Channelled Waterfall Journey
When I was at my grandma’s in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, I wanted to find some new nature spots. I was randomly looking on Google Maps and came across a waterfall. My grandma, who has lived in the area for over 20 years, had never heard of it.
Even though the weather wasn’t nice and became foggy, cloudy, and drizzly as I drove, I was determined to see it. When I arrived and parked, I was up on a road atop a cliff and could hear the loud sound of running water. From the cliff, I discovered an entire area covered in wild garlic next to a river, which ran down the cliff to eventually form the waterfall. I walked among the wild garlic, immersed in the strong smell of wet plants, garlic, and fresh air. However, I couldn’t find a spot to get down to the waterfall from there. The abundance of white garlic flowers felt magical. I felt a bit nervous but intrigued, wondering how I would find this waterfall.
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I walked along the road, on top of the cliff trying to find a pathway so I could walk down. I had to walk past a field of bullocks, which was surreal because they all stopped and stared at me. When I walked around, they kept following and staring at me. After a while, I got a bit scared as some of them started acting and looking very aggressive. I would test walking a bit and then stop; they’d follow and then stop. They were acting very territorial & on edge.
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Eventually, I found a pathway along a woodland lane filled with bluebells, feeling very magical and fairy-like. I went through an archway in a cliff and entered a wide, expansive environment. The tide was out, so you couldn’t see the sea, but there were puddles and river enclaves left. I passed a family with a constantly barking dog, but as I continued, there was no one else around. It is a great feeling to enter a large environment on your own.
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(Death Stranding | Kojima Productions)
To get to the waterfall, there were often gaps in the ground that required me to jump, and I worried I would slip as it was very muddy. I felt like I was constantly taking a leap of faith. On reflection, it actually looked quite like Death Stranding. When there was a very large gap, I had to throw my backpack and bag across before jumping myself.
The environment was raw, wild, mossy, and muddy. The sky was grey, overcast, and drizzly in a very atmospheric way. The weather in this area of Scotland changes rapidly and feels much wilder, more varied, and more unpredictable than down south. A huge area of reeds covered my right side, and sometimes the path went through the tall reeds, feeling very game-like, with large gaps in the reed areas too. The path wound around with parts requiring jumping, and sometimes there were a few options to cross, so I had to work out the easiest way.
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I couldn’t see the waterfall, but there was a beautiful rock that looked like a beacon I needed to reach—a magical marker in the landscape. Eventually, I arrived and was mesmerised by its size; it was much wider than I expected. There were several smaller rocks around it, with this giant one in the center.
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I also passed earth shapes in the ground like Ana Mendieta’s body shapes in the landscape. I wanted to lie in one, but I would have gotten very muddy and was quite far from the car without a change of clothes, so my common sense stopped me.
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From the rock beacon, I followed the stream, having to jump across parts of it, and eventually found the waterfall. It was very tall and had three channels streaming out. The sound of water was very loud. The three channels were remarkable to see.
I set up my phone on a tripod and found a spot to stand and do some movement. I started moving slowly, feeling the space around me. I tried to fluidly move and connect to the environment, the enclosed cliff area with the magic pool and stream, and the energy of the waterfall. The mist spray made me feel engulfed and held by it, as if I were becoming part of it. I explored gathering and releasing energy. The waterfall was powerful, more powerful and strong than I imagined, with a fierceness to it. After moving for some time, I began singing, channeling it out of me into the environment. I hadn’t planned to sing; it just felt right to express. Moving and singing connected to the environment made me feel an inner truth of existence, a deep sense of authenticity, and a cathartic feeling. Being attuned to the environment, in dialogue with it, and letting myself truly express in the present in a way that nature could understand, felt liberating. Voice and singing express deep within the body, and a frequency is expelled. When there is fluidity, you aren’t trying to control things. I felt the mist around me, the air and cool temperature, and the loud sound of the water hitting the stream bed, which then flowed into the expansive environment to eventually reach the sea.
The feeling of channeling, where I open up and become a vessel, as well as opening the vessel within to expel outwards, was profound.
The experience filled me with energy, or rather, the inner energy was like a fountain that was able to flow outwards instead of being condensed inward and drained.