shamanic druidry

Drum Birthing days

2011-11-14T15:30:00.008Z

Join Phil and Lynne and go deep into the woods to "birth" your own drum under a sacred Yew tree. This unique experience is run throughout the year on a one to one basis or in small groups.

One of the most important tools you will ever need as a shaman is the drum, the spirit horse to take you on the journey to the other-worlds. The crafting of your first drum is like the birth of a child, an experience that fills you with both wonder and love.
When asked to make a drum with someone the first step of that process is to ask them for what purpose they want to bring this “being” into the ordinary world. As an Animist I view my drums and rattles as living things, so it is important that I understand their intent.
To make a drum is easy, to make a shamanic drum that will enable its caretaker to travel outside of ordinary reality is a skill that few people possess.

I make frame drums, the skin is Red Deer or Fallow, I prefer the person I'm teaching to make the drum themselves, and often I make one at the same time. Whenever possible the drums are crafted under the Yew tree that I work with. The Yew is the Axis Mundi of my Shamanic Druidry, the tree of rebirth and ancestral memories.

The skins come from the same herd of deer, and as our drums have grown in number over time they have created a tribe, or herd. Many times, in the drum circle we run here in Kent, people have commented that they could hear the Stags calling to each other as the rhythm flowed; it's like a song beyond the drumming.

The Birthing Process

We start by soaking the deer skin in pure water taken from an ancient spring head on the marshes near were I live. The person making the drum is asked to bring with them plants and herbs that they feel connected to so these can be added to the water and the skin washed with them.

Next, the maker sands the hoop; with this process they get to not only put their energy into the frame but get to know its very bones. After this we make a paint of Red Ochre and water and this is smeared onto the hoop with their fingers; for me this symbolises the blood of the drum. So, now we have the blood and the bones of our drum. The skin is then removed from the water and thanks are given to the stag who’s life was sacrificed, holes are punched around the skins edge and the hoop is placed on top ready for lacing up. We use sinew rather than raw hide strips as these become the vocal cords that allow my drums to sing.

Then I ask the maker to put their hands back into the Red Ochre before they begin stringing the drum as this imitates the natural birthing process and they become the midwife at the birth of their drum. When the threading is done, then comes the tensioning; this is something I normally take over as it takes skill and intuition to make sure that skin and tension will work together.

When all this is finished we put the drum aside and start on the beater, the heart that makes the drum come alive. I only work with the indigenous trees of Britain so discuss with the drum-maker beforehand what tree they would like to make the beater from. I ask the person to find their beater stick before they make the drum so he or she can spend time with the tree of their choice. Making that effort is what it's really all about.

Once both beater and drum are completed they are blessed over a fire and a ceremony is performed to awaken and welcome the drum to this world. When the skin has dried (usually 3 to 4 days) it is time for the maker to journey with it and meet the spirit of their drum for the first time.

The hoop is the bone
The Ochre the blood
The hide the voice
that calls to Spirit

Yew baby artwork by Tina Swale @ www.astrocal.co.uk

Spirit of Place

2011-09-25T18:38:00.002+01:00

Ye know us not, the growth has covered us.
Long have we been hidden from your sight.
Ye know not our names, nor natures,
And yet we are thine own.
Ye chant no invocations unto us,
Yet always are we manifest within thee.
We are the gods of hunger and becoming.
We pulse and grow between your heartbeats.
We are the pause in breathing,
Between the inhalation and the exhalation.
We live to devour and bring forth.
We live between the mind and madness.
We are the ghosts of the unborn...

From The Book of the Forgotten Ones

Sacred River Drums

2011-09-22T15:37:00.013+01:00

Sacred River Drums are 18 inch frame drums
with "Star " bindings on the back.

Stag skinned drum

Fallow deer skinned

All our drums come with a beater in the wood of your choice ....

Spirit bags

2011-08-30T21:21:00.007+01:00

These are Spirit pouches hand carved from leather
with your Totem animal Spirit on the face

They are made with a pouch to add
your own offerings or medicine tokens

Please visit
Shamanic Druidry
shopping online

Boar design with Boar tooth closer

BESPOKE DESIGNS

The Song of the Land

2011-07-07T11:47:00.004+01:00

Shamanism to me is all about working with the Spirits of place, Ancestors, plants and animal teachers. Being an Animist, this is where the roots of my path are formed, and I follow my instinct when working with all of these things.
There is a kind of synergy that forms, a feeling that your intent joins with the natural world and starts to craft what you want to happen, like when a potter takes a lump of clay and puts it on his wheel, then what seems like nothing begins to flow with the finger tips and an object of beauty is formed.
It's this kind of wholeness and truth that we look for as we work with the land to enlighten others to a way of living that has been all but forgotten, this for me brings a sense that my intention is honorable, and that those who cross my path will leave with their hearts and souls enriched not by me but by the very land that I love.
I am nothing but a gatekeeper,
I am just there to facilitate the connection,
I am just there to shine the light.
This is where the Shaman and the Druid both blend into each other for me, working with stories, energies and sound to weave the natural Magic of this ancient Island we live on, and in so doing the Healing is found deep within all of us, from the Birch to the Oak, from the Hawthorn to the Yew.

