Author: Sheila Murrey

Sacred Celtic Journey: England

Continuing on with the sharing of thoughts and pictures from our June/July 2019 vacation to Europe, this post covers our three days in England. During these three days we covered a lot of ground, literally and figuratively!

Refer to part 1 here: https://sheilamurrey.net/2019/08/03/a-sacred-celtic-journey-part-1-ireland/.

Our Sacred Celtic Journey was with author and speaker, Patricia McGivern (learn more about her at: https://www.patriciamcgivern.com).

The tour took us to Bath, Lacock, Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow, and Stonehenge (which was abSOULutely phenomenal!) plus, we explored Glastonbury (the Abbey, Tor, and Chalice Well) and also got to have a quick stop in the tiny town of Wells, home to one of the grandest of cathedrals!

Thursday July 4

We arrived in Bristol, England and had a bus (for our group), take us on about an hour’s drive to Bath, England.

Bath

In Bath, we stayed at the Apex Bath hotel. We had a wonderful room and comfortable bed. We had walked so much in Ireland that we were really appreciative to have the rest of this day to “just BE.”

We walked through town and marveled at the architecture of the cathedral.

We dined at the famous Sally Lunn’s—home of Sally Lunn’s Buns. Our group believes Sally’s is haunted, as one of our gals experienced some odd happenings while she was in the restroom! She heard the door open, and water run in the sink, and door close, but no footsteps and no talking!

Our food was delicious and even months later, as I write this, I can still recall the feeling and experience of the place.

Picture of us in front:

Friday July 5

On this morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and afterwards met author, Andrew Phillip Smith. He presented interesting information from his book, The Lost Teachings of the Cathars. I have not read his book, but he certainly seemed an expert on the topic.

In the Languedoc area of Southern France, the Cathars met in groups and did not build churches. They were peaceful, educated, believed in equality of men and women and the early pure teachings of Jesus before being massacred by the Catholic Church in the Albigensian crusade. As well, we learned that the Cathars were celibate (called, Perfects) and confessed to each other in front of believers. Once a Perfect met their Perfect other, they went to Kingdom of Heaven (didn’t need to reincarnate into another vessel or creature). In 1209 something important happened (Reference to my 1212 life that I found out about while in Sedona.)

Supposedly, Mary Magdalene was alone with Jesus at the temple, the well, and in the garden. May not have married him but may have been his Perfect. They wouldn’t have had physical sex though, as that was not the belief or way at the time. This would have put the Cathars at odds with the Catholics.

Cathars believed in Laying on of hands (Refer to the story of the horse-lost shoe between to stones/horshoe over the door); Reference the Nag Hammadi; During the Inquisition we learned about the Cathars (so something good came out of it, yes something good can even come out of the Inquisition!). He even said Adam and Eve were not able to move until the spirit went into them!

While somewhat fascinating, I couldn’t help pinch myself a few times though, as I looked out the windows of the hotel. I was simply in awe to be in England. ❤️

Lacock Village

We walked through town again to catch another tour bus to go to Lacock (where Harry Potter was filmed), Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow, Woodhenge, and finally, to Stonehenge. Honestly, I could write one whole article on my experience at Stonehenge, it was that amazing and phenomenal.

At Lacock, Richard and I walked and talked with our driver who was a retired police officer. He told us some stories about how their criminal justice system operated and that people aren’t allowed to own guns there. We were very interested in the architecture and way of life of the villagers of Lacock. Even the barn was very well taken care of. Walking these aged streets were certainly a walk back in time.

We ended our walk at the church and Patricia asked me to come and see an important memorial of a young mother and children.

West Kennet Long Barrow

A short drive later, we arrived at West Kennet Long Barrow (a neolithic tomb built around 3,650).

We played with taking photos and theorizing about these stones. I happily spied on two birds atop one of the stones at the entrance to the chamber and remarked to Patricia, “One has a feather stuck on its beak”! It wasn’t a busy place that day, so it was relaxing. And we liked that we could touch everything, which heightened my curiosity and made it all the more informative.

We joked about desiring to see a crop circle here, and wildly enough, a couple of weeks after we left, we read about a crop circle appearing near this place! “Missed it by that much”!

Avebury

Next, we spent a few hours at Avebury, exploring the largest megalithic stone circle in the world! Again, we were intrigued by the “flesh” type of texture to these humongous stones. We marveled at the placement of the stones and the various “growths” on their surface.

