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The Station of Emergence

chptop.eps

Three things which constantly increase: light, life, and truth.

Celtic triad

We return from the Otherworldly realms of the Unconscious with knowledge freed from its depths. Here is the sword taken from the stone—the freeing of truth from the grip of illusion. With this liberated energy at our disposal, we seek the vision of our higher self made manifest, and plant the seeds of wholeness in the receptive and fertile soil of our souls. Having drunk deeply from the well within, we are able to harness the endless potential of the revitalized landscape with consciousness. This inner renewal sprouts forth, fragrant with possibilities and garlanded with the beauty of choice. No longer limited by what was, we have the power to catalyze what can be.

The Station of Emergence in the Cycle of the Sun

The Light Half of the Year dawns with the cleansing flames of the Calan Mai (Beltane) fires. The world is awash with the vibrant intensity of all things green and growing as a fertile wave of vital energy crashes across the landscape. For Celtic Britons, Calan Mai marked the beginning of summer and catalyzed a shift in focus on both agricultural and societal fronts. Just as the natural world was bursting forth with new beginnings and the promise of grand potential in the frenzy of renewal, so too were Britons emerging from constrictive winter weather and homestead activities. Summer was the time to reaffirm bonds of community and economy with neighbors.

Gathering for celebrations at clan central places, Britons gave thanks for the return of the Earth’s bounty and forged social and economic relationships to ensure continued survival for seasons to come. They made legal contracts, traded their goods and livestock, performed agricultural divination, and settled outstanding financial accounts. In all these things, we see the Celts took stock of what was important based on what the previous winter had brought. They used this information to decide and act on what they would need for a successful upcoming season of growth and abundance. Although today most of us are not directly concerned with raising cattle and producing crops, we can take these underlying wisdoms and apply them to our own lives so that we may support the self we wish to encourage and the inner gifts we wish to cultivate.

The great challenge of the Station of Emergence is bringing the revelation of the deepest depths—the transforming wisdom of the Cauldron—into the consciousness of the Light Half of the Cycle. It is not enough to be able to see, however. We must also act by making outward changes that reflect our newfound inward knowing. At Emergence, we plant the seeds of our intention into a ground made fertile by the energy freed up from the shadow. Through the marriage of what is within to what is without as we straddle the worlds of dark and light, we work to make the unconscious conscious, and seek an external manifestation of the true self revealed in the darkness.

The focus of this Station is to set the work of the Light Half of the Cycle into motion, committing ourselves to charting the course of consciousness and external manifestation. Emergence is aligned with the fertile energies of solar Taurus—the externalized beauty of abundance born of inner renewal reflected out into the world by lunar Scorpio.

The Station of Emergence in the Cycle of the Moon—
First Quarter

The moon is in her first quarter from the seventh through the tenth day after the dark moon. During this phase, the right half of the moon appears to be illuminated by direct sunlight. The first quarter moon is visible throughout her course in the night sky. She rises in the east at noon, is at her apex in the sky at dusk, and sets in the west around midnight. Energetically, this is a time for emerging into the light, planting seeds for manifestation, and seeking outer balance.

Self-reflective Questions for the Station of Emergence

Take some time to meditate upon these questions while in a clear and receptive space. Use your replies to help form a focus for the work of the Station of Emergence. Be sure to record your thoughts in a journal—this will help you chart your process of growth and change as you do the work of the Avalonian Cycle of Healing.

The Avalonian Landscape: The White Spring

alternative names: Tor Springs, Well House Spring

cycle of healing: Station of Emergence

cauldron transformation: Wren/Hawk

elemental alignment: Air

energy center: Throat

Moving out from the Underworldly realms into the shining brilliance of the light, the White Spring fountains out of the Earth like the freed-up energies of the unconscious rising to the surface to nourish whatever seeds we choose to grow. Moving into the active portion of the Cycle, the White Spring holds the energies of the Station of Emergence and serves as a portal moving outward, just as the Red Spring stands at the threshold of that which lies within.

