Winter Solstice 2011

Tomorrow evening marks the start of the longest night - midwinter solstice.   I shall be doing my usual, which involves spending the night outdoors in contemplation; however this year I will be doing a little more than usual, as circumstances have converged and the timing is ideal.

Although solstice doesn't really mark a formal festival for me, I spend the solstices in contemplation of my ancestors lives. I do this at the solstices partly because there are megaliths which have been shown to be aligned with either the midwinter, or midsummer solstice, so the solstice must have held some significance, even if modern man is not sure what. Generally, Samhainn is considered the time of the ancestors but, as time passes, I feel this is not necessarily the best time for their particular veneration, given in the myths it seems a time of games, boasts of past achievements, feasting and general celebration, though I would agree that, as with Bealltainn, our world and the otherworld seem closer.

I enjoy winter, as with the longer evenings/nights, I find myself more productive, perhaps because I am more focussed on the internal, be it home or dialogue, and not allowing outside distractions allows me to spend time more wisely, even efficiently.  It doesn't matter why though, I just enjoy the season for a number of reasons, including snow.   Winter is definitely my season and I would probably celebrate its zenith, regardless of whether or not a festival had been associated with it - christmas, Eponalia, Saturnalia, Jul, Mother's Night - or the megaliths had no peculiar alignment to the sunrise/sunset at midwinter.

Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, or even if you don't, I should like to wish all readers of my sparsely populated blog, all the best for the holiday season, and a joyous and prosperous 2012.

Callanais - Looking Down the Avenue

Three Stones of a circle located on Machrie Moor

A picture taken on a tour of the west of Scotland with Megalithic Tours in 2010.  One of the many stone circles of Machrie Moor on the isle of Arran.

Megalithic Tour 2010

Ballymeanoch IV

This is a photograph, the first of hundreds, which I took on my tour of the north-west of Scotland with Megalithic Tours. I hope to process all my photographs soon and publish an account of my experiences at the various sites here on these pages.

I truly enjoyed my time with the group and in Scotland and I hope to return many times to Scotland, and, gods willing, move there permanently. I feel so much more connected in Scotland, without even trying, and the pull is strong.

I made a few offerings as discreetly as I could, and I believe they were well received. Certainly, the tour went without a hitch, despite weather forecasts threatening the crossing to Lewis. I would have been disappointed indeed had I not seen Calanais again.

So, back in the south-east of England again, but aready thinking of next year's journey north.

Trip to the Outer Hebrides

I am in a bit of a bind. I had pre-booked, and paid for a trip to the Outer Hebrides with Megalithic Tours for August this year. Then one of my close family members decides to have a "secret wedding" in September and they tell me so that I can arrange to attend the celebrations in Australia.

Wonderful.

Except ... I don't have enough holiday time left with work to travel to Australia and back, and the tour company had already booked and paid for the tour the week before I needed to cancel. I desperately need just one person to book a place on the Hebridean and Highlands tour in August. Unfortunately, it appears that bookings are down this year, so I am doing my utmost to promote the company, Megalithic Tours and the tours, wherein passengers visit ancient, mystical and historical sites.

I travelled with Megalithic Tours just last year, to the Orkney and Shetland islands and it was a fabulous trip. There is only ever 11 people travelling on the bus, the accommodation was marvellous and Neil, the guide, made everything go so smoothly and he was very flexible, allowing for the interests of the passengers. I simply cannot recommend Megalithic Tours enough, and that is why I had pre-booked this year's tour on the last day of our trip. I intend to travel with Megalithic Tours for the next couple of years as its exactly what I want in a tour - interesting, fun, reasonably priced (very good value for money), and easy. Its just a shame I have to bow out of this year's trip (and I was sooo looking forward to it).

So, if you know of anyone who might be interested, particularly in the Hebridean and Highlands tour in August, please, please recommend Megalithic Tours to them. Neil is always happy to answer any questions.

Expensive Holiday Tours

I have booked my holiday for next year already. I enjoy visiting prehistoric or mystical sites and, in particular, megaliths, so I have done so with Neil at Megalithic Tours. I did this, because Neil provides an excellent services going to places that few others do at a very reasonable cost. Only, I did not realise just how reasonable until this week when I saw two separate tours advertised.

The first I encountered in a well-known pagan magazine. It was called Celtic Trails and it advertised a seven day tour taking in Highland Perthshire, the Isle of Iona and the West Coast. The prices ranged from £1,100 to £1,500 depending on itinerary and accommodation. As much as I want to get to Iona one day, that was way out of my price range.

The second tour company operates out of Australia, and calls itself Dragon's Eye Tours. It runs two tours: one to the West Country of England and another to Ireland. Granted, the first is 11 days long and costs AUD$4,500, but the Irish tour is only 9 days long and comes in at AUD$3,000, but this is land cost only, flights not included.

