Magical Tours of Avebury, Glastonbury & Stonehenge
West Kennet Long Barrow: Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos OUT NOW!
News of the 2012 Convention and Avebury Workshops
Peter interviewed on Conscious Planet Radio (USA). Click to hear
Peter's Books, DVD & CD-ROM ‚ 2012 Talks, Tours, Workshops ‚ About Stone Seeker Tours ‚
2012 Alternative Archaeology Convention ‚ About Peter and Peter's Blog ‚ Contact ‚ Videos ‚ Peter on BBC
‚ Podcast ‚ Full list of Tours ‚ Links ‚ My Top 15 Dorset Sacred Sites ‚ Full List of talks ‚
Ancient Ambient Chill-Out ‚ Dorset Earth Mysteries Group ‚ Holding a Children’s Event ‚
Extracts from CD-Rom: Dowsing ‚ Stone Circles ‚ Dolmens ‚ Earth Mother/Goddess
Peter is on FaceBook and My Space & Occult Forum
See Peter video at West Kennet Long Barrow (leaves this site).
“The Earth has enough for every man’s need, but not for every man’s greed.” (Gandhi)
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West Kennet Long Barrow:
Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos
Pub. Mar 1st 2011
by Stone Seeker Publishing. 232pp, illustrated, £12.99
ISBN: 978-0-9560342-1-2
“Fab work on the long barrow.. really is a handbook on how to access other sites.” Chris Street.
“It is excellent… plenty of new stuff”- Andrew Collins.
“A comprehensive study and an enjoyable read… recommended” – Merry Meet Magazine.
“A timely work, in its all-embracing approach” –Geoff Ward, Mysterious Planet.
“Contains much knowledge and good advice. In my opinion the book is a good marriage of intellectual and emotional wisdom… I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.”
– Michael Hodges (Historian).
See Peter in 20 min video at West Kennet
See illustated article on book on Goddess Pages (Summer 2011 ed.)
Article on the book on Mysterious Planet
A DVD based on the book is also available
Overview of Book
Peter’s new book is the most comprehensive and all-encompassing guide ever undertaken on West Kennet Long Barrow, and its surrounding landscape, including such sites as Silbury Hill and East Kennet Long Barrow (see chapter headings below). He looks at all aspects of this Neolithic wonder, from sacred sound and his acoustical experiments, to the psychic and paranormal, from landscape alignments to his solar, lunar and stellar astronomical discoveries, and from symbolism to earth energies/dowsing. He deals in details with the shamanic aspects, and how we can interact with, and care for, the monument today. Peter also re-appraises the archaeological excavations and surveys of the site, bringing its shamanic aspects to the fore. The site was sacred to Neolithic clan members thousands of years ago, but can we use their knowledge and wisdom today?
Peter has spent many hours up at the barrow, inside its dark chambers to test the acoustics of the site through drumming and chanting, as well as to meditate to connect with his ancestors. Outside, he has demonstrated how the sun rises over other nearby sites at the festivals, and has some stunning images of these in the book. The sun even penetrates some of the chambers, such as the SE chamber at summer solstice. He also illustrates how Orion, Sirius and other stars were aligned with the barrow and its chambers. The Neolithic shamans here were connected with the heavens as much as they were the land. The site was never just a tomb, and is very much ‘open for business’ today!
Peter suggests that West Kennet long barrow can help us all create a closer, more spiritual link with the landscape we inhabit. Peter walked the landscape around West Kennet, to connect and sense what the landscape wanted him to know – his results will surprise you! Peter’s book is a labour of love, as his love and respect for the site comes out, as well as how we can all visit the dark recesses of the chambers as an aid to perhaps reaching into the dark recesses of our own inner nature. His own profound, personal experiences at the site are highlighted, along with those of others: the site is very much receptive to our interaction today.
The book is profusely illustrated with photos, plans, diagrams, and maps.
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Mounds of Mystery
3. Neolithic People and the Long Barrows
4. The Sacred Landscape and Placement
5. The Long Barrow Today – A Guided Tour
6. A ‘Womb’ With a View
7. Early Research – The Antiquarians
8. Modern Excavations and Surveys
9. Shamanism and the Meaning of WKLB
10. Acoustics and Sacred Sound
11. Stone Faced - Symbolism of the Megaliths
12. Modern Psychics, Shamans and Paranormal Phenomena
13. Earth Energies, Dowsing and Sacred Geometry
14. Landscape Alignments
15. Sun, Moon and Stars – Neolithic Astronomy
16. Interaction Today – Care and Use of the Monument
17. 2012 and the Way Forward
Acknowledgements; About the Author; Bibliography/References; Index.
Selected images from the book are on my FaceBook pages
See Peter on Light and Energy TV at West Kennet
Order your signed and dedicated copy from the author today:
£12.99 + £2.00 p&p. click here to order
Also available on Amazon.co.uk (seller: stoneseeker2) - subject to their charges.
Also available from local bookshops and BSD bookshop.
See 2012 events for tours, book-signings and talks based on the book.
West Kennet Long Barrow
Ancestors Project
Peter’s book resulted from his co-ordinating the most in depth, interdisciplinary study of West Kennet Long Barrow, near Avebury, ever undertaken. Peter wants help in covering all aspects of the site to be covered: Ley Lines, acoustics, dowsing, earth energies, psychic experiences, astronomy, orbs, excavations, the paranormal, its symbolism, place in the Goddess landscape and more. This has already included on site work with clairvoyants, mediums, channellers, shamans, dowsers and musicians, with profound results.
For inclusion in future editions, please send us you photos of orbs etc, plus your meditations, channelling, shamanic and healing experiences. Full credits will be given if used. All welcome – send us your personal connections with this incredible sacred place: Contact
Other Books by Peter Knight
“…profound gifts”
1) Thirteen Moons (immediately below) 2) Ancient Stones of Dorset
3) Sacred Dorset 4) Dorset Pilgrimages (A Millennium Handbook)
5) The Wessex Astrum - Sacred Geometry in a Mystical Landscape
(6) NEW: West Kennet Long Barrow: Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos
(Pub. March 2011): Click here!
(7) CD-ROM (8) DVD – Chambered Tombs of Europe
1) Thirteen Moons ~ Conversations with the Goddess
A “factual novel” - Illustrated - 352p – RRP £9.99 - ISBN: 978 1 905553 15 0
First published by Stone Seeker Publishing, January 2007
Signed copies from author £9.99 + p&p.
NOW BACK IN PRINT (updated ed.) on St George’s Day 2010
About the book
Sample of reviews:
“ a font of wisdom and knowledge… fascinating from beginning to end”
Diana Cooper (Cygnus Review)
“Bought your book 13 Moons. I am in awe of it and want to share the knowledge. I'd also like to get a half dozen of the books to share with others here in the US. It has had a profound affect on my spiritual path, I want to spread the joy! “
Cathy Prettyman, USA.
“ Once in a blue moon, a special book like Peter Knight’s comes along…”
Geoff Ward, author of Spirals – Patterns of Existence
“No sooner had I left the shop and settled on the grass by the Devils Chair (Avebury) my nose was glued…. page after page, you know that feeling you get when its going to be a good read… Thirteen Moons has opened my mind and soul. I understand it was YOUR pilgrimage with the earth mother, but the more I read the more I felt I was with you on your journey.”
Mandi (Hampshire)
“I am just reading 13 Moons and have found it most inspiring and interesting –
especially in relation to earth energies at sacred sites.” Len Stafford.
“What an awesome read… incredible!”
Rose Schreier, Las Vegas, USA.
“Such a good book… so informative that I could not put it down”. Sue, Devon.
“I bought a copy of 13 Moons from you… and wanted to say I thought it was fantastic! I am inspired to go to Avebury & hug stones!”
Jen Smith (Surrey)
“The text contains a wealth of information about sacred sites, megalithic monuments,
ley lines and folk tradition in the British Isles. This is the author's area of expertise.”
Druid Network website
“This humorous, semi-autobiographical novel makes brilliant reading… I can readily identify with the sites
and events described, and the fascinating encounters with totems, real-life animals, spirits, trees and, last but not least,
the omnipresent Goddess. The description of his journey was fun to read and the chronological
divisions into the chapters of his [the hero’s] itinerary made reading easier.”
Pauline Johnson, English Dept, Kiel University (review for Society of Ley Hunters.)
“This is both a profound and a profoundly excellent book… Parallels with Celestine Prophecy and The Da Vinci Code
will inevitably be drawn, but the truth is that this is a far, far better book… deserves to become a widely
read classic and I would love it to appear as a standard textbook on the reading lists of all courses on comparitive
religion, ecology and philosophy… the book has the potential to lead Mankind to fulfilment and love… Superb – buy it now.”
Jerry Bird, Editor, Merry Meet magazine (Spring issue, 2007).
“Peter writes with perceptive humour and keeps the mystical conversations with the Goddess
balanced with a down-to-earth reality… woven deftly into this lively narrative are important
esoteric threads… has a solid ring of truth which kept me reading.”
Jan Morgan Wood (editor), Sacred Hoop magazine.
“… an easy and entertaining read which flows as smoothly as the earth energies it describes.”
Roger Guttridge, Dorset author and journalist.
“… a strong ecological message… how to live in harmony with the planet…”
Daily Echo, Feb. 2007
“Bought your book at the Surrey Dowsers and have just finished it – I enjoyed it very much and agreed wholeheartedly with the content – thank you! Shall now send it up to a friend in Scotland who is very connected to Mother Earth and I know that she will love it too.” Heather.
“I picked up a copy of your book The Thirteen Moons after my first visit to the Goddess Temple
in Glastonbury and I have to say it had me hooked throughout”.
Janice Pritchard, Somerset.
“I was instantly drawn to your book, and now I know why. It was humorous, inspiring and reconnecting for me… it made me realise what are the most important things in Life again. Thank you for the gift that is your book.”
Sally Bull.
“… the book makes full use of Knight’s years of research and personal experience… providing both the locations
and the background knowledge for Thirteen Moons… lucidly and impressively conveyed…”
Roger Guttridge, Blackmore Vale Magazine. March 2007.
“The author’s humour and the ‘conversations’ with the Goddess are balanced with reality, making full use of his
research, experiences of sacred sites and knowledge of earth mysteries… a very informative read.”
South West Connection Magazine.
“Thirteen Moons is a passionate attempt to connect us with Nature and ancient wisdom…
Inspirational and uncomplicated… an accessible and optimistic rallying cry…”
Western Daily Press, Feb. 2007
“… a novel, but includes a huge amount of genuine earth mysteries info on British sacred sites.”
Inner Bookshop, Oxford.
“I have just finished your book, and I would like to say thank you. I feel I have at last found a book
that will make sense of my path… in a non-threatening, easy to read way.”
Caroline, Wiltshire.
“Thirteen Moons is absolutely fabulous, couldn't put it down. So nice to feel like I'm not alone regarding wyrd
experiences I've had over the years… keep up the good work.”
Tammy Nash (via e-mail)
Thirteen Moons – Conversations with the Goddess is Peter Knight’s fifth book, published in February 2007 by Stone Seeker Publishing. In 2007 we witnessed thirteen full moons – there are two in June! The book’s launch is being complemented by a series of illustrated presentations by the author, each consisting of images and insights from the novel - At sacred sites across Europe, the Goddess has revealed lessons concerning leys lines, earth energies, sacred sites, ecological issues, the Grail, Mary Magdalene, crop circles, sacred geometry and how to connect with the Earth Spirit. She divulges what the human experience is really about and how we can live fulfilling lives in harmony with the Planet – before it’s too late! Signed copies are available direct from the author or at any of his events.
Articles based on Thirteen Moons have appeared in SW Connection, Avalon Magazine and Pentacle.
Due to its popularity the book was reprinted in 2010. Peter also does talks based on the book, comparing its lessons to that in the movie Avatar.
Overview of the book:
If you were out one night in a ruined church, how would you react if your head were suddenly filled with an elder voice professing to be the Earth Goddess? This happened to our hero, just an ordinary chap really, on a somewhat disillusioned spiritual path. His world was turned inside out. Through him the Earth Mother has revealed profound insights on how to interact with the land and sacred sites. He is shown such secrets as the meaning of the Grail, Mary Magdalene, crop circles, sacred sites, ley lines, earth energies, sacred geometry, to help us reconnect with the Earth and learn what the human experience is really about. Visions, dreams and synchronicities guide him to receive ancient wisdom at Rosslyn Chapel and Temple Church (two Da Vinci Code localities), Stonehenge, Avebury, Glastonbury, the New Forest, as well as Ireland, Brittany and Dartmoor, including spectacular visions from the top of the London Eye. Along the way he meets his totem animals, converses with the Oak King and others who revere the Goddess. However, he also encounters opposition to the new teachings, from those who hold more orthodox beliefs. His astonishing journey reveals profound messages for Mankind, including 13 Insights - before it’s too late!
Incredibly, Thirteen Moons is semi-autobiographical, as Peter Knight draws upon his own research and knowledge of our spiritual heritage. Much of Peter’s own spiritual journey unfolded whilst researching Thirteen Moons, mirroring his own simultaneous growth. He retells, through the hero’s exploits, many of his own discoveries and profound experiences at sacred sites. The novel is refreshingly laced with the author’s caustic humour and strewn with amusing anecdotes, including his own take on religion and personal growth.
Thirteen Moons also contains details of the localities visited by our hero, as well as particulars of the 13 Moons Tours, offering the chance to experience these sacred sites with the author, so that you too can walk the path of 13 Moons.
Click here for signed copies of Thirteen Moons direct from Peter for £9.99 + P&P 1.50
2) Ancient Stones of Dorset £12.95
13th Anniversary and still in print! The Classic work on Dorset’s sacred sites and ley lines.
Published in 1996 by Power Publications
208 pp (gloss finish), 147 photographs and 132 drawings, bibliography, index
Still the most comprehensive work on Dorset’s stone circles, megaliths and ancient crosses
Maps of dozens of ley lines, plus site plans, diagrams and directions/grid references.
The first edition sold out! Recently reprinted, and still selling steady!
Signed copies are available direct (Click here).
Signed copies by credit card via this link to Amazon.co.uk (Peter is the seller “Stoneseeker2” –
his entry says “signed copies from the author”)
“An indispensable guide to Dorset’s ancient places.”
Dorset Echo.
“Peter Knight has put a lot of work into this… it fulfils the needs of stone-hunting visitors to Dorset.”
Ley Hunter Magazine.
“… very comprehensive description of standing stones and sites in Dorset, interspersed with extra snippets of historical information, and many details of ley lines, plans and sketches.”
Megalithic.co.uk
“Well, I live in Dorset and I didn’t know one tenth of the sites that Peter has catalogued in this fascinating labour of love. Designed as a book to be used `in the field`, Ancient Stones Of Dorset covers its subject in painstaking detail from obvious sites such as The Nine Stones near Dorchester, to old reports of stones now long vanished. With much folklore included, and many a ley line, this is a Neolithic winner!”
Andrew Trowbridge, Dorset.
“It is the most comprehensive survey of its type ever accomplished for Dorset’s sacred stone sites …… This is a necessary book for the megalithic enthusiast and a good buy at the price… Peter Knight has worked hard on his task, delivering a very presentable volume incorporating much original research”.
Dr Terence Meaden, author and archaeologist.
“What a wonderful reference and it makes learning to dowse in Dorset so much more fun and accessible”
P Haywood, Blandford, Dorset.
“Peter has come up with a very comprehensive description of stones in Dorset.”
FetchBook.co.uk
“Recommended reading… a carefully researched compendium of Dorset sites.”
David Mitchell.
“Congratulations on your books Ancient Stones of Dorset and Sacred Dorset. They are fascinating, very readable and difficult to put down. We are now eager to visit sites again and look more closely due to greater awareness. Thank you for that”.
Tricia and Gerry Byrne, Poole, Dorset.