There is great significance in the duality of these two springs. They resonate with the energy of the Celtic Otherworld, as white and red are emblematic of Annwn; we see these colors together over and over again in British mythology in connection to the Otherworldly realm. Essentially standing side by side in the Tor Valley, these springs are of completely different telluric origin, and their waters exhibit different properties of flow and mineral content. The Red Spring boasts a constant stream, having never failed in historical memory, even in times of drought. It has high iron content, a constant temperature, and its waters are thought to originate many miles from Glastonbury, perhaps as far away as the Mendip Hills to the north.

The White Spring’s flow, on the other hand, is much more sporadic, and its high calcium content is attributed to the limestone Lias layers underlaying Glastonbury Tor. These waters rise from deep within the earth—perhaps originating from an artesian system—percolating through the limestone caverns beneath the Tor before emerging as a confluence of springs at the surface. The high calcium content is consistent with the formation of flowstone, the petrified mineral deposits laid down by a flow of water often found in caverns and caves. Indeed, there are visual accounts from the late nineteenth century describing the lush and verdant area surrounding the White Spring as being covered in white calcified material, creating natural pools and flow forms.

Once spilling from the mouth of a cavernous opening in an enclosed rock face hanging with flowstone, the waters of the White Spring—also known as the Tor Springs—were as venerated as the neighboring Red Spring. The flow of the two springs was thought to have commingled in symbolic marriage at some point in their journey towards the marshlands of Avalon. It is easy to see how the fantastic sight of this grotto, dripping with the ghostly echoes of calcified stone streaming forth from a cavern leading beneath the Tor, could suggest the entrance into the Underworld realm of Gwyn ap Nudd. What a vision it must have been!

Unfortunately, the construction of a stone reservoir in 1872 has completely obliterated the natural beauty of the White Spring, and has, over time, been converted from its original purpose for use as a café and jewelry shop in recent years. Even with the more commercial uses of the building, some acknowledgement of the spring’s spiritual power has been made in the form of indoor shrines in areas where the water has been allowed to flow freely, and to run on the floor in channels reminiscent of some of the flow forms in the Chalice Well and Gardens.

Although the space has been altered by construction and commercial development, the spiritual nature of the White Spring is being reclaimed and honored today more than ever before. The Companions of the White Spring purchased the property in 2005 and began a staged process of converting the reservoir building into a temple. With shrines dedicated to the Lady of Avalon, Gwyn Ap Nudd, Brigit, and St. Michael, the building plans feature a series of pools both for immersion and for reflection. Outside of the building, White Spring waters flow freely from a spout directly across the lane from a similar one for the Red Spring. An outdoor shrine has been built where the waters collect, and is decorated with stones, flowers, and other offerings left by pilgrims.

White, nourishing, and transforming all it touches, the Tor Springs represent the milk of the Mother. It is the vital and fertile flow freed from the bones of the Earth, returning to the surface with the promise of new life and abundance. The fundamental nature of the White Spring speaks of laying down new pathways and re-channeling the essence of that which is found within. Complementing the menstrual energy of the Red Spring, the White Spring creates and builds up, while the other cleanses and breaks down. We enter the darkness through the cauldron womb of the Red Spring, and emerge from the Underworld through the shining portal of the White Spring.

These two sacred springs hold the essence of the dual nature of Avalon’s transformational energy, mirrored in the Red and White Dragon Lines that encircle Glastonbury Tor and arch out across the landscape. We must embrace the energies of creation and destruction, for it is only through the interplay of what is in the light and what lies in shadow—of that which is conscious and that which remains unconscious; of outward expansion and inward contemplation—that soul growth and personal evolution can occur.

Immram to the White Spring of Avalon

The White Spring is related to the Station of Emergence in the Avalonian Cycle of Healing. Stepping through the portal of this Station, we commit ourselves to the outer manifestation of the potential we have come to recognize within. Use this holy site to empower your journey of self-actualization as you begin to reroute energies once ensnared in shadow. Plant the seeds of your growth in the renewed and fertile soil of your soul.

