Saving Stonehenge

Merry Meet witches and friends! I woke up this morning and saw that a monument I care very much about is soon to be under attack. So in the Green Witch way, I decided to swap for a little activism! Today we will have a little chat about Stonehenge and the significant role it plays not only in the Celt, Pagan, and Druid paths but in all of spirituality. Settle in, grab a drink, and let’s talk.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located on the Salisbury Plain near Wiltshire, England. It’s a ring of standing stones that are each about 13 foot high. The stones are set in a series of earthworks and burial grounds. There’s a lot of mystery and debate around Stonehenge so the points I bring up may not be the ones you know as I’m very focused on the spiritual aspects and they’re certainly not all the theories surrounding the place. That just adds to its significance for me but I love a puzzle. Stonehenge is a religious site and was presumed a an expression of power and wealth of the chieftains, aristocrats and priest who had it built and those people are rumored to be the inhabitants of the burials sites. Stonehenge was built in six stages from 3000 – 1520 BCE. It’s unique because it was formed in the New Stone Age or Neolithic Era with cut stones from a remote location 100-150 miles away. How those stones got there we have absolutely no idea or if the ancients trudged all those huge stones that far, we don’t know the reason. The stones in the circle are aligned with the sun and it was thought to be used for celestial observation and farming calendar or perhaps the site was dedicated to the world of the ancestors, or perhaps it was a healing center or maybe it was a confederation center, or a place to a predict eclipses, or territory marking….. I told you there’s a lot of theories around. But I could absolutely see it being all of these things!

Many scholars believe that Stonehenge is a Druid temple and Personally I think that if we looked back to the fact that Druids were diviners, healers, priests, and the right hand person to the chief there’d be no question that no matter what the site’s purpose was, there were Druids all over that thing. The news source Britannica is it doubtful it was used by the ancient Druids because it was formed nearly 2,000 years before Caesar ever recorded that Druids existed. Here’s my problem with that line of logic though:

1. History is always told by the victors

2. It stands to reason that if the Druids were established enough for Caesar to record about them that they had been around and played a large cultural significance

3. Druids pass down their practices by apprenticeship and oral tradition. They could’ve commissioned this whole dang operation and there would never be a written word about it. Sadly, we don’t have anything to allow the ancient Druids to speak for themselves now.

Stonehenge physically aligns with the sun on the summer and winter solstices and many travel to the site to celebrate a turn of the Wheel of the Year. To quote Druid leader and activist King Arthur Pendragon, “It’s a time of change and hope is renewed-the same message really from a pagan perspective as from a Christian perspective. That's what this season is all about- a message of hope.” In addition to it’s significance to the Wheel of the Year, Stonehenge is also the convergence of 14 major ley lines. Ley lines are much like latitude and longitude in that they’re invisible lines that criss cross across the globe. Ley lines however are dotted with monuments and natural landforms and they carry rivers of supernatural power. The places lines intersect are pockets of concentrated energy that can be accessed by individuals. Other points that are ley line convergences are the Great Pyramids of Giza and Chicken Itza for example. Places that baffled archeologists with their mysteries. These can also be referred to as one of Earth’s chakra points. As you can tell, this means Stonehenge is a powerful convergence force.

With all this information, I say with a heavy heart that today Stonehenge is facing trouble. For three decades spiritual sects, local activist and archeologists have been fighting Highways England, England Heritage and the National Trust to not dig into the site. Transport secretary plans to partly bury the A303 in a tunnel by Stonehenge. For traffic this will change the “traffic choked” road to west country into a dual carriageway which I interpret as a four lane road before going down a two mile tunnel. Fore Stonehenge, this means irreparable damage. The site is 5 km long and the tunnel with be 3 km so that mean both ends will be smack in the middle of the scared site. Archeologists say this will cause total destruction to the remains in its path. Once again erasing valuable history in the name of modern convenience!

I urge you to research more but if you have no need to wish to add your name to a petition to stop the road and tunnel from being built, I’ll add the link in the show notes. This is being decided this week, November 9th-15, so please act quickly!

This week’s herb of the week both have origins in the UK and were both used by Druids both modern and ancient to nicely fit with our subject matter!

Yarrow: Yarrow or Holy herb was used by Druid’s as a divination tool. It’s associated with the sun, Midsummer, the astrological signs of Cancer, Aries, Leo and Capricorn. It’s ruling elements are Air and Water and it’s ruled by the planet Venus. Yarrow is that meme of Xena Warrior Princess screaming “I”m a delicate fucking flower!!!” Yarrow is used in a wide variety of ways for things like love, courage, divination, release rituals, healing and protection. You could use dried flowers in an amulet to banish fear, add it to tea for divination, use it in smoke cleansings to banish negativity, or add it to baths for psychic awareness.

Meadow sweet: Meadow sweet is sacred to the Druids not only for it’s medicinal uses but for it’s good energy. Meadow sweet was used to flavor mead or wine, it would be scattered around the church during weddings and put into the bride’s garland. It was believed to bring peace and harmony to the home if gather on Midsummer. Medicinally, meadow sweet has been used for pain, inflamed eyes, sore and ulcers. Magickally, they were excellent at divining after a robbery. If your home was robbed you’d take a flower and put it in a glass of water, if the flower sunk your robber was male, if it floated the robber was female.

There won’t be a Famous Witch in History this week because of how impromptu this episode was and try to very thorough when presenting someone’s life. If you’d like I suggest checking out the man behind a lot of the protests to save Stonehenge, Druid King Arthur Pendragon at http://www.warband.org.uk/

***** The British government has passed decision that the road will continue. The fight is not over due to multiple court dealings so please keep signing and supporting!******

Thank you all so much for tuning in! And I hope that this episode inspired you to help the cause or it was at least informative for you. Be well and practice some self care this week, you deserve it.

I hope you have a beautiful week ahead and until next time, merry part my friends