When I was invited to speak at a weekend gathering in the U.K. I put the question out to the Universe, Where shall I journey the week before? If I was going to make the long flight across the Atlantic, it made sense to extend the journey and connect with this most beautiful of countries. Almost immediately I saw a post on Facebook about Castlerigg and so it was this stone circle that called me to Cumbria, that called me to this pilgrimage.
Much of the preparation for the journey centered on researching the Lake District, where the stone circle is found. The nearest town is Keswick (pronounced kez-ick) so the cottage that stood out as the right one was only two miles from Castlerigg and outside of town, in the rural countryside.
Upon arrival at the ancient circle of standing stones, I was expecting to feel strong emotions and awe but I felt nothing….at first. The energy felt flat which truly surprised me. Nevertheless, I approached the circle with reverence and openness and began to connect with it through an inner prompting or voice.
I heard to walk clockwise or sun-wise around it twice and then enter a small sanctuary area near the largest stone. I walked three times around the sanctuary and knelt at a small, flat stone. It felt as if I was laying down everything in my life, surrendering it all…letting go. Then I exited to the main stone.
My hands then found a ledge and rested there. I dropped into silence, into meditation and soon heard, What do you desire? “To serve the light,” I whispered. As if unsatisfied with my answer, the same question arose and I repeated the answer. After I heard it a third time I paused before answering to contemplate. “To be the light,” I replied.
You are light so it is your task to be transparent and allow the light to simply be, as you are. Be your truest self, be genuine. Remove all masks and preconceived notions about who you think you should be and simply allow the light within you to shine forth.
I felt gratitude for the reminder to be myself and whispered a thank you to the sacred energies of the place. Then I heard to walk three times around the inner circle.
I began to walk sun-wise at the edge yet found my feet taking me on a spiraling path to the exact center of the circle, as if they already knew the way. I stood in silence facing the large stone and dropped once again into meditation.
Soon a vision began to arise. Two blue snakes came crawling to me and intertwined around my forearms and became blue snake tattoos on the inside of my lower arms with their tails wrapped around my wrists.
I contemplated this for a while and then walked back to the main stone and exited the circle.
After the meditations, I enjoyed photographing the circle and being present with the beauty of the area. It was later that I explored the meaning of my experience.
It felt like another dimension was experienced at the stone circle, a place where the ancestors offered guidance and support that reached from ancient times to the present. The Druid-like vision of the snakes felt like an initiatory experience. Snakes have been used as symbology for healing for millennia, the caduceus being one that has made its way into modern medical symbology of physicians–two snakes intertwined on a central staff. In ancient Celtic art, snakes are often depicted with healers or shaman holding them. In the Celtic tradition snakes are symbols of rebirth, awakening, and renewal.
Perhaps the most powerful outcome of the experience within the stone circle was the resulting conversation with my spiritual sister, Maria, who was on the pilgrimage with me. As we talked that evening it felt as if my life opened up before me and I could see the path stretching out before me in a most beautiful way.
That night as I closed my eyes I saw *children gathering in bright, warm hats around stones…running and playing and laughing. The image of a man with antlers on his head came into my mind and a great, joyful chase in the woods took me into a restful night of sleep.
It felt as if I had participated in an ancient dialogue with the sacred world. The timeless message I received was one Buddha shared, “Make of yourself a lamp.”
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Castlerigg is on a flat crown of a low hill surrounded by mountains. The stones are of local origin and the largest weighs about 16 tons. The setting of the stones corresponds to the features of the mountains around them. It is connected by a line of force between the two tallest mountains surrounding it. Two of the construction lines correspond to sun and moon positions. Because of its positioning with the sun, moon and surrounding landscape it was apparently designed as a temple. It provided an accurate solar calendar for the year and its lunar cycle tabulation helped herdsmen and farmers. It dates back to 3000 BC. (Information from Sacred England).
Long Meg and Her Daughters Stone Circle
*When we visited Long Meg and Her Daughters two days later in a field outside of Penrith, a small bus with children dressed in brightly-colored hats arrived. The young ones gathered with their teacher to learn of Long Meg’s history. It was the exact scene that arose when I first closed my eyes after the experience at Castlerigg.
It is nearly 2 a.m. as I awaken here in the U.S. but my heart is accustomed to the beat of time in the Motherland. I would be on a rambling walk through the countryside by now in the U.K. The mists would be rising along the fells, sheep would be beginning to awaken. The sun would be low in the gray sky. The chill of the frosty air would feel so fresh on my cheeks.
