Wednesday 15 February 2017

Jack o' Kent takes on the Devil

Once upon a time Jack o' Kent and the Devil were in dispute (a frequent occurance) and to settle the matter they had a contest. Jack jumped from Sugar Loaf Mountain to Skirrid, where his heel mark can still be seen. It must be true – I've seen it. The Devil, however, was unimpressed, thinking this a pretty lame antic, so an enraged Jack picked up three huge stones and flung them in the direction of Trellech, 13 miles away.

History does not record whether or not this settled the matter, though before long they were arguing again – this time over whether Sugar Loaf Mountain was higher than the Malverns. However, the Devil quickly realized he was losing so tried to cheat by adding a few giant-sized buckets full of soil to the Malverns.  It didn't work.  Hurrah!

Last Monday I went to look for Jack o' Kent's three stones. Thankfully they still stand where they landed, at crazy angles, in a field on the edge of Trellech. When I arrived, a group of cheerful souls from California were about to engage in a spot of divining, to locate a ley-line that, they explained, ran through the site. One of them assembled some copper rods then diligently set about her task. I left them all to it, went off for a 6½ mile walk and returned later to take this photo in peace and quiet.

NB. One activity in this account is, in my humble opinion, completely barmy. I'll let you decide which it might be... though the walk was very nice.




3 comments:

  1. Divining California-style, peradventure?

    Lucy

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  2. I never thought too much about ley-lines beyond interesting concept then I spent some time in Orkney. Visiting stone circles at midnight in midsummer I found myself tingling up my spine and over my scalp every time I crossed a certain line corresponding to an ancient track leading to one of the major circles. I guess it has to be the chucking of large stones which is barmy...

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  3. H'm... as to the 'Californian Method' well that's a very impracticable way of going about the finding of energy lines. Probably just as well they were a cheerful bunch :-)
    Am enjoying your blog and am glad in many ways to have found it, bye bye for now.

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