You-le

week 49

The Guardian newspaper. Image by Ben Birchall (c)

Winter Solstice is fast approaching. It's minutes into the 1st of December as I type this and it's only 20 days until the solstice.  The sun is already almost at the lowest it will get on the horizon and after the solstice, will start to climb a little higher each day, thus our days will become longer. The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and falls on the 21st-23rd of December.

Actually it's 6 days until the solstice, I've done it again, I've not blogged on time! Dammit... actually it's well past the solstice now and new years eve day.... I'm so pants!

I had planned to attend the solstice celebrations at Stonehenge this year but alas, finances will not permit it.  I'm not sure what I am going to do instead. I don't really 'celebrate' the festivals, I give them the nod and observe the change of seasons as the next stage of life/death unfolds.

That's what the festivals are for, to give thanks for the changing season and to ask for the harvest to grow; to give thanks for the harvest; to feast the birth and death of the sun.  According to Prof Ron Hutton in his book The Staions of the Sun, the Roman church decided in about 400AD that there was too many festivals in December, 27 I think and that it needed to be whittled in to one - Christmas. Jesus wasn't born in December, that is just the date the church decided on. It is said he was born in March time, make sense that he'd be a Pisces, they are the best healers ;)

There are all kinds of traditions associated with Yule.  Each region will have a variation of these traditions.  In Brighton, they 'burn the clocks' a new festival started 20 years ago for all faiths to celebrate the solstice. This is a decent site with some traditions on. There is this article on the BBC website, although I think it's inaccurate. I'm fairly sure the druids didn't start the yule log tradition and mistletoe rarely grows on oaks, it's found on many other trees but when it's found on oak, it's very special indeed.

Here's what happened at Stonehenge for the winter solstice this year, the weather was a lot better than last year and there was less complaints about staff attitude and being harassed to be in and out within an hour and a half.  The Round Table talks and many complaints, improved matters greatly.

The Guardian reported this article
The Daily Fail did they usual level of accurate reporting and wrote this article
BBC article
National Geographic article

It is believed that most stone circles/monuments are aligned for the winter solstice, which is a theory I believe in.  Orkney article . Newgrange article (and check out Paul Deveruax's books on this)

So why did I call this blog you-le.... well it's a play on words of course. What YOU do to celebrate yule/solstice is up to YOU. You create your own traditions and you don't have to subscribe to any one elses version of ancient ways.  Hell, you can even create your own... and why not. Burning the clocks looks like a good craic and it brings all together.

I don't celebrate New Year really, nor have resolutions for improvement. For ME the new year is Samhain.  I strive to be a better person every day and not just some empty gesture once a year. Whatever YOU do, I hope you have a wonderful year ahead.

Be yourself, be well, be happy /|\

Stonehenge

Week 38

STONEHENGE

Probably the most famous ancient monument in the world. Older than the mighty pyramids in Egypt, older than Christ and a constant source of debate in all quarters.  You all know what Stonehenge is, you most likely have a good idea of the many many theories of who built it and why.  Fact is, no one really knows.  The theories range from it being a giant clock, to a UFO landing site. It is said to have been built by the druids but it pre-dates what we know as druids.  It was built by the people and there is great evidence to suggest it was used as a place for feasting by people who travelled hundreds of miles to be there.  I'm am sure you can find out lots of information on Stonehenge on the countless websites and books dedicated to it.  I'm no expert, I have my own thoughts on it which I will share with you.   What I will discuss with you in the blog is the people who are drawn to Stonehenge in our time now.  These are my own personal observations and experiences from the last decade.  It's all about perspective, my experiences aren't your experiences.

FREAKS

I don't know what it is about Stonehenge but by gods it attracts some right freaks!  As you may be aware, I am a member of the Loyal Arthurian Warband and I'm friends with Arthur Pendragon. You'd think being friends with someone who claims to be the current incarnation of King Arthur, would be a freak.  Not at all, he's the sanest bloke I know.  However, the people he attracts vary from loyal supporters and friends to the biggest fuckwits going.  I often joke with him that he needs to remove his fuckwit magnet.  In the ten years I've been involved, I've become friends with some wonderful people but in a lot of instances, people who I thought were nice, who then turned out to be the most hateful, poisonous, spiteful, vindictive fuckers I've had the displeasure to meet and deal with.  Just as you think the dust has settled, another fuckwit comes along and says even more dreadful things than the last one. Then they get together and join forces.  I think the next blog will be about Trolling because it's a major problem with our pagan community and needs to be blogged.  Hell, I've mentioned it so many times in my blogs this year, it's daft.

