E06

Earth Temple

Thursday 7th July 1994 (approx 9:15pm)

Earth Temple Air Temple Water Temple Fire Temple

Rob: We are facing the cave, the maypole is behind us. All around us are the stones.

Barry: It is dawn. The sun is low on the horizon. The smell of the grass and the dew is strong.

Rob: The air is chill and fresh, but there is a stillness, a sense of calm.

Barry: A figure stands within the mist - dew drips off his leather robe. He carries a staff and a large circular object like a shield. Staff is for the journeys we have to make, as we have far to go. The shield is a means of defence. The stillness of the temple can form a barrier.

Rob: The shield was a means of identity, it bore one's devise.

Earlier was the plate or bowl, with the connection with food and the body.

Barry: The plate indicates food and drink offered around the circle, it indicates group unity.

Rob: The cube is a symbol of stones used for building. The importance of foundations is as important in occult work as it is in construction. There is a need for good foundations.

Barry: The staff is used as aid for a journey - defence or support.

Rob: A staff can also extend your reach.

Barry: It is still you who controls and directs the staff.

Rob: Foundation stones are buried. The past is rooted in the earth, as in the burial of the dead. The quality of silence is being stressed to me. Here it is almost tangible.

Masons bring form to rocks. The relationship between the mason and his stonework mirrors that of God and man.

Barry: The mist here connects with silence, as it contains that which is hidden. Silence should be used to pierce mist and see truth. Earth contains truth; perhaps this is why there are so many Earth based divination methods.

Rob: Man does not appreciate how much he relies on gifts of the Earth - stone, metal, oil gas etcetera. Water that flows over or through the earth - like the blood that flows through our bodies. The roots of plants are like the nerves - they connect - even lichens form a part of the Earth's nervous system.

Barry: Building blocks, which we use to build walls and other structures are similar to life's lessons - it is difficult to see how they fit together. One should know what they mean to build, although they cannot visualise it completed.

Rob: They should take care how they build - note the tale of the three little pigs. One trap of the Earth is Sloth - you must make an effort or else sink into the mire.

Ones' aims can cause one to build a Tower of Babel - reaching for false goals.

Barry: The Pyramid with a strong base has four sides. These equate to the four elements reaching for the ultimate goal. The golden tip reaches upwards from a strong base, with each side being equal in importance.

Rob: The pyramid is a man made mountain, a mirror of their truth. The correct goal of mankind is to improve, to live better - nothing should come before this goal. As you climb the mountain the air is more rarefied, purer. There is a direct analogy to spiritual development. The shape of the pyramid with its' strong base shows that most work involves the base - it is the largest block.

Barry: Each block in a pyramid is weak, but together they are strong. The whole is greater than the part.

Rob: Man's hierarchy - the pyramid like the mountain. Man tends to view those below in the hierarchy as inferiors, but human structures would topple without this order.

Examinations of structures of ants or bees or termite colonies show a clue as to creatures working in harmony, but just a clue.

Barry: The shield is hung on the maypole with the other items - the masks, pipes and drums.

Rob: What is its' devise?

Barry: It is made from hide - its' devise is that of the Green Man.

We should not be afraid of the gifts we have acquired from the maypole, but they are only tools to be used by ourselves.

Rob: Craftsmen in relationship to their tools - they take care of their tools - another's tools would feel strange. In his hands only through use, they have a life of their own. This temple is a tool of our mind - we are shaping and forming it. This body; this life is also a tool - take the same care in shaping it - climb the mountain with it. This requires skill, courage and daring - and has risk. Mountaineers need to be fit and aware. Likewise the spiritual. The scale of needs must be addressed.

In front of the maypole is a fire, on which a large cauldron has appeared. The Cauldron of Cerridwen. Familiarise yourselves with this myth, there is also a clue within, which is obvious.

Barry: I feel like Gwion the attendant - sometimes fearful to taste the knowledge within. Cerridwen devoured Gwion and gave birth to him again as Taliesin - Do not forget the power of the Goddess as symbolised by the Cauldron.

Rob: This is a reminder that we have over emphasise the God (Temple at Penmaenmawr). I feel a solidity - I shall take something back with me.

Barry: I want to take back Silence and calm of this place and much love within it - for the Earth and for all the beings on it. Goddess and Green Man interlinked.

Rob: It is raining.

Barry: Shall we return?

Rob: I have an image of being about to walk off the end of a plank.

Barry: That is the same sort of image as when I imagined I was Gwion, it expresses the fear and apprehension of what is to come - there is no turning back.