Foggy dawn below Castlerigg Stone Circle
For over a week I was immersed in the gentle beauty of England. Her mountains, rolling pastures, woodlands, lakes, ancient stone circles and kind people surrounded me and welcomed me home.
Snowy dawn at Castlerigg
It doesn’t matter that I had been awake for twenty-three hours and am fatigued after a nine hour flight over the Atlantic Ocean and an hour flight to the Gulf Coast and am experiencing a time warp after journeying over six time zones. Every part of my being is awake and ready to roam among ancient stone circles or greet sheep as they chew lush grass that is permanently green.
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle
I walked paths that Wordsworth and Coleridge walked, visited areas where Beatrix Potter wrote magical children’s stories and initiated conservation practices that helped preserve much of the area now known as the Lake District. If I allowed myself the freedom of regular roaming along the shores of the water and woods and mountains of the Cumbria, I am rather sure inspiring and enchanting words would pour from my pen in the style of Wordsworth and Potter.
Long Meg and Her Daughters Stone Circle
Whispers of the Ancient Ones echo within as I reflect upon the otherworldly pilgrimage experienced with my spiritual sister and friend. Conversations with Companions from a weekend retreat, that closed the journey, still weave a web of light around me. My orange tabby Stanley lays in my arms as I write while my beloved Buddy dog is curled against me on the blanket. They feel the fullness and lingering energies of this most amazing journey.
Ancient Horn Beam Tree
Invasions by Romans, Saxons, Vikings and others have perhaps instilled into the collective unconscious of the people there a maturity of spirit, a way of being civil and gentle with each other and with strangers. Every person I met was helpful, generous, supportive and kind. I miss that kind of civility and maturity on this side of the Pond. Our nation is like a spoiled, young teen in comparison.
Applethwaite Village
The individual journeys and experiences will be told over time but for now, in the afterglow of it all, I feel profound gratitude for the embrace of a land and people that welcomed me home as one of their own.
Maria and me in Sunkenkirk Stone Circle
My heart beats in sync with the land through ancestral ties and already longs to return and feel the ancient stones vibrate their wisdom and the land embrace me as a daughter. From magnificent caves to snow-covered mountain tops, from villages much older than the country in which I reside and stone circles dating back to 3500 BC, I traveled the path of a pilgrim–open to hearing and learning the lessons given by magical Britain, my Motherland…home of my spirit.
It was nearly 4 a.m. when I awoke. I glanced up and Orion was shining through the skylight so I repositioned myself and laid directly under it. For over half an hour I gazed into the Hunter constellation and then moved downstairs for yoga practice.
I lit a candle in the cottage window and put on a playlist I enjoy and began my practice. The elemental energies of the hills, valleys, meadows and caves seem to fill the space as I opened myself to the beautiful spirits.
Afterwards I enjoyed a cup of tea and reflected on the wonderful hike yesterday in a bit of sleet with a few flakes of snow drifting around in the wind. My excitement and appreciation were deep as I was guided up a muddy hill to two sacred caves. The energies were so strong and the beauty exquisite.
After writing in my journal, I dressed for freezing, windy weather.
Then I took a walk up the driveway to the tree planted near burial cairns. The rural, quiet, pastoral places of England call so strong to my soul. Here I feel so peaceful and ‘in’ myself and could see myself living here–I come alive here. The Ocean is home to me and where I find my work but if I must come up for air and walk on two legs, then I cannot think of a place that calls me more strongly than rural England.
Later my friend Maria and I drove up from Strattfordshire near Butterton to Applethwaite near Keswick. It’s near the border of Scotland and is called the Borderlands. It’s the Lakes District–the home and inspiration of William Wordsworth, a fellow birthday celebrant and lover of nature.
Wordsworth walked these mountains and enjoyed the magnificent scenery. They inspired his poetry that has been inspiration for hundreds of years. He is the romantic poet that most-calls to my wild heart.
Sacred places are such gifts to those who take the time to slow down and listen to their wisdom, their beauty. They don’t speak in words but in long sighs of the wind, in rippling water as it cascades over rocks, in snow as it softly falls against dried leaves, in magnificent vistas that cause us to sigh with wonder.
Let us remember to pause and reflect upon nature…and listen. The Ancient Ones are calling.
Day dawned dark with news from afar;
Darkness gathered and shadows grew.
My grief and I put on our boots
The stones spoke—ages, wars went by:
The peace of snow and ancient times
