kind of energy.  Long Meg is peaceful, serene and calming. Castlerigg was described by a friend of mine as buzzing and feels like you've been sandblasted clean.  Stonehenge is a wonder. You drive down the road and there it is - a WOW feeling, inspite of the fences and the fact it's being milked as a giant cash cow.  Avebury - each part of it is different. It's best to go when there isn't a Gorsedd on!  I find it peaceful and it radiates great power too.  My favourite place is Uffington White Horse. Over 3000 years old, 'ta'int how a horse looks like, it's how it be'  (as Terry Pratchett so aptly describes it via Granny Aching). The sky is huge under that hill and those hills just pop out of a relatively flat landscape. It's almost like someone has tried to fold it into pleats too. At the bottom of the hill is Dragon Hill. At the top of the hill a mile up the path is Waylands Smithy.  You can't help but stand on that hill, by the Eye and get lost in the world surrounding you.

Filming at Long Meg

Long Meg and her sisters

Uffington White Horse

Avebury

Stonehenge

Uffington White Horse - one of my all time fav pics

For those moments you stand there, connected to All around you. It takes your breath away. You are aware of that moment that you are part of it All. All of this without adding people, ritual, ceremonies, mead or a specific day of the cycle.

Meridians - we are all connected.  Before getting absorbed in coloured candles and all the trappings of ritualised dogma, take the time to connect to the Universe first.  Plant your feet in the richness of the life all around you. Feel the life forces in everything.  Become part of it All.  Otherwise, without that connection, you have no real power because you cannot truly understand what you are not really part of.  How can you heal if you cannot connect to the Universe, to channel it, to be the vessel? Exactly!

I'm proud to say that took all of these images (more here). I see the world and capture it for a moment. My final word is you can find beauty in anything if you plug in and open your eyes, all your eyes.

Love really is All around!