We all at sometime in our journey feel disconnected, or unable to connect to a path we feel drawn to, this leads to frustration, or questioning ourselves and our beliefs, doubts begin to creep into our minds. This is a natural reaction that we must overcome, we live in a world with faster and faster ways to get what we want and so we are conditioned to think this way about all we do, but this is not the case when we work with the Earth and her spirits.
Nature grows at its own steady pace and accepting this is the first lesson we have to learn when working with Spirit, whether you are Wiccan, Druid or any of the paths that come under the Pagan umbrella.

Intuition is an observation, an awareness of the subtlest of energies, inside and outside of you. Know that whatever is happening outside of you; your body is mimicking and/or duplicating it inside at the same time. Trust what you perceive. You do not have to understand it.
Judge none of it; just observe it.
When we judge it as right or wrong, we begin to dilute our perceptions.
Slow down, listen with all of your senses. Slow down to the speed that you can comprehend. Feel what the energy is like.
All living and non-living things have a vibration. Be open to the sensation of all of them. You are discovering and building a vocabulary of energetic frequencies. When you live in this kind of reality, you are no longer totally dependent on what you hear and see for information.
Perceiving the energy gives you so much more. Everyone’s abilities are different. Do not try to be like someone else. Trust your own information. Trust your own process in getting there.
For me Nature is the greatest guide there is. When I want guidance in a decision, contact with the souls of my ancestors, or solace in suffering, I wander the hills and woods of my land where I am held, rooted in the very soil, finding inspiration in the patterns of tree bark, the pebbles in a river, or the dawn mist.
Sitting inside the womb tombs, the temples of the dead, for me, is a meditation with the living Earth and the spirit of the ancestors, this is where I find inspiration.
Working with the spirit of the Yew tree is where I am remade, shattered then put back together.
Working like this, trusting in your own perceptions of events leads you deeper and deeper, till the day comes when you break through and you feel a change in that connection.
You then have a profound shift inside of yourself, you find that your awareness changes and this brings a change in reality, a kind of shift in your perspective on life. Work with this, learn to flow with the energies, draw their healing powers into you.
This is “connection”, this is what we yearn to achieve......

Phil /|\

Fallow Deer Drums

2011-04-16T12:21:00.003+01:00

The Fallow Deer is a gentle teacher, introduced to the U.K. in the first century BCE and in Europe since the Paleolithic period it is a species that has been used in a shamanic way for a long time. Through working with its Spirit I have come to a deeper connection with the land and found it to have shamanic links to the Fly Agaric mushroom.
I now have skins in stock, the hides are thick and create a deep sounding drum, and I can highly recommend working with these drums both for healing and journeying.

Bison Rattle

2011-04-16T12:07:00.007+01:00

These beautiful Rattles are for healing work, after a recent encounter with a European Bison I crafted these specifically to hold that gentle healing energy of abundance and selflessness. Filled with Snow flake Obsidian to absorb negativity they give a soft sounding rattle.......

Sacred River Rattles

2010-10-13T12:58:00.005+01:00

We now have a new range of rattles for sale
these are Spirit rattles,
and are very organic in their forming.

Sacred River Rattles Gallery

Alder with Runes

Yew with Henna design

Oak and Rowan with Jay feathers and Henna designs

White Fallow deer head on Ash rattle

Yew with Henna design and Chalk inlay Ogham

Oak with Magpie and Woodpecker feathers

The birthing of a Drum

2010-04-02T16:08:00.009+01:00

When asked to make a drum with someone or for someone the first step of that process is to ask them for what purpose they want to bring this “being” into the ordinary world. As an Animist I view my drums and rattles as living things, so it is important that I understand their intent. To make a drum is easy, to make a shamanic drum that will enable its caretaker to travel outside of ordinary reality is a skill that few people possess. When making drums for myself I travel to all three worlds at different stages of the crafting. First the Lower World to meet the Stag and the tree, to honour their sacrifice. Then the Middle World to ask my guides what designs or symbols need to be on the drum . Finally, after the skin has dried and the drum is ready to sing for the first time, I travel to the Upper World to meet the spirit of the drum and find its purpose.

