Sacred Earth Magic Lesson Seven

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M Y S T E R Y S C H O O L

A Path to Higher Consciousness

through the Arts of Sacred Magic

_____________________

A COURSE IN SACRED EARTH MAGIC

LESSON SEVEN

Our native folk tradition . . . blows through his soul like the wind on high-places;

it drives over him like the waves of the open sea;

and his heart leaps to it like the springing leaping flames of the living fire;

for by the dusk of his fathers he is kin to the elements of his native land,and by the road of his childhood dreams he approaches the Keltic contact. – Dion Fortune



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Sacred Earth Magic

Lesson Seven

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

1. READING AND STUDY

The Element of Air

Spirits of Air

The Secret Paths of Faery

Magic of the Winds

2. INNER WORK

Pore Breathing

VisionJourney I: Kingdom of the Air Spirits

VisionJourney II: The Shimmering Paths

3. PRACTICUM

Sacred Dance

Sacred Sound

4. IN THE GREEN WORLD

Working with Air, Wind and Clouds



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1. READING AND STUDYREADING AND STUDYREADING AND STUDYREADING AND STUDY

THE ELEMENT OF AIR

The lightest of all the elements, Air is pure, unbounded movement. Circulating through the living

universe, it gives us life from the moment we first draw breath. Since it is invisible, we experience Air

through the motion of other forms: leaves blowing in the wind, butterflies zigzagging from flower to

flower; the flight path of a soaring bird. We also sense the presence of Air in the gentle sound of the

wind chime and the howling of a winter’s gale. Because it is mysteriously formless and inhabits the

higher regions of Earth, religions throughout the world have used Air as a metaphor for Spirit. The

early Greeks believed that Air was infinite and divine, the principle from which all things come into

being, and regarded Air as the breath of the world. In Judaism, the word Ruach can mean the element

air, breath, wind, or the voice of God. In the Book of Genesis, Earth comes into being by 'the wind (or

breath) of God hovering over the face of the waters.' A few chapters later, Adam and Eve are aware ofGod’s presence in the garden of Eden as the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. And in the New

Testament, Jesus uses the notion of wind to describe the mystery of Spirit:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst

not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the

Spirit. (John 3:8)

The British Druids spoke of the spirit of ‘Awen,’ a state of ecstatic inspiration which was seen as a gift

bestowed upon them by the goddess Ceridwen. It is sometimes translated as the ‘spirit of prophecy,’

because to be filled with Awen made the Druid seers utter the secret knowledge from the world where

time does not exist and so all things can be known. In medieval times there was a class of Welsh seers

known as Awenyddion, who, when consulted, fell into a deep trance in which prophetic utterances

streamed forth from their lips. Awen was the inspiration of the Bards, who revered Ceridwen as their

Muse. In the story of Taliesin, (recounted in the first course in this series) Taliesin drinks the elixir of

Awen from Ceridwen’s cauldron and undergoes an initiation process where he dies and is reborn, upon

which he speaks in streams of inspired poetry revealing a vision of cosmic consciousness.

Many traditions worldwide consider the soul, or essence, of an embodied being to be composed of Air.

The Latin anima also means both soul and breath, while in Irish this becomes anam, soul, related to

anal, breath. In Greek, soul is psyche, a word still used in modern Greek for the butterfly. This winged

creature has been a symbol of the soul as far back as ancient Egypt, for just as the butterfly emerges

transformed in beauty from its cocoon, so the soul leaves the confines of the body for a freer existence

in the realms of spirit. When someone died in pre-modern Scotland, the family hoped to see a golden

butterfly hovering over their body, on its way to everlasting happiness. In Wales, white moths were



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seen as the souls of the dead taking a last farewell of the earth. When a moth fluttered around a candle,

people said that someone was dying, and the soul was passing.

Within the human being, Air is equated with the mental plane. It is the free flight of our thoughts and

ideas, the wings of the restless intellect and the soaring of inspiration. Like the breezes that blow, our

ideas are constantly in motion, changeable and evanescent. They are just ‘hot air’ until they are seized

upon by the will (Fire) and crafted by the imagination (Water) and finally put into action to become

manifest in the physical world (Earth.)

Air rules everything to do with breathing, speaking, hearing, thinking, communicating, learning, and

memory. Because it presides over the eastern quarter of the Wheel of Life, Air is also associated with

inspiration. In fact, the word ‘inspire’ literally means ‘to take in Spirit.’ The Greek Muses were said to

be sylphs because they gathered around the minds of the dreamer, the poet and the artist and inspired

them with the beauty of Nature. Another aspect of Air is the spirit of change. Like the gentle breeze,

Air teaches us to ‘lighten up’ and not to get so bogged down with earthly concerns. It teaches usdetachment and objectivity, as we learn to see things from a higher perspective. We talk of the ‘breath

of fresh air’ and ‘winds of change’ that bring exciting new energy into our lives.

SPIRITS OF AIR

In the Three Worlds, the Spirits of Air manifest as the following:

Kingdom Type Form

OverRealm Archangelic

Planetary

Raphael

Mercury

MiddleRealm Elemental Devas of Air

Sylphs

UnderRealm Chthonic The Sluagh, or Faery

Host1

Sylphs

The name ‘sylph’ was coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century to describe the elementals of Air.In fact, they are the Intelligences behind all movements within the airy skies, from arctic gales to

gentle summer breezes. They are responsible for the circulation of all the winds that sweep over and

1 Although faeries are generally described as living in the UnderRealm, they are often seen in flight through the air.



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around our planet. Some ancient texts describe them actively fashioning clouds and shaping snow-

flakes. Because clouds carry water, and the seas exhale moisture upwards into the atmosphere, sylphs

work very closely with the undines, or water elementals, to create the weather patterns of our planet.

The ruler of the sylphs is called Paralda, whom the ancients regarded as dwelling on the highest

mountain of Earth.

The vibratory rate of the sylphs is higher than that of the other

elementals, and they have a graceful, refined appearance. They

can assume human-like shapes, but, in keeping with the

changeable nature of Air, they tend not to stay in any form for

long nor linger in any one place. They are constantly on the

move: on warm summer days, appearing mercurial and joyful,

flitting, twirling and spinning with perfect fluidity of motion,

like aerial ballerinas. But in high winds, they can appear as huge

winged forms, wheeling about the skies, whistling and shriekingwith a fierce exultation. In Scotland, these were called the gath-

an-dubha, or storm riders. And they can also become the

terrifying and inexorable giants that usher in storms, hurricanes

and tornadoes, sweeping across the land, ruthlessly destroying

everything in their path. Their continual transformations are

beautifully depicted in a children’s book by the Victorian

Scottish author, George MacDonald: At the Back of the North

Wind, where North Wind appears in many forms from a little girl

to a great goddess whose mighty presence fills the heavens.

Geoffrey Hodson describes the sylphs he saw with his

clairvoyant vision in the North of England in 1921:

Reveling in the force of the wind, high up in the air, sylphs are to be seen. They are

rather below human height, but quite human in form, though a-sexual. They are

disporting themselves wildly in groups of two and three, traveling at great speed across

the sky. There is a certain fierceness in their joy as they shriek to each other, their cries

sounding like the wild whistling of the wind . . . At first sight they appear to be winged,

with a pair of magnificent white pinions attached to their body from the top of the

shoulders and reaching down to the feet . . . Pale rose and pale azure blue predominatewhile the radiance of many hues plays continually about their heads. A group of three,

which I am watching, presents a most spectacular appearance. As they wheel and fly

across the wide arch of the heavens, the bright colourings flash forth with extreme

A Sylph as seen by GeoffreyHodson



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rapidity . . . The faces of these creatures of the air are like strangely beautiful but fierce

human females: strong, vital and controlled in spite of their apparent reckless abandon.

