Would You Eat Your Lunch in a Cathedral?
Musing at Scorhill Stone Circle, England by Elyn Aviva
We trudged up the bleak hill, brown and barren. My husband, Gary, and I were hiking with a small group in desolate, wild Dartmoor National Park to a place we’d never been, following a faint path through the moor, a track barely visible in the water-logged, peaty soil. Our guide informed us that people can easily lose their way on the moors—experienced hikers, skilled in reading maps, disappear, their bodies found years later.
Clearly, we were entering a dangerous place, a place “in-between” the known and unknown worlds. Specifically, we were going to Scorhill (AKA Gidleigh) Stone Circle, one of the largest and most intact stone circles in Devon: approximately 27 meters (88’) in diameter, originally composed of between 51 to 70 upright stones. Now, only 34 remain.
I saw a knee-high standing stone next to a tiny glistening pool. “Is that an entry marker for the stone circle?” I asked and pointed. Our guide said, “No, it’s just a stone.” But I felt drawn to it. I walked over to the narrow granite slab and greeted it, centering myself for a few minutes. Suddenly my eyes filled with tears, my perception shifted, and I felt myself become a pilgrim on a journey rather than an ambler on an outing. This was puzzling but perhaps not so surprising: the moor was filled with an almost palpable primordial energy. Silently, I asked permission to continue on this path. I waited for an equally silent response.
Permission granted, I moved more slowly now, more intentionally, sensing myself a participant in an invisible ritual procession across the moorland. I seemed to be journeying not only through space but also back through time.
I followed the trail over rolling hills until a large circle of standing stones came into view on the slope below me: Scorhill Stone Circle is its modern name, but I heard within me its true name, “Holy Place between Two Hills beside a River.” Places like this, I somehow knew, were too sacred to be referred to more directly. Just as observant Jews will not pronounce the name of God but use circumlocutions, and the TV character Horace Rumpole referred to his wife as “She who must be obeyed,” so, too, this holy place was respectfully referred to by a description, not a name.
I wept at the sight of this ruined temple. Some of the granite stones were broken, others on their sides. Of the original stones, 23 stood upright, 11 recumbent. In its prime, each stone had been carefully placed in just the right location, forming a circle of energy, an interface for humanity to encounter the Cosmos. Standing in the center of the circle, you can still watch the sun set over the tip of the highest stone, 8’ tall, on Midsummer’s Eve—the Summer Solstice—connecting earth to heaven, humans to seasons and cycles. Other astronomical alignments now lie hidden beneath the sadly shifted stones.
I approached gently, walking slowly around the periphery, knowing that I had been given permission to come here but not yet permission to enter. While I circumambulated, our guide described the purpose of several of the stones. “Lean against the tall stone in the northwest for accessing creativity. Lean against the shorter triangular one in the northeast for wisdom.” Our guide then strode through the circle and sat against a chosen stone to meditate.
Although we were far from the nearest settlement, we were not alone. Hikers strolled into the circle, accompanied by dogs on leashes. A family with young children played a game of hide and seek. Someone sat on an upturned menhir and pulled out his picnic lunch. A young couple took photos of themselves posing in unusual positions against the stones.
I watched in horror, seeing with eyes from a different, ancient time. I wanted to raise my arms and scream: “Would you eat your lunch in the middle of a cathedral? Have you asked permission to enter these hallowed grounds? This is a temple, not a playground! This is sacred land, not a photo op!”
But I restrained myself, making do with ranting to my beloved Gary that people need to honor these places, even if they don’t know what they were built for. Ignorance was no excuse for such abysmal rudeness. Who gave them permission to enter this sacred site? Would you barge into a stranger’s house without so much as knocking on the door? Of course, most people never even think to ask.
