© Nathascha Heijen

Prelude
August 2003. Sitting on the summer grass in the afternoon sun I enjoyed the soothing warmth spreading through my body. I closed my eyes and was ready to direct my attention to the daily exercise of energetic cleansing of the right side of my body as there was imbalance after having my ankle broken recently. Preparing for the exercise, I removed my shoes and put my bare feet onto the Earth, consciously connecting to her. Through the tiny hairs of my eyelashes I stared at the rays of the sun. The colors were beautiful. Blue, green and yellow, just like a crystal reflecting the sunlight. Like always I gathered the energy of the sun and sent it into my heart centre where it joined the rising energy of the earth. In my heart I felt a deep connection to the Earth beneath my feet. This connection expresses as a sensation of joy and pure love. In my mind I offered a flow of this love back to the earth, all the way down to her core. I told her that I did this so she would know that I had not forgotten about her and that I was starting to remember. In my mind I stated out loud that I would give her my love, my strength and my life. I would honor and serve the earth. Without words She spoke: "A knowing will shine through your being. That knowing will guide you". And She also said that I would write down all of my experiences so that Nature/Earth would be given a voice. That way, She would have a tool to speak to the hearts of many. To me and through me she would speak! "Helping us to remember things that we have long forgotten. The time has come to remember. We must remember. Otherwise ignorance and indifference regarding Nature/Earth will be our downfall."

After this ‘first contact' with Earth I opened my eyes and I noticed a single long thread of spider's silk shimmering in the late sunlight. The thread connected with my leg! I knew that one thread of the web of the new future was woven! Some leaves started whispering in excitement and I felt joy about things to come. 

October 2007. I was putting together the travel itinerary for the guests of our upcoming Samhain Avalon pilgrimage to Glastonbury. My partner Mario and I have been taking pilgrims for many years now to the isle of Avalon/Glastonbury and to other sacred sites amongst which Avebury's stone circle. While scanning the internet for events in Glastonbury that we could incorporate into our pilgrimage, somehow I found the event  "Blessings from the Source" by Tareth at the Chalice Well gardens, which happens to be one of my favorite places to be. Reading further, Tareth was being described as an extraordinary healer who sometimes manifests fragranced oil out of the palms of his hands. There was no mentioning of an event date, so I wrote an e-mail to enquire whether there would be a ‘Blessing from the Source' in the same period as we would happen to be in Glastonbury with our guests. Unfortunately Tareth was away but he also answered "perhaps another time, please keep in touch" and I made a mental note to check again when our next pilgrimage would be up.

On one day during that Samhain pilgrimage we had private access to St. Nectan's glen and waterfall near Tintagel in Cornwall. Legend tells that King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table stopped at this place to baptize themselves with this sacred water before they left on a quest for the holy grail. It was at this very beautiful and secluded waterfall that I took off my tracking shoes and walked into the freezing cold November water. It didn't matter, all my senses were focused on the sacredness of this place of power. And that was exactly what this place would become to me. For it was here that I finally stopped procrastinating and stepped into my full power. Standing for what could have been ages in that water, I communed with Heaven and Earth.  Suddenly I could hear myself stating "I put my life into service of the Earth". "Wow, wow, wait a minute" my brain shouted! "What are you saying here? Do you have any idea of the consequences?" It was scared and just for a brief moment I felt that anxiety rushing through my body. Uncertainty is one of the scariest things to experience. But then love took over again. Where love exists no fear can persist. Fear is just False Expectations Appearing Real. Stop paying attention to it, instead focus on Love and fear dissolves, just like that.

At peace, I felt urged to stare at a certain point within the holed rock where the water came rushing through. With eyes wide open and unable to withdraw my focus from this certain point,  I could clearly see a kind of "rippling" in the fabric of this reality. I could feel a connection with "Consciousness" outside the 360 degree screen that displays my reality. This was unusual! I was even more surprised to actually see these ripples captured on a photograph that a friend  took of me while I was standing in the water. 

There were two orbs of violet and blue light visible at precisely the spot where I saw the rippling take place! They can not have been water droplets reflecting off the flash of the camera because a) no flash light was used and b) the photographer stood at least 8 meters away from me and about 11 meters from the orbs and c) they were visible at exactly the spot that I focused on.

Months went by and during that time another intense transformation was taking place in our life's mission. For years now Mario and I had been teachers, holding our own light high and give people  information. Making it possible for them to get closer to their own true power. Now I felt the time had come to become a student once more and I was gently being pushed into receiving new information. More than ever I was aware of the inner guidance. It expressed itself through many "magical" incidents, threaded together by an unseen Presence of Love and Kindness. It guided me with the patience of a Mother who loves her child ever so gently . I didn't know where exactly I was being led to, but I knew I would have to be patient and live life moment by moment until all has unfolded. All signs pointed towards being guided through the end of a cycle and moving into a new one, literally as well as in a figure of speech. 

As a child I have always been interested in the real fabric of material objects. I observed every object with attention in search for the thing "behind it". Also, my connection to animals and nature has always been very strong and I could understand them better then I could understand humans. I finally got an answer to this life long "loneliness" amongst humans during the same Samhain pilgrimage! With a stroke of light in my consciousness I knew that I had decided to "do it by myself". I would find my true power by finding it myself, that was my challenge. But I was not sent out all by my self, no, silently Mother had sent out a message to the realms of the animals and nature to help me whenever I would need help along the journey. And they were always there, in all ways. I could easily accept their help and see their Truth, for it was pure.  They are a pure expression of Truth. But it was this urge of "wanting-to-do-it-by-myself" that  led me to only believe something as being True when I experienced it first hand to be True. Come to think of it, this must have driven my parents, teachers and past partners to the edge of their patience.
Anyway, the point is that I do not just take anyone's word for it when it comes to a view on life, earth, universe etc. unless I have experienced it as being Truth. Since 1991 slowly my focus became more inward then outward and I started to use my outside world as a shamanic mirror for the inside world and as a classroom and a tool to measure the progress of evolution of consciousness. Right now, we are at the very doorway of the possibility of an evolutionary jump. Many of us, certainly those amongst you with whom my story resonates strongly, will have to become all they can be in the light of service to evolution of consciousness.

In the past years I have felt a very strong pull towards learning about earth energies and about living in harmony with Nature/Earth and work with the energy of the seasons, the sun and the earth. I also became very interested in prehistoric monuments, sacred sites, ancient "technology", meaningful rituals, survival basics, wild food, telluric energy, the process of creation and  in sound. I knew it was time and that all of these would somehow have to be connected with our work so far, as creative shaman adventurers, using the power of the mind and the love of the heart to create beauty. I knew I had to combine our "heavenly" and "earthly" aspects and in doing so help to enrich the world we live in. It became ever more clear that we had to mould all of this into something that we could then pass on or work with when the time would come. Inspiration slowly turned into coherent ideas. Processing these in a manner that they could be manifested in this reality took weeks, months, and sometimes I felt a bit frustrated because I couldn't plan anything ahead. Neither in our activities nor our new website contents. I just had to wait and let it all work in its own mysterious ways...  a process that is still on-going.

