Rob:             We are facing North. Standing against the North stone is a man standing on one leg, with the other crossed behind him. He has a flute and is wearing a green hood. He puts the flute to his mouth.

“Can you hear me?

I am the voice that calls green things to grow. I speak of the warm sun; refreshing rain; quickening things to life. Can you hear me?

I cause the pulse to race, the blood to boil”

This is the sound of his flute. Beyond him we can see the cave heavily grown with greenery. The Green Man is mossy and grassy, he is in full power. All things are putting forth their strength.

The man is still playing as he moves towards the cave. We follow him.

Barry:          From the cave entrance a spring of clear water issues into a stone trough from out of the cave walls. The water is ice cold and tastes of minerals.

Rob:             The entrance of the cave goes back to a small hole that we must crawl through to get to a larger chamber. The cave is too hot for comfort. A smoky lamp flickers. The flute player pulls a small drum out. He puts his hand over the lamp extinguishing it. The cave is almost black.

He begins a drum beat. In the cave the drumbeat is the only sound. It fills the space and crowds out thought. Listen.

Before us a thin line of light has appeared. It slowly expands and opens. As it gets wider, we can see it is a gateway. Beyond it are trees and grass, and a stone altar. The light continues to expand.

We are drawn through by the drumbeat. We find ourselves before the stone altar. It is very high and built of four huge walls with a thin slab on top. There are three spaces underneath it. The back wall extends beyond the top. There are several fetishes of feathers, skin and bone beneath the altar. In the first section below the altar top is an enormous sow. In the centre section is a cauldron, inside which a small fire burns. In the third section sits a dark skinned man. He sits cross-legged and bent forward, his head resting on his arms. His face can’t be seen. His hair is wiry and dusty, his skin is also dusty. Something has been drawn upon him. He seems aboriginal.

Barry:          The sound of the drum took me on a journey. I rested in the arms of the Mother. She galloped on a white horse. Where her cloak brushed the grown, new grass grew. Flowers sprang up in the horses footfalls.

Dogs were pursuing us on each side, hungry after the winter. We reached a safe place. The dogs will not cross the stream that surrounds the wooded hill top.

I see a large flat open space with a tumulus close by. In the middle of the space is a rush mat next to a standing stone, on which is a feathered cloak. Facing me are three huts. Each has a large centre pillar projecting above the roof. The shape of the moon is carved into the door of each hut. The middle door is open.

Rob:             A man approached the altar. He is bald and has a friendly, smiling face. He is the priest of this altar and his name is Tammuz. He keeps the sacred flame alight. The pig is sacred to him. She is dark earth and has quite a temper. The dark skinned man is a hermit, he has journeyed to this place to meditate.

Tammuz asks me if I wish to make an offering. I ask who the altar is dedicated to – Gaia – Binah – Persephone.

I find that at my waist I have a fetish. It is a long tube of bone drilled to make assort of flute. At one end is apiece of wood carved to look like fingers. I give this to Tammuz, who accepts it and places it with the others. The pig comes out and peers at me with cold beady eyes.

Barry:          I remove all my clothes and enter the middle hut. I am in a clearing in a great forest. The woodland floor is covered with bluebells and spring grass. Inside the hut is the pregnant girl huntress. Spring is the time to heal wounds suffered in the winter. Forget the lessons of the hunter.

She hands me three items, a long thin spear, a hide shield and a long piece of animal gut. “You understand the spear. The trap is sometimes the hunter’s best weapon. The shield is to be used for the kill, not the chase.”

I lie amongst the bluebells and feel the cleansing power of the dew. I stand outside the hut. The door is now closed.

I take the path down and wade through the stream. Stepping on the bank, I am once again in the cave.

Rob:             The she-pig tells me that I need to integrate more my disparate elements, to bring them together. Nothing is chance, all is planned.

The pig straightens, stands and becomes the Crone, still with those terrible eyes. She kisses me, and her breath is of the tomb. I feel myself falling and am bid to return. I am back in the cave.

There is a scrape and the lamp is relight. We climb out and return to the circle. The flute player plays and the temple dissolves around us.

E20