‘I give unto you…………’
‘I give unto you …………………’
This is a place I go to when I want to ‘let go’ of stuff. It’s no dragon but the female earth energy current running through Welstor Rock on Welstor Common and Buckland Beacon above Buckland in the Moor has such a gentle grounding energy.
It also has some of the best views to the South, down the Teign estuary and to the West over Dartmoor in this SE corner of Dartmoor, just north of Ashburton.
When enjoying a pint of Jail Ale from the Dartmoor brewery, sat on Back Beach outside the New Quay Inn in Teignmouth, I decided to find out what hill on Dartmoor I was looking at when I was new to the area.
Buckland Beacon is known for it’s ‘tablets of granite’ on which the ten commandments have been carved. In 1928 Parliament rejected the adoption of the proposed new Book of Common Prayer. In celebration Mr William Whitely of Wellstor celebrated this victory by commissioning the scultor W.A. Clement to engrave the ten commandments on two ‘tablets of stone’ on Buckland Beacon.
Since this date the lettering has been restored. Today they are clearly exposed. The word ‘Commandment’ seems antiquated living in our Western Liberal Democracy. Divine moral imperatives have been noticeable by their absence for many years.
It has taken a pandemic to hail their return. Thou shalt ‘ wear face marks on public transport’, ‘keep social distancing of two meters wherever possible’, ‘only meet with one other household’ etc
The recumbent granite tablet lies within the female earth energy current which runs South East to North West. 
Some commentators have regarded the granite carvings as an act of vandalism, violating the integrity of Dartmoor.
It is not unique. Another triangular slab of granite has been carved to commemorate the death of an oak tree felled in Wistman’s Wood, in order to discover its age in the name of ‘science’. Two acts of vandalism for sure. A simple dowse could have answered that question.
A Dartmoor Letterbox lies under the granite fingers of Welstor Rock, which even I couldn’t miss. The note book was full of messages of good will, written by delighted Letterbox hunters.
I forgave Mr Whitely’s granite carving on reading the New Commandment he added,
‘I give unto you that you love one another’
Gwynn Paulett, August 2020.
Blue Sky Days
Devon Dowsers is grateful to Sally Cunis for sharing the email below from Lucy Pringle who has given her kind permission to share this with Devon Dowsers’ members.
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Lesley Whittaker’s Bird Spirit Medicine Homework following Karen Stead-Dexter’s talk to Devon Dowsers, July 2020
In a fascinating talk, Karen had explained Bird Spirit Medicine and sent notes about how to seek it. I tried to find a time, but it wasn’t happening. One morning my regular family of 3 crows brought their latest addition (noisy, flappy) to meet me and I wondered whether they were bringing my Medicine, but dowsing said no, they were just introducing us to each other. I was delighted to meet the baby, and congratulated the family.
The weather was damp and very windy, with a leaden sky. I walked to the village shop feeling rather low, then wondered about continuing down a nearby lane, a regular walk for me. I was reluctant because the day before, the hedges had been hacked to bits by a tractor with a flail mower. I was very despondent about the waste of fruit, seed and nuts, and the torn branches.
As I approached the end of the lane, the thought grew stronger that I needed to go down it. I set off into the gale. The telephone wires were singing, and the trees were lashing heavy branches in full wet leaf. It was July but it felt like December. Head down into the wind, I passed the end of the wounded hedges, and reached untouched ones. Suddenly, my eye was caught by a movement on my right and a skylark rose into the sky, beginning to sing. The clouds were heavy but glaring, yet I could track the bird’s flight all the way, tossed in the gale. How could anything so small struggle against the weather and write a symphony at the same time? I was immediately cheered, and encouraged. I couldn’t stop smiling, and I called out, “Thank you!” though my voice was snatched away by the wind. Immediately, from the field on my left, another skylark rose, equally battling the gale but undaunted, singing as it went. Stereo skylarks! I had never imagined such a thing. This was my Bird Spirit Medicine, I was in no doubt.
