Stonehenge

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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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S. Lanarkshire
Oh me too. I am so glad that even though I know that our coldest bit is just really starting, that the light is coming back and the days will stretch out again :)
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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I dont have an answer to that

Tell you what else humans can do, they can imagine....and they can do it so well that they can virtually see what they cannot in reality.
Imagine to soar like a bird and look down on your own home or garden.....and just take it from there :)
 
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Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,422
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Knowhere
Check out any shamanism and the same symbols come up time and time and time again.
It's something to do with how the human brain is hardwired and how hallucinogenics/ intoxicants/exhaustion/ stress/ dwam/ meditation, etc., interacts with it.
Basically we see things :)
How each culture, and the individuals within it interpret and explain those images differs widely though.
I was loaned a fascinating book by a friend some time ago called "the mind in the cave" can't remember the author but it had a fascinating theory that art and shamanism were the product of migraine aura. It chimed with me because I suffer from aura and it doesn't get much more psychadelic than that, my experiences have been described as "Alice in Wonderland syndrome" not without good reason.
 
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Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
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W.Sussex
Spirals are such a natural shape, from wind patterns to water. They’re carved into rock worldwide. Recently I’ve seen them at West Kennet Long Barrow, but they’re all over, it’s a natural shape for humans to produce.
 

henchy3rd

Settler
Apr 16, 2012
611
423
Derby
Sorry, I totally agree, I wasn't complaining that there was a charge but that it is not what it was.

And yes, I celebrate the Solstice (Alban Arthuan - or whatever it is called in your culture) by just taking in the moment, reflecting on the year past and planning the year ahead.

Let's be blunt though, Stonhenge is only part of the cultural history of a fraction of modern Britons. John Rothwell was born in Wakefield and is likely to have a closer DNA match to Harald Greycloak than Uther.

To be clear, I celebrate Britain's cultural diversity, but to claim to be descended from an
Not so much celebrate as breathe a sigh of relief that the days will be getting longer again, I tend to be rather miserable at this time of year. I was out in the woods today and a muddy woods they were, generally walking in the late afternoon before it got too dark to stay in there.
Early February is my doldrums month, even out walking or camping in the woods seems to linger for to long.
Late rise early bed, constant fire.. even the flora & fauna’s dragging its heels.
Oh, then early spring arises suddenly from nowhere, there’s a feel of warmth in the sun. Buds are heaving, plants are forcing through.. the odd buzz of insects in the air.
Springs not truly started for me until I hear the skylarks calling
Not so much celebrate as breathe a sigh of relief that the days will be getting longer again, I tend to be rather miserable at this time of year. I was out in the woods today and a muddy woods they were, generally walking in the late afternoon before it got too dark to stay in there.
better than being cooped up in a warm boat with the glow off the log fire crackling away & the water lapping around the bow, with a good book on the go
 
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henchy3rd

Settler
Apr 16, 2012
611
423
Derby
Spirals are such a natural shape, from wind patterns to water. They’re carved into rock worldwide. Recently I’ve seen them at West Kennet Long Barrow, but they’re all over, it’s a natural shape for humans to produce.
I think it’s spiralling out off control
 
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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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S. Lanarkshire
I was loaned a fascinating book by a friend some time ago called "the mind in the cave" can't remember the author but it had a fascinating theory that art and shamanism were the product of migraine aura. It chimed with me because I suffer from aura and it doesn't get much more psychadelic than that, my experiences have been described as "Alice in Wonderland syndrome" not without good reason.

I have thankfully outgrown migraine, except occasionally if I am a passenger and not the driver.
I endured the flashing lights, the aura, the colour changes, noises being unbearable, the nausea, etc.,
So very much not fun.
Imagine going through all that with no modern medical knowledge at all ?
 

henchy3rd

Settler
Apr 16, 2012
611
423
Derby
Tell you what else humans can do, they can imagine....and they can do it so well that they can virtually see what they cannot in reality.
Imagine to soar like a bird and look down on your own home or garden.....and just take it from there :)
I’ll have whatever you’re drinking.. sounds good to me
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
I’ll have whatever you’re drinking.. sounds good to me

Rooibos :)

Seriously though, think of a place you know well, then simply try to perceive it from a different perspective.
It's a fun way to teach a child to think beyond 2D :) and it's an interesting exercise for the adult mind.

We have rather digressed from the original topic though. Sorry hency3rd.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
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W.Sussex
I think it’s spiralling out off control

You’re not wrong. We haven‘t any control, just a misguided and ego driven belief we do. Whirlpools and tornadoes, hurricanes, rock carvings of eddies and dust storms are all the same thing. Given the lack of decency and general rape of our planet it is not at all surprising we are being bitten on the backside by storms, fires, floods, and plagues. Us humans have taken the proverbial and are being firmly slapped.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,776
1,510
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Wiltshire
Gosh, isnt it wonderful we dont live in an Ice age?

Or a period of high vulcanicity

or anything to do with asteroids.

The thing that is wrong with this planet, and that conversely makes it right to live on, is it tends to change.

And we are not capable of coping well with that.

Altering a place like, say, the moon, which does not change much, would be problematic.

(But maybe thats not a good idea, as it is prone to asteroid strikes)
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
Stonehenge was left to the nation on the condition that "no more than sixpence" old money(2 1/2p in today's money) should be charged to view the stones.
I used to have a booklet about the more modern history of the site, and that fact always stuck in my mind when I went to visit and was charged way more than that... and that was when we still had 1/2pence in circulation.
Had a big argument with them and produced this book to prove my point.
Needless to say, I viewed from outside the fence.
I haven't been past in a long while, but the last time I did I thought it looked awful. It used to sit naturally in the landscape. Now it doesn't. It's being sold to the American tourists.
 
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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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S. Lanarkshire
Sixpence per person won't provide to stop it being destroyed, despoiled, pecked to death though.
The degradation of the stones in the intervening years is obvious even just by quick photographic comparison.

I'm all for people's right to see, and I do think that in an ideal world that it ought to be free, but the sheer pressure of numbers is destructive and the reality is that it needs funding.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Even if folks take care, apply the old adage about taking nothing but memories, then the foot traffic alone is still damaging.
People complain about paths being laid up the hills, but the alternative are huge and ever widening foot traffic scars that destroy vulnerable alpine landscapes.

We don't want the hills restricted, so behaviour has to be managed. It doesn't come free, thankfully volunteers are happy to do a great deal of the work though.

Focused sites don't always have that luxury of scale, so then other measures are needed.
I think fifty quid is a bit much though....but then that in itself will limit numbers, and it's pressure of numbers that's the problem at Stonehenge.
It's all very well saying turn it into a commercial venture, but that totally ignores that 'pressure of numbers' issue.
Bit like the Egyptians stopping folks actually visiting the tombs, or the French stopping visitors from the painted caves.
Too many people, and it destroys the very site they've come to appreciate.

M
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,981
7,755
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I should point out that the £50 is to spend an hour inside the circle with a maximum of 30 people and I think it's from 8 - 9 in the morning - before they officially open. It's £50 per adult over 18.

I won't be going :) - the whole point to me is to be with very few people in these places. I love just sitting at Castell y Bere for example - out of season, mid-week you can be there on your own for hours. Don't sleep there mind; it's reputed to send you mad :)
 

SaraR

Full Member
Mar 25, 2017
1,631
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Ceredigion
<Nods> I like to see the sun come back.

Imagine if you lived in the high arctic!
I've not been there for when the sun returns, but last year I was there for the first sunset of the autumn and although very brief it was a very profound experience.
 

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