The Thunderbolt

Receiving instruction on the Holy Mountain

Skirrid Inn sign at Llanvihangel Crucorney

Welcome to the May 2026 newsletter which follows on from last months newsletter ‘Equinoctial Holy Mountain’ featuring the Holy Mountain Skyrrid Fawr and the St Micheal chapel ruins at its summit. There are also some new happenings as my ‘way forward’ becomes a little clearer.

My thanks to those who are paid subscribers and those of you who continue to send me cups of tea via the Ko-fi site, which you can do by clicking on the cup below.

Thank you for the ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ on the last post - please do ‘like’ this post by clicking on the hearts (top and bottom of post). Or leave a comment.

Happenings

The Shamanic Sundays group returns on Sunday 3rd May as normal. Times are 10am to 12.30pm - you can find out more and book a place here.

Holy Mountain pilgrimage - on Whitsunday, 24th May (3pm start), I will be ascending Skyrrid Fawr with my collaborator Lisa Saunders (more below), to (re)activate the St Michael chapel energies at its summit - there is further explanation of this process in the newsletter ‘story’ below. You are welcome to come along and there are details on the website here - it is quite a climb and will depend on weather conditions. This is a free event but if you’d like to make a donation to help with our costs that would be most welcome. Please let me know if you’re intending to come by sending me an email at info@mandypullen.co.uk or messaging me using this little button.

Festival Study Group - beginning on Tuesday 30th June 2 - 4pm at a venue to be confirmed depending on numbers but somewhere in the Forest of Dean or Monmouth area. This will be a weekly study group considering the Christ Impulse or Consciousness festival work of Rudolf Steiner - we will begin with an approach to Michaelmas. Again, I will be holding this event with Lisa Saunders and it will tie in with the above Holy Mountain pilgrimage on Whitsunday. There is no cost but donations are appreciated. There are no details on the website yet but if you’re interested please send me an email at info@mandypullen.co.uk or message me using the little orange button.

If you live too far away but are interested in an online Festival Study Group please message me using that same little button or emailing me (info@mandypullen.co.uk) and if there are adequate numbers I will set one up. You can tell I like that button can’t you - I’ve only just discovered it - the joys of Substack.

I would, at this juncture, like to introduce you to my collaborator in these two new offerings - Lisa Saunders - who has an interest and experience of Rudolf Steiner’s work. Lisa trained on the Eco Shamanic Practitioner Training course I ran in the past and combines shamanic practice with massage and soul work. She has been accompanying me on these recent spiritual adventures.

The Thunderbolt

Now to the meat of this months newsletter. In last months newsletter I recounted how a visit to the Holy Mountain of Skyrrid Fawr, on the edge of the Black Mountains in the borderlands of England and Wales, was accompanied by a series of connections to St Michael via dreams and church visits. I also mentioned that I would be climbing Skyrrid Fawr on Easter Sunday which was the following weekend after the publication of that newsletter. So this is the story of the Easter Sunday pilgrimage . . . and its subsequent fall out . . . I say this because everything has moved with such speed, or rather, I have made so many leaps of consciousness that as I look back over the past month it feels as if I’m in another world or I’m a different expression of myself . . . or both.

I’m going to back track to the Spring Equinox visit and a photo I took whilst there that subsequently captured my attention. When returning from the St Michael chapel ruins at the summit along the spine of the mountain I took a photo looking back towards the summit. When I got home and reviewed the photos I had taken this one (below) stood out.

In the middle of the photo there is a red arrow pointing towards what appears to be an arched opening in the rock. I was rather excited that this might represent a ‘tomb of sorts’ similar to the tomb where Jesus was ‘entombed’ following his crucifixion. And as this is the Holy Mountain that was ‘shattered’ at that time (see last newsletter) I thought I was onto something. In fact, why was it not documented anywhere, along with the all the other myths and legends associated with the mountain? So I returned a week later to investigate only to find that it was not there at all . . . it was a trick of the rock and the light, yet it had made an appearance in the photo. After much pondering I decided that it was more a sign that this ‘place’ was definitely connected to Eastertide and had shown itself to keep me engaged with the Holy Mountain.

Easter Sunday

The following week was Easter Sunday and I had arranged to make another ascent to show my collaborator, Lisa of above fame, what I had seen. We set out rather late after having had Sunday lunch and chewing the cud over some Rudolf Steiner reading. We got to the bottom of the Skyrrid at 7pm which meant we would have to climb quite quickly to see the sun set on that fateful day. We missed the sunset, not only because we were ‘late’ but also because it sets behind the Sugar Loaf Mountain at that time of year. Instead, I showed Lisa the ‘tomb illusion’ and it performed the same disappearing act.

At this point the light was failing but as we continued on to the summit with the St Michael Chapel ruins and trig point I suddenly felt as if a thunderbolt had hit me and I shot off with an energy of purpose and intention that belied the previously laboured climb to the ‘tomb illusion’. It was like I had been struck by an external energy that completely revivified me. When we reached the ruins of the Michael Chapel summit I was buzzing. This was the scene to the west with the remnants of the sunset behind the mountains.