I continued to watch both of them, which is in itself unusual, sending them love as they flew. “How can I honour you?” I shouted into the wind. I was full of joy, and yet also aware of a sense of deep melancholy. Finally, they returned to their fields, silent. My emotions were brimming as I turned for home. I just had the message, “Write about us”.
This time of Covid 19 Lockdown, with heavy anxiety felt by so many; the disappointments; the overwhelming new ideas which I needed to work on; all crowded in as I walked back, but this time, with the wind behind me.
I knew that I had to accept my emotions, feel them, and communicate them to others in the book I was writing at the time.
So, when the second Zoom session with Karen arrived, I told of my experience. In the days following, I had heard Vaughn-Williams’ The Lark Ascending broadcast twice, quite randomly. Poems to Skylarks were appearing everywhere. People were talking about them. And I was writing about them.
I felt very privileged to have received their gift.
Karen listened to all our accounts of our Bird Spirit Medicine Homework, and gave us insights into the meaning of the encounters. I had tried to find out what my encounter with the Skylarks could mean, and saw that they were associated with joy, and spirituality. Karen’s comments seemed much deeper. This was Heart Medicine, going deep into the emotions and shaking them up; soar into the winds and lift off; keep the joy. The significance of the two birds was to achieve a balance in life. I understood that in my sadness about the battered hedges, there was also joy to be found that the skylarks were still there, their crops not yet cut, their nests safe.
I have walked the lane many times since, but all the birds are silent now, even the sentinel blackbird who sits on the telegraph pole. It’s the time of moult, of shaking off the old feathers to emerge in new ones.
I pass the place where two skylarks sang for me, and I smile.
Credit : The photo of the skylark https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/species-explorer/birds/skylark
Plant and Tree Communication Zoom Sessions with Dr Karen Stead – Dexter
Session 1 (7.00pm – 8.00pm Thursday 13th August 2020)
Dr Karen Stead – Dexter will be casting her magic and sharing her shamanic skills with Devon Dowsers’ members across two Zoom Sessions focusing on Plant/Tree Consciousness and Communication. Members will learn how to avail themselves of Plant Spirit Medicine.
These Zoom sessions are guaranteed to result in as many extraordinary tales as the Bird Spirit Medicine experience.
- She will introduce the idea of plant/tree communication and how plants/trees are communicating all the time but we just don’t listen;
- introduce the concept of ‘Doctrine of Signatures’ used by homeopaths, essence makers and plant spirit medicine practitioners – how a plant will look like an organ of the body, therefore providing medicine relating to that organ….she will give examples;
- explain how she connects into Plant Spirit Medicine when she makes essences….she will give an example of the Californian Redwood;
- introduce the steps needed to really meet a plant spirit…….asking permission, touch, sight, smell, felt sense, what can we do to help the plant in return;
- how plants make us feel – give examples of how roses smell to get noticed, thereby gifting their medicine once we stick our noses into their blooms; and,
- then open to the floor – Participants will need to have ready examples of how a particular plant or tree has had an impact on them. Karen will then go through the plants in relation to what we have mentioned above, giving deeper meaning.
‘Homework’ to be set by Karen for those at Session 1
Session 2 (7.00pm -8.00pm Thursday 3rd September 2020)
In Session 2, Karen will invite members to share their Homework communication experiences with plants and trees and provide feedback.
Gwynn Paulett August 2020.
Alan Murray’s Bird Spirit Medicine
Having been out with Karen Stead-Dexter and her magical birds for a one to one experience, I was very keen to undertake the homework she set on bird medicine.
Just a couple of days after her first Zoom talk, and before I had had the chance to actually read the homework, I had my ’medicine’ bird encounter. This encounter was NOT dowsed for as suggested by Karen BUT did seem to throw up several related references as she had suggested would happen.
I was up very early (for me), about 6am, to make coffee and on my way to the kitchen I blearily glanced through the front door to see a sparrow hawk sitting on a fence only about 5 metres away. As we looked at each other he/she proceeded to tuck one leg up in his chest feathers and perched there. This exchange lasted for about 5 minutes before he launched himself backwards and away.
