Birch
By Blayze

Sink your awareness down into the earth. Become aware of your breathing. Enter a trance state (using usual breathing techniques…)

You find yourself standing at the foot of a large hill - all around you is darkness pierced only by the brilliant light of the stars… twinkling like jewels embroidered into the velvet cloak of the night sky above you.

By the light of the stars you can see that a path winds in a spiral about the hill. You move to the left and begin to walk along the path - ever twisting and spiralling to the left. You begin to feel the ground slope beneath your feet as you slowly walk the spiral path. Your awareness shifts with each turn as you sink deeper and deeper into trance.

You are aware moonlight growing brighter as you near the summit of the hill and you realise that the moon is rising to hang just above the hill itself. 

Bathed in the moonlight is a tall, ancient stone that stands in the centre of a flat plateau. The spiral path winds ever towards the stone in the centre, one half of which is in shadow, the other illuminated by the silver light of the moon.

Gradually you find yourself walking in a ever tightening spiral as you move closer and closer to the stone… always and ever moving to the left. At last you come face to face to with the towering and ancient weathered rock. By the light of the moon you see that there is an image carved upon its surface… A straight line runs from an inverted V at the base to the top of the stone. Halfway up the line you see a single horizontal line extending to the right. This is the Ogham Beith - the Birch carved into the single upthrust spur of living rock.

You feel the power awakening in the stone and sigil as the moon continues to rise. The Ogham stave glows and you run your hand along its length. You feel the energy tingle through you from the tips of your fingers to your feet upon the earth. Suddenly everything shifts and you find that you have passed through the stone into another realm. Mist envelopes you and you experience a moment of disorientation, but you can now feel the stone standing at your back. 

Through the mist you discern a faint glow and you slowly move towards it. As you move the mist begins to shred and fall away to reveal a cleared space in the centre of a grove of birches. Great silver barked trunks take on a golden hue by the light of the glowing coals of a fire in the centre of the clearing. You feel a slight breeze caress your skin and watch as the delicate green leaves of the mighty birches move to the wind’s invisible dance.

You move to the fire and you see that it burns beside a small pile of rocks from which bubbles the clearest spring you have ever seen. The tang of clean water is carried through the air, stronger even than the scent of the glowing coals. The spring trickles into a deep stone lined and bowl shaped well. You take off your clothes and splash yourself in the cleansing waters… naked by the water and flame in the centre of the birch forest.

When you are clean you turn to the fire to warm yourself and see in the flickering orange glow of the coals that there is an anvil standing on the other side of the fire. One solid lump of ancient iron that carries the marks of uncountable blows from the hammer that hangs over it’s point. At the foot of the anvil is an embroidered cloth bag covered in knots and spiral that writhe and come alive in the firelight. You open the bag and find inside it a leather apron, a pair of tongs and a pair of heavy leather gauntlets. Once again you feel the power that radiates from these objects.

You tie on the leather apron, glove your hands in the gauntlets and take up the tongs. As you do so, you hear a ripple of harp music filling the air and you see that upon the fire now rests a knife length of iron, glowing amongst the coals. You grasp the iron with the tongs and take it to the anvil. Using the hammer you begin to shape the metal.

Feel the shape of your soul fill the forming blade. Let your imagination shape your will in an invocation to Brigid, Goddess of Smithcraft.

When you are done, take the newly shaped blade and plunge it into the waters of the well. Feel the blade awaken and come alive. As the blade sits in the water… remove both the gauntlet and the apron and replace them in the bag. Now you stand naked once more before the pool.

When the blade has cooled, take the tang in your hands. You will see that one of the stones surrounding the spring is in the shape of a small bowl. Fill the stone bowl with water from the well and take it and your knife to the circle of birch trees surrounding you. Choose a tree and make an offering to it of the sacred water in exchange for a branch from which to whittle the hilt of your knife.

Take your blade and cut the branch… thanking the tree as you do so. Take the wood and your blade back to the fire and the well. Sit between them and begin to shape your hilt, splitting the birch down the centre and whittle it into shape with the newly forged blade.

When you are ready, take out the leather thronging that had been used to close the cloth bag… soak it in the waters of the well and bind the hilt to the tang of your knife.

As you tie the last knot around your knife, you sense the presence of an other forming between the well and the fire. 

Forged is the weapon you wield with grace, 
Grace is the tempered soul
The tempered soul is nourished by the well
The well is the cauldron of Three.
The cauldron is warmed by the fire of art
The fires are our inspiration
Inspiration guides our journey
Our journey is the wisdom of the waves
The waves are the wisdom of the world.

Brigid is come, Brigid is welcome. (Gaelic bit)

The Lady Brigid stands before you… between Her well and Her flame. Present your knife to her and ask Her for her blessing.

She moves her hand across the surface of the well and images form there for you to read.

Thank the Lady Brigid for coming to you and for the use of Her forge.

She may or may not return the knife to you.

Make sure everything is as you found it, put on your clothes. 

Behind you, you see the standing stone, but this time a spiral is carved into its surface. Move to the stone and begin to trace the spiral as it twists to the right. You become aware of mist forming around you once more and again a feeling of disorientation. 

As the mist begins to clear you find that you are once again standing upon the hillside under the fading light of the setting moon. By the light of the stars you begin to walk the spiral path out from the centre, ever moving to the right. You begin to feel the path sloping downwards as you tread the spiral path around the hill. As you walk you feel yourself becoming heavier and heavier, you begin to be aware of other sounds…. Slowly you reach the bottom of the hill and sit at its base. You become aware of the feel of your body, the shape of your skin and your breath. You feel the blood flowing through your veins . You become aware of the sounds around you… 

When you are back… open your eyes.