The challenge of this process of self-revisioning is to break free of destructive patterns by rerouting your energy to flow in a new and personally empowering direction. At the Station of Emergence, the butterfly of our soul departs from the darkness of gestation’s cocoon and is birthed into the limitless promise of the Light Half of the Cycle. All that we can dream, we can become. All that we strive for, we can obtain. All that wounds us, gifts us as well—which way the pendulum swings is a matter of choice. The Station of Emergence calls us to dip deep into the well of our potential and transform the prospective self within into an actualized reflection of Sovereignty without.

Perform the Immram to the Island of Avalon as described on p. 55. After disembarking the Barge to Avalon, proceed with the rest of this working.

The Journey

It is dawn. Stepping out of the Barge that transported you across the glassy lake to the Holy Isle, you meet your guide waiting for you on Avalon’s shores. Greet your guide. Share your reason for undertaking this journey and your desire to visit the White Spring; ask to be guided there.

The landscape is painted with shimmering dewdrops, catching the first warming rays of the awakening sun. As you are led through the orchards, the crisp morning air is filled with the discourse of birds and the heady scent of apple blossoms. Time passes differently here. The shifting colors of daybreak provide a pastel backdrop for the white and pink flowers bursting forth to blanket the spindle-limbed forms of Avalon’s apple trees.

The hilly terrain slopes up and then down again, finally causing the slumbering body of the Tor to rise gently over the landscape. Take note of what you see along your path as you follow your guide, not to the spiraled hilltop nor to the pregnant earthen mound silhouetted against the sun-brightening sky, but to the valley between these two hallowed promontories. Turning slightly to the right, the path you follow is lush and green, fragrant with the delicate scent of the opening blooms that ornament the plants and trees.

The energy of the narrowing trail begins to shift and you find yourself walking through a small copse of oak trees, garlanded with strands of tiny clusters of yellow flowers. The pathway leads to a sheltered alcove, encrusted with strange stone formations that seem to flow out from the hillside. Everywhere, small pools of fossilized ripples cover the ground; even the overhanging plant life is garbed in a cleansing sheen of white.

Peering into the alcove, you hear and then see a stream of water emerging throat-high from a small opening in the back wall. Looking up into the rocky crevice, you see that it widens into a passageway before diving deep into the hillside—evoking mystical images of crystal caverns below the Tor. The flowstone follows the path of the water, laying down new layers of mineral to renew the old channels; the entire alcove is encrusted in stone formations, creating a magickal garden of calcified movement.

Like Mother’s milk spilled across the Earth, the flow of water winds its way through an enchanted landscape of sluices and tiny waterfalls into a naturally formed basin pooling beside the exposed roots of a gigantic oak tree. The ancient tree reflects upon the shining water, its roots nourished by the flow—its form straight and tall, its limbs hanging with yellow threads of flowers. Growing as high as its roots run deep, the oak tree bridges the worlds above and below, just as its roots now straddle the waters of the White Spring. Fed by the glistening waters from below, the mighty tree is able to stretch its limbs high above.

You notice a simple wooden bowl lying between the roots of the oak tree; it is a pilgrim’s cup, worn smooth with use and seasoned with age. You bend to fill the cup with the calcium-rich liquid, and with awareness and intent, you take a drink. Like the whitewashed vision of the holy grotto, the cleansing energy of the water fills your soul. Take some time to experience this sacrament, being sure to take note of how it makes you feel and the way your personal energy shifts.

Sit down next to the tree and breathe in the essence of this place. It is serene beyond words, yet crackles with the vital energy that accompanies springtime newness. Take some time to watch the flow of the water, listen to the early morning birdsong, and experience the growing warmth of the new day’s sun. Gaze at your image in the water, reflecting on all that you have learned about yourself during the work of the Dark Time.

Watch the water as it runs down the pathway, making its own winding way out of the mouth of the Earth, passing over the stones that seek to contain it, and laying down its own track through the lush plant life, transforming all it touches with its white and shining purity. Your soul resonates with the song of the White Spring: it is one of rushing waters, breaking free of old patterns, and finding ways to reroute that which rises to the surface from within the depths of the darkness—ever in pursuit of its goal. The soil of your soul has been renewed; receptive and fertile, what will you plant in your quest for Sovereignty?