Jo has lived here for twenty years and never seen one. She did see what we assume is the same one the next day (near our new wildlife pond) but then he disappeared and neither of us has seen him again since.
Two hours later the same morning, whilst listening to Radio Three, we heard an ad for ‘Private Passions’ whose guest that week was Helen MacDonald. Her bestselling book is called ‘H is for Hawk’ and is about her personal experience of training a goshawk called Mabel, as a way of coping with the grief of her father’s sudden death.
The next day whilst listening to ‘Sounds of the Seventies’ there were at least two references to Hawkwind.
Some days later I listened to Helen MacDonald’s story on ‘Private Passions’ on BBC Sounds when she talked about ‘Mabel’ and a pet parrot.
Almost a week after the encounter I thought I would see what the village store had to offer in the way of bottled beers. Looking down the list I came upon ‘Seahawk’, Old Buzzard and Avocet, so purchased a bottle of each!
So how did Karen interpret this encounter and its links? She said that the sparrow hawk cuts right though stuff and goes right to the point. As he was standing on one leg, and therefore fairly relaxed’, indicates grounding. Not sure how all this directly affects me though. Maybe I am not understanding this clearly enough? Is this the message I am missing?
Helen is a writer, poet, historian, illustrator and naturalist. She’s worked as a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, as a professional falconer, and in raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia. She is an affiliate of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.
Bird Medicine Journal ~ Mary Scofield
24th June 2020 7.50 am
This morning I went out in my canoe on the river Tamar. The sun was up and the water was very calm with no other boats around. I had a wonderful feeling of being at peace with the world. As I paddled up towards Cotehele there was a heron standing up tall in the reed bed. I stopped paddling and spent a while watching him. He did not fly away at once so I admired his serenity. What message did he/she have for me? Enjoy the peace of nature. I set off again and he flew along the bank and seemed to be following me. He flew up into a tree and looked down on me. He did this several times. When I got to Cotehele I spent a while looking up the river and thinking how quiet everything was. Then as the tide was about to turn I set off home again. Lo and behold there was the heron in a tree and he followed me again. He then flew right in front of me and flew off.
This was before our Devon Dowsers Zoom meeting with Karen. When I got home I looked up in a bird book I have and the message I found from the heron was “Solitude” and its archetype “Hermit”. Do I need to be on my own more to appreciate nature, meditate and be aware of spirit. The alter side is that I am being too much of a hermit and need to socialise more! I must dowse to see which medicine I was being offered.
I have always noticed that herons usually fly off if disturbed. They usually make their nests in trees and are often seen on the mud banks waiting to feed. I did feel that I had been so privileged to have his company on my journey – or was he just making sure I did not disturb his nest?
2nd July
During the afternoon I walked quietly down our boardwalk through the reed bed and heron was standing in the mud. He soon flew off so I did not have time to engage with him.
Following on from this meeting, I was watching a wildlife programme on a lone wolf living on an island off the west Canadian coast. The presenter wondered what the wolf would be eating and he was filmed watching how the heron obtained its food from the shallows and proceeded to copy it. So is there a message from heron?
Then on Countryfile on Sunday featured a canal and again there was a piece about the heron.
I obviously need to ask more questions.
At the DD Zoom meeting with Karen I talked about heron. The message from heron is “Patience”. She said I was at one with the river and the heron accepted me as being part of the river. She said to have had 3 different reminders since the canoe trip showed there was a message for me to understand. So I have several ideas to dowse and ponder. Heron has been back around our garden and river bank several times since.
26th June 2020 10.15am
This morning I went along our board walk through the reed bed to watch the river. There is a large log which has been stuck in the mud for several weeks. On top of the log was a mallard drake who looked across at me. Usually if there are any birds around they fly away when they hear someone coming. He looked at peace and did not move. I asked if he was alright or perhaps needed healing as he had not moved. The reply I got was yes he was fine. I asked if his family was nearby. The message from the duck was “to have faith in myself and spirit is always with you, but do things at your own pace.” After about 15 minutes of tuning in to him, I went back to the cottage and collected my dowsing wand and phone. He was still there when I returned and I used dowsing to confirm the messages and take a photo of him. Later on I went back and he had left the log. This was before I received Gwynn’s email with details of how to prepare myself for meeting the birds and receiving any messages. However, even though I had not set my intention, I feel he was there for me on that morning.