The Birthing Process

Next, the maker sands the hoop; with this process they get to not only put their energy into the frame but get to know its very bones. After this we make a paint of Red Ochre and water and this is smeared onto the hoop with their fingers; for me this symbolises the blood of the drum. So, now we have the blood and the bones of our drum. The skin is then removed from the water and thanks are given to the stag who’s life was sacrificed, holes are punched around the skins edge and the hoop is placed on top ready for lacing up. The sinew is then measured out and threaded on to a Fox bone needle which I make from Fox ribs. We use sinew rather than raw hide strips as these become the vocal cords that allow my drums to sing.

Ogham Rattles

2010-02-06T15:38:00.038Z

These are Shamanic Rattles with a difference !

Through journeying with different tree spirits,
I am now making Ogham rattles.

Each one is made with as many parts of that particular tree and is filled with its seeds or seed shells whenever possible.
Marked with an Ogham letter and design gathered through intense work with each tree.

Beech Tree Rattle

Please contact us with your needs.

e-mail : ancientwalks@hotmail.com
Click on the images to see them enlarged

Yew Tree Rattle

Female Yew

Male Yew

Oak Tree Rattle

Elder Rattle

Bespoke Rattles

The turning towards Imbolc

2010-01-13T12:21:00.006Z

As the snows still cover this wonderful island of ours, and the moon finally washes away to become new again. We feel the grip of the solitude winter brings trying its hardest, its last attempt at taking our lives away and although February can be a dark month,Winter is in fact receding and Spring is on it’s way.
For many the snow has heightened this annual feeling of isolation, of being drawn in on ourselves, and waiting like a seed and this is not a place of new beginnings, but a place of endings; a time of drawing conclusions and bringing closure. Embrace this last chance to to shed yourselves of the journey 2009 brought, speaking to many people this last year has been a hard one, one that has challenged and brought up many questions: forced us to look at where we are, what we hold dearest for ourselves, what is of value to us.

Like the Hanged Man of the Tarot, as he stops resisting; instead he makes himself vulnerable, sacrifices his position or opposition, and in doing so, gains illumination. Answers that eluded him become clear, solutions to problems are found. He sees the world differently, has almost mystical insights. This card can also imply a time when everything just stands still, a time of rest and reflection before moving on. Things will continue on in a moment, but for now, they float, timeless. he climbs a branch and dangles upside down like a child, giving up for a moment, all that he is, wants, knows or cares about. Coins fall from his pockets and as he gazes down on them - seeing them not as money but only as round bits of metal - everything suddenly changes perspective. It is as if he's hanging between the mundane world and the spiritual world, able to see both. It is a dazzling moment, dreamlike yet crystal clear. Connections he never understood before are made, mysteries are revealed.

Then as we turn slowly from the North towards the East, from Winter to Spring, Midnight to Dawn, Earth to Air, from conclusion to inspiration we meet with Imbolc halfway to the Spring Equinox. Imbolc is a time just before the dawn, a time of conception and gestation, of turning away from the past and looking to the Future.
Spring is not here yet, and it is not a time to put plans into action but a time to prepare and plan for the journey ahead. Shamanism has always been about the “in between “ places and the embracing of that moment, the stillness as the snow falls. Imbolc is the tipping point, the pivotal moment between the seasons. It also represents the movement from the element of Earth, and towards Air.

The element of Air beckons, and with the freedom and inspiration that brings let your soul be ready to migrate back to this land of ours ......

Love and Unrest /|\

Starting a new path: changes in perception

2009-12-06T09:02:00.012Z

Over the last year I have been questioning the very roots of the path I have been following, looking for the “Heritage”, the ancient thread that leads backwards through time.
We read so much about the ancient Druids in modern books and can even learn to be one by distance learning, like studying an open university degree, and so we forget to look for the truth ourselves and just go along with the excepted beliefs.
When we start to peel back the veneer of these so called ancient religions and see the substance beneath, we find that Paganism in general is not so archaic at all.
Wicca was invented by Gerald Gardner although he claimed an ancient secret heritage for it, but it now seems clear that he was heavily influenced by the work of Margaret Murray, and her book, The Witch Cult in Western Europe and The Golden Bough by Sir JG Frazer.
Modern Druidism as it is practiced today was put together by Ross Nichols, and like Gardner he claimed an ancient secret linage to this. He introduced Celtic mythology and Bardcraft, and the celebration of the full eight seasonal ceremonies in addition to arranging the teachings into three grades, in accordance with classical accounts of the three divisions of the Druids. Nichols was a friend of Gardner and one can imagine them cherry picking ideas from different sources to form the two “Ancient Religions”.
Listening to Prof. Ronald Huttons "Mount Haemus Lectures" have been an enormous influence on me in my search for “The Truth” as was his "The History of the Pagan Horned God " and I encourage you to give them a listen.
But these pathways have value, they help many people find their connection back to the natural world, and this is why we have seen a rise in numbers and a greater public awareness of Paganism in general. It all depends on what you personally want,and how you go about achieving that.
People come to spiritual paths for many reasons and sometimes it’s worth stopping and questioning yourself, examining your motives or the direction you are headed. Only by being honest and critical can we find the real value in our workings, and find the things that work for us.
Just because its written in a book or part of a course doesn't make it LAW. We are all unique and therefore should use the work of others just to start us off, building a framework around ourselves then start to work with our own intuition, but this comes with time, time spent just walking the land, wandering in the woods letting the spirits of the stones and trees speak to us. Try to learn from nature in the same way as the first ever Shaman had to, switching over to this kind of mindset is very powerful and whatever name you call the power of nature, or how you personify it is irrelevant, that energy is there and wants to connect with us again.
I find myself breaking away from books, rituals and all the syncretism of Paganism and returning to my original ways of walking “my path”, a trust in my instinct, a tree, the moon and my intuition. The mysteries are found in the land and inside myself, they are not attained by lighting the right colour candle and calling to the west, whilst burning that special incense from Starchild..........