3) Sacred Dorset ~ On the Path of the Dragon £12.95
Published in 1998 by Capall Bann Publishing
292pp, 119 photographs and 82 line drawings, bibliography, index
The most thorough work on Dorset’s ancient spiritual heritage
Includes hill forts, wells and springs, the Cerne Giant, the sun and moon, folklore, Dorset Cursus,
burial mounds, the Green Man, trees, ley lines, fairies, dragons, giants & much more…
Sample of Reviews:
“This richly illustrated book is a comprehensive guide to the ancient and sacred landscape of Dorset”
Prediction Magazine
“Archaeological sits happily alongside information obtained by dowsers …… There is something in it for everybody …it really is a must!”
Fatea
“The book is a relaxed but informative read, balanced with information, anecdotes and personal observations … a fascinating journey into a hitherto unknown history of the area”.
Daily Echo.
“I have just read your book Sacred Dorset, which I really enjoyed. I have recently moved to the area and your book has inspired me to visit many sites you mention.”
Caroline Blake, Osmington, Dorset.
4) Dorset Pilgrimages ~ A Millennium Handbook £6.95
(with Mike Power)
Published in 2000 by Power Publications
144pp (gloss finish), with over 100 photographs, route maps, line drawings, index
Newly envisioned day-long pilgrimages across Dorset
Includes sections on the mind-set of pilgrimages, what to take, how to approach them and more.
Sacred sites, such as churches, stone circles, burial mounds and wells, are visited en route
Pocket-sized, can be taken out on the pilgrimage walks.
Signed copies using credit cards via Amazon.co.uk (Peter is seller “Stoneseeker2”)
“The content is incredible… cover to cover filled with interesting sketches & vignettes… there is a feel that Peter has let you in on some secrets of which few people know”.
Steve Hawker (Dorset)
5) The Wessex Astrum –
Sacred Geometry in a Mystical Landscape
(Co-author: Toni Perrott)
The groundbreaking book about the huge landscape hexagram
Pub. 2008 by Stone Seeker Publishing
£13.99. 275pp, large paperback, B&W illustrations and maps, index, resources.
ISBN: 978-0-9560342-0-5
Available to order from Waterstones and the British Society of Dowsers!
Details of the book follow below, after some recent quotes/reviews:
“An absolute must for all dowsers!”
Dowsing Today – British Society of Dowsers magazine
“… a revelation from Mother Earth… let its geometry works its magic..”
Nicholas R Mann
“Wow! What a read! Peter and Toni's beautifully written and presented book brings our native landscape to life with new meaning, while revealing its sacred geometry. The book is meticulously researched, with many photos and fascinating histories of the many ancient Earth sites, churches, and holy springs which form the Wessex Astrum. The book is a tribute to the wisdom of ancient beings who possessed infinitely more knowledge of the Earth than we appear to have today. Let us honour those ancestors and learn from them, for by so doing we become worthy of our place on this beautiful planet. This book can help us to do that. I look forward to many exciting sunny days of discovery and exploration of the fascinating places described in The Wessex Astrum.”
Diane Rigby-Edwards
“The hypothesis is well constructed and well explained …a fine book following the true tradition of Earth Mysteries …
Get it – use it.”
Alan Bowers, Editor, Society of Ley Hunters Newsletter.
“For anyone interested in sacred landscape, this book is an essential and inspiring guide…… there is a deep mystery at work here, full of synchronicity and unfoldings…… far too much information to be absorbed in a single read…… highly recommended!”
Mike Jones, The Oracle magazine, Nov 08.
“… backed up with a huge amount of historical and archaeological research……”
Roger Guttridge (Blackmore Vale Magazine, Dec 2008)
“ I have greatly enjoyed The Wessex Astrum. It is a most interesting addition to our knowledge and could lead on
to further discoveries… … Well done for a really valuable book and an enjoyable read”.
Michael A Hodges (ley lines researcher and author of Here Be Dragons)
“I've been reading the Wessex Astrum and am enjoying it immensely. It's a wonderful way of 're-enchanting' the landscape, or at least our perception of it, and you have a gift for making the reader 'feel' the places described, which you bring to life and provide just the right balance of experiential insight, and historical and mythological depth... Well done! ”
Rose-Marie Farwell (France)
“… imagine my utter joy and deep pleasure in reading your book, Wessex Astrum; Ordnance Survey sheets spread all over the table, and hanging
on your every word. I just wanted to say a very big THANK YOU.”
Mike (Hastings)
The book was recently featured in The Oracle Magazine, the BSD Magazine, Watkins Review,
the Nov 2008 Newsletter of Society of Leyhunters and the Dec 08 Blackmore Vale Magazine
Overview of The Wessex Astrum:
This remarkable book has already received praise from Peter and Toni’s peers and fellow researchers. It presents their astounding new discovery of an ancient hexagram Y over 50 miles long, encoded onto the Wessex landscape, involving the “big three” -Stonehenge, Avebury, Glastonbury. Two of its defining lines are the famous St Michael Line (the section between Glastonbury and Avebury) and one of the “Bluestones Triangle” lines, involving Stonehenge and the Preseli Mountains, described by Robin Heath. Also involved are numerous sacred hills, abbeys, holy springs and wells, Knights Templar sites, hill forts, ancient tombs and many other sacred places. No other landscape figure has before linked Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Avebury, the St Michael Line and the Bluestones Triangle – the Wessex Astrum links all these elements and more! In fact, the only truly accurate section of the St Michael Line is the section that lies within the Wessex Astrum – so which came first!
This book will astound you, as over 500 miles of alignments forming this incredible landscape wonder are detailed; Peter Knight and Toni Perrott tell their own their personal journey of discovery, as each chapter follows each line in turn, uncovering new revelations; they travelled up and down each of the lines - new megaliths were discovered, energy flows dowsed, secret symbolism decoded, images of a very pregnant Mary Magdalene and much more: Sacred geometry, holy caves, Knights Templar and Freemasonic sites, were found on the St Michael Line, plus dragon symbolism in churches. Incredibly, several hexagram crop formations of recent years had manifest on Astrum lines, and three of Wiltshire’s white horses gallop along the lines of this landscape wonder.
The book is profusely illustrated with images and original maps are also given, enabling the reader to follow the lines across the landscape and grid references of sites given throughout; this is in fact the priority of the authors, that the reader should follow in their footsteps, to discover a landscape of magic and wonder, and ancient landscape of our distant ancestors.
Has comprehensive index, plus resources and related websites, etc.
There may only be one mountain, but there are many ways to the top (Anon.)
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The most comprehensive guide to British earth mysteries ever published!
Compatible with Microsoft Word on Windows 98 or newer
A massive 365mb of information on one CD-ROM!
95 categories in A-Z format, from Avebury to Acoustics, from Dowsing to Dolmens, from Ley Lines to Liminality, Stonehenge to Serpents,
and Earth Energies to Entoptics.
Hundreds of hyperlinks, plus places to visit, maps, resources, and much more…
Click here to read four free samples from the A-Z section.
More than 200 colour photographs!
The CD Rom is user friendly, photo-packed and packed with illustrations. It should be used as a website – with hundreds of hyperlinks to take you anywhere on the massive site within seconds. The work has been a labour of love, the culmination of Peter’s own findings over 15 years, as well as a pulling together of the latest research by other authors, such as Paul Devereux, David Elkington, Graham Hancock, John Michell, Terence Meaden, Julian Cope, Danny Sullivan, Paul Broadhurst and Hamish Miller, as well as several academics. Many of the stunning images come from these accredited researchers.
Great value at only £7.99 (+ £1.00 p&p) from the author
Signed copies available directly to UK customers (click here)
Overseas orders using credit cards can be placed at the following secure site. Just click on: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/shop/peter_knight.htm
Sample of reviews
“A very good & comprehensive CD-R” – Cheryl Straffon, author/researcher: www.meynmamvro.co.uk
“This is so obviously a labour of love, a massive reference work, with beautiful illustrations, and with hyper-links to enable quick movement throughout the whole work… Peter’s love for, and amazing empathy with EM, really shines throughout. The 95 A-Z categories are more than sufficient to cover all aspects of EM, they are well researched and written in a very easy to understand style… I have really enjoyed this Encyclopaedia … on a cold wet day, make yourself a hot drink, get comfortable in front of the PC and let this guide really open your mind… thanks Peter I just love it”.
Malcolm Osborn (reviewing for Andy Burnham, megalithic.co.uk)
“This CD-ROM comes well packaged in a tastefully presented crystal case… comprehensive and it is indeed well illustrated… we really need more things like this to promote earth mysteries”.
Northern Earth Magazine.
“The work is profusely illustrated with over 200 colour photos, many completely filling your screen with stunning images of sunrises and other evocative scenes… the ultimate up-to-date overview of both the history and latest theories in the amazing world of earth mysteries… an invaluable guide to British sacred sites and ancient wisdom”.
The Watkins Review, Summer 2004.
(7) DVD – “Chambered Tombs of Europe”
Pub: 2009. £9.99
Filmed by Nautilus AV.
This 1¼ hr long DVD was filmed at the 2009 Convention of Alternative Archaeology and Earth Mysteries. It features Peter discussing and showing images of chambered tombs and dolmens from such places as Sardinia, Malta, Brittany, Ireland and Portugal. He demonstrates both the similarities and the variations in design of the different areas, as well as the multi-functional and experiential aspects of these ancients sites.
Signed copies direct from Peter.
The land and the people are one (Amerindian)
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Dorset Earth Mysteries Group ‚
Hi everyone!
I live in Wiltshire, close to the magical landscape of Avebury, and I am well known in the South for my lively and enthusiastic workshops, convention lectures and field trips about topics relating to our ancient heritage (click here for details). I am co-founder of the Dorset Earth Mysteries Group (see DEMG), an active troupe of enthusiasts who hold meetings in Bournemouth as well as field trips to sacred sites. In 2005 I instigated the first ever Convention of Alternative Archaeology and Earth Mysteries, now held annually in October in Dorset, offering a platform to both new and established speakers and authors. I am an Honorary Member of both the Antiquarian Society and the Wessex Dowsers, an Adult Education Tutor on archaeology and earth mysteries, and have held seminars at Bournemouth University. I am a freelance magazine writer, and have appeared on radio and TV, most notably on Channel 4 with Monty Don in Don Roamin’. A video of my work appears on the BBC/Dorset website. I also host the Ancient Ambient Chill-Out, combining large-screen images of sacred sites and tribal cultures with funky music (click here for details).
My interests include walking, drumming, dowsing, visiting sacred sites, and photography. I am a proud father, vegetarian, and Reiki Master. I follow a Goddess-inspired spirituality, yet honour and respect the wisdom of other spiritualities and religions.
2007 was a busy year, as I was asked to speak at Megalithomania, the Conference of Lost Knowledge, and at the Metageum in Malta, as well as several festivals.
2008 was even busier!, It included the new book coming out, talks at several festivals, and in October I spoke at the big Sacred Earth conference in Vermont, USA, my first ever talk and workshop in the States! The year was nicely rounded off with a great day book-signing at the Henge Shop in Avebury, followed by a tour of the stones. We hope to return there for Beltaine 2010.
2009 saw me talk for the first time at both the Crop Circle Convention in Marlborough, and at the Convention of the British Society of Dowsers, both prestigious events. I also attended and gave talks at Metageum and the Beltaine Bash, both in London. It was my busiest year in terms of public and private tours, which is great as there is a real growth in interest in ancient sacred sites.
2010 saw me concentrating on research and writing my new book about West Kennet Long Barrow. We also went to Malta – wow! What a place – highly recommended for anyone wanting to connect with the Goddess.
2011 saw my busiest year ever, with conventions, conferences and the book launch and talks concerning my new book about West Kennet Long Barrow (click here for details). I am speaking at the British Soc of Dowsers conference, Stars and Stones, Megalithomania, Ley Hunters Moot, Crop Circle Conference and many more. Phew! On a personal note - I am going to become a Grandad in December. Gulp! I think that might be my biggest challenge, and biggest happiness, of the year!
Pete’s Blog (updated every now and again-ish!)
Feb 28 2010 Update: Had a great week this week. We had a room-full at the Wessex Dowsers and had a great night as I unveiled The Wessex Astrum to the audience. Before then, though, a real surprise: I was made an Honorary Member of the Wessex Dowsers, for my services to the subject and the help I had given them over the year. I felt really humbled to be given this by people whom I really admire for their skills and work on dowsing over the years. Thanks everyone.
Spring has sprung – snowdrops and sunshine. The Goddess awakens. I indeed now to go walk the sacred Wiltshire landscape which I have so recently moved to.
October 6th 2010 Update: Wow what a summer and autumn! It has been my busiest year yet, what with tours for groups, private tours for Americans and my own tour programme, and doing the rounds of book-signings and talks about The Wessex Astrum. I talked at OOTO, the Metageum Conference, The Marlborough Crop Circle Conference, The British Soc of Dowsers Convention, the Beltaine Bash, and others. My feet have hardly touched the ground as my message of reconnecting with the ancient sites continues to be well received. It is very emotional for me sometimes when I stand before people who are so enthusiastic about what I have to say. I really feel that I am doing exactly what I am meant to be doing at this time. Thanks everyone for hearing my message and helping me walk my talk. I am also, more than ever, connecting with the landscape around Avebury, now that I have moved to Calne. The landscape is calling me more than ever, and is revealing to me even more of its mysteries.
November 1 : Happy Samhain everyone. I spent the day touring sacred sites of Kent, including the great Coldrum chambered tomb and we ended up at Kit’s Coty dolmen, just after sunset. We drummed around the ancient stones as the full moon rose – hmmm… I love my life! I see the leaves change and the air get colder. The land is readying itself for winter – but the Great Mother does not sleep. I had an incredible connection with the archangel Uriel too – the angel of ancient earth wisdom. Any info on him/her would be appreciated.
June 1 2011: Just finished an incredibly busy Spring – my busiest 2 months ever. The new book is really taking off and it is very gratifying and people are getting what I was trying to achieve with it – getting people to go to and connect with this sacred site. Talks took us to the Lake District, and Preston, Hereford, Devon, London and lots of other sites out of my area – the word is spreading now. People have been so generous and kind to ut us up overnight, enabling us to do events further afield. Thanks everyone who helped. My Facebook Friends list is ever-growing and getting good feeback too. I hope everyone has a funky summer. Hugs. P
More info and photos now on my Facebook pages, and on MySpace - www.MySpace.com/wessexastrum
PODCAST
Hear about Peter and his latest book and research, interviewed by Geoff Ward for the Western Daily Press website:
Click here to read about and hear the interview.
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The real magic lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes (Proust)
Profound Sacred Sites Experiences
“Your Stonehenge and Avebury tour was remarkable, memorable, and breath taking. Thank you so much.”
John and Nancy Stagner, Louisville, USA
“… I just wanted to thank you once again for your wonderful tour of Avebury and Stone henges. It was a very special day for me, reconnecting me with some aspects of myself that had lain quiet for a while. We were particularly taken with Avebury and the West Kennet long barrow…”
Alison Robb and family, Adelaide, Australia.
“… the highlight of our trip to England was your tour of Stonehenge and Avebury...
… Thanks for a very entertaining and informative tour.”
Sam & Utahna Hancock, USA.
“My deep thanks for a truly eye-opening and informative day … this will undoubtedly remain
the highlight of my trip to the UK”
Rob Millette, USA.
“Thank you SO much for yesterday - an extraordinary day in so manyways, made all the more pleasant
and special by your amazing wisdom and humility. We love the way you work!”
Pauline and Alan.
Stone Seeker Tours was launched in 2006 by Peter Knight, ancient sites author and sacred sites guide for over 10 years. His aim is to encourage people to interact with and experience ancient places and the landscape, offering expert guides at reasonable prices.
So are you looking for a private 1-1 tour? Or are you looking for day or half-day outings for your group? Have you got a coach party wishing to visit and experience heritage places? How about a trip to one of our world famous heritage sites, like Stonehenge, Avebury, Glastonbury, Dartmoor, Brittany or Dorset? We can even supply a mini-bus (see below).
