Horse Drum

Ceremony of dedication

Marcus and I had planned to take a week away from home - a holiday week with no agenda.

While buying crystals, I came across a rather special Quartz, and after some deliberation - because it was rather expensive - I decided that I needed to buy it. Although it is very beautiful, it didn’t feel that it was a personal acquisition. It sat in my kitchen for a day or so until Joanna said that she wondered if it was something to do with the sacred work with the planets and earth grids - the piece of work that Marcus had started to write about. He said it was about grounding the energies of the Jupiter - Saturn conjunction at the winter solstice.

The crystal sat in my kitchen until one day it shouted at me, “Well are you just going to leave me here then?” It was much happier outside.

 
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Marcus realised that during the week we were planning to be away, Saturn was going to turn direct on the 29th September and Pluto on the 4th October, and that it would be good if we could take the crystal to the Michael-Mary line crossing at Avebury to introduce the crystal to the work. In some ways, this was a dedication, but I hesitate to use the term crystal dedication since it implies a human choice for the crystal. This crystal already knew its purpose. It was up to us to realise and support it.

We didn’t have much time to make a plan and, since we were not planning to shoot grouse, we were limited to a gathering of 6 people. So we decided to call our dear friend Sheila and go ahead with the three of us - and anyone else who happened to be there.

On the way up the M5 there was a terrible accident and we sat in a traffic jam for 5 hours. During this time, Sue had a look at the book Marcus had brought along - The Spine of Albion by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare. In it she read about the statue of Belinus in Bristol, so we decided to go in search.

 
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It was such a beautiful day that we decided to sit in the sun and drink coffee at one of the many cafes. We chose one that didn’t have a loo, and we were directed to one in a market nearby. I got a bit lost, but in doing so came across a stall with a glass case with Mexican Day of the Dead skulls. I’ve often wished that I’d brought home some of these from Mexico, so I bought two. As the man wrapped them, I had a feeling that they might be part of the ceremony.

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We drove to Avebury and met Sheila with her beautiful drum and set up at the crossing point of the Michael-Mary currents between the two big stones in the south quadrant. I placed the crystal and Seren took up a guard position. As I placed the skulls, Marcus said that they were to bring in the energy of the Plumed Serpent that passes through Mexico. This is the male counterpart to the Rainbow Serpent that we know as the Michael-Mary line as it passes through England. You can read a bit about the Rainbow and Plumed Serpents here.

We focussed on our brow centres (Jupiter) and root centres (Saturn) along with the tip of the crystal and the base as it sat on the Earth. I played the Koshi Chimes of the 4 elements, Marcus played the Horse Drum, Sheila played her beautiful mother drum and Seren guarded the ceremony.

It was beautiful and amazingly powerful - much more than any of us had expected. We had thought it would be a gentle preparation!

As far as we are aware at present, the next ceremony will be for the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in November. We’ll keep you posted.

 
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Interesting times and Crystal Grid for Jupiter Pluto conjunction

I can’t believe it is over six months since my last blog post. How time flies and how much happens that we never imagined!

Towards the end of last year, Marcus became certain that we needed to work with three Jupiter/Pluto conjunctions during 2020. You can read more about this here. We’d planned to hold a workshop on Saturday 4th April to prepare for ceremony on Sunday 5th. Now all has changed and are adapting and learning how to do the work that needs doing in a different way.

My task was to enable the crystal grid to manifest and, as usual, this happened in it’s own time. The beginning came with the last new moon. Although it was a spring new moon - so holding the energy of new beginnings to the power of 2 - it felt much more than that. I had a strong feeling of something very big, very powerful and transformative happening. It was the very beginning of our time of retreat and so our usual New Moon Women’s Circle would not be meeting, but I still felt the need to respond to the energy by ‘creating’ the grid below.

 
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This very beautiful egg was insistent on being at the centre. It is lovely gemmy Rose Quartz with a mystery inclusion and I found it hiding away when on a shopping trip some years ago. It has lived in my home but never been ‘out’ or in any grids. I think the inclusion is Pyrite, but I’m not absolutely sure. The egg shape holds the energy of both new beginnings and huge potentials within. So here we have Rose Quartz, a very loving, nurturing energy, holding Pyrite within. People often say that Pyrite is grounding but this isn’t my experience at all. To me, Pyrite is the spark of life - active, creative, initiating.

