Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

A Sense of Place

Home
Pagan
Stonehenge for Visitors and Armchair Travelers

Stonehenge for Visitors and Armchair Travelers

Last updated on: October 2, 2013 at 12:32 am by Sterling

Stonehenge for Visitors and Armchair Travelers 2013-10-02T00:32:54+00:00 Sterling

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So much of magick is about synchronicities. Here’s a sweet one: James O. Davies book A Year at Stonehenge is set to come out on November 1 and Stonehenge itself is getting a new visitor center on December 18. That gives you a month and a half of staring at beautiful pictures and fantasizing about your visit before you can see the real thing with the full museum experience. The book’s publisher sent me a review copy, and when I sat down to look through the pages at last this week, I looked up from the book as a BBC piece about the completion of the visitor center came on the 1 o’clock news.

Image by .aditya. http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandhi/4667627395/lightbox/

I’ve never actually been to Stonehenge. When I lived in England I visited Avebury fairly frequently, visited the Rollright Stones a few times and took just one trip down to Glastonbury Tor, but I never quite made it over to see the most famous ancient landmark in England. The strongest association I have with Stonehenge is the memory of my 8th grade art teacher telling us about her summer trip to England and the amazing experience she’d had at Stonehenge.

This book is just beautiful. I’m not sure why they call it “A Year at Stonehenge” considering that the text in the book makes it clear that the pictures were taken over many years, but that’s not so very important. What is important is that you can flip through these pages and get a sense of the immense beauty and power of this place at all times of the year. There are pictures of Pagans at the solstices. There are pictures of the stones in the morning fog. There are close up details of ancient and not-so-ancient graffiti carved into some of the stones. There is one picture that I find especially striking on pages 32 and 33, where the stones are set in silhoette against a dusky sky and the light and dark patches in the grass stretching out from the stones makes it look like the henge is surrounded by sunbeams. Another dusk photo on page 90 is stunning, with light inside a keyhole, and a crescent moon sitting just above the henge.

An introduction by Mike Pitts explains some of the history of Stonehenge as well as a bit about the history of the making of this book. The photographer’s note then gives a short explanation about why Davies took these pictures, and what this place means to him personally. These short pieces, along with the captions alongside the images throughout the book, give you just enough information to put what you see into context, but there is no question that this book is meant to be meditated upon more than read. The images draw you into the magickal landscape of a place which is both real and fantastical at once.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to make it down to Stonehenge, but this book has certainly stirred the desire for it in me. Perhaps sometime in 2014 I’ll have the chance to visit, spend some time in the new visitor center, and meditate on my own in the ancient landscape around this most famous of standing stones.

Previous Post

September 30, 2013

Connecting with the sound of place

Next Post

October 7, 2013 Scent is a magic carpet

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Africa Amazon Ancestors Animism Austin Boots Across Ireland Boston boundary crossing Bretagne Children Cities Community Connection Culture Detroit Druidry Earth Edinburgh Elements England Eskdalemuir Eugene experiential family Fiction Florida folklore France Glasgow Heathenry home how to build it Human Spaces imaginary landscapes Introduction Ireland Journeys Know your wild herbs Land Spirits London Maine memory lane Naturalizing Nature's Metaphors New York Poetry Remembering Ancestors Sacred Spaces San Francisco Scotland Seasons Seattle Tanzania Technology Texas the South Theory Top 10 traditions Travel Uncategorized United States video Water West Virginia Witchcraft Worlding

Select a Month August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Colossians, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Christ The Holy Spirit God the Father The Scriptures