Well it would obviously be sacriligeous of you to do it and very self centered of you to better your lives dispite the fact that you live there and have to cope with all and sundry turning up to make a racket whilst simultaneously getting wasted on drink and drugs.

How dare you want to improve you, and those who live there's wellbeing and safety when the world and his cat want to go there and swarm the place, take drugs, drink, leave litter everywhere like a common mob and clamber over the stones with out as if they were a climbing frame.

Makes you wonder if any of them realise its a sacred site.

Outrageous.

Your statement sums up one of the reasons why we have problems being taken seriously, because that is how many people see us; drunk, stoned, wierdo's with no respect for anything. But, the solstice celebrations at Stonehenge and maybe Avebury aren't representative. Take a look at the Beltaine Bash, Pagan Camp, Pagan Con, the various PF events, etc. That is what the majority of pagan festivals or events are like - family friendly and respectful of the land.

Personally I have no desire to travel halfway across the country to spend the solstice being deafened by drums and jostling for space with thousands of others. I'm quite happy to spend the sunrise in the company of the blackbird and the wren in a quiet patch of woodland.

Sorry Vix - crossed wires. I didn't mean your post but Syn's above Just quoted the job lot Nice to meet another fan.

Freebird - I'm sure you're right and as my boy grows up I really want to attend some of these events as a family. I sometimes celebrate with a local unofficial group of friends in an open circle that is very family friendly. The kind of things that go on at Stone Henge really sadden me and I admit they make me wary.

i live near avebury drumming kept me awake but it`s only once a year
People at avebury during the solstice always put a smile on my face when i`m passing. three times a day normally
Off back there now to watch the lost,tired and weary, just in case.

......

here`s a thought
after the boxing day sunami a couple of years ago perhaps the earth shifted on it`s axis by close to 1 degeree which knocked the solstice a day out.

Was at Avebury last night and there were not that many people there compared to the massive crowd at Stonehenge. The weather was grim mind you at dawn. I would say there were only a few hundred hardy folk @ the stones this morning. As this site is much larger than Stonehenge it did not feel crowded at all really.

I had an all nighter with most of the night spent in the West Kennet Long Barrow, then a mile and a half stroll in the drizzle for the dank grey dawn in the so called moon circle which happens to be the best place for the apparent sunrise.

Heres a picture from the solstice 2005 as one would hope to celebrate the sunrise

Keith I think you'll find a lot will have arrived at Avebury later today as some always go there at the weekend nearest the Sabbats (and party till Monday at least )

I have to say I'm still surprised there was so few people there though. Its been getting increasingly busy there over the last few years. Although I do understand there has been a big clamp down on vehicular access during the solstice and thats put paid to a lot of it.

Glad you found it nice though because sadly its been a rare thing for the wonderful Avebury in recent times.

evocative photo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7467239.stm
the bbc news photo's of the solstice at stonehenge this year. looks like a rock concert with all the rubbish it must have acted like a carpet.
pant lovely pic

We parked in the layby near the West Kennet Longbarrow. We walked to Avebury to find the carparks in the centