There is a fascinating book entitled The Spine of Albion whose authors, Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare, have mapped out male and female Dragon lines as they pass up the UK from the Isle of Wight to Balnekeil. These two interweaving energies flow up through many historic and prehistoric places of power and sanctity.
This Autumn a group of pilgrims are walking up the Spine to coincide with COP 26 in Glasgow listening to the land and her stewards along the way. Their quest is about deep listening to what is needed from us humans at this critical time of climate change and eco-fragility. My particular interest is Dragon Hill at Uffington. Near the famous White Horse, it is part of a ceremonial site including The Manger, Uffington Castle, The Ridgeway and Wayland's Smithy.
With my Paqo colleagues we are enquiring into the energies of the Spine as a whole and Dragon Hill is the site to which I relate most. In this way of engaging with the landscape Dragon Hill is perceived as the 'navel' or 'sacral chakra' along the Spine. As an ancient site of ceremony archaeologists have ascertained that grass will never grow on a patch on the hill because of centuries of fire ceremony. The hill is flat on top because of hundreds of years of ceremony. There is a very strong energy there and it feels like a place where you can feel the pull of gravity as well as a portal to the celestial realms. As such it is like an 'omphalos' - a 'navel' for centring and grounding as well as inspiration. Just as when we are in the womb we exchange waste products for nutrients via our umbilical cord with our mother, so when we are at an omphalos we can exchange energies with mother earth. This being the navel, we can plug in via our energetic umbilical cords and release what's tired and heavy with our love and gratitude to mother earth. In return we can draw in her deeply nourishing refined energies.
Knowing that our ancestors held fire ceremony here we can ignite the fires in our bellies and invite that passion to energise our collective quest on this pilgrimage to COP 26. The fires in our bellies can fuel our enquiry, our resolve, the love we carry in our hearts. And these qualities can empower us to speak clearly. As we gather strength to speak truth to power with clarity, each increment ripples out and reaches a wider audience. As we listen deeply to the lands and sites along the Spine of Albion and tune ourselves to become better listeners so may the voices of nature reach the ears of our world leaders at COP 26.
I am immensely grateful to the Pilgrims for this epic walk which they are undertaking and it was wonderful to celebrate them on Thursday 9th September at Dragon Hill when 66 of us gathered for ceremony, connected with the Dragon lines of the Spine of Albion, honoured the site, and listened to the Dragon Tales thus far.