Surrounding that is Moldavite. Now I’ve only chosen to engage fully, truly, deeply with Moldavite twice in my life, and both times have precipitated huge change - not necessarily the change I might have anticipated or wanted. I hesitated but it was insistent, so I released hesitation and moved into trust.

Next came the 36 Preseli Bluestones that hold the outer boundary - surrounding, grounding, protecting and connecting with the Ancestors of this land. After this was a pause and I left it for a while.

Later came lovely slices of Petrified Wood for ancient Earth Wisdom and Ancient Ancestors, then Emerald for abundance and joy. Between these ‘rows’ were three Moonstones - white, peach and silver/black - the triple goddess. When ‘creating’ crystal grids, I do not choose the stones for their ‘properties. The stones that need to be part of the Crystal Being that is manifesting make themselves known to me. When it is done I can think of what energies they hold and contribute to the whole.

Gently holding, within the Preseli Bluestones, were the soothing energies of 6 raw, unpolished Moon/Girasol Quartz and 6 raw, unpolished Manganocalcites.

The beautiful Chevron Amethyst skull, Layla, that travelled with us last year asked to be close by. She was joined by Liliana, the Rose Quartz skull who joined us in January, and small Preseli Bluestone and Sarsen Stone skulls and dragons.

I stretched beyond my comfort zone and experimented with a very small online New Moon Women’s Circle. I was completely amazed at the power! We could really feel one another and the energy of the crystal grid. Building on this success, and because of the limits to social contact we are currently experiencing, we decided to meet at first and last quarters as well as New Moon and Full Moon - for individual, personal support as well as holding the Divine Feminine to balance the Whole.

Between New Moon and first quarter Marcus was reminding me that we needed the crystal grid for the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction. Absolutely nothing was speaking to me and I had the strong feeling that it wouldn’t be possible until I had ceased holding the focus as we moved towards the First Quarter. When I went to ‘create’ the grid for our First Quarter meeting on Wednesday, it required no changes at all. The egg feels very so potent and powerful at this time and I’ve encouraged all the sisters to hold the image/energy of a sacred egg and feed it with love as we move from the old ways/world into the new.

On Thursday I sat in the crystal barn and asked what was needed. The Rose Quartz egg, Moldavites and Preseli Bluestones were to stay, so I removed all the other crystals and waited while looking at the astrology chart of the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction. (Marcus’ Blog)

Some years ago we created Planetary Crystal Packs with four crystals for each planet. How this came about is another story that Marcus has written about in the current book. We’re hoping that this time of isolation enables its completion. Each of the four crystals holds an aspect of the planetary energy. We needed some of these crystals in this grid, but didn’t want to approach it from a mind place.

The first crystals to come in were these lovely polished Labradorite ovals. They are beautiful quality with fabulous colour. Sure enough, they were one of the four Jupiter crystals. So then I started to think about Pluto and placed Black Obsidian tumblestones, but they felt wrong. I thought of other possibilities but nothing else felt right, so I looked in the Earth cabinet and found that I had exactly 6 of these lovely Black Obsidian eggs. Placing them felt just perfect and very powerful. It was time for a rest for me and time to let the grid settle.

 
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Next came in Kyanite - beautiful blue blades of pure connection but also clearing blockages, cutting through and away any dross. Kyanite is in the Pallas Athene pack.

In came the tiny Citrine skulls that have been present in many grids in recent times. You can see them in earlier blog posts. Citrine was in two Planet Crystal packs - Sun and Pallas Athene.

Next came Peridot, Golden Labradorite and Dream (Green) Quartz. Peridot is in the Ceres pack; Golden Labradorite is in the Chiron pack and also helps us to connect with the Spirit of the Sun; Green Quartz is in the Venus packs and Chlorite included Garden Quartz is inthe Ceres Packs. Also, since this retreat time is a perfect opportunity for us to spend time on focussing our dreaming of a new Earth, Dream Quartz is just perfect. It was time for another settling time.

