Remembering the fallen animals of war
In June 326 BC two great armies faced each other at Hydaspes in what is now Pakistan. On the one side the Greeks, Afghans, Egyptians and Persians of Alexander the Great with an unbeaten army consisting of archers, heavy foot with 18ft long pikes, light and heavy cavalry. On the other side King Porus with an army equal to that of Alexander but boasting over 100 war elephants to strike terror into the attackers.
Alexander’s men, having conquered most of the known world and become rich and powerful were tired of fighting and only presented themselves to the battle field out of loyalty to their leader. Their hearts were not in it any more. As the battle reached a climax the forces of Alexander started to buckle and retreat. Desperate to keep up the initiative of attack, Alexander charged forward alone on his great war-horse Bucephalus.
The Greeks seeing their fearless commander attacking alone would eventually throw themselves back into the heat of battle in his support, but for this moment in time, one man and one horse charged alone against a mighty army. Being honourable, the King of the opposing forces rushed forwards to meet Alexander one to one, riding upon his mighty war elephant. As the two men closed the distance between them and finally faced each other, Bucephalus Alexander’s horse and the Purus’s elephant both reared in defiant challenge to each other.
The horse was dwarfed by the mighty elephant.
This scene was captured perfectly in a 2004 film ‘Alexander’. I was watching the prequel to this movie and saw this moment of history represented in film for the first time. I was immediately struck with horror and grief. When my girlfriend arrived home from work she found me still puffy faced and unable to speak. The horror that had filled me in that instant was the realization of the effect of our wars upon these noble animals, these innocents, whom we drag into the violent hell of our own making.
No horse should have to face an elephant in battle, neither should they be forced to charge into cannon and machine gun fire, or to contend with the smell of blood and smoke whilst dying screams of horses and men surround them.
In the world war one alone it is thought that 8 million horses perished.
Even to a human child we can communicate what is going on, we can explain and reassure. The animals that serve us as we involve them into our madness can only rely upon their trust in us.
It is not only horses and elephants that suffer in our war; it is also dolphins, dogs, donkeys, mules, camels, pigeons and hawks. These are the direct victims of our actions. Imagine the collateral casualties of war among domestic pets and farm animals driven to heart failure by fear during the bombing of cities. Consider the wildlife burned and destroyed as we tear apart whole landscapes.
Millions of small animals have been killed in biological and chemical warfare experiments.
It is an irony that Alexander’s horse went down in history as one of the bravest warrior spirits of all time alongside his master, yet when he was first found, this great beast was afraid even of his own shadow. What Bucephalus had endured throughout his life he did for love of his master, but it was not in his original nature. It was his sacrifice to the man he trusted. Bacephalus died on the battlefield that day, most likely from a burst heart.
The Druid knows that animals are no different to men in spirit. We are all earth’s children. We pride ourselves on our intelligence and use of tools, but few people can compare to animals in our courage and nobility of service to others.
Our Celtic ancestors used horses to pull chariots into battle but they used no cavalry since the horse was considered too sacred to expose to such risks in battle, our knights would dismount and go forward without their horses in order to fight. They were less discerning when it came to their wolf hounds, bred to hunt and fight with the families of men. Perhaps it was because these animals descend from the wolf, and hence are of hunter/warrior kind themselves, that made the war dog acceptable to the Celtic tribes.
As deeply ugly as the use of animals in warfare is I am under no illusions about the lengths that any of us might go to when our lives or those of our families are concerned. When push comes to shove we are pre programmed by our nature to throw every weapon we have available at the task of survival. Humans are unlikely to stop using animals in our wars. What we can do, in time of peace is look at better alternatives to the use of these innocents, and to be mindful of the eternal shame that their suffering brings down upon our race.
If I had my way, every new Prime Minister or Head of State upon taking power should be made to walk alone through the war graves of their nation to let the waste of war sink in before they are allowed to make any decisions on our behalf.
When on 11am, on the 11th of November every year our war dead are remembered in Great Britain, I would personally like to remember and keep in my heart alongside the people whose lives were cut short, the animals also. For the animals who’s service and loyalty to humanity has exposed them to the most violent destructive and terrifying aspect of our nature, I would encourage everyone to wear a purple poppy (symbol of the animal war dead) in November 2012.
Ancient tradition in the modern age
Ancient tradition in the modern age
Much has been written about the Druids. Most writers draw upon accounts from ancient Roman and Greek writers, all of which are coloured by the cultural and political perspectives of the observer. These accounts do not tell our whole story, just as they are not always accurate.
I would like to share with you my view from a personal perspective. I have 34 years experience as a Druid in the Field and Forest. I live just as much as a part of the modern world as the ancient.
First and foremost, the path of the Druid is one of service.
I believe that prospective Druids of the past were selected from an early age as being people with special gifts. These gifts would include being able to live in several worlds or realities simultaneously and the ability to approach situations and problems from many angles. These young people would undergo years of arduous training designed to eliminate all who lacked the necessary qualities, after all, you cannot bring out and develop that which is not already in some form present.
The accomplished Druid was essentially one who could read the sacred landscape in all its cycles, interpret its mysteries and translate it for those in the temporal World. The druid was able to communicate with other realms and seek their guidance. The Druids communicated between the tribes, made connections, brought with the peace and learning. The Druids were also in close contact with the Gods (The Great Ones), the Sidhe (a semi-divine elder race), the intelligent spirit inherent in nature and the old ones (ancestors).
In modern times few people can meet the challenges required to be Druids in the model of our ancestors. This is regrettable because in this time of ecological, economic and political crisis Druids have never been needed more.
We might be saved from failing in our sacred duty (to preserve the balance of nature and the wellbeing of our people) by a gift of the modern age. With the use of the internet we can achieve interconnectedness between Peoples and cultures far removed by geography and culture. Many old cultures are now putting to use this technology in order to connect and to share ancestral wisdom with others. This process appears to have taken on a life of its own recently.
If we can trust in our collective destinies then perhaps we can help to guide humanity away from self-destruction. Much of what we do as species are unsustainable and stretches natural resources to breaking point. If this continues it will cause unnecessary suffering to all life forms.
The Druid path has always been a hard one, which is why we were named from the oak [or duir/dwr in Gaelic, from where we get Durability].
We will need all our wisdom and strength in the coming times, together with both our ancient and modern gifts.
Niall O’Draighnean.
A meeting of Cultures part 3
The Farm
Leaving the village behind us our coach trundled a few miles further across the plain until we abruptly turned left and approached a farmstead. The farm was made up of small single story dwellings with mud walls and thatched roofs. We were no longer in a 21st century setting, clearly this is the traditional way of living in the mountains that has changed little over thousands of years.
It was explained to me that this is the family home of a great Aymara teacher. There was a time before Bolivia had an indigenous government when Aymara culture, language and traditions were treated as undesirable and inferior to imported colonial Spanish ways. During this time the old ways endured but the wise ones became ever fewer. In this story of the farm, If I remember correctly how it was told to me, the young Fernando was driving along the dusty road to Tiwanaku when he came across an old man at the side of the road. The old man was weeping.
Stopping to see what was the matter, Fernando asked ‘Grandfather, why do you weep?’. The old man replied ‘I am a master of the old ways of the Aymara, I have nine sons, but no students’. Many of the young generation saw their futures in abandoning the mountains and traditional ways to seek their fortune in the city. The old man’s wisdom would die with him, and that is why he wept.
Fernando smiled at the old man and said ‘Grandfather this is not so, for you now have one student’. And so Fernando and others stayed to learn from this old man, who’s teaching and strength gave new life to the Aymara people.
He died, but still once every year on winter solstice, the Sariri clan gather at the farm where the teachers Widow and daughters still live. His spirit is in this place they say. I had observed to Kate how all the Aymara stand feet apart, square on and hands by the side, looking directly at you. This posture carries neither hostile nor passive energy, it is simply grounded and strong. I was later to learn that this way of standing is an ancient tradition, the survival of which owes much to this teacher.
We put our sleeping bags and kit into a small barn which would be accommodation for the community tonight. A flag pole was erected nearby with a great multi colored flag, it must have been 3 meters by two in size and I thought that this flag was beautiful.
Tiwanaku tour and Ceremony
There were many more Sarari at the Farm than I had met at the Garden in La Paz, but by now many of the faces were familiar and friendly towards Kate and I. We did not have long to settle however. One of our three coaches was about to leave for the great Tiwanaku temple itself. Tiwanaku we discovered is closed to everyone on Solstice eve, however the Director of the temple turned out in person to let us in and to show us around personally.
There are three temples in the complex. There is a sky temple, an earth temple and an ancestor temple. The sky temple is perched upon a ridge, the earth temple is on level ground, the ancestor temple is sunken into the earth. Unlike Stonehenge, the three temples are not arranged into circles, but instead are laid out as huge rectangles. The alignments to the sun are the same though.