Stone Seeker Tours specialises in tailor-made excursions to sacred sites. You bring the people, we provide the guides and the experience. The following subjects are expertly covered, and individual subjects can be included or excluded at your request, depending on the group:
Sacred Archaeology ~ Ancient astronomical alignments ~ Ley Lines and sacred geometry
Earth energies and dowsing ~ Myth and folklore ~ Drumming and healing circle at end of day
Our expert guide, Peter Knight, has been taking parties around sacred sites for many years, including retirement, Rotary Club and local history societies, but also including a wide variety of "alternative" groups, such as dowsers, healing circles, self-growth groups and such. He has a relaxed manner, a good sense of humour and is very enthusiastic about his subject, making for entertaining and informative tours. His trips are a spiritual experience as he takes us into the living landscape of the Goddess.
Sample of localities:
Stonehenge (can include Woodhenge and Old Sarum) – Avebury (bigger than Stonehenge and hands-on!) – Dartmoor (stone circles and stone rows) – Glastonbury (St Michael Line, the Tor, Abbey, Chalice Well etc) – Dorset stone circles and barrows – Maiden Castle - Brittany – Ancient Winchester - Sacred Cornwall – Malta - Jersey Dolmens - Ancient Dorchester – Southern Ireland prehistoric tombs – Sacred Winchester – Ancient Dorchester
Peter also has in-depth knowledge of other areas, so please enquire!
Private Tours of Glastonbury - Stonehenge Tours - Avebury Tours
– pick-up’s from Salisbury
For private 1-1 tours of Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avebury, 3 people or less can be picked up at Salisbury train station for a very personal one-to-one tour of these magical places, plus crop circles and other sites not included on normal tours. On the Stonehenge/Avebury Day you will see the Alton Barnes White Horse, Avebury henge (the world’s biggest stone circle), the 5,500 yr old chambered tomb of West Kennet, Silbury Hill, a stone avenue, and then to the unique monument of Stonehenge. The tours include Peter’s expert knowledge and tuition in dowsing and earth energies, ley lines, astronomy, any crop circles that may be in the area (in season), as well as optional meditations and drumming inside the ancient 5,500 yr old tomb! The day also includes details of the huge landscape hexagram, The Wessex Astrum, which Peter and Toni Perrott uncovered, involves Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avebury.
Salisbury Station pick-up. There is a regular train service from London Waterloo and other cities in the South.
Cost: only £100 for the group for the whole day! (Max 3 people - that could work out at only £33 per person!).
These 1-1 tours run all year round!
“The Stonehenge/Avebury trip with you was the highlight of my week in England.”
Norman E Muller, (Vermont, USA)
“Both Anne and I wish to thank you for our most interesting tour. We both felt that without your commentary we would not have understood Stonehenge. You were very informative and helpful in answering our many questions. We will pass on your name and contact information to any of our friends who come over to the United Kingdom. Obviously, we will recommend your services. Again, thank you for the day.
Anne and Henry Manwell”. (USA)
“I will tell everyone even considering a trip to sacred stone sites about you and the terrific experience you provided us.”
Mark Scanlon (Kansas, USA)
“You are a wealth of information, and I just wanted to let you know that we enjoyed every minute of our time with you.
In particular, the drumming at the tomb was extremely moving. I will never ever forget it.”
Susan (East Coast, USA) Bookings:
Peter Knight is a very sought-after guide so book up as soon as possible – well in advance.
Payment for private tours is by cash on the day – an invoice/receipt can be given.
Enquiries to: stoneseeker@waitrose.com or Tel: 0775 408 2691
Updated January 2012 – more events added!
“We will remember the beautiful day spent with you and feel full of gratitude to you for this unforgettable
present you gave to us” Claude Renault (France)
“Thanks for the great tour last year. That was one of the best tours I have ever taken and I rave about it to everyone.
Let me know if you ever get to Chicago.” Bob Shay (Chicago, USA)
Events listed below are open to the public. Contact Peter for further news. Private tours also available to suit.
A) 2012 Walks/Trips B) 2012 Talks and workshops C) Oct 2012 Convention
D) On the BBC E) AVEBURY WORKSHOPS
A) Walks and Field Trips “Low-Cost, experiential and profound”
2012
Feb 1. Imbolc Celebration. West Kennet Long Barrow. Informal gathering to celebrate this fire festival.
Mar 11. ‘Avebury Stones by Torch Light’. Start: 6.30pm. Peter will lead an evening walk around the world’s largest stone circle, from dusk into darkness, looking at the symbolism of these shamanic stones, including faces, otherworldly creatures and yin/yang symbolism. Bring your torch and your imagination! Cost only £5.
Apr 6. West Kennet Full Moon celebration. Evening. A magical, profound evening, in which a small group will go up to West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset and the full moon rise, before descending into the chambers to experience to chant, drum, didge, or simply meditate. Bring your drums and your voice! Ends with gong bath. Numbers limited due to nature of event and size of tomb. Book now!
Apr 9. Badbury Rings – dowsing and Bank Holiday picnic/social. A free Dorset Earth Mysteries Group event. Open to all. Half day. See www.dorsetmysteries.org for details.
Apr 15. Avebury & West Kennet Tour (as part of the Society of Ley Hunters weekend Moot. See - www.leyhunter.org
Apr 22. Dowsing the Avebury Avenue. Hosted by Wyvern Dowsers. Peter will lead an afternoon walk down this Neolithic megalithic avenue, to dowse the energies of the St Michael Line currents, the auras of stones and look at the symbolism of the megaliths. Non-members welcome. www.wyverndowsers.freeserve.co.uk
May 6. Walking the West Kennet Landscape. 2 mile afternoon walk, on the day of the Full Moon, around some of the sites around WKLB, such as Swallowhead Spring, ‘Silbaby’. Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary, G55, Palisades Enclosures and finally WKLB itself. A chance to see some lesser-known sites, and view WKLB from them. Energies, leys, astronomy. Some hill walking. £7. Why not stay on for the evening drumming? (see below).
May 6. West Kennet Beltaine Full Moon Celebration. Evening. A magical, profound evening, in which a small group will go up to West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset and celebrate this ancient festival of Spring under the Full Moon. After a brief tour of site by Peter, we will descend into the chambers to chant, drum, didge, or simply meditate. Bring your drums and your voice! Numbers strictly limited due to nature of event and size of chambers. Book now!
May 7. Brockley Cave, near Bristol. Back by popular demand! A Bank Holiday afternoon visit to this secret, little-known cave at the edge of a ravine, where lines of the Wessex Astrum hexagram converge. Brilliant atmosphere, energy and acoustics. We will chant and drum and meditate for Earth healing. £5.
May 12-16. Megalithomania Conference, based in Glastonbury. Peter will lead two day trips (in minibus) to sacred sites, including Avebury, Uffington and West Kennet (14th) and Dartmoor (16th). See www.megalithomania.co.uk to book.
June 3. Walk Around Avebury Henge. 1½hr bank holiday walk around the massive stones, looking at astronomy, leys, dowsing energies, shamanism, symbolism and more! Meet outside Red Lion pub at Noon. Only £5. Why not stay over for tonight’s drumming (see below).
June 3. West Kennet Full Moon celebration. Evening. A magical, profound evening, in which a small group will go up to West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset and the full moon rise, before going into the chambers to chant, drum, didge, flutes, or simply meditate. Bring your drums and your voice! Ends with gong bath. Numbers strictly limited due to nature of event and size of chambers.
June 4. Bank Holiday Full Moon at Knowlton Henge. Evening hosted by Dorset Earth Mysteries Group. Free. Visitors welcome. Evening full moon meditation and drumming at the Neolithic Henge with ruined church. Very atmospheric. See www.dorsetmysteries.org
June 18. Cerne Abbas Walk. Peter will lead evening walk hosted by Dorset Dowsers. The Cerne Giant, Abbey grounds, sacred spring, St Mary’s church. Leys, astronomy, dowsing and more! £5.
July 13-15. Circles of Knowledge Conference. Peter will be leading field trips to Avebury and two evenings of drumming inside West Kennet.
July 21. Earth Energies & Shamanism of Avebury Workshop. A repeat of last year’s successful events – which were full! With Peter Knight and dowser/healer Sue Wallace. 10.30am – 5.30pm. Full day workshop based in the Village Hall, High St. Avebury. Full dowsing and earth energies intro and instruction, shamanic drumming, local ley lines, guided meditation, divination. Tour of Avebury stone circle with its shamanic symbolism - and lots of dowsing and stone-hugging! Connect with the sacred landscape and Self inside the world’s biggest stone circle. Only £40 for the full day – as last year. Advanced booking essential. Numbers limited. Click here for more details.
Sorry – the rest of July is booked doing conferences and several private tours.
Aug. 2. Full Moon at West Kennet. Informal gathering at long barrow for the full moon. All welcome.
Aug 5. The Landscapes of Avebury – Minibus Tour. NEW! Day-long tour in minibus, exploring some of the sites around Avebury. St Michael Line energy sites, the Kennet Avenue, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill, Winterbourne Monkton, Overton Hill, Alton Priors, Adam’s Grave, Alton Barnes and more! Dowsing, ley lines and astronomy. Only £25. Book early!
Aug 18. Mystical Glastonbury. A magical day around the Isle of Avalon. We follow the Michael and Mary currents of the St Michael Line, as well as Wessex Astrum hexagram sites. We walk a labyrinth, see Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, a forgotten ancient megalith in Abbey Grounds, King Arthur and Grail myths, dowsing, and meditation at Chalice Well. £22 for the day (includes admission into the Abbey and Chalice Well).
Aug. 12. Walking the Avebury Landscape. NEW! A full-day walking adventure/pilgrimage around the magical landscape around Avebury. Glorious views, off the beaten track at times, and magical places! Some steep walking – but worth it! Dowsing energies and following leys and ancient tracks. Including meditations to connect with place and Self. £10.
Aug. 19. Kingley Vale Yew Forest. NEW! Afternoon walk hosted by Dorset Earth Mysteries Group. Non-members welcome. A walk around this ancient forest, near Chichester, with its huge and rugged yew trees - a truly magical place, which also has ancient barrows. Picnic lunch/gathering first. See www.dorsetmysteries.org
Aug. 25. ANCIENT STONES OF DORSET. Peter’s classic afternoon tour around some of Dorset’s finest megalithic sites near Dorchester, based on Peter’s classic book Ancient Stones of Dorset. Includes the Grey Mare and Her Colts long barrow, the Goddess Stone, the Hellstone and the Nine Stones. Leys, dowsing, astronomy, and drumming. Some moderate walking required. £10.
Sept 1. West Kennet Full Moon celebration. Evening. A magical, profound evening, in which a small group will go up to West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset and the full moon rise, before descending into the chambers to chant, drum, didge, or simply meditate. Bring your drums and your voice! Ends with gong bath. Numbers strictly limited due to nature of event and size of tomb. Book now!
Sept 29. Cerne Abbas – in the Shadow of the Giant. Picnic and afternoon walk hosted by Dorset Earth Mysteries Group - non-members welcome (£5). Cerne Giant, Abbey Grounds with mysterious mounds, the sacred Well, with healing circle at end. Peter will reveal his new astronomical discoveries. www.dorsetmysteries.org
Sept 30. Walking the West Kennet Landscape. 2 mile afternoon walk, on the day of the Full Moon, around some of the sites around WKLB, such as Swallowhead Spring, ‘Silbaby’. Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary, G55, Palisades Enclosures and finally WKLB itself. A chance to see some little-known sites, and view WKLB from them. Energies, leys, astronomy. Some hill walking. £7. Why not stay on for the evening drumming? (see below).
Sept 30. West Kennet Full Moon celebration. Evening. A magical, profound evening, in which a small group will go up to West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset and the full moon rise, before descending into the chambers to chant, drum, didge, or simply meditate. Bring your drums and your voice! Ends with gong bath. Numbers strictly limited due to nature of event and size of tomb. Book now!
Oct 21. Avebury by Torch Light. Peter will lead an evening walk around the world’s largest stone circle, from dusk into darkness, looking at the symbolism of these shamanic stones, including faces, otherworldly creatures and yin/yang symbolism, all under the light of the first quarter moon. Bring a torch and your imagination! Cost only £5.
Oct 29. West Kennet Full Moon Gathering. Evening. A gathering to honour our ancestors. A magical, profound early evening event (sunset approx. 4.45pm), in which we shall gather at West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset, full moon rise, and go into the chambers to honour the ancestors. We will chant, drum, didge, and have a meditation to link with the ancestors. Bring your drums and your voice!
Oct 31. Informal SAMHAIN gathering at West Kennet Long Barrow.
Dec 22. West Kennet Midwinter Solstice Ancestors Gathering. Includes hot mulled wine and solstice songs! A magical, profound early evening event (sunset approx. 4.00pm), in which we shall gather at West Kennet Long Barrow, a 5,600 year-old chambered mound, to witness the sunset, the growing moon in the sky, and then go into the ancient chambers to honour the ancestors and the Earth, with the landscape being at its darkest time. Plus hot mulled wine! We will chant, drum, didge, and have a meditation to link with the ancestors. Bring your drums and your voice!
“Thank you so much for your incredible tour. You are a wealth of information, and I just wanted to let you know that
we enjoyed every minute of our time with you. In particular, the drumming at the tomb was extremely moving.
I will not ever forget it” Susan Corbett (USA)
“Thanks very much for a fantastic weekend tour… We learnt so much and will certainly look at the landscape with a different perspective from now on… a good mixture of history, myth and dowsing!” (Thames Valley Dowsers).
Contact Peter to book tours and walks, or to get on his annual mail-out.
B) 2012 Talks, Workshops, Book-signings
Feb 17. BRISTOL. The Wessex Astrum – Landscape Hexagram. Bristol Dowsers.
Feb 29. WILTS. Where Thirteen Moons Meets the Movie Avatar. (Comparing the spiritual wisdom & eco messages between Peter’s book Thirteen Moons and the Eco-Movie Avatar.) Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group, Village Hall, Alton Barnes, 7.30pm.
Mar 7. BERKS. West Kennet Long Barrow. (Based on Peter’s new book). Mind, Body, Soul Group, Newbury. Tel: 01635 38084.
Mar 13. DORSET. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Light and Energy Centre, Weymouth. 7.30pm.
Mar 19. DORSET. Landscapes of the Cerne Giant. Dorset Dowsers, Corfe Mullen. 7.45pm.
Mar 20. WILTS. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Equilibrium Centre, Chippenham. 8.00pm.
Mar 27. SOMERSET. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Wessex Research Group, Glastonbury. 7.30pm.
Mar 28. DORSET. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Verwood Positive Living Group.
Apr 2. DORSET. The Neolithic Shamanism of West Kennet Long Barrow. Vale Centre, Stoke Trister. 7.30pm. 01963 37360.
Apr 4. DORSET. West Kennet Long Barrow. Museum Society, Sturminster Newton. Tel: 01258 473179.
Apr 5. DORSET. Prehistoric Astronomy of Dorset’s Sacred Sites. Dorset Earth Mysteries Group, Wimborne. 7.30pm.
Apr 12. SOMERSET. Pagan Symbolism of Church Architecture. Nature’s Way Group.
Apr 14-15. WILTS. Peter will have a stand and lead a tour at the Moot of the Society of Ley Hunters, Avebury. A great weekend of top speakers and tour of Avebury, Valley of White Horse and West Kennet. For details: www.leyhunter.org
Apr 17. DORSET. Chambered Tombs of Wessex. Bournemouth Natural Science Soc. 7.30pm. FREE ADMISSION.
Apr 21. HANTS. Peter will have his stand and give a talk at Mind Body Spirit Show, Bishops Waltham.
Apr 23. HANTS. West Kennet Long Barrow – Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos. Basingstoke Theosophical Society, Chapter Room, Church Cottages, Church St, 7.30pm. Info Tel: 01256 329455.
Apr 26. HANTS. Theosophical Soc – CHANGE OF DATE & VENUE – SEE APR 23 ABOVE.
Apr 25. WILTS. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Plaitford Pagan Moot, near Salisbury.
May 10. WILTS. Ancient Sites of Wessex. Phoenix Club, Coombe Bissett. 7.30pm.
May 12-16. SOMERSET. Megalithomania, Glastonbury. Peter will have his stand at the event and lead two tours (see Tours section above).
May 20. BRISTOL. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. New Dimensions Group, Bristol.