Dowsing and Lockdown by Derek Scofield
Please note that the Pentillie site is on private land and Dowsers can not just turn up, if you would like more information please visit www.pentillie.co.uk
An experiment;- Is there an effect without human interaction?
Oh dear should have seen this coming!
I can not, I should not, I may not. I must not.gov.uk! Only kidding
Having realised there would be no gathering in numbers at the Hurlers and especially no
breakfast! I was then tentatively invited to Pentillie Circle depending on Government guidance.
That turned out to be a no go as well so permission asked for and granted by the owners, and
“the management” to dowse on my own, definitely social distancing except for the Guardian
of Place that also did not mind my dodging about among the stones.
Friday the 19th was when the owner gave permission and said he would unlock the gate to the
car park. He did not say said car park would be full of 15-20 Bullocks! Needless to say I did not
dare open the gate so went over the top and told the Bullocks to mind their own business
when they pranced all round me, so over the 2nd gate and down to the circle I was amazed
that I met the energy (Aura) of the circle so soon as I approached from the West. The rest of
the results are on the next pages. I can still hardly believe the amount of changes there were in
so short a time and no human activity to attribute it to as we are inclined to do at The Hurlers.
Incidentally all measurements are subject to very minor error as my 30 ft. metal retractable
tape measure decided not to retract so I had a fight with it each time I moved round the circle.
Dowsing Pentillie Circle in Lock Down
1st June create map/layout of circle from file.
Distance/Map dowse at home some information I remember from site visits last year but not
necessarily correctly. So this is my method……………to continue reading Dowsing in Lockdown by Derek Scofield
A walk with nature by Emma Young
Parking my car at Drakeford Bridge near Lustleigh, which is where I had dowsed I should go for a walk, I took out my rods to ask them to show me which way to set off. As I left the car park and began to cross the bridge, I felt compelled to stop and watch the river below. Within seconds, I changed from watching the sunlight on the water to feeling myself being drawn to the movement of the river. I was made acutely aware of the fact that water had flowed under the bridge for hundreds of years and would continue to do so, while all around in the wider world many things had and would change. I also thought about the fact that the water would flow onwards out of my sight, but would still exist and as part of the water cycle, it may evaporate into the sky, but would return to earth again.
Triggered by these thoughts, tears began to flow as I thought of the changes happening in my life linked to those I love ageing and the inevitable fact that death will happen one day. I also thought about how parts of us remain after death: in other people’s memories, the results of actions we took, or in other ways. Although we may appear to have physically ‘gone’ we leave an imprint. The tears passed and feeling calmer, I continued my walk, asking my rods to show me which way to turn at each junction.
I hadn’t walked in this area for several months and it seemed that all around were examples of change, but also of people working with nature. There was a new gate post with a plaque to the memory of a man who had worked as a Volunteer Reserve Warden and Water Bailiff in the area. The nesting boxes and bat boxes were still there, but some of the trees had been cut back in an attempt to help the trees combat ash dieback.
In a clearing where a magnificent oak tree stood until a few years ago, I looked for the stump. A mass of ferns and other new growth now surround it, but the stump remains if you know where to look. I dowsed where it would be appropriate for me to sit for a while. Sitting in the grass, I closed my eyes and listened to the river flowing nearby and the wind roaring in the trees above, while I remained sheltered on the ground. I had come out to connect with bird spirit medicine, but could hear no birds. As I opened my eyes, colours leapt at me: the greenery surrounding me, the yellow of the dandelions and the orange of butterflies.