There is a raised platform in the center of the earth temple where offerings are made. The temple is larger than the stone circle of Stonehenge. The trilithon entrance ways are deeper and more precisely engineered than those of Stonehenge. The stone has regular sides, right angles, smooth faces. The wall of the temple is made of stones arranged as a wall between standing stones that are rough cut and similar to the sarcens of Stonehenge. Intuition tells me that these are the oldest features of this temple, the wall filling in between the standing stones coming later.
We are shown carved statues of men covered in symbols, some of which are understood and relate to time, others which still await rediscovered meaning. We descend to the outside via seven steps to reach a place where priests underwent testing. Part of this testing would be to sit in an underground cell with just a small hole above for light food and water. Alone in here for up to 30 days the priests would receive understanding and achieve mastery over their fears or else I imagine it would be awful for them.
We were then led to the ancestors temple. We waited at the top of steps, seven again, down which we descended to face a central statue. Our Aymara hosts formed a circle around this statue and together we held ceremony. In this ceremony we were introduced to the ancestors. This was making history, for never have Stonehenge Druids and the Amauta held ceremony together at Tiwanaku.
Fernando told us how we must stand, by ancient tradition. I asked him how he could be certain that this was the correct way. He replied ‘Look at the statue, the ancestor shows you how’, and sure enough, the statue in front of us was standing just so, with right hand over the heart, and left over the belly. This way, Fernando explained our energy is balanced and circulates correctly. I adapted my stance to match that of the statue and sure enough I felt immediately grounded and balanced. It works.
Embedded in the outer walls of the ancestor temple are very accurate sculptures of men’s faces. Some are worn away by time but many are not. This temple which is at least 1500 years old and probably very much older. What is very strange is that contains the faces of Europeans, Africans, Mongolians etc. It is not up for debate that our ancestors had visual contact long before we are supposed to have had by modern histories, the evidence here is absolute.
The questions are only how and when?
Seeing this so soon after my intuition at ‘the village’ that our ancestors had been here once before again left me feeling a strong sense of confused wonder.
I asked Fernando how often the Sariri worship in the temple of the ancestors. ‘Not often’ he replied, ‘this, with you, is our first time. Normally this place is too special even to allow us in here’. The full sense of the high honor with which the Aymara, Amautas, Tiwanaku Management were gifting to their Druid guests was starting to sink in. Some of the Aymara had moist eyes after our time in the very sacred temple of the ancestors was over. The sun was setting, Kate and I grabbed some photo’s.
Tiwanaku has some elements that are very familiar to the Druid and some elements that are less so. In the temple of the ancestors , both our people’s belong and may feel welcome by the spirits of the place.
The Farm Ceremony
Back at the farm, now in the dark, we arrived just in time for yet another community ceremony and offering around the fire. Kate and I were given ‘honored position’ and we broke Walnuts into the sugar offering. This time in front of a larger group we were grateful for having been through this before at the garden ceremony. Our hosts must have realized that among peoples it’s the failure to follow simple ‘taken for granted’ protocols that make inevitable judgments about quality, class or good manners of visitors.
I was so grateful also for Jaun and Veronica Pablos explaining how to eat, drink and greet Aymara style when we first arrived in La Paz. The Garden ceremony had also been a good preparation, observing the wonderful Mama Eulalia taught us much.
For all the small differences between our ceremonies it is remarkable how many features we share in common. For example the Aymara circle anti clockwise (sunwise) for the south, with the south pole representing the cardinal direction for Mother Earth. In the north we circle clockwise (sunwise) in ceremony and look to our pole (North) as representing the Earth. Both groups stand in a circle for ceremony, and dance in circles.
Communal Barn
It was now time for everyone to get some rest and ride out a very cold night. We all gathered in the barn. Trying to get some sleep, I could not immediately do so. Every few minutes of the last 24 hours had brought me vivid new experiences and my head wanted to make sense of everything. I listened to old people talking and laughing somewhere in the darkness. Clearly old friends and kin forever, these people reminded me of my own grand-parents.
Little children had built tents and dens to sleep in and from these came the sounds of giggling chatter. The young and the old all sleep crammed in together, as a clan, ‘a community’. In my sleeping bag I was warm and comfortable and waiting to sleep on this hard mud floor in a mud-walled barn on a farm in the land of the sky, and it was there that I finally understood that word ‘community’. It was here, around me.
This circle of people belong with each other, choose to be with each other, and love each other.
This is deeper than the western understanding of the word. These are the children of Pachumama.
I wanted to cry for what we have lost in Britain. We had this once, yet it has slipped away from our grasp especially throughout the 20th century. It is what our hearts still seek. It is the hole within. We need our community, it validates who we are and it completes us. From far away I might be, but Druids are children of the Goddess too, and here this community enfolded me with a warmth beyond my imagining. I was truly happy.
Dash back to Tiwanaku
By around three in the morning the banter in the Barn had died down to the sounds of around 60 people sleeping. The temperature had dropped to around -10 degrees. I had just managed to fall asleep. Click Click, Click Click! Arghhh I struggled to wake. Someone was banging two sticks together right next to my ear! ‘Wake up’ they said ‘it is time for you to go to Tiwanaku, the car is waiting’. Kate, Tina and I reluctantly dragged ourselves free of the relative warmth of our sleeping bags and made our way to the car which I assumed was our taxi.
Time was short because it would not be all that long before the sun rise. Our car sped along the road to Tiwanaku, overtaking cars, vans and coaches of pilgrims also on their way there. We came up behind a car that wasn’t letting us pass and the taxi driver sounded a police siren. I thought this very funny as the offending car pulled over to let us pass. Only after we arrived at the Temple compound passing through the armed guards did I realize that we were in an unmarked Police car. We had arrived at the high security entrance used by officials.
Still half asleep we were led into the earth temple where chairs had been arranged in a great semicircle around 20 rows deep around the altar platform. To our left was a platform for the media. As the total darkness gave way to pre sunrise dawn we were told to sit in the front row, just left of centre. The places to our left and behind us filled with people. I started to introduce myself to my neighbors only to discover that they were all Ambassadors. The closest to the front and centre were the most honored of these guests.
The Aymara Amautas arrived in traditional costume with drums and music and after standing in formation before the altar they seated to the right. Media with big TV cameras gathered on the platform. The sky grew lighter.
White helmeted soldiers stood in line facing the assembled crowd, whilst very tough looking and armed, they were not rude. The sky took on the blue pink of a sky just five minutes from sunrise. The earth temple contained us, the media, probably 500 Amauta and around 100 Ambassadors. We could now see the sky temple and surrounding ridges which were crammed full with people, perhaps 40000 waited outside for the sunrise.
Sunrise
Suddenly great drums sounded from the distance, trumpets sounded and people unseen beyond the temple walls started to cheer. To this sound of approaching drums Bolivian flags at the corners of the temple slowly rose to fly proudly atop their masts and through the trilithon gate below a procession of Amouta, military escort and the Bolivian president with his ministers walked toward us and seated themselves in the centre of the semi-circle.
Evo Morales stood just a few government ministers to my right. The Amauta leaders formed a line in front of the President. Men and women of great wisdom and authority. One walked over to me. He asked if we would like to take part in the offering ceremony. If I had said yes, then our pictures would have gone out world-wide, but I realized in that instant that this is a moment that belongs to the Amautas. It was very generous to ask, but in front of their president and their gods, this ceremony needed to be done correctly.
I thanked him but said ‘this honor belongs to the Amauta’.
After the offerings were made and smoke rose into the newborn sky with the wishes of the Aymara people carried with it, I was asked to step forward to meet the president, Kate and Tina in line behind me.
At this point I was presented with a situation for which life had not prepared me. Nothing in my childhood, college, university, druid or professional life told me what to do when confronted with the president of a sovereign nation surrounded by his ministers and a very capable looking armed security force. I looked at the man in his uniform of office, and extended my hand.
In Britain we might shake hands and say ‘Good Morning Mr Prime Minister, delighted to meet you, I am…’ and that would be it, but the Sariri had taught me their traditional greeting which starts with firmly holding the right hand with eye contact, an embrace like a bit like a bear hug, and second hand shake with a bow. This is how the President of Bolivia, first American indigenous president, Eco champion and people’s hero was greeted by the tall Druid in front of him:
Grab hand…“Hello Mr President, I am Frank Somers from the Stonehenge Druids, it is a pleasure and an honor to be here and to meet you!” BIG HUG (President now enveloped in Druid robes), Grab hand, Bow, JaJalia!! I hoped Kate and Tina behind me knew what to do. I fairly sure that this was not the correct formal way to greet this great man, but at least it was sincere.
Back in our semi-circle I could see people flooding in to the temple, at sunrise the people may enter.
A tap on my shoulder, it was our friend from the British Embassy, big smile and telling us that we’ve positively represented the relationship between Britain and Bolivia by our visit. It warms my heart to think that Druids, so much ridiculed and abused back home, are suddenly being recognized for our worth in this way. Kate loses her camera in the crush of people who make their way to the altar platform.
