Chapter 9 – Stone Circles and Whirlpools
Following our encounter with the angel, as the winter was finishing, I ended up in Australia for my father’s death and my time with the Aboriginals which I wrote about at the beginning of the book. When I came back, I realised that I needed to teach everything I had learned in a more focused way. I discovered that I could get a teaching qualification over a two year period and decided that I would use shamanism as the focus. The definition that I used was “nothing exists in isolation and everything is interconnected”. An added bonus was that the course was in Guildford under the umbrella of Surrey University and close by.
Because my qualification in humanistic psychology was from the same University, I was accepted right away. The first day was about introducing our subject which, along with other students, we wrote on a large piece of paper for all the tutors to see. I overheard two of the tutors talking as they looked at the list. One of them sarcastically said “oh my goodness, what on earth does that mean? Shamanism? I suppose we must have some hippie here.” For a nano second I wondered what I was doing there. Needless to say a few minutes later I was sat opposite this particular tutor. Yes, she was going to be my tutor and my heart sank like a stone!
Before she had a chance to question me, I looked her straight in the eye and said “ I am what you are assuming is the hippie”. Interestingly she had all my qualifications and resumé in front of her. Although she looked a little surprised, she certainly didn’t apologise and for the first year gave me what I perceived as a really hard time. Over that year I had numerous teaching visits from different tutors depending on the subject matter at the time. Towards the end of the year, she came on her first visit. As she was leaving, she commented that considering the topic my students were of an extremely high calibre of intelligence. Fortunately I was also on my own territory, keeping my anger in check, I pointed out that I found her remark very patronising – naturally they were extremely intelligent, why would they not be? However, I thought I had probably alienated her even further.
After a meditation about her and the course, it suddenly dawned on me that she went through everything I wrote with a fine tooth comb, encouraging me to be as clear as possible as well as very professional. I altered my attitude towards her and I managed to thank her at the end of the first year, more importantly let go of my judgements. The second year she was even tougher, but I realised she was now on my side and that of my students. Thanks to her rigorous approach they all produced amazing portfolios. My shamanic course was approved and became the basis of the teachings at The Cottage. (*Outline of the course is at the bottom of this chapter.) Grandmother Twylah’s parting words had been “Go home, connect with your world and integrate these teachings into that world”. Not only had I done that but encouraged my students to do the same.
Apart from being a full time mother, a psychotherapist and teacher, I continued to learn by travelling when I could. Sometimes I went alone, sometimes with the children – at the time mainly in England, Wales and quite a bit in Scotland. During one trip over a long half term, the boys and I followed a trail of stone circles. I had been inspired by a book called “In Search of Stones” by the famous Scott Peck and wanted to do something similar.
Castlerigg Stone Circle
We started in the Lake District with the Castlerigg Stone Circle which dates back to the Neolithic period and is about 4000/5000 years old. An amazing feat of megalithic astronomy and geometry. What struck me the most was the 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape. From there we went through the highlands becoming totally immersed in the journey, spotting solitary standing stones on the way. They were like signposts leading us to one of the most moving stone circles I have been to. It is in the outer Hebrides and is the only stone circle aligned with the moon that I know of. It is called Callanish. An Eagle was waiting for us on a gate post at the entrance and eyeballed us in a very determined way. Time seemed to vanish as we became integrated in the energy of the circle. The otherworldly landscape added to the nurturing and, at the same moment, confronting energy. I still dream of Callanish and its moonscape even now.
Callanish Stone Circle
We spent the night on Harris. Up until now we had stayed in comfortable but simple B&B’s, however for some reason I had treated us to a slightly more upmarket one. After winding our way through a landscape that felt very wild and how we imagined the moon might be, here we were literally in the middle of nowhere. A solitary imposing grey stone building looking straight out of a horror movie film set. Maybe the stone circles, the lunar landscape and absence of people was firing our imagination. The door was opened by a very tall and thin man, lugubrious of course.
The inside of the house was immaculately expensively furnished and super spotless. We were politely received and informed that we were the only guests plus dinner would be served promptly at 6.30. We cleaned ourselves up as best we could, and went into the dining room where we just gawped at the baronial table, yes I gawped too not just the boys. The table was groaning with food and apparently this was just the first course – the boys couldn’t wait to tuck in. Especially after quite a few days of picnics and simple fare.
At some point Leo started to laugh, nudged Avrum, pointedly looking at something, and now they were both shaking with laughter. The more I asked them why, the harder they laughed. I realised they were staring at the top of the door, which I assumed led to the kitchen. Leo dropped something on the floor and bent down tugging me with him. He managed to tell me to watch just above the door and we emerged back from under the table. Suddenly I saw a small hole where I was looking and there was an eyeball flicker. That was it, I joined in the laughter tinged with a frisson of fear. Had we landed in a Stephen King story?