Deep in thought and gazing upon your own reflection, you feel the rise of a warm breeze that stirs the limbs of the tree towering above you. Three golden threads of oak blossoms fall into the water, dispersing the image of your face as it sends subtle ripples across the pool’s glassy surface. As the motion subsides, you watch as your reflection reforms itself into a symbol. As soon as the image completely resolves itself in the water, you realize it is a key to unlock the door to the inner change you are seeking to make. Be sure to take precise note of the symbol’s details.

The tree beside you begins to vibrate subtly, and you rise to stand in front of it. As you do so, the oak begins to glow and the texture of the bark begins to shift before your eyes. The ridges rearrange themselves into a gleaming replica of the symbol you saw in the water. Curious, you reach out to touch the image, but your fingers pass right through it into the trunk of the tree. Fascinated, you feel drawn to walk into the symbol, and as you do so, the tree becomes intangible and you pass through easily.

Your vision tilts, the landscape shifts, and you find yourself looking out at the world from the perspective of the oak; everything around you has been transformed into a shining reflection of the world you left behind. You can see the luminous aura of every living thing, and the spring water pooling at your feet carries a stream of life-force energy emanating from the core of the planet itself. You can feel that your arms have become oak branches, your hair budding leaves and strands of flowers, your torso its trunk, and your legs and feet its roots. Take some time to experience what this feels like, and fully give over to the sensation of being one with the oak tree.

You become aware of something shining invitingly above the top of the tree. Although the details are not completely clear, you can see just enough of it to recognize that it is an image of your actualized self. You strain to touch the image, but for all of your efforts, it is just beyond the reach of your highest boughs. Knowing that this vision would not have revealed itself if there was no way for you to claim it, you consider how you might be able to reach higher.

The pool of milky water begins to tingle beside your feet and you feel your vast root system, anchored deeply in the ground, drawing nourishment from the rich earth. You feel new growth at the very tips of your roots and the recent underground extensions that have sought and found the underground flow of the White Spring. There, below the surface, you sense an abundant source of recently liberated energies awaiting a focus for use. With consciousness, you begin to draw the rejuvenating energies of the spring up from the earth and into the tree’s vascular system. As it enters the roots and rises up through the trunk, the sacred waters transfer the potential from below into the ability to manifest a harvest above.

At last, the water spreads out into the tree limbs, expanding outward and entering into smaller branches and twigs. As its vibrant energy enters the smallest ends of every stem, the transformational waters catalyze an amazing burst of growth. Fresh green tips begin to telescope out from the sealed points where last year’s growth ended. Burgeoning buds of leaves begin to unfurl and the last of the yellow oak blossoms open to the springtime air, high above the ground. The growth accelerates as the transfigured crown of the tree comes alive, reaching skyward—seeking to attain the potential height made possible by the new growth of the roots below.

Higher and higher and higher you reach, a bit disoriented by all the change. A sudden doubt halts the transfer of energy from below, and the growth stops, with your goal a mere hair’s width away. You try to clear your focus and regain your momentum, but it is almost as if an invisible barrier is pressing downward on you, preventing any further upward growth. Your limbs feel heavy and the burden of holding them upward begins to feel more than you can bear. It’s too hard … too hard.

The wooded area has grown hushed with anticipation, the silence unbroken except for the distant sound of a wave of wind through the trees. Rushing towards you and bearing the scent of apple blossoms up from the orchard, the current of air sets your branches into gentle motion as it sings the song of the breeze. Feeling renewed, your vigor returns. The wind seems to have shaken loose any lingering doubts and has freed you from weariness and stagnation. Your limbs start to grow again—reaching up and up until at last, it touches the image of your priestess self, no longer out of reach.

The moment you make contact with the image, the energy it contains bursts through your mind in a torrent of scenes and visions. Take note of all you see, for this is important information that will help you actualize the image of the Sovereignty you have just received. At the very point of connection between the oak tree and the vision above, the growth of the branch accelerates, and a tiny acorn is formed. This capped seed grows, ripens and then falls into the pool of water at your feet.