One of the Amauta priests came and hugged both Kate and I, posed for tourists with us, and left us in no doubt as to the warmth of our welcome.
Sadly with Kate’s camera now lost, we had no photo’s of this event.
Return to the farm for feast and dance
We were then taken by unmarked Police car back to the farm. The Sariri had laid out a feast of eggs and tubers on a blanket. Each brings what they can. No-one knows who has provided much or little, each may consume whatever they need. This is community. It is a circle of blessing. We eat.
While we ate, an Aymara band of Drum and Pipes dancers start to play. Their anticlockwise circle dance tells a story. A shaman blows a horn and earths using a stick to drive off dark spirits. Then the song is of phrase and reply with the pipes. I’m loving this all now and decide to ask if I might join in with my Celtic Bodhran. The Bodhran is a small round drum about 18 inches across but 5inches deep. The Aymara dancers are beating Drums that are massive.
Without any interpreter, the language of musicians being universal, they invite me to join in.
It is not easy. The drum beat follows an irregular pattern. Only after a while do I realize that they strike the drum on the first letter of each word if you were to sing the Aymara lyrics to the song. This is very hard! My Aymara musician friends ask for a go on my small Celtic drum, and laugh and tease each other as they try it. I sense that they wonder why such a tiny drum and beater is used. I explain that a travelling musician or a warrior can carry this drum easily over long distances.
Then I take the Bodhrans bone, and beat one of their big drums with it to a fast Irish beat and rhythm. Looks of amazement pass round the circle, they ‘get it now’ the power of the Celtic technique. We swap gifts and hugs, and the music continues. I dance with the old women and the young, we all dance. I have never been so happy. I completely forgot that I was a visitor among these people and for a few blissful hours I was part of these people and I belonged too.
I believe that Kate felt similarly to myself. It would be very hard for us to part from these people who understand us better than do our own, and for whom the gifts of mother earth to her people do not need explanation or apology. Thinking about that day, five months later, I long to be back among my new brothers and sisters of the Sariri Aymara. I am determined that we will meet again.
La Paz Goodbyes
Back in La Paz Kate and I pack. We have a short time to explore the wool markets and Tina volunteered to take us around. Down narrow streets, hundreds of shops sell the finest wool and leather products dreamed of. We buy gifts, and our money goes a long way. I one shop we meet a lovely girl who remembers us from Tiwanaku. She promises to send pictures.
When we return to the flat of our hosts Wan Paulo and Veronica, we find that many of the Sariri have gathered there bringing with them their pictures to share with us. Fernando records a message for us to take back with our people. Then he embraced Kate and I as his brother and sister, and presented us with a very special flag. This flag, we would later learn, is a symbol of those of Inca decent. In allowing us to carry this flag we acknowledge our ancestors as being brothers.
We were asked to record a message for the Aymara. They asked about the Druids and our beliefs and of what we thought of them and of Tiwanaku. Both Kate and I spoke. When it came to the essence of our message I will leave that for a future post because It is important for our futures, and once again I must discuss this with my Druids first. At last I found the Awen, and for this time spoke with the poetic truth of a Druid, our poor interpreter Tina was in floods of tears and could barely translate as the Awen spoke through me.
In the last minutes before leaving the flat we were told about a visit to La Paz by the Navajo Indigenous people from north America three years ago. They had shared a prophesy with the Amauta that priests of an ancient tradition from Europe who also worship in a great sun temple would come and visit. This would happen within the next few years. When this has come to pass prophesy predicts that the spiritual tribes of rainbow would begin to join up in a great web of wisdom.
We gave our gifts and could hardly see through tearful eyes as one by one, they hug us and say goodbye.
We arrived just a few days earlier as strangers from a far away land and we parted with hearts joined somehow, bonds of friendship made to last lifetimes.
The airport
At the airport Kate and I bungle our paper work, and I get stopped at security. A very tough looking inspector asked me to open my bags. Getting increasingly suspicious he asked me to open the woolen bag containing gifts from Fernando. It has two toy alpacas inside which honestly would be as suspicious looking a container as could be imagined. These he removes. Then he takes out a bundle of clothe and slowly unwraps it.
Inside rests the Aymara flag.
He looked at me, he seemed very confused for a few seconds, then suddenly, his entire countenance changed into a broad smile and he said to me in accented English
“Ah YOU are the one who hugged our President! 
“
A meeting of Cultures part 2
Heathrow:
Visiting the mountain region of Bolivia in June, which is their winter, does not need as many precautionary jabs as visiting the lowland rain forests but my arm still felt sore from needles as I arrived at Heathrow airport. The specialist nurse who administered my Jabs a few days earlier had asked me if I had any experience of mountains and altitude. I confidently replied that I had, since I lived in Wales as a student, have flown over the Lake District in a micro-light airplane and skied in the Alps. The nurse had tears in her eyes as she replied through her laughter that these weren’t even proper hills when compared with where I was going.
This, together with the advice from Beatriz Souviron, the Bolivian Ambassador in London to strictly take it very easy for the first two days. This led me to expect that we would feel weak if we tried to exert ourselves before our blood had time to create more red blood cells. My work commitments had limited our trip to a not recommended four days actually in Bolivia. Would this be enough?
Now feeling very anxious about the journey I was very relieved to find Kate already waiting at the airport. We exchanged a nervous hug and we laughed at the huge pile of luggage that we had with us. Kate and I have been close friends for 20 years and have worked together on our spiritual path and learning. There are few women with as clear an understanding of our tradition, connection with the great goddess, magic and practical application of the sacred feminine as Kate. Although at the airport she had the same transparent mix of excitement and apprehension on her face as I did.
Over the years I have travelled on business across much of Europe and have become comfortable with negotiating airports and arriving in foreign cities. It is enjoyable but there is always at least some sense of the familiar where ever you go within Europe. South America promised to be very different both culturally and in terms of its geography. This was not a business trip or a holiday. This was a leap into the unknown for both Kate and I, the first diplomatic meeting of two ancient spiritualities.
Anticipation:
We hoped that the Bolivians and especially the Amauta would like us. We hoped that our knowledge of our own traditions and culture would be adequate to represent our tradition and all those who put faith in us to make this journey. We carried with us the greetings to the people of La Paz from Amesbury town council, and travelled as emissaries not only of our own small Druid grove, but also of the Pagan Federation, OBOD, and Druid Clan of Dana with 30000 members between them. All were placing much trust in Kate and I who were both new to this level of international responsibility.
Journey
Our flight would take us from London Heathrow on a short hop to Schiphol in Holland, and from there transported across a very vast Atlantic Ocean to Lima in Peru and finally from Peru to La Paz in Bolivia. Approximately 20 hours after our departure from Heathrow we set foot on Bolivian soil.
Bolivia
Queuing to go through immigration and customs a member of staff asked me if I would like to see a doctor. I declined, feeling a bit tired and weak is not something that should cause a fuss if you are English. They pointed out that the airport had a doctor equipped with oxygen. I don’t want any fuss thought I. Ten minutes later I found myself sitting on my baggage as much as possible and I had a headache like I had been kicked in the head by a horse. Kate was fine.
We were met at the airport by a government liaison to the Amautas council, who after a big hug of greeting sat Kate and I in a car and offered us both coca tea. This really does help with the altitude adjustment. As we descended from the airport to our hosts flat in central La Paz she pointed out the sites. The town is beautiful at night, with lights stretching up the steep valley walls. I was feeling very sick.
In La Paz we were introduced to Juan and Veronica Pablos our young Aymara hosts and they helped with our luggage and settling in to their home. I nearly vomited in the lift up to their flat and was now turning green. Kate was fine. We managed to introduce ourselves and both Kate and I realized that we were very lucky. Our hosts were beautiful people who took time to settle us in and to teach us the basic protocols of Aymara manners which include how to greet and accept food or drink.
This would be essential over the following days but for me it would be 48 hours of gasping for air and feeling like I had the worst childhood flu before I would get much chance.
Where is the air?
20 years a smoker of 20+ cigarettes a day and little exercise meant that I wasn’t ready for life at 20000 ft. Kate on the other hand doesn’t smoke, is almost vegetarian and works outdoors designing and building community gardens. Kate went shopping and dancing in one of La Paz many street celebrations. At this point I was confined to bed and feeling that I might not recover in time for the Solstice. If that happened then I would let everyone down terribly. I was missing my dear sweet low altitude Albion (Britain) where I could breath properly.
At home if I get sick I can reach out to the familiar energy of the sacred home land and feel that energy respond, so speeding recovery. Here I could not yet connect as the song of the land was subtle and different in La Paz. Druid magic was to be no use then, I would just have to wait it out.
On the afternoon of Sunday 19th June, I was finally recovered enough to walk around, although still weak. Our hosts had been very worried about me but as it was now clear that I was recovered Kate and I were invited to a community ceremony of the Sariri clan to be held on a hillside on the outskirts of La Paz. This would be our first chance to meet some of the people who had made our visit possible.