They appear to travel, with the speed of light, great distances, of ten to fifteen miles in a

moment of time. . .2

Sylphs take their commands from the mighty Devas of Air, angelic beings who dwell high up within

the Earth’s atmosphere, and who were probably the source of the conventional image of angels as

winged beings playing harps in the clouds.

Faeries in Flight

“O heart the winds have shaken, the unappeasable host…” – Yeats

Although many faeries live ‘within the hollow hills’ of the Earth, some races prefer the tops of hills

and mountains, and for all kinds, it might be said that air travel is their preferred mode of

transportation. The Reverend Robert Kirk, the Scottish minister who wrote extensively about the faeryrace in the 17

th century, described how they have ‘bodies of congealed air’ and ‘swim in the air near

the earth.’3 The poet, W. B. Yeats wrote about the Irish faeries in flight in a lyrical poem, The Hosting

of the Sidhe:

:

The host is riding from Knocknarea

And over the grave of Clooth-na bare;

Caolte tossing his burning hair

And Niamh calling Away, come away:

Empty your heart of its mortal dream.

The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,

Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are agleam,

Our arms are waving, our lips are apart;

And if any gaze on our rushing band,

We come between him and the deed of his hand,

We come between him and the hope of his heart.

The host is rushing ’twixt night and day,

And where is there hope or deed as fair?

Caolte tossing his burning hair,

And Niamh calling Away, come away.4

2 Hodson, Geoffrey. Fairies at Work and Play. Norwich: Fletcher and Son, 1972, p.84

3 Kirk, Robert. The Secret Common-Wealth. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, Ltd. 1976, p. 50-1.

4 Yeats, W.B. Selected Poems and Two Plays. New York: Macmillan, 1962, p. 20.



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The Host was very well-known in Scotland, where they once could be seen riding through the night

skies straddling hemp-stalks, pea-straws or ragwort stems for horses. They not only rode with their

own kind, but might lift up any human beings who happened to be in their way. A typical account

concerns a nobleman from Morayshire in the 16th century, who was walking near his house when he

heard the cry, “Horse and Hattock!5” which was a charm the faeries used when traveling from place to

place. The bold man repeated the cry, and the next moment found himself lifted into the air with the

Host, who carried him off to the wine-cellars of the King of France, where he enjoyed himself mightily

before his inevitable apprehension. He was brought before the King, who took no action against him

other than presenting him with the silver cup he was using to drink from, said to be a family heirloom

ever since.

Sometimes a supernatural ‘faery wind’ heralded the arrival of the Host. This is a strange gust of wind

that blows in certain conditions on summer days when the air is otherwise calm and still. In south-west

Ireland, the advice was given: “When an eddy of wind and dust reaches you, you should take off your

hat and say, ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good evening,’ for fairies are in the sideán or fairy blast.”6 Peopletook steps to protect themselves against faery abductions, so they would not end up like Tam Lin, the

eponymous hero of the well-known ballad, who met with this fate:

When I was a boy just turned of nine,

My uncle sent for me,

To hunt, and hawk, and ride with him,

And keep him company.

There came a wind out of the north,

A sharp wind and a snell; And a deep sleep came over me

And from my horse I fell;

The Queen of Faeries took me

In yon green hill to dwell.7

This wind was known in the north-east of Scotland as “a furl o’ fairies’ ween,” (wind) while in the

Hebrides it was called the “Wind-puff of the Host.” In these islands, an unwitting person might be

lifted up with the faery band and carried off to another island or to the summit of a distant hill. Stories

of faery flights from island to island in this part of the world are so numerous as to make a ferry

5 A hattock is a Scots dialect word for a shock of standing sheaves of corn, the tops of which are protected by two sheaves

laid along them with their bottoms in contact in the centre, and their heads slanting downwards, so as to carry off rain. 6 Lewis Spence. The Faery Tradition in Britain, London: Ryder and Company, 1948, p. 67.

7 Childe, Francis. English and Scottish Ballads, vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1857, p. 120.



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Odin's Wild Hunt, by P.N. Arbo, 1872

service seem unnecessary! On the Isle of Tiree, for example, a plowman was suddenly whisked into

the air, leaving horse and plow in the middle of the field. He strolled into town later that evening with

his jacket over his arm, and told astonished neighbors how he had visited the islands of Coll and Skye

with the faery host, a trip he seems to have enjoyed very much. He gave the townspeople news from

the other islands which was shortly proved to be true, leaving no doubt as to the veracity of his tale.

From that time on he was known as ‘Black Donald of the Faery Throng.’

The Wild Hunt

In some accounts, the airborne spirits are

the lost and wandering souls of the dead.

It was believed that the air of Scotland

was also the realm of the souls of

unbaptized infants, known as taràns who

were doomed to wander through the air

until Judgement Day. Sometimes theseunfortunate ghosts were seen among the

train of the Wild Hunt that sweeps

through the skies on stormy winter

nights. This great cavalcade of the dead

is found in folk-belief throughout

Northern Europe. At its helm rides an

illustrious huntsman, who in northern

areas may be Odin or Woden, in Wales

Gwynn ap Nudd, the King of the Faeries,

in England, Herne the Hunter or in later years, the Devil himself. In Scotland, the riders appear asghostly hunters with hawks on their hands riding westward on the wind towards Tìr na h-òige, the

Land of Youth, and Tìr fo thuinn, the Land-under-wave, followed by the spirit greyhound, cu gorm.

King Arthur himself was often seen at the head of the Wild Hunt, as a spirit of the wind. As an old

Scottish rhyme puts it:

Arthur o’ Bower has broken his bands

And he’s come roaring owre the lands,

The King o’ Scots and a’ his power

Canna turn Arthur o’ Bower.

In the north of England, the unearthly sound of wild geese overhead was believed to be made by the

yelping of the spirit hounds known as Gabriel’s Ratchets, or hunting-hounds, sniffing out the spirits of

the newly-dead. But the goose is a spirit-creature of the air in its own right, one of the magical steeds



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upon which Arctic shamans rode on their visionary flights. And the Germanic goddess of the Dead,

Frau Holda, the original Mother Goose, rode her bird through the wintry skies of Northern Europe

where its drifting feathers became the falling snow.

THE SECRET PATHS OF FAERY

The last lesson introduced the subject of ley-lines: currents of etheric energy that stream through the

Earth’s crust, which are harnessed by geomancers and practitioners of feng-shui, who direct the flow

for human usage. In this section, we are going to take a look at another aspect of leys – as ‘spirit roads’

that parallel the ley-lines on the surface of the Earth, and which the faeries use as their flight paths.

