The Broom: Ngetal
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 three diagonal lines bisecting the upright line.They move from the top left to the bottom right. This is the Ogham Ngetal - The Broom, 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 you find yourself standing on a dusty road that runs between fields of rolling green hills. Dotted across the hills are bright clumps of yellow flowered bushes. It is the cusp of summer and you can feel the warmth in the air and hear the buzzing of bees as they go about their work. You begin to walk along the road and the hills around you become higher. You seem to be walking along the floor of a gentle valley. The yellow bushes are growing closer to the roadside the further you walk. 

As the hills become steeper, the road before you begins to widen out into a bowl like area between them. At the entrance to the bowl stand two large Ash trees on either side of the road. Take off your clothes and your possessions and place them at the base of one of the trees. When you are ready, look amongst the branches of the other tree and you will see a small bag woven of the pounded fibres of the broom. There are ash leaves and ivy leaves embroidered upon it. Take down the bag. In it you will find a small silver knife. Take the knife and look at it. It is a symbol of the magic that you have created up until this point. When you have studied the knife, replace it in the bag and hang the bag around your neck. 

Now pass between the ash trees and enter the valley bowl. The dry dust of the road covers the clearing. The hills that surround you are now full of yellow broom but the area that you stand upon is barren. 

You begin to walk around the valley floor looking at the broom bushes that surround you as they cling to the hillsides. Long thin branches covered in pea-like yellow flowers with small peapods hanging from the stems. Small oval leaves cover the branches, themselves ridged and striped.  The foliage is dense and all around you are the colours of green and bright yellow and the scent of summer.

You see that in the centre of the clearing there is a small firepit surrounded by stones. There is a thin tendril of smoke rising up from its centre. You can just see the red glint of live coals amongst the ashes.

Go and sit by the fire pit facing the ash trees. Feel the earth beneath you and the broom that surrounds you. You visited the ash trees when you  reached a point at the three levels of being where you needed to move forward and leave the comfort of challenges accomplished, knowledge gained and spirit calmed . It was time to do battle with yourself, take the understanding and break through to the other side, to another level where magic truly flowed through you. This was and still is the gift of the Ash. Nion the N of NGetal. The G of NGetal is Gort, The Ivy. Look closely at the Ash trees, you may see the Ivy climbing them. The ivy was your magical responsibility and also a warning of magic and connections gone awry. 

Look at the interaction of the ivy and ash and this will tell you where you stand. You have taken action and accepted responsibility for that. Part of that responsibility is cleaning up after yourself. Every thing that we do has a consequence, and those consequences are sometimes not ones that we can see. 

You stand in a valley surrounded by the Broom, the tree that is cleansing and renewing. The broom will sweep away the detritus on all three levels of physical, mental and spiritual. It will also heal any hurts inadvertantly caused. It is the robe of physicians and the physicians strength. The broom is herald of the journeying time, but before any journeying, a purification is needed. The broom is a tree of protection, but before any protection can be gained, a purification is needed.

With this new knowlege, look again at the ash and the ivy. What do they tell you about the things you need to cleanse?

Take the knife from around your neck and begin to walk around the clearing. Look at the broom bushes on the hillside. The bushes that will aid you in the cleansing will make themselves known to you. When you have found them, take the knife and cut away some of the branches.

Take some of the smaller, flexible branches and bind your broom into a besom. Replace the knife in the bag around your neck.

Picture that which needs to be swept away in the dust of the clearing. See the images in the earth.

Now begin to sweep the clearing. With reverance and thanks and with any apologies that need to be made, sweep your magical world clean of all that is not needed. 

As you sweep you will find that the branches of the broom begin to dry out. The seed pods harden and begin to make tiny popping noises.

When you hold the dry twigs of broom in your hand the cleansing is complete. Move to the firepit and sit before it once more. Take some of the small twigs and place them on the coals. Blow gently upon the coals to ignite them once more. When the fire sparks, carefully feed the broom to the fire. The smoke of the broom purifies you and your magic as the leaves and twigs swept the area clean. You feel the blessing of the broom filling you. Take the knife once more and cleanse it in the fire. When it is cool, again place it in the bag around your neck.

Look at the ash and ivy once more. Are there any warnings for you there or have you cleansed what needs to be cleansed?

Gradually the fire will die back down as the fuel is extinguished. 

The day has grown longer and dusk tints the sky. Stand up and walk once more around the clearing. The broom glows on the hillsides and it is time to continue on your journey.

Walk towards the ash trees and pass through them. Hang the knife in the tree where you have placed your clothing and possessions. Now put on your clothing and begin to make your way down the road back to the standing stone. You see the slope of the hills surrounding you become gentler as you walk towards the stone.

You feel refreshed and cleansed.

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.