Further on, I crossed the river again at Hisley Bridge and sat on a bench to watch the river. A couple walked over the bridge towards me and then took a track beside the river, stopping to take photos. I wondered whether I should tell them that the main path was in another direction and I wasn’t sure whether they would be able to continue their walk if they went that way, but then I stopped. Who was to say that they wanted to follow the path which most others take? Isn’t life about finding your own path?
I dowsed that the water was my medicine for that day, that it was for my heart chakra, helping me to cry and my emotions to flow. As I continued to sit and give thanks to the river, I had an increasing urge to paddle in the water. Taking off my shoes and socks, I stepped into the water and immediately saw the bridge from a new angle. The water was cold, but refreshing, especially as I splashed it onto my face. After standing in the river for a while, a dog appeared on the other side. It looked at me as if to say, ‘What are you doing there?’ I smiled and then laughed as it ran off again.
Feeling calm and refreshed and ready to carry on with my walk (and whatever life had in store for me!), I put on my socks and shoes and continued my walk back to the car.
I have since been told that this is an example of shinrin yoku or ‘forest bathing’, being in and connecting with nature. I connected with the earth by sitting on the ground, with the air by listening to the wind, with fire through the yellows and oranges I saw and with the water by taking a paddle. Nature gave me the medicine I needed on that day and the dog’s appearance made me laugh to help me to heal after the emotions I had been through. I had walked this route many times in the past, but it had never felt like this before. This time I experienced it in a totally new and powerful way.
Bird Spirit Medicine – My Message from on High by Gwynn Paulett
I had put time aside to do Dr Karen Stead – Dexter’s Homework, following her first Zoom Q & A session on Bird Spirit Medicine. With pendulum in hand I dowsed to see where I needed to go to receive ‘the wisdom/teachings of a particular bird spirit today’.
I dowsed down my list: on the water of the Exe/Teign estuaries? Along their shore lines? In the dunes of Dawlish Warren? In a meadow? In a woodland? In an open field? In my garden? On Dartmoor? I was running out of options when the word ‘allotment’ came into my head and I got a ‘Yes’ for that.
I was going there that afternoon so although I was busy watering, weeding, etc I kept my eyes open for birds and signs, becoming aware that there seemed to be a lot less than normal around. In fact I think I only saw one seagull. I packed up and walked back to my car thinking I had better re dowse to find my location.
On getting to my car I couldn’t help but notice there was an enormous bird poop down my drivers side window. ‘Well thanks very much!’ I said to myself, looking above to see if the culprit was still flying around. I supposed that I should be grateful it was aimed at my car rather than my head, and drove home still thinking that I needed to find another location to receive my Bird Spirit Medicine.
24 hours later I had been out that morning and drove home to find the other car on my drive covered in bird poop. My neighbour came across and said ‘How was it, that given all the other cars in the road, only mine had been covered in bird poop’!? It looked like a squadron had taken aim and strafed the car. 
‘OK. I thought. ‘If I didn’t get the message the first time round, they were making sure I got it the second time’!
Smiling to myself, I liked the idea of our feathered friends having a sense of humour and working together, as there was no way it was the same bird both times and the Nissan had been ‘attacked’ by more than one bird. They were all in on it!
So my ‘teaching’ was contained within the bird poop message I thought to myself, went inside and Googled the spiritual symbolism of Bird Poop. There were pages written on it.
Some examples were as follows: ‘A bird pooping on you is a sign of luck, prosperity and good fortune are all yours to come with this symbolic experience’. ‘When a bird poops on you, symbolically you are provided a situation in which you have to slow down, look at yourself, your behaviours, actions, beliefs and life choices, and to be honest with yourself. An integral part of this experience is the ‘cleaning up’ stage, which intrinsically involves clearing. Cleansing, clearing and transformation are a part of this good luck omen.’
This was a lot to take on! I shared it with Karen following our Zoom meeting. After she had stopped laughing, she felt the cleansing was the message for me. I started by cleaning both cars. I then set off my robot cleaner ‘Napoleon’, who sweeps all before him. (He came on offer from the French Amazon and I wouldn’t be without him!). That seemed to take care of some of the physical cleansing.