May 29. DORSET. Shamanism of West Kennet Long Barrow. Rainbow Unity Group, St Catherines Hall, Christchurch.
June 14. DORSET. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Shaftesbury Positive Living Group.
June 23. WILTS. Green Calne Day. Eco Fair & evening showing of movie Avatar (Extended Edition). Calne Environmental Network.
July 2. BATH. Shamanism of West Kennet Long Barrow. Bath Positive Living Group.
July 5. DORSET. The Silbury Roll. Dorset Earth Mysteries Group, Wimborne. Short talks night.
July 14-16. WILTS. WCCSG Circles of Knowledge Conference. A great and well-estabished conference of crop circles and other mysteries, Marlborough, Wilts. Peter will give a talk on West Kennet, plus lead tours.
July 21. WILTS. Earth Energies & Shamanism of Avebury Workshop. Full Day. See July 21 overleaf.
July 28-29. SOMERSET. Psychic & Light Phenomena of West Kennet. Glastonbury Symposium. Peter will talk at Andy Thomas’ prestigious conference, including top speakers.
Aug 20. WILTS. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Wyvern Dowsers, Wootton Bassett. 8.00pm.
Sept 5. West Kennet Long Barrow. Cheltenham Dowsers.
Sept 22-23. GLOUCS. Peter will have a stand at the British Soc of Dowsers Conference in Cirencester.
Oct 7. WILTS. 9th Convention of Alternative Archaeology & Earth Mysteries. Click here or see separate flyer.
Oct 24. SOMERSET. Sacred Sites and Earth Healing – 2012 and Beyond. Yeovil Psychic Soc.
Oct 27-28. HANTS. Peter will be at the Mind, Body, Spirit Show, Bishops Waltham.
Nov. 4. BUCKS. Where Thirteen Moons Meets Avatar. Thames Valley Dowsers, Jordans, Bucks. Afternoon. Tel: 01494 813214.
Nov 6. WILTS. West Kennet Long Barrow. Mere Historical Soc.
Peter’s talks are all PowerPoint presentations – with stunning images! All events are open to the public – but check; some may require advance booking. Would your group like to host a talk?
“Peter Knight was excellent, one of the best speakers we have ever had.” Angela (Sussex)
Would you like to host one of Peter’s presentations? Contact him to discuss it further.
C) Convention of Alternative Archaeology and Earth Mysteries
For comments of past events, and news of 2012 Convention in Wiltshire - Click here
D) PETER ON THE BBC WEBSITE!
Peter has filmed with the BBC for the BBC/Dorset website, out and about at some of Dorset’s sacred sites. This consists of three videos now online on the BBC Dorset website, but will have a permanent link, shown below. You will need to have Real Player on your PC to see moving images. If you do not, the feature has a link for you to download for free in a few minutes. Click below for the interview and videos:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2007/04/13/sacred_sites_feature.shtml
E) AVEBURY WORKSHOPS
WITH PETER KNIGHT & SUE WALLACE.
July 21, 2012, 10.30am – 5.30pm.
Interactive and experiential; based in Avebury, the world’s largest stone circle.
Objectives: to give the attendees a basic knowledge of dowsing and earth energies awareness, the connect them with the Avebury monument in a more profound way, and to see the landscape and sacred sites with ‘new eyes’, through shamanic eyes.
Includes:
Meditation, intro to dowsing and earth energies, dowsing tuition, followed by
dowsing the St Michael Line currents and other energies around the stone circle.
Shamanism, looking at the world with ‘new eyes’, symbolism of Avebury’s
‘spirit stones’, interacting with Avebury’s stones, ‘connecting’ under beech trees with Tibetan bowls, shamanic drumming meditation around a stone, then sharing.
Based at the Village Hall, High St, Avebury, with sessions around the stone circle.
No prior experience of dowsing necessary. Beginners welcome.
About the facilitators:
Peter Knight: click here
Sue Wallace:
Sue has been a holistic therapist since 1994, using a blend of Shiatsu,
Reiki, Acupressure, dowsing, and nutritional and lifestyle advice. Some of Sue’s
earliest childhood memories are of a deep connection to Nature, which instilled a
passion for ecology and environmental issues. Sue believes that living in harmony
with Mother Earth, Her elements and Her seasons, helps restore balance to our mind, body and spirit. Sue discovered dowsing in 1999 with the Surrey Dowsers and went
on to be their Chairman from 2005-9.
Only £40 for the day (concessions available). Free refreshments.
To book send cheque (payable to P Knight) to
6 Baydon Grove, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 9AT.
Enquiries: 0775 408 2691.
If Nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken (Goethe’s ‘Faust’)
Peter's Books & CD-ROM ‚ 2012 Talks & Sacred Sites Tours ‚ Stone Seeker Tours ‚ Alternative Archaeology Convention 2012
About Peter and Peter's Blog ‚ Contact ‚ Peter on BBC ‚ Podcast ‚ Tours and Walks List ‚
My Top 15 Dorset Sacred Sites ‚ Full List of talks ‚ Ancient Ambient Chill-Out ‚ Links ‚ Dorset Earth Mysteries Group
Holding a Children’s Event ‚ Extracts from Peter’s CD-Rom: Dowsing ‚ Stone Circles ‚ Dolmens ‚ Earth Mother/Goddess
9th Convention of Alternative Archaeology
Major assemblies bringing together enquiring minds seeking deeper
truths about their spiritual heritage.
Sunday Oct 7nd 2012
Pewsey, Wiltshire, UK
Our 9th convention – growing every year!
Six presentations – great value at only £20, last year’s price! (Early-bird £16 if booked before May 1)
All talks are illustrated. Get your tickets now – we were almost full in 2010!!
Six International speakers
Adrian Gilbert (The Stone of Destiny)
Gary Biltcliffe (The Belinus Line)
Karen French (The Hidden Geometry of Life)
Tor Webster (The Global Rainbow Serpent)
Peter Knight (Ancient Astronomers of the Cerne Giant)
Celia Gunn (Sacred Geomancy of Northumbria)
PLUS free lunchtime Animal Totem Workshop with Celia Gunn)
10.15am – 6.00pm.
Now at a larger venue - Bouverie Hall, Pewsey, Wiltshire.
There will also be interesting stalls, including book-signings by speakers.
Soup and vegetarian refreshments will be available. Also local stores and pub nearby.
Venue is on the ground floor and is disabled friendly.
Pewsey has good road and rail links, some B&B’s, and the venue has a large free car park.
Venue will be signposted around the village on the day.
Six presentations - great value at only £20 (£16 in advance before May 1).
There may be NO tickets left on the door - book today!
Ticket hotline: 0775 408 2691.
To send cheque click here. e-mail: stoneseeker@waitrose.com
Here’s what people have said about our Conventions:
“Congratulations… really good venue… really enjoyed it, and will be coming to it next year whether I am speaking or not!” (Chris Street).
“Thanks for yesterday… great event” (Andrew Collins).
“Thanks for brilliant day yesterday… venue was fine… we all enjoyed the day (Val, Dorset)
“Congratulations on pulling together another wonderful day… I enjoyed every minute …. I relish the opportunity to be immersed in such a good vibe and open-mindedness.”
“Totally excellent…once a year is not enough!” “Good content…well run… a good day”
“Full marks for organisation” “Good standard of food, clean and cheerfully served”
“Well run, with interesting stalls” “A most friendly, warm event”
“Thank you for a very nice experience”
“My wife and I enjoyed very much last year’s Convention and
we are looking forward again …… a wonderful experience for all who attend.”
Full List of Field Trips and Tours
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience of this land with us.
It feels as if the doorway was cracked open to discovering even more.... you're a great guide and it was above all super duper fun!
Amely
Peter Knight has been leading daylong and half-day trips to sacred sites since 1995, as part of his own annual programme and at the invitation of groups and societies and these can be custom-made to suit. Trips include handouts to keep, which show maps and diagrams of leys and astronomical events, etc. They often include drumming and meditations at sacred sites. Enquire for prices and concessions. Many trips have been fully booked in the past – so enquire now!
Mini-Bus Tours:
These are to be run periodically in association with Discover Dorset Tours. Please contact them for details, bookings and prices. Peter is the guide on these tours, and these trips are also available for private hire. www.discoverdorset.co.uk
For the forthcoming 2012 events programme of trips click here.
His regular field trips include:
Mystical Avebury ~ full day, includes the main henge, West Kennet Avenue and Long Barrow, Silbury Hill, leys, dowsing and simulacra. A truly magical day, yielding many surprises even to regular Avebury visitors. Usually held in crop circle season. St Michael Line energies dowsed through the landscape. Finish the day with drumming in West Kennet long barrow. (Includes mild hill walk near end.)
Mystical Winchester ~ Including Arthur’s Court, Cathedral, megaliths around the city, St Catherine’s Hill, labyrinth and St Cross.
Glastonbury ~ The St Michael Line through the area, Abbey, St Johns, Mary Magdalene chapel, Chalice Well Gardens and Tor. This tour includes the price of entrance into the Abbey and Chalice Well Gardens.
Shamanic Drumming at Avebury ~ Evenings. A drum-led procession is held along the Kennet Avenue, before moving on to the 5,600 year-old West Kennet long barrow, where we watch the sunset before entering the dark chambers of the womb-tomb for chanting and drumming, didging and dancing!
Megaliths of the South Dorset Ridgeway ~ full day, includes stone circles, megaliths, dolmens ley mark stones, astronomy and leys. Beautiful ridgeway walks and scenery and lots of stones – the trip for megalithomaniacs. (Only mild hill/field walking.)
Central Dorset Sacred Sites ~ full and half days, includes Cerne Abbas Giant and sacred well, Knights Templar churches, sacred architecture. Several small churches are visited to study the pagan symbolism therein and the churches’ relationship to leys. (All level walking)
Sacred Abbotsbury ~ full and half days, includes hill fort, ruined abbey site, church symbolism, mark stones, hill top chapel, ending with dowsing and drumming circle at a ruined Knights Templar chapel in isolated, beautiful woodland. (Includes steep walk to hilltop chapel.)
Sacred Sites of the Purbecks ~ half day, includes stone circle in beautiful woods, avenues of stones, walk up to ridgeway to see barrow cemetery, dowsing, leys and astronomy. (Includes one steep climb.)
Sacred Sites of East Dorset ~ full and half days, including the prehistory of Cranborne Chase, Knowlton Henges, Dragon Tree on ley line to Stonehenge, Dorset Cursus with its barrows and astronomy, a Roman road and lots of leys! (Mild, level walking only – all sites next to car stops.)
Day-Long Pilgrimage Walks ~ full day, A circular walk of approx 10-12 miles over 6 hours, stopping at chapels, stone sites, woods, barrows, crosses and others sacred places en route. A different pilgrimage route every year. (May include steep climbs, please enquire. For the fairly fit only & no young children, sorry!)
Ley Hunting Around Central Dorset ~ full day, following several leys around the landscape, calling on churches, stones, crosses and barrows, dowsing and studying the pagan symbolism. (No steep walks, most sites next to car stops.)
Maiden Castle ~ evenings, exploring Britain’s largest hillfort, including the labyrinthine ramparts, Neolithic remains and Romano-British temple remains. Dowsing, astronomy and leys all included, ending with viewing the sunset from the top of the ramparts. (Mild 10-minute walk up to hillfort at start.)
Sacred Dorchester ~ half-day circular walk around Dorset’s ancient county town, including Maumbury Henge, Roman remains, leys, and mark stones and pagan symbolism in churches. (Mild, flat walking.)
The St Michael Line in Wessex ~ full day, following the Michael and Mary currents associated with this famous ley across the Somerset landscape, calling at churches and hill top chapels. Does not includes Glastonbury, but visits lesser known but just as magical places either side of the town (still time to visit Glastonbury shops and sites at end of day!)
Click here for the forthcoming programme of walks open to the public
There were giants in the earth in those days. (Genesis 6:4)
Full List of Talks
Peter gives regular presentations to local societies and groups, alternative centres, WI, U3A, Probus societies, universities, museums and colleges. All talks are fully illustrated PowerPoint presentations and can include a meditation at the beginning. Topics include:
NEW: West Kennet Long Barrow – Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos (based on his new book).
NEW: The Wessex Astrum – Sacred Geometry in a Mystical Landscape (based on his book)
Chambered Tombs of Europe – Places of the Dead and of the Living.
NEW: 13 Moons meets Avatar (wisdom from the Goddess for all Mankind, comparisons with the movie Avatar)
Sacred Symbolism – from Cave Art to the Da Vinci Code
Passage Graves and Stone Circles of Ireland
NEW: Shamanic Landscape Shamanic Minds – Lessons from the movie Avatar
The Wonders of Ancient Egypt
Perceiving the Earth Spirit in the Landscape
Sacred Ancient Sites of Dorset
Stonehenge – Earth, Moon, Sun and Stars
What Makes A Sacred Site Sacred?
Leys Lines, dowsing and Earth Energies
Sacred Sites of Malta
Astronomy at Ancient Sacred Sites
Pagan Symbolism in Christian Architecture
All enquiries for Stone Circles and Megaliths
these events to: The Long Trip - Evidence for Shamanism in Prehistoric Britain
stoneseeker@waitrose.com Sacred Ancient Sites of Dartmoor
The St Michael Ley Line
Mystical Avebury – Goddess Landscapes
Sacred Ancient Sites of Wessex
Anywhere is the centre of the world (Black Elk)
Peter's Books & CD-ROM ‚ 2012 Talks & Sacred Sites Tours ‚ Stone Seeker Tours ‚ Alternative Archaeology Convention
¯ Ancient Ambient
Chill Out
and 60’s-80’s discos
Peter envisioned and hosts the Ancient Ambient Chill-Out – an audio-visual experience of funky, world music played against the backdrop of large screen images of sacred sites, beautiful landscapes, tribal cultures, wilderness scenes, sunsets, etc. Ideal for social gatherings, festivals, Xmas parties, etc. Relax midst a sea of cushions or dance to the rhythms.
Featuring contemporary ethnic/world/spiritual/Native American and Eastern music… and more.
This event has been staged successfully at festivals, alternative centres and private functions (including an alternative wedding reception!), so why not experience for yourself this uplifting and fun night out. Music, length and images can be tailored to your personal preference.
Peter also runs a fantastic disco featuring hits and classic tracks from the 60’s-80’s. This can be organised as a separate event or else can carry on at the end of the Chill Out.
For booking enquiries contact Peter Knight at stoneseeker@waitrose.com
The world is a Divine dream (Emerson)
Dorset Earth Mysteries Group
www.dorsetmysteries.org
Peter Knight is co-founder and ex-chairman of this active, friendly and growing group who have been meeting monthly, hosting leading lecturers in the field of earth mysteries since 1998 (see this year’s programme below). Past speakers include Paul Devereux, David Elkington, David Kingston, Lynne Picknett, Terence Meaden, Steve and Karen Alexander, Freddie Silva, Tim Freke and Sir Lawrence Gardner. The DEMG also organises field trips to sacred sites, such as our sunset visits into the inner sanctum of Stonehenge. Also holds social events such as the annual Christmas social. Members are entitled to reduced entry at talks, as well as 20% discount on Peter Knight’s full-day field trips.
Membership is open and a warm welcome awaits you. For membership enquiries, or to obtain a list of forthcoming events, contact us at: steve@blackcap.net (Steve, Treasurer - membership enquiries) or stoneseeker@waitrose.com (Peter, co-founder).
If you would like to present a talk to the group, please contact us.
Talks are on the 1st Thursday of each month at 7.30pm at:
New Venue: Stapehill Village Hall, Stapehill, Wimborne, BH21 2DY –
(grid ref: 047073 – between Wimborne and Ferndown, just east of the A31 roundabout)
Click here for map on: www.dorsetmysteries.org
Non-members welcome. £4.50, members: £2.00.
For Forthcoming DEMG talks and trips see -
Peter is also leading 4 field trips for the Dorset Earth Mysteries Group in 2012. Free to members. Non-members welcome. Book through him now!
For more details on each talk, and info on the group, see the website.