February came and so did the e-mail about the Summer Retreat from Tareth. I opened the attached document which read: "We belong to a cosmic family and we are growing closer to it. There is an ancient code of knowledge and wisdom in the Earth. Placed there by the light beings who guide us. It is a message of hope and fulfillment. Tareth will teach you about the wisdom in the Earth, how to access and use it to expand your connection with the Soul of the Earth and the mind of creation. This is magical work and as well as benefiting your own spiritual journey you are a part of helping to heal the Earth and manifest a better future. Tareth will teach you to build a doorway both within and as written symbols and invocations. Sound and shapes that go deep into the knowledge encoded within you. The Quest is a journey into the power of Now and the new vibration that is the consciousness for the future". As a side-effect of the focus and intent to open a doorway to the Earth's soul, sound could be manifested from a standing stone at Avebury. All this matched the overall theme in my life and I could clearly feel my inner guidance responding with gentle nudges. I knew that there was something for me to find there. Then I clicked through to the Ammerdown website to check out the accommodation and if I did not already have enough hints, the phrase "A place where Heaven and Earth meet" on their website was the final confirmation for me! I booked. Not knowing where to get the extra finances from nor being sure if we would be able to go. But I trusted that everything would work out perfectly. Or in short "EWOP!" as our fellow shaman adventurers over at the Huna community's digital Bulletin Board would say. June arrived and it looked grim on the financial side. Keeping on exercising Trust (with a capital T) and EWOP, this hurdle was finally being taken by a very early tax refund, one week before the Retreat.

Into the Mystery
The circle of humans and one stone connected deeply with each other and a metaphysical portal to the Earth was being opened. I could see a ‘gate' exploding with colored lights coming up from beneath the Earth of our unusual magic circle. It burst out into this world as a fountain of colors in pastel shades, like soft blue, pink and lilac, but they were not as much colors as they were lights, like crystalline lights. Many of those lights were diamond-shaped, others had colored lights in their own colored light. And although I speak of many lights, together they were One Light. The sound that came somewhere from the bottom of the stone at first did not seem to match at all with what I was seeing with my inner vision but the next day, when we meditated on the recorded sound, I experienced the Earth's Voice and received lots of metaphysical information which came to my mind and heart by means of symbols and light and it was showing me about how a cycle has a beginning and an end, and that this is the continuous way of Creation. I'd like to share these messages with you. I didn't change the text in any way so that  you'll find below exactly what was being shared through what I would like to call "the voice of Creation". 

The first message was: "Two galaxies (or sounds?) (they were shown like standing vortices) - they mirror each other - they spin in opposite manner - they start to drift apart - then they face each other - then they dissolve each other - then, there is none - completion! New beginning." 

Then the next message was: "X marks the spot - new beginning - pure, untouched matter - shaped through thought influence - two lights - moving towards each other - then they overlap (creating a vesica pisces) - then they become one - then they move from each other - then there is nothing/blank/empty/new begin. This natural process can not be stopped. You can try but the process will continue. It is intelligent. It is the rhythm of all creation. It has a beginning and an end (as a cycle). But it is continuous. Movement, Expansion and Evolution!" 

During the meditations at the Retreat I had already encountered several inner visual messages containing the symbol "X" and this was, most surprising, extremely present during the integration of the ancient magical symbol for Soul, Atima ka, that Tareth shared with us. Whatever I tried, to concentrate or focus on the exercise of seeing my name within the circle, I kept seeing the "X" surrounded by two circles and a square and seeing the two parts of the X moving away from each other, like this: > <. In the middle, where they parted, a bright light shone, and I understood that this Light was the essence of my Soul, of our Soul, of the Earth Soul, the One Soul. At the same time this Light also is a new beginning, a Creation. When Tareth asked us to draw the Atima Ka symbol with our name inside in the personal magical circle that we had been creating on paper in the previous days, I just could not write down my real life name! I had to draw the symbol in stead of my name. This impulse was very strong and that's what made it really significant. I think I had to understand that I am as much a Creator as I am a Creation. We all are for that matter! 

The retreat was a delightful experience. Many new connections and friendships were being made, immense healing took place, and  a very high frequency of vibration was being build together with love from our hearts. I enjoyed watching the magical ways of the Creator in action. You can tell so much from being an observer and by listening to other people's experiences. One of the things that I have been doing  since my childhood is to see through the obvious and sense the underlying nature of things, or people. Tareth's kind heart and caring nature for the individual's need was a joy to observe. In his role as facilitator for Creation he did a terrific job. A bright example and inspiration to all. I wish that the "magic" that we worked together during the retreat will last in our hearts and will bring forth wonderful new creations.