After a break I called Marcus in to look at and feel the grid. He loved it, which is always nice 🙂
With Marcus sitting in the crystal barn with me, the rest came quickly and I forgot to take photographs as it grew.

First came the beautiful Green Petrified Wood, to be placed close to the outer Preseli Bluestone ‘container’. These hold the ancient wisdom of Gaia. Next were some tiny Red Garnets that had been calling to me earleir. These brought the energy of Mars to sit between the Petrified Wood. Between the Dream Quartz and the Garnets came in Rose Quartz hearts for Venus, Earth, Ceres and Juno. I had 6 beautiful clear bright Ametrines that had been calling strongly. These aren’t in any of the packs but were insistent on being present.

Marcus asked about Saturn and in came 8 beautiful Mookites. You can see these Mookites in an earlier blog 25 September 2019. We also added more Golden Labradorite to create a beautiful circle with those already placed and the Peridots.

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It felt so beautiful, and we thought it was complete. I started to tidy away, but as I was putting the Moonstones from the earlier grids away, I realised that there was no Moon energy in the grid, yet the moon was very obvious to me (not an astrologer!) in the chart.

 
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Moonstone did not feel right at all. Instead I placed Selenite and the whole grid changed. It was beautiful before, but the addition of the Selenites brought in a cool, light energy. Below is the completed grid with candles lit.

We are focussing on this now in preparation for ceremony tomorrow. Please join us if you feel called to do so.
Here is the link 💚🌍💚

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The joys of Spring

Spring is my favourite season. Since working consciously with the Wheel of the Year, I’ve learned to love the special qualities of all the seasons, but Spring remains the best for me.

My absolute favourite time of year is the lush fertility of May. To me, there is nowhere on Earth more beautiful than the Tamar Valley in May - but this early spring brings the exciting gift of emerging growth and the promise of things to come.

On Wednesday evening, a small group of us meditated together to mark Spring Equinox and the Full Moon. Because the Equinox was in the week, we had decided to hold a Spring Ceremony at the weekend and following the absolutely lovely Children’s Ceremony we held at Winter Solstice we decided to invite the young ones in our community once more. What a delight it was!

We gathered in the Crystal Barn to open our circle. The altar had been created that morning and the children had been invited to bring two items – one that holds the energy of spring and one personal item. I love the joy of these altars. We had teddies and dolls and dragons and all manner of precious treasure joining daisies, bluebells, bulbs and seeds. We passed the talking stick, sang, drummed and rattled.

It is so very special to see children who, only a short time ago were too shy to speak in the circle, now confidently holding the talking stick and sharing their thoughts. Two girls, one of whom was just two when she first came to ceremony with her mother, are now among the older ones and they took responsibility for smudging everyone before we began.

In the winds last month, the lovely bunting that was made last year by Linda, Annie and myself blew away. Instead of making more bunting, I’d had the idea of painting prayer flags and so invited the children to do this. Each time we have had a children’s event, we’ve worked with the Elements, and this was the theme of their creations. They also made a flag to take home, enabling the recently pruned willow to be put to good use.

I had thought that Spring Equinox would be the time we made felt for the Horse Drum bag, but clearly that wasn’t to be since events unfolded that prevented it happening. He was, however, insistent on being on the Altar along with his lovely drum bag strap.

At the New Moon ceremony on 6th May, dear Dee arrived with a Peruvian belt. She’d been going through some possessions and had had the strong feeling that she needed to bring it and give it to me. As yet I have no idea why the Horse Drum that is part of the work with our land should have a Peruvian belt . . .

From New to Full Moon I had been intent on making the drum bag. With Full Moon/Eclipse I realised that what we actually needed to do was more work with our new Ceremony Circle.

In 2017 my lovely vegetable and herb garden was completely destroyed as it was necessary to dig out the leat that runs by my house. 25 years ago the National Trust did a typical penny pinching botch job that had led to quite a serious problems, so although the mess and noise and disruption was pretty appalling in this normally peaceful spot, it was good that the situation was being addressed at last! And there has been something very cleansing and healing about opening the space/water flow ‘right down to the bottom’.  

