The next portion of my Pilgrimage brought me closer to the Ancestors, this day started out with a hike to Stoney Litteton Long Barrow and ended late in the evening at Bath. While I said in my last post that this particular blog would contain the details of Healing with Sulis. I found that I needed to split these two posts up. So this blog details what happened earlier in the day before we ended up at Bath.
We took the bus down narrow country roads to arrive at the drop off location for Stoney Littleton Long Barrow. It took a little while for us to find this 5000+ year old tomb, We first hiked across a creek, through thistle covered fields, edged with hawthorn hedges until we finally found the obscure location of the barrow. We got lost once and had to turn around and head the other direction, but it was worth the hike! We had visited two Barrows on the trip and this one happened to be my favorite! I don’t know if it was because this one required that it be crawled into, the ammonite stone at the entrance or the experience I was about to have!
I broke my glasses on the bus ride and had taken my repair kit and glasses on the hike with us. When we had first arrived at the Barrow there was a family already inside and investigating. We were all pretty tired from the hike and this was the perfect opportunity to both rest and fix my glasses. As I sat in the grass and fixed my glasses the small screwdriver I was working with slipped and I accidentally jammed it into my finger, a little blood pooled up on my finger. I had left everything except my water bottle and what could fit in the small pockets on my sun dress on the bus. The water bottle was filled with sacred water and so I decided to put it to good use. I walked over the entrance of the Barrow and gave the blood as an offering washed off with just a little water from the red spring.
After we had rested for a little while we crawled into the tomb, I sat in one of the back chambers on the right side and tucked myself in for a ritual of chanting. One of the things that I love about The Sisterhood of Avalon is their incredible ability to facilitate amazing chants. While I have always known that chanting was an important part of witchcraft, and I have used it often in my practice, it is not a skill that I am particularly good at. However just being able to experience the chants, with others, in such an ancient place, with the vibrations reverberating off the wall and the entire shift of energy it produced was beyond amazing.
After a while of chanting I had a clear channel of communication with the ancestors, and while I have worked with the ancestors and ancestral practice since I was a baby witch, I had never experienced working with them in this way. At this point in the chanting ritual everyone was chanting, and very loud. Then I heard the Ancestors speak, I could hear them speaking audibly and very clear. While it was loud the message was personal and wont be shared. However I will say that they were pleased with the gift of life force and requested more, so of course I gave! When the chanting was over we all crawled out and headed back to the bus. We stopped by the creek on our way back and I couldn’t resist getting in! So I played in the calf deep water for a few minutes, before crossing the bridge and heading back to the bus.
There was a farm near the bridge and creek. They had a little stand and were selling ice-cream and so I grabbed a little lemon sorbet, it was a hot day so I was very thankful for the refreshing treat! While we were eating our ice-cream I looked down and found a hagstone! While it is true I am always looking at the ground, poking in the dirt, and that I am always on the lookout for a hagstone I was really surprised to find one and felt that it was a very good omen and perhaps gift from the ancestors. We headed back to the bus and onto Bath!
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