Nature is imagination itself (Blake)
Orders & Contacting Peter
e-mail: stoneseeker@waitrose.com
Tel: 0775 408 2691
P Knight, 6 Baydon Grove, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 9AT
To get on Peter’s annual mail-out list, to book trips and workshops, or for news of all his events, e-mail Peter your address details, or send your cheque and details to the address above.
Peter presents talks, holds workshops, hosts the Ancient Ambient Chill-Out and leads field trips to sacred sites (click here for full list). Please enquire should you wish to receive details of field trips, festival appearances and workshops.
Ordering Books/Convention Tickets/Places on Trips:
Add a charge of £1.75 per book for p&p in UK, £1.00 for the CD-ROM or DVD, (max. £5.00 P&P)
Add P&P of £3.50 per item for all overseas orders. For larger quantities and trade please enquire.
Send cheque orders to address above.
To buy West Kennet Long Barrow, The Wessex Astrum and Ancient Stones of Dorset by credit card on
www.amazon.co.uk - look for the seller “stoneseeker2 - signed copies from the author”.
(Note: orders on Amazon are subject to their charges/p&p.)
Credit card orders for the CD-ROM at: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/shop/peter_knight.htm
For book orders, Convention tickets and field trip orders, send your order and cheque to address above.
Cheques payable to P Knight. Let us know if you want your books signed and dedicated.
Trade enquiries are welcome for all Peter’s books and CD-ROM.
A destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things (Henry Miller)
Knowlton. A Neolithic henges complexe, Bronze Age barrows, megaliths, yew tree avenue and Norman church. South of Cranborne on the B3078. A wonderful area, alive with earth energies and crossed by several leys. Peter has recorded and observed astronomical alignments, such as his famous observation of the Equinox sunrise over the nearby Great Barrow. Megaliths to be seen in base of tower, inside ruins and new ones found recently in henge bank. Grid ref: 024103. Peter regularly runs tours to this site.
Refs: ASofD p.48-53, 70; DP p.123-125; SD p.11-12, 151; 13M – Knowlton features in Chapters 2, 17 and 19 of Peter’s novel.
For more info and photos of Knowlton go to this link: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/44
Hellstone. Neolithic Dolmen, complete with roof and chamber intact. Stunning isolated location near Dorchester. Entrance and mound is aligned with mid-winter sunrise. Good simulacra on one stone. It’s Dorset’s oldest building with its roof still on! Site is on ley lines and is a powerful energy locality. Other outliers have been recorded by Peter in the area. Grid ref: 696867 – signposted from nearby paths. Peter runs tours to this site – see 2012 list of events.
Refs: ASofD p.119-123; DP p.58-60; SD p.173-175.
For more info and photos of the Hellstone follow this link: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4664
Nine Stones. Bronze Age stone circle. Complete circle of stones, most standing, next to road at Winterbourne Abbas. Lots of astronomical alignments plotted by Peter, and simulacra – look for the symbolism in the stones! A powerful site of earth energies. Suffers from close proximity of A35. Grid ref: 661904. Peter includes this site on some of his Dorset field tirps.
Refs: ASofD p. 32, 139-142; DP p.66-69; SD p.150, 165-167; 13M - features in chapters 10,11 and 18 of Peter’s novel.
For more info and photos on the Nine Stones follow this link: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=127
Kingston Russell. Bronze Age stone circle, north of Abbotsbury. Elliptical circle of prone stones, on ley lines, with astronomical alignments and dowsable energies – exhibits “energy gates”, as at the Rollrights. Isolated location and stunning views. Close to Ridgeway track and near Grey Mare long barrow (see below). Grid ref: 577878. Refs: ASofD p.125-128; DP p.38-40.
For more info and photos of the stone circle follow this link: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/282
Grey Mare and Her Colts. Neolithic chambered long barrow. Three big megaliths, collapsed chamber. Mound aligns with winter solstice sunrise and also summer solstice sunset (which sets between two hills on the skyline, the “breasts of the Earth Mother”). Near to ancient ridgeway, with great views. Grid ref: 584871. See AsofD for more megaliths in the area. Kingston Russell circle is nearby (see above). Peter runs field trips to this site each year – see events list.
Refs: ASofD p.114-117; DP p.61-63; SD p.170-171, 206-207; 13M – the site features in Chapter 9 of the Peter’s novel.
For more info and photos of the site follow this link: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/41
Rempstone. Bronze Age stone circle. East of Corfe Castle, set in woods, next to the road. On ley lines, and dowsable energies. Outlying megaliths too, which are astronomically aligned. Grid ref: 995821. Nine Barrow Down is to the south (see below). Peter includes this site on his Purbecks field trips.
Refs: ASofD p.92-97; DP p.131-133; SD p.171-172.
For more info and photos/plan of the circle follow this link: http://www.isleofpurbeck.com/rempstone.html
Cerne Giant. The famous chalk figure, at Cerne Abbas, north of Dorchester. Viewing from signposted car park. Also there is a sacred spring and Abbey remains in the village. The spring and village church are on a ley plotted by Paul Devereux. The Bellingstone on a nearby hill is astronomically aligned with Giant at Beltaine sunrise. Refs: ASofD p.29 & 160; DP p.66, 71, 75; SD p.70-71, 78-79, 275. Peter runs annual tours of the area around the Giant.
For more info and photos of the Giant follow this link: http://www.catnip.co.uk/cerne/
Maiden Castle. Europe’s largest hillfort, near Dorchester. A massive site with glorious views. Also has Neolithic, Bronze Age barrows and a Roman Temple. Peter has plotted several leys associated with the hill, as well as astronomical alignments. Grid ref: circa 672884. Peter runs field trips to this wonderful locality.
Refs: ASofD p.134-136; DP p. 54-56; SD p.128-134, 158-159, 255-256.
For more info and photos on Maiden Castle: www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/MaidenCastle.htm
Verwood Megalith. Dorset’s largest remaining megalith. Now prone in woodland north of Verwood (signposted as Stephen’s Stone). Discovered in the 1990’s by Peter and members of the Verwood Historical Society. Impressive size, over 12ft long, tapering at the north end to a point. The huge stone attracts powerful dowsable energies which can be dowsed. Grid ref: 094098. Refs: ASofD p.30, 67-71.
For photo of the stone follow this link: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7558
Corscombe. Neolithic chambered tomb and outlying stones, in West Dorset. Impressive, little known site, in quiet location in valley. Large megaliths, some with simulara. Grid ref: 514048. Refs: ASofD p.17, 162-165; SD p.149, 166, 258. More info & photos: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7522
Helstone. Standing stone, west of Dorchester near the A35. Dorset’s tallest standing megalith, in valley bottom location. On leys and astronomically aligned with nearby barrow. On east side of stone there is a seat, facilitating sunrise observations. Grid ref: 573915.
Refs: ASofD p.123-124; SD p.168, 170; DP p.30,35-36. For more info and photos follow this link: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3049
Dorset Cursus. Neolithic ceremonial processional way – over 6 miles long. Only a few banks remain, but many barrows skirting the cursus can be accessed. The best location is the southern terminal bank, with large banks and two long barrows aligned with mid-winter solstice - grid ref: 969125. A good section of a Roman road can also be accessed in the area. Knowlton is nearby (see above).
Refs: ASofD p. 55, 71, 72, 184, 190; SD p.73-74, 140-148; DP p.120, 122; 13M – features in Chapter 22 of Peter’s novel.
For more info and photos of the Cursus click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_Cursus which has further links to good sites.
Hambledon Hill. West of Blandford. Iron Age hillfort, plus Neolithic barrows and sacred yew wood. Glorious views over the Blackmore Vale. At foot of hill is Child Okeford, with great symbolism, that is at the intersection of several leys. This hill is one of the six apex points of The Wessex Astrum, the huge landscape hegagram discovered by Peter and Toni Perrott, which involves Stonehenge, Glastonbury and Avebury.
Grid ref: 845126. Refs: WA p96-98, 115-117, 168-170, ASofD p.28, 197; DP p.96-98, 100; SD p.123-124,152-153.
For more info and photos of Hambledon Hill follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambledon_Hill
Badbury Rings. Hillfort, west of Wimborne. Iron Age ramparts plus Bronze Age barrows nearby. Several leys cross the area. One of the possible sites of “Mount Badon”, where legend says King Arthur defeated the Danes. One several ley lines. Refs: ASofD p.53, 59, 62, 73; DP p.116, 118-119; SD p.126-127, 196, 214. For more info and photos follow this link: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=8
Nine Barrow Down. North of Swanage, on Purbeck Hills, with stunning views. 17 round barrows and a Neolithic long barrow are close together on crest of hill, south of Rempstone Circle. Refs: DP p.133-134. The site is included in Peter’s Purbecks Tour.
For more info and photos of Nine Barrow Down follow this link: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4668
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(1) Megaliths/Ancient Sites /Tours
www.facebook.com/stoneseeker - my Face Book pages – including images.
www.myspace.com/wessexastrum - my pages on MySpace – including images.
www.john-michell-network.org Website dedicated to the memory and work of earth mysteries pioneer John Michell.
www.megalithomania.co.uk Megalithomania – a major conference in Glastonbury every year. Top speakers and stalls.
www.theantiquariansociety.com The Antiquarian Society. Organises field trips, talks, and festivals/conferences, with an emphasis on archaeoastronomy.
www.sacredbritain.com Sacred Britain Tours - 10-day tours to the crop circles and sacred sites of England, Scotland and Ireland.
www.goldenageproject.org.uk The Golden Age Project, concerned with ancient knowledge and civilisations from around the world.
www.dorsetmysteries.org Dorset Earth Mysteries Group. Monthly talks, plus field trips and social events - based in Stapehill, nr Wimborne.
www.touristnetuk.com A good site for organising UK holidays and places to visit.
www.wessexresearchgroup.net The Wessex Research Group, a networking of many local groups, with news of their meetings and contacts.
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~aburnham/ring/ The Stone Circle Web Ring, run by Andy Burnham, with links to over 260 sites dealing with all aspects of ancient sites.
www.megalithic.co.uk Andy Burnham runs what is arguably the best website around dealing with anything megalithic. Site guides, news, chat, links, articles, the Megalithic Map, secure online shop, photo pages and downloads. Links to loads of other sites.
www.sacredsites.com Places of Peace and Power. Extensive web site that features the photographs and writings of anthropologist Martin Gray, who visited and documented more than 1000 holy and magical places in 80 countries. This comprehensive and award winning site features bibliographies, a rich collection of maps showing global pilgrimage places, a great collection of links, and details of Martin's slide show presentations.
www.ancientstones.org.uk The web pages of Malcolm Locker. Nice photos, directions and info on Neolithic to Roman sites he has visited, in UK and Mexico, plus links.
www.pilgrimsall.org Places of Pilgrimage. A resource for Pilgrims. Photographs of places of Pilgrimage: megalithic sites, holy wells, black madonnas, labyrinths, pilgrim ways - ancient rites, sacred sites and shrines of every kind.
http://www.pauldevereux.co.uk/ The site of prolific author and earth mysteries pioneer Paul Devereux. News of his events, books & articles on his work and the Dragon Project.
www.knowth.com Resource for the Irish passage tombs, such as Newgrange and Knowth.
www.stonehenge-avebury.net The website of researcher and author Terence Meaden. His work, books and info on Stonehenge, Avebury and other areas. Plus the Megalith Society.
www.yellowspoon.co.uk Personal tour by Will Walker around some of the sacred sites of Dorset.
www.stonepages.com A comprehensive listing with photos of megalithic sites across Europe.
www.henge.org.uk A catalogue of photographs and info about ancient sites of Britain.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scnps/ Steve Williams’ ancient sites web site. Over 500 photos.
www.sheelanagig.org The site for Sheela-na-gig hunters. Index & maps of where to find them.
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/ Julian Cope’s website based on the Arch Druid’s book Modern Antiquarian. Info, pics, links and chat.
www.hillfigures.co.uk Devoted to the hill figures of the UK plus some geoglyphs abroad.
www.irishmegaliths.org.uk Excellent and comprehensive site for Irish ancient sites.
www.danu.co.uk Pat O'Halloran's web presence. Nice pics and info on sacred sites.
http://www.geocities.com/davidjayjordan/index.html David Jordan’s Christian-oriented site that concerns Earth Mysteries, sacred geometry, geography and prophecy.
http://www.new-age.co.uk/new-age.htm New Age UK. Pictures of Stonehenge Summer Solstice and Glastonbury festival, Avebury stone circle – reviews of New Age sites, books and info on Spring equinox, Samhain, moon dates and sun times.
Back to Start of links Home
(2) Leys & Dowsing
www.britishdowsers.org British Society of Dowsers site, with articles & contact details of local groups.
www.healthyandwise.co.uk Paul Craddock’s consultancy. Dowsing, Feng Sui, geopathic stress, financial freedom, and news of South Coast Dowsers.
http://www.leyhunter.org/ The site of The Society of Ley Hunters.
http://www.psychic-mystery.com/dowsing-a-dowser-of-water-witching-with-diving-rods/ Dowsing research pages.
www.geomancy.org Sig Lonegren’s geomancy site, with info on earth mysteries, feng shui, ley lines and dowsing.
www.dowsers.org.uk. South Herefordshire Dowsers is a popular and well-respected group based at Aston Ingham (between Ross-on–Wye and Gloucester) who meet one a month. Talks, training and field trips are arranged. Visitors welcome.
www.wyverndowsing.freeserve.co.uk The Wyvern Dowsing Society, a local dowsing group based near Swindon, Wilts., who are affiliated to The British Society of Dowsers. They hold monthly meetings and regular field trips.
(3) Crop Circles
www.temporarytemples.co.uk Crop circle research and stunning photos by Karen and Steve Alexander
www.wccsg.com Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group. Holds regular meetings and has annual Conference.
www.howcropcirclesaremade.com Interesting news and theories about crop circle formation.
www.lovely.clara.net Home of The Crop Circular, Freddy Silva’s excellent, forward-thinking crop circle site.
www.busty-taylor.com The pages of Busty Taylor, the well known pilot/crop circle photographer.
(4) Paganism/Druidic/Eclectic
www.stonewylde.com The web pages of Kit Berry’s Stonewylde series of books. Signed copies direct from Kit.
www.cornishpaganwheel.co.uk Cornwall based Pagan/Goddess pages, although has articles on other areas of Pagan interest.
www.paganfed.demon.co.uk The web site of the Pagan federation.
http://www.pentaclemagazine.org The web pages of Pentacle, the UK’s largest independent Pagan magazine. Articles, reviews, links, pagan art, environmental issues.
http://druidry.org The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.
www.druidnetwork.org The Druid Network, headed by Emma Estall Orr.
www.capallbann.co.uk Capall Bann are the leading Pagan publishers and have a huge selection of titles.
www.eclectics.org.uk Weird and wonderful eclectic news stories from around the world: ancient sites, witchcraft, the unexplained, beliefs and spiritualities.
www.paganlibrary.com The Pagan Library, info and intros into paganism, plus shop (Goddess jewellery, etc).
www.pagansearch.co.uk A good internet resource site with links to many pagan web sites world wide.
www.shamanism.co.uk Leo Rutherford’s Eagles Wing shamanism pages. Events and articles.
www.shamanka.com Shamanka, Holwell, near Sherborne. Shamanic empowerment for women. Tel: 01963 23468 for this year’s programme.
(6) Knights Templar
http://www.templarmechanics.com/ Tony Peart’s great site covering the sacred geometry of Knights Templar sites across Europe.
www.templars.org.uk Official site of the modern UK Templars. Information, events, sites, etc.
www.vallecrucisgrail.co.uk Ian Peglar’s website, about his excellent book on the Knights Templar and Grail connections, chiefly in North Wales.
(7) The Unexplained
www.darkdorset.co.uk Based on the book Dark Dorset – tails of Devils, fairies, black dogs and more!
www.forteantimes.com Web site of Britain’s premier magazine for the weird and bizarre – UFO’s, ghosts and so forth.
