Sacred Sites

In Italy, in the Po Valley, a land rich in verdant fields, soft hills and waters that irrigate it, is situated the city of Lodi, which is crossed by an imposing river, theAdda. The stream divides it like a big silvery ribbon and, in a delicate way traces a line in the citizens’ disposition: people…

by Lesley Elphick & Toby Hindson ~ It happens once in an age that a bolt of inspiration strikes, and reveals a pattern in something that always appeared random. This happened in 2003 to Lesley while she was visiting Borrowdale with Toby (Sciethe to some of you) on a mission to carry out monitoring on…

A public ritual of Pagans and friends from many paths to protect Albion from fracking is being held at Glastonbury at noon. Over 1500 people have said they will attend, and others are holding ceremonies in different parts of the country, and the world, at the same time. For details of the event go to:…

Within a few short miles we came upon the Neolithic treasures we were searching for.  Starting with a great mound called Maes Howe; we simply followed signs and drove right up to three thousand-year-old stone circles, mounds, and sighting stones…

It is hard to imagine the rigours and the joys our ancestors must have experienced on their travels. Then, as now, they wanted to travel to sacred sites and participate in the festivals there. Above the modern M4 motorway and the older A4, there runs one of the oldest roads in Europe; it is the…

by Barry Reilly ~  The Iron Age hill fort of Caer Bran stands proudly on the summit of Brane Hill in the far west of Cornwall. It is well worth a visit, especially as it has recently been cleared of scrub and gorse, for it has excellent views in all directions. In the past it…

by Damh the Bard and Cursuswalker ~  It was Samhain 2001 when I drove past the Long Man of Wilmington and saw that he was looking very grey. So as I drove, I began to think….which is always a bad move because when I start to think things tend to start happening… The November meeting…

by John Cumming ~  Sacred sites in my opinion should have an incredibly special connection to those who see them as sacred. The site which I feel especially connected to is Dunino Den. Due to its remote location the site remains unheard of to most people but for those who are lucky enough to visit…

by Eilthireach ~  Whoever has visited places such as Glastonbury or Newgrange, will have noticed that they have certain powers that can produce anything from “just” poetry, deep thoughts and visions to decisions and actions triggered by the visit of such a site. Such a visit can definitely influence your life path. Celtic culture today…

by Eilthireach ~  Please note:  Everything written in this section of this two part article is the opinion of the author, based on personal experiences from working with sacred sites. By no means is the approach of the author the only possible or valid approach. There is always more than one path in a forest.…

by Andy Norfolk ~  Outside the sun is roaring brassy waves of burning heat. The ground is dried out and cracked. The streams trickle quietly and modestly. The grass is brown and withered. The leaves of the trees and bushes are limp and dull with dust. This is Cornwall in high, and I have to…

by Philip Carr-Gomm ~  There is on the confines of western Britain a certain royal island, called in the ancient speech Glastonia, marked out by broad boundaries, girt round with waters rich in fish and with still-flowing rivers, fitted for many uses of human indigence, and dedicated to the most sacred of deities. ~ St…

by Michael Maxwell Steer ~  What is beyond us? What is it that we reach out to? What is it that sometimes rewards us with a blast of oxygen in a smog-filled world? Bigger than all these questions: why has consciousness evolved in humans to be so blind, destructive and disconnected from its own natural environment?…

by John Attwood  – The Rollright Appeal ~  PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE On October 1st Karin-Ann and I were handfasted under the perfectly clear and starlit skies of a New Moon night at the Rollrights. It was a year and a day since our civil wedding and, as we made our vows to each other and…

by Fiona Macleod ~  A few places in the world are to be held holy, because of the love which consecrates them and the faith which enshrines them. Their names are themselves talismans of spiritual beauty. One of these is Iona. The Arabs speak of Mecca as a holy place before the time of the…

by Philip Carr-Gomm If you feel the call of Iona, then answer that call and make the journey to her. She is like a very old Crone, rocky and barren and eternally loving and gentle and tough and wise. She is very old. She is very holy. There is no other place on earth quite…

Built by the strong Dagda, it was a marvel, a court, a wonder hill.~ The Book of Ballymote ~ New Grange is the largest and most impressive of several dozen prehistoric monuments found in the Boyne Valley 32 km (20 miles) northwest of Dublin in Ireland. Famous for being oriented to the…

by Ricardo Campos ~  There are many, many Pagan monuments in Portugal that will appeal to the traveller in search of sacred spaces. This short article will introduce you to a very small number among hundreds of beautiful pre-Christian sites in my country. I hope someday you may come to visit them and open yourselves…

by Mara Freeman ~  It is an extraordinary thing to consider that there are still literally thousands of holy wells in the British Isles. Most of these are natural springs; some open pools like St.Madron’s, while others are contained by a stone edifice, often covered. The majority, however,are in ruins, overgrown and no longer visited.…

Personal thoughts concerning modern-day Druidic and Pagan theologies of burial, life after life and the conflicting practices of archaeologists. by Blackbird ~  There are many different realities in the worlds of philosophy, religion and science, and my perception concerning the reburial issue is Druidic, and concerns esoteric concepts of time and space. Such realities are…

by Paul Nettle ~  St Catherine’s Hill was a centre of human settlement around 3000 years ago, long before the founding of Winchester.  An iron-age fort was constructed here in the 3rd century BC, and a Celtic oppidum within it.  However, some time around 100 BCE it was occupied by an invading tribe from the…

Summer Solstice, 21 June 2000 ~ by Emma Restall Orr ~  Over the few weeks before the Summer Solstice, I was asked a thousand times what I was expecting to happen on 21 June at Stonehenge, whether I was looking forward to it, whether I would be there at all, not only by friends and…