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A free event I hold every year is the Sacred Landscape tour; exploring the ancient history and astronomy of Avebury and Stonehenge.
Wiltshire is home to hundreds of ancient burial sites and monuments: Stone Circles, Burial mounds, Long Barrows, White Horses - and the odd crop circle - all spread out along straight lines in open wonderful countryside. One of these lines runs from Avebury, through the only Long Barrow open to the public at West Kennet, through a hill with another Long Barrow and a White Horse on it, through the centre of Stonehenge and right through Old Sarum and Salisbury cathedral and down to Hengistbury head at Christchurch - and off into the sea … and onwards. A description of the day follows in a moment. It's a relaxed day of driving and walking and sometimes people bring children, dogs, friends Etc. I always bring lots of bent coat hangers (easy Dowsing Rods) and show people the basic idea of dowsing on top of West Kennet Long Barrow - kids (of every age) are amazed when the rods move by themselves in their hands ...
If you wish to join us then I'd love to have you come along.
The Sacred Landscape, Ley line day route and approximate timing:
9.45/10.00am: We meet at Avebury, in the car park by the Henge Shop - opposite the post office. Please ensure you find this car park. We then walk around the circle, clockwise, have a brief look in the shop ... and then jump into our cars and move onto the next site to look at. It is always hard to predict the precise timing because of different people's walking speeds, or the numbers of questions people ask Etc. We'll take a brief look at Silbury Hill and the Sanctuary and view the Avebury landscape in a wider context. After looking at the Long Barrow at West Kennet, the largest in the country, and we can go inside it, we take our packed lunches and picnic goodies onto the top of the hill at Alton Barnes White Horse and take a well earned rest on a ley-line looking out over Salisbury Plain stretched beneath us. Next comes our drive to Stonehenge and look at the landscape that surrounds and frames it before moving on to Old Sarum Hill Fort. The day usually ends for most people at Old Sarum - where you can easily see 3 ley-line points from the brow of the hill - around 5.00pm. Sometimes, the more adventurous people follow the line all the way to the sea and have fish and chips on the beach at Hengistbury Head (and maybe a chilly evening swim - warmed up with a little more beer). It's a very 'buzzy day' of walking along (and driving along) powerful energy lines that seems to give people a mid-summer boost once a year - talking of Esoteric things, Astrology, Psychology, History, Magik, Hypnosis and a range of conversations that naturally happen in such open minded company. Let me know if you wish to join us on these esoteric adventures Some pictures now follow, with a rough timetable at the end. If you wish to join us then please let me know - there is no charge or fee. Many thanks, and I hope we'll see you on this day of open hearted fun.
The Ley of the Land: the history and astronomy of Avebury are discussed on the move. Before we begin, an overview of the site helps to place the day in context
The North Western quarter
Through the cove: walking north east through the northern inner circle
Sighting a Stone: alignments in the northern quarter
Walking the northern embankment
Beautiful tree roots crown the eastern embankment ... and the ramparts, rich with plant life and animals, circle the temple
Walking the southern ridge
Avebury: the southern circle looking south
Then we leave Avebury ...
and drive out alongside the Kennet Stone Avenue ...
past Lammas Barrows ...
and on to look at Silbury Hill: the largest Man-made-mound in Europe - the design of which is uncannily close to an Egyptian Step Pyramid - very close to Avebury (about 3 minutes drive) Ley Hunters @ Silbury, 2005
Then, back to the Ley line and nearby West Kennet Long Barrow - 1986 West Kennet Long Barrow is a multi-chambered site you can go inside and look around. It is sited on a ley-line that runs directly from Avebury, through West Kennet, Adams Grave (another long barrow) at Alton Barns (just by a White Horse) and on through the centre of Stonehenge ...
The entrance stones are huge, but it's only easy to gauge their size ...
When you are next to them and who know's what or who you'll find ...
When you go inside ... The multi chambered tomb
with it's Stonework reminiscent of Midhowe, Orkney
it makes a pefect spot for dowsing or teaching others how ...
the Bronze Age Round Barrows at The Sanctuary watch as if guardians of the valley
The Sanctuary itself makes better sense with a bird's eye view
Luckilly, there's a National Trust picture at the site ...
A natural sport of discussing the origin and purpose of his once sacred place before we move on once more ...