So Arthur campaigns at Stonehenge. He fought to get our Free and Open Access for summer solstice after the exclusion zone went up. He was not alone but he was 'front line', picketing in all weathers. After many arrests and years, English Heritage took down the excursion zone. This was all around the time that Arthur found himself and his Quest. If you'd like to read that story, then please read his and CJ Stone's book Trials of a modern day king - an honest read and very interesting. There is a newer revised edition too but I think the first one is better (looks like it's no longer available on Amazon either).  He campaigned to get them to take down the fences and that went up for review so that was another battle 'won'.  The most recent campaign is to return the cremated remains of those buried there aka Bones Protest.  Now because he uses the media to highlight these causes, he's hated by people in the pagan community.  The press give him titles and claim he's King of all pagans/druids etc etc which pisses people off.  He has never made these claims, it's the press writing an interesting story.  Everyone is entitled to like or dislike whom they wish. However, when this dislike becomes an obsession, it poisons everything around it.

Many people agree with the fact that something needs to be done. Arthur does it. People hate that. And that hate is spread about thick and nasty.  You have the elitist druids/witches who want Stonehenge just for their own use and to keep the great unwashed out. You have English Heritage who only give you an hour or two access for worship, which has gotten worse since winter solstice 2013.  You have the Drove lot who either support Arthur or do everything to spite him. It was Arthur who fought to save the Drove aka Byway 12 from being closed, so that these people could carry on staying on it!  Now these haters aren't freaks because they are societies oddities. No, they are freaks because of their psychotic hatred when they preach peace and love and band about 'namaste' like it's a cure-all.  If you think someone who calls himself King Arthur is a freak, then after reading and hearing some of the things these haters say, makes Arthur look like Joe Bloggs.  These people are freaks.  I don't understand how so much poison festers around Stonehenge, how these people who can be in the presence of such a wonderful place, be so damned nasty.  Is Stonehenge a fuckwit magnet - you know what, it totally is.

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER

I first visited Stonehenge in 2003 with my son.  As I drove down the A303, I spotted Stonehenge on the side of the road and actually said WOOHOO!  I was so excited, I didn't think I would be but there I was, woohoooing.  I had read Arthur's book and decided I'd not pay to go in and view the monument but stand by the Hele stone and take pictures from there. People were walking about like sheep, around the wrong way too.  I later found out that it was because the guide who'd recorded the tour for the headphones, had done it the wrong way and they wouldn't change it. So for years, people walked anti-clockwise around it.. which always feels wrong. There's magical reasons too but not going to tell you how to suck eggs.

I went back for Winter Solstice in 2004. I hadn't been to any pagan ceremonies and wasn't sure of what I'd find. I was still a noob on the pagan scene, I knew a little bit about some things but was still working out my path at that time.  To be honest, I found that first experience a bit fluffy - not that I had anything to compare it to.. like I said, I was a noob!

It gets bloody cold on Salisbury Plains, it's like it has it's own climate.  You get the most amazing view of the stars at night too. The wind cuts through you, the rain finds every bit of you and when it's hot, boy is it!  There's no doubt though, it feels raw there, you're exposed - no wonder they built it there.  A friend of mine said it was an energy sink hole, he found nothing magical about the place. It's strange how many conflicting opinions there are about Stonehenge. It felt worn out but still positive to me, I can imagine that when it was first built, it was much more powerful.  

Sun up - not a great pic

Aaron loved it

People keep using this image on their websites for some reason

Sun fights through the morning mists

The Drove

I loved staying on the Drove. I used to go up when there wasn't an access day.  I met a lovely couple up there who turned out to be friends of another set of friends. It's a small world.  There is a right mix of people who stay on the Drove. There's nothing quite like sitting around a fire, looking up at the stars, listening to people playing guitars or drums and singing or just the silence. And then waking up in the morning and the first thing you see is Stonehenge.  

In recent months, the Drove has become less friendly.  There are a group of haters who target anyone wearing Warband tabbards. If they can't convince you that we are all evil nasty bastards, they threaten you. In one case, someone was told they'd tent would be run over whilst they were in it and whilst they were in the monument, their tent was trashed.  That's not the spirit of the place. Those people are poison but as I said above, it's all becoming more sinister these days.  I don't understand how someone can be so consumed with hate, that they can have nothing in their life but sharing that hatred and trashing everything you do, just because it was Arthur that said it.  It's pathetic, sad and damages relationships within the pagan community.  You don't have to agree with what one group does, but that does not give you the right to defame and set out to destroy them. In every single case, it's over absolutely nothing and one of the main instigators is an ex - hell hath no fury as a woman scorned as they say but come on love, it's been a decade ffs - get over it already!