Now I realise both of these companies provide specialised guides for the tours and, in some instances, secure private access to certain sites, and this may justify some of the cost, but it is often possible to arrange access to sites through special interest groups, and often volunteers from said groups will provide you with good, honest information.

I'm just glad Megalithic Tours follows these kind of itineraries, otherwise I would probably not visit the sites. As I travel alone which adds to the cost and the miles involved can make a fun trip tedious, so having a tour guide and fellow travellers makes more sense. Apparently, Megalithic Tours can now be found on facebook, too.

Still, if you want to go to these places, here's a nice selection of what's on offer:

Ireland and the Ancient Emerald Isle ~ 9 days

Stonehenge, Avebury and Glastonbury ~ 4 days (private access to Stonehenge included)

Orkney & Shetland ~ 6 days

Do have a search around and see if you can't find better. I lived in the UK for over a decade and I've yet to find a better touring company than Megalithic Tours for visiting historic or mystical sites.

At last ...

Midmar Kirk V - Aberdeenshire

I have finished processing all the photographs from my trip. Its only taken me all week and some are still devoid of their correct names, pending information from members of the Megalithic Portal or The Modern Antiquarian fora.

This means I can now spend next week updating the blow-by-blow account of my tour on my personal blog so my family can read it. I hope, too, to spend some time writing about recent issues here, as there have been some interesting discussions on various pagan message boards in my absence; discussions which have given me pause for thought.

Orkney & Shetland Tour - 2008

I had the privelege of meeting a very well known person from the pagan community on my holiday with Megalithic Tours. The night before the trip, we had dinner in a pub and I was able to discuss things with her that I had previously kept from everyone and it came as a welcome relief.

Because of our discussion, I feel as though I can be completely open about my experiences and my beliefs with other pagans without fear of denigration or derision. There was one post at this blog which concerned me and, though I did not receive any comments on it, I felt it was risky leaving it on the internet for all to read. However, Fae (not her real name) was reassuring and actually a great voice of reason. I thank the gods for Fae on that trip, as given some of the behaviours and attitudes of my fellow travellers, Fae helped me keep a straight head and a semblence of sanity throughout the tour.

We did have one rather annoying New Age type, who insisted on spraying every megalith, cairn or burual mound with her toxic essential oils before positioning herself in the most prominent part and lighting candles (more bad smells) and ringing bells in some sort of meditation. I do not know if she was cleansing the areas or not. She certainly had no idea of brí or bua, although I do feel the site guardians would soon rid themselves of the unsightly offerings from the crystal wielding madwoman. Needless to say, Fae and I felt the need to be "closed" for most of the trip and avoid this woman as much as possible. I managed to keep well enough away so as to keep my temper in check; Fae was not so lucky. Madwoman obviously sensed something on that first day and even mentioned Fae being "famous" at some point, not realising who she was addressing. Madwoman's behaviour seemed to affect the rest of the group, who all shared an interest in megaliths and many of whom would like to have spent their time doing their own attunements - everyone seemed rather inhibited by her actions and so refrained from any connections.

That is, until the last day where some distance was afforded and I could see others doing as I did and absorbing the brí. Funnily enough, this was the day that our bus was swamped by a large number of corvids blocking the road; they seemed to follow us this day and I think it had something to do with Madwoman and Fae. Fae has an affinity for birdlife, and given it was the last day, I feel she finally let loose on Madwoman, whose energy and enthusiasm seemed to wane.

What was also interesting on that last day was how loud the call from spirits of the woods came. Perhaps it was because there were few trees on Orkney and we did not stop near any of the wooded areas on Shetland, but the song eminating from the trees in Aberdeenshire was strong and very hard to resist. If I hadn't been on a bus with a set timetable, I would have wandered into the woods and spent my time reconnecting. Later that night, Fae agreed with me that the call had been strong, though I admit her energies had changed now that Madwoman had departed, Fae seemed a little erratic. Certainly, I had witnessed the change from warm openess to a giant wall on the first day of our trip, but this was something new.

I hope she recovered once back in her native habitat. I know I came down rather quickly upon returning to Kent - its felt so blah incomparison to Scotland and the northern isles. I suppose that had something to do with a betrayal that occurred in my absence, too, so I can't blame it entirely on the genius loci.

I must say that, despite the personalities with whom I travelled, the trip was very worthwhile. The chance to see the Shetland Isles I would not have missed for a box of gold (and that's saying something). I hope to return in the near future as there was so much to explore. We saw several sites, some I had seen before, others not - my only complaint was I would have preferred earlier starts so as to see more than we did, as we missed so much due to time constraints.

I am already making plans for next year's trip - more megaliths I think.