As Gary and I talked, I realized that my outrage has a larger source, a bigger circumference: it came from my concern about how we commoditize nearly everything. We modern humans tend to view things as objects for our use and misuse. Using this sacred circle of stones as a picnic ground or a photo backdrop were just obvious examples of how we treat things as commodities. We ask: what can we get out of it—sexual energy, wisdom, a “selfie” photo shot—not what can we do for it. It’s about taking, not giving.
We commoditize sacred sites. We commoditize Gaia, the Earth herself, seeing her as a source of metals and petroleum and whatever else we think we need and want to take. We commoditize each other.
Even with good intentions, sacred sites can easily be turned into commodities. Stonehenge, for example, has a new visitors’ center aimed at providing a bigger, better commercial—and educational—opportunity to the myriad tourists who want to see the famous monument. In order to provide a more “authentic” experience, the nearby road has been removed. Now you have to either walk over a mile or take a 10-minute shuttle ride. From there, you circle the monument on a carefully laid-out sidewalk with strategically placed benches.
You can’t get close to the stones. The sidewalk is bordered by a protective defensive cordon. You can only experience the monument visually, and only from a distance. Unless, that is, you want to take the next step in commoditization and pay extra for a private “special access” tour, one you may be sharing with up to 24 other people. And even then, you still can’t touch the stones. Guards keep an eagle eye to make sure you don’t lean against them to feel their temperature, their texture, their energy.
I know it is a difficult and complex thing to manage the impact of 800,000 tourists a year who want to visit Stonehenge. I presume the management at Stonehenge (and other similar sites, like the Carnac Alignments in Brittany) is intended to protect these ancient sites from being destroyed by their own popularity. But it seems to me the true purpose of these sites has been forgotten or intentionally ignored: they weren’t tourist attractions, they were sacred sites. They are sacred sites. And some still hold the energies with which they were constructed.
At places like Scorhill Stone Circle there are no ticket kiosks, no audio guides, no souvenir shops. There is no management, no control, and no external protection of the site. At such places we have the rare opportunity to interact directly with an ancient sacred site. Standing before the stones in the “Holy Place between Two Hills beside a River,” I realized that with this opportunity comes responsibility. Instead of asking, “What can this site do for me?” I felt compelled to ask, “How can I honor and protect this powerful place?”
Elyn Aviva is a transformational traveler, writer, and fiber artist who lives in Girona, Spain. Her blog is www.powerfulplaces.com/blog. Her most recent book is Where Heaven and Earth Unite – Powerful Places, Sacred Sites, and You,” co-authored with Ferran Blasco. She is co-author with her husband, Gary White, of “Powerful Places Guidebooks.” To learn more about her publications, go to www.powerfulplaces.com and www.pilgrimsprocess.com. To learn about Elyn’s fiber art, go to www.fiberalchemy.com.
27 Comments
Reader Comments (27)
A wise and wondrous piece of writing about the importance of listening and paying attention. For a world so buffeted by religion Elyn aptly describes how we have lost our sense of the sacred.
Thanks, Nancy!
I am posting for Caitlín Matthews (writer, teacher, mentor extraordinaire), who couldn't get her comment to post:
We have not all lost our sense of the sacred but, like townies who forget the necessity of closing gates in the country, have become ignorant in some areas of perception. Many years ago I took an Oxford student to Avebury for an initiation: her fellow students from Oxford had also chosen this day to visit Avebury. In the middle of the ritual in which we were both engaged, my student put her head in her hands as her fellow students rolled off the coach, climbed on the stones and monkeyed about. I said to her quietly, 'But they won't behave like this when they reach Salisbury Cathedral!' I've been to many places in a sacred capacity over the years: not all the spirits and ancestors are shocked and horrified by families eating and children playing: some ancestors like this. It's possible to eat and play in a recollected fashion, after all. How we comport ourselves at sacred places is a matter of re-education in these days. I've written a good deal on this topic: it is by our example that we do this best.
