Callanish
Blog for solstice 2013
Facing the west close to the Atlantic, on the island of
Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides is the stone circle of Callanish. Sitting silently
for 5000 years, the luminous pale stones seem lit from within and worn
pearl-like without. They communicate still over thousands of years to the
people from all over the world to see the structure built as a cross long
before the introduction of Christianity.
It is a circle to the four directions built by the indigenous tribe of
Western Scotland to align with the maximum and minimum lunar cycle.
It is easy to envision the phenomenon of the standstill
of the moon every 18.65 years when the moon is full, the dance of the ancients
within this sacred space. It is said that it is the moment, as the full moon
rises over the distant “Sleeping Women” mountain, of rebirth. The woman
sleeping is the venerable Callieach; the multifaceted and complex
personification of the magic of the feminine manifested on Earth in Nature, in
women.
The stark landscape of the lonely and windworn place
brings visitors to cross the barrier of eons to see through the eyes, those
that struggled to create a rich spiritual life in the face of extreme physical
odds. The ancient people must have had a meager life from the moody sea and the
rocky, peaty terrain. Still they left us a measure of their reverence of life
and joy; love for the Mother of us all, the Spirit of the Earth, in the
monument to Callieach, at Callanish.
Next blog is on the Spirit of the Earth, the ancient
female, Callieach. The beginning of her stories….
Toni Truesdale
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