These pathways often connect well-known faery haunts in the landscape, such as hills and ring-forts,

and pass over certain bushes and trees held as sacred to the faeries, such as the hawthorn. Until quite

recently in Ireland, people took care not to build their houses on a faery path, as this was bound to

cause problems. As Patrick Kennedy, a 19th century Irish folklorist wrote:

It is known that the hill-folk (the faeries), in their nightly excursions, and in visitsof one tribe to another, go in a straight line, gliding as it were within a short

distance of the ground; and if they meet any strange obstacles in their track,

they bend their course above them or at one side, but always with much

displeasure.8

To make sure the site was not on a faery path, the builder set four piles of rocks or four rods on the site

and left them overnight. If they were found to be undisturbed in the morning, building could proceed,

but if they were fallen or scattered, a new place must be found. If a house was built on a faery path,

and its doors or windows were aligned on it, these had to be left open all night for the faeries to pass

through. Those who ignored the faeries’ pathways might suffer the fate of one Paddy Baine, who waskept awake all night by tremendous disturbances in his new house, which seemed almost about to fall

down around him. On consulting a local wise woman, he learned that one corner of his house jutted out

onto a faery path and would have to be removed to appease ‘the good people.’ This was duly done, and

Paddy was troubled no more, except that, at times, a fierce gust of wind would blow around that

corner, even when all was otherwise still.9

Faeries used these invisible pathways at specific times of the day and year: the threshold or “thin”

times betwixt and between one cycle and the next – cracks in time when the gates between our world

and the invisible world were open. These were at noon, midnight, dawn and dusk: times when the

skilful might work magic, while the fearful took steps to protect themselves from any spirits that might

8 Quoted in: Devereux, Paul. Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads, London: Vega, 2003, p.45

9 McManus, Dermot. The Middle Kingdom. Bucks: Colin Smythe, 1979, p. 102.



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The Fairy Glen at Knocknarea

wriggle through the gap. Even more powerful were the four Fire Festivals of the year: Samhain

(Halloween), Imbolc, (Candlemas) Beltane (May Day) and Lughnasa (Lammas.) These ‘Quarter

Days,’ which fell on the first of November, February, May and August respectively, marked the

doorways in time when the gates to the Otherworld opened wide and the faeries flew to new dwelling-

places for the duration of the seasonal cycle, ushering the energies of the new tide into the Earth.

Sometimes humans were witness to these ‘faery rades,’ (rides) such as an old woman from southwest

Scotland who recalled this incident that happened when she was a girl, sitting with a friend under a

faery hawthorn at dusk one Beltane eve:

“We had not been sitting long beneath the hawthorn-bush when we heard the loud

laugh of people riding, with the jingling of bridles and the clanking of hooves. We

jumped up, thinking they would ride over us. We thought it must be drunk people riding

to the fair in the evening. We gazed around, and saw it was the Faerie Ride. We

cowered down till they passed by. A beam of light was dancing over them more bonnythan moonshine. They were a wee wee folk with green scarves on, except for the one

that rode in front, and that one was a good deal larger than the rest, with bonnie long

hair bound about with a band that glittered like stars. They rode on lovely little white

horses, with great long sweeping tails, and manes hung with bells that the wind played

on. … Marion and me were in a broad meadow when they came past; a high hedge of

hawthorn trees kept them from going through Johnnie Corrie’s corn, but they leapt over

it like sparrows, and galloped into the green meadow beyond.”10

Some of these faery paths can still be walked. When Yeats wrote

about the Hosting of the Sídhe, he was referring to an old legend ofKnocknarea, the great hill sacred to Queen Maeve in County

Sligo. The Sídhe traditionally gathered at the foot of the hill in

what has always been known as the Fairy Glen, then they rode

along the glen and up to the top of Knocknarea.

Roads of the Dead

Some ley lines seem to have been used as ‘Corpse Roads,’ known in

Holland and Germany as Doodwegen, (Death Roads) and

Geisterwegen, (Ghost-roads). The remnants of these can still be

found in many parts of the countryside. They generally led tothe churchyard in which the corpse was to be buried, and the

trackway was marked with wayside crosses. But they also

10 Translated from Briggs, Katharine. The Vanishing People. New York: Pantheon, 1978, p.44



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Parc y Meirw: The Row of the Dead

marked the ‘virtual’ or invisible paths

along which the recently departed souls

began their flight from the Earth plane

to the spirit world.

Some hint of a tradition much older

than the date of the church would

indicate, such as the Parc y Meirw

(Row of the Dead) in West Wales. One

end of the path is at a church, now in

ruins, and a holy well. It then follows a

line of Neolithic standing stones, a few

of which can still be seen buried in the hedgerows and now used as gateposts. Although the track

cannot be followed for much longer, it clearly heads for the summit of Mynydd Dinas, one of the

peaks of the sacred Preseli hills where there are many ancient remains. It is said to be haunted, andcertainly has a strange otherworldly feel, even on sunlit mornings. At the ‘thin’ times of the year, the

Wild Hunt were sometimes seen riding down these roads of the dead, driving newly departed human

souls before them.

Feathered Cloak and Broomstick

Faery paths could also be used by men and women who were trained in the art of the spirit flight. Paul

Devereux, in his seminal book on the subject (see footnote 5) explains how all the straight ‘mystery

lines’ on the landscape in the Americas, such as the famous Nazca lines in Peru, the ritual roads of

Costa Rica, and the Mayan Indians’ ‘white ways’ of Mexico were most likely used by the indigenous

shamans of these regions. The tracks generally traverse areas of ceremonial significance, such as altars,vision quest sites, sacred mountains and caves. Often they pass through areas where rocks are painted

or carved with winged figures and the geometrical shapes associated with shamanic journeys induced

by hallucinogenic plants. The Kogi shamans of Colombia have described traveling along their straight,

stone-paved paths in trance, for they consider these roads to be the physical counterpart of the spirit

paths of the Otherworld. In the southwestern region of North America, elderly 19th century shamans,

interviewed by anthropologists, described ‘invisible threads or cobwebs stretching though the air’11

joining sacred mountains where the spirits dwell. Shamans traveled along these aerial paths on the

trance journey, seeking supernatural power.

Although no evidence survives, it is likely that many of the ley-lines in Northern Europe were used asspirit roads, particularly the inexplicable stone rows found on Dartmoor in Devon and at Carnac in

Brittany, and the earthworks known as cursuses, which are found at many Neolithic ritual landscapes,

11 Devereux, Paul. Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads, London: Vega, 2003, p.64.



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such as Stonehenge and Avebury. But there is plenty of evidence of trained magical practitioners

flying through the air for spirit journeying, much of this coming from traditional witchcraft. The

Druids of ancient Ireland took the spirit flight clothed in a costume of feathers, called the énchennach,

or bird-dress, which enabled them to fly like birds.

In Cornwall, the famous witch, Madge Figgy, rode

out across the sea cliffs on a ragwort stalk, just as

faeries are wont to do. She had most likely

embarked upon this out-of-body journey by using a

magical ointment containing various psychoactive

plants such as datura, belladonna, mandrake and

henbane, used by witches throughout Europe. As for

the broomstick, this probably had its origins in

northern shamanic traditions. In Siberia, Buryat

shamans made the spirit flight astride a horse-headedstick which symbolized their magical steed. In

ancient Scandinavia, the witches’ airborne cavalcade

was known as the ‘gandreidh,’ gandr being the Old

Norse term for the magician’s wand or staff of

power. The popular notion that witches rode

through the air on their brooms failed to understand

the symbolism of a magician’s ritual tool used for the spirit’s flight through the inner planes.

