Pathwalkers herb gardens - Gypsey Website

PathWalkers.Net Interactive :: Helping you along your path
heroes of local folklore. Willows have feminine-female-goddess associations. At wells
where a Willow grows, the guardian would have been a priestess, a female hero from
legend or else a minor goddess.
Saints of Christ later took on the role of guardian at various wells. When this happened,
the old sacred tree would then become known as the saint's "holy tree."
If you know of a well, go to it and sit beside it for a few minutes. If you have regular
access to it and it is not a public place, meditate there, immersing yourself in its anima
loci (spirit of place). As a way of becoming conversant with the well, drop a small pebble
or perhaps a penny into it, and - once you hear it hit bottom, acknowledge the local
goddess saying, "Hail, Goddess of Earth, Mother of the Well." If you can be seated near
the well for a time, become quiet and listen for the sounds of nature that characterize this
particular site. On other visits, try and identify the flowering plants and trees that grow
near the well. As at a spring, seek a natural knowledge of the lay of the land, as this will
become the basis for any mystical knowledge you may gain at the well. How old is the
well? Are its walls made of stone or brick? All such questions lay the basis for a more
deeply spiritual experience. As with springs, a natural knowledge of the site tells you
what mystical arts will work best there.
The first well I ever came across was located out along the RR tracks north of the town
where I grew up. There, on a long abandoned property where only the crumbling
foundations of a small house were still extant, was a well. Its walls were intact, and if
you spoke into it you would hear a slight echo. It was about 2? feet across at the top, and
we guessed - by dropping a small pebble into it - that it was about 15 feet deep. There
was a shallow depth of water at the bottom of the well, and when the wind blew across it,
a strange, eerie sound emerged from the dark depths. It was easy - visiting that well over
the course of several seasons - to understand how people came to think of wells as
haunted places!
If you do not have any way to get to an actual well, imagine one. Create a sacred well in
your mind's inner landscapes, making it as fecund and as haunted as you like. If you can
find an image of a well, use it as an icon in anal-duccaid (i.e., meditation), focusing on it
and allowing it to become a poetic destination. Imagine your journey to the well, either
walking to it, or perhaps'flying' a certain distance to get to it. An old abandoned well out
in the woods is the best kind of site to imagine for this purpose. Going there, imagine
where the foundations of old farm buildings used to be, and see the well itself as
somewhat dilapidated and perhaps overgrown with ivy or other creeping vines. Clearing
these away, imagine yourself gaining access to the long-dormant power of the well. Such
an internal site may become a wellspring of inspiration in the spiritual life, symbolizing
the Meath (i.e., "center") of your world; the 'place' (in psychic terms) where you are
grounded spiritually.
Whether you visit a well in your own internal landscapes or else out in the external
world, seek to become acquainted with the well's custodian. If there is an Oak or Ash tree
growing nearby, the guardian will be male, whereas, if there is a Willow growing nearby,
the guardian will be a woman-either a goddess or a priestess. If there is an Apple or
perhaps a Crabapple tree growing near the well, the guardian could either be Habondia,
the Mistress of Apples,11 or else Cernunnos,12 the Celtic Stag God. To see deer at a well
is a symbol of a god's presence, while to see rabbits is a sure sign that a goddess is
presencing somewhere nearby. A friend of mine used to leave a bowl of water and an
apple at the well he used to frequent for the benefit of small animals, hoping to draw deer
http://www.pathwalkers.net/interactive/modules....ame=News&file=index&catid=1&topic=&allstories=1 (127 of 236) [12/25/2005 12:17:43 AM]