Love and Unrest /|\

Touching the Ancestors

2009-11-03T00:13:00.012Z

Touching the Ancestors

The Coldrum stones long barrow is situated not far from the Pilgrims Way near Trottiscliffe, Kent. The monument has been dated to the early Neolithic period around 4000 BCE.
The barrow was excavated in 1912, 22 human skeletons and various animal
remains were found. Nobody has ever been sure if this was a family buried, or a chieftain with his slaves enabling them to continue to serve him.
Some of the remains where removed from the Trottiscliffe church in 1984, where they had been on display in the porch and now reside in the Maidstone Museum.

Many moons ago I wondered if it would be possible to take the remains of the people interred at the tomb back there and hold a ritual to honour their return. I do not want to have them reburied but just to have them placed inside the chamber for a short while.
So I e-mailed the curator to see if a visit would be possible.This would just be a low key visit, just to spend time with the bones and see if it felt right to continue with the project. The curator got back to me and we set a date.
On the 22nd of October I visited the remains with Kate, who is also interested in the whole idea of taking them back, arriving at 10 AM we entered the Museum and went to the reception, after a short wait we were taken to the cellar where the collections not on display are held. Feeling both nervous and excited at the same time we went down the stairs and found a table with the remains all laid out.

If there was an award for the coolest curator then I think it should go to Giles Guthrie, he was both informative and sympathetic to the reason for our visit. He allowed us to remove the bones from there bags and spend time handling them.
We spent over two hours talking and connecting with the spirit of these amazing artifacts, in amongst the bags of human remains was a collection of animal bones found in the central cist, deer, fox, sheep, ox and cat. the fox bone had been broken open to remove the marrow.

The human remains included jaw bones from 6 year old and 18 month old children, male bones showing signs of rheumatic changes in the joints and bones from the foot of a woman.
The fragment of a thigh bone which shows signs of cremation held my attention, holding it in my hand I felt a strong connection and could almost smell the fire.

Also on the table was a skull which was on display at the church, the information on this says “A skull of a man from an ancient grave (not Coldrum)".

Of the 22 human remains excavated we have only tracked down these held at Maidstone but I am currently in talks with the Natural history museum to find out where the rest could my be held, my investigations on both the internet and with Archaeological societies turned up information on a skull being carbon dated at the moment, and there is evidence that some of the finds from post world war one excavations where taken to London, but the storage was bombed during the blitz and so lost forever.
A recent article on the Female skull and the fatal wound to the cranium has been found but more investigation is needed to locate this also.

During our visit we talked about the idea of returning the remains for a ritual to Giles and he confirmed that he would support our request and had no problem at all with allowing them to leave the Museum for that purpose.
So plans are now a foot to bring it all together and the search to find the rest of the remains still available will continue.................

Love and Unrest /|\

Britain's native spirituality

2009-09-16T12:49:00.016+01:00

Shamanic Druidry : Britain’s native spirituality.