You bend down to pick the acorn up and find you have stepped out of the tree. Reaching into the puddle, you take the acorn in your hand and sense the powerful energies with which it has been imbued. You turn to thank the oak tree, still pulsing with a vital and renewed essence. The symbol you placed on the bark is still there, and with intent, you use a cycle of nine breaths to remove it from the trunk. Refill the wooden cup with water and pour a libation of gratitude over the roots. The branches light up once again, swaying back and forth in the returning breeze.

You look down at your hands and find them changed as well—bright, strong, and brimming with power. The whole of all that you can become is contained in the essence of the acorn, and you know you have the ability to bring yourself to full harvest. Having touched the potential realized in the light of the waxing sun, hold the thought in mind, and take one last drink from the White Spring. Allow its waters to empower the path you have chosen and the higher-self goal you have set, born of old perspectives, transformed by insights deep within, made conscious. Bring the acorn back with you to be planted in the prepared soil of your soul.

Take some time to reflect on your experiences. When you are ready, your guide leads you back through the orchard and to the shores of the lake, where the Barge awaits you. Turn once more to face the island, and thank the Lady and all the guardians of this sacred space for supporting your work and allowing you to visit. Bid your guide farewell and climb aboard the Barge to complete your journey to the lake’s other side, bringing with you the memory of all that has come before.

Revisiting the Self

As you continue making your connection to the White Spring and participating in the process of recognizing the potential of the emerging self, go back and re-read the self-reflective questions above. How have your answers changed? What catalyzed these changes? How can you actively break free from outmoded patterns and lay down new pathways in your life? What choices now lie before you? How can you put your insights and connections to work in order to bring change into your life?

Tool for the Station: The Doorway

Doorway work is an incredibly empowering technique that will aid in uncovering the meaning of symbols—be they universal archetypes or holding personal significance. Upon mastering this tool, we will no longer be limited to the “accepted” meanings and general information found in symbol books. Looking to external sources for information can often leave one unfulfilled, especially when unraveling images received during Immrama, meditation, and dreams. When we receive information in our work, it filters through our energy field before becoming conscious, often in the form of a symbol. As such, the universe uses our personal energy to speak to us in a language we will understand. It is important, therefore, for us to learn to read our own code, rather than try to conform to someone else’s—or worse, to restrict ourselves to the limitations of other people’s knowledge.

Let us consider that there are two different types of symbols: universal archetypes and personal symbols. Universal archetypes will key into the same basic information for everyone; they represent wisdom encoded in the collective unconscious. Personal symbols will key into information meant specifically for an individual and directly addresses their work and personal process. There are times when universal symbols can also be personal symbols; working with them can yield two levels of information. It is therefore important to consider the context in which you received the symbol—was it as an answer to a specific question, or are you trying to undercover the hidden meaning of an object or magickal symbol? For example, the cauldron is a universal symbol, and doing doorway work to unlock the meaning of the cauldron can yield archetypal information. However, if you received the image of a cauldron in the course of your personal work or during an Immram, you may find that your doorway will yield information relating to you specifically and the situation about which you are seeking clarity.

The key to successful doorway work is not to edit, judge, or dismiss what you see when you walk through the gate. A huge part of the process of personal growth and inner empowerment is coming to a place where you trust the information you receive in your work. At the beginning, this trust may require you to suspend your disbelief long enough to develop new ways of seeing and to learn how to understand the language of the universe. This is not to say you should blindly accept everything as literal truth; at the beginning especially, much of what we see is allegorical and dealing with the personal.

Developed discernment accompanies our expanded sight with the clarity gained in working through the Stations of the Cycle of Healing; we can come closer to personal authenticity through issue resolution. Through this working, we will be able to perceive more of the greater pattern, for we will be able to separate our own stitches from the whole of the fabric; that is, we will know when we are looking at the world through the filter of our own issues or seeing things for what they truly are. Developing discernment and learning to trust in the self and our connection to the Divine is a difficult hurdle, but once conquered, an entirely new level of the work opens up before us.

