The Ivy: Gort
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 two diagonal line bisecting the upright line.They move from the top left to the bottom right. This is the Ogham Gort - The Ivy, 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. 

You stand in front of the standing stone and the mists begins to writhe and shred away in front of you.

It is daylight and there is a path before you, the ground appears to have been torn up, exposing layers of earth and old roots. Begin to navigate your way along the path, taking care not to stumble over the ruts and small depressions in the soil. 

You also see some stone rubble on either side of the path. Just a few broken stones, here and there, but as you walk you see that the stones have tumbled from a low dry stone wall that borders the path on either side. There are cracks in the wall and small ivy plants are growing between the stones. The plants are the beginning, new life that forms at the end of the wall. Still you walk on and the ivy gets thicker on the stone, the suckers become thicker and quest more deeply into the cracks. There are larger leaves here and the dry stone walls are becoming higher on either side.. The lane begins to twist around to the right slightly and still you are walking over the broken ground. 

Gradually you see up ahead that there is an old stone archway that joins the two walls. It is covered in ivy that hugs close to the pillars of old stone and crawls over the top of the arch and down the other side.  You can see that the long branches of the ivy are coarse and hairy and digging into the stone. Ivy, thick and heavy hangs like a curtain from the archway and it is hard to see beyond the portal.

Now is the time to remove your clothes and all that you hold. You are entering a new phase of the pathway and your own path. It is time to go into the darkness and find the enlightenment inside you.

When you have removed all of your clothes, part the veil of ivy that hangs over the arch and stand beneath it. You feel the hairy stems scratch at your skin, feel the smooth shiny leaves, rough and smooth. It is dark inside the archway as the ivy has formed a low roof over the pathway. In the light that filters between the ivy leaves you see two darkly glowing eyes and the hint of tusks catching the sun. There is a feeling of age before you, and the smell of animal. It is a Boar that stands before you. He snuffles the earth and tears it up. He gives you a look as old as time and turns and lumbers away up the ivy covered path into the darkness.

You see something glint in the sunshine where the boar has dug up the earth. You move forward to look. It is a large single ivy leaf, 5 fold leaf of shining green. You pick it up and hold it up to the light coming through the arch and see that it is deeply veined in white.  Now place it against your chest so that the leaf corresponds to your body, head, arms and legs. You feel the ivy expand and cover you, its veins are now your veins, its shiny skin now your skin. You are now part of the greenworld and you know what it is to spiral and twist around another, always mindful of your strength and the encroaching darkness that you can bring if you smother the other or yourself. 

Move forward along the ivy roofed path. The walls on either side of you are totally covered in green. As you move along the broken path, following the tracks of the boar in the broken ground you become aware that the ivy roof is getting lower. Slowly you begin to bend your head and your knees as you move forward. The walls and ivy roof of the tunnel and becoming lower still until you are forced to crawl along over the ground. The darkness is nearly total but there is enough room for you to move forward. You feel the path moving slowly to the right still, the scratchy ivy branches warn you when you get to close to the wall. You feel that you are crawling through a spiral, curving like the ivy curves,... with each turn feel your inner self and outer self becoming one. You are in the darkness, but not afraid, you are learning the lessons that make you rely on your other senses.

Ever onwards you crawl, the ivy roofing you, still green and lush although there is darkness within, as you are hidden within, gaining experience with each turn that you make.

With your inner eye you become aware that you know what your path is, you are moving forward and you can feel yourself moving towards the centre. The tendrils that brush your skin are the people that you share your magical life and path with, you can feel the learning and trust that they are giving you as you make your way down the tunnel and as they make their own way down the tunnel... running and crawling with the ivy as it grows strong on the outside and knows its hidden depths on the inside.

You can feel the centre nearing, you know where it is. Your awareness is transformed by the darkness of the ivy and you are sure now of your direction, not just following the spiral path but going forward with will.

As you feel this transformation taking place, you become aware that the ivy walls and roof of the tunnel are moving upwards again. There is more headroom and the ground is becoming softer under your knees. As you move you now are able to move along in a crouch. You can feel the centre and gradually you can stand upright once more. Light is beginning to filter through the ivy leaves. 

Once more you see an archway uphead, but through the archway is mist and as you get closer it does not part for you.

You stand beneath the arch, clothed in ivy and surrounded by it on either side and above you... with the earth beneath your feet.

You feel the power of your journey through the darkness welling up inside you, running through your ivy leaves. You have come far on your path, you have begun anew, experienced the power of the seer, the feel of leadership and justice, you have been touched by wisdom and divine madness and the lightening has danced for you. All of these experiences have made you what you are. But if you want to go forward on the path, to break through the mists and experience that which lies at the centre of the labyrinth, you must be ready to take responsibility for your own actions. The path of the trees is not always easy and not always nice, there is darkness and there is light. There is birth, death and rebirth awaiting you. There is power but there is also responsibility. You must be able to stand by yourself as well as relying on others when there is need. You must also be able and willing to heed warnings as they arise. 

Think on this.

The way forward is within you. Sort out the tangle of the ivy leaves that surround you and see your way through the mists. They will part for you if you are ready to develop on your path, to take the responsibility that comes with that. 

The mists part and you see before you a circle walled in ivy and stone. The ivy leaves are large and shining in the light of the sun.

You have walked and crawled along a spiral path that echoes each of your journeys into the Otherworld. Go to stand in the centre of the circle.

As you choose to develop on your path and receive and all that comes with that you look around the walls at the leaves. You see faces in the leaves, not amongst them but in the actual leaves. You also become aware of the feelings that each of these leaves gives to you.

Take time to examine the leaves, look at the ones that you feel will journey with you and also note any that are giving you warnings. Remember these warnings to take back with you.

Overlaid with all is the image of those who have trod the spiral path before you and with you, and those who will come after, stretching backwards and forwards as the ivy stretches back for forth.

When you have identified which leaves are the ones that you will journey with, begin to dance in the circle, whirling and spinning about. 

As you dance you create a great breeze that spirals around you. The leaves that will journey with you dance from the branches and begin to dance with you, spiralling and whirling around you with a sense of total joy at discovery and the journey to come.

You feel the tendrils of group mind spinning around you, linking the leaves and yourself together. Always accessible in need.

You begin to be borne upwards by the dance, a whirlwind of the group mind's creation. Upwards you travel, ever spinning, surrounded by leaves. You look down and see the whole of the ivy covered spiral laid out below you. Where you were standing but a moment before, there is now a mighty boar, no longer leading nor pursued. Just standing in the centre as a reminder of what falling leaves can bring.

Up you whirl, moving over the spiral now. You see the first archway below you with the twin drystone walls leading up to it. Slowly you begin to descend. The leaves fluttering around you. As you touch lightly down to the ground before the arch, a mighty gust of wind keeps the leaves aloft... and they drift over the land to their rightful places. But this is not a parting, it is a connection that you will always be able to find.

So it is not with sadness but with joy that you stand upon the ground. Stand before the ivy covered arch once more, and move between the pillars. You feel the ivy leaf that covered you drift away to become part of the larger tree, but still you feel the sap running in your veins... a memory now, but always there.

So you stand again naked before the archway with your clothes at your feet. Pick them up and put them on. You see that the ground is now longer plowed up, but smooth with the passing of many feet. You make your way back down the pathway between the ivy covered walls towards the standing stone. Once more you come to the beginning and end of the wall, with the buds of ivy leaves yet to release their potential. They awaken at your passing.

When you arrive back at the Stone you see it now bears a spiral marking. 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.