Now is divine
unleashed, alive
Cross the divide
eyes open wide
Tomorrow thrives
when stars collide
Stonehenge, near Amesbury, England, 2005
Photo by: c.b.w.
– – –
c.b.w. 2012
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Step Into Stonehenge
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I would love to venture to Stonehenge someday. Nice picture.
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I was more effected by it than I thought I would be. I wish I could explain it better than “it’s a magical place” but nothing better comes to mind! 🙂
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Me, too! I heard that they recreated Stonehenge for tourists and that the real one is off limits because it’s deteriorating. Do you know if this is true or not?
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I know when I went they had it roped off so you couldn’t get too close to it. The only time they allow people to walk among the stones is during the summer solstice and even then I think its restricted. I’ve never heard about a recreated Stonehenge and I hope its not true.
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They haven’t replicated it, if that’s what you meant (except I believe that there’s a replica in Wyoming or somewhere, made of concrete), but what I mean is that the original is still where it is, and there isn’t a separate replica off-site.
I was lucky enough to visit Stonehenge when I was in my teens, at which time it wasn’t roped off and you could wander amongst the stones. I was also able to visit Scara Brae in the Orkneys before they built the visitor centre and so on. One used to be able to walk over the dunes along a rough path and suddenly there were these neolithic houses – right there in front of you! I couldn’t hold back the tears. It was almost like the occupants had just popped out to go fishing or something. I wouldn’t go back there now they have a visitor centre with a cafe, exhibition, bookshop, reproduction of the inside of a house, and so on.
As for Stonehenge, I used to get annoyed at all the fuss and frolic made by neo-pagans and the (modern, self-styled) order of Druids about access to the place. It had nothing to do with the Druids, being abandoned by the Druidic era, and all the stuff the 20c neo-pagans were coming up with was, as far as I was concerned, a load of twaddle out of their own imagination and probable a million miles away from what the original use of the stones was. To me it was just a disrespectful mis-appropriation of a monument to concerted human effort by a bunch of half-baked hippies. I still feel somewhat that way, but I have tempered and modified my atitude. Over the centuries since Stonehenge was built, up to the point when it was abandoned, there is archaeological evidence that it was re-aligned, added to, taken away from, successive generations, even that it was abandoned and re-used later on some occasions. So all the modern chase-me-round-the-maypole gubbins, notwithstanding it irritates the heck out of me, kind of carries that succession of re-appropriation on, so I might as well shrug my shoulders and smile benevolently.
M
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“eyes open wide” great line. Love the photo.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Makes me think of the Outlander Series. Magical, that. 🙂
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I haven’t seen that show in years! Ha! 🙂
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It’s a book series from a few years ago by Diana Gabaldon. Going into the circle of stones took into the past–it’s magic.:-)
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Ah, I’ve seen the books, but have never read them. I may have to . . .
🙂
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reminds me of how i felt the first time i saw the Pantheon and the Pieta in Rome. Moved beyond measure…..
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You know, the Pantheon did the same thing to me. There is something amazing about that place! 🙂
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Looks like a wonderful place. Hope to visit one day myself!
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I hope you do. If I may offer some advice, take a moment to sit in the grass and simply breathe it all in. It’s worth the few extra minutes. 🙂
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M –
When I went to Stonehenge, I was lucky to get it mostly to myself. I must have caught it in between busloads. I often wonder how different the experience would have been with throngs of people everywhere and I consider myself pretty lucky to be with stones in a moment of stillness. The history of that place is muddled at best, but I think that’s what so magical for me. How many people across the centuries have poured their souls into believing something so deeply? It’s an interesting thing to ponder while sitting in the grass. 🙂
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AH! Stonehenge. It’s been on my bucket list since I can remember! Love it!
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It’s still among my favorite places. There is something quite “magical” about it. 🙂
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