The days after
After the retreat the X factor kept going! We arrived at our friend's house in Glastonbury, and I shared some of my experiences with her. She listened interested and that same evening she gave me a book to look into because she thought it might interest me. It was the classic on Earth energies "The Sun and the Serpent" by Hamish Miller. I turned a page and there it was: an image of the Mary and Michael energy lines that flow through the Boscawen Un stone circle in Cornwall. Together they formed an "X"! Okay, that got my attention! Interestingly we had already planned on heading for Boscawen Un two days later! "X marks the spot" sounded in my head. Well, keep it coming, I'm open to receive. Inside me, the cauldron of inner wisdom stirred all the ingredients and mixed it into a magical brew: "X marks the spot - new beginning - pure, untouched matter - shaped through thought influence". 

The clue got stronger. Could it be that the exact point (X marks the spot) where earth energy lines cross  IS the spot from where we can create a new beginning. The place were we start with pure and untouched matter: Light  [or "Light being, being Light". This information is coming into my mind right now while writing this article so I'm writing it down. "As a being of Light, you are Light being"]. OK, so an idea or inspiration then shapes this Light and thoughts influence this Light. And this is how we are Creators and how we are Creating. This Light being shaped and influenced becomes a new Creation, like a new dream. Without limitation let's dream about the highest potential of Humanity and really see it, feel it, imagine it. Then send forth this dream into the Earth from the X spots and from there along the "veins" of the Earth so that every corner of the Earth can be impregnated with this new dream! Yes. This thought makes sense to me. 

That night, after a couple of very delightful glasses of our friend's home-made spring Oak leaves wine, I dreamt of her and an unfamiliar man standing next to her. Both were waiting for me at some important site. I don't know where because I did not recognize the place other than being on the slopes of a green hill. I also knew that just around the corner of the path that we were following up the hill, we would see celebration fireworks. The man was tall, had white hair and a beard, slightly resembling a druid in modern day clothes.

Over a cup of strong morning coffee I told my friend about my dream but from my description she couldn't put a name or face to the mystery man. However, just over two hours later, when talking about the chain of events to another friend over in Street the mystery got solved. While taking a book from her kitchen counter, she told us how she got into possession of the book just before we came to visit her and that it was still lying here in the kitchen, just waiting to be picked up and opened. She browsed through the book and found the image she was looking for. She held the book up and showed it to me. "Is this the man from your dream?" I looked at the image and was stunned. "Yes, that's him!". The book she showed me was "In search of the Southern serpent". Will you be surprised to hear that it was a photo of the author and dowser Hamish Miller? The back cover of his book tells: "This journey leads through some of the most powerful earth energy sites in the world, to discover the active, ever-changing powerful manifestations of the earth energy fields in New Zealand. The planet's nervous and meridian systems in that beautiful country seem to respond to our human consciousness more readily than anywhere else. A sensitive dowsing rod finally leads to a life-changing meeting with the minds of the ancestors who have a profound understanding of their close connections with other realms and the cosmos. They knew the importance of "the power of place" and this beautifully illustrated book is a tribute to the incredible breadth of their knowledge."

OK, now I know for sure my inner guidance is leading me to something. Because here's something I didn't tell you; earlier, at the first day of the retreat, I was given a flyer of Hamish's Parallel Community. I had never heard about it and I was not sure whether this would be something I would be interested in but I know better than to dismiss something that Life is shooting in my direction. So I accepted it with gratitude and kept it in my suitcase to be read later. It is like one of those pieces of the puzzle which will someday perfectly fit together. Until then...patience. Also, I was given a present during one of those magical moments of ‘conscious being'. I sat on a bench in the sun, outside in the Ammerdown garden, and no one was around. From where I sat my eyes were drawn to something on the earth that was just screaming for attention. It was a blueish/green object which I could not determine from my position. So I got up and walked towards it. I picked up a rubber kids toy: a snake. Or serpent, if you like? I now cherish this present in the "cauldron of gifts" on my home altar. 