We learned that Avebury is also a henge, as Stonehenge is and were further intrigued. Since our visit, we have become quite hooked on the topic!

After leaving Avebury, we stopped along the road for a fantastic lunch at a place called, The Waggon and Horses. Not only was the food savory and delicious, but the building charmed me with delight!

Before arriving at Stonehenge, we made a quick stop at Woodhenge. We learned that the wood markers had been placed where stones had once been.

Stonehenge

I will summarize to state that I felt the energy affecting me before we even reached the stones, as we rode the park bus out to the stones, and more while walking to the stones.

I noticed our shadows and took this artsy “giants” shot:

As the sun was setting and I entered the stone circle, I felt a strong yet calm energy as I took each meaningful step. I felt an indescribable connection to this sacred site!

Walking inside this megalithic stone circle was deeply personal and most intriguing. Even now, looking at the photos as I write this, brings me back INTO engagement with those feelings.

After taking pictures and video of the sunset, I found a mostly buried blue healing stone (that Pharon had told me about earlier). I sat very near one of the blue stones and was blissfully surprised at how quickly I dropped into a meditative state.

My few minutes of meditation within the inner circle at Stonehenge was profound! I was quite surprised after leaving there to learn that my husband had taken a picture of myself and some of our others while we were meditating! Love!

Note: Even now, I continue to connect to that stone when meditating at home.

Saturday July 6

Today (on the date of my daughter’s birthday), I was a bit emotional because of not being with her, but also because I was out of the country and not able to talk with her. In English tradition though, I put my chin up and trekked on, as we had a lot to see!

Wells

We made a quick stop in Wells, England’s smallest city. And we were all astonished at the sight we saw there!

Glastonbury

We left the hotel at 8am for a full day in Glastonbury (where it is believed that Joseph of Arimathea and King Arthur may be buried); we had our second past life regression out back of the Abbey and before the group tour of the Abbey.

My husband, Richard, had been dealing with a hip that was hurting, so we didn’t go on the Abbey tour, but I felt that was all in divine time. As it happened, a friend had lost her green Prasiolite crystal after our regression session and I was available to walk with her, help look for it, and have some time to talk. Had Richard not have needed to rest, I would not have been available.

The grounds here were spectacular. I covered a lot of ground myself taking in the roses and other flowers growing on the walls and looking for meaningful items.

I spent quite awhile in the Abbey’s museum and was immediately drawn to these blue glass fragments (reminiscent of the luminous blue stones I had seen in my first regression session in Glendalough—see part 1 post).

Before leaving we had a few minutes to shop and find some gifts for my granddaughters and myself. 😉

We walked into town for lunch and had a delicious meal at a cafe where we had quiche and English tea.

Chalice well

We left about 1pm for the Chalice Well, England’s most loved and well known holy well that is believed to possess healing qualities). On the way to our tour bus, I spied my synchronistic blue on one of the buildings! I tell you, I didn’t miss a beat of receiving all of the subtle winks from the Universe I was given on this trip!

Our guide for this day took us up a side street to The White Spring where back in the day, commoners could gather water (the rest runs down under the grate beside the street.) He also took us in the building (that isn’t always open), where we could see The Red Spring—and as our luck would have it, we even saw a nude man after his dip in the spring! LOL Oh, my! (No photography was allowed in there and we know why!)

Glastonbury Tor

Richard and I took one look at the hill and decided to stay at the bus with our driver, Richard, and talk about the legends and more with him. To us, connecting with those who live in these places are more important than the buildings and such. We enjoyed talking about the sheep and such too, and he prepared a lovely cheese and cider snack for us all after the rest of our group returned. Totally unexpected and delightful!

Back in Bath

Wrapping it up, we spent several hours at the Roman Baths museum in Bath. We were amazed by how much was here and I could write another article on all we discovered here! It was one of the biggest surprises of our trip, as we didn’t know much about this at all and had no idea that we would be so mesmerized by it all, from the engineering and architecture, to the art! We knew Romans were intelligent, but obviously much more than we had thought!

Note: As destiny would have it, out of 30,861 applications I won the lottery entry into the Newgrange neolithic chamber for the 2019 winter solstice sunrise! We are sooo excited to return to Ireland!

Stay tuned for part 3: Scotland!

❤️🦋🌀🍀

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