MAGICAL WINDSThe Celtic Druids were skilled in the arts of raising and stilling winds. Irish tales describe powerful

Druids calling up winds to scatter the ships of invaders or casting a cloud over the land to confuse their

enemies in battle. In later times, these arts were carried out by folk magicians for the benefit of sailors

and fishermen, who depended greatly on favorable winds. On the Isle of Man and in Scotland, sailors

consulted certain women who were known as ‘wind merchants.’ These women used a kind of cord

magic, in which they confined a wind in three knots in cord or yarn. When they needed a wind, they

untied a knot. The first knot induced a breeze; the second a gale; and the third a hurricane.

Hidden away in obscure texts and folk customs are the remains of a whole body of Celtic wisdom

concerning the magic of winds. These were considered to be twelve in number, each one having its

origin in one of the compass directions. In Scotland, the points of the compass are called the airts, and

each was assigned a different color and influence for good or ill. The color refers to the quality of light

present with each wind, which, although quite subtle, has been borne out by recent research in different

Detail from a 14th church muralat Schelswig, Germany



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countries.12

The winds that blow from the four cardinal points are the most significant.

The Four Winds of the Airts

East Wind

The purple wind or Corcur, (pronounced kor-kur ) of the east, the place of the rising sun, is considered

to be a gentle wind that ushers in fair weather. It is good for fishing and makes crops grow tall. To be

born when the east wind blew meant a prosperous life to come, to be ‘laden with gold’ as an old verse

puts it. During an East wind, the quality of light can range from a very pale bluish-scarlet to a soft

bluish crimson to a delicate violet-purple. The winds of the East carry with them fresh new ideas, light,

illumination and inspiration for creative progress. Their negative poles bring chaos and wild

scattering.

South Wind

The white wind, or Geal, (pronounced gyal) of the South, the place of the noonday sun, is a bright,

radiant wind, which illuminates all that is obscure, mysterious and unknown. It influences dreams,

second sight and prophecy, the making of music, and can bring flashes of insight. It brings good

weather, for, as the old Scottish saying goes: ‘Wind from the South, fruit on trees.’ A baby born under

a south wind ‘in his house shall entertain/Bishops and fine musicians’ according to an old rhyme.

During a South wind, the light can be softly glowing or dazzlingly bright. The winds of the South open

the heart for love and communication to flow, bringing everything to full bloom. Their negative side

brings either too much or too little moisture resulting in withered crops and enervation.

12 Studies initiated by Jean Popescul Wright, author of The Twelve Winds of the Ancient Gaelic World. Halifax, Canada:

Cano-Chesapeake Publishing, 1997.



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West Wind

The dun, or yellowish, wind from the West, known as Odhar, (pronounced oar ) may signify a rich

harvest, or as the Scots saying goes: ‘Wind from the west, fish and bread.’ As it comes from the place

of the setting sun, it was thought to be an unlucky wind to be born under, for it has more to do with the

influence of the Otherworld, which is often located in the west. Yet learning and the attainment of

wisdom all benefit under this wind. During a West wind, the quality of light can range from a pale,

wan, dun color to a rich golden hue. It is sometimes known as ‘the wind of the pale rider.’ The winds

of the West help to release holding patterns and sweep away what is old or no longer needed. On the

negative side, the powerful winds of the West can destroy all in its path.

North Wind

The wintry black wind of the North, known as Dubh, (pronounced doo) is a stormy, dangerous wind

that brings snow and ice, blights growing crops and endangers crops and animals. Yet it fosters

qualities of strength and endurance for those forced to go into action under its influence. It is the leastfortunate wind to be born under, presaging a life of struggle. One practical reason for this may be

found in the discovery by Scottish women that their breasts gave less milk under this wind, as did

those of their livestock. A Scottish rhyme declares: ‘Wind from the north, cold and flaying.’ The winds

of the North energize and infuse everything with power and courage, but negatively can freeze and

howl with malevolence.

A beautiful poem by Scottish mystic, Fiona MacLeod, is based on a traditional blessing of the Four

Winds:

Rune of the Four WindsBy the four white winds of the world,

Whose father the golden Sun is,

Whose mother the wheeling Moon is,

The North and the South and the East and the West:

By the four good winds of the world…

Be all well

On mountain and moorland and lea,

On loch-face and lochan and river,

On shore and shallow and sea!



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2. INNER WORK 2. INNER WORK 2. INNER WORK 2. INNER WORK

PORE BREATHING

This powerful breathing exercise is designed to charge your body with the vital energy of the

element Air. It can be done before any kind of inner work and is also particularly helpful if practiced in

the early morning in order to energize you for the day ahead.

Although you are breathing in the normal fashion, the essence of the exercise is to visualize yourself

breathing in and out through the pores of your skin, as if your entire body is involved in the act of

breathing.

1. Breathe in and out deeply to a rhythm of four beats for the inhalation and four beats for the

exhalation.

2. Visualize the element of Air going in and out of every pore in your body. You may find it helps

to envisage the Air as a fine pale golden mist. The mist circulates and fills your entire body

from head to toe, coursing through your veins and arteries, permeating every organ, soaking

into the marrow of your bones and entering every cell. See flesh and bone as porous through

and through, like a sponge. Feel the air wafting gently through the depths of your being,

nourishing every cell from within. See and feel it cleansing and purifying your entire body,

exchanging anything that is sluggish, stale or impure for fresh, stimulating and invigorating

energy.

3. Do this exercise for at least 15 minutes. If you feel a little dizzy afterwards, be sure to ground

by stamping your feet vigorously.

VISIONJOURNEY I: KINGDOM OF THE AIR SPIRITS

Preparation for the Journey

Place your altar in the East, or if this is not possible, position yourself on the East side, facing it.

Light the candle, sit down, ground and center.

Do the fourfold breath.

Perform the Circulation of the Fire exercise.

Chant the elemental vowel sound for Air: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (rhymes with tea). On the ending of

each note, let the air whistle through the sides of your teeth with a wind-like sound.



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The Journey

Begin by doing the Pore Breathing exercise as shown above. After you have done about twenty rounds

of inhalation and exhalation, see the golden mist surround you like a pale airy cloud of light. Then pass

through this portal and find yourself standing once again by the shores of the lake, looking over to the

Isle of Gramarye. Merlin is waiting for you, and you greet each other. He tells you that he is here to

help you cross over to explore the Kingdom of the Air Spirits – the Sylphs. He raises his staff and

points towards the water. From the tip leaps a silver flame which shoots out to become a narrow

bridge of light. You cross over, feeling your body become more light and free with every step you

take. On the other side, you enter the woods and make for the east side of the island. Soon the trees

give way to a broad grassy upland ridge over which a steady wind blows, sweeping your hair back and

invigorating you. You seem to hear music in the wind – the piping sound of flutes, and you know you

must be nearing the Kingdom of the Sylphs. Soon you are stepping lightly onto the highest point of the

ridge, where the landscape is spread out below you, fading into the blue horizon. Here the ground

flattens out to form a kind of dancing lawn, and a circle of Sylphs are dancing joyously in the wind to

the music of the flute.

One of them, larger than the rest, glides swiftly out of the dance to meet you. This is Paralda, a wispy,

elongated figure with eyes like slanting moonbeams, all clothed in iridescent garb of opal and

moonstone that shimmers and flows about him like shot silk. A white star glimmers on his forehead.

You must humbly introduce yourself to him and ask him, in Merlin’s name, to allow you to meet with

him and his people; to show you around his kingdom and to learn about the work they do.