Garden ceremony:
Our destination was a bungalow with a garden overlooking the valley in which La Paz is nestled. Around 50 people of all ages were gathered there in the garden, where gradually we sat ourselves into a circle. We were introduced to our interpreter Tina, originally from Slovakia, Tina now lives in La Paz working as a journalist whilst studying the Aymara.
Three generations of wise women led a community ritual, which initially consisted of a Coca leaf ceremony. The women, with great care, each unfolded a cloth containing Coca leaves. Each cloth we learned has a weave unique to the family which tells of their clan and landscape origins. Male a female leaves would be chosen in equal proportion, usually two of each. The male leaves have a pointed tip, the female have more a rounded body.
The selected leaves would be presented to another guest of the circle in the right hand and accepted with the left hand, as it is believed that this is the direction in which energy will naturally circulate between people. With a little bow of the head, eye contact and a smile, the gifts are exchanged. So many of these gifts were for Kate and I that our cheeks quickly became stuffed full like those of a hamster collecting nuts, as once accepted then one is supposed to place the leaves in the side of the mouth to chew gently.
In Celtic lore, eye contact is offered to allow another to know you and reciprocation is expected. In modern western society we struggle to make eye contact with strangers when required to show sincerity at an interview or when listening to show interest and attention. In our society today it is too easy to be accused of staring. Staring can be akin to prying into another’s business or invading their space. No-one will make eye contact with a stranger on the London tube for example.
In all human contact however when two people meet and really look into each others eyes it is an exchange of energy, compatibility and truth. I liked that the Sariri people offered these open windows to themselves through which I saw in them a sense of humor, curiosity, and warmth of bright unclouded spirits. On the evidence of this alone I could decide that the welcome that Kate and I were receiving was genuine, and shared by all.
One of the Aymara leaders, Fernando Huanacuni, arrived and joined the circle unobtrusively. Our interpreter Tina explained that Fernando was a very important leader of the Aymara. I studied him from a distance and how he interacted with others in the group. He appeared shy and certainly did not strut around pushing himself into the forefront of the circle as might some Druid ‘leaders’ that I know. He waited for others to speak to the circle until eventually it was his turn. To this point I had been very impressed by the clear, direct and almost poetic style of the women.
When Fernando started to talk, in Spanish, I realized even without interpretation that this was a great man of spirit. The tone of his voice, the humble yet powerful delivery of clear message of wisdom, the poetic Aymara style of speech yet more impressive through this man. In ancient times a Druid would have learned the art of public speaking, to the point of high art, and I am considered among the most articulate of my present day peers but Fernando is more. I could imagine Jesus Christ or Mohammed or Buddha having a gift like this man.
Then Fernando stated that at long last the Druids had come to visit the Aymara, that we were brothers, and that this was a historic meeting of people’s: And he invited me to stand up and speak.
I knew that even at my very best, which I certainly wasn’t feeling, I could not evoke the same eloquence to match Fernando. I simply spoke from the heart, saying how happy Kate and I were to represent our ancestors and our grove, the orders of OBOD and the Pagan Federation, and finally to greet our brothers and sisters of the Aymara. It was enough thankfully.
Kate was watching closely how the women interacted with their group and each other. The elders let the younger women speak first and have a turn at leading aspects of ceremony. The elder women were respected by all, who hung on their every word and gesture. We could see how the wisest were nurturing the youngest, each of whom had a role and responsibility to the group.
Both Kate and I were offered a ‘healing’ at the bottom of the garden intended to help our spirits recover from a long travel. The details of this I must save for our Druid colleagues, for what transpired was not planned for, and would only be understood by elders of our path. It is sufficient to say that after this event, both the Amauta and the Druids had experienced the energy and power of the other and there was no doubt remaining that we were compatible traditions of great substance. The experience for me was powerful and positive, surprising and life changing.
We were then introduced to the Aymara tradition of ‘offerings’.
In the Druid traditions we have long since ceased to make ceremonial offerings. At least on the surface; we still will gift a poem or a song, or give up a vice, leave wild flowers or ribbons at a sacred place. It is a mere echo of a tradition from times when offerings were perhaps more misguided. The Gods of life have never required us to extinguish life to show appreciation; we believe that they would rather that we appreciate the gift and live life fully. If we should sacrifice anything, it should be our selfishness, ignorance, greed and ego.
Aymara offerings seem to involve the breaking up of sweet stuff very much like icing, and reading from the broken pattern of the sugar some meaning before carefully rearranging the pieces. We never understood the meaning of the reading or the intent of the rearrangement. Kate and I were each honored with a ‘sugar cake’ over which the most senior Amauta fussed for some time. The rest of the community made do with one offering between them.
Wood for a fire had been laid down at the bottom of the garden, overlooking the mountains. As the sun set and dusk deepened rapidly we processed anti clockwise around the firewood with Ladies spilling a gift of alcohol into the wood and gentlemen to the Earth beside it. The sugar cakes were then carried and placed on the top of the firewood with great care not to disturb the arrangement of the pieces. Finally the fire is lit and people sing.
From the other guests to this ceremony, two French, one Spanish and one Mexican we learned that being granted access to something like this from the Sariri clan is the dream of a lifetime and very rare. At around 1am we returned to our hosts flat in the centre of La Paz. There would be a short sleep before the next day (Solstice Eve) and our schedule would be completely full.
Breakfast TV
At around 7am Kate and I were taken to a TV studio in La Paz. The channel was the equivalent in the UK to the BBC, with their breakfast program watched by most of the country as they awake and start a new day. We were wearing our Druid robes for the interview and were asked about the Druids, Stonehenge, Why we were visiting La Paz etc. From that moment on we were becoming famous.
Amauta Council
From the TV studio we were taken to the Government buildings in the very center. We admired the Grand former colonial style architecture, as we entered. Armed guards asked to see our passports. We hadn’t brought them with us. This caused a short delay but in a short conversation between our hosts and the security, which I couldn’t follow, we were waved on. Inside this beautiful old building gathered many of the Amauta council. We sat, introduced each other, shared coca leaves and drank tea. This was deeply touching for Kate and I. The wisdom and kindliness of these elders was palpable.
One of the Amauta was a specialist shamanic healer. Kates specialty being plants and healing also, they bonded immediately and if excitement at meeting a kindred spirit could make sparks then there was lightning in the room. We presented the Amauta with our gift, the disc created by Andy and Michelle back in Amesbury depicting the trilithon of Stonehenge surrounded by three hares for the wise tradition of the Goddess. They loved it. Were very keen each to hold it. And had to decide in rapid order who should have the privilege of guarding it for each represented a different people.
It was explained that others of the council were missing because these were from far-flung reaches of Bolivia who could not attend our meeting and be home in time to officiate solstice celebrations. We understood entirely. In the same situation back home we would struggle to muster a fraction of the capable druids on the eve of solstice. That so many had come to greet us and talk with us was a great show of respect to us.
After leaving the government building, still accompanied by our interpreter and guide Tina, and our Amauta medicine man, we went out into the town square. Here hundreds of Aymara were dancing and processing past. Apparently they had gathered to express exasperation with a new law that vehicles traveling to Tiwanaku must be under 15 years old to be more fuel-efficient. Practically every taxi and bus in La Paz is over 15 years old, no-one would be able to get there if the rule were enforced.
We were welcomed by a senior member of the British embassy team in La Pas Claire Demaret, who was kind enough to seek us out and this had the very positive effect of making us feel supported.
Tina took us to her favorite restaurant for lunch which served home-made soup. We still had our Amauta friend the medicine man with us and he pointed at every plant decorating the restaurant and explained to Kate and I its medicinal properties. Kate recognized a couple of the plants from her studies and noted that he was spot on. When I asked him how he would know the properties of a plant, the answer he gave surprised me. In addition to tradition passed down from parent to child, and many years of practice, he could ask a plants spirit with his own spirit and receive the knowledge directly.
I wondered if this is how our own herb lore had originally been derived, with spirit interaction.
The way to Tiwanaku
After rushing down our food we raced across the town centre on foot to the meet the coaches that would take the Sariri Aymara to Tiwanaku. La Paz sits in a crack at the centre of a great plain surrounded by mountains. When it rains seven rivers flow down the streets of La Paz. The journey up the side of the valley to reach the plain took us past the fast expanding ‘Upper La Paz’ to travel across the dusty plain for many miles. Looking out of the window we could see small farms, many with mud walls and thatch roofs. Llama and cattle wandered in the fields of sparse grass.
Inside the coach the community chatted excitedly, sang traditional songs or dozed.
The Village
Our first destination would be at a place called ‘the village’. Fernando explained to me that in ancient times only the priests could enter the Tiwanaku temple for winter solstice sunrise. The other pilgrims must stop at a ridge to go no further, and once there was a small village here. It is a special place for the Aymara he said. As our coach trundled to a stop on a ridge over looking a vast plain with three perfect mountains looking like pyramids on the horizon I couldn’t wait to get out of the coach and breathe fresh air.