(8) Therapists/Health/Healers
sue_Wallace@btopenworld.com Shiatsu therapist in Wiltshire area. Can travel. Fully qualified shiatsu and reiki therapist.
www.spiritseeker.co.uk The website of author, tutor, healer and Tarot Therapist Steve Hounsome. Professional accredited Tarot courses at Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level, plus Steve's books, Meditation and Development Cd's, Courses, Free Newsletter, Tarot Essences and lots more.
www.macrobios.com One World Summer Festivals. Week-long residential gathering for individuals and families. Holistic Health, Macrobiotics, Music, Arts, Crafts, Dance, Natural Movement. Camping and private bedrooms. Organic whole foods .
www.healthyandwise.co.uk Paul Craddock’s consultancy. Dowsing, Feng Sui, geopathic stress, financial freedom, and news of the Wessex Dowsers. Paul also runs South Coast Dowsers, who hold monthly meetings in Bournemouth.
http://www.psychics.co.uk Psychics & Mediums Network. A place where mediums and psychics meet to chat and train. Home pages of the UK mediums Craig and Jane Hamilton-Parker. The site has a huge paranormal resource with real life stories and one of the busiest free Psychic chat rooms on the web.
(9) Products/Centres/Shops/Fayres
www.elflightessence.co.uk
Elf Light Essences. Beautiful and healing, high-vibrational flower essences.
www.centreofawareness.co.uk Centre of Awareness, Ashburton, Devon. Healing, yoga, meditation and talks. Tel: 01364 654622.
www.enigmacrafts.co.uk Enigma, Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth. Tel: 01202 316454. A stockist of Peter’s books.
www.hengeshop.com The Henge Shop, Avebury, Wiltshire. The best shop to visit at Avebury. Tel: 01672 539229. Stockist of Peter’s books.
http://www.pilgrimsmindbodyspirit.co.uk Pilgrims Mind Body Spirit, based in Gloucester. Books, audios, incense, healing crystals, tarot cards, everything from Alchemy to Zen with on-line secure ordering, plus News, Views, Reviews, Message Board and New Age Link Directory.
The Centre For The Future The English / American partnership of Andrew Wheeler & Doe Kelly based in Colorado, USA. Offers books, videos, T-shirts, tours & photography on crop circles, and sacred sites, as well as alternative health products, electromagnetic protection devices, books, tapes & CDs on spiritual enlightenment. Mystical & magical garments, astrological charts & many more eclectic, alternative & unusual products. A Bed & Breakfast is also offered for like-minded people at their home in Colorado.
www.ageing-hippy.co.uk Adrian The Ageing Hippy. Peace, love and good karma! Loads of really good stuff for all us old flower-children, drop-outs, long-hairs, tree-huggers and hobbit-lovers...
www.incense-man.co.uk Incense Man. Choose from a great range of incense - all your favourites, plus superb gift-sets, accessories, tie-dyes, crystals & more. Easy secure online ordering.
www.mysticfayre.co.uk Mind, body and spirit fayres and workshops in Cornwall, plus spiritual healing, angel readings, links and more.
www.jennysmedley.com U.S. Writer and performer Jenny Smedley, books and CD’s to help change your life. Self-help books and fiction on subjects such as past lives and past life regression.
(First published in 2001 in the Triple Spiral - the magazine for earth-honouring, spirit-conscious families)
Over the past nine years I have lead field trips to sacred sites for the public, local societies and groups, taking enthusiastic seekers, dowsers, pagans, and the simply curious, out to into our ancient landscape. I have always encouraged people with children to bring them along, finding that these smaller seekers of truth add so much to the day. This is contrary to most similar events I see advertised, where children seem to be excluded as a matter of course. My own daughter, Leela, has been going to ancient places since she was just a few weeks old and has accompanied me on umpteen field trips. The fun that she and others gain on these excursions gave me the idea to run something specifically for children, came to fruition in the summer of 2000 with the first Children’s Earth Mysteries Event. I would like to offer some suggestions that might help others to hold similar events in their area.
Aims - Enter the Dragon
The aim of the event is to introduce the concept of a living earth, with its inherent spirit, to young people. This is achieved using a variety of means that would hopefully appeal to either gender, as well as to both the logical and the intuitive and creative sides of children. Dragons are part of our heritage, and are well known to young readers. As dragons feature heavily in ancient mythology and are associated with earth energies, this seems the ideal beast around which to base the event.
I knew that the different elements of the day had to capture and hold the attention of 4-16 year olds - no easy task – so devised some fun and instructive activities to fire their imaginations and at the same time get across to them some facets of ancient wisdom. For obvious reasons, it was a condition that parents/guardians should stay with their children throughout but these “big children” actually had a great time too, learning about sacred sites and earth energies in a more clear and entertaining way than they had probably been shown previously. You’re never too old to learn, after all!
Where be a Dragon?
Although your event could be held in someone’s home, at school or in a hall, the ideal locality would be a sacred site out of doors, on the body of the Goddess. A park or local wood is fine, although there are obvious hazards, such as security and children wandering off. My solution was to hold my event at an actual ancient sacred site. I chose Knowlton, a safe, enclosed Neolithic henge site with a ruined church, north of Wimborne in Dorset. There are hundreds of other suitable places throughout the country. Henges are common across Britain, and there are hundreds of stone circles and hill forts in which to hold your event. Ruined castles and churches are excellent venues. There are several advantages of holding your event at a sacred site. Being out-of-doors on a glorious summer day (I hold my events on Sundays in August) naturally invigorates all concerned. The wonder of touching and clambering over ancient stones, church ruins, or earthen embankments fuels their fertile imaginations still further. The young and old can readily feel the powerful and evocative energy currents that thrill through such places. Try and chose a place away from immediate traffic, perhaps a little off the beaten track, as you will have more chance of having the place to yourselves. Do your homework beforehand, consulting books, local guides and the Internet (see links) for information on your chosen site. I will be happy to help you find out information on any sacred sites.
How Old is a Piece of String?
The aim of the first activity is to get across to the children the immense age of our sacred sites, as well as putting them in perspective to places and events that they may have already heard about, such as Stonehenge, the Battle of Hastings, Tutankhamun, the Pyramids, and so on. You will need a long length of strong cord or thick string, say 100m long. Firstly, ask for a volunteer and this is where hopefully one or two hands go up. Get your first child to hold one end of the string, pointing out to everyone that he/she is standing in the present day. You announce that every stride (approx. 2-3 ft) will represent going back 100 years in time. After one single step (100 years) you ask for someone to be Queen Victoria. Hands go up (hopefully!) and the Queen duly holds the string at that point. I then go on another 10 strides and ask for William the Conqueror and King Harold. Two children come forward to fill the vacancies. This goes on and on, and you can introduce as many historical events and personalities as you like, taking care to plan ahead in advance so you do not run out of children later. After another 3 paces you ask who would like to be a Viking, and 7 paces further you ask for a Roman Emperor, and so on. To give you an idea of scale, the builders of Stonehenge should be around 30 paces from the start, and the Egyptian Pharaoh who built the great pyramids should be a further 5 paces on. If you are in a sacred site, find out when it was built and used and have that marked out too. Try also to introduce a bit of theatre and fun. Bow to Queens and Kings as they are installed and every time you walk past them. I got my Tutankhamun to lie down dead on the ground, and checked he was not moving or even blinking every time I went past, to the amusement of all, especially when the dead pharaoh giggled. Every now and then go back down the line getting the children to remind everyone who they are. Two children clasping each other’s opposing outstretched arms formed a lintel to re-enact Stonehenge. You will find that lots of boys’ hands will shoot up when you require a marauding Viking and the girls all love being an Egyptian Queen like Cleopatra. Make sure, also, that you use a good mixture of both male and female characters. End by pointing out that on this scale, one stride per 100 years, the first people in Britain would behalf a mile away (point to some relevant object in the distance, and that the earliest people appeared on Earth over 2 miles away.
One thing the children will be amazed at is that events they regarded as “old”, such as the Battle of Hastings or the birth of Jesus (yes, I do use that one), can be shown to be only a fraction of the age of the great stone circles, henges, Stonehenge itself, the pyramids and the long barrows of the Neolithic.
Following the Serpents
If you are an able dowser of earth energies, or know someone who is, then this is a great activity. I usually introduce it with a dragon story, taking care that the dragon is not a baddy – no dragons devouring maidens and cattle today, thank you! Ask the children if they have ever seen a dragon (not on TV or films) and if anyone can see a dragon today. Suggest things such as the forms of clouds, and the fact that fog and mist is the breath of the dragon. The spines of dragons form hills, and thunder and lightening are the roar and fire of the dragon. Then ask if they would like to awaken the dragon. Drumming, clapping, didge playing, tambourines, and anything else they can bang, rattle or yell through can be used to wake your dragon.
“Let us see if we have awaken him/her”. Line up all the children and adults (they really get into this too) behind you and use your dowsing rod to pick up a flow of earth energies. Just a little practice at any sacred site will pick up at least one or two flows. You then follow it with the children following in single file behind you. Earth energies always flow in a serpentine manner and you announce that you are following the tail of the dragon. After a few minutes yell “Stop!” Get them to look around them and they will see that they are forming a serpentine trail. Even spirals can be formed, at which point there are usually a few gasps of amazement (often from the adults!). At Knowlton we are fortunate to have several dowsable spirals of energy and at one spot about 25 of us were closely bunched into a spiral, to the sound of giggles as we gradually got hemmed in and squashed by the people on the end of the line! The activity is great fun and shows children that unseen forces are operating all around us on Mother Earth and those dragons of myth never really went away.
Dragon Faces and Tales
Next comes a dragon tale or two and there are lots of excellent ones to chose from. Sitting around the story teller gives everyone rest after the thrill of the dragon hunting and is a calming precursor to lunch. During lunch, we have face-painting and find that dragons are high on the list of requests, closely followed by unicorns, fairies and witches!
The Quest
After lunch it is time to burn off some energy again with a Quest (not a competition - everyone wins here). At Knowlton we are blessed with a henge inside which is a ruined church, and around this I set their Quest. I hand out pencils and sheets paper to eager dragon- and fairy-painted faces, on which is a map of the site, and several questions, such as: mark on the map an arch, a large stone; where do you think the altar stood? Where is the tower? What is the church made of? How old is it? And so on. Give them 15 minutes to complete the Quest. Again, do your homework before hand, with at least one visit to the site prior to your event. The sight of two dozen children with equally excited adults in tow racing around the site clutching pencil and paper is wonderful. Drum beats signal that time is up. Be sure to take them to the locality where each answer is to be found, to see for themselves.
Not far from Knowlton we are blessed with the Dragon Tree, a giant oak which stands on a ley line and has the uncanny appearance of a Dragon rearing its body out of the earth. Here I introduce the idea of dragons being associated with ley lines, magical alignments that stretch for miles across the land, the “dragon lines” of old, and that everything is connected, even though it may not at first appear to be so. Perhaps at or near to your main locality you may be able to find trees that have faces in them, guaranteed to spark off a search for others. Looking for faces in trees is an incredibly enjoyable and infectious activity, and gets across the point that there is Spirit behind the surface appearances of things, that everything has a deeper essence. At this point another dragon story could be told, with the children encircling a big or magical looking tree.
At the end of my events in Dorset, we visit the Verwood megalith, a huge stone that is reached by a beautiful 15-minute woodland walk. Legends about huge ravens and buried treasure are associated with the stone, and you could look up similar folklore about stones or barrows or hillforts in your area.
The last two activities of the day involve both memory and magic. More pieces of paper are handed out with a set of simple questions to see how much has actually been remembered about the day. For instance, what was the name of the dragon in the story? How old is the henge (give three choices, A, B, or C)? What did we use to follow the dragon’s tails? Draw one of the faces in the trees. And so on. The answers are read out, resulting in delighted faces as they tick the correct answers off. The important thing is that everyone has a prize, which could be a tumbled crystal. In my case, the prizes come in the form of beach pebbles with runes painted on them, each one of which had been blessed with sacred well water. Six or seven “good luck” runes were chosen, such as Feoh for good fortune, Ur for inspiration, Ken for enthusiasm and energy, Gyfu for hospitality and friendship, Wynn for happiness and Ger for a time of achievement and harvest. Bring more than you think you will need, allowing for any unexpected arrivals. Each child then pulls a rune from a bag. With their chosen rune they are given a slip of paper with a brief description of the rune’s qualities. The joy on their faces as they pick a “magical Viking rune” is a wonder to behold.
Remember to thank Mother Earth at the very end. I hope the above will guide and inspire you to hold a similar event in your area and I will be glad to offer my assistance in any way I can, as you and your children chase the dragon.
“Don’t take yourself so personally.” (Ram Dass)
‚ Dowsing ‚ Stone Circles ‚ Dolmens ‚ Earth Mother/Goddess ‚
Note: on the CD-ROM these articles have colour photos and the links are active
Chapter 30 ~ Dowsing ©
Dowsing is an ancient art, a form of divination that has gained some prominence in recent decades in the field of earth mysteries. Early Egyptian bas-reliefs depict people with forked sticks and several Medieval woodcuts show water- and mineral-seeking prospectors using the same method. In his book Pi in the Sky, Michael Poynder considers numerous small holed stones found in prehistoric Irish cairns may have been more that necklace jewellery. He considers them to be pendulums for dowsing, citing that many even have spirals carved on them, representing earth energies. Dowsing seeks to locate unseen objects or energies using hand-held devices, such as a forked sticks, crystals pendulums, metal rods and “bobbers” (single lengths of twig or flexible metal). Some experienced dowsers need no implements at all, relying on such methods as simply feeling the resistance between two fingers. Other dowsers can sense slight reactions in their bodies as they pass over or near their target.
Old woodcut of a dowser using a Y-stick, with curious clouds of smoke issuing from the earth. Water diviners locate underground water sources by perceiving a line of influence at ground level above it. This causes a twitch in a Y-stick, or the crossing of dowsing rods. Traditionally, the chief targets have been underground watercourses or mineral veins, but electricity and gas pipes can also be located and even differentiated by means of dowsing. Buried objects, drains and even lost keys can be dowsed for and found. Crystal healers use crystals to dowse a patient for physical ailments and energetic imbalances. Professional dowsers and feng shui consultants employ dowsing to locate unwanted energies in order to “clear” buildings and land.
Old woodcut of a dowser using a Y-stick, with curious clouds of smoke issuing from the earth.
A debate has raged for many years about exactly what processes are at work here. Dowsers suggest that we possess a latent sixth sense, capable of detecting hidden objects and energies. Everything has its individual energy field, and dowsing is the detection of the interaction between the energies of the dowser and that of the target object. Recent research has shown that electro-magnetic fields (which permeate everything to a greater or lesser degree) can stimulate production of melatonin and seratonin, hormones that have an effect on the activities of the pineal gland. This organ is the physical essence of the third eye of clairvoyance and Eastern mystic traditions. Pineal activity is greatly enhanced in the dark, and blind people produce higher than normal levels of melatonin, increasing their intuitive abilities. The word secretion is in fact the root word of secret, providing a link between the physical and intuitive process at work during dowsing.
Dowsers rely mainly on a “yes” or “no” response to a very specific question. A pendulum will spin one way or the other, the rods will cross or not, depending on pre-programming by the dowser. There is also a sense of respect for the powers at work here, dowsers usually asking before operations commence if the work should be done and may be done. Obtaining permission in advance seems to be a vital component for a positive outcome. Experienced dowsers will not commence work if the “answer” has been in the negative.
From an earth mystery prospective, dowsing is one of the key tools in unravelling the nature of earth energies. Work by a score of experienced and respected dowsers has led to a clutch of well-known books that have influenced the direction in which earth mysteries research has travelled. However, sorting out the wheat from the proverbial chaff can be a difficult task. Bizarre claims have emerged out of the woodwork by some with relatively little dowsing experience. The truth of the matter is that whilst everyone has, in theory, the ability to dowse, most people cannot dowse competently. Unfortunately the very nature of the dowsing technique lends itself to self-deception. When rods cross, are we sure of what it is we are detecting? When we ask to be shown where earth energies emerge from the ground, what are we actually being shown? Expectations can certainly affect the outcome of a dowsing operation, and it is imperative to keep one’s mind free from preconceived ideas, something that is notoriously difficult to achieve.
