To coincide with the launch of the first ever re-print of psychic questing cult-classic Bega and the Sacred Ring, which first appeared over 19 years ago in October 1992; I took the chance to speak to one of the psychic questing movement's longest serving supporters. Carole Young, was the central psychic during the many years of research on the Quest for Bega, and features prominently in Bega and the Sacred Ring. Carole spent many years as an active member of Andrew Collins' original Earthquest group in the early 1980s, and her amazing psychic abilities will feature in my forthcoming book Spirit Chaser, due out soon.
Alex: When did you first realise you were psychic, and what was your first psychic experience?
Carole: I had many psychic experiences as a child. They seemed perfectly natural to me. One of my earliest recollections is of vivid dreams, some that came true. My Mother was also very interested in dreams and we used to discuss them together in the mornings, I was fortunate we could share in our interest. A lot of children who are sensitive to such things are made to feel there is something wrong with them if they talk about it. However, my Father who was a really lovely, wise and kind man and very down to earth and practical thought we were both mad but let us get on with it, he seemed amused by it all I think. I also discovered that my friend Kathryn was also very interested in dream interpretation, so we used to interpret each other’s dreams on the way to school, or attempt to. I believe dreams are very important and are one of the best sources of psychic information going.
My Mother was probably more clairvoyant than me and I tend to hear spirit rather than ‘see’, however, when I was about 9 yrs old I went with my Mother to visit a friend of hers she hadn’t seen for a long time. Whilst there, I went upstairs and on the landing an elderly lady passed me and smiled. She asked me if I was having a nice time, she then promptly walked straight through the solid door into a bedroom! Evidently the lady of the house had a lodger who had passed on a couple of years previously. It was a wonderful experience. I felt privileged to have seen her. She seemed solid and real but surrounded in a gentle light. Her eyes were bright blue. Anyway, I had all sorts of experiences and was fascinated by all the mysteries of the universe. I was also very interested in UFOs. I think it’s important to have a positive outlet and channel for psychic ability and to have training and discipline. When I was 21 I took up a study of astrology and started reading astrological charts for people and of course studied my own chart intensively, this helped me in many ways and I found I used a lot of intuition when reading the charts, I also had a sense of purpose and direction, which I felt was positive and helpful to other people. I actually had less random psychic experience once I took up astrology; I was more grounded and generally less open to influences than before. I was more in charge of my own ship, so to speak. I also developed a healthy scepticism. My aim was to try and learn and have an open mind. I remember being very hungry and thirsty for knowledge of the more mystical/spiritual kind.
However, one experience I had while at school aged about 12/13 I found disturbing, not so much due to the experience itself but the reaction to it! One afternoon I was called into the Headmaster’s office. He told me off good and proper for going out of school at lunchtime. He said he had seen me walking along the road in my school uniform and so had others. I protested that I had not gone anywhere and had eaten my lunch in the playground with a group of friends. He insisted it was me; my friends went to see him and told him I’d been with them all lunchtime. He was really quite nasty and said. “Well it must be your double, don’t meet her or you’ll die” Some people just don’t know how to speak to kids! He seemed pretty spooked out by it and I reckon he had me marked down as some kind of wicked witch even at that young age. I felt a bit of the old persecution vibe going on there. However I must show some understanding as he was probably scared shit-less! To this day I have no idea exactly what occurred. Oh well, there are more things in heaven and earth and all that! Around the age this happened can often be a time for strange occurrences of a psychic nature, for some children.
Alex: When and why did you first become involved in the controversial subject of Psychic Questing?