If you are allowed to proceed, try to absorb and remember everything you learn about them and their

work with the element of Air in their world and in our own. In return, ask them what they need from

you as a representative of the human kingdom, and see if you can lend your aid.

When you have both finished, give thanks and return in peace across the bridge of light. If you choose,

you may spend more time with Merlin, during which you can ask him to clarify or add anything that

you have learned here. Return to your own world through the Cloud of Light. Do this journey a

number of times – you will find that your knowledge and understanding of the element of Air will

grow considerably.

VISIONJOURNEY II: THE SHIMMERING PATHS

Start by doing pore breathing, as shown above. After about twenty rounds of inhalation and exhalation,

see and feel yourself enveloped in a luminous cloud of light. The cloud of light is edged with gold, asif rimmed with sunlight. This forms a protective sphere of light about you that will keep you safe on

the journey you are about to take.



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Feel your body become lighter and lighter until it floats above the room. Feel yourself effortlessly

floating through the roof and looking down over your neighborhood. Float even higher and watch more

of the landscape reveal itself far below. As you hover in your cloud of light, looking down on the

world, begin to notice a network of threads of light shimmering over the landscape. These are the spirit

paths or faery roads in your region. You may see many criss-crossed threads or just a few. Take a look

at one or two and see where they begin and end.

Within your sphere of light, float out onto one of these paths and notice if it looks or feels different,

once you are on it. Then, as long as you feel comfortable doing this, travel down this shimmering path

to one or more of its destinations. Notice anything or anyone that you encounter along the way.

Return the way you came. Make sure you are fully back in your body, then dissolve the cloud of light.

If you live in an area where there are well-known ley-lines or sacred sites, you may plan your journey

along them in advance. If you do an unplanned journey, and find yourself at sacred sites you were

unaware of, check your astral experiences out on a geographical map later for correlation – you may be

surprised at what you find!



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3. PRACTICUM 3. PRACTICUM 3. PRACTICUM 3. PRACTICUM

SACRED DANCE

Every culture in the world that has (or had in the past) a living spiritual tradition recognizes the

power of movement and sound to induce a state of heightened awareness. The whirling dances of Sufi

dervishes, the flowing grace of the Hawaiian hula, the processional dances of initiates on their way to

Eleusis, the dramatic temple dances of Bali – all are designed to bring worshipers closer to Spirit. This

is something too often ignored in modern Western spiritual and magical practices, which have been

influenced by centuries of Northern European Protestantism with its suspicion of sensuality and

distaste for the free movement of the body.13

Yet it is a fact that dancing was an integral part of early

Christian worship. In a Gnostic text from the 1st century C.E., Jesus invites his disciples to dance with

him after the Last Supper:

I will to play on the pipe - dance, all! Amen.

The Dodecad 14

Above dances in time! Amen.

Whereon the whole begins to dance! Amen.

He who does not dance knows not what is going on! Amen.

He who dances understands what I am doing . . .15

Gnostic scholar Stephen Hoeller comments on these lines:

The soul must dance, or be active in a corresponding way, with the Great Dance,

in order to know, or attain, true Gnosis. Knowledge of the Great World can onlybe attained when the man has abandoned his self-will and acts in harmony with the

Great Happenings.16

Circle, or round, dances played a part in church services all through the Middle Ages, performed in the

naves of many of Europe’s great gothic cathedrals. This is often not realized because today these large

areas are covered with chairs where the congregation remains seated throughout the service – the

thought of coming to church to dance would be considered unforgivably bad taste by the vergers!

In today’s post-modern world, most English-speaking countries have lost or forgotten their native

13 Even Protestantism had its exceptions in the case of several “low” sects such as the Shakers and the Welsh Methodist

Jumpers.14

The Twelve, i.e. constellations of the Zodiac15

excerpted from http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/library/gs.htm 16

ibid.



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dance traditions, most of which had their origins in sacred practice. How, then, do we reinstate sacred

movement and dance into modern magical practice? One solution to this has arisen from the Sacred

Circle Dance movement, which originated at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland in the 1970s. Sacred

Dance includes dances from many countries which are simple enough for beginners to do, and which

focus on the spiritual meaning of the dance. They emphasize dancing as an expression of the deepest

aspects of life, of the dancer's relationship with the Earth, the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the

connection with the Divine. The dances are danced in a ring, holding hands, around a simple shrine

consisting of, for example, flowers, a candle, and a silk cloth. In this, you can clearly see the basic

symbolism we have been working with throughout this course: the circle around the sacred center. This

powerful archetype is given extra power and significance in that movement is added to the symbolism.

A circle of dancers represents so many things, including the willingness to put cooperation before

individualism by moving in an agreed manner (which, however, also allows for individual style!), and

the creation of a pattern of harmonious movement that aligns us with the natural cycles of the cosmos.

In many folk dances, the steps are not only made around the edge circle, but the dancers also surge intothe center and out again. This reflects the way we live our lives in the outside world, but must turn

towards the sacred center of all things to connect with our Source. Some dances move in a spiral

fashion, so, rather than simply contemplating the sacred symbol of the spiral, we can experience bodily

the symbolic import of moving from the periphery of life into the sacred center, then out again; or

moving from life in the outer, manifest world to the unknown, inner darkness of death and being

reborn into life.

In its most basic form, dance is a way to connect with the turning of the planets, the round of the

seasons and all other natural cycles on Earth. Not surprisingly it tends to be used most in seasonal

rituals, especially when groups come together to celebrate the turning year. Like the Celts, we maydance around a central fire or other kind of Earth altar, as the Earth circles the Sun, and our souls circle

the great Spiritual Sun, our Source. For those who wish to explore Sacred Circle Dance there are a

number of resources listed at the end of this lesson.

Dance is also used to raise power, a form of magic favored by many modern witchcraft groups. If this

sounds arcane, remember what it was like when you were young and you spun around in a circle,

maybe holding hands with a friend, until you got dizzy and even fell over! Some groups will spin

around in a group until they drop from exhaustion and spontaneously enter a state of trance. The

witches’ dance can also be used to raise a cone of magical power which, at the climax of the dance, is

released towards a predetermined target. A classic example of this is the magical working performedby Gerald Gardner and a coven of witches during the Second World War in the New Forest,

Hampshire. The group danced sky-clad (naked) all night long with the intention of raising magical

power to repel an enemy invasion from across the English channel.



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Dancing on the Sacred Earth

Since dancing is frequently a communal activity and most students of this course are working as

solitary practitioners, it may be wondered how you can add movement and dance to your practice of

Sacred Earth Magic. One answer is to dance with the elemental powers of the Green World. Nature is

perpetually moving and dancing in every aspect of her being, whether as sunlight on leaves, bees in

flowers, branches in the wind. When I was in my twenties, I lived beneath a sacred hill in Bristol,

England, and every Full Moon night, I was almost literally drawn up the hill to dance alone under Her

wild, silvery light. Today, I will still move and turn – albeit in a more stately fashion! – in tune with

the exhilarating energy of wind and waves on the beach. Go to a place in Nature, especially one where

breezes blow, such as a hilltop or shore, and let yourself be filled with the life and vitality of the Air

element. Let yourself be moved by the elements into spontaneous movement and dance. Invite the

Sylphs to be your dancing companions and teach you the steps of the Dance of Life.

