By Sophie.
A month or so ago I found a grove in a local wood which I've visited regularly since we moved here over four years ago. I was doing my normal walk when my attention was caught by a little track, probably badger, going off the main path into the wood. I followed it and found a perfect little grove- oak, ash, hazel, hawthorn, fern... It felt absolutely welcoming, like arriving home.
On my way out that first day, I left a different way to the way I'd gone in, thr
ough a gully with a big badger sett in one of the banks. I found a badger skull in the middle of the path. It still had some fur on it and there were some other bones and more fur up the bank. The skull was sitting perfectly aligned, looking up the path, so I didn't move or touch it, just meditated on it for a little while. When I went back a few days later it had been moved, probably kicked, to the side of the path where it lay on it's side, jaw hanging open. I decided I should move it now and I placed it in the roots of a tree, on top of the bank, facing away from the path. I've been visiting regularly and he stayed there for quite a while, but one day last week he was again back in the middle of the path on his side... I put him nestled in the roots of the same tree, but this time half way up the bank and facing out over the path so he can see people walking by.
When I went to the woods a couple of days later I sat watching the river flow by for a while and then went straight to the grove via the badger sett rather than the other way round. I wasn't after a walk as well as meditation. The skull was in his root hollow, watching me pass. I got to the grove and very strongly focused on my nemeton and the nemeton of the grove and asked permission before entering. As I went in I felt so welcome. I called to the spirits of place, through Earth, Sea and Sky. I got pretty stuck in Earth- it was so gorgeous after the recent rain. I found myself on my knees with my face buried in the Earth, focused utterly on it. After calling to the Sea and Sky I went back to meditating on Earth, through the woodland floor. It was totally absorbing, I was lost in it for a little while and lost the anxiety about being seen and someone coming to see if I was okay. It was wonderful. I had gone to the woods feeling tired and a bit irritable. I left feeling great.
I went to 5 Rhythms dance that night. We are doing a 5 week course on the elements and that night was Air, but I was with Earth a lot of the time though! As we went into Chaos the teacher told us to call to our 'angels or fairies to guide us and support us in the dance. It was the badger that came to me and guided me. Wild dance!