At the same time, a new, flat, south facing patch of land had become available to us – a much better spot for vegetable growing. Also, it had become clear that quite a few of our community members were finding it increasingly difficult to make the trek up to the sacred circle in the woods. So we decided that when the holes were filled and the grass growing once more, we’d create an additional, more easily accessible, ceremony circle.

The very first step came when I was offered the 4 Directions poles following a beautiful women’s moon gathering I attended. They were stored, with the intention of placing them to hold the Directions in our new circle.

From May to August they rested in the barn. In August we shared some very special and powerful ceremonies in Stonehenge and at the Hurlers, and I woke up the morning after the New Moon with the feeling that it was time for the next step!

Helen, Linda, Sheila, Marcus and I meditated together in the Crystal Barn to discern the way ahead. We chose 5 Preseli Bluestones from the crystal grids and altars we’d been working with, and an extra stone for Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Spirit. Marcus measured the circle and we planted the crystal seeds. Throughout this time we had been blessed to have the ‘loan’ of dear Paddy’s magnificent Preseli Bluestone bowl – a very special Being who has now been part of many ceremonies on the land. With seeds planted, we left the circle to ‘bed in’ through the autumn and winter.

As ‘my plans’ for creating the bag for Horse Drum faded, the thought came that it would be wonderful to take the next step of creating the Circle with the children – Spring energy and the beautiful energy of the children. I created small bags of crystals with each containing a Preseli Bluestone, a Rose Quartz and a tiny Herkimer Diamond. With a small fire in the middle of the Circle, the children planted their seed crystals in the ground. (They also got to choose one to keep!) Anwen started in the East – because she’d just had a birthday – and when the circle was complete, we joined hands and sang together.

It feels so special to be involving the young ones in community events. They bring such a beautiful, joyous, curious, playful energy. In the evening, a small group of adults sat in the Crystal Barn to connect with Spring energy in a quiet way. As we sat in silence, the whole place seemed to hold the echo of the bright energy from earlier.

We wish you a happy Spring and Summer to come, and hope your dreamseeds become manifest.

If you would like to see more ceremony photographs, including some from last summer’s events - mentioned above - please go to our Heaven & Earth Community Facebook page


I appear to be writing a blog!

I can’t quite believe that I am actually writing a blog post, but it appears that I am! For years now, people have kept telling me that I should write more. It has never been something that I feel particularly drawn to but over the past few days I’ve had several nudges from Spirit. Apparently it is about weaving in more energies, so here goes . . .

Marcus and I and a group of fellow travellers will be making the first of a series of Sacred Journeys in September. These journeys are all about our Sacred Land - Britain. You can read about why we are doing this: www.heavenandearthcommunity.co.uk

In all our work there is an initial spark which is usually related to Marcus’ work with astrology and/or earth energies. The seed is then sown, but how the process will unfold is a complete mystery until each part is revealed. Very often we do not understand the significance of particular events or experiences at the time until more pieces of the jigsaw reveal a clearer picture. There is always a gathering and a weaving. Sometimes pieces aren’t revealed until the very last moments – frequently in dreams the night before a significant event or even in the shower that morning. We have learned to trust!

At the weekend we were at the Healing Light Festival – a small, friendly, heart-centred, Cornish event that takes place 3 times a year. It was very busy and I didn’t move from the stall except to make necessary loo trips. These took me past Ros Simons’ display of gorgeous drums. Every time I passed by, I was drawn very powerfully to one drum, so much so that I was finding it hard to keep from being distracted by its presence. I really don’t need another drum. I have my precious drum that I made about 15 years ago. This was long before people spoke of ‘birthing’ drums, but the following day I remember saying that it felt like I had a new baby. I’ve spent much time with that drum, learning together, and we are now old friends.

Also, in the past year I have been focussing strongly on releasing and clearing, and I absolutely do not want to buy anything just from personal desire.