Many blessings
Caitlín Matthews
Website for courses, books etc: www.hallowquest.org.uk
My divination blogsite: http://caitlin-matthews.blogspot.com/
Traditional Lenormand Guild: http://lenormandguild.wordpress.com/
You raise questions that flow from something deeper than ourselves--from the collective energy we all share that is crying out for us to remember...remember.. Thanks for the reminder to walk softly upon this sacred and hallowed earth--for it is all sacred.
Thank you, Caitlín, for your comments. Yes, some place do welcome celebration and feasting--let us hope we can learn to be discerning and respectful of what is called for. And Linda--thank you for your reminder about walking softly on this sacred earth.
Elyn
What a thought provoking article Elyn! How do we care for our sacred sites, or even for some recognize them? We have to change the outlook of many people to what constitutes a sacred site. Is it a stone circle, holy well, cathedral, or a beautiful place outdoors? How do we approach each of these? I think if we each start by bringing awareness to our family, friends, networks, and more we can change the outlook little by little.
Love your article! Thanks.
Thank you, Karen. And thank you for the work you do with Boulder Master Builders to educate people about the power of the land and sacred sites.
Your writing opens the heart to what we know in the deepest sense. Honoring the sacred within is the beginning. All else becomes sacred from there. Your words ignite the eternal flame that remembers its source. Thank you for being a conduit and lighting the way.
Elyn, as I was reading your article the words transported me to the sacred site. I could feel the energy with every sentence. Thank you for your thought provoking article regarding sacred sites. The issue posed has many facets and hopefully these places will be treasured and honored.
Thank you, Marika and Laura for your supportive comments. My prayer is that this blogpost is of service to Gaia, the planet, the sacred places of this world. They are everywhere we stand. They are within each of us as well as all around us. Please share this post if you feel so moved, so that these words spread out into the atmosphere and sprinkle down like gentle rain....
Blessings,
Elyn
a moving account, and great pictures too. I must try and visit this circle soon ! it's always been a bit of an unanswered question for me as to what we should "do" , if anything at these old sites so carefully constructed by our ancestors. I have been at circles which were tangibly "charged" but seemed completely indifferent to my naive attempts to "tune in" and at times have found the energy of children running around and playing has somehow "wakened" the energies there. my most moving experiences have been in the long barrows (both whole and ruined) which to me seem to have been designed as an interface between people and the deep ancestral and earth energies. i feel especially inspired to sing and chant in these places. making offerings at the stones and gathering with a group that has an intention to "connect" is something I would like to explore more in the future. I always come back to RJ Stewart's teaching that the stones were put there for us by our ancestors, and meditate on the many layers of this simple truth. Thanks for the blog btw , I hope in later years when my responsibilities are fewer I can walk the old paths and find more time to be in these special places and experience the mysteries they hold.
Ooooo, I'd love to be with you, Rohan, when you sing and and chant and make music at these places! Let me know your plans.... Yes, it IS a question about what we should/could/ought to do/not do at these sites. We didn't build them. We can't know exactly how they were used, though sometimes we get an inkling or a vision.... Astronomical alignments, communal ceremonies, maybe feasting and celebration, maybe enhancing the energies of the area, enabling healing and visionary experiences... As you know, each circle is different, as are the long barrows. Tuning in to the uniqueness of the place and honoring it.
And yes indeed, sometimes they seem still and unresponsive, and then you walk quickly around them 3x, or children start to play, and they "wake up" for interaction--or maybe it is more accurate to say that WE "wake up" for interaction....
I always begin by asking permission. Sometimes granted, sometimes not. (I can tell a sobering story about my experience at Boscawen-un circle in Penwith, Cornwall--maybe in another blog.) And I ask how I may be of service--sometimes I am "told" something to do, often not-. Sometimes the "being of service" is in the acknowledgement and honoring of these sacred places.
Blessings,
Elyn
just been reading the chapter on standing stones and the musical resonance of quartz crystals in eh Stewart's "Music Power Harmony" - well worth a read in relation to this topic
Thanks, Rohan! RJ always has something important and thought provoking to say. You also might find something interesting in (ahem!) the book I wrote with Ferran, Where Heaven and Earth Unite.....
