{"id":53,"date":"2023-12-21T09:03:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T09:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mochiandcolleen.com\/England_2023\/?p=53"},"modified":"2024-01-22T15:02:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T15:02:46","slug":"stonehenge-solstice-sunset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mochiandcolleen.com\/England_2023\/stonehenge-solstice-sunset\/","title":{"rendered":"Stonehenge- Solstice Sunset"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colleen and I were the first to awake and we dressed in our running clothes and put on our running shoes and stepped outside. The skies were overcast and the wind was blowing hard. A low NE of the British Isles was driving strong winds from the SE. Our host was in the garden and he looked us over and said in his clipped British accent \u201cYou goin’ for a run eh?\u201d \u201cGoing to have a look at the stones, \u201c I replied \u201cYou know how to get there?\u201d he asked and we told him it was the first thing we asked his wife after she had shown us the cottage. \u201cCross the road, go up a bit and look for the farmers gate on the left then follow the paths\u201d \u201cRight you are\u201d he smiled, \u201chave fun\u201d he said and off we went.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We found the gate and passed through and were on a dirt track that we curved around a copse of trees where it straightened out and ran North between sheep fields. The way was flat but the 20mph wind and the occasional gust as high as 40mph made for a bit of go at it as we ran straight into it. On both sides were large fenced off fields containing sheep and foraging ravens. The track turned East and we passed through another gate heading North and as the track turned West before a small copse of trees the stones came into view on a rise to the Northwest. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Excitedly I passed though another gate and ran down through a field and turned onto a path that rose up and was crowned by the iconic stone ring. I jumped a final fence out of the field onto a narrow path that ran along the low fenced perimeter of the stones. There were several security personnel inside the stone circle and I walked the path taking in the sight of the ancient stone circle in the morning sun the low clouds scudding overhead upon the wind. I had camera with me and I took some pictures. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Turning back I jumped the fence back into the field and was running back down the slope when I came across Colleen who though she had not reached the stones opted to turn back and return with me. It was much easier to run with the wind at our backs. I had past informational signs on the way to the stones but hadn’t bothered to stop and read them but on the way back I stopped at a sign on a fence that said the copses of trees we could see among the fields were laid out by farmers 200 years ago to commemorate Nelson naval victory at the Nile in 1798. Each clump of trees represents a British or French ship position at the time of the battle. Apparently this area compels the building of monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at the cottage Ambiana was gone, out on a walk down to the River Avon and Jakobi was still asleep. When Ambiana got back we woke up Jakobi, ate breakfast and decided after a bit of a back and forth to walk to the site rather than drive. I wanted to drive as our tickets were for a timed entry of 12:30 and was worried we’d miss our times lot if walking into the wind slowed us down but when I checked the website to download an audio guide I found that the site was closed due to adverse weather. I was perplexed. It was just a bit windy, why would they close the site and the visitor center because of that? So walk it was. I set off before the others in case the site opened while we were walking and told them I’d meet them at the visitor center.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I retraced my running route through the fields and gates this time reading the information on the boards as I passed. I learned that in the copse of trees on the ridge above the stones are burial mounds called the New King Barrows dating from the Bronze age around 2300BC and at the gate leading down into the shallow valley before the final rise to the stones I read that the this approach to the stones through the fields is called The Avenue and is lined with parallel banks and ditches that are still visible and runs from the River Avon through fields to this gate and continues right up to the entrance of the Stonehenge. It was built over 4,000 years ago and is the ceremonial approach to the sacred stones.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Going through the gate I saw up ahead on the path outside the stones a large group of people and my hopes were raised that the site had opened but when I got there I found it was still closed and the group was from a tour bus parked on the other side of the field and were accessing the site from the sheep field just like me. I spoke with a Scottish security guard who told me they were closed because of the amount of rain the area has received combined with the high winds led to fears of trees being uprooted. He said they would re-assess at 2pm.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I could see Colleen, Ambiana and Jakobi making their way in the distance and I chatted with a guy on a bike who told me he was here at sunrise and there was a group of people holding a ceremony led by a chap named Merlin which he found both amusing and unoriginal. Colleen, Ambiana & Jakobi joined me and we chatted our security guard friend some more who told us they were unlikely to open today and just as unlikely to NOT open tomorrow on the winter solstice as a legal battle with protests and such had been fought by those seeking access to the stones on cultural and religious grounds and it would not do to close the site when upwards of 5000 people were expected tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We wandered back to the stones, Colleen did a dance for our family dance video and we listened to some of the audio guide on my phone and gazed upon the stones. The sun was fully out now, the sky blue and full of racing clouds and it was still super windy. Ambiana and Jakobi were both enthralled by the sheep and we debated what to do. I wanted to stick around until sunset because why not we were here and it was the solstice so we walked back down the Avenue and up to the copse of trees containing the New King Barrows. These were large grass covered mounds surrounded by ancient trees and a copse of wood. The mounds date from around 200BC and contain the burial of a single individual either buried or cremated along with personal possessions such as tools, pottery and jewelry made of jet, amber and gold.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We climbed up on the nearest mounds and sat out of the wind in its lee eating our lunch, listening to the wind in the tree and enjoying being a family of four again. After we had ate and relaxed a bit Ambiana & Jakobi got up and climbed one of the large ancient trees and we met a hiker named Matthew with backpack and a stick who emerged out of the woods. He had biked 30 miles here and planned to sleep in the woods tonight and be at the stones for sunrise tomorrow. Sunset was an hour or so off and low dark clouds full of rain were moving in.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I checked my weather app and saw it was a small band so we sat in the lee of the ancient tree while the squall blew horizontal sheets of rain across the downs for 20 minutes and when the sun reappeared along with a rainbow we joined Matthew and others coming out of the the small copses of trees all across the fields and as we processed down The Avenue I noticed in the sky overhead a half moon floating among the clouds. <\/p>\n\n\n