Dowsing sits uneasily on the fence between fact and the realms of the mystical, and certainly deserves more serious scientific study than it has received in the past. That dowsing can detect earth energies and underground watercourses is not in dispute. However, dowser and author Tom Graves offers a word of warning regarding the dowsing of earth energies: “Patterns found by dowsers can be useful, to heal both our understanding and our relationship with the land… there’s an infinity of patterns to be found, and all and none of them are true. What they mean is simply what we make them mean... a way of making sense of what we see”. Clearly, interpretation is the problem here, yet, ironically, it is also the key to successful dowsing. In experienced hands dowsing rods and pendulums are helping to recover processes and mysteries of the Earth, in which our distain ancestors were well versed. (More on dowsing can be found under earth energies.)
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On the CD-ROM these articles have several colour photos and the links are active
The mountainous and isolated setting of Castlerigg in Cumbria is captured in this 19th century illustration from J B Pyne’s Lake Scenery of England. The circle has been the scene of unexplained phenomena over many years. (Click here for another view). Prehistoric stone circles have attracted people’s attention for centuries. These silent rings are timeless, eternally guarding hill and moor, gracing wood and pasture, many half buried and forgotten, others standing magnificent and visible from miles around. When we enter one of these open-air temples we are go into a place of ancestral wisdom, an inner sanctum purposefully separated from the outside world.
The mountainous and isolated setting of Castlerigg in Cumbria is captured in this 19th century illustration from J B Pyne’s Lake Scenery of England. The circle has been the scene of unexplained phenomena over many years.
(Click here for another view).
Folklore
Stone circles certainly captured the imagination of generations of our predecessors, and many colourful legends survive concerning their origin and events that have been reported in their vicinity. It is perhaps inevitable that some of these enigmatic circles became associated with the Druids and King Arthur, tales of whom have been told for centuries. Traditionally it was believed that the Druids built Stonehenge, although we now know it was erected well before these Iron Age mystics walked these lands. Around 1200 AD, the priest Layamon wrote of Stonehenge, “The stones are great, and magic power they have, men that are sick fare to that stone, and they wash that stone and bathe away their evil.” The Nine Stones in Dorset are said to be the Devil and his familiars who were turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath, a tale associated with several other circles around Britain. The stones at Stanton Drew in Somerset are a wedding party who were tricked by the Devil to dance on the Sabbath and paid the price. The Nine Maidens of Boskednan in Cornwall were again petrified in stone for dancing on a Sunday, a fate that also befell the Nine Maidens on Dartmoor for the same indiscretion. The Rollright stone circle in Oxfordshire (click here to view) is the King and his men who were frozen in time by a witch. Folklore declares that it is impossible for anyone to count the stones of this circle, a legend that is shared by a dozen other circles, as some dolmens. The tall stones at Callanish on Lewis (Western Isles) are said to be the old giants who inhabited the land, who were turned to stone by St Kieran for refusing conversion to Christianity. Another tale says they were erected by “dark men”, reputedly priests from Africa, where many stone circles were also built. Long Meg and Her Daughters, in Cumbria, were a coven of witches who were turned to stone by a rival wizard. The widespread association of circles with witches, druids and wizards, such as Merlin, may simply be a memory of distant times when local wisewomen, priests and shamans were the custodians of such places.
Geography and Geometry
It is estimated that up to one thousand of these rings of stone may survive, and this is only a proportion of the original number. Geographically they range from the Orkneys in the far north down to Cornwall, a distance of some 800 miles. The earliest were built in Neolithic times, yet circles were constructed in great numbers throughout the Bronze Age, making total time span of around 2000 years. Stone circles were the churches and temples of the era, and suggest a spirituality and ritual practice that was both universal and effective.
Many of the earliest circles are to be found at Neolithic henges, roughly circular earthworks that usually enclose a ditch. These circle-henges include the magnificent Ring of Brodgar (part of the Stones of Stenness group in the Orkneys), as well as Arbor Low in Derbyshire and Avebury, Britain’s largest henge-circle. Archaeologist Aubrey Burl has made the observation that many of these early rings have closely set stones, mimicking the continuous banks of henges, and similarly have obvious gaps for entrances. These features are evident at the Castlerigg and Swinside circles of Cumbria and at the Ballynoe circle in County Down.
Stone circles are usually found in isolation, but occasionally occur in groups. The Hurlers, on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor, consists of three circles, now in various states of disrepair. These once incorporated around 26-28 stones each, but only the 100ft diameter north circle has stood the test of time, with 16 surviving members. The circle at Tregeseal, also in Cornwall, is the sole survivor of an original line of three. Standing in splendid isolation on Dartmoor are the Grey Wethers, two imposing circles standing side by side on beautiful open moorland.
Circles come in all shapes and sizes, from those with a diameter of just dozen or so feet to giant monuments such as Avebury, Stonehenge and Stanton Drew, which reach diameters of up to several hundred yards. A vast variation also occurs in the size and shapes of the stones themselves. For example, the Hampton Hill circle in Dorset consists of stones all around 2-3ft in size, which is also the case at the Cumbrian circle of Blakeley Raise, whilst at Gamelands, also in Cumbria, none of the megaliths stand more than 2½ ft above ground. At the other end of the scale we find the massive megaliths of Avebury and the stones of the Ring of Brodgar, on Orkney, some of which reach a height of 15ft. Equally impressive is one stone of the Lunkin Links circle on the Firth of Forth coast, which reaches 18ft high. At several circles all the component megaliths are prone and may always have been that way. These are known as recumbent circles, of which Arbor Low (Derbyshire), Sunhoney (Aberdeenshire), Torhousekie (Wigtownshire) and Kingston Russell (Dorset – click here to view) are all good examples.
The term stone circle is in fact a misnomer; as in reality the majority are not truly circular. Retired Scottish professor of engineering Alexander Thom described, in his 1960’s classic Megalithic Sites in Britain, how the majority of circles were in fact flattened oblongs, egg-shaped, or elliptical. He found that circles possessed inherent complex geometry, with the hypotenuse of triangles frequently being marked by careful positioning of the stones. Speaking of “Megalithic Man” he concluded that, “One can almost say that he was obsessed by the desire to discover and record in stone as many triangles as possible which were right-angled…” There seems to have been a general evolution from true circles to ovals through to the elaborate egg-shaped designs, suggesting that the more complex forms were built due to an advance in geometrical theorem (see right, and click here for more examples). Thom’s meticulous surveying of hundreds of circles led him to conclude that their builders used a standard unit of length of 2.72ft, which he called the Megalithic Yard. The proposed that standard yardsticks were used all over Britain and Brittany that may have been issued from a central point of manufacture, and which were accurate to an incredible 0.003ft.
Symbolism, Shapes and Sound
As well as there being a great variety of stone circle designs, the component megaliths themselves were carefully selected, and in some cases fashioned. Phallic symbolism is evident at numerous circles. For instance, at Aikey Brae, a large circle north of Aberdeen, several stones are phallic-shaped, one 6ft stone displaying a bulbous top, clearly representing the glans. The Obelisk at Avebury was fashioned to resemble the male phallus, whilst at the Rollright circle one stone is taller and slimmer than the rest, which is also the case at the Scorhill Down circle on Dartmoor (click here to view). At Stonehenge, several of the famous Bluestones are pillar-shaped with rounded tops, probably representing the gods by mimicry of the male member (click here to view).
Work by Paul Devereux and other researchers have shown that some stone circle megaliths display concave interior surfaces. Using ultra-sound equipment, experiments on the acoustics at Stonehenge has shown that this design enhances, and in some cases radically changes, the sound waves that reflect back from them. At Rollright, and the Scorhill Down circle, the author and Louise Salmon have observed similar concave surfaces, which may be evidence of the same prehistoric technology.
Another phenomenon seen at many circles is the grading of stones, whereby those on one side of a ring may vary considerably in size from those on the other, often with a gradual transition. At Balnuaran of Clava, east of Inverness, a circle of stones surrounds two passage graves and the perimeter stones are clearly graded, the tallest standing in the south-west quadrant. At Brisworthy, on Dartmoor, the stones are graded in height towards the north, whilst at Fernworthy, also on the Moor, they are graded in the opposite direction, to the north (see photo further below in this section). At Easter Aquorthies, in Aberdeenshire, the megaliths decrease in size away from a massive recumbent stone. The Loupin Stanes is a small stone circle near Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway. Here the stones are again graded upwards in height towards the southwest, where the two tallest megaliths stand side by side.
Circles and Landscape
Stones were sometimes selected, and possibly sculpted, to mirror the landscape around them. For instance, at the stone circles of Castlerigg (Cumbria) and Grey Wethers (on Dartmoor), the shapes of some of the megaliths mimic the skyline, demonstrating how the monuments were designed to be part of the land, not separate from it. In his book Earth Memory, Paul Devereux makes the point that, “… the landscape surrounding a ceremonial monument is likely to be an integral part of the place. Site and environment cannot be divorced.” This was the mindset of the circle builders, who were spiritually at one with the land and sought to connect with the spirit of the Earth Mother/Goddess. As well as coinciding with the landscape, the shape of many stones is also a guide to ritual practice at stone circles. Several rings in Scotland and Ireland contain large recumbent stones that are usually taken to be altars. At the Drombeg circle in Ireland, the midwinter sun sets into a notch in the skyline directly over a large prone, flat-topped recumbent stone. Alexander Thom made similar findings in the 1960’s, where he noted that many circles of NE Scotland had a large slab of stone in the SW quadrant, the direction of the midwinter solstice sunset. As well as possibly having been altar stones, Thom considered that these large stones may have, “… supported or located other structures or sighting devices long since rotted away”. At Easter Aquorthies the large altar-like prone slab is composed of pink granite, whereas flanking stones are grey granite and the rest of the circle is made up of stones of pink porphyry. At the Balgorhar stone circle, two tall phallic-shaped megaliths accompany another large altar stone. At the circle of Old Keig in Grampian, the recumbent is 20ft across, and is the largest stone of the circle. A large flat-topped slab (click here to view) can be found at Le Pinacle, a natural headland with a megalithic site, on Jersey, and a smaller one can be found at the Nine Stones in Dorset, where it is known by the local pagan community as the Altar Stone.
Outliers and Ley Lines
Often there are stones standing separate from the main circle, these being known as outliers. Archaeologist Aubrey Burl commented that, “Outside most of the early circles stood isolated monoliths”. These were sometimes foresights for astronomical alignments, whilst many have been found to point the way to other locations on leys lines. The most famous is undoubtedly the Heel Stone at Stonehenge, which aligns with the approximate direction of the rising sun on Midsummer Day, but several others have been identified. A tall outlier at Long Meg and Her Daughters, near Penrith, marks the midwinter sunset as seen from the circle. A cup-marked outlying stone at the Croft Moraig circle in Perthshire aligns with the major southern setting of the moon, as is the case at Balgorkar, where two outlying stones mark the lunar alignment. Many more astronomical alignments have been proposed for stone circles, and this must have been one element that determined the design of many of them. Archaeologist Aubrey Burl, however, plays down the extent that astronomy played at these sites, suggesting that they were built by, “fanatical peasants … zealous and primitive”. Fortunately, most archaeologists now regard our distant ancestors as being more knowledgeable than Burl has sometimes given them credit for.
In contrast to the stones found outside stone circles, we often find a single stone inside the main ring. This may have marked the spiritual centre of the circle, a place of ritual, as well as being a possible astronomical sight line or “shadow caster”. One of the most famous is at the Bronze Age Boscawen-Ûn circle in Cornwall. Here a tall, slim megalith positioned just southwest of true centre leans noticeably towards the point of the summer solstice sunrise (see photo above). At the Neolithic site of the Stripple Stones, also in Cornwall, an 8ft long stone now lies prone near the centre of this rare Cornish circle-henge. At Glenquickan, an isolated circle near Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway, a 6ft tall bulbous granite megalith stands at the circle’s centre, towering over the 29 stones that form the circle, which average only 2ft above ground. At the Torhousekie stone circle west of Wigtown no less than three large megaliths stand inside the circle. Here two larger stones flank a smaller central stone, reminiscent of the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire. At some stone circles, particularly in Northern Britain, one central stone (but sometimes several) may in fact be the remains of a burial cist or cairn, around which the circle was built. Good examples of this can be seen at Cothiemuir Wood (west of Aberdeen), Balbirnie (Fife), Temple Wood (Argyll), Moel ty Uchaf (west of Llangollen in North Wales) and Carn Lechart (NE of Swansea). At Arbor Low in Derbyshire and at Avebury, a cove of three or four stones was built within the henge-circle. At Stanton Drew in Somerset a similar cove was built, but this time outside the main circle.
There is no shortage of stone circles associated with ley lines, those proposed alignments across the landscape of ancient sites and natural places. This is epitomised by Stonehenge, which various researchers over many decades have found to stand on literally dozens of alignments. With so many other sacred sites sharing Salisbury Plain with the monument it is difficult to separate the bona fide ones from chance alignments, which are bound to occur. One of the more credible and famous leys involves Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral and Clearbury Ring, first noted by Sir Norman Lockyer back in 1906 (click here to view). Another convincing ley involves stone circles on the Isle of Arran. No less than four circles are aligned on Mackrie Moor within the space of two miles, along with some barrows and a chambered tomb. Britain’s most written-about alignment is the celebrated (though many would say infamous) St Michael Line that runs from Cornwall up to East Anglia. It passes through the Hurlers circle on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, as well as the huge henge-circle of Avebury. Also associated with the ley are dowsable energies attracted by the Cornish circle of Boscawen-Ûn. In The Ley Hunter’s Companion, Devereux and Thomson plot an alignment that runs from Tup Low in Derbyshire to St Bertram’s Well in Staffordshire, which passes through the Arbor Low circle en route. They also describe another ley that runs through Cumbria, from the Goggleby Stone to a stone circle on Knipe Scar Common and beyond. In Dorset, the author has uncovered several leys that involve stone circles, many of which are set out in Ancient Stones of Dorset. The most striking involves the Nine Stones, west of Dorchester, where no less than three alignments pass through the circle, one of which proceeds all the way to Stonehenge. The Hampton Hill stone circle stands on a ley that runs from Chapel Hill at Abbotsbury, via the church in the village and other megaliths. One of the perils of ley hunting is that updated editions of OS maps sometimes “move” sites, as has happened with the Hampton Hill circle, which was recently transposed off the alignment and now appears to sit further south than it’s actual locality! Also in Dorset, the scattered stones from two former circles at Littlemayne, SE of Dorchester, lie at the intersection of two leys, one of which goes to the henge site at Mount Pleasant, which once incorporated an inner cove of stones.
Circles - Leys and Earth Energies
Dowsers have long been drawn to stone circles, where they have detected a variety of phenomena associated with earth energies. The Dragon Project used proficient dowsers at several stone circles, with interesting results. There seems to be no set pattern to the dowsable energies, some circles showing concentric rings, others having serpentine flows through them, whilst others are curiously devoid of dowsable energy inside the circle. Dowsers generally speak of detecting flows of energy passing between the perimeter stones, forming a ring that separates the inner sanctum from the environment outside. It has also been noted that circles often have energy “gates”, places where stones may be slightly offset from the others to facilitate energies entering and leaving the ring. The author has found these energy gates to be particularly obvious at Rollright, but they are also evident at the People are once again returning to stone circles, like this one at Scorhill on Dartmoor, to experience peace and the spiritual essence of the land, as our ancestors did long ago. Kingston Russell circle in Dorset (click here to view), Scorhill Down on Dartmoor, and elsewhere. It has been recorded how some circles are “dead” inside, in as much that no dowsable energies can be detected. In Needles of Stone Revisited, dowser Tom Graves comments on his visit to the Dinnever Hill circle in Cornwall, how it was “completely dead”. In his opinion, this may have been due to all the water in the area having drained away into the china-clay works nearby. The connection between underground watercourses and over-ground energy flows was proven many years ago by Guy Underwood, who saw a tangible link between these subterranean “blind springs” and above ground energies. He also found strong energies linking both Stonehenge and the Stanton Drew circle with nearby sites, with earth energies “breaking out” of the circles to seek out neighbouring sites. He found that a group of four stones near the main circle at Stanton Drew, known as the Cove, was the focus of 21 coils of spiralling energy that he associated with an underground waterline. In recent years dowsing by the author at the Nine Stones circle in Dorset has indicated that on his visits the inside of the circle was devoid of any dowsable energies. Energy seemed to have been captured by the perimeter stones, not crossing into the interior of the circle. Was this part of the design of the circle, or has the recent demise of the adjacent stream and the close proximity of a main road stripped the site of much of its energies?
