In my post the day before yesterday (Sunday, 3 November 2019) I recounted my wild experience that day following my first visit to Skuruberget, one of the local ancient mounds here in the Fiskars/Pohja region of Raasepori in southwestern Finland. In this post I describe one of the companion mound sites, this time atop Tomtberget, which can be seen in the center of the map segment below:
I deliberately included in this map shot the tiny shopping district of Pohja in order to show Tomtberget’s proximity to Kasberget, the prominent cliff site in the center of town—another berget featuring an ancient mound. We haven’t yet climbed up to the Kasberget site, but I had been aware of this muinaishauta (Finnish for ancient burial site) while we were exploring online photos of the Pohja region before we even moved back to Finland at the end of May 2019. While still in the U.S. I had already tuned in to the Kasberget site and got a sense of its energetic relationship to the power stream flowing from Degersjön Lake just north of Fiskars down along the Fiskars River to Pohja Bay and then down past Tammisaari to the Baltic Sea at Hanko. The energetic complex of this water line is profound, and the five berget-mounted muinaishaudat placed here in Pohja serve as amplifiers of this power line. (I am sure that there are other power sites here as well, but I haven’t discovered their exact locations yet.)
As you can see in the map segment below, Pohja is surrounded by at least five muinaishaudat (listed in green text), each atop one of four stunning rocky mounts, Skuruberget, Tomtberget, Kasberget, and two atop Skurubacken (I just now discovered the second one on the map):
NOTE: In the midst of this writing I have discovered on the map at least twenty more muinaishaudat in the Pohja Bay region. As I mentioned above (before this confirmation), I am sure that there are many such sites in this area. That opens up a whole new field of geomantic engagement for me, but for now I will try to simply describe our experience at Tomtberget yesterday. Now, back to my report:
Yesterday morning after dropping my son off at his preschool, I climbed up Tomtberget to find the stone mound I had discovered the day before on the map. (I plan to visit each site that is listed and to discover others that might be less obvious and not listed on the map.) It was a cold and cloudy morning, which actually framed the whole experience in a beautiful Wuthering Heights mood as I climbed high up on the rocky crags above the “moors.” The deer trails, as always, were the best guide for finding the site as I worked my way through the spruce forest and up onto the rocky cliffside. Unlike the mound at Skuruberget, this sacred site is very prominent and impossible to miss.
Given the profoundly disorienting effect of the Skuruberget mound the day before, I approached this site very cautiously, grounding myself with various spirit intonations and chakra clearing. I also made sure not to step onto the stones themselves, which I am convinced was the source of my disorientation on Sunday. This is always a good rule of thumb when approaching sacred sites and other power points and portals: do NOT enter these power zones until it is clear that doing so is not only safe but also appropriate. I had been too eager on Sunday to follow this simple rule, but I made sure not to repeat that mistake on Monday.
I did not engage with the power of the Tomtberget Mound—I will wait for the proper signs alerting me to this action. I simply stood there in reverent awe, documenting the site with my camera. When I explore the power dimensions of this site in the future, I will write up a report. But at the present moment I will simply present a few of the photos I took both in the morning (alone) and then at dusk with Kivi and Anna.
Your respect and attunement to the sacred sites was most enlightening. Do you use any spiritual tools? Years ago I was in New Mexico visiting my girlfriend. She and her boyfriend, who was Comanche/Pawnee, took me out on the desert to some old burial sites. One particular site had pottery shards scattered around. I did not desire to take any home, but I wanted to look more closely at one. I started to pick it up, and her boyfriend stopped me. He told me not to touch it until I got permission, that it may not want me to touch it. So, he gave me some blessed corn powder and told me to sprinkle it around the shard, which I did. Then he told me to reach for the shard to see if I could pick it up, if it gave me that permission, which I did. When I reached for the pottery shard it was as if I hit an invisible, solid wall protecting the shard! I could not pick it up. It was a great learning experience. It helps one gain a great respect for the seen and unseen energies around us. I love working with the energies.
Here’s one more sacred moment. One time when I was at the farm, I heard this voice say to go outside and follow it. So I did, and was led down a cow path to this patch of prairie grass and flowers. Beautiful. I had never seen this patch before, so guessed that I had somehow missed it in my past walks around the pastures.
There were butterflies and bees buzzing all around inside this patch as if they were dancing in a thanksgiving ritual to Mother Earth. There was a narrow path through the grasses and wild flowers, and the plants were high and towering over the path. The voice told me to follow the path, to walk through the patch. I was hesitant and told the voice that I might get stung by the bees. The voice, or feeling, said all would be fine.
So I stepped onto the path into the tall patch of grasses and flowers. The buzzing was very loud and…wonderful… relaxing. I followed that path through the grasses and flowers gently pushing them out of my way while the bees and butterflies danced all around me!! I felt like Mother Nature had invited me to participate in one of the rituals of the natural world in thanksgiving to her. What a sacred moment. It stayed with me for a long time.
Your post reminded me of that special moment. Thanks.
Thanks for your comments, Cherri. Yes, these are the kinds of experiences I cherish, and the kind of deep listening that we all need to follow. As for spiritual tools, I have many, but I describe some of them in the post I wrote the following day: https://sacredsitesproject.com/ceremony-at-kasberget/