I dowsed through my living space to check there weren’t any detrimental energies that had manifested sinse the last time I had dowsed it. All seemed well. So that just leaves me. What I eat? How much? What I drink? How much? How much exercise? Spiritual exercise? All of these areas could be improved upon for my health and well-being, so I am grateful for receiving my Bird Poop Wisdom.
The next time I was at the allotment after being strafed, I asked for a sign that the message I had received was ‘the’ message just in case my imagination was running away with me. I had walked up the path a dozen times fetching water that morning. I closed the shed to walk back down the path to go home, and there on the ground was a pristine pigeon’s feather.
I smiled, picked it up and asked ‘what can I do for you?’
Gwynn Paulett, July 2020.
Martin Blacher shares his Bird Spirit Medicine homework
Doing the Bird Spirit Medicine homework
I dowsed that my allotments would be an appropriate place to do the homework. On my way down the lane behind our house I could hear gulls calling loudly. They had young and were in protective mode. Walking along the path towards the allotment gate I heard goldfinches in the hedgerow. Once at the allotments I dowsed for the most favourable place to wait for the bird and sat down in an open area by a willow hedge. My strategy was not to actively seek but to wait and see what came to me. This in itself was a novel experience. I usually go to the allotments with a number of things in mind that I need to do, rather than simply to be. Sitting in a familiar tranquil and beautiful spot for an extended period simply observing and absorbing was something I had never really done before, other than for a few minutes now and then. In front of me was a short crabapple hedge I planted a few years ago as a windbreak. It was sunny and pleasant, but also very breezy, so I didn’t expect to see many smaller birds. I waited and heard a brief snatch of blackbird song. Otherwise it was quiet. I waited on.
A magpie flew over. I caught a glimpse of a crow in a large eucalyptus tree. There were swifts flying high and herring gulls, then a wood pigeon flew by. I heard the blackbird singing again, but dowsed that it did not have medicine for me. Herring gulls again and a crow, then a magpie. No medicine. A swift. No medicine. I saw the magpie again. It disappeared then emerged once more, this time harrying a sparrow hawk, which flew away in front of it. Perhaps the magpie does have medicine for me?
Then I saw a single female house sparrow fly in and perch on a crab apple branch a few yards in front of me. She remained there for seven or eight minutes looking around her, watchful for predators, observing the ground near her, vigilant. She also looked towards me from time to time. I fancied that she modelled sitting and looking rather than constantly doing. I thought she had medicine for me, although I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Eventually she flew to the hedge on the left of where I was sitting, stayed there briefly then returned to another branch near her original perching place. Afterwards I thought how unusual it was to see a single sparrow like that. Generally they move around in groups. At the time I felt a sense of patience rewarded and a process concluded, but perhaps not completed. I thanked the bird.
Some time later I remembered something which had happened there more than seven weeks previously and which I had forgotten about until then. There is a large old galvanised water tank half way down one of the paths on my plots. On top of it is a sheet of metal mesh to stop birds or animals falling in to the water. As I walked by I thought I saw a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. I went back and looked at the surface. There was something moving. I lifted the mesh and put my hand in and brought out a fledgling female sparrow, which had some how dropped through the mesh into the water. It was trembling and weak and I thought it would probably die of shock and exhaustion. It was a warm sunny day and so I sat in the sun with the bird in my cupped hands. Its feathers dried out gradually and it slowly became more alert and lively. Eventually it was able to fly off to join a male sparrow and other fledglings waiting in the hedge.
I am not suggesting for a moment that the bird I saw was the bird which had nearly drowned that day, but remembering that incident certainly seemed to add an additional significance to what I had observed.
Soon after the homework afternoon I watched a Grahame Gardner workshop in the course of which he included the sparrow in a list of spirit animals.
I have thought a good deal about the whole experience since and am still not sure exactly how to interpret what happened. It would have been interesting to know how Karen Stead-Dexter would have explained it!
Martin Blacher
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Devon Dowsers