Carole: I first got involved in psychic questing in the early 80’s when I went along to Andrew Collins' Earthquest Group. I was working in London at the time but wanted to get more involved in the local scene and find out more about the part of the Country I lived in. I saw an article Andy had written in a local paper. It sounded really interesting; I had always wanted to know more about the Earth Mysteries and ancient sites, such as stone circles and the like. I remember visiting Stonehenge when I was seven and just being blown away by it. My parents parked their car and I just ran across the field with my brother and the closer I got the bigger the stones got, I just loved it and was so fascinated. Earthquest sounded great and so different to anything I had done or studied before. I rang him and he told me that he would be taking the group out to various local sites and they would do a group meditation and tune into the site. This sounded to be something I wanted to try, so I went along to the first meeting. It was great and I started going on a regular basis. We used to go out on Sundays on bumper to bumper day-trips all over Essex. It’s a long story but suffice it to say we visited and tuned into some very interesting places and we visited some wonderful ancient churches of which there are many in the eastern county of Essex. One of the churches we visited was Borley church and rectory in Essex, reputedly haunted. Well, nobody will ever tell me it's not haunted, because as we sat in the porch of the church at midnight we heard noises coming from inside the locked church that sent cold shivers down our spines. What noises? It sounded like something being dragged along the central aisle and furniture being moved. Horrible! One thing I also remember is the guys in the group decided at that point to wander off back to their cars for an in-depth discussion leaving us girls to remain in the porch in case anything else was heard!! The group consisted of talks by Andy Collins and guest speakers and lots of slides of sacred sites from all over the Country and beyond, so it was a chance to learn as well, about a subject that had always fascinated me but I knew little about. Earthquest came into my life at a time I was looking for a new direction and a new learning path. I also loved the connection with the landscape and nature. Essex is a very interesting county. Earthquest gave us the framework to enable us to open up to how much of ancient interest there is to be found on our own doorstep if we just look. The same is true for every corner of this beautiful and ancient land. I have always found that every county in Britain has its own special vibe. Earthquest was also about helping to preserve these ancient sites and traditions through telling people, writing about them and field trips to visit them. We were not amiss to re-erecting the odd fallen down stone from a site here and there!
All this seems so long ago now and those days will probably never come again but I have vivid memories and we did have some laughs as well. When I look back at it, it was all very innocent and so heart -felt and I think that’s what made it so good! It was during these times during the 1980’s that Andy first wrote and published Earthquest News. The magazine consisted of articles of quests that the group had been involved in. The Earthquest News journal in my humble opinion was brilliant and still stands today as excellent material for anyone interested in psychic questing.
As for the psychic side of things, I started using my abilities in new way, a completely new direction. We mainly worked as a group and everything that was picked up on psychically was written down and researched and articles were formed for Earthquest News, or for lectures. Everyone contributed and quite a few people received good psychic information even though they never felt they were psychic before. The whole situation had triggered abilities they didn’t know they possessed. It is important to write things up so it can then be passed on to others, so preserving and passing on knowledge. Something that the main individuals in questing have in common is they work hard, otherwise quests just evaporate, which really is a waste.
As regards to questing and psychic ability Andy really wanted to work with direct information psychics and was on the look out for anyone who showed signs of this ability to receive names, dates and places accurately, this is totally understandable as they are so valuable in the psychic questing movement. I am not a direct information psychic myself, they are quite rare, but I have my moments. .
During my time with Earthquest I also got to go to some UFO lectures and as I had been fascinated by the UFO phenomena since I was a child this was great! I just used to sit and listen and look at the slides, hoping to learn something.
Alex: What is your own perception of the psychic questing phenomena?
Carole: I think psychic questing is amazing. I know it’s considered controversial but it’s very exciting and it covers so many different subjects. I think really it’s a whole way of looking at life. The quest is within as well as we learn about ourselves. What I find positive about questing is its approach to using psychic information. Basically psychically received information tends to be researched before it’s used, if it cannot be researched then that is stated and people can make their own minds up. I personally don’t like this attitude of total acceptance of every bit of psychic information. Only time will tell in some cases. The main thing is not to want to be right all the time but put whatever is received into the pot and if it checks out then great, if it doesn’t, then someone else might receive relevant information. Honesty is important and if nothing is received then it’s best to say so. That way integrity remains intact. Psychic questing takes all involved on a journey that can be a bit of a roller-coaster ride of experiences, discoveries and emotions.