As soon as I set foot on the soil of ‘the farm’ I was instantly moved to tears with emotion. To explain, this place literally contained a torrent of ‘energy’. It felt to our fey senses something like swimming with dolphins, standing to watch a perfect sun rise, jumping in puddles, watching a spring lamb taking its first steps, Glastonbury tor, Avebury, Tin Tadgel in a storm and Stonehenge all combined. This was the raw wild energy of our Mother Earth in such abundance! I was literally stunned. Fernando seeing the look of emotion on my face wandered over to me. I asked WHAT IS THIS place?
He smiled knowingly and knelt to draw in the dust. He drew the ridge where we stood. The three mountains on the horizon, the three dots for the temples of Tiwanaku behind us.
The sun, he explained, rises up the side of the first mountain at winter solstice, the second at equinox, the third at summer solstice. He drew three lines to show the suns line to where we stood. The drawing in the dust, and this great Tiwanaku landscape, actually draw the universal druid symbol.
I did not know how it might be possible, but in this moment I received a knowing that the ancestors – OUR ANCESTORS – had once visited this place long ago.
More pictures are available to view at: http://www.stonehenge-druids.org/bolivia-2011.html
To be continued in part 3
A meeting of cultures: part 1
In 2008 I was asked if I would mind being interviewed for a local Wiltshire publication where I would be asked a few questions about Stonehenge and about the Druids and have my photo taken there. I will always try to help genuinely interested media enquiries and fit these around a busy working life. I believe that it is important for Druids to be open with the wider public about who we are, what we believe, and about our connection with Stonehenge.
On this occasion I was unaware that destiny was at work, and that this interview would lead to an eventual meeting between two of the worlds most mysterious spiritual cultures and a major historic bond being formed between ancient traditions separated by almost 6000 miles.
On the day arranged for the interview, an elderly English gentleman by the name of David Hathor introduced himself to me as the photographer. He explained that he was retired and living in Bolivia but standing in as a favor to the regular chap who was off work sick at the time. We did the interview and photo shoot and he took my email address offering to send to me the photo’s and a copy of his report for approval.
When David sent to me the pictures and report as promised, he told me that he had shown them to a native American people called the Aymara, whose priests the Amautas were very interested in learning more about the Druids and about Stonehenge. I looked up Amautas online to discover that they fulfilled a similar role in their ancient society as the Druids did within pre Roman cultures in Europe. At their great temple, Tiwanaku, high in the Andes they still observe celebration of the midwinter sunrise to which it aligns on June 21st.
E-mails were traded back and forth and it was clear that both the Amautas and the Druids share a considerable interest in the same things and we were eager to meet. The idea evolved that we could send Druids to Bolivia for the solstice there, and later receive the Amautas for a solstice celebration here in England. I published this idea on our web site and hoped that we might find sponsors to help both sides meet the costs.
Tiwanaku / Stonehenge
Sadly despite a lot of interest, which had soon reached the RADAR of the British foreign Office, the British Embassy in La Pas, and the Bolivian Government all of whom embraced the idea, no sponsor could be found. In recession hit Britain, I lost my income for a while so I could barely manage my mortgage payments let alone air fares half way around the world. The project was put on hold awaiting a change in the economic climate.
Earlier this year we approached the Bolivian Embassy in London and stated that we still had an interest in seeing the exchange through, with a view to putting our very best people forward and involving other credible pagan groups where possible. The Ambassador, very kindly came to meet us at Stonehenge and Amesbury.
http://www.stonehenge-druids.org/ambassador-may-2011.html
Following this, I visited the embassy in London, twice in order to video conference with the Amautas council in La Pas.
The moment that I first came face to face with the Amautas wise men and wise women via the video link, I was impressed greatly by them. They took turns, each to introduce themselves and tell a part of their beliefs history and customs. I asked them questions, to which they would answer frankly with no attempt to impress or demure, and with an obvious depth of knowledge. They asked me many questions about the Druids and about our traditions and beliefs.
I tried my best to respond in kind for our tradition, differentiating the ancient from the modern where necessary. I was in no doubt that these people would know instantly if someone tried to lie, exaggerate or pretend to a knowledge not actually held, just as I would.
People sincerely following the Druid path today have to seek for learning within the memory of country traditions, folk lore, archaeology, the accounts of those who wished us dead, and the hard won spiritual insights granted by the Gods to guide us home. The pathway still exists, but it is overgrown and uncared for in places, deliberately hidden in others, missing patches through neglect, and the signposts have all been removed. To walk this spiritual path of our ancestors and stay true to its nature requires a deep resonance with truth and an empathy with nature.
There are few teachers.
While talking with the Amauta Council I sensed their depth of understanding and realised it was a chance to speak with elders of a spirituality and magical tradition as old and advanced as the Druids, yet still whole. I did not have to explain our concepts twice or have to justify our ancestral beliefs as one might have to when speaking with Europeans.
For our second video conference hosted at the Bolivian embassy Aes Dana Druidess Kate joined me. It is important for their to be a balance of energies, male and female, and of perspectives as represent our traditions. Following this successful meeting we arranged for a third visit to the embassy. We wanted the Amauta to meet other elders of our tradition, women as well as men, and to share and widen the connection that was already forming. We invited leading members of the most representative, knowledgable and influential Druid and Pagan groups in Britain.
These included OBOD, Pagan Federation, Fellowship of Isis (Druid Clan of Dana).
I thank them for immediately agreeing to be present in this circle and for their total support to Aes Dana. They were all very well qualified to represent our tradition on the exchange but all were noble enough to encourage Aes Dana, a very small grove, to represent us all in Bolivia.
Central to Aes Dana Grove is the town of Amesbury in Wiltshire, who’s mayor and people have recently embraced our grove and sought to reconnect with the ancient traditions and legacy of Stonehenge. With their blessing and encouragement we would be representing the people of this little town which boast one of the best fine art galleries to be found anywhere ‘the forge’.
I asked Andy and Michelle who run the Forge if they could make a unique gift for the Amautas to mark our historic meeting. Michelle presented us with a steel disc weighing around 7 Kg with an image in the centre of trilathon of Stonehenge surrounded by the three hares of the Celtic Goddess…perfect symbolism.
So it was that two Druids, myself and Kate, found ourselves at Heathrow airport about to set off into unknown territory for the Stonehenge Druids and on our way to greet the great Amauta priests of Tiwanaku. What would our two great traditions, both with our roots in the prehistoric make of one another?
Will we get along?
Will we have anything in common between our spiritualities?
Will we gain insights into the mysteries of our ancient pasts?
Will we find missing answers to questions and challenges of today?
To be continued…
Archaeologists gloat over failure to get JR.
Following Arthurs high court request for a Judicial Review over the ancestors, being declined, Mike Pitts (editor of Archaeology Magazine, advisor to EH and member of the Riverside Project) has made comment on his Blog.
Please note that he claims that under new guidelines he may be able to keep the Stonehenge Ancestors ‘indefinitely’.
Is this evidence of more backroom dealings without any public consultation to appease the archaeological lobby?
http://mikepitts.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/sense-prevails-at-stonehenge-again/#comments
Our reply:
It might surprise you to learn that many Druids, and I include myself in this, share your disgust at people climbing the stones and leaving the site a mess after solstice. I could add that for a minority, alcohol or drug abuse and bad behaviour add to a sense of violation of the sacred space. The Druids have to work within boundaries set for us by English Heritage and have no special means by which to police the behaviour of visitors to Solstice who pretty much can trample all over us also. We who go for genuine spiritual reasons do our best to keep some dignity and to serve others in such capacity as we are able.
If we had no other reason at all to challenge the validity public benefit and morality of these digs, the very fact that tax payers money has been spent on them gives us that right. Solstice celebrations are paid from a very small fraction of the revenue generated by Stonehenge each year, and so does not cost the tax payer directly.
I believe that you have in common with Arthur a strong desire to be associated with Stonehenge, you wish to speak as a representative of the archaeological cause and he speaks for his own interpretation of the Druid cause. You are both media aware and articulate people, but where the Druids stand at a distinct disadvantage in this debate is that the archaeological world has people in positions of considerable influence placed within the public bodies who should be regulating your activities and independently finding the point of reasonable balance between points of view.
Archaeology has the resources of commercial archaeology companies, funded organisations and Royal Societies with political influence. You have money, lawyers, full time helpers and access directly to advise the authorities and guide policy. The advantage is yours. It is so to such an extent that the fervor with which you have campaigned to mitigate the very slight risk that just this once you should have to compromise with those outside of this elite club in my opinion almost amounts to bullying.
You say that we have been consulted. We were not informed that the policy of interpretation of the Burial Act 1857 is now to give archaeologists unlimited access to our ancestors. That you now suggest you might be able to keep these Stonehenge ancestors from reburial indefinitely fully vindicates Arthur and myself for disbelieving EH three years ago when they told us not to worry, we would get our ancestors returned last year, or Mike Parker Pearson when he informed us that his research would complete on time, or the archaeological community who would like to be seen to be honourable.
In your book Hengeworld you tell the story of Archaeology at Stonehenge and of the reckless damage, loss of information, loss of finds, failure to document that 100 years of trusting the ‘experts’ has wrought on this precious place. It has a great value in illuminating our prehistoric capabilities only matched by its continuing worth as a sacred place of the ancestors and those today who revere them. A balance should be found between these two, and we have sought throughout to find compromise only to discover that leading lights like yourself have presented this as being the end of your livelihoods.
Arthur likes to give the impression that he is the one leading opposition to this violation against truth, but there are others not so encumbered by the need to grandstand who if it takes a further hundred years will undo this wrong. Archaeologists have missed a great opportunity in your haste to mock the Druids and escape legal constraints. The real reason that so much harm has been done to Stonehenge by archaeology has been that projects are not being adequately funded and once granted licence have not been properly regulated.
We would support the riverside project in this research being completed quickly and recorded properly, two years of study would have been more than adequate had they been funded only to provide one part time student to study these remains. We want them reburied, in sealed containers that would preserve them for future research if justified but also achieve their return to the Earth at Stonehenge.
We have never suggested that no research should take place.
If you dare to question the common assumption that Druids have a start date 1600 years after Stonehenge was constructed, and therefore having no connection with it, then you might discover that it is not at all as well supported by the actual evidence as it is convenient as an argument to isolate people with Druidical beliefs of today from being granted any legitimacy which they might use to challenge the exploitation of Stonehenge. The evidence contrary to this ‘disconnection theory’ comes from the world of science and points now to Druids having been established long before they were written about by classical observers and who’s beliefs were founded upon a blend of Celtic and Pre Celtic perspectives.
A judicial review would have benefitted all sides in this debate, and would have been very much in the public interest.
It would have allowed the reburial / spiritual community an opportunity to present the reasons why a balance between the needs of science and the needs of the spiritual community could be made to work without harm to ethers position, and might even lead towards better understanding and cooperation. We have throughout our campaign been generous in our general praise of Mike Parker Pearson for the quality of his work and our regard for the potential benefits of his archaeology. We would have contrasted this with the harm done by under funding and the lack of central recording of evidence available to the public in who’s interests it should serve.
You would have also had the opportunity to speak about the benefits of archaeological work, of the need for proper funding, and to have shown sensitivity to the legitimate spiritual concerns held by so many people of so many faiths regarding this issue. Instead you seem to be gloating over your ability to do as you wish answering to no-one. You are showing the world that the attitude of British Archaeology today has not advanced so very far from that of the treasure hunters of bygone times who travelled the world taking whatever they wished.
How will history and more enlightened generations look at you?
Stonehenge Ancestors Update
This is an email to let you know that a decision has now been reached in this matter.
Careful thought has been given to the arguments put forward by all parties. While Druid representatives have set out clearly the reasons why they believe the remains should be re-buried without delay, the significance of the remains from what is a World Heritage Site was also taken into account.
Permission for the original excavation was only granted after very careful consideration, and the interests of stakeholders including Druids and Pagans were considered. While it is unfortunate that the time needed to undertake the research work was underestimated, it is not considered right to curtail the work that has been carried out so far.
The decision has therefore been made to grant an extension to the re-burial condition for five years, in accordance with the application made on behalf of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.
Instructions for the licence to be amended have therefore been given. However, it is proposed that once the work has been completed the religious views of the Pagans and Druids will be respected and the remains reinterred.”
It is bad news that our ancestors remains will be withheld until 2015, but a definite step forwards that the MoJ propose that we will have these remains reinterred.
You can read the 37 page argument that we presented to the MoJ that led to this response below.
What could be done to challenge the length of the extension granted?
To have the ancient human remains returned to Stonehenge earlier than 2015 recommended by the Ministry of Justice we would need a Judicial review.
Update 23rd August 2011.
Mr Pendragon, or ‘Arthur Rex’ as he allegedly signed his name in court, bungled the filling in of the Judicial review application form by not giving adequate reason for such a review being necessary. All was not lost at this point, there was still an opportunity to speak before the judge in person to make a case about why a judicial review is justified.
To be fair to Mr Pendragon the odds were stacked against him from the outset, and he gave it a go when many others couldn’t be bothered or didn’t have the bottle. All credit to him for that much. However there are perhaps lessons to be learned from this failed appeal and the way in which the pro reburial position was represented.
We mustn’t continue to lose important tests of morality and faith in the courts. These losses eat away at the justice in our land, and to do less than our best is to fail those who would see justice done.
We will continue to work towards the reburial of these ancestors at Stonehenge on or before 2015. This is a commitment that we have already achieved from the MoJ through our own efforts and we will be watchfull for any move to break from this pledge.
We will be working independently from Mr Pendragon in this regard.
The Druid and the Minister
This article was originally posted to www.eternalidol.com back in April 2011
I wake up in the mornings slowly and switch on the BBC breakfast news to help keep me awake. I was still bleary eyed and half within the realm of dreams when the television presenter declared that two government ministers would be making an important announcement from Stonehenge this morning. Unusually, in these times of spin, where government tells the media to report what will happen, what will be said, and how to report it before it occurs; this time no-one knew what it was all about.
Including myself.
The announcement could be about anything, and given how totally out of touch with reality most governments of any political flag are, it could range from selling the Stones to China to help with our national deficit to announcing that elves have returned and are in communication with our military. In between these extreme scenarios sit the more likely subjects of the The Visitor Centre, or the return of the Ancestors.
As I sat in my van ready to head off to work in my business suit, I weighed up my responsibilities as a spiritual guardian of the Stones with my very real need to pay my mortgage and keep my employers happy. Stonehenge narrowly won, so I set off cross-country at the best pace that tractors and OAPs on a day out would allow me. An hour or so later I was pulling into the Visitor centre car park, past security, and I parked up. I grabbed my SLR camera which by chance was in my van and I walked to the visitor centre, where a gaggle of media, TV and national press were reading the freshly issued press releases.
I asked an unfamiliar EH Press officer for a release and was duly handed one. Shortly afterwards, we were all waved through to the underpass that leads through to Stonehenge for the press announcement with the waiting ministers. As I walked under the tunnel, I was wondering why no-one had hooked me out of this elite group of media professionals, because under some circumstances, the EH staff might want to keep the Druids and their special guests as far apart as possible. Maybe they were happy that a senior Stonehenge Druid had turned up, but it then also dawned on me that in my business suite and carrying a big SLR camera, I probably looked just like one of the media and not my familiar, white robed Druidic self.
So, with my media hat on I decided to play along.
We reached the presentation area in front of the Heel stone and everyone around me started snapping photos with the enormous cameras that the press always carry. Doing my bit, I picked up my camera and tried to take some photos, but nothing happened. I had forgotten to put in a battery! Drat. We Druids prize resourcefulness, so I utilised my trusty i-phone instead. One media guy saw what I was using and laughed, muttering something like “my editor would kill me”. Then, after a short speech from the ministers, the TV people started interviewing them in rough order of size of organisation; BBC first, local papers last, so I waited and listened.
Finally left alone, John Penrose, Minister for Tourism and Heritage, made eye contact, stepped forward and I did likewise, and shaking his hand warmly introduced myself: “Frank Somers, STONEHENGE DRUIDS”. I have to credit him with recovering very deftly from the surprise.
I congratulated him on his achievement and I had a polite and very agreeable conversation with him before eventually wandering back to my van. We might argue with the Government over many things, but when they do get things right we are happy to acknowledge this.
He said “The long awaited transformation of the Stonehenge landscape is finally within grasp.”
The plans which will improve the current disfiguring visitor facilities from the vicinity of the stones have been given a huge boost following Government moves to help English Heritage secure a unique funding mix to achieve the project.
The funding package which mixes private philanthropy, lottery cash and commercial funding, has been supported by today’s government announcement about English Heritage reserves and road improvements.
He has also confirmed that English Heritage will be allowed to access 2 million pounds of historic reserves raised from philanthropic sources, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to philanthropic support for major cultural projects
“This is fantastic news for everyone involved in the project. It is a real step forwards in making sure this world heritage site – a unique and iconic symbol of our prehistoric past – is not simply preserved, but also presented in the best possible light for visitors in the future. Stonehenge is also an important draw for tourists from all over the world. But for too long the way it has been presented to visitors has been woefully inadequate – decades of dithering and indecision have got us nowhere. So it’s only right – and long overdue – that new thinking and cooperation between parties come together to ensure the whole visitor experience is world class too.”
“It was bitterly disappointing when the country’s dire financial state meant that we had to withdraw government funding for the visitor centre last June. But I – along with EH and my colleagues across government – have been committed to finding other ways to support the project. The fact that we have now almost secured private funding is an example of the Big Society in action, with everyone working together to ensure a mix of funding solutions.”
