STONEHENGE

My family and I love to travel. So, when we started discussing a possible trip to England, my immediate first thought was: Stonehenge—I must go to Stonehenge! I had forgone the opportunity some 20 years ago, and I was not going to miss the chance this time around. Fast forward approximately a year later, and we were in our rented car driving through the charming English countryside. I was sitting on the wrong side of the car, and we were driving on the wrong side of the road, but I didn’t let that bother me! Suddenly I looked to my right and exclaimed: “There it is!” We had just got to the top of a small hill and only a few hundred feet away was Stonehenge. Woolly sheep dotted rolling green pastures right up the site of one of the world’s oldest, and iconic, standing monuments.

Stonehenge is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage site. This enables them to continually work on improving the preservation and careful access to Stonehenge so people can enjoy it for years to come. Also, due to this support, new information is constantly being learned about the people who built Stonehenge, how and why. All the research thus far shows it had a multitude of purposes: celebration, burial, ceremony and even a school of astronomy and astrology.

For centuries, it was believed that a group of Celtic priests, known as the Druids, were the builders of Stonehenge. (The height of their religion was during the Iron Age which was from approximately 1200 BC – 800 BC.) Yet, archaeology proved this theory wrong. The initial site of Stonehenge was first marked in the earth with a ditch in a circular pattern about the diameter of a football field. Deer antlers were used as primitive tools to help dig the ditch and fragments of them have been found which have been carbon dated to 8000 BC. Other tests revealed there was continual human activity in this area for the next several thousand years, but the most significant archaeological findings of the Stonehenge we know today date back to 2500 BC—around the same time of the Great Pyramids of Giza.

One of the most baffling mysteries of Stonehenge is how those massive stones got there and how they were erected? The largest of the stones (known as sarsen stones) weigh between 25-35 tons and can only be found in an area 20 miles north of Stonehenge. The smaller, inner ring of stones (known as bluestones) weigh up to 3 tons and can only be found 150 miles away on the northern coast of Wales. Each stone was sized perfectly and shaped with smooth surfaces, and they interlocked with both a tongue and groove system and a mortise and tenon style junction (like a ball and socket). As for raising these stones into place, theories range from levers, stacking wooden platforms or possibly even utilizing vibrations from sound.

Archaeological findings show that stones at Stonehenge were moved into slightly different arrangements over the course of 300 years until approximately 2200 BC. Yet, the fundamental circular structure always stayed true. The positioning of the stones is no accident; they lie on an axis which marks the summer and winter solstice. When the sun rises on the longest day of the year (in summer), it casts its light directly through the main entrance of Stonehenge into its center from the northeast. Then as the sun sets on the shortest day of the year (in winter), its rays are cast from the exact opposite side of the horizon from the southwest. Aside from its tracking ability of the seasons, sun and moon, it is said Stonehenge is built on a very special intersection of ley lines—"power lines” that emit Earth’s energy from the center. Some believe it played a significant role as an energy center on our planet that created a portal of communication and understanding with other galaxies.

Replica of ancient roundhouse with thatched roof and wattle fence.

Burial sites and remains of small homes around Stonehenge reveal that it remained a significant monument for roughly 1000 years after it was first erected. Which, when you consider it, that is an extremely long time for such importance in nearly any period of history. To take it further, more recent excavations found Roman coins, jewelry and pottery showing that even they were using it as a special site in the first century (that would be more than 2500 years after it was constructed). Beyond that, there are stories dating to the 7th and 8th centuries of Stonehenge being a unique location to hold the holiday of Beltaine, a Celtic tradition celebrating the beginning of summer held between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Overall, the longevity of Stonehenge’s significance cannot be denied.

I like to say in my Reiki practice: “Sometimes having elements of mystery is a good thing.” And I feel like Stonehenge is a perfect example of that. We may never fully understand the enigmatic wonders of this ancient site, but perhaps in some ways that’s exactly how it’s meant to be. In the meantime, I would love to get your feedback, and find out what mystical, metaphysical and spiritual questions you have. Thank you for taking time to learn with me, and know wherever you are on your journey, we are all divinely united and loved.

Be well!

Suki