I met Richard and Darren who were promoting testicular cancer awareness, whilst on the picket with Arthur. EH wouldn't let them in for a photo, so they posed with us instead.  They've raised thousands of £ for cancer research.

Morry, Doro, Aaron, Andrea and Kim - fantastic company

Free Stonehenge picket

WHAT STONEHENGE IS TO ME

I've read some books. I've watched a few documentaries. I've seen the archaeological evidence presented in both and I've spoken with people who have been involved in the digs there. I think that Stonehenge was built to honour the winter solstice - the birth of the sun.  I think that it was a great feast site, a place for many clans to gather and celebrate. I believe that stone circles and the like are like a plug into the energy lines of our world.  Some how those who built them, worked out where to channel this energy through these mighty stones.  As I've discussed in a previous blog, each site has a different kind of energy.  I do not know why or how those blue stones were transported from Wales to Salisbury plains but the intent was enough for them to find a way, which baffles people to this day. These people were exceptionally clever and their craft has been long lost in time.. with our current technological advancements, they still can't work out how these ancient people did it.  I also believe that these places were built to enhance sounds.  I saw a great program that Paul Deveraux did about the importance of acoustics at Newgrange and other sites like Stonehenge.  I just found his book on Amazon about it too.  These ancient peoples worked all of this out without our hi-tech tools, they worked out how to build to enhance the acoustics.  These low frequency sounds created a trance like state, inducing journeying. These weren't burial places, these were places to connect to other dimensions.  Those who have been buried at Stonehenge were deemed to be highly important.  I agree with Arthur and many others that these people were guardians, mostly like a priest-caste and furthermore, placed in their chosen graves as magical protection. I hear people scoff 'how ridiculous' well hello, the peoples who built this great temple weren't like us were they? That's the problem with most of these naysayers - they look at it with modern eyes and views.  These people took hundreds of years building this temple up. They moved rocks from hundreds of miles away and for a sacred purpose. Of course any thing they did there was what we'd call magical.  They weren't simple people - they created a mighty temple that still stands to this day! They created it using methods that modern man cannot comprehend. They created acoustics for gods sake!  

I know what I feel. I feel it in my bones. That said, Stonehenge isn't the be all and end all of the pagan world.  There are other more equally wonderful sacred sites.  You don't have to go to Stonehenge for solstice etc. I do recommend you try it at least once.  Summer solstice attracts about 24,000 people.  People of all walks of life - not everyone who goes to Stonehenge are pagan.  Pagans need to get off their high horses and stop slagging off people who visit this site.  People travel from all over the world to visit this site - who are these haters to say they can't?  These haters who do fuck all to help marshal the solstice, who don't go to the Round Table meetings to positively input in to the event but would rather slag it off.   Winter solstice is more low key - it's always very cold, so wrap up warm.  The equinoxes are also quieter, you also get a lot less time to do your thing.  This is being fought by Arthur and others as many people travel great distances to worship there on these dates and they are treated appallingly.  

I suppose I better wrap this up.  I will leave you with three sources of information that I think you may enjoy.  Obviously, the Warband website has a lot of information on. There's links on there to other sources of information too - worth having a look through.  The other is our friend Dennis Price's writings - a former archaeologist who has been on Time Team and has written a few books on the subject.  Excellent book by Andy Worthington - Stonehenge Celebration and Subversion.

My final thoughts are this. Go and experience this site for yourself. Ignore what everyone else says about it. Go for you. You will either connect or you won't. No one else's opinion will make that any less real.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have and still do.  

More love - less hate.

All

Hylo again!

Well it's the early hours of Friday and I'm itching to get my next blog out. I've lit a candle on my altar, lit a shalimar joss stick (so hard to get hold of now) and have some Nigel Shaw playing. What's this... and some honey jack and mead to hand. Ace... so let's start.

To be or not to be

To be standing in the sun

To be bathed with light

To be intouch with yourself

To be surrounded by natures beauty

To be part of spirit

To be one with it All

To be one with it All

Standing in the sun

Arms stretched out wide

Twirling in the sunshine

Absorbing the healing rays

Soaking in the light

Feeling elevated and free

At one with it All

A physical body

A free spirit

As it should be

We are all connected. You've heard of the 7 degrees of separation and those on Facebook, are always amazed by 'mutual' friend connections. With the advent of the internet, this is becoming a very small world indeed.  There are other ways of being connected of course, those who are open to the All can link in to people and the places around them.  I haven't tried to explain this before, it's more difficult than I thought.

The moment you climb over the sand dunes and see the vast expanse of the sea. The salty air whips your hair in gentle wildness, the waves crash on the beach and the gulls cry.  The sun breaks through the clouds and beams on the sea.  Or maybe the moon reflecting millions of smaller moons on the forever moving surface. That moment you feel in awe of the scene, the rawness of nature and feel that awesome connection to the All.

