A few weeks ago, we went to the New Forest to visit an Iron Age hillfort called Castle Hill, near Burley. I was reading ‘The Forest’ by Edward Rutherford and he mentioned a myth about a dragon there. As I have often found, where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Myths are great for finding sites associated with dragons because ancient cultural beliefs remain in the collective unconscious of the area.

Once we climbed up the hill to the hillfort, not realising, until we were inside, that there was a road which would have given us direct access, we found a beautiful old oak tree. It felt like a Mother Tree and it stood at the western entrance. We were told to make an essence in this old tree, which was a combination of her ancient stability and wisdom, and the white dragon energies that protected the site.

The white dragon, which looked very ‘fleshy’, more like a Chinese dragon, had long serpent-like tendrils hanging down from beside its nostrils and it stood at the entrance, facing outwards, acting as protector of the hillfort. On the other side of the hillfort, at the other entrance, I could see another one, looking out towards Lymington. My guides instructed me to walk sunwise, around the inside of the fort, and to connect the dragons to each other via a white light ring. In my mind’s eye, it reminded me of that old toothpaste advert, with its ring of confidence. White with a blue tinge.

As we walked in a circle, around the inside of the fort, we continued to tune into the energies of the site. We were told that this place was a place of safety during times of invasion. When outlying villages were attacked, the people who lived outside would come to be fed and protected. It felt like it was during a time when there was much instability and villages were routinely robbed and destroyed.

Dragon priests, able to communicate with the elemental energies of the place, were given forewarning that an attack was imminent, and they informed the villagers, who trusted them completely. They then left their homesteads and came to the safety of the fort, often returning later to burned homes and destroyed livelihoods.

Part of the energies of these dragons was that the protection they offered was an energetic force-field which only allowed in energies that resonated with them. The priests of the place held that energy. If others came with bad intention, they were denied access. It was as if they would feel repelled by the place. Perhaps a fear set in, or a superstition triggered. Something always kept them out. I have found this before, at particularly elemental sites. An energy-field that you could only access if you saw beyond the glamour that surrounded them. They were invisible to most people. The ‘glamour’ came in the form of fear. For no reason that you could see, you would suddenly become afraid, seeing darkness all around you. Only if you could see the fear for what it was could you access the wisdom and knowledge of the elementals who inhabited the place.

The white dragons fulfilled the same purpose in Castle Hill hillfort.

As we made the white dragon essence at the Mother Tree, I became aware of a blue dragon energy moving in a line behind me. I was facing the centre of the fort, and the line, which looked like a blue serpent energy, entered the back of my Hara and rose out of my crown, then it travelled down through my feet. I had the strongest feeling we needed to go to wherever this blue dragon line was coming from. This turned out to be the Avon River at Ringwood.

We drove to Ringwood and brought this new essence to the river, following our intuition to the river, by a lovely green area called Jubilee park. As I poured some of the tree essence into the river, I heard myself say: ‘A gift from the Mother’.

Next, I filled a bottle with water from the river to take back to the fort. I was told it was ‘the gift of water’. And I was aware of how privileged we were to have water. Some places don’t have any. The feeling was that water was a gift, one we could not live without. There were so many places that did not have water, such as in desert environments and places where humans have polluted the seas and rivers and groundwater. We do not recognise what a gift we have. What I loved about this exchange of gifts was that they were given freely, in recognition of the importance of both places.

This was also my cue to stop complaining about the extremely wet winter we have had all winter. I had become so tired of my back-garden quagmire, which my hens had created, and I’d begun to think the rain would never stop.

Before we left the little park, I had a desire to stand on the bridge over the river. Looking across the sparkling waters, the view was beautiful! There was a glorious feminine energy presiding over this fast-flowing river, and she told me she would like to add to the essence, which now contained oak, dragon, and water energy. She put a fish into it, just like at the Itchen last year. The fish is masculine energy, but still hers.

We drove back to the hillfort and brought the water to the tree. There, I had to walk around it anti-clockwise in a circle, pouring some of the water on the ground as I walked. Chris did one half, and I did the other, like a yin/yang. Pouring the water in this way tells us that this essence is both for use as an energetic spray, and to be gifted to the land in certain areas. This gifting activates energies at the site. Many times, when making an essence, we are told to pour some on the ground, or at the base of a tree. This then sets up an activation point which affects the energies coming in and going out.

Having finished the circle, it felt like we had completed another circuit, just as we had with the white ‘ring of confidence’.

The following week, we went to Lymington. Such a lovely town, with its old fishing alleys and a small slipway. Now, however, it is no longer a small fishing village but a marina. We walked as far down to the sea as we could, then stood beside another slipway, from where I could see the opposite shore. I never know what to expect when I reach a place, and this time was no different. But, thinking I had some active work to do here, I was surprised when nothing happened. Instead, I felt an energetic aura of water emerge from the sea and surround me, as if I was carrying a bubble of water. It was a strange wobbly experience and I was very aware of holding this fluidly moving bubble of liquid. But I knew this was to be brought back to Castle Hill.

We drove into the hillfort this time and wandered down to the oak tree at the entrance. Standing beneath its branches, I felt the bubble of water, which was undulating around me, suddenly flop onto the ground, where it then seeped into the soil in a cascade of blue.

That was all I needed to do – I thought – until I saw a large white dragon’s egg appear beneath the tree. We were instructed to stand within this egg and were told that this was an initiation into the protective guardian energies of the White dragon. We could transfer this protection to people who would be the guardians of a sacred place. We could also place it around a home if that place was going to be a sanctuary or healing space.

After this gift, the work was complete, so we explored the rest of the hillfort. There are old gravel pits there now, filled with rainwater and as I stood looking into one, I felt an impulse to throw a little gold ring in. It was a tiny ring I had found walking up a road around Winchester and which only fit on the first joint of my little finger. It had originally been on something, like the rim of a bottle, but I knew, when I found it, that it was destined for someplace else, so I had worn it with that in mind. I have very little jewellery left at this stage, as so much of it has ended up in pools or rivers. A gift for a gift – or a symbolic sacrifice, a letting go of attachment. Plus, the metal can work as a physical anchor for activated energies.

It makes me wonder, though, about the real purpose was for all those iron-age swords and gold found thrown into rivers and bog pool in ancient times.

Perhaps those ancient people also exchanged gifts with the spirit of special places and energies…