The next piece of that puzzle was delivered when we visited new friends that we got to know at the Retreat and who live in Cornwall, near Holywell. They are a beautiful couple and we share a common interest in earth energies, ley lines and history. They told us about places that are worth visiting in Cornwall and where the earth energies were easily felt. One of those places they mentioned was Trencrom fort. They also told us that near the base of that hill, Hamish Miller lived! We spent a wonderful morning with our friends and left just before their son would arrive visiting from New Zealand. One interesting side story is that as well as Mario and I, they too heard the same sound of the Earth (as had manifested in Avebury) again on the same day, three days after the event. 

During the rest of our wet and windy stay in a tent with wireless internet access on a campsite near Penzance we visited several ancient sites and stone monuments in between gales: Boscawen Un, Merry Maidens, Carn Euny, Men An Tol, Madron's well, Ballowal Cairn and we also tried to visit the nine maidens stone circle but that stayed elusive to us. At almost all of the ancient sites there were no other people around so I dowsed for energy lines, tuned into the Earth and meditated while resting flat on my back, deeply connected to Mother Earth. The stones kept silent and there was a general feeling of peacefulness in Boscawen Un that I had not encountered before in a stone circle.

Experimenting with the "X factor", Mario and I, as representations of the male and female energy, joined hands with the center stone and within this circle of sacred Three we combined our hearts lights to create a new Light, filled with blessings for the Earth. And we focused on sending out this creation along the energy lines and throughout the Earth grid.

I feel compelled to dig deeply into the knowledge that our ancestors must have had about the Earth energies. Surely they were much more aware of earth energies then the modern day inhabitants of this Earth. It seems to me that it is no coincidence that stone circles are often home to a crossing of energy lines. Looking at the song lines of the Aborigines and how, to this day, they still fulfill their "duty" to keep those lines and thus the land alive I wonder how the European ancestors did this? Did they use the crossing of energy lines (the X)? How did they  maintain the energy balance of that region? And what role do the stone monuments have? Since our genes haven't changed since Stone Age we can still access the information that is stored inside them. Sounds like I have a date with my genes soon.

A propos, genes; in a 2001 note of one of the messages that were being revealed,  I wrote something down that I didn't dare to share before, out of fear of being ridiculed. Since I understand how my outer world reflects my inner world, being ridiculed will just be the reflection of self doubt. Any way, here goes: a double helix is in fact a triple helix. The third component of DNA is a metaphysical one. It is not visible as matter and it can not be found with our current technological means. But it will be found in the future when the heart energy of humans opens up completely. When that happens the heart energy will activate the third component that will function as a "bridge". You could call it is the "Spirit" component of DNA. It is the crucial factor in the upcoming change and evolution.

Building the future
One week after we got home there were more links that pointed in the direction of building the future, one came from an e-mail address named This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Don't you just love her humor, I mean how obvious is this?

All the information, which of course is coming from the One Creative Principle, points towards very exciting and challenging times ahead. A time in which people have to challenge the ‘old' and start living and working together with the Earth and with each other. Building a new future, not based on the principles of personal power, but based on becoming a true inhabitant of Earth and taking your place in Creation. It is necessary, it is intelligent, it is evolution! What we have coming ahead is evolution. We can not stop it for it is the next step in de expansion of consciousness. But we can't just sit back and wait for things to come. We must become the change. We have to go out and start creating a new beginning before the old structure crumbles down. There has to be a safety net! Already this net is being put into place and all over the world new communities, like the Parallel Community, are being formed. Everything you are and what you have learned so far are now needed. You will find that in the time ahead you will see through your life and find the many gifts in it. Those gifts you have received can now be put into clear action or service which will, through you, enlighten the hearts and minds of many and help the Earth too. But first, step into your true power. Connect to brothers and sisters who already did so. Share what you have learned and learn from the sharing of others. Guide others, who want to but don't know how, to step into their true power. Network within your region, connect, build and create together. Listen to the Earth's voice, help her to restore balance in the part of the land that is out of balance. Gather around you people from different disciplines of healing and go out into the land. Listen. Just listen and be willing to be guided. She will lead you.