Moving with the elements is a way to communicate with them, which is best done through the body

and the emotions, without the interference of the intellect. An interesting account of a spontaneouselemental ritual occurs in the diaries of Dion Fortune and the Fellowship of the Inner Light. In 1924,

the group had managed to purchase a plot of land below Glastonbury Tor, knowing to be a place of

power. It was not long before the group received an influx of elemental power from the residing spirits.

Gareth Knight recounts this in his biography, Dion Fortune and the Inner Light.17

They had apparently a little while before been celebrating a ritual invoking the Element of Air

when, walking upon the Tor, they were suddenly taken up with a feeling of ecstasy which set

them whirling spontaneously in an impromptu dance. Then they saw a friend rushing across the

fields below, who raced up the hill to join their revelry. . . In the whirling dance a repetitive

chant seemed to beat through into consciousness, which they rendered into words, a kind ofaffirmative ritual, often used in later years as a means of stimulating Elemental contact and

vitality. Its appearance on the printed page may perhaps seem repetitious and devoid of

intellectual content, but that is because the Elementals do not work upon the plane of intellect.

For its full effect it needs to be chanted out loud with spontaneous movement and perhaps the

accompaniment of light percussive instruments.

The wind and the fire work on the hill –


The wind and the fire work on the hill -

Evoke ye the wind and the fire.


17 Knight, Gareth. Dion Fortune and the Inner Light. Leicestershire: Thoth Publications, 2000, p.116.



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The wind and the fire work on the hill -

Trust ye the wind and the fire.


Hail to the wind and the fire.

Draw that vitality unto you –

Learn to work with the Nature forces.18

These are the first of many more verses in the wild ecstatic vein the group were caught up in as they

danced with the wind on the Tor.

SACRED SOUND

Another aspect related to Air –sacred sound – is apparent from this account. Song and chant have

always been an integral part of spiritual practices worldwide: We think of the Sanskrit prayers ofancient India, the plainsong of medieval monks, the chanting of Buddhist priests, the songs of Siberian

shaman, the rhythmic invocations of African tribes, to name but a very few. Singing has been

recognized as sacred throughout the world because of its link to breath and vibration, and ultimately to

the first Breath or Sound which was breathed or uttered by the Creative Power of the Cosmos. This is

the meaning of the biblical phrase, ‘In the beginning was the Word . . .’ (John 1: 1-4) ‘Word’ is a

translation of the Greek ‘Logos’ which has many meanings, including ‘sound,’ and ‘vibration.’ In Sufi

cosmology, the sound ‘Hu’ is regarded as the ground of being from which all form manifests. For the

Hindus, the sound ‘Om’ is the vibration of the whole universe, while Chinese Taoist stories speak of

‘Kung’ , the Great Tone of Nature. What the perennial philosophy of the world has always known has

been verified by recent scientific studies using an instrument that can, in effect, look back to the originof creation: These studies have revealed the ‘music of creation’: harmonic notes, minute ripples of

sound that became the seeds of matter, forming stars, galaxies and solar systems, showing that the

beginning of our entire existence has come about through vibration.

Here are some simple ways you can incorporate sacred sounds into your magical work:

1. CHANTING

Chanting is a traditional way to move into a magical state of consciousness. Simple, repetitive chants

are best, as the repetition induces a light state of trance. There are many different kinds of chanting.

Try one or more of the following:

1. Sacred Sounds.

18 Knight, Gareth. Dion Fortune and the Inner Light. Leicestershire: Thoth Publications, p.116-117.



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In Hindu religion these are known as ‘mantras,’ and are a highly developed and complex art using root

sounds from Sanskrit, which was designed to be a sacred language. Chanting certain vowels and

syllables slowly and reverently not only helps us enter a heightened state of consciousness but creates a

resonance with specific qualities of divine energy which can bring them into manifestation in the

physical world. In the West, we are most familiar with the ‘master’ mantra, OM (correctly sounded

AUM)¸ which is so potent as to be used universally these days. Not so well known is the fact that there

are many sacred languages throughout the world, whose sounds and words have been used in religious

practices for centuries. These include Hebrew, Aramaic, Old Tibetan, Yoruba (the African language

used in Santeria), and a number of Native American languages. In the West, Latin has been the main

liturgical language within the Roman Catholic Church, yet there is evidence that the early Celtic

Church in Scotland employed sacred chanting in Gaelic.

In many countries, vowels are considered sacred sounds that invoke the Divine. This teaching is also

found in the Barddas of Iolo Morgannwg, who was responsible for the revival of Welsh Druidry in the

18th century, in which he claims that Awen, the Flowing Spirit, is said to represent the letters O-I-U.According to D. Delta Evans, author of The Ancient Bards of Britain,

Tradition has it that in the far, far remote past, when no-one and nothing existed,

Great Spirit articulated the Divine Name: and simultaneously with the word all creation

sprang into being, repeating three times the Divine Name in a subdued but distinctly

melodious and sweet voice. Menu, the first person, heard that voice, and perceived the

Three columns of Light. So Menu took three quicken-ashes19

and formed them into a

picture of what was conceived to be the symbol of the Divine Name. And the symbol of

that voice thrice sounded was ... /|\ 20

Morganwg attributed these letters to the three divine characteristics of God, which he described as

Love, Wisdom, and Truth. It has also been said that the O relates to the perfect circle of Gwynvyd, the

I to the mortal world, or Abred, and the U to the cauldron of Annwn. (See the Druid Circles diagram in

Lesson One.) Intoning these three vowels while mentally affirming each quality can be a powerful

experience which draws in these attributes through resonance. They are particularly effective chanted

after the daily Sunwarding devotions, either out loud if you are alone or silently if you are in public.

Experiment with this during this lesson period.

2. Chants from Celtic Tradition

Only a hundred years or so ago, the people of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland lived closely withthe unseen world. As they went about their day, they wove through their lives a beautiful tapestry of

19 Rowan or mountain-ash trees

20 Evans, D. Delta. The Ancient Bards of Britain. Wales: The Educational Publishing Company, 1906.



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daily and seasonal prayers, chants and invocations. I often use the following prayer from the Isle of

Iona as a closing blessing. It invokes the peace of the four elements and the fifth of Spirit:

Deep Peace of the quiet earth to you,

Deep Peace of the running wave to you,Deep Peace of the flowing air to you,

Deep Peace of the shining stars to you,

Deep Peace of the Spirit of Peace be upon us all.

An Irish invocation which can be used each morning for bringing the Nine Powers of the Universe into

your whole being goes:

I arise todaywith the strength of heaven,

glory of sun,brightness of moon,

radiance of fire,swiftness of lightning

speed of wind,depth of sea,

stability of earth,

firmness of rock.

3. Spontaneous rhythmic chanting. Simple chants and songs can raise your spirits into a joyous

connection with Nature when you are out in the Green World.: Don’t be afraid to spontaneously

compose your own simple chants when the spirit moves you. For example, a chant on a windy daymight go: “Wild wind/ blow free/ breath of life / breathe me."

2. MUSIC

Like chant and dance, musical instruments are an invaluable adjunct to magical work, helping to set

the atmosphere for rituals and journeying. Sometimes, the right piece of music can help you slide right

into magical consciousness without meditation, breath-work, candles or incense. We will look at the

use of two different kinds of music: Live music played on instruments you bring into your sacred space

and recorded music.