When you are ready to begin, sit in your sacred space and start your Power Breathing until you find yourself centered, focused, and clear. Connect with the intention of your doorway and recall the circumstance in which you received this symbol. Was it in response to a question you asked? Was it a gift you received in one of the Landscape Immrama? Is it an element from a dream for which you are seeking clarity? This context is an important element of your doorway work and should frame every working.

Next, in your mind’s eye, visualize a doorway or portal. It can take the form of any kind of door that you wish—from a standard wooden door to a megalithic dolmen, to a marble-hewn portico. Choose a doorway that feels best to you; if you encounter any difficulty, consider asking your guide for assistance in finding the right form for you. At the beginning, it is helpful to work with the same door whenever you use this technique. In this way you begin to associate that particular door with unlocking the information you need and it becomes empowered with the intention of each use. After you have become adept with this tool, you can do some experimentation with other kinds of doors with which to set up your work. Some women use a different door when they want archetypal information than when they are doing personal process work. Others find that their door seems to change over time. Be open to the possibilities, but remain focused with your intention.

When you have chosen the form of your doorway, sit with it and breathe it into existence. Create a mental image of the door and fill it with your energy and intention until it feels solid and complete. You should be able to clearly see it in the mind’s eye. When it is as solid as it’s going to be—the more you practice this technique, the more solid the doorway will become—put the symbol you want to work with on the door and breathe it into existence there in much the same way you constructed the door itself. It is important to record the details of symbols you receive as accurately as possible—color, direction, composition, dimensionality, and context—so that you can reproduce them faithfully when it is time to do a doorway. These subtleties can make all the difference when uncovering meaning of symbols.

When you feel the symbol is strongly affixed onto the door, open it and step through. You can “step” in one of two ways. You can accomplish this in your mind’s eye, from either a first or third person perspective, or you can stand and trace your doorway and its symbol in front of you. Breathe it into existence with your will and intention, then open and walk through the energetic construct with your physical body. Either way, entering the doorway will open your conscious mind to information encoded in the symbol. There are many different ways this information may become available to you: you may meet someone, view static images, experience moving scenes, hear voices, see colors, perceive energies, trigger memories—there are endless possibilities. Don’t be afraid to explore what lies beyond the door; look around and ask questions. You may find that each time you create a doorway, information presents itself in a different way—you are met by someone one time, but only hear voices the next. This is not uncommon. Accept the information in whatever form it is presented to you. Over time a pattern may emerge, so take note of differences as they occur.

Doorways can be a challenging technique to master; try not to become discouraged, because this is a tool well worth honing. As with any new skill, practice is the key to success. Oftentimes the more emotionally charged an issue is, the harder it is—and more important it is—to get the door open. Your guide is an excellent resource for this work and you can ask for her assistance in getting the door open and to obtain the information you need once you are on the other side.

When you feel you’ve received all the information you can in one session, return the way you came and step through the doorway once more, being certain to close it securely behind you. If you have drawn the doorway energetically in front of you, breathe it down into the earth to shut down its energy. As soon as possible, journal your experiences and draw all images and symbols found behind the door. Even if what you received does not make immediate sense, keeping a record of your encounters may provide greater insight later on your path of growth.

It is possible to work through doorways and see a symbol hundreds of times before you have fully unlocked all the information it bears, especially if it is a universal symbol. Don’t be content with one go at it. At the very least, do an entire week of doorways for each symbol you are working on, making sure to work with any additional symbols that may come to you. If you go before the Goddess at the moon, as described on p. 264, ask Her for a symbol that will guide you in your work for the coming cycle, and do that doorway every night. At the next moon, you can come before Her again with insights gained, and ask for the next step in your work.

Doorways provide structure for your meditation that aid in receiving the inner wisdoms the universe seeks to impart to you. This work is powerful, and can be used in many ways. You can create doorways your name and your signature, something representing a choice that lies before you, a haunting image, a number, herb, Goddess symbol, something received in a dream or while scrying—the possibilities are endless.

Learning to hear the voice of the universe and find answers to your own questions by turning the eye within is key to personal empowerment and inner evolution. It reinforces the notion that you have the power to change your life as well as the wisdom to bring yourself to wholeness. Remember the old axiom: “If you can ask the question … you already have the answer.”