Betwixt and Between

 

As I walk along the shore I'm aware of forces that have accumulated in varied levels of intensity just beneath the ground. I pause and using my senses I connect through my inner compass called my gut.  Utilizing earthly forces takes a competence which I have only attained through devoted practice, allowing intuition to become sharpened by time.  There are no short cuts in developing the technique, at least none that I have found personally. 

As an animist I understand the relationship between a physical object or location and its animaistic nature.  Because I relate to the world in this way my senses are acute and I have a deep respect for the forces present in most things.   I am not unique.  Many individuals have this ability.

When I come across energy that is flowing and abundant enough to be gathered I use a particular instrument to aid me in harnessing these forces. The process I use for finding such places of power is called mapping the grid.  Once located the atmosphere from which it emanates I refer to as the 'betwixt and between'.

In the area between land and water runs what is known as the telluric current. Pulsating at a lower and slower vibration due to the distance it has traveled it is markedly different from the energy I have experienced when walking among stone alignments at Carnac Brittany, Avebury England, the Cuillin Hills of Scotland or through the desert and red rock of Arizona.  That being said, the telluric currents here in Maine, are still viable.  

There are various names for the power within the land.  Many refer to it as the  serpentine path, earth energy, benker or ley lines, black streams or sprowl.  In the British Isles and Ireland power paths have been called Faery Paths and Holy Lines to God. The Greeks called them the Sacred Roads of Hermes, to the Chinese, who related them to the power of the earth dragon, this power had the ability to change the contours of the land.  Ley lines connect standing stone circles, ancient burial grounds and holy places strewn intact or in ruin across the landscape of the globe; it is little wonder that so many flock to these sites for healing and introspection.

Where the shore meets the sea is beloved to me.  I respect it in all its forms; calm, pensive or savage. There, where the trees are tethered only by grace to the rocky outreach, I willingly stand buffeted by the scent of soil and saline, a palpable and rich perfume.  Subtle and not-so-subtle forces dance between rock and sea foam, streaming and pulsating under the phases of the moon.  When gathered, it can be used to imbue objects, aid meditation, used in healing and ritual work.  Wisely coaxed and kneaded into prayer and invocation it is partnered to a given purpose by those who indulge in this kind of magic. 

Instinct and humility are the attitudes beneficial when dealing and working with chthonic currents.  Harnessed for benefit or destruction, ever coursing, pooling, waiting, never still, it resides where the twilight dwells and the old ones whisper.

"Bright
Fire-tongued
Serpent of the Land
Coiled
Waiting...

Movements felt in blood and bone
Awake thy breath
and by thy power
Come!"