We noticed that every time we finished a course, the door miraculously opened and plates of fairly rich food would be replaced and others cleared away. We started to test the eyeball flickers with the entrances and exits of Mr. Lugubrious. Finally an array of deserts appeared such as trifle and chocolate pudding. I couldn’t eat another thing but, as only growing boys can, they demolished the lot. Eventually, with difficulty, I managed to extract them as they were enjoying themselves too much to leave the combination of delicious food and entertainment.
The boys had a room next door to mine and they slowly calmed down. With a sense of premonition, I reminded them to be very careful in their immaculate room. I was just getting off to sleep when Leo and Avrum appeared at my door. Avrum looked very green saying he felt sick. In a bizarre panic, I grabbed him by the waist, barked at Leo to open the window wide, and thrust Avrum’s upper body out the window. He promptly threw up his entire supper. We all collapsed on the floor laughing like complete lunatics. My laughter was partly from relief that the rooms were still spotless. Utter madness. I then looked up at the sky and realised I had held him directly in a moon beam with Venus nestling by its side. “What better place to sort Avrum out as both these planets ruled the stomach” I mumbled! Between giggles the boys muttered “yeah Mum”. After all we had come from a stone circle aligned to the moon.
Needless to say, fear still prevailed and we all slept on the floor by the window surrounded by towels. There was no way I was going to risk any accident in the room. We packed up early, grinning like three naughty monkeys and, after a hasty breakfast trying very hard not to look in the direction of the kitchen, we left. Fortunately our host did not follow us out, as to my horror dripping down the side of the portico were tell tale signs of the previous night’s exploits, my room had been directly above the front door, and I definitely prayed for rain.
Well it didn’t rain and it was a beautiful sunny day. We found a deserted bay and the boys played on one of the most enchanting beaches I have ever seen. It could have been in the Caribbean with white sand and turquoise sea. They certainly deserved to be “boys” again after our sliding back in time and weird interlude the previous night. We finally resumed our journey south. There were rainbows everywhere we went, which is quite common there, but they too seemed to act as signposts as we made our way back to England. We ended up at Arbor Low in the Peak District. Another fascinating Neolithic stone circle in the middle of a farmer’s field. Arbor Low is like a fulcrum from which burial mounds spider out and other smaller prehistoric circles, like the Nine Ladies Bronze Age one.
Arbor Low
By this time all three of us felt we had learned so much about stone circles. Most significantly, as we had seen at Castlerigg, how important it is to look at the outside landscape from within the circle. They are not just for meditating at their centre but they are compasses from which to study our environment. The boys had been so good during the trip that as a treat we went to Alton Towers on the last day and the magic carpet ride now had a totally different meaning. I had a suspicion that Alton Towers was built on a node point but of course that could be my imagination!
A few years ago in Ireland with my youngest son and his family, I intuitively led them up a hill and through a bog until we reached a delightful stone circle overlooking Bantry Bay. My son looked at his children and said laughingly “this is what we do with Nana” and so the tradition continues.
Another trip to Scotland that I took, this time on my own, was still in search of stone circles and a much needed sense of sanctuary, time to reflect. I found myself at Kilmartin Glen like a homing pigeon. It is an area in Argyle, not far from Kintyre, known for being one of the most important concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains on the Scottish mainland. There was a feeling of familiarity and I immediately fell in love with the Temple Wood circle which had been used before 3000 BC. Part of a complex site, it was used till 1000 BC for ceremonies and funerary rituals. I spied a spiral on a nearby stone which suddenly linked me back to the grave art I had seen in Ireland.
Temple Wood
My head was buzzing with connections and with relief I found a small B & B on an island near Kilmartin and Dunnad – the home of ancient kings. Over a peaceful supper the owner told me of another island close by where monks from Ireland had lived in beehive dwellings of stone and that in the sea there were whirlpools. No wonder my head had been buzzing. Now my whole body came alive when he spoke of whirlpools and I asked if I could go there. He said it might be possible. The next day a man with a boat said he would take me after lunch and we would have all the time we needed. As we went out to sea I felt more and more alive, and always safe. The boatman explained that a whirlpool is created when two tides meet at different levels, and different speeds. This happens where the shelves of the land beneath the sea are also different and sometimes there are deep holes. The winds can affect them too.
He took me to the monks’ island first and said I would have to jump off the boat. I tried twice unsuccessfully then remembered to pray and landed safely . . . . I had not been afraid of the sea, but of falling down the side of the boat onto the rocks and perhaps being crushed by the boat. I felt immediately free as my feet touched the island and I scrambled over the rocks, heading straight for the beehive building I had spotted. I explored inside but kept being drawn to a tall stone standing alone outside the ruined hive. I felt the energy of the stone in my heart and saw beauty everywhere, whereas before I might have seen a harsh existence and the isolation that sometimes comes before despair. But there was peace and serenity and the stone was like an anchor giving me time to completely understand the Universe – the whys and wherefores of it all. No wonder monks came here. I sat down with my back against the stone as ancient wisdom seemed to flood my being. After a while I spied the boat and I waved at the man. He came back to the island. Jumping back on board I felt as if a transformation had taken place, a healing of some kind.