April 2008. Standing at the roots of the trees in the sacred groove on Tara I greeted the guards, the crows, and the witnesses, the stones, and the keepers of the wisdom of the land, the trees, and of course the Earth. I had questions that I would love to see answered. I asked for the knowledge of what was being taught in ancient times. My mind drifted off to something I had read recently. "The greatest victory on paganism" took place here, on the hill of Kings, Tara. And perhaps the kings of old were defeated but I knew the ancient knowledge could never be defeated, it just went underground. "Look beyond the obvious" whispered the trees. "The knowledge has been left to find for those who know where to look. Think, what is the best place to hide something?" The light above my head switched on. "In plain sight!" Yes, of course! The trees smiled, "the ancient knowledge is all around you".
"How about the Lia Fáil? I sent heart energy to it and spent time just being with it ...". I was interrupted immediately. "You assume that giving is the answer". Uh? "It is not the giving that initiates the change. So many misunderstand this." Now I was really confused. "What is needed more then ever, is someone who has the courage to take. Someone to take on the secret that has been hidden in the Earth. Someone who is not afraid to take on the Sword. It really IS like the famous tale of Excalibur. Extract it from the Earth!". The voice of the Earth went on: "Take the secret, draw the Sword and use it with wisdom." I understood then and there that I had to symbolically pull the Sword of knowledge from the libraries of the Earth. "Eh, Earth?" "Yes?"
"You know in these days we don't do the sword-fighting thingy any more. In these times the pen is mightier then the sword". "Well then, dedicate your pen to the revelation of ancient knowledge so that they who are ready can be reached! And together, Heaven on Earth can be created".

Closing the loop

Since spring equinox and our visit to Tara the theme of "true King" is woven through my life. Every now and then it turns up as little magical signs for me to find like text on logos or images. They are anything from lions, hearts, and crowns to the word King. The entrance to the Ammerdown retreat centre was guarded by two lions resting on their high columns overlooking the gate. At our friends' house we had toast and French cheese that came from a packaging with the text "Coeur de Lion", heart of the Lion. I mean it is every where, there is no escaping it even if I would try. In April we visited Tara, the hill of Kings in Ireland. On top of it stands one stone, called the Lia Fáil or Stone of Destiny. It is said that the whole land will hear it sing or scream (the stories differ) when the righteous King arises or touches it (again the stories differ). I sat there for a while leaning against it and meditated on the meaning of being a true King. Being a true King, one would be married to the land and take on the responsibility to look after the well-being of the land as well as of the people who live on it. A true King would make sure that the region of the land that he committed himself to was healthy, fertile and peaceful. A true King would indeed be surrounded by servants but not because he enslaves them with his will, but because they will want to serve he ‘who lives in service to the land'. There would be great respect for this true King and serving him would be a great honor. Because it would mean that they served in fact the Earth and with that they serve their selves! A closed loop of service to all Creation. A true King doesn't have to be a man, it could also be a woman with vision and a well developed male energy that is needed to drive change. And it doesn't have to be just one person, it could be some of us, or all of us. We all can be true Kings to the Earth in our own way. Taking responsibility of the part of the land that we live on. 

Who has the courage of a lion? The heart of a Mother and the power of the Creator? You have!

We can do it, we can build a new future. Earth is calling forth her servants. All of Creation is calling out to you. Are you ready to follow the Voice of Earth? 

And can you hear it heralding the return of the true King?  Because I can.

© Nathascha Heijen

PS: Originally I planned on writing a small article about my experiences at the retreat with Tareth leading to manifesting the voice of Earth through sound coming from a standing stone. However, while writing, it soon became clear that I can't even begin to tell you all that is rushing forth from inner inspiration. This is only the start of much more to come. I hope my pen can keep up but I trust it will. The next article is already in progress! But I guess it will be more of a book when all pieces are coming together, wink. 

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