North Wales - Holy Wells and a Holy Mountain

After my experience with Gwyn ap Nudd on Dinas Bran I travelled over North Wales visiting several of the holy wells there.

St. Tecla's Well (where epilepsy could be cured by carrying a chicken under your arm!) was in a small village and seemed to be well looked after.

St. Dyfnog's Well was in a magical wooded gully behind a church and has a large bathing pool where I was guided to go in and take an icy dip! I amplified the healing properties of the water here using my wand.

St. Trillo's well was in a tiny chapel on the seashore, in the smallest church in Wales! Legend states that St. Trillo was drawn to the well by a column of light issuing forth from the ground. I ended up sitting through a Eucharist service here in order to sample the well's water's! I didn't feel like St. Trillo made me feel welcome there though.

St. Tudno's Well, on the Great Orm's Head, was overgrown and forgotten, but somehow clogged up with plastic rubbish which I spent some time removing.

Next on my list was St. Seriol's Well at Penmom Priory on the island of Anglesey. I was quite excited to be going to Anglesey, and my first view over the Menai Strait was directly towards the remote corner of the island where Penmon Priory lay.

After crossing the Menai bridge I arrived at Penmon Priory quite late in the day. After a quick look at the ancient and impressive dovecote I went directly over to the holy well, which lay just behind the priory. The short winter day was already drawing to a close, but a family was there already, the children gazing at the coins deposited in the crystal-clear waters of the well, so I took the opportunity to explore the area around the well and look back towards the priory.

When I returned the family had gone, so I finally had the place to myself.

I sat on the stone seat inside the wellhouse and meditated.

I didn't get any messages in there but was drawn instead to the circular foundations outside, the remains of the ancient hermit's cell of St. Seriol.

The cell seemed to be filled with  a yellow, glowing light, which flickered inside golden tendrils. I cautiously stepped into the energy of the cell and stood directly in its centre, where I planted my wand purposefully into the ground. Golden energy then seemed to fan out from my wand in all directions, like the spokes of a great wheel, connecting it to the walls of the cell. A beam of white light then shot out from the tip of my wand, directly upwards, seemingly all the way up to the stars. My wand now seemed to be connected to a distant star hidden deep in the heavens, and it felt like some kind of communication was going on, like my wand was receiving a download of some sort. The communication finished, but I didn't quite know what any of it meant, it felt like whatever information my wand was now carrying was there for me to use somehow.

I decided to get out my dowsing rods to try to find out what was going on here. I summoned the white light down from the sky into my rods, like I always do, and put up my protections, but instead of the energy entering into the crown of my head as it usually does, it landed in front of me and instantly transformed into the glowing white image of Merlin!

Merlin spoke to me. He told me I had performed my tasks well. I had not abused my power, and was ready to ascend to the next level. I would become Merlin! What did he mean by this? He told me to go to the highest point on Ynys Mon and meet him there.

I walked back to my car in the gloomy twilight and said hello to the local cat, who seemed to be waiting for me and was meowing loudly. I sat in the car and got out my map. The weather was cold and damp, and I could feel a cold coming on. I did not relish the prospect of having to climb a mountain! Luckily for me though Anglesey (Ynys Mon) does not have any mountains as such, just some moderately high hills!

A quick search on the internet soon directed me to Holyhead Mountain, the highest point on Anglesey. Although not strictly on Anglesey, as Holy Island is separated from Ynys Mon by a narrow strait, I instinctively knew that it was the right place. The Holy Island! Where else? It's name goes back to ancient druids when Anglesey was the holiest place in Wales, and Holy Island was the holiest place on Anglesey! Truly a place of power!

So I started the engine and drove over to Holyhead in the dark, and awaited the dawn.

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It was a chilly, windy, damp day in late November. My throat was getting sore, my nose runny and my limbs achy, so I drove as near as I could to Holyhead Mountain, up a farm track near its south face. The mountain looked daunting, with sheer rock faces, but my map indicated a path of some sort to the top, so off I trotted, feeling better with each step I took into the clean fresh air.

I walked over to a craggy point on the east of the hilltop and stood facing into the strong wind. I held my wand in front of me and meditated while the wind buffeted me. Soon I could hear myself chanting, a deep guttural tone sung directly into the wind, which seemed to carry it right through me and deep into the mountain.

"The old ones would awaken!" I thought as I heard the sound reverberating through hidden underground caverns.

Then Merlin appeared before me, a giant, huge and powerful, composed entirely of white light. I rose up in size to meet him, Aurvandil, tall and powerful also, another glowing giant of light. We stood there facing each other on the mountaintop, as equals. Merlin praised me again, and told me that I had now achieved my initiation. He told me I could now ascend to the next level. He touched a blue teardrop crystal that sat on my forehead and it glowed. Was this my third eye opening? Had I now come full circle? From my initiation in Merlin's Cave to my ascension on Holyhead Mountain?

The blue gem on my forehead glowed brightly, as did the white crystal on my wand. They both glowed brilliantly with a blinding light. I raised my wand into the air and called down a huge and powerful column of white light from the sky which filled the whole mountain with its energy. So powerful was the energy that soon the whole island seemed to be filled with it. I connected this place of power into the grid of energy, but somehow this felt different, not just a node of energy but an entire hub, huge and powerful. The holy island of the druids, the power centre of Anglesey, the power centre of Wales, the Holy Isle of Merlin! As the energy coursed through me I could feel my body trembling as the huge column of light passed through me, into the mountain and then out into the web that covered the whole earth.

As the energy slowly faded I could feel myself returning to my own body again, back to the windswept mountaintop and the wild nature of the island of Britain. My body had been shaking but now I felt calm. Merlin told me that my task for the present time was now done. I should relax now and await further instructions.

I started to set off walking back down the mountain but soon came to a pool that I hadn't noticed on my way up. I felt compelled to place a crystal in the pool and some of the water from St. Trillo's well. This mountain would now become a magical place I thought, full of dancing lights and strange energies and phenomena. Local people would notice the difference, the old magic would return.

As I reached the bottom I looked back up at the summit. In my mind's eye I could still see the giant forms of Merlin and Aurvandil standing up there.

"Once giants walked the earth," I thought.

And maybe soon they will again...

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Rob Wildwood (Aurvandil) has now released a book containing hundreds of his own stunning full colour photos of many of the magical places he has visited in his travels. The images capture the magic and mystery of each place and are enhanced by extracts of local folklore that reveal the magical lore of each place and tempt deeper investigation. Every site listed has full directions and map grid references that can be checked online, so join Rob Wildwood as you discover Britain's magical places at www.themagicalplaces.com