I can understand and support your feelings about how you intend to approach a sacred site. I do this myself. BUT, as they say, different strokes for different folks. Different people go to sacred sites for different reasons. Some go to experience the sacred as you did when you went to Scorill. It is one of my favourite rings as well. My daughter, Jordan, had given me a heart shaped stone which I had carried in my watch pocket for at least six months. When I sat in the middle of Scorill, it came to me that I needed to leave something. What could I leave? "Leave your heart."
No! Jordan gave that to me!
Leave your heart.
As I thought of more and more reasons why I didn't want to do it, again and and again I heard the same answer, "Leave your heart."
So, ultimately I did. And it has solidly connected me with that wonderful ring of stones on NorthEast Dartmoor. I've gone back again and again. (Sung to the tune of SanFrancisco) "I left my heart at Scorhill Circle..." It has made it a very special spiritual centre for me.
On the other hand, there's no right way to visit sacred sites. Some go there to eat their picnic lunch.
Thank you, Sig. We both left our hearts at Scorhill Stone Circle--different hearts, different reasons. I had a very powerful experience there--much stronger than I wrote about, in fact—so I took it all quite personally.
And thank you for pointing out that I sound a bit like a "sacred-sites proper-behavior enforcer"! Of course, there are many ways to experience a sacred site--including celebration and feasting.
I am perhaps overstating my point to make a point. It's great that people are drawn to visit powerful places, whatever their reasons conscious or otherwise. However, too often people don't acknowledge or recognize the sacredness the Earth, of Nature--and of sacred sites—whether it is by leaving trash in a holy well or treating a stone circle like a piece of furniture. I stand by my observation that we tend to treat things as commodities to use and misuse rather than to respect and honor.
By saying that ancient sites are sacred sides also migth be seen as commoditisation of the word 'sacred'.
For me personally these sites are indeed special and they give me a spiritual experience: Be it: self/group induced; or due to the spirit of the place; or due to the 'knowledge' that other people went before me; or due to the weather conditions (mist, soft rain, etc.); or...
But in some way I can't prescribe what other people need to think/feel: I also don't want to. I can remember the times that I had to go to sacred sites (the church), being raise in a Catholic family around the 60s. But the fact that I was forced, might even have stimulated me later in live to recognise in some way Spirit of Place. I did once a survey why people are interested in ancient/past sites, and many times people refer back to a trip made in their childhood: What feelings and/or experiences do visitors report having at heritage sites?.
So I think that any connection people/children can make to these sites is good: as long as the basic Boy-Scout respect for a place is kept in mingt: One should always leave a site cleaner than it was before. I think/hope they might pick up something.
I know that a lot of people don't like site slike Stonehenge and Newgrange (too crowded, too commercial, etc.). I am glad there are a few that are open to public and provide some link to the past. I am very sure that these 'large' sites open up people's minds to a possible spiritual experience. Without the attention of these large sites, a lot of present day people would not have experienced anything.
Furthermore, I can be alone and in contact with the spirituallity (which I think is there) at the busy Stonehenge, Carnac, cathedral, battle field, or Newgrange (even with hunderds of people around me). But I must admit, I like places with the least number of people.
So I personally think that we need to repect each others experiences and that that respect increases, I hope, part of the Spirit of Place.
All the best,
Victor
Hi Victor--Thanks for your thoughtful response. You (and Sig among others) are right: I can't know what other people experience at a sacred site or what that experience will mean to them later. Who am I to stand in judgment--there are so many ways of being in the world! My dear friend and co-author Ferran Blasco talks about visiting dolmens and other ancient sites as a kid in Catalonia, having picnics, playing on the stones, etc. Perhaps that helped contribute to his later exploration of geomancy. Who knows what the impact of a place is on someone else--especially children.