By Sunday I needed to touch the drum. He – definitely he – felt good, but I still didn’t understand the connection. He is from horse skin, with a deer bone handle and woven onto a green wooden circle. I read the label. Tales of the Chalk. Could this be something to do with our journey to come? I started to feel the beginnings of the inner vibration that alerts me to something of significance. Jon asked if I’d seen the paintings inside. White Horse! Moon! Stonehenge! The vibration increased and the room began to shimmer.

The drum is not for me; it is for the journey! We need it for the journey. I showed Marcus and he agreed.

Ros came back to find that we had decided to buy the drum. I told her what we needed it for and she started to tell the tale of bringing him into being. There had been many knowings and unknowings – knowing that things were right but not knowing why – trusting and following the threads. She also said that she was very uncomfortable painting or drawing, and usually didn’t do this unless people had specifically asked for this in a commission. She was happy that she had followed her dreaming.We agreed that she should keep the drumstick for a while, since more work was needed now that we knew the path it would take.

Ros asked if we needed a drum bag. I feel that the creation of the drum bag will involve many hands and be part of the unfolding journey, so when it came time to leave I had to find a temporary wrapping. The only item that could give suitable physical protection, in the van with all the crystal boxes and stall, was a soft pink blanket that we had taken for the healing couch. As I lay it down and picked up the drum, I heard the words, ‘You aren’t seriously planning to wrap me in that, are you?’ He reminds me very strongly of Ezekiel, my special personal crystal, who ‘speaks’ in a similar voice and tone. I’m afraid I did wrap him in it, with a promise that I’d unwrap him as soon as we were home, and that I’d start dreaming in an appropriate bag right away. This is in process.

He is already calling strongly. I feel that even without yet being played, he has begun to draw the work in - pulling the threads of our Journey closer. He is now in the Earth corner of the Crystal Barn. I await the next instructions.

Meanwhile . . . we came home ready to prepare for Imbolc, which we will celebrate with a Crystal Labyrinth and Sound Healing Ceremony. We last held this ceremony at Samhain 2016 and I wanted to hold another at Samhain last year, but it became clear that the time wasn’t yet right so we postponed until now.

Imbolc is the time of the returning Light and the Reawakening of Earth and is dedicated to Brigid (Bride, Breed, Brigantia, Britannia). She is the Sun/Fire Goddess of inspiration and creation, associated with both the hearth fire and also blacksmiths and their creative work with earth and fire. She is also a Water Goddess who is honoured at many sacred wells; goddess of fertility and birth, protector of mothers and children; She is a mediator, a goddess of vision and harmony and of strength and healing. The name of our land - Britain - is derived from her name.

We like to use Preseli Bluestone in our crystal labyrinths, to link with the ancestors of our island. Last week I realised that I was quite low on stocks of this stone, so ordered more. As I was unpacking today in preparation for our Imbolc Ceremony, the shimmering began. I remembered our seed bundles from the Winter Solstice Ceremony that hold our dreamseeds for this year, including those for the Sacred Journey to come. They will be physically planted at Imbolc (or when Winter Goddess retreats a bit more!) and energetically planted in the Imbolc Ceremony. It is all being woven. Some of the Labyrinth Stones will stay with us to come to future ceremonies and eventually travel with us on our Journey; some will go with the people who join us this weekend; all will unfold in time as we begin to understand more. And the new Drum will be present at our Imbolc Ceremony as the story unfolds and the energy gathers and weaves.

Finally, as I was taking photographs of the Preseli Bluestone, I noticed that there was one tiny stone that was different. As I looked closer, I saw that it was a little piece of Charoite.
To me, Charoite is a powerful healer that works at deep karmic levels, thus enabling us to work for the highest good of all. I’m going to pop it in the Drum’s little medicine pouch.

 
 
 
 

Heaven & Earth Community: www.heavenandearthcommunity.co.uk

Healing Light Festival: www.thehealinglightfestival.com

Ros Simons: www.ros-simons.co.uk

To read about Preseli Bluestone:
Preseli Bluestone: Healing Stone of the Ancestors by Sue and Simon Lilly
ISBN 978 1905454082