I was very at ease and safe with the man as we journeyed on the sea, observing the animals on the islands – particularly deer, I didn’t know that they could swim! Then I sensed a change, a different energy close by. As I looked out at sea I saw a ridge of water and before I knew it we were there, by the ridge. Then we were surrounded by a gentle wall of the sea growing taller, the whirlpool. The centre of the Universe, chi, the source – beyond peace, serenity – bliss . . . beyond any form of turmoil. The little boat, yes it really was small, gently turned with the spiralling water, the man and I were back to back. I watched from the centre as the wall kept rising in front of me, knowing I was safe – beyond danger – at worst I would get wet, which I did. The man said that sometimes the wall was 30ft high but today it was just over 20 ft, although it towered over us. He explained his boat was safe because it was the right boat – I knew in my heart this was true. I felt suspended in time with a sense of pure wonder, then suddenly an incredible sensation of power beneath my feet. I became aware of the man again as he watched the spiral, put the boat into full throttle and we surged through the wall of water into the calmer sea the other side. Nonchalantly, he asked me about my sojourn on the island and I spoke of the stone – he said most people didn’t notice the stone and he gave me a knowing look. I glanced behind me, the whirlpool had disappeared.
When we landed, we smiled, the man and I. I thanked him and knew I would return to this experience many times in my mind, feel the sensations in my body. Even writing this, my body is reliving the experience.
A while later I really began to understand the whirlpool as I saw conflict build up within a group. Different tides coming in at different speeds, building a wall, this time of frustration and anger. I felt my own frustration and anger within the group, I had joined the wall. I prayed and asked for help – and was told to speak my truth. I spoke from my heart and my words were calm but impassioned. The self-centred fears disappeared as the centre of the whirlpool was found. Then I saw how sometimes in conflict one of us waits for the tide to change, hoping for the whirlpool to disappear while another person tries to get out of the spiral of conflict by putting their symbolic boat wilfully into throttle without a sense of the bigger picture. Sometimes if we wait for the tide to turn a storm can brew up and sometimes the boat is not strong enough or it may not even be the right boat. If we allow ourselves to go into the centre together, especially back to back so eventually we see exactly the same as each other, we will know what to do, sense the right timing and experience the bliss of resolution together.
Who was the man? Why did I feel so safe? What was it that I was afraid of? Was it to do with the sea but not the sea itself? Why is the ferryman so often depicted as dark? This man was kind and gentle – his boat was small and strong. He knew about the stone, going there first, and he understood the forces of nature that created the whirlpool. He respected the wall of water and had chosen his boat carefully – he loved his boat. He knew the journey well and therefore I was safe – I trusted the man. I could see and understand what he saw. There were no secrets, just islands for me to explore. . . .
It is true, I was not afraid of the sea itself. I was afraid of the force of the sea when it connects or collides with something else. The force of the sea within me is the potential of my impassioned feelings – my essence, my core, and yet I can be afraid to allow them to be seen. This in turn can prevent me from connecting with other people.. Perhaps no more, for now I understand that this is what creates the whirlpool and if I allow myself to be taken through the wall to the centre I will find bliss – for in the meeting of the tides, the door is opened to the source and beyond.
Stone Circles have so much to teach us and always seem to point me in the direction I need to go in and still do.
* Outline of the Shamanic Course
First of all studying the meaning of shamanism, nothing exists in isolation and everything is interconnected
The meaning of Colours
The meaning of Animals, literally and symbolically
Learning the significance of the above in our everyday lives
Applied kinesiology and the 5 elements
Learning about the physical body, how it works, relevance of different parts of the body and what they symbolise
Studying our environment and different landscapes from a shamanic point of view
Consolidation looking at all the above together and how they dovetail to create a whole
Disciplines needed for self care as we go about our daily lives using our intuition and instincts efficiently
Group Dynamics
Learning about crystals, provenance and how they interact with our environment
Learning about sound
Examining your personal spiritual beliefs
Commitment to learning more about all the aspects of the world around us including the planets
Significance of Vision Setting
Specific case studies including research and bona fide provenance
Meaning of different types of energy we encounter and the importance of protection
Codes of Ethics
Values, Boundaries
Feng shui
Significance of medicine wheels, stone circles and sacred sites
Influence of Past Lives/DNA
The significance of different seasons, principles of sweat lodges and Vision Quests
Reiki Healing
Tai Chi or similar practices