I wanted to point out the need to respect the planet and not see Gaia as something given to us for our own use/misuse. I think people need to be (re)educated so that they understand that there are many sacred places on this planet--including a fresh-water spring, an ancient tree, a stone circle, a burial mound--places that don't look like a church or cathedral, but that are still deserving of respect.
I fully agree with the respect, that is my Boy Scout principle: 'One should always leave a site cleaner than it was before.'
And of course for everyone 'clean' means something different, as long as it is cleaner in the mind of that particular visitor it will improve, IMHO, in general.
For some 'clean' can be 'no waste', for others 'clean' can be 'spiritual clean'. And both of them need some respect and understanding of each other (people who think about 'no waste' might want to think about 'spiritual clean' (so calmness, space, etc.) and people who think about 'spiritual' might want to think about 'no waste' (old candel sticks, drumming noise, rithmic dancing, etc.).
Respect will indeed increase Spirit of Place.
Dear Elyn,
I visited Scrohill circle several times and almost all times it was visted by many people. Families came to rest and play, a woman and her horse and dogs found a resting place, walkers and spiritual seekers likke us visited as well. Everyone 'used' the place with respect, no litter was left. People came and went. I loved it. The love for the place by so many humans was palpable. I thought that that was the way a public sacred space could stay alive and kicking!
The other day I visited Wells Cathedral. An American film crew was filming a medieval Arthurian legend film. The costumes of the women were so beautiful (the men were wearing good stuff too). The restaurant/café was too busy to enjoy a drink in. Clearly people enjoyed the space they were working in.
I think both are possible in these times. leave no rubbish, treat the place with respect and love it. I think that's enough.
Lots of love, Karin
Thanks, Karin, for your comments.
Clearly my story has hit a nerve or two, including mine! I can only say in my defense that when I visited Scorhill Stone Circle last April I felt as if I had somehow entered a "time-slip" and had been there before, a long time before, when it was being regularly used for ceremony, when the stones were all still standing. Maybe 3000, 4000 years ago. When you didn't just walk through the circle or enter without permission. I didn't quite want to come out and say that in the article, but there it is. Hence my very personal over-the-top reaction of horror and outrage and sadness at what it had become and how it was being used.
If I look at it only with "today's" eyes--of course, it's great that people come to the stones and rest, or play, or do whatever they feel like doing, as long as they do it with respect.
Elyn, You raise many of the most profound and daunting questions of our times. Given human history, I doubt it has been ever more than a handful of people who honored, sought and sensed The Sacred." How beautiful that you among them, and can share this with us.
Thank you Aysha for such praise. I am grateful that my words have touched you and raised important questions. I think some societies--native, traditional, aboriginal, etc. are more in tune with the sacred--and in many cases don't make the same distinction we do between secular and sacred....
This experience is so familiar to me that I could even feel the "air" of the moors through your pictures and words. I am an adventurous walker, defying sometimes the prohibitions and recommendations. That's the only way to learn and discover things that are not intended to be watched. The tag of "powerful place" could be applied to this cluster of rocks the same as many many others all around the world. I spend lots of money every year traveling in South America to "forbiden places", risky places. And sure it is better to die trying to see the light of knowledge that sitting in front of a screen. Many other times, the discoveries cannot be revealed. Fortunately, this time, Elyn.. we can.
Fascinating response, Germán! Looking forward to hearing more about these places from you.
Is that the nearest you can to view the stones? I see some people on back that looks like they are a bit closer. Anyways, good read! Me and my Husband definitely want to visit that beautiful place sometime. Thanks for the share
Hi Grace--thanks for your comment. The sidewalk winds around Stonehenge, but unless you pay for a special entrance visit (either before or after regular visiting hours) you can't get close to them. Looks like you also have to book in advance to see them during regular visiting hours. Check out the information on the Stonehenge website for details. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/?lang=en
Good luck!
Elyn