Instruments most suitable for individual magical work include bells and chimes, stringed instrumentslike the harp and zither, and drums. If you are planning to lead rituals in a group setting, you can also

incorporate louder instruments such as gongs and horns, even the great Bronze Age Druid horn known

as the dord. Less familiar instruments, borrowed from other traditions, include the ocean drum and



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rainstick – great for doing work with the water element! – crystal or metal ‘singing’ bowls and

didgeridoo, whose long bass drone can induce trance almost instantly in a large crowd..

• Bells and Chimes

These are particularly useful in Western Sacred Magic, as you will know if you have made a Silver

Bough, hung with bells, described in the first course in this series. Bells act as a bridge between the

human world and the world of Faery. In the famous Scots ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, the bridle of

the horse on which the Queen of Faery rides is hung with ‘fifty silver bells and nine,’ whose tinkling

announces her entrance into the human world. From the physical plane, we can use bells to enter into

the frequency of Faerie. (You will work with this in Lesson Nine.) As well as the Silver Bough, I also

like to use a single clapper bell in my sacred space. I keep it on the East of the altar and will ring it at

the four quarter gates as an opening call as an alternative to drawing a sigil in the air or using a candle

flame.

Bells are also used traditionally to banish negative influences – more of which in the next lesson. Inearly Celtic days, mothers hung small bells around the necks of their children to protect them from

evil, and there are many accounts of Celtic Christian saints exorcising demons with them.

A chime is useful as a way to enter into meditation. Strike it and follow the sound as if you were

watching ripples on a still lake expand in ever-widening circles, until you can no longer hear any sound

at all.

• Harp and Zither

More than any other instrument, the harp has been associated with the Celtic Otherworld. It was an

integral part of the training of a Druid, as part of the first grade that taught the bardic arts. As theauthors of Tree of Strings write:

The harp is an instrument of glamour and glamourie, an instrument of the

other world, Pagan or Christian, as well as our own. It can cast a spell of love

or of evil intent, or soothe troubled minds in sleep.21

To learn more about the history and magic of the Celtic harp, and to find out how to play one, see the

resource section at the end of the lesson. Another option is to acquire a zither, an instrument which has

a similar sound but is easy to play. A traditional zither has many strings which are pretuned in a way

that sounds ethereal, resonant, and harmonious when strummed in a free-form way. This has theadvantage of freeing the mind to enter magical realms while the hands strum the strings. When tuned

in a specific way – the best being in the pentatonic scale used in traditional Celtic music – it can really

21 Kinnaird, Alison and Sanger, Keith. Tree of Strings, Midlothian, Scotland: Kinmore Music, 1992, p. 1.



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transport you to the Otherworld.

• Drums

The rhythmic beating of a drum is common practice in shamanic cultures, and is estimated to be

between 20,000 and 30,000 years old. Siberian shamans regard the drum as their ‘horse’ on which they

ride to the spirit world. Ceremonial drummer, Michael Drake, explains why this is so:

Shamanic drumming is a time-honored method of healing and helping others. Practiced in

diverse cultures around the planet, this technique is strikingly similar the world over. Shamanic

drumming uses a single, repetitive rhythm played at a tempo of some three to four beats per

second. Although sounding quite simple and redundant, the unique connection between the

drum and the shaman gives this drumming great power, richness, and depth. Through the many

tones, pitches, and harmonics of the drum, the shaman communes with the subtle and normally

unseen energies of the spirit world. By changing and listening to the frequencies and overtones

of the drum, the shaman is able to send messages to, and receive them from, both the spiritworld and the patient.

22

Recent research suggests that the ancient burial mounds of northwest Europe, such as those at

Newgrange, Carrowkeel and Fourknocks in Ireland, may have been designed to act as giant

loudspeakers to amplify drums being played during Stone Age rituals. Calculations suggest that

drumming at two beats a second would have created a powerful resonance. Inside the dark chamber

with its musty air and presence of the dead, the enhanced sound would have produced an unforgettable

experience for Neolithic shamans.

A soft drum can be used to good effect within your sacred space and is also particularly potent when

used outdoors, especially for connecting you with the Earth kingdom.

3. RECORDINGS

A collection of recorded music should be included as part of your magical accoutrements. Choose

harp or hammer dulcimer music for work with Faery or Celtic archetypes; flutes and other wind

instruments for work with the Air element; brass, hurdy-gurdy, or bagpipes for Fire; flowing strings for

Water; drums, sticks, bones and other percussive instruments for Earth. Here are a few examples of

recordings that have proved effective for VisionJourneys and ceremonial work:

Celtic:

Renaissance of the Celtic Harp by Alain Stivell.A classic – haunting music from Brittany on wire-strung harp.

22 See http://www.geocities.com/talkingdrumpub/



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Celtic Spirit by Various Artists. Narada.

Women singing some of the most pure and holy music ever to be recorded.

Fiona by Patrick Ball. Celestial Harmonies.

Sprightly elven music played on wire-strung harp.

The Kilmartin Sessions – The Sounds of Ancient Scotland. Kilmartin House Trust. Bones, horns and

bronze instruments and other unique sounds from thousands of years ago.

Sound Magic by Afro-Celt Sound System. Real World.

Intense, hypnotic fusion of traditional Celtic and African instruments and rhythms. Fiery!

Medieval:

Caoineadh na Maighdine (The Virgin’s Lament) by Noírín Ní Riain and the Monks of Glenstal Abbey.Sounds True.

Pure tones of Irish Christian and pagan music recorded in an Irish abbey.

Canticles of Ecstasy by Hildegard von Bingen, performed by Sequentia. WDR label.

Christian devotional music by this medieval German mystic and composer.

Illumination: Hildegard von Bingen, The Fire of the Spirit. Sony. A spirited modern interpretation of

Hildegard by Richard Souther.

Chartres – the Path of the Soul by Catherine Braslavsky et al.

Sounds True.Deeply moving ancient and contemporary sacred music recorded originally for labyrinth walks.

Classical:

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. (Various.)

Although based on poems by medieval monks, this celebration of spring roars with unparalleled

Dionysian rhythm and power.

Sinfonietta by Jánaček. (Various.)

Joyous fanfares of brass suggest fiery sunrises and sunsets over the mountaintops.

The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. (Various.)

Exciting and elevating music from the Russian composer.



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Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams. (Various.) Hauntingly mystical

English music.

The Planet Suite by Gustav Holst. (Various.)

Perfect for doing work with the planetary intelligences.



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3. IN THE GREEN WORLD3. IN THE GREEN WORLD3. IN THE GREEN WORLD3. IN THE GREEN WORLD

WORKING WITH THE WIND

Wind sweeps in the new, carries away the old, and energizes with power. Winds are not

completely separate from human activities but are intimately influenced by human beings and their

activities. For example, the wind may sigh through the trees in an area where people are grieving the

loss of loved ones due to war, famine or illness. Fierce winds arise and rage in an area where human

emotion is of a high degree of intensity, such as during a battle or an intense political campaign. Soft

winds caress the land where people are experiencing a time of relative peace and prosperity.

Energizing winds gust by creative projects and new endeavors.