Shamanism is how religion was practiced for its first million years. Up until about 12,000 years ago, there was no other form of religion on this planet; that was how we gained access to the sacred. Shamanism is not so much a religion, as ordinarily conceived, it is a kind of pre-rational science; a methodology for attaining a certain kind of experience.
The shaman undergoes the journey of the soul and returns to heal the collective through information.The function of the shaman, aside from the acts of healing, is to teach, to lead the way for the tribe to new perceptions.
Shamans act as mediators in their culture. The shaman is seen as communicating with the spirits on behalf of the community, including the spirits of the dead. In some cultures, this mediator function of the shaman may be illustrated well by some of the shaman's objects and symbols. The shaman's tree is an image found in several cultures (Yakuts, Dolgans, Evenks) as a symbol for mediation. The tree is seen as a being whose roots belong to the world underneath; its trunk belongs to the middle, human-inhabited world; and its top is related to the upper world. Shamans gain knowledge and power by traversing the Axis mundi (in Druidry this is the Yew tree) this is done by effecting a transition of consciousness, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens. The methods employed are diverse, and are often used together. Some of the methods for effecting such trances are:
Drumming
Dancing
Singing
Vigils
Fasting
Sweat lodge
Vision quests

The use of hallucinogens :

Gordon Wasson in his book, The Sacred Mushroom Seeker said, “A shamanism that does not resort to hallucinogenic plants is a shamanism that has lost its roots” this is something I agree with in principle, but as Andy Letcher has shown in his wonderful book "A cultural history of the magic mushroom" Wasson's work is not to be taken at face value. Shamanism that is specifically rooted in the kind of experiences that are induced by psychoactive plants are not so common as we have been led to believe, and this type of shamanism is only found in South America and Siberia.
But these are not drugs but plants. It's a perversion of language to try to derail this thing into talk of drugs. There are spirits in the natural world that come to us in this way and so far as I can tell this is the only way that they come to us that is rapid enough for it to have an impact upon us as a global population,but this is an area that our society is extraordinarily phobic and nervous concerning, which has lead to the growth of Core shamanism, a practice started by Micheal Harner. This is a form of modern shamanism that can be practiced in the comfort of your home by listening to a drumming CD, whilst very effective for most people I do not find this puts me in touch with the “Logos” and brings me back to my main topic “Britain’s native spirituality”.

Today we are left with no real system to follow, but I like others believe that by using meditation, instinct and the shamanic use of psychoactive plants we can start to connect with the past and formulate a pathway back.
Animism is at the core of the interpretation of Shamanic Druidry that I follow, a belief that plants, animals and even inanimate objects have a soul.
Modern Druidry as far as I am concerned has nothing to do with the bearded white robe wearing Druids that gather at Stonehenge, or the organized groups such as O.B.O.D. It is about connecting with the places, ancestors and animals of my native land, using the spiral energies of time and the snake power buried deep within the very bones of the earth I walk upon to heal, empower and change myself and those who seek my help.
Using teacher plants and their spirits is at the very root of the shamanic path that I follow.
There are those who say that the Ancient Britons had no shamanic heritage but how could this be the case, Anthropologists all agree that ancient cultures used these techniques and though separated by oceans and continents for tens of thousands of years eventually by trial and error came to use similar practices to achieve and maintain well being and healing in their communities, so why not our ancestors ?

Love and Unrest /|\

Finding of the Path

2009-08-04T17:07:00.008+01:00

This is my tale of how I came to discover, then be guided to an awakening of my druid path by a place known as the Coldrum stones. It all started some years ago, when I had moved to Gravesend. It was a wonderful early summer afternoon and I was out exploring Trosley country park on my mountain bike, I found myself riding down a hill track towards the Pilgrims way, when I reached the road at the bottom something inside told me to ride along this ancient pathway.
Eventually I came to Pinesfields road and there, before me, was a signpost to the Coldrum long barrow, intrigued now I peddled faster. Ten minutes later I was crossing a field, I could see the tree with its offerings hanging from the branches, then I crossed over what I would later describe as the gateway into this most amazing and hallowed place.
It had been a long hot day and as I sat atop one of the burial chamber stones the warmth and energy flowed through my whole being, the love affair had begun. Even then I did not realize how important this place would be for me or how deep my connection to it would grow, it became my sanctuary, a place I would visit after busy days to relax and meditate, a place where when friends came to visit I “had” to take them there.
I started to look for information on the Internet about the site, to go there for the Pagan festivals, and to see it transformed in the different seasons. I met the Robin, the ancient guardian of the stones and whenever I arrived there he would always appear, sitting and watching me making sure of my intention. I always felt welcome there and everyone I met at the place shared the same feelings.
Soon the wheel of the year had turned and the summer solstice was upon me, I went there late on mid summers eve, squeezing my way through the overgrown bushes, the walk from the car park to the stones felt like a kind of birthing, when I reached the tree I could see three figures stood at the back of the chamber. I asked the Ancestors for permission to enter the sacred space then went to kneel in front of the mighty Beech and gave an offering of thanks for the wisdom and peace the stones had given me for the past twelve months. When I had finished I went to introduce myself to the others, one of them I felt an instant bond to, he told me his name and that he was a wand and staff maker, we started chatting and soon the other two people drifted off as more folks arrived to see the sunrise. We talked about many things, he told me there was three things I should do in the next year, he sang me a song and asked me where I thought I should sing it, I told him that it should be sung in the West Kennet long barrow which was the correct answer. One of the tasks was to find a cave on the hillside near the Coldrum stones; before we parted he gave me a beautiful Rowan staff, and gave me instructions on how to empower it.
Two months later I visited the stones on Lamas day with two friends, all day different groups of people arrived and came to talk and share our food, I asked them all if they knew of the cave, from each group I received a small part of the jigsaw, a few weeks later I returned on my own to see if I could find the place, sitting in the car park I asked to be given a sign to show me I was walking the right path. I went to the stones first to talk to the Ancestors, but never expected what happened next.
I crossed what I called earlier, the threshold; as I did so an Adder came right out in front of me and stopped at my feet, I placed my staff in front of it and she started to bite it, then climb on to the staff. I sat down and asked this wonderful creature to help me with my quest.
The snake is of course an ancient symbol of sacred wisdom and healing, the first creature to travel between the worlds and bring us the knowledge of plants and the connection to spirit, everywhere that nature and the awakened self are venerated, the serpent appears in the myths and culture of the people. After about an hour of communing with this wonderful being she slid away towards the stones, I gave thanks for this encounter and made my way towards a track up the hill known locally as “the hundred steps”, as I made my way up there the path was lined with small Yew trees, I had been told the cave was under a large Yew so this I took as a sign I was going on the right path.
When I reached the top I found a track that ran through the woods, the tyre tracks had the same pattern as the adders markings, again this was a sign I was traveling on the right track. It’s serpentine flow through the woods also made me feel like I was following the snakes wisdom, for how long I traveled on this way I could not say but soon I came to a fork in the track and unsure of which way to go I took the left hand trail, soon I was reminded of the wisdom of one of the visitors at Lammas, he was a druid from Sweden and told me that when searching for the cave if I was lost or unsure I should ask the trees, as I came around a corner I found two fallen branches crossed and blocking my way, I sat down and called to the trees to guide me. Suddenly the wind got up and started to blow the branches on the trees back towards the way I had come, I had my answer.
I returned to the fork and took the other track, after a while I came upon a tree that was rotted out and formed what I saw as a cave. Convinced again I carried on, soon the path started to twist and turn and I felt like I was reaching the head of the serpent. I had not eaten or drunk anything for two days prior to this and now was starting to feel a kind of shamanic state of perception washing over me, I felt my Nemeton blending into the forest and the spirit of everything around me. Walking on for a little further I suddenly saw a large Yew standing on the edge of the ridge line, drawn towards it I made my way through the undergrowth and as I came round the front I saw before me the entrance to the cave.
Overwhelmed by the power of this place I sat outside for sometime just soaking up the atmosphere, soon I felt compelled to enter it’s dark heart and slowly climbed down into the entrance, there was two caves, but due to roof fall one had become almost inaccessible, the one remaining cavern used to have a painting of Herne on the rear wall, but someone has hacked it off, and has a short tunnel going deeper into the hillside, I use this cave entrance as my starting point visually when taking a shamanic journey, and I know that the medicine of the earth snake is so close in this place. Working with the drum or rattle here is so intense, looking out across the Weald of Kent, the feelings of connection for me to the Cantiaci and the very soil of the North Downs are at their strongest.
So the wisdom of the Coldrum stones flows through my very veins and still today the connections and guidance continue.....
If you ever find yourself in Kent then visit this very special and powerful place and try to find the cave.
I can promise you one thing the journey is a journey in its self.

LOVE and UNREST

The ebb and flow of connection

2009-07-01T00:31:00.012+01:00

We all at sometime in our journey feel disconnected, or unable to connect to a path we feel drawn to, this leads to frustration, or questioning ourselves and our beliefs, doubts begin to creep into our minds. This is a natural reaction that we must overcome, we live in a world with faster and faster ways to get what we want and so we are conditioned to think this way about all we do, but this is not the case when we work with the Earth and her spirits.
Nature grows at its own steady pace and accepting this is the first lesson we have to learn when working with Earth religions, whether you are Wiccan, Druid or any of the paths that come under the Pagan umbrella.
Intuition is an observation, an awareness of the subtlest of energies, inside and outside of you. Know that whatever is happening outside of you; your body is mimicking and/or duplicating it inside at the same time. Trust what you perceive. You do not have to understand it. Judge none of it; just observe it.
When we judge it as right or wrong, we begin to turn down our perceptions. Slow down. Listen with all of your senses and beyond your five regular senses. Slow down to the speed that you can comprehend.Feel what the energy is like.
All living and non-living things have a vibration. Be open to the sensation of all of them. You are discovering and building a vocabulary of energetic frequencies. When you live in this kind of reality, you are no longer totally dependent on what you hear and see for information.
Perceiving the energy gives you so much more. Everyone’s abilities are different. Do not try to be like someone else. Trust your own information. Trust your own process in getting there.
For me Nature is the greatest guide there is. When I want guidance in a decision, contact with the souls of my ancestors, or solace in suffering, I wander the hills and woods of my land where I am held, rooted in the very soil, finding inspiration in the patterns of tree bark, the pebbles in a river, or the dawn mist.
Sitting inside the womb tombs, the temples of the dead, for me, is a meditation with the living Earth and the spirit of the ancestors, this is where I find inspiration.
Working with the spirit of the Yew tree is where I am remade, shattered then put back together.
Working like this, trusting in your own perceptions of events leads you deeper and deeper, till the day comes when you break through and you feel a change in that connection.When you then have a profound shift inside of yourself, you find that your awareness changes and this brings a change in reality, a kind of shift in your perspective on life. Work with this, learn to flow with the energies, draw their healing powers into you, this is “connection”, this is what we yearn to achieve when working with the Earth..........