It’s a funny thing this questing, some people just seem to have the questing gene. What I have also found is that certain combinations of people working together on a quest just work really well and the quest starts happening and yet other combinations of people just don’t seem to work. I have seen this happen many times. As an astrologer this doesn’t really surprise or mystify me as I know that certain combinations of people create a special kind of energy when together. Take one person out of the equation or put another in and it can change that energy radically. In astrology we do a chart called a composite for a couple and it shows what they create when together, not so much the effect on each other but what effect they have on others and the world around them, like a third point. Two makes three, creativity! This applies for groups of people also. It’s a bit like a recipe.
I also believe that being in tune with the signs of nature is a major part of psychic questing, as nature can talk to our souls and awaken our inner vision.
Alex: What is the most interesting aspect of your work as a psychic?
Carole: There are many interesting aspects to psychic work, it’s very varied. I still find it all interesting and fascinating and as every year goes by I realise how little I really know and how much there is to learn. It’s a hunger to know really, a fire within. Yes, I have my dull times but basically it’s still there. It’s the eternal flame. Everyone has it; certain people and experiences can fan its flames and reawaken it. I think questing can be something of a passion, for quite a lot of people. Psychic stuff is just part of the picture, but it’s still fascinating and interesting, I don’t think I’ll ever lose that. I have to say that the most interesting psychic quest I was involved in was the Bega quest because I felt so in tune with it and so connected and it opened up a whole new path for me. Alex and I worked well together, it just seemed to flow. The whole experience was so cathartic and healing, for me it was very much about self-healing as well as the Quest. Also, this was the time I discovered Goddess energy in a very specific way. I have worked with Goddess energy ever since. To me, there is one Divine Source of Creation that rays out into different forms but comes from the One Source, this is my belief!
Alex: What other quests have you been involved with?
Carole: I have been involved in many quests with Earthquest, many of which were written up in Earthquest News. One was on the Island of Menorca, which was very strange. Menorca is a fascinating island and very atmospheric for those who are sensitive to such things. Lets just say I will never forget the Sirens! I was also very involved with the re-discovery of the Running Well, an ancient holy well near Wickford in Essex, which was written up by Andy Collins in his book - The Running Well Mystery and of course the Cumbrian Quest for Bega - written up as Bega and the Sacred Ring by our very own Alex Langstone! This was the quest of my life.
However, another excellent psychic quest I worked on was with Jack Gale in Greenwich and involved the Goddess archetype ‘Holda’. Jack has lectured and written extensively on this. Alex got involved in this quest at the beginning and was present when I had an inner vision of Holda coming towards us in all her glory. No, I’m not crazy!
Alex: (Laughing) Yes I remember it well. The Greenwich quest was very interesting, and Jack wrote about it in his books Other Meridians, Another Greenwich and Goddesses, Guardians and Groves. (See book list at the end). So tell the readers a little about how you become involved with the Quest for Bega?
Carole: The Bega quest began on Midsummer’s day in 1989. I met Alex Langstone in 1985. He came to an earth mysteries group called New Era and we got on really well right from first meeting and have been friends ever since. Andy Collins then set up Earthquest '88 which took off in a really big way. Alex came to this group and got involved. Alex and I both needed a break and we decided to go to Cumbria. I had never been to the lakes and Alex had fond memories of visiting there as a child. I chose a cottage right by Skiddaw Mountain range and booked it. The siting of this cottage would later turn out to be of significance. Skiddaw figured heavily in our quest, and the cottage was on a footpath leading directly to Bega’s Church, which we discovered on the very last day of our holiday. I knew none of this when I booked the cottage, I had never been to Cumbria and I’d never heard of Bega. Another significant point is we arrived on Midsummer’s day the same day that Bega arrived at St Bees Head from Ireland according to her legend back in the 7th Century. Neither Alex nor I had any intention of questing, researching or anything of the like. We just wanted a holiday by the lakes and fells of Cumbria. But this was not to be, as the quest began the very evening we arrived. It all started as we were sitting in the cottage and a shaft of sunlight shone through the window, the beginning of the sunset, the beginning of the quest and with