(Click the pictures to view full sized)

Whitby Regatta

Oh the moon! You step outside to empty the bins and look up to the clear nights sky. Stars and planets beam their lights down and we feel part of it All.  Small in the great Universe but still part of it. Or my personal favourite, you're lying in bed and the full moon fills the world with silver. So you open your curtains and lie there in it's silvery liquid magic. And it is magic to me.

That moment you're standing near trees and can hear the wind blowing the leaves, reminding you of the sea as it hits the beach.  The feeling of growth under your feet as the roots reach down, the bark and the endless patterns before you as it envelopes everything, the colours of the leaves and the dapples the sun makes.  The sense of beauty and life and life within this living ancient thing. Connection to the spirit of the All.

The way you can stop walking in a seemingly plain place and stand there, still, absorbing the life around you. The birds calls - mating, protecting, warning, greeting.  The little usually unseen creatures darting past like you're not there.  The grasses waving in the breeze. The river eddies swirling, rippling, running forever on as life goes on under it's surface.  The clouds up above - huge rain clouds or high wispy ones. The colours of the day as it starts and ends - the world as it becomes lighter and darker.

Princes Risborough

Watching our creatures of the the world. That moment an owl swoops across your vision as you drive along, lit up by your headlights, a ghostly wonder. I love seeing owls, it makes me smile.  Or seeing a huge buzzard being chased off by a gang of crows.  Crows... I could watch them all day! They don't take any shit of anyone, regardless whether it's prey or maybe a great hulking grey heron. They stand their ground, chase off any invaders and protect their territories.  Their calls change in the year too. You get the spring time calling of their territories, their body bobbing up and down with each shout, tales go up.  Then there's the mating game shortly after this.  They seem to go somewhere for a couple of weeks in the summer and you suddenly realise it's been rather quiet outside, the usual racket has dimmed.  Then they are back.  Crows are fun to watch.  I used to spend hours gazing out of the window at their antics.  That is where my name comes from... which is for another blog!

White Crow

Crow at Castlerigg

Then there are the extraordinary places. Those truly sacred places built to honour something long gone from a world that demands evidence and proof or reason.  Yet these places tap into something deep inside our psyche and wake us up. We are drawn there, we feel the need to gather there, to raise our cups and give thanks to our ancestors who built them thousands of years before us.  These places can be a great stone circle, a burial chamber, a henge or perhaps ancient woodlands with trees that saw out world wars, some times hundreds of years old, standing guard, watching over Time as it sifts past.  We connect to our ancestors there, we wonder how they built these great stone circles and why.  The scenery is usually wild and spectacular too, add the rising or setting sun and the world around this space explodes into colour.

As I said to Warwick Davies whilst filming at Long Meg last summer; each place is different, each place has it's own special kind of energy.  Long Meg is peaceful, serene and calming. Castlerigg was described by a friend of mine as buzzing and feels like you've been sandblasted clean.  Stonehenge is a wonder. You drive down the road and there it is - a WOW feeling, inspite of the fences and the fact it's being milked as a giant cash cow.  Avebury - each part of it is different. It's best to go when there isn't a Gorsedd on!  I find it peaceful and it radiates great power too.  My favourite place is Uffington White Horse. Over 3000 years old, 'ta'int how a horse looks like, it's how it be'  (as Terry Pratchett so aptly describes it via Granny Aching). The sky is huge under that hill and those hills just pop out of a relatively flat landscape. It's almost like someone has tried to fold it into pleats too. At the bottom of the hill is Dragon Hill. At the top of the hill a mile up the path is Waylands Smithy.  You can't help but stand on that hill, by the Eye and get lost in the world surrounding you.

Filming at Long Meg

Long Meg and her sisters

Uffington White Horse

Avebury

Stonehenge

Uffington White Horse - one of my all time fav pics

For those moments you stand there, connected to All around you. It takes your breath away. You are aware of that moment that you are part of it All. All of this without adding people, ritual, ceremonies, mead or a specific day of the cycle.

Meridians - we are all connected.  Before getting absorbed in coloured candles and all the trappings of ritualised dogma, take the time to connect to the Universe first.  Plant your feet in the richness of the life all around you. Feel the life forces in everything.  Become part of it All.  Otherwise, without that connection, you have no real power because you cannot truly understand what you are not really part of.  How can you heal if you cannot connect to the Universe, to channel it, to be the vessel? Exactly!

I'm proud to say that took all of these images (more here). I see the world and capture it for a moment. My final word is you can find beauty in anything if you plug in and open your eyes, all your eyes.

Love really is All around!