People are once again returning to stone circles, like this one at Scorhill on Dartmoor, to experience peace and the spiritual essence of the land, as our ancestors did long ago.
In The Sun and the Serpent Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst describe how different strands of the Mary (female) energy currents associated with the St Michael Line interact at the Boscawen-Ûn circle in Cornwall (click here to view). The main artery of the Mary current approaches the circle from the south, with another energy flow entering the circle from the west. The currents converge at the leaning pillar stone near the centre of the circle. The latter energy flow enters the circle where a block of white quartz stands, the only such stone in the circle. They also describe a third line that came into the circle from the north, headed towards the interior stone but promptly, “… stopped just short of it… It just stopped dead”. Into the centre circle at the Hurlers on Bodmin Moor, both the Michael and Mary energies flowed at right angles to each other until they converged, or “mated” as Miller and Broadhurst put it, at a node point near the centre. Trying to rationalise places such as Boscawen-Ûn and the Hurlers, they ask, “Were they really the nerve centres of the landscape, where major flows of terrestrial energy pulsed and streamed to harmonise and resonate with each other…?”
Stones circles have been the setting for another unexpected earth energy phenomenon, namely that of the “electric shock” effects spoken of by many individuals. Dowsers Bob Sephton and Tom Graves once experienced a powerful shock when attempting to dowse at the site of the former Obelisk stone at Avebury. Every year people feel strange effects at the Avebury stones, from headaches to tingling fingers, and all around the circle-henge dowsing rods twitch and pendulums swing. Moreover, it is not just the larger temples that are alive with these energies. When archaeologist and dowser Tom Lethbridge placed a hand on one of the stones at the Merry Maidens in Cornwall he received a tingling sensation like an electric shock, and the pendulum held in his other hand gyrated to an almost horizontal position! Several dowsers in recent decades, notably Guy Underwood, Rodney Carr-Smith and members of various dowsing societies, have found Stonehenge to be a network of spiralling energies, hardly a square meter inside the circle of stones being devoid of some kind of dowsable current. In serpentine manner the currents weave their way around the site, focusing on particular stones and flowing through the gaps between others.
Magnetism and Earthlights
The Nine Stones circle in Dorset, caught by the rays of the setting summer sun. Some stone circles have displayed anomalies in magnetism, the effect being to spin needles away from north when a compass is placed on certain stones. One of the megaliths at Castlerigg and another at Gors Fawr in Dyfed had this effect. At Michell’s Fold circle in Shropshire, the tallest, 6ft high, megalith on the eastern side had a strong effect on the compass needle when placed at certain points on its outer edge. At the Altarnum circle on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, strong anomalies have been reported in the magnetic field, to the extent that Royal Marines are sent there during training to test their orienteering skills! Studies in the radiation levels at stone circles have also yielded enigmatic findings. At the Rollright circle, and at both the Nine Maidens and Stannon circles in Cornwall, levels showed marked variations from the background radiation of the landscape. At the Cumbrian site of Long Meg and Her Daughters, two stones in the northwest quadrant of the circle gave considerably higher levels of radiation than elsewhere. Places of Power by Paul Devereux is the best guide to these anomalies, highlighting the work at stone circles by the Dragon Project and others. Stone circles have also been the scene of earth lights, strange light phenomena seen at the circles themselves or over nearby landscapes. These have been interpreted variously as effects produced by pressures in the earth’s crust in the vicinity of faulting, or else as fairies or UFO’s, depending on people’s points of view. Castlerigg stone circle (click here to view) has a history of strange lights and the Hordron Edge circle in Derbyshire has also been the location of light phenomena. In 1987 researchers witnessed balls of light emerging form the earth at the Michell’s Fold circle, scene of the magnetic anomalies described above. Interestingly, the light phenomenon was preceded by a geological “sonic event” in nearby Wales, and followed 3 days later by seismic activity in Liverpool to the north.
The Nine Stones circle in Dorset, caught by the rays of the setting summer sun.
Clearly there is more to stone circles than meets the eye. These relics of an earth-based spirituality can be visited today and we are invited to sense the magic of place, a feeling of timelessness these circles possess. They are places of mystery, portals of ancestral memory into which our imaginations can be projected. For these sites were never turned off, and they are centres of learning today as much as they ever were. Stone circles remain alive with energies and the Earth Spirit still moves between their stones, as it has done for thousands of years, patiently awaiting our return.
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Chapter 29 ~ Dolmens ©
A dolmen is a Neolithic monument consisting of two or more upright stones (orthostats) supporting a horizontal or inclined stone slab (capstone). Dolmen is a Welsh and Old Cornish word for “stone table”, usually being applied to any stone monument containing a roofed stone chamber where the original earthen covering or cairn (if any) has eroded away. They are alternatively called cromlechs. They are all thought to date from before 3000 BC, making them over 5000 years old, and Britain’s oldest stone buildings. Dolmen capstones can weigh in excess of 25 tons and one has to marvel at the skills and spiritual driving power of the people who raised them.
The Zennor Quoit Dolmen in Cornwall with its distinctive and deliberately sloping capstone, rests beneath moody skies. At some dolmen sites the remains of a mound that once covered the chamber can be seen, such as at the Hellstone, Dorset, and Chun Quoit, Cornwall. At Dyffryn, in Gwynedd, two dolmens in close proximity were both originally covered by cairns of stone cobbles. At other places they are freestanding, their timeless solidity decrying their immense age. There has been much speculation that many dolmens may have been erected without an original covering of earth, that they have always stood pretty much as we see them today. This implies that they were not intended for burial of the dead, but to be used by the living. Good examples of this are Lanyon Quoit in Cornwall and Bodowyr on Anglesey.
The Zennor Quoit Dolmen in Cornwall with its distinctive and deliberately sloping capstone, rests beneath moody skies.
At some dolmens the stones have been used to portray works of great artistic merit. At the Hellstone, Dorset, an anthropomorph in the form of a huge right-facing head can be seen. Another has been found at the Devil’s Den dolmen, just east of Avebury, Wiltshire. The capstone of the Clynnog Dolmen, on the Lleyn peninsular of North Wales, has 110 cup-like marks inscribed into solid stone. These so-called Cup and ring marks are found on Dolmen megaliths mainly in Northern England, Wales and Scotland, and the purpose of these enigmatic markings remains a mystery.
Many dolmens have folklore associated with them going back to medieval times, although even these may be based on older tales. The Hellstone in Dorset, mentioned above, is said to have been thrown by the Devil whilst playing quoits, whilst the Llech-y-Tripedd dolmen, near Cardigan in South Wales, was hurled into its present locality by the Celtic saint St Samson. Fairy folk are occasionally spotted at the huge dolmen at Pentre Ifan in the foothills of the Preseli Mountains, also in South Wales. They are said to resemble children dressed like soldiers with red caps. Another local tradition speaks of a Druid college in the area, citing a nearby ancient oak forest as proof. Southwest of Cardiff stands the massive dolmen of Gwal-y-Filiast, near St Lythans. Legend has it that if one whispers a wish at Halloween, then the stones will grant your request. The stones are said to bathe in the local stream on mid-summer eve. It is said that if you place an object on the capstone of Kit’s Coty, a dolmen in Kent, and walk around the stones three times, the object will miraculously disappear. Since high metal railings now enclose the site, this is not easily proven! The stones were also apparently erected by witches. Such tales reinforce the magic and mystery that these ancient places held for our forebears. But are they all old wives tales, or are they based on events witnessed over many centuries?
Working on the premise that most folklore has at least a grain of truth in it, no matter how corrupted and altered from an original tale, what exactly was being observed at dolmens across Britain? Earth energies and earth lights are two possibilities. Strange lights have been recorded in the vicinity of several dolmens, some as part of research projects.
Strange events were witnessed at the Dyffryn Ardudwy dolmens in 1905. A “pillar of clear fire” spontaneously flared up at the top of each of the pillars (where they make contact with the capstone), being described by the observers as “a very wonderful fire”. Paul Devereux has made the connection between light phenomena and fault lines in the earth’s crust, demonstrating that most of these “earth lights” occur within a mile of faulting. Dyffryn Ardudwy does indeed stand close to such faulting.
During a night visit to Chun Quoit, Cornwall, in the summer of 1979, archaeologist John Barnatt and photographer Brian Larkman witnessed light phenomena on the underside of the capstone. They saw multi-coloured flashes for about 30 minutes that could not have originated from an external light source. Larkman also had the experience of seeing, “…a reflection of myself, ghostlike in the shadows of the stone slab opposite”.
At Kit’s Coty House, photographer Bernard Gowing took an infrared photograph of the stones that, on developing, showed a hazy cloud floating just above the capstone. Gowing states that the effect was not visible to the naked eye. This is similar to another localised event recorded by Paul Devereux as part of the Dragon Project. On infra-red photographs of the King Stone, near the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire (click here to view), taken in April 1979, he recorded on film a glow around the stone at sunrise.
Clearly, many dolmens were positioned on places where either earth lights had been observed or on places where earth energies were experienced on the landscape. In Sun and the Serpent, Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst demonstrated how the Mary current of the St Michael Line passes through Trethevy Quoit in Cornwall, and through Spinster’s Rock, another dolmen on the edge of Dartmoor (click here to view). What they also found was that the feminine Athena current of the Apollo/St Michael Axis runs through Zennor Quoit in Cornwall. These womb-like chambers are more often than not associated with female currents of earth energies, as opposed to male flows.
Dolmens may have been used for a variety of purposes. In addition to burial, some were no doubt used by the living for ritual and ceremony. Contacting the ancestors is a vital element of shamanism, and the dolmens may have been frequented by shamans wishing to enter altered states of consciousness and prophetic dreams, alone in the darkness of these timeless megalithic structures. Today we can visit these ancient monuments and witness sunrises and sunsets from them, or else dowse the energies they focus, or perhaps simply sit within their womb-like chambers, knowing that thousands of years ago someone else was doing likewise.
Chapter 36 ~ Earth Mother/Goddess ©
The concept of the existence of an “Mother Earth” or of “Mother Nature” has roots that go back thousands of years, to prehistoric cultures devoted to the worship of an omnipresent feminine deity. In ancient times the Earth Mother or Goddess was a primary deity, the spiritual driving force that inspired the building of so many temples and megalithic sites worldwide. She features in most Creation Myths from around the world, usually giving birth to the earth, the life upon it and sometimes even the whole universe. The concept of death and rebirth was central to Goddess worship, acknowledging these as essential processes in the cyclical process of the land. This is displayed continually around us in nature by the annual succession of the seasons, and by the waxing and waning of the moon. It was the feminine Creatrix that underpinned the natural elements and forces of the landscape - indeed, to tribal cultures the Goddess was nature. Ancient people saw her body in hills and mountains, as part of their mythic © Nasa landscapes. Twinned hills were the breasts of the Earth Mother, such as the Paps of Anu in Ireland, the Eildon Hills and Paps of Jura in Scotland, and two hills seen from the Grey Mare long barrow in Dorset. At the Craddock Moor stone circle in Cornwall during the third millennium BC, observers would have seen the mid-summer sun set into Brown Willy, a rocky hill topped by two giant cairns 8 miles distant. Interestingly, the name Brown Willy comes from Bron Whylly, Bron meaning breast, and Whylly meaning to gaze or observe. On South Harris, West Stocklett is a hill known locally as the Sleeping Giant or Hag Mountain because of the similarity to the features of a prone, elderly woman, complete with grey hair, shadowy eye, sunken mouth and drooping breasts!
© Nasa
Palaeolithic paintings found in caves, and sculpted figurines as old as 30,000 BC, display representations of the female form. They were archetypal mythic images, used to re-enact seasonal and fertility myths. They were indeed stored memories, connecting our ancestors with the yearly cycles of death and renewal of life. The Earth Mother was seen as the provider of shelter, food and water, and because of this reverence many temples dedicated to her were erected across the world. The Neolithic temple of Catal Huyuk, in Turkey, housed special shrines to revere the Earth Goddess, and barrows of a similar age in Britain and Ireland may have been erected for similar purposes. The designs of many passage graves and chambered long barrows seem to emulate her womb, and megaliths display her breasts and vulva. At Avebury, in Wiltshire, a whole ritual landscape was created with the interaction between Man, the Earth Mother, and the sun in mind. Terence Meaden has discovered several vulva-shaped holes that were carved out of gigantic stones as symbols of the birthing and fertility aspect the divine feminine (click here to view an example). The author has subsequently found these yoni-like crevices at other sites, such This standing stone on Guernsey is called La Grande Mère and probably represents the earth mother goddess. (Photo: © Steve Hawker.) as the Nine Stones, Rempstone and Corscombe, all in Dorset.
This standing stone on Guernsey is called La Grande Mère and probably represents the earth mother goddess.
(Photo: © Steve Hawker.)
Silbury Hill, close to Avebury, is regarded by many as the ever-pregnant belly of the Earth Mother and this may have been at least one dimension of its original symbolism. Glastonbury Tor is similarly regarded as representing the prone body or tummy of the Goddess.
This standing stone on Guernsey is called La Grande Mère and probably represents the earth mother goddess. (Photo: © Steve Hawker.) The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, the Minoans of Crete, and the Celts, all had a primary Earth Mother Goddess, the various aspects of her being depicted as separate Goddesses. The Celts held the concept of an Earth Mother very dear to them. Celtic and Romano-British sites attest to the popularity of Mother Goddess cults, inscriptions frequently mentioning the “Matronae”. In his excellent book Gods With Thunderbolts – Religion in Roman Britain, Guy De La Bédoyère cites over 30 examples of Romano-British altars dedicated to the Matronae/Mother Goddess. She is often depicted as a triple goddess, symbolising birth, death and rebirth, or that of Maiden, Mother and Crone, these being the three aspects of the turning year. Fine carvings of these have been found in Gloucestershire, Cirencester and near Hadrian’s Wall. At Caerwent, in Wales, a Mother Goddess stone statue was found holding a palm branch, symbolic of fertility. In British and Irish myth, the Earth Mother Goddess has many names, such as Danu, Dana, Anu and Ana. Various legends depict them as giving birth to the land or particular tribes and races, or being the ever-present force behind nature. A cauldron, symbolic of the womb of the Goddess, is mentioned in several myths. This “cauldron of regeneration” had the power of rebirth, and was said to revive the dead, symbolising not only an afterlife and reincarnation, but also the cycles of nature.
Silbury Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire, seen as symbolic of the belly of the Earth Mother Goddess. Due to strangleholds imposed by the Church, the Goddess eventually went underground, so to speak, the Virgin Mary taking over as the figure of the divine feminine. She was the Christian incarnation of the mythic Mother, the nurturing aspect of the creative earth. Like other deified mothers before her, such as Isis, Astarte, Demeter and Cybele, she gave birth to a god figure that came to save humanity, died, and was resurrected.
Silbury Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire, seen as symbolic of the belly of the Earth Mother Goddess.
The Earth Mother Goddess has today been embraced by new generations of pagans and others that seek to connect with the land. This may be through such things as ecology, vegetarianism, buying organic produce, green politics, anti-road building and anti-GM crop demos, and feminist issues. These, and a host of other activities and callings, are providing, for many, a link with the spiritual dimension of Planet Earth. Perhaps a society that returns once again to regarding the landscape as precious, and indeed sacred, will think twice about doing further damage to the fragile balance of life on earth. To perceive a living Earth Goddess landscape, as our ancestors did aeons ago, is to connect with an aspect of ourselves that has been neglected for far too long, which has resulted in the rape and plunder of our ever-giving Mother. For we are umbilically connected to the land, a concept embraced by our distant ancestors.
When one tries to rise above Nature, one is liable to fall below it. (Sherlock Holmes)
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