Sacred Iona

Here I am at 6:30 AM, having been up since around 4.  This is the usual routine for me after coming through many time zones from east to west.  The jet lag is always worse than going the other direction.  What a perfect time to write my first post about the trip to Scotland.  This series will not be a travelogue of the whole trip, but descriptions of my experiences at several of the sites we visited. 

I was traveling with a small tour group and our focus was primarily the sacred sites of the islands of the west coast, central highlands, and area near Edinburgh.  On the second full day of the trip, we made our way by van and ferry to the island of Mull and on to the sacred Isle of Iona.  We really lucked out with the weather, as it was clear and sunny with a slight breeze.  If you didn’t know where you were, you might mistaken the turquoise water and sandy beaches as being somewhere in the Caribbean. 

St. Columba founded a monastery on Iona in 563 AD which is now in ruins, having been eventually destroyed by Viking raiders.  A Benedictine Abbey was built there 800 years ago and still stands.  As this island is very small, it was an easy walk from the ferry dock to the abbey grounds. 

As I strolled around, I knew that there was something here for me to investigate.  It was clearly not in the abbey church, as I didn’t get any hits there.  After covering the grounds pretty thoroughly, I then went into the abbey cemetery.  This is a very special old cemetery where many Scottish kings and chieftains are buried along with some recent burials.  There is also a small and very plain chapel in this cemetery where all of the burial services have been conducted over the years. 

I noticed that very few people were entering the chapel.  They would peek in but then continue on their way exploring the many ancient headstones.  I did this too, but for some reason, I kept gravitating back to the chapel, so I went in and sat down and went into a meditation.  This was the power spot that I had been looking for!

It was so easy to ground into the Earth Mother here.  So solid, safe and secure.  I gave blessings and thanks to all of the strong Scottish lineages that connect to this place and are buried here.  Their energy, drive and determination coursed through me.  We can all use some of that, eh?  I felt a great affinity for these energies. 

Next, I tackled my Viking lineages.  Ostensibly, I am 100% second generation Czech, with all of my grandparents on both sides of the family coming from the area around Prague.  A few months ago, I had my DNA analyzed by Ancestry.com, and to my surprise, I have 22% Scandinavian DNA!  How is this possible?  Apparently, the Vikings traveled not only along the coasts of Europe, but went inland on all of the rivers as well.  That is the most plausible explanation for my Scandinavian heritage.  The next task was to intent that all of the distortions that I inherited from these marauders be transformed, while being able to retain their strengths.  Easy to do in this highly energized place.

After a while, I noticed that there were a number of dark forms floating about in the chapel.  No wonder very few people wanted to come in!  Cemeteries are very rarely haunted, but the earthbound spirits can gather in a place for variety of reasons.  Someone could have cast a spell drawing them there, as is the case with the Glastonbury Tor, or they could be there to take advantage of the portal of light that would be opened during the next funeral ceremony.  Or maybe they were there because they knew that I would be able to help them.

If you would like to learn the method for sending earthbounds to the light, read Mary Ann Winkowski's book "When Ghosts Speak".  Her's is the method that I always use in these cases.  I proceeded to open up a portal of light right behind the chapel altar and then ushered the ghosts through.  More and more kept coming as I called to all of the earthbounds in that geographical area to come and be released from the earthly plane.  All the while, I heard more people entering the chapel behind me.  When all had passed through, the portal closed by itself.  The space felt lighter and more inviting.  I felt lighter, too!  

This is something that anyone can do at any time.  The only ability you need to have is to be able to hold that portal of light open long enough for the earthbound(s) to pass through. That may take some practice.

The rest of that day was so sublime as our group wandered a bit more.   We met up at a small beach near the ferry dock.  More turquoise water and gorgeous vistas. 

The next post will be about what occurred in isolated stone circle in a bog.  That was quite a sloppy and slippery trek!  Stay tuned.