Chapter 7 – Putting into Practice Lessons Learned

The moment I got home, I remember sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen telling my sons everything I had learned whilst I was away. When I finally stopped they just looked at me and said in unison “But that is what you have talked to us about since forever”.  It stopped me in my tracks “Really?” Slowly I began to understand what Grandmother Twylah had done with me. It had been like an electrician rewiring a house, making sure all the connections were working properly. Three quarters of my clients were thrilled, opening up about their own experiences with Native American teachings. I even had a client who was 100% Native American and had turned her back on her own tribe, coming to Europe to start a new life. Several years later she returned home and plays a very active part in her tribal community.

One of the first things that happened was I started learning everything I could about crystals with my wonderful teacher Stephanie. She has been an inspiration ever since and we still journey together integrating the spiritual and practical in our lives. I learned in depth about the atomic structure of crystals which in turn is embedded in the structure of the earth. This helped me to understand what Grandmother Twylah meant by crystal pathways. She had said that many of them were broken and needed mending, a bit like the rewiring of my brain. I hasten to add that it took many years of study and there is always more. The scientific aspect was part of my being able to understand how important it was to be grounded; like any form of electricity, without it, fuses will blow.

I immersed myself in Celtic traditions, spending time travelling around England, Ireland and Scotland. Whilst I was teaching everything Grandmother Twylah had passed on to me, I added things from these traditions too once I had experienced them myself. It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle slowly taking shape. The boys and I lived in a tiny house in the middle of Esher with a pocket handkerchief garden, but it became a teaching lodge, magically shapeshifting to accommodate workshops when need be. I developed a pattern of learn, pass on, learn. Every one learned about how animals were our teachers, which animals formed our individual totems and represented different aspects of our personality. They also learned about colours and again how they interacted with our personalities.

One day I went to Avebury on my own. Avebury is a series of three stone circles representing male and female energy with one circle where they merge. Traditionally at Beltaine, on the first of May, men and women from different tribes would light fires when it was dark, celebrate the festival and have random sex so that the different DNA’s would mix.  Along this theme there is also a hill nearby which is womb-shaped and only floods at Beltaine, representing fertility.

Here I was sitting in the main circle when a crow came, perched near me and then eyeballed me. Grandmother Twylah had done my animal totem and Crow is in the East representing  my spiritual inspiration. I knew there was something significant for me there that day. Walking into the shop I was “inspired” to pick up the book “The Sun and the Serpent” following the Michael and Mary lines. Whilst reading the book I decided to literally journey along it, on my own, to Lands End in Cornwall. As I set off on this journey I realised I was following two strands, one connected to the male and female lines in relationships and the other was about the crystal pathways and the atomic structure of those pathways as well as the node points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My travels would at times lead me to churches built on the node points or to older sacred sites/circles like Avebury itself.  Ancient tribes understood these energies and it was later passed on through hermeticism and geomancy to builders of churches and cathedrals. All over the world in different cultures this knowledge is clearly understood. Sadly it feels that this energy has eventually, over the centuries, been used to manipulate people. This enhances their feeling of awe in places of worship, not realising that it is a resonance in our own body with the pathways and node points mirrored through out our physiology.

When I lived in Rome I would feel this awe particularly when I went to the Vatican but at the same time I felt manipulated. Now I understand why. Here I was experiencing it again as I travelled down to Cornwall. However it was different this time. I did my spiritual ceremony every morning asking for protection and made sure I was grounded.  Interestingly crows were always with me.