Mike Penning said “I fully recognise the importance of preserving this iconic heritage site and I am delighted to help the Stonehenge improvements take an important step forward. I have agreed around 3.5 million pounds funding to allow the highways agency to close the junction of the A303/A304 – improving the setting at one of the world’s most popular ancient monuments and aiding its conservation. This is subject to successful completion of statutory process to remove traffic from the Wiltshire controlled A344.”
“The funding would also allow the HA to increase capacity on the TA360/A303 at Long-barrow crossroads, which will help ease congestion around Stonehenge, including for those travelling to the new visitor centre”.
Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage said “These are crucial steps which bring closer the transformation of the currently blighted Stonehenge landscape.”
So there we have it. After years of successive governments talking and holding enquiries with no progress and allegedly nearly 100 million pounds spent in the process, something is finally going to happen. That something will begin next year with two improved roundabouts, a high tech road surface for the A303 past Stonehenge that will mute the road noise, and filling in the eastern end of the old access road with dirt so that it can be grass once more, linking Stonehenge to the northern sacred landscape.
Credit where it’s due, that is good progress, and I totally approve. Well done chaps.
Thanks too must go to whoever it is that has donated freely of their own money to help with this, which just goes to show how deeply Stonehenge touches peoples’ hearts.
And Ministers please note that I was nice about you this time!
Frank
The Ancestor Story
Many tens of thousands of people in the northern hemisphere look forwards to celebrating Summer Solstice.
This is the longest day of the year and the herald of warm lazy days when the corn ripens in the fields, birds sing, and families head for the beach.
It is also the time on around June 21st that between twenty and forty thousand people will point the bonnets of their buses cars and vans in the direction of one of the greatest seasonal celebrations of Mother Nature and the ancestors taking place in the world today. It is possibly also one of the oldest religious traditions, having started more than 5000 years ago. It is summer solstice at Stonehenge.
Access to Stonehenge is strictly controlled by the powers that be, and only opens up to everyone on four special days every year, including the Summer Solstice. Stonehenge is rightly designated a ‘World Heritage Site’, and wrongly treated as a money spinning tourist attraction when it is primarily a temple of the natural belonging to the people. By people I refer to those alive today and to those ancient dead buried in a circle around the inside of Stonehenge’s ditch and bank enclosure.
In 2008, without any consultation with the Druids, Her Majesties government authorised the removal of the human remains that were first buried at Stonehenge when she was brand new, and the great sarsen stones had not yet been put in place. These were likely the Royal Dynasty who belonged to a golden age in Britain that existed long before Iron brought forth war and discord. These ancestors are considered by the Druids to be the ‘guardians of Stonehenge’.
We have been protesting and fighting for their return ever since, and relations between the Druids and the secular authorities that run Stonehenge were taking a battering by the beginning of 2010. It was becoming clear concern to us by then that despite time limitations to the research licence, the establishment had no intention of returning our great ancestors for reburial.
In February 2010 I received a message from a good friend that a couple he knew living near Amesbury had made a statue and were hoping to unveil it at Spring equinox. They were hoping that the Stonehenge Druids might be present and give a blessing. I receive many requests from people to help with ‘hand-fasting, baby naming, blessings and sometimes with funerals but I have to admit that being asked to bless a statue is something new.
I phoned the artists ‘Andy and Michelle’ to find out more. They told me that they were building a statue out of steel that represented the essence of our ancestors. They told me that he represents ‘everybodies ancestor’ and that ‘we have forgotten to be grateful to them’. I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment!
He would, if everything went to plan, be finished in time for Spring Equinox and be placed next to the A303 at Solstice Park about two miles from Stonehenge. It was obvious immediately from talking with Michelle and Andy that they are lovely genuine and down to earth people. I wanted to help them. There was a strange synchronicity present in one of the Druids so tied into fighting for the ancestors to be asked to bless a statue of one. This kind of coincidence is not to be taken lightly by a Druid. I sensed that the gods had an interest in this.
Andy and Michelle sent to me a picture of the ancestors head…then it struck me…this face was rugged and strong, yet gentle. It was the face of a man with the power of a warrior but the heart of a poet and the earthy essence of a farmer. It was also MASSIVE ! I had pictured in my imagination a man my size, kneeling he would be 4 foot tall at most. Judging by this mighty head Andy and Michelle were building a Giant to stand as tall as a house. “Oh wow!” I cried.
From childhood I have always been able to draw and paint, and it is my hobby still. I can say with honesty that I am very good. Whilst at University studying IT I shared digs for a while with a gaggle of art students. These people rubbish my drawings of things that looked like life and splashed paint randomly on huge canvasses and then wrote essays about how this work expressed their feelings. The essence of modern art seems to be the story that goes with the artist, the high price tag that can go with a modern abstract is dependent upon the artists brand and not the art itself.
I will come back to this point later, but the essential truth (as I see it) behind much modern art is that it is sometimes produced by messed up people without talent or a sense of beauty. As a result we end up with animals sawn in two and unmade beds winning prizes, cities with architecture that only recognises the power of the right angle glass and steel and a largely alienated public who just don’t get it. The artists get away with this shambolic display by making such art the preserve of intellectual elite…all of whom have gone to schools of art.
Do you remember the story of the emperor’s clothes?
Anyway, back to the giant statue, being constructed by Andy and Michelle. There was bad news. Even as planning consent to locate him next to the A303 was delayed making his blessing on the Equinox impossible, he was still not finished. The artists were feeling ‘gutted’.
Let me tell you a little about Andy and Michelle. They are extra ordinary people precisely because they are ordinary. They run a small business fabricating bits for cars, gates, jewellery from a shed a stones throw away from Stonehenge but they are not the product of art school. Andy was an apprentice served car body worker for British Leyland, Michelle was a nurse. They have suffered and struggled, they have endured through life and always with a sense of optimism and vision that most of us do not have.
Around ten years ago they both decided to launch their ARMetalCraft business making whatever the community needed, yet with a passion to create things that were beautiful and which would inspire.
They do not want to be wealthy. They want to turn their skills towards helping others, teaching others who have yet to find a way, how to create with metal. And somehow, these two embody the spirit of inspiring others that Stonehenge began. They continue the ancient arts of bronze and silver working that began in Amesbury at the time of Stonehenge being finished.
Then it occurred to me. I had an idea so audacious that I laughed out loud and wondered to myself if I had any hope of making it happen. I phoned Andy and Michelle and asked them
“How would you like to bring ‘the ancestor’ to Stonehenge as an honoured guest of the Druids to greet the sun on mid summers day?”
“Really??!” exclaimed Michelle.
I wasn’t sure myself. Could we pull this off?
This was a long shot all round. We would first have to persuade English Heritage that it was a good idea to bring a 7 ton giant man into the world heritage site and sit him on grass so protected that you are not even permitted to stick a tent peg into it. Then we would have to work out how to get him in there. We would have to meet every health and safety assessment. We would need insurance, and he would need to be finished in time.
I presented a formal request to Peter Carson, Stonehenge Director, together with photos plans and the benefits to bringing him there. High up amidst the benefits was that he would provide a second focus of attention that would help ease the dense mass of people all trying to be in the Stones at the same time. Peter came to see the statue with myself and his staff at Andy and Michelle’s workshop. Still taking shape, his body in two halves, we found Andy and Michelle wearing leather aprons, covered in dust and blobs of weld down to earth as ever putting a kettle on for their guests.
I have to say that I have never seen Peter or his professional team look so excited. To their great credit they got the idea instantly. They were enthusiastic but there were a number of conditions attached. We would have to keep the ancestors appearance a total secret until he appeared in the field, lest summer solstice attract more pilgrims than it could cope with. Any leaks and the deal would be off. We would need an engineer’s report, stability test, insurance, transport, base plate to distribute the weight…..
I visited the Ancestor several times whilst he was taking shape.
Plasma cutters were used to cut ‘by hand’ thousands of steel plates of random shapes and roughly half an inch thick. These were then welded together around a giant frame designed by Andy. All of the pieces had to be assembled by eye and Michelle has that very rare ability to visualise and create in three dimensions. The ancestor is no hollow shell designed to last 30 years, the ingenious frame starts with steel beams cut shaped and bolted together with precision weighing most at the base to insure stability. I would be willing to bet that the ancestor could hold a 4×4 car in each hand and still stand for at least 300 years.
He sailed through the Engineers report.
Peter had a fairly hard time persuading his bosses but they eventually gave him the go ahead. Local Amesbury people wanted a role in this and Andy and Michelle are always willing to share with others. In strict secrecy, my Druid grove, local scouts and guides, the students of nearby schools and colleges all created decorations for the Ancestor. Andy and Michelle worked around the clock and even borrowed money to get the Ancestor finished in time.
