Of Stone Circles and Keeping It Local

A whole new world is waiting to be discovered and its closer than you think.

I love to travel. I love the anticipation, of planning and packing, of deciding where to go and what to see; especially the excitement of taking off and landing in a new environment, ripe for exploration and new discoveries. But for my latest trip I took a different approach - I stayed local.

Last month I took some time for myself to refresh and renew. My plans were to rest and spend time with my family back home in the landscape where I grew up, Cape Cod. It was cold and stormy much of the time, and some may wonder why I didn't escape and go to sunny Florida or an island in the Bahamas instead. But to be honest, I was yearning to reconnect with the land of my birth - to sink back into the earth that first held me. It turned out that my visit became a sort of pilgrimage.

I discovered things about my homeland that took me completely by surprise.

Hidden away on Wing's Island, a wind-swept piece of land tucked between sea, sand and marsh, lurked something extraordinary. After walking across a narrow wooden path out to the island, I found myself being led down a sandy trail through a tunnel of underbrush... old and worn, shaped by man over decades and the elements for centuries. I had crossed over into a magical world, far from the hustle and bustle, and arrived in a land where the wind and sea rule with unforgiving force.

It came with a rush, my heart shocked into reverie.

Out of the blue, I spotted a stone circle tucked away just off the path in a clearing surrounded by oak, cedar and pitch pine.

Sachemas' Calendar is the name given to this stone circle, created by an artist in the 1990's to mark the path of the sun throughout the year, something the Native Americans who once lived here are believed to have done. The equinox and solstice sunrises and sunsets are marked with a standing stone, thereby anchoring these moments of time and their respective energies to the land.

Great Britain is famous for stone monuments including stone circles, burial cairns, standing stones, and dolmens to name just a few. Stonehenge and Avebury located in England, are two of the more well known stone monuments. Here in New England our ancestors built stone chambers and walls with celestial alinements, but you have to know where to look to find them, and stone circles are even harder to come by. So, with this understanding and appreciation of stone circles, I was incredibly excited to discover one right in my native landscape hidden away on a magical island.

Go Local

This trip showed me how exciting and new a place you believe you knew well can become when you discover unknown treasures hidden there. I now want to learn more about the Native American history of this place and to explore the land from a geomantic perspective by dowsing what earth energies are present. I'm curious to see if there are water veins, energy leys, vortexes, and a power center there. I want to return to witness the sun rising and setting over the standing stones on equinox and solstice. This discovery has opened up new opportunities for deeper understanding, and with deeper understanding a renewed appreciation for my homeland.

We don't have to travel far to expand our horizons and see the world anew.

We tend to think we have to travel to some distant land to get a change of scenery or perspective. I agree this can be a fun and rewarding option, but it's not always necessary. Oftentimes traveling locally can have the same effect. When we set out to discover something new in our local area we open ourselves to being surprised, delighted and sometimes shocked by what we might find. There is something very fulfilling about learning more about our landscape of origin or the area where we live. A renewed sense of place and greater appreciation develops within us. We are blessed with a deeper knowing and we become more connected to the land and to life. This is exactly what happened for me when I discovered this beautiful stone circle on a windswept island on Cape Cod.

I encourage you to go local, to venture forth out your front door and seek new horizons and unknown worlds from right where you are. A whole new world is waiting to be discovered and its closer than you think.

Opportunities...

If you want to experience a stone circle for yourself and aren't able to fly to England to visit Stonehenge or Avebury, there is one here in New England, the Burlington Earth Clock, that is designed for public use. Built more recently by the Vermont grassroots organization Circles for Peace, a group formed by geomancers Dr. Patrick MacManaway and Ivan MacBeth, this stone circle is a beautiful example of how these circles can be places of peace and foster our connection with the land and one another.

If this blog has piqued your interest in having a stone circle of your own, I offer Sacred Space Design Consultation and can help you with design and construction. Please get in touch by emailing me at info@geomagica.com to learn more.