It’s been a bit of a project and one that I’ve loved every minute of….and continue to as she will develop and unfold.
The Circle.
When we moved here the end of the garden had a fenced off area that was massively overgrown and basically a scrub area. We couldn’t really see what was there except masses of brambles and nettles and presumably the river behind but we couldn’t see it behind the forest of brambles. Being winter we could see to the woods behind. The fence appeared to provide a barrier to the spread of the brambles and nettles but also possibly to prevent potential Coypu making their way into the garden (the previous owners also have dogs and coypu are known to have a nasty bite for both humans and dogs when caught unawares).
We knew straight away that we wanted to clear the area and use it as part of the garden. The first job was the clear the tangle of brambles and nettles. This was a job for Dennis with his new Stihl toy. Once the area had been cleared this part of the garden suddenly felt open. We left the fence in place for now and just really looked on in awe at the potential of this new-found space. We could see the river flowing behind and wandering over we found the most wonderful part of the river had been hiding behind it’s Bramble shroud! The remains of an old bridge and a beautiful old fallen tree spanning the river, covered in moss and ivy.
I think it was then that I really felt the magic of this space. Something quite special should go here.
In May we took the fence away and mowed the regrowth of nettles. Wow! the space was really opening. We spent a good few days pulling up nettle roots and bindweed roots. A pile of roots the size of a small horse still remains awaiting cremation.
I knew what I wanted to place in this space. A circle. A point of focus for meditation and ritual. This amazing space that was, in fact an Alder grove. Alder surrounds the space on 3 sides, with 3 Elder trees at three points of surrounding of the grove. And tucked away in amongst some alder I spotted a Hawthorn and heading the space at it’s peak – toward the east where the sun rises….a spectactualr Willow, who had been left unkept and bore the scars of historical wire fencing, cutting into her. What a space though!! All these sacred trees surrounding!
It has been said that witches would gather in Alder groves – I could certainly see this space as having been a gathering space for witches – or perhaps in its future.
I measured out the centre of the space between the three Elder Trees and drew a circle on the ground with a piece of string tied to a stick in the centre. This is where the circle would lay.
In July our beloved Treacle died and it was a time when I really needed to connect with the earth and it seemed a perfect time to start building the circle. I first placed some rocks in one ring around the circle I’d drawn. Dug them in so that they were all flat on the surface. While looking for rocks I found a wonderfully shaped miniture monolithe and decided at least for now it would be perfect to go into the centre.
I then added a few more rocks to the circle to thinken the rock edge and scatterted grass seed outside the circle.
Finally I added some wood chip inside the circle edge and today I added the inner circle.
And here she is – phase one complete. The first post about the Circle at The Alder Grove….but certainly won’t be the last. I meditate here most days.
