The Divine Wood's

“He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it” – Voltaire

Personal development happens everyday on a sub-conscious level, however when you consciously develop, epiphanies and moments of clarity happen without warning, and in some cases make 34 years of existence, make sense.

I do say that we develop sub-consciously and this does include absorbing the negative environment you visit, create and absorb.

This week, (twice) an old habit was re-discovered a habit that developed over 25 years ago.

So we begin the story, I lived in a place called Belvedere, which in short in an industrialised town near the Thames which is not, one of the let’s say focus borough’s of our capital city. Belvedere is split into two halves (Upper & Lower) and in Italian translates as “pleasant view”. This is somewhat an oxymoron as Upper Belvedere was the more affluent, overlooking the industrialised valley, were the indigent shook their fearful fists at the continued investment and services provided to our lofty neighbours.

I lived in Lower Belvedere.

The East side of Belvedere however did have a juicy green sandwich filling of ancient woodlands called Franks Park. This is the background for today’s blog; my Street where I resided for my childhood, led to the far west lower entrance to the woodland where the majority of my childhood was spent.

Thinking back, I was probably what you would call an “Indigo Child” although my presence could also have the affect of maybe if they boiled me down my bones they could make glue. However I was quite an earth loving child and loved nothing better than walking through the woods. It came as know surprise that as every child, a special place was found by me to visit.

This special place as remembered was only reached by a journey, which consisted of entering at the top of my road by turning left onto the worn country path, this path skewed further into the woodland. The next landmark was a naturally formed 30 foot quarter pipe, this part of the journey could be treacherous and gypsies where known to drive stolen mopeds down the mud quarter pipe, so always approach tentatively and be prepared to detour if required, as the outcome would usually to be robbed and going home with no clothes on, as the robbing of dignity was our only personal value.

Once you reach the quarter pipe you climb carefully until you reach its apex and then walk directly ahead into the dense woodland until the ancient path stops. Then in front of you about 20 paces you will come across a large crater which has about a 100 foot circumference and 50 foot deep, there is a little clearing near the edge and this is an area for you to sit.

In the crater there floor is always covered in natural growing flowers, and my memory always showed Bluebells. The crater was encircled by tall silver birch trees which were supporting the weighty baritone calls of the owls and providing the spring board for foraging and playful squirrels.

This hidden oasis always reminded me of a wooded themed inverted snow globe, and to me represented nature as it should be. I also fantasised about bringing people from throughout the world; that lived in deserts, remote islands, undiscovered planets and other spiritual realms to witness the paradise amidst the furnace of Earthly Hades.

My special place never disappointed no matter what season we were in, as when it rained the canopy protected me and kept me dry, when it is was summer it kept me cool and the haven was more special due to the rays breaking through live yellow hued beams, when it was autumn the wind could not penetrate the natural breaks, but the most special was the spring when you actually did not care what happened, as the spectacle of nature laid before your eyes energised your soul.

So why did I come to this place? It was because when young I knew there was an obvious benefit on having some time alone, and allowing you to be re-energised. Some of my deepest thoughts occurred in this place, and my views on the universe are now aligned to my thoughts as a 10 year old boy.

I did discover something in this place amongst the classic elements of Earth, Wind, Water & Fire, and that was the glue that holds all of this together, and what is known as the quintessential element, Spirit.

I knew at 10 years old that you need to take time out for yourself, observe nature and re-energise yourself. This gave me as a 10 year old, spirit, and assisted in my development through my formative years. I went on a quiet spiritual journey like a toe rag Dalai Lama for the next couple of years. Then it stopped.

The reason it stopped could be explained by a number of clichés that every pre-pubescent and teenage boy goes through and this maybe is another story. The indigo child’s did not burn out, it faded away.

I forgot how to re-energise myself, and those heady days nearly 25 years ago, when we were scolded for running upstairs are distant memories, compared to me being out of breath walking up two flights of steps

I will admit that my inner hand was raised, and asked myself the question of why I do not have energy. The answer was literally staring at me.

Like everyone, I have goals and a plan on how to live my life fully. On my Harmonic Wealth plan (Shout out to James Arthur Ray) one section which was of course coded under Physical, was titled go for a walk in the woods!