• Getting to Know the Wind

What do you know about the winds in your area? Depending on where you live, the winds may eitherstay more or less the same all year around, or change with the seasons. They also tend to change on a

daily basis as well, especially if you live near a large body of water, bringing fluctuating weather

patterns from day to day. Beyond local patterns, our planet is encircled by global prevailing winds such

as the Trade winds, the prevailing Westerlies, and the Polar Easterlies. Different areas of the globe are

strongly influenced by winds whose names make them sound like old gods and goddesses: Chinook,

Sirocco, Monsoon, the Santa Anas to name but a few. The modern fashion of giving familiar names

like Charlie, Katrina and Victor to hurricanes is perhaps an unconscious way of recognizing them as

Elemental beings. You may also be able to find out local lore about the winds. For instance, when I

lived on the misty coast of Central California, I was fascinated to discover a whole body of stories

about a particular race of beings known to the local Indians as the Fog Spirits who haunt the sea-cliffsof Big Sur.

Find out the predominant wind patterns in your locality, where they come from, and why. Keep a log

for a week of how different wind patterns and the movements of clouds affect the way you feel

psychologically and physically.

• A Wind Walk

The next time you go for a walk, become aware of the wind. Notice how it’s constantly moving and

changing with the environment: gentle breezes caress your cheek along a sheltered lane; turn a corner

into a windy alley, and a gust whips your hair or scarf around your face. Observe how warm or cold

the wind is today and the direction from which it is blowing. How does the wind make you feel? What

color is the light today? Wind will carry you, open you, release you, energize and empower you if

these are your intentions and if you are in balance with yourself. If not, wind will batter you, enervate

you, wither you, and even sicken you. Whatever wind does to you, it is a direct reflection of where you



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are in relation to your essence and in relation to how in balance you are at this time. Therefore, no

matter what happens, wind will teach you about what is right with you and what is not so you can

attend to it and get back in harmony. Wind is your ally, like it or not.

• Speaking with Sylphs

Sense the qualities of the Sylphs around you. Are they gently playful or fiercely exuberant? How do

they make you feel? If you could see them, what would they look like? If you look up at the sky into

the morning mists, especially at dawn, you may catch a glimpse of pale, airy figures streaking through

the clouds on the edge of the wind. As you walk, silently greet the Sylphs and acknowledge their

presence and their constant work directing and maintaining the wind and weather patterns of the Earth.

Thank them for bringing in the spirit of movement and change. If you see any images with your inner

eye and like to draw, sketch what you see and send in the result with your report.

• The Temple of the Four Winds

This is not a physical temple that you make yourself, but an actual place in the landscape where thefour winds blow. Such a place is open to the sky and generally windy, although, of course, all four

winds are not likely to be blowing at the same time! It is a ‘thin’ place, like the ones discussed in

Lesson Four, only it is more subtle, being harder to see than a place where, for example, three streams

meet. Sometimes, however, it will be marked by a solitary tree or group of trees, that have an

otherworldly air about them in some way. Another name for such a place is the ‘shimmering

crossroads’ for it is, first and foremost, a place of change – a place of possibility where you get the

feeling that anything can happen. It may correlate with an actual crossing of a number of ley-lines and

faery paths. A well-known example is on top of the Tor or Wearyall Hill in Glastonbury, but there are

many others.

If you get a chance to visit a place like this, work with the power of the Four Winds. Invoke each wind

using sound, such as intoning the vowels associated with each quarter,23

by using their Gaelic names,

or by ringing a bell. Pray to each of the winds in turn to bring their particular quality into your life.

• Cloud Divination

Interpreting the shapes formed by clouds in the sky is an ancient method of divination. It seems to have

been popular for foretelling the course of important tribal matters, especially battles, no doubt because

powerful sky gods were believed to be conveying their messages through the clouds. It was practiced

by the Druids in Ireland, who had a special word for it: neladoracht. One story tells how the Druid ofDáithí went to the top of Cnoc nan Druad (the Hill of the Druid) in Sligo one Samhain Eve, a time

23 These are taught in the Avalon Course in Sacred Magic and are as follows:

Eeeee (as in ‘keen’) for East – Iiiiiiii (as in ‘eye’) for South – Uuuu (as in ‘too’) for West – Ooohh (as in ‘stone’) for North.



Sacred Earth Magic

Lesson Seven

29

highly favored for divination. He stayed until sunrise, and told the king that the clouds had foretold

that he would invade Scotland, Britain and Gaul.

Cloud divination is a particularly pleasant occupation on a warm summer’s day when you can lie on

your back on the grass and just let your mind naturally drift into a light trance-like state. Hold a

question in mind and ask the Cloud Spirits to help you . . . then see what comes up. For examples, take

a look at a unique website for cloud-watchers at

http://www.secsd.org/se_site/clubs/ms_clubs/CLOUDWEB/Cloud%20Divination/clouddivination.htm

l

(But don’t take their definitions too seriously – let your own intuition be your guide when you go

divining with clouds!)

SIGIL FOR THE STAFF

During this lesson you will have encountered many aspects of the Element of Air. From the sum ofyour experiences, choose a symbol that for you most signifies this Element, then carve or paint it on

your Staff.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Fairy Paths and Spirit Roads by Paul Devereux. London: Vega, 2003.

The only book dealing with this subject, written by a pre-eminent Earth Mysteries researcher.Carmina Gadelica ed. Alexander Carmichael. Edinburgh: Floris Press, 1992.

A source for the lovely prayers, chants and invocations of the Scottish people of the Highlands and

Islands, collected in the 19

th

century.

Traveling the Sacred Sound Current: Keys for Conscious Evolution by Deborah Van Dyke. Canada:

Sound Current Music, 2001.Ancient wisdom teachings and recent experimental work on the spiritual uses of sound.

http://www.secsd.org/se_site/clubs/ms_clubs/CLOUDWEB/Cloud+Divination/clouddivination.html

http://www.secsd.org/se_site/clubs/ms_clubs/CLOUDWEB/Cloud+Divination/clouddivination.html



Sacred Earth Magic

Lesson Seven

30

Circle of Song – Songs, Chants and Dances for Ritual Celebration by Kate Marks. Amherst, MA.:

Full Circle Press, 1993.

A user-friendly compilation of modern and traditional pagan and earth-based chants with sheet music

and chords – good for group gatherings and celebrations.

Tree of Strings: A History of the Harp in Scotland by Keith Sanger and Alison Kinnaird. Midlothian,Scotland: Kinmore Music,1992.

The first history of the Scottish harp to be published. It traces the development of the harp from its

earliest appearance on the Pictish stones of the 8th century, to the present day.

CD: Ultimate OM by Jonathan Goldman. The ancient sacred and healing sounds of OM in a

continuous, fluid wave of sonic vibration. Profoundly healing for body, mind and soul..

Websites:http://sacredcircledance.info/ For Sacred Circle Dance;

http://www.larkinam.com A source for eclectic musical instruments from many countries;

http://www.susa-morgan-black.net/smb/Articles/Harp%20Healing%20Gwers.html

A fascinating essay on the Celtic harp and its role on healing, with some useful resources;

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Sound_and_Music/heather64.htm

An essay on the healing power of sound, detailing the astonishing results of several scientific studies.

© Mara Freeman, 2005. No part of this material may be reproduced.

http://sacredcircledance.info/


http://www.larkinam.com/


http://www.susa-morgan-black.net/smb/Articles/Harp+Healing+Gwers.html




http://www.susa-morgan-black.net/smb/Articles/Harp+Healing+Gwers.html



Sacred Earth Magic Lesson Seven

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