it came the inner vision. We were intuitively called out of the cottage and onto our quest. Then, not far from our cottage we met Ciaran, who is a spirit, the spirit guardian of Skiddaw mountain range and a lot more besides. He stayed with us almost to the end of our quest, guiding us and then left as suddenly as he had appeared. The initial part of the quest lasted the whole holiday taking us both on a journey that would change and enrich our lives for ever. Also it was a work of resurrection of the Goddess in the form of Bega. It has this quality of Eternity, with no beginning and no end. It is the circle of Bega! Alex and I went back several times to continue the quest. Later, Andy Collins and friends began to receive dreams and psychic information that was relevant to the quest. They travelled with Alex to Cumbria to continue the quest there, opening it out to a new level. I really liked the concept of St Bees Head being the centre of the British Isles, the heart. This seemed to make sense of some psychic information I had received while at Gosforth in 1989. Alex then wrote and published ‘Bega and the Sacred Ring’. A major factor of the Bega quest has to be the Amethyst crystal that apported in St. Bega’s Church, Bassenthwaite when we visited in July 1992. Other apports were received too by Andy’s group that went to Cumbria. The Bega quest has a very spiritual quality to it and is centred in such a beautiful and inspiring landscape, which is a major part of it all and never to be underestimated. In a way, that’s what it’s all about. Attuning to Bega, set me onto a path of self-healing and led me towards a new learning experience, that of healing through the energy of the Goddess. Bega led me to discover the energy of Green Tara of Tibet, for meditation, mantra and healing. I then became attuned to Reiki healing as did Alex around the same time. But I always call upon Bega during any meditations or Reiki I may do. I feel that it’s a very good example of what can be involved in a quest and how it can begin, what can happen, what to look out for. It was all there, we read the signs, and it was about responding and following it through with action, research and meditation. In a way it was a bit like reading the landscape on a subtle level and the memories imprinted upon that landscape. At times it felt quite mystically ecstatic. I can only now really thank Alex for carrying on researching along with other people, and most importantly working so hard over the years to write it all up. I am over the moon about the new edition of Bega and the Sacred Ring, hopefully people will be inspired, and I look forward to the new book Spirit Chaser, which will at last tell the whole story. After all it is a quest of the Beauty of the Divine Spirit no less, manifest in Nature!
Alex: Yes, the "Divine Spirit in Nature", so perfectly sums up the quest for Bega. So tell me Carole, where do you see extreme fringe subjects such as Psychic Questing going in the future?
Carole: Well, I see psychic questing gaining even more interest over the year’s I think. Obviously there’s still lots of people not remotely interested, always will be but I can see interest growing and hopefully involvement, as it’s a very varied subject really whether you’re a psychic type, a researcher, writer or just fascinated, I think different types of people can contribute constructively if they have a genuine interest and get a lot out of it themselves. As for me, well I’m not actively involved in any quest at the moment apart from life which lets face it is a quest in itself but who knows, maybe sometime in the future with the right people, the right place, the right time? In the meantime, I have memories of some great quests, and of course Bega is ever present in my life. Astrology still plays a large part in my life as does Reiki and I am endlessly fascinated by them, never bored by them and still learning, I don’t think we ever stop learning and so we nourish our souls as well as enrich our minds. Happy questing, have fun, and love and light to you all.
Carole's recommended reading list:
Goddesses, Guardians and Groves by Jack Gale
Other Meridians Another Greenwich by Jack Gale
The Circle and the Square by Jack Gale
Bega and the Sacred Ring by Alex Langstone
Earthquest News Magazines by Andrew Collins
The Running Well Mystery by Andrew Collins
The Knights of Danbury by Andrew Collins
The Ancient British Goddess by Kathy Jones
Spirits of the Stones by Alan Richardson
Hidden Heritage by Terry Johnson
The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London by John Mathews and Chesca Potter
Mystical Britain and Ireland by Richard Jones
The Year of the Goddess by Laurence Durdin-Robertson
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
The Giant of Penhill by Ian Taylor
The Sea Priestess by Dion Fortune
Mysterious Britain by Janet and Colin Bord
The Glastonbury Temple of the Stars by Katherine Maltwood
Enchanted Britain by Marc Alexander
Interview conducted by Alex Langstone. To buy Bega and the Sacred Ring, please click below:
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