'Adams Grave' Long Barrow at Alton Barnes: a Neolithic Camp it's quite a hike ...
and amazing when you get there and if the weather's right ...
we can walk further to the White Horse ... for a picnic lunch looking down on Salisbury Plain beneath us ... or
have our picnic by the canal looking up at the White Horse if it's too windy ... or
a hot meal at the pub if it's too chilly for people ... from the top of the ridgeway you can see, not only Salisbury Plain and Pewsey White Horse ... You can often see lots of Crop Circles too Crop circle to the east of Adam's Grave: the 'Led Zeppelin' field
Crop circle to the south east of Adam's Grave with Pewsey Vale in the distance crop circle to the west of Adam's Grave and then onto the Sacred Landscape of Stonehenge 1st stop - Woodhenge
Woodhenge - now represented with ... concrete posts, was once a spectacular set of circles made of ... Wood and nearby, is the spectacular Durrington Walls
The latest dig, which we can visit, is revealing a great deal of imprtant information ...
A Neolithic square dwelling (reminiscent of Midhowe, Orkney) with a hearth near the front of the picture and Iron Age grain storage pits in the middle and distance On the first Ley Line day of 2006, we were lucky enough to find the inner wooden circles of Durrington Walls still open to excavation. We were shown the post-holes and even saw the origininal antler-tools sticking out of the chalk ... from all that time ago - amazing ... and ...
also amazing are King's Ridge Barrows
and, when you get to the top ...
You can see Stonehenge before you and thousands of years of our history ...
A talk on the Histrory and Cultural Astronomy of Stonehenge and it's Sacred Landscape then, to our last stop on the Ley Line tor ...
Old Sarum: the original settlement of what is now known as Salisbury Old Sarum in its hey-day
and Old Sarum today ... It's a wonderful day out, and a great way to meet new people ...
and Old Sarum is a great place to chill ... with new friends ...
and to then stand ...
on the exact spot ...
Where you can see clearbury Ring
on the other side of the valley - with Salisbury Cathedrial in alignment ...
and knowing you are standing on the third point - Old Sarum ...
This alignment cuts right through ... Clearbury Ring, Salisbury Cathedral, Old Sarum, Stonehenge, King's Ridge Barrows, Adam's Grave, West Kennet Long Barrow and Avebury The purple dotted line shows the ley line. The blue solid line shows the route we drive and ... in just a short while, we will have a private hour inside the inner circle of Stonehnege
by Moonlight ...
if you've booked your space for this magikal night already you'll know it's awesome ...
Britain contains some of the finest examples of stone circles and standing stones in existence. Although referred to as circles and rings, most sites are not circular at all, but are flattened circles, elliptical, and sometimes-even egg shaped. The problem with the study of the megalithic period is not the physical evidence, stone circles, burial mounds and remains of round houses abound. Instead, the problem faced by historians and archaeologists is the lack of written evidence about the culture of the time. Megalithic man may have been extremely cleaver at construction methods; and indeed mathematics, but he appears not to have been literate and therefore never recorded anything of his cultural heritage. Many have studied the circles and there are many arguments about their purpose. What has become clear however is that these circles and rings are works of great mathematical genius, most can be used to calculate the time of year, phase of the moon and some can even be used to calculate solar eclipses. The vast majority of megalithic sites and artefacts can be found on the western side of England and throughout the whole of Wales and eastern Scotland. This is not to say that people of other parts of the country did not build circles. The areas where megaliths survive today have good sources of rock so this was used in construction, whereas people in the other areas used wood, Sea Henge being good evidence of this practice.
Alfred Watkins first described Leylines in his 1920s book on the subject. His definition runs something line this..."an alignment of ancient sites marking the position of traders' tracks", however much conjecture has continued about their true purpose.
Theosophists and those who follow more New Age philosophies often view Ley Lines as having a marked significance. Ley lines are said to be electromagnetic energy lines that run through the Earth, in perfect straight lines. It is said that if you meditate, or do some 'creative visualisation', on a Ley line that the results of your healing/meditation/ well-wishing will be more pronounced, as if the energy of the lines gave your natural psychic powers an additional boost.
Those in ancient times, so it is said, could not only sense, or feel, the lines they could quite clearly see them as well, and, given the additional power one receives in 'sending thought-energy' ancient man lived by, or on, these lines of power. Temples were placed on them, and so too were the burial grounds of the ancestors, communal places of worship and iconic figures - carved into the hills and best viewed from the air, which raises so many questions ...
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