This has now been changed to spiritual, but for that day chose the physical aspect of it. I packed up my crystals (been trying everything for more energy, even meditation but got lost – another story) and went for that walk.

I currently reside in a hamlet of Colchester called Highwood’s, so the woodland is not too far away. I started my walk past Highwood’s Square, past the Swedish Dentist’s and towards Eastwood Drive via a tarmac cut through. It was this point when my memory was jimmied open by the crow bar of realization. This bolt happened as I walked, as either side of this tarmac my senses were overpowered by the scents of blossoms and sweet Rosemary wafting through the proud owner’s front gardens, astride the black asphalt highway to my destiny.

With my senses near climax my journey continued towards the park, the approach to the park is through a nest of 1980’s mock Tudor large family homes and could almost feel the negative equity oozing from the soul of the abodes.

As you enter the park you are astounded by the vista of ancient Colchester which is the oldest recorded town in Britain, but below in a valley, is Highwood’s park. I start my descent down towards the lake, I stop and look at the Ducks and appreciate them on behalf of my daughter Lilith, who is mad on Ducks. I take a seat on a bench on the far side of the lake and take in the beauty and the symbiotic relationship all of the insects, birds, fish & mammals have with this lake. This is very powerful and humbles man to such a degree that his soul must be damned if he creates any harm towards nature.

I take my leave and make my way towards the adjacent woodland and find a trail and follow the woodland path. At around 100 metres on the left there is a dead tree that has another dead tree entwined, was this a symbol? Maybe, but as my fallibility as a Human is my only true fixed behaviour my walk continues. The path is followed until you come to a cross roads, and do an about turn as there does not seem to be any road that I want to follow and make my way back.

On the way back but to my right this time, the landmark of the two dead entwined trees appears on my horizon. I approach as normal as this sight has not been paid any conscious mind, when I stop to check my phone (phantom buzz). I then look up and to the right of these two dead trees were a circle of trees and these trees happen to be silver birch.

I stop in my tracks admiring the phenomenon as have only ever seen silver birch grown in a circle before. This moment is like a single man standing in front of the Hoover dam when it breaks, however the metaphor is me versus the flood of my spiritual youth and how the energy refreshed me. I walked into the circle.

The energy was there, but it was always there but the symbolism had brought it back. The feeling was hard to put into words but imagine clarity of thought followed by your head feeling warm, then the heat pulsing through your body out of your hands and feet and leaving behind skin so cold that you are head to toe with goose bumps.

The clarity of thought in that one moment answered a lot of my questions, but one thing needed validation. I reached into my pocket and took out a crystal which has only been used once before (to predict the sex of my daughter). This was a powerful dowsing crystal on a chain and had been in a nest of four other crystals. I needed to ask one question, this one question is always a closed question.

“Am I on the right path?” turn clock wise for Yes, and anti clockwise for No, I then asked the question again “Am I on the right path?” turn anti clockwise for Yes, and clockwise for No.

The blog was written today to highlight something to three people that I am currently coaching, and can be summed up by the quote from Voltaire, “He, who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it”.

This is simply to me, stating that if you adopt the misery of Now then you can not find the spirit of Now. A good place however to start to find your spirit or inner happiness is by asking yourself the question, “where am I the most happiest?”

This place is maybe where you can re-energise yourself to take the journey or stop one that you were not meant to go. So if it feels right do it!

Sometimes you have to trust yourself as we all veer off course especially when we can’t read the signs.

So what did the crystal tell me? Well it told me what I already knew, that is what ever feels like the right path, then you take it. However, you are helped along the way, all you have to do is to read the signs – just follow your subconscious Sat Nav.

Divination may take you off course, now that is a metaphor!

Scott x

I write this Blog with a secular outlook, and everything in a spiritual sense should be taken as a metaphor, as it is from my own experience.

The purpose of this blog is mainly to help with my writing style, and have purposely portrayed myself between self depreciation and arrogance. The reason for this is to gain feedback from my mentor to develop myself as a character as the 3rd person in my new writing project.

Feedback, including negative is very welcomed.