On a clear but bleak day on Dartmoor I remember standing high up. A desolate church behind me looking across a valley to another desolate church on a hill in the distance. I could clearly see they were markers of the lines, not just churches. Further along the lines, I found myself climbing one of the stone formations on Bodmin Moor called the Cheesewring. When I got to the top I had my lunch with me – a sandwich, water and an apple. Letting the sun soak into my body, I heard a quiet buzzing and realised I had a little bee for company. It seemed like the most natural thing to do to share my lunch with the bee for he was my animal relation as Grandmother Twylah had taught me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually after days of travelling I got to the sea and the end of the lines as they continued into the water. I stood on the cliff edge,  suddenly feeling very homesick. Not for my home here but for another time, another planet. The sea had a magnetic pull to it. I had this feeling of being overwhelmed. What was being asked of me was suddenly too much. That magnetic pull became stronger as I got closer to the cliff edge, tempting. The sky suddenly darkened and I was thrown to the ground by large hailstones. As the storm passed I opened my hand, there was a clear quartz crystal. I definitely hadn’t had one with me. A little shaken, I came to a sitting position leaning against a rock for support. Holding the crystal, I renewed my contract with the Universe to be here but shouted that in order to do so I needed help. Ever since that day, I have had help and support. I haven’t always recognised it immediately but it is always there. Interestingly one of the symbolic meanings of bee is a reminder to trust in miracles. The whole time I was on this journey, it felt as if a huge wolf hound was by my side supporting me.

Part of my forays into Celtic teachings was to spend some time with a Wiccan woman in the middle of Brixton. My goodness was she fierce. I went with a friend and we would get there early, sit in the car imagining our animals and colours around us in order to protect ourselves. Only then would we enter the challenging energy. This extraordinary gigantic, occasionally nude woman covered in Celtic symbol tattoos, seemed to pick on me. At first I was quite resentful and resistant. I was transfixed by her bulk as well as her piercing eyes that seemed to strip me naked. Eventually I understood that she was knocking out any primness I was still holding on to. She taught me to toughen up basically. She also taught me to scry water, using it like a crystal ball, very useful especially as I always feel at home by water. I was also introduced to ancient writings, poetry, including epic poems like Beowulf and  ancient Celtic mythology. For a while I hung out in haunts of long haired romantic bards until finally felt I had absorbed enough and was a little wary of the overall culture including the whiff of pot and alcohol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another foray was into the psychic realms. Together with another friend we became seriously entangled with a powerful psychic teacher. She definitely was what is known as a good enemy. We saw that we were becoming dependent on her. I lost some of the growing up I had done with the Wiccan lady. Like babes in the wood, we were giving our power away to her and allowing her to control us. The seduction had been “please help us with relationship issues”.  When we started to separate from her, a battle for our freedom began. She was a good enemy because she got me to acknowledge my unconventional childhood. From an early age I was trained by the mediums at the College of Psychic Studies as my psychic energy was very strong. Once I reached puberty I wanted to be like other teenagers and wanted to forget about these particular gifts I had. Over the years they would emerge but most of the time I would block them. Since I had been to Grandmother Twylah that was impossible and this lady frightened me into valuing them again.

One day, there was a knock at the door and standing there was a gypsy in a bright blue coat. She looked like an old crinkled Madonna. Here I was mesmerised again. I had learned that the colour blue was about being teachable so I let her in. My great grandmother had gypsy blood so there was something familiar about her. She never wanted anything from me other than randomly during one of her visits she asked for a silver plated wine cooler, saying “you definitely don’t need this anymore”. She was right, I had been sober a few years by then. Not only that but it had been given to me by someone I was ambivalent about. She would turn up just when I needed her and would encourage me on my journey. Holding my hand and praying with me to trust. I am crying writing this as she was a very real comfort to me.

When she was leaving on one occasion, she pointed to a wicker plaque hanging by the front door. It was of a little white cottage with roses growing over the front and she said “soon you are going to move there”. She was right, six months later I did move to a little white cottage with roses over the front. Interestingly gypsies lived round the corner. Just before the boys and I moved, I sold some furniture and with the money I bought an Irish wolfhound called Beltaine.  As a puppy she had a lightning bolt mark from the top of her head to the tip of her tail. She was our beloved companion for many years. I am sure it was no coincidence that her father was called Merlin.