We set off from Cambridge on Friday midday, finishing our work early to arrive into Wales in the late afternoon. It was a small village in a valley just on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. We had rented a small terraced house with a back garden.
It was already early evening on a mild midsummer’s day so we were eager to start preparing for our first initiation.
The initiation was also part of the process of reaching different states of consciousness. And it was the first step on this journey.
I had performed an initiation like this at least four or five times previously, but it was still experimental, and I had modified a few things this time round.
I knew from my own experiences in sport that, given the right circumstances, the right event and the right intentions, one can summon up huge amounts of energy and harness it in a very focussed way.
So before we left, I told Jeremy and Matt that by the end of this initiation I wanted them to feel bombproof.
“Bombproof!” they said.
“Yes. Strong and focussed. Bombproof!”, I replied.
I knew they were both open minded enough to try this. I myself was also going to try another new experience the next day, and I wanted to be in the right state of mind, especially to shake off any lingering frustrations and self-doubts. I felt that this ritual would help me.
As part of the initiation we needed some props. Props to both make it serious enough, and props on the other hand to make sure you don’t take yourself too seriously, so that you can let go and make the transition.
So, I brought along my Swedish Axe. Smelted in the forests of Sweden and then hand sharpened, it was a beautiful tool, symbolising protection, shelter and hunting all in one. I picked it up and removed the leather sheath, saying to the others that it was somewhat incredible that this thing will survive longer than I will. A fine apparatus – I even had a scar on my hand to prove how sharp it was.
I had a few other props, I told them, which were to be revealed later. I tasked both of them with thinking about what they needed in life right now and we would summon that energy and direct it towards that during our initiation.
Into my rucksack I packed a bottle of mead, cups, axe, some clothes and then we set off.
We walked out of the lodge, past some of the other houses and walked towards the start of the forest.
We would explore till we found a place where it ‘felt right’ to do the initiation.