It was so special to be a part of this. The whole Amesbury community started to come together in support of their ‘secret’ project. In the 21st century, with media, cameras and gossips everywhere empowered by the internet, the people of Amesbury built a great sculpture in total secrecy and the few local media who found out about him kept their silence too. Everyone was caught up in Andy and Michelle’s vision, and a giant Ancestor ‘returning to Stonehenge’ a place of the ancestors who’s most ancient name is ‘the giants dance’.
The day before Solstice eve Andy and Michelle, helped by a local haulage firm, carried the ancestor through the gates of the temple field. English Heritage staff spontaneously ran out to stand either side of the gate and cheered as the Ancestor came through.
That evening as the sun set all the people from the community who had helped with the Ancestor came and stood around him. I led the Stonehenge Druids in a circle of blessing, the community joined in. “We call to the ancestors, we call to the spirits of nature, and we call to the great ones…”
The following evening Andy, Michelle and the Ancestor stood alone in the field alongside Stonehenge awaiting the arrival of 25000 celebrants.
When we eventually arrived at the temple field we looked at the EH press release regarding the ancestor and it made no mention what so ever of the Druids. Bloody typical!
All night long we played music, danced and rejoiced in the presence of this great reminder of the ancient ancestors of mankind. They were great, truly great. People loved the ancestor, and wanted to know all about him. Girls took turns to pat his bottom, apparently he has a very nice one.
He received mentions on some websites and news channels around the world but in the UK he was strangely kept out of nearly all of the reports. It seems that the media often go to Stonehenge looking only for trouble to report. The story of a giant returning to ‘the giants dance’, the remarkable story of two inspired ordinary people and their art bringing a community together, the best kept secret project since the D-Day landings, Stonehenge and the Druids wasn’t what they wanted to report. Instead the main conversation was about litter.
Amazing.
Andy and Michelle make even ordinary things extraordinarily beautiful. Their art involves people, it tells a story, it lifts hearts and it inspires. Yet doors have been closed to them when seeking art contracts simply because they do not come from the established schools of art.
Let’s now state the obvious. The rubbish often presenting itself as art, that our councils and other authorities commission and place into our communities is usually over priced scrap that completely fails to inspire anyone but ensures distribution of public money to the already well established. Amesbury love their ‘Ancestor’ and want to keep him in Amesbury.
With the 2012 Olympics coming up and world attention on British culture isn’t it totally appropriate that a small Wiltshire community get to keep a unique, beautiful and inspirational piece of historic local art where he is?
Millions are spent preserving Britain’s historic culture in a state of mothballed stasis, but little goes to help the living, breathing and evolving traditions. Someone out there can help.
People ‘get’ Andy and Michelle’s art, it touches them. The Ancestor has made history by being probably the first contemporary art installation placed into an ancient world heritage site and certainly the first to visit Stonehenge; the only one to receive an invitation from the Druids. He is loved by the people of Amesbury, from the school children who decorated him all the way up to the lord Mayor.
Please enjoy these pictures of the Ancestor.
The Ancestor can be seen today at the Holiday Inn, Solstice Park on the A303 west bound.
Andy and Michelle can be contacted via www.ARMetalCraft.com
Frank
Riot of confusion
Aug 16
Posted by druidsong
A riot of confusion
Fires burned in London and other Cities in England for four days as youths rioted, taking the opportunity as they did so to loot and terrorise. The Police were caught unprepared and citizens found themselves undefended by the law enforcers who seemed either reluctant or unable to restore order and public safety. After these events, our political leaders flounder around trying to explain the causes of this situation to a very angry and disillusioned British Public.
People have thankfully not pointed the finger at race as the cause, in fact, it was groups that have a strong sense of community like the Sikhs standing side by side ready to defend their neighbours that stands out strongly as a model example of good citizenship. People lost their lives defending their families and businesses, including three young men from the Muslim community. Once again we saw greatness shine when the grieving father of one of these boys insisted that people calm down and restore peace.
England is blessed with a clement climate, strong agriculture, and a culture that prides itself on tolerance and democracy. We provide a free education, social security and medical care to all regardless of ethnicity, gender or social standing. We have equal opportunity laws in the work place, and ensure that everyone has at least an acceptable minimum wage and a safe working environment. Given all of this people from around the world watched and listened to the news this week and asked ‘What possible cause would people in Britain have to riot?’.
Some commentators, politicians and ‘experts’ have suggested that this is down to youth gang culture. Others have pointed out that there is a wealth divide between those that are on the basic state support and jobless and those who have great wealth. It has been suggested that it is because our politicians do not listen to the young people.
An interesting counter argument has come from many of the people who were victims of the situation and from the rioters themselves. The former blaming years of removing the rights of parents and schools to discipline unruly young people, and the courts for handing out very light punishments to convicted offenders. Asked why he was rioting, one man replied ‘because I can’.
Many of those rioting had jobs, and had travelled far to join in with the looting.
This has greatly shocked the law abiding people of this land, people of every race and religion, who are all outraged by the lack of morality displayed by these young people. We ask:
What has gone wrong?
Could we have prevented this?
How can we ensure that it does not happen again?
I believe that whatever the initial causes of the first riot in London, that it presented itself as an opportunity to defy authority and to steel. People genuinely believe that they will achieve happiness through material gain and through the domination of others. This is a condition that to a greater or lesser degree effects everyone in the land. Our communities and traditions have been systematically and deliberately disassembled in a vast social experiment.
We are taught to think of ourselves as individuals. We compete for the wealth that will bring us a bigger home or even a second and third home. We think that money will buy us things and that it is things that will make us happy. The wealthy are as caught up in this myth as are the poor, a through this striving to achieve happiness through money we have let the real thing slip away from us all.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, stated the situation correctly when he said ‘Britain is sick’.
Yes sir, it is.
It has been sick ever since we turned our back on our parents and on our families, putting the individual first. Since we ceased to belong to villages, towns, counties and regions as we had to mobilise to find work. Since we abandoned the influence of Grove, Church, synagogue and Mosque to the new gods of greed and envy which are the biggest drivers of our consumer economy.
The consequence has been misery, loss of hope, broken marriages, feral children, laziness and criminality. We are never happy even when we have every reason to be so.
The Bolivian Aymara people are trying to teach the world from their ancient wisdom, to strive to ‘live well’ not to ‘live better’. Living better requires money and can never be achieved. To live better we must always seek more and so never be satisfied. To live well does not require an excess of money.
Consider what someone might need in order to live better: everyone else must have less. This creates huge inequalities and as everyone strives to be better than the next, we destroy our community and the planet also.
Consider what someone might need to live well: to belong to something bigger than oneself, to have a way of serving that greater cause, to be loved and to love. Also to have food, water, shelter and the freedom to be oneself without fear.
All of the great religions of the world today, and the most ancient of the wise traditions belonging to our ancestors teach that seeking to outdo each other would become our downfall.
We have as a society become the victims of a machine that has leapt beyond the control of morality and common sense, as everything we do is now driven by a search for profit. You have profit when you take out more than you put in. This simple equation when applied by the worlds biggest organisations pays for our media to bombard us with images that lie.
The lie is that if you buy this product, you will be better, you will be happier, you will be more.
To believe that extreme greed can function as a driver for mankind is delusional. The evidence that this is foolhardy is in plain sight. Our richest nations are beset with social and economic problems, the earth is over populated with people, food, water, space and fuel are running out, and the climate and ecosystems are on the verge of collapse and we are still unhappy!
The ancestors and wise people, the prophets and seers of every people throughout human existence have spoken and told us how to live if we are to be fulfilled and happy.
It can be summed up as
‘Love and be loved’, ‘Give as generously as you receive’, ‘Respect yourself and equally, all others’, ‘Be truthful and honourable’, ‘Do not take what rightfully belongs to others’, ‘Strive to live in harmony with all beings and in balance with the earth’.
I wonder how many of the rioters are now looking at their stolen goods with a hollow feeling inside. Deep down they know that happiness still evades them and the ‘joy’ of possession is tainted by the method of acquisition. It will live on in their nightmares once the euphoria of the power trip fades from memory. As they beat up the helpless and burned down the businesses of their neighbours, they became less than they were before.
Although the rioters caused fear and provided a very visual spectacle of society breaking down, the damage caused by their greed and lack of responsibility pails into insignificance beside the damage done to us all by investment bankers lending money that they knew could not be repaid in order to get their personal huge bonuses, or the damage caused by politicians sending our armies into needless wars, or the damage to our environment by a policy of growth that cannot be sustained. The people in suits somehow get away without a prison sentence and condemnation yet are just as guilty of letting selfish greed destroy the best assets we once had to share.
So trillions are wiped off of of world markets and great nations go bankrupt because a collection of yuppies wanted more…
If we are to solve these issues in a balanced way then we have to recognise the true evil in all this is a selfish lust for money and possessions no matter that others pay the cost. We need to return to spiritual values, whether Aymara, Druid, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish or what ever and stop this madness that puts ‘having more’ above being happy.
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