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As we started up the final rise of the Avenue to the stones we were walking into the bright butter rich light of the golden sun lowering above the standing stones. It was really beautiful and powerful and felt magical and sacred as we added our footsteps to those who had walked this same way on the solstice eve over thousands and thousands of years.<\/p>\n\n\n

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When we reached the the stones there were maybe 50-60 people gathered on the lane outside the perimeter fence gazing at the stones, taking pictures and milling about all near the Heel Stone. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The Heel Stone set apart from the stone circle is aligned with the Avenue and the entrance to the stone circle. A long bronze line inlaid in the grass beside the Heel Stone pointed to the Summer Solstice Sunrise in the East and the Winter Solstice Sunset in the West. Standing in the center of the circle at the Summer Solstice at sunrise and facing the Heel Stone you would see the sun rise in the NE behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Here now on Winter Solstice Eve standing behind the Heel Stone and gazing towards the circle the sun sets beside the lone remaining stone of the Great Trilithon (Greek for three stones). The Great Trilithon consisted of two upright stones capped with a horizontal lintel. The stones were locked together with mortar and tenon joints and on top of the remaining upright stone you can see the rounded bump of the tenon. In ancient days when the Great Trilithon was complete the sun when viewed from the Heel Stone would have set dramatically; dropping down the narrow gap between the two upright stones. That the site was closed was now a blessing as there were no people around the stones and they stood alone in their sacred majesty It was all golden light and timeless. <\/p>\n\n\n

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A group of people led by a long bearded wild haired man in a white robe carrying a crystal topped staff made of a yew branch appeared outside the fence and set up an alter to the four directions in the sheep field aligned with the Avenue, the Heel Stone and the tenon topped stone of the Great Trilithon in the circle beside which the sun would set. The group formed a circle and we climbed back over the fence into the sheep field and asked to join and were invited in along with a few others who were not part of the original group. There were about 40 of us in the circle and some were shifted about so the Druids who were the Keepers of the Directions were in their appropriate spots and then we all joined hands and the long bearded wild haired white robed man began the ceremony and led us as we chanted the sacred word OAEIUM<\/strong><\/em> three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We turned and faced East, South West and North as each direction was called welcoming in to our circle the guardians and spirits of each and asking for their blessings. A loaf of bread was then passed around the circle. A Druid to Jakobi’s right explained to her what to d; \u201coffer the bread and say \u201cMay You Never Be Hungry\u201d then take a chunk of bread and either eat it or offer it to the Earth\u201d. Jakobi tore a chunk, ate it and turned to me saying \u201cMay You Never Go Hungry\u201d as she passed me the loaf. I too tore a chunk and ate it and then passed the loaf, speaking the blessing, to the woman next to me in the circle. Next a horn of Honey Mead was passed round with the blessing \u201cMay You Never Be Thirsty\u201d and from it we drank and passed it on.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Behind us the sun was sinking towards the stones bathing everything in warm golden light. Most of the people were turned towards the sunset, phones raised capturing the moment but some were turned our way watching the ceremony. The Keeper of the South, a beautiful fox faced Druid Priestess in a white dress and shawl with a black hat implored us all to be the love and light that the world sorely needs at this moment, to count our blessings and manifest peace and love and know that we are all sacred beings of light born of the stars and alive in a magical realm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We joined hands in a circle again, thanked the directions turning to each in turn and chanted the sacred word again three times in closing. Then the long beard wild haired white robed man who was addressed by the others as Merlin called the Keeper of the West, a striking cocoa colored woman with long dreadlocks, into the center of the circle and pulling a sword from his staff of yew touched her three times as she said her vows and then proclaimed her a priestess in their Druidic Order. She was clearly moved both by the honor and the auspicious time it was conferred and tears of joy streamed down her as well as other faces in the circle as they moved in to congratulate and embrace her.. It was a beautiful ritual in a most sacred place at a most sacred time with the solstice sun setting behind the timeless circle of stones. I could not help but feel a connection to our own Green Mountain Druids Ivan and Fearn and their circle of stones in Vermont linked to this one here in Amesbury.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The circle broke up and we hopped the fence again and found Matthew and took some final pictures with him. We then took our leave pausing to thank the two priestesses, Keepers of the South & West for allowing us to partake in their ceremony. They were very friendly and eager to know a bit about us; where were are from and why we are here. They told us it was a good thing that we got to experience a small intimate ceremony at solstice sunset because tomorrow at sunrise there will be so much going on but how special it will be to be among the stones and able to touch them. We parted with smiles and with the half moon overhead keeping watch over us made our way back down The Avenue and the two and a half miles through the fields to our cottage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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