Love and Unrest
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The Union of Magic and Nature

2009-04-19T23:31:00.008+01:00

Druidry to me is all about working with the Spirits of Place, Ancestors and Plants. Being an Animist, this is where the roots of my path are laid, and I follow my instinct when working with all of these things. Yesterday I went to the Coldrum stones before exploring the route of my upcoming series of walks, a day spent introducing people to Shamanic ways to perceive nature from a Druid perspective. I started with calling to the Ancestors whilst standing inside the temple tomb of that sacred place , working with drum and song I called to the Ancient Druids of the land to bring me vision to craft the walk and bring me the tools of nature that I needed to teach those that will attend the walk. Heading off to the woods with the songs of the land singing in my soul the omens felt right, and as I started to walk the route the magic began to flow. There is a kind of synergy that forms , a feeling that your intent joins with the natural world and starts to craft what you want to happen, like when a potter takes a lump of clay and puts it on his wheel, then what seems like nothing begins to flow with the finger tips and an object of beauty is formed. This is how the day went, round every corner was exactly what I needed, even down to the very plants and their medicine, growing right in the exact place to enhance the exercises. It's this kind of wholeness and truth that we look for as Druids working with the land to enlighten others to a way of living that has been all but forgotten, this for me brings a sense that my intention is honorable, and that those who come will leave with their hearts and souls enriched not by me but by the very land that I love, I am just there to facilitate the connection, I am just there to shine the light. This is where the Shaman and the Druid both blend into each other for me, working with stories, energies and sound to weave the natural Magic of this ancient Island we live on, and in so doing the Healing is found deep within all of us, from the Birch to the Oak, from the Aspen to the Yew. Today I feel honored to have had my foot placed on such a wonderful path........

LOVE and UNREST
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Ancient Walks in Kent

2009-04-12T09:25:00.013+01:00

This event will start early in the morning,
the meeting point will be at the Coldrum Stones.
We will perform a ritual to honour the rising Sun, after this we will head into the woods, where you will be shown how to walk in a shamanic way through the forest.

Throughout the day we will stop to perform different tasks, these will include a simple cleansing and rooting exercise, basic shamanic journeying and how to work with the different energies of trees and places along
the route.

After lunch overlooking the Weald, we will make our way on to the ancient North Downs Way.

Spending time in the ancient forest we will visit a cave used for healing and walk the paths of the Adder.

Our journey will continue until we return full circle to the Coldrum Stones, where we will watch the sunset and give offerings to the spirits of this amazing place .......

This event will be Druidic/Shamanic in
essence but is open to all.......

This will form the introduction to four more walks dealing with the different elements.

The walks will take place throughout the summer

Please contact us on ancientwalks@hotmail.com for further info:

The Coldrum Stones : thoughts on this place by Kent Druids

Sue Bouvier : Insanity or Reality

Simon Miles : A brief history

Phil Jones : Coldrum awakens my journey

Awakening to Druidism

2009-04-03T09:05:00.011+01:00

This is my tale of how I came to discover, then be guided to an awakening of my druid path by a place known as the Coldrum stones. It all started some years ago, when I had moved to Gravesend, It was a wonderful early summer afternoon, and I was out exploring Trosley country park on my mountain bike, I found myself riding down a hill track towards the Pilgrims way, when I reached the road at the bottom something inside told me to ride along this ancient pathway. Eventually I came to Pinesfields road and there, before me, was a signpost to the Coldrum long barrow, intrigued now I peddled faster. Ten minutes later I was crossing a field, I could see the tree with its offerings hanging from the branches, then I crossed over what I would later describe as the gateway into this most amazing and hallowed place. The day had been a hot day and as I sat atop one of the burial chamber stones the warmth and energy flowed through my whole being, the love affair had begun. Even then I did not realize how important this place would be for me or how deep my connection to it would grow, it became my sanctuary, a place I would visit after busy days to relax and meditate, a place where when friends came to visit I “had” to take them to. I started to look for information on the Internet about the site, to go there for the Pagan festivals, and to see it transformed in the different seasons. I met the Robin, the ancient guardian of the stones and whenever I arrived there he would always appear, sitting and watching me making sure of my intent. I always felt welcome there and everyone I met at the place shared the same feelings. Soon the wheel of the year had turned and the summer solstice was upon me, I went there late on mid summers eve, squeezing my way through the overgrown bushes, the walk from the car park to the stones felt like a kind of birthing, when I reached the tree I could see three figures stood at the back of the chamber, I asked the Ancestors for permission to enter the sacred space then went to kneel in front of the mighty Beech and gave an offering of thanks for the wisdom and peace the stones had given me for the past twelve months. When I had finished I went to introduce myself to the others, one of them I felt an instant bond to, he told me his name and that he was a wand and staff maker, we started chatting and soon the other two people drifted off as more folks arrived to see the sunrise. We talked about many things, he told me there was three things I should do in the next year, he sang me a song and asked me where I thought I should sing it, I told him that it should be sung in the West Kennet long barrow which was the correct answer. One of the tasks was to find a cave on the hillside near the Coldrum stones; before we parted he gave me a beautiful Rowan staff, and gave me instructions on how to empower it. Two months later I visited the stones on Lamas day with two friends, all day different groups of people arrived and came to talk and share our food, I asked them all if they knew of the cave, from each group I received a small part of the jigsaw, a few weeks later I returned on my own to see if I could find the place, sitting in the car park I asked to be given a sign to show me I was walking the right path. I went to the stones first to talk to the Ancestors, but never expected what happened next. I crossed what I called earlier, the threshold; as I did so an Adder came right out in front of me and stopped at my feet, I placed my staff in front of it and she started to bite it, then climb on to the staff. I sat down and asked this wonderful creature to help me with my quest. The snake is of course an ancient symbol of sacred wisdom and healing, the first creature to travel between the worlds and bring us the knowledge of plants and the connection to spirit, everywhere that nature and the awakened self are venerated, the serpent appears in the myths and culture of the people. After about an hour of communing with this wonderful being she slid away towards the stones, I gave thanks for this encounter and made my way towards a track up the hill known locally as “the hundred steps”, as I made my way up there the path was lined with small Yew trees, I had been told the cave was under a large Yew so this I took as a sign I was going on the right path. When I reached the top I found a track that ran through the woods, the tyre tracks had the same pattern as the adders markings, again this was a sign I was traveling on the right track. It’s serpentine flow through the woods also made me feel like I was following the snakes wisdom, for how long I traveled on this way I could not say but soon I came to a fork in the track and unsure of which way to go I took the left hand trail, soon I was reminded of the wisdom of one of the visitors at Lammas, he was a druid from Sweden and told me that when searching for the cave if I was lost or unsure I should ask the trees, as I came around a corner I found two fallen branches crossed and blocking my way, I sat down and called to the trees to guide me. Suddenly the wind got up and started to blow the branches on the trees back towards the way I had come, I had my answer. I returned to the fork and took the other track, after a while I came upon a tree that was rotted out and formed what I saw as a cave. Convinced again I carried on, soon the path started to twist and turn and I felt like I was reaching the head of the serpent. I had not eaten or drunk anything for two days prior to this and now was starting to feel a kind of shamanic state of perception washing over me, I felt my Nemeton blending into the forest and the spirit of everything around me. Walking on for a little further I suddenly saw a large Yew standing on the edge of the ridge line, drawn towards it I made my way through the undergrowth and as I came round the front I saw before me the entrance to the cave. Overwhelmed by the power of this place I sat outside for sometime just soaking up the atmosphere, soon I felt compelled to enter it’s dark heart and slowly climbed down into the entrance, there was two caves, but due to roof fall one had become almost inaccessible, the one remaining cavern used to have a painting of Herne on the rear wall, but someone has hacked it off, and has a short tunnel going deeper into the hillside, I use this cave entrance as my starting point visually when taking a shamanic journey, and I know that the medicine of the earth snake is so close in this place. Working with the drum or rattle here is so intense, looking out across the weald of Kent, the feelings of connection for me to the Cantiaci and the very soil of the North Downs are at their strongest. So the wisdom of the coldrum stones flows through my very veins and still today the connections and guidance continue.
If you ever find yourself in Kent then visit this very special and powerful place and try to find the cave,
I can promise you one thing the journey is a journey in its self.
LOVE and UNREST