Due to the failing light most of what we could see was ‘sky bound’ and as I was trying to ‘place’ the stars/planets, there, faintly, high up in the southern sky, was a cross marked out by two vapour trails with Jupiter like a pin prick at the top of the vertical trail - it looks like a speck of dust even on a big screen so don’t worry if you can’t see it.

I then realised that the cross was in the SOUTH . . . and it reminded me of my experience of finding out about the fixed star Acrux, the star at the bottom of the Southern Cross, back in April 2024. Acrux signifies an interest in astrology, spirituality, metaphysics and sacrifice. When it is occulted (hidden) by Jupiter it has greater significance . . . so the appearance of Jupiter in this vapour trail cross was significant. Even though it was at the top of the vertical vapour trail, the Southern Cross is only visible in the southern hemisphere so it’s upside-down from our perspective. It also happens to be pertinent in my birth chart in terms of it sitting on my ‘mid heaven’ (this relates to your vocation, path or destiny). You can read the Acrux newsletter here. I’ll come back to that fixed star in a minute. In my Steiner reading this morning, at the time of writing, I noticed a reference to Jupiter being relevant to humanity’s future in terms of its soul evolution. And, as we were within the ruins of the Michael Chapel and, according to Rudolf Steiner, we are in the age of Michael (angelically), this seemed to be another sign that we were working at the right spot at the right time with the right intent.

Then it got a little darker, in terms of light rather than intent, and Venus appeared directly above the Sugar Loaf Mountain. In the photo below it looks like the Moon but that is simply a bit of camera wobble and tricky light conditions, it was definitely Venus. And Venus is also connected to the future of our Earth’s spiritual evolution. In esoteric thought, the evolution of Venus as a soul being is far in advance of our Earth’s (soul being) evolution.

It is now so dark that we can only see by star light . . . what foolishness - being on the top of a mountain in the dark - but I had a spring in my step and a feeling of confidence that dispelled any notion of danger. It was as if I had been energised by something otherworldly or struck by a thunderbolt . . . initiated or resurrected perhaps.

When I got home, it was very late, I couldn’t sleep. That feeling of being electrified has happened to me before when I appear to have done something spiritually momentous, often in alignment with the stars, often without quite knowing what it is that I have done . . .

Three mornings later I wake from a dream of the three magi who visited Jesus at his birth bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh. In the dream the magi were either actually three herbs - sage, rosemary and thyme, or were carrying them as offerings. I later linked these herbs to wisdom (sage), beauty (mother ‘rose’Mary) and time (thyme). As I wake I find myself supine, flat on my back with my arms out, as if I have been crucified. I feel amazing . . . contented and full of pure joy. It is as if I have risen from the dead, aka, Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

Some sage in my garden - flowering early as I’ve been nurturing it in a pot over winter in the greenhouse

Please don’t think I'm having delusions of grandeur. It is more the feeling that each and every human is (made in the image of) Christ or God as in the Quaker way of thinking - “the earliest Quakers were motivated by the revelation that there is that of God in every person” (quote source Radio 4s Prayer for Today 21st April).

A great deal has happened since these specific events, in terms of my understanding and consciousness of the importance of this work. With truly theosophical intent, it feels as if this ‘new’ work is for the future of the soul of humanity and our Earth’s evolution . . . and by future I mean aeons into the future. Everything seems to be falling into place. I am following the Christian festivals as propounded by Rudolf Steiner and it is making sense. Underpinning all this is the act of consulting astrological charts and dreams and seeking cosmic wisdom to guide me.

Finally, last year on an esoteric retreat I was part of a meditation which involved a Wesak Full Moon ceremony in which it is believed that the Buddha and Christ meet in the Wesak Valley in Tibet to decide, or help guide, the future of humanity. That particular Wesak Full Moon was the twenty fifth of this century - and the Wesak Full Moon that occurs in the twenty fifth year of each century is believed/thought to be pivotal to humanity’s future 100 years. The reason I am including this here is that this retreat was specifically about the emergence of the ‘New Group of World Servers’ who are, or will be, working to take humanity’s future forward. This is also part of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science. The ‘New Group of World Servers’ members work in many many areas and their main objective is to help humanity navigate its future on a ‘soul level’. They are working altruistically and not for personal gain in any way. (I wrote about the aforementioned retreat in last year’s June newsletter ‘The Red Kite Angel’ where again, Acrux and the Southern Cross featured.)

Southern Cross with Acrux on the bottom of the cross (or to the right depending on how you look at it) - this is a screen shot from an app on my phone

So as someone who aligns with the purposes of the New Group of World Servers I have been patiently waiting to see what my role would be . . . and here, a full year later at the time of the Wesak Full Moon this Friday 1st May 2026 (also the traditional day to celebrate Beltane) I am putting it out there that I am offering some new group work - firstly with a pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain on Whitsunday followed by a Steiner inspired study group about the Christ Consciousness festivals. And that fixed star Acrux? Well its placement in my natal chart is the exact same degree and minute as the Full Wesak Moon this year - 11°20’. I feel a little like this might be my destiny.

Thank you for reading . . . Mandy