Sacred Geography in Ancient Europe
Martin Gray 2006
Stonehenge
Cosmic and Cometary Induced Cataclysms, and the Megalithic Response
Page 2
The Megalithic Culture
The megalithic (meaning 'great stone') culture, which is responsible for
the stone rings, standing stones, and chambered mounds of Europe, existed
from roughly 4000 to 1500 BC. Absolutely no written records exist from
these times and therefore archaeologists make assumptions about the people
based on excavations of their domestic, funerary, astronomical and
ceremonial structures. Among a wide variety of these structures, we may
distinguish four major types of stone structures with astronomical and
ceremonial functions: single or grouped standing stones known as menhirs;
rock chambers known as dolmens; enormous earthen mounds with passage ways
leading to rock cut chambers; and the stunningly beautiful stone rings of
which
Stonehenge is the most famous example.
The great advances in understanding of the Earth's subtle energies and the
erection of the megalithic structures which harnessed those energies
occurred during the Sub-Boreal period of 4000-1400 BC. Europe's climate was
warm during those years (warmer than today) and this encouraged increased
agricultural productivity, an ensuing growth in population, and the
migration of members of this growing population into remote, previously
unsettled regions of northern Europe. With these developments came a
concurrent increase in commerce, scientific knowledge and, most importantly,
the exchange of ideas between peoples of different geographic areas. To this
exchange of ideas we may attribute: 1) the development of megalithic culture
and 2) the erection of great earthen and stone monuments at the power places
which had been venerated as sacred sites since hunter-gatherer times.
While places sacred to ancient civilizations exist throughout the world and
their locations are often well known, the sacred functions of the sites are
rarely understood. It is easy to see why this is so. There is often a
corollary between the extreme age of an archaeological site and the scarcity
of information regarding the site's origins and initial function. The
further back in time archaeologists look, the less they know. Because of
this, explanations of a sacred site's initial and primary functions are
often no more than theorizations based on records of the site's use in more recent times.
The difficulty in accurately determining the function of sacred sites is
further compounded by the conceptual influences of the contemporary
paradigm. Many archaeologists and historians, deeply conditioned (as nearly
all Western people are) by the religious and materialistic paradigm of the
so-called 'post-modern' world, are unable to view ancient cultural behavior
patterns in a clear and unbiased manner.
Today's researchers seek to interpret ancient people, yet all too often do
so with intellects programmed by scientific and psychological assumptions
relevant only to contemporary times. This approach is bound to produce poor
understandings. Basically, the perceptual and interpretive limitations
imposed by our present culture's belief systems exemplify an age old
tendency of human beings to assume that they know more about life than their
ancestors did. While this is certainly true with such matters as computer
programming and aircraft design, it is not true in all areas of human
knowledge and endeavor. Human beings develop skills and understandings
uniquely appropriate to the environments and times in which they live.
Ancient people, living in harmony with the Earth and dependent upon its
bounty for all their needs, had developed skills which modern people no
longer use, cultivate or even recognize.
Early settled people, like their nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors, were
sensitive to the natural creative energies of the Earth. Living close to the
land and intimately aware of the movement of celestial bodies, they came to
notice a correspondence between the flow of the Earth's subtle energies and
the periodic movements of the sun and moon and stars. This harmonious
balance between Heaven and Earth resulted in particular power places on the
Earth's surface being highly charged at equally particular times of
different celestial cycles.
Over the passage of many centuries, as the ebb
and flow of the Earth's subtle energies were recognized to mirror celestial
cycles, various types of megalithic structures were developed at the power
places. Basically these different structure types were utilized to harness
terrestrial and extraterrestrial energies, to observe astronomical movements
in the interest of predicting the periodic increases of those energies, and
to assist in the prediction of cosmic events such as future cometary
impacts. While the structure types were different in form and function, they
served one another and therefore are best understood in relation to one another.
One early type of megalithic structure to be developed was the earth energy
harnessing device. While constructed in numerous different forms depending
upon the geomorphic features of the land, the character of the power place
emanation, and the style of local architecture, the energy harnessing
devices were designed and utilized to gather, concentrate and emanate the
subtle energies of the power places for the benefit of human beings. In
Western and Mediterranean Europe, these energy harnessing
megalithic
structures are found in three general forms: raised earthen mounds
(presently called hilltop forts and burial barrows), rock cut chambers known
as dolmens, and single or grouped standing stones known as menhirs and
dolmens. Let us examine each of these individually.
Conventional historical interpretations of the flattened hilltops in Britain
(many with coiled circles and huge earthen mazes surrounding their tops)
surmise that they were hill forts or castle foundations. Though it is true
that many were used in this manner during the Iron Age and later by the
Romans and Saxons, their original use was certainly not defensive. As forts
they are indefensible. Most have numerous gaps in their earthen work walls,
they are so large as to require thousands of people to defend their
periphery, and they were often inconveniently placed for long term human
habitation. Archaeological excavations at these sites reveal implements of
construction, such as antler picks and stone axes, but rarely the artifacts
of large scale settlements such as pottery and dwelling remains. Were these
places used as habitation centers or sacred sites? Accumulating evidence
seems to indicate their sacred rather than secular usage.
Another puzzling form of earthen mound is the so-called 'burial barrow' or
'burial mound', well known examples being located at
Newgrange,
Knowth,
Dowth and
Loughcrew in Ireland. Because burial remains have been found
within some - and only a very few - of these structures, it has been assumed
by the orthodox school of archaeology that their purpose was for interring
the dead. If this were so, why then are the mounds so large (hundreds of
feet in diameter) yet with so few burials (2 -10)? Why are there so few
skeletons over such long periods of use (1000-2000 years)? Why are there so
few trappings of wealth and power as is found in the burial remains of later
Bronze and Iron Age tombs? Why are the carbon-14 dates of the rare burial
remains much later than the Carbon-14 dates for the implements used in the
mounds' construction?
And, most mysteriously, why are the entrance portals
and passage ways leading to the mound interiors in absolutely precise
alignment with the horizon appearance or disappearance of such celestial
events as the
solstices,
equinoxes, lunar standstill dates, and the
appearance of particular stars? Conventional archaeology is unable to answer
these questions and therefore disregards them almost completely. In
actuality these massive earthen structures were subtle energy concentrating
chambers which ancient people initially used for healing and spiritual
purposes. Later peoples, knowing the eternal nature of the human sprint,
buried their dead within these chambers in the hopes that the dead person's
spirit might have a more rapid journey to the realm of universal spirit.
Still later people, having no understanding of either universal of human
energies, used these mounds as they were convenient, already excavated
chambers, suitable for disposal of the dead.
Another enigmatic class of megalithic structure is the dolmen or
'table-stone' (dol=table, men=stone). Dolmens normally consist of two to
four enormous slabs of stone (often weighing several tons each) supporting
even larger roof stones. Dolmens - or as they are called in other ancient
European languages: quoits and cromlechs - are scattered throughout the
European countryside from the Iberian peninsula to the remote islands of
northern Scotland. Very rarely found with burial remains and often located
far from any evidences of ancient habitation sites, dolmen structures - by
the very difficulty of their construction - indicate a powerful purpose.
Extraordinary work forces were needed to erect a dolmen's supporting stones
and to place the table top stones upon them.
With primitive levers and
ropes, three or four strong people are required to move a one ton stone,
thus the 50 ton cap stones of certain dolmens would require 100-200 persons
to move them. Many of these megaliths were erected upon high and remote
plateaus and were fashioned from stones which were quarried hundreds of
miles away. Moving stones up even small inclines requires the number of
workers to be increased by a factor of five. Such enormous effort points to
the great importance of the dolmens to megalithic people. Often erected
directly over power points along the Earth's meridian lines, the dolmen
megaliths served to tap terrestrial energies for the benefit of human beings.
Another fascinating thing to know about many of the dolmens is that they
were originally entirely covered by alternating layers of organic and
inorganic materials. While the purpose of this construction technique is
presently unknown, it is interesting to note that the scientist and psychic
Wilhelm Reich used the same technique in the construction of his so-called
orgone generators, these being (much smaller) devices that were able to
generate, concentrate and radiate a mysterious form of energy. Could the
ancient builders of the dolmens have been using their unique construction
techniques for a similar purpose? Orthodox archaeologists commonly assume
these dolmen structures were used for funerary purposes because burials have
been found in a small number of them (a very small number!). It is important
to note, however, that the scientific dating of the burial remains shows
them to be hundreds or thousands of years more recent that the structures
themselves, thus casting serious doubt on the tomb theory.
Equally enigmatic are the megalithic structures called menhirs. While it is
true that some of these single or grouped standing stones are outlying parts
of the (soon to be discussed) megalithic astronomical observatories, the
vast majority of menhirs are solitary needles of stone with no proximity to
other structures. Ranging in height from two feet to over 30 feet, the
menhir stones were presumably utilized by ancient people as both location
marking stones and as emanating devices for power place energies. In remote
areas of Europe, yet untouched by the land-grabbing onrush of modern
civilization, menhirs may still be found, placed every few miles along
dowsable energy lines leading to stone rings, dolmens and other ancient sacred sites.
Many of these solitary standing stones have odd symbols,
spirals and map-like images carved upon their surfaces. Conventional
archaeologists often interpret these as mere ornamental designs, yet a
world-wide study of such markings will reveal their similarities to rock
carvings in Australia, South America, Africa and India. The map-like images
are perhaps actual maps, showing - according to the topographical methods of
the ancient cultures - locations of other power places in the adjacent
regions. Some scholars suggest that they may have been part of a vast sacred
geography, long since ruined, while dowsers report that the solitary
standing stones are situated to mark points of concentrated earth energies
flowing along the lines between these sites (sometimes called ley lines).
The strange spirals and whirling patterns are thought by some researchers to
be graphic representations of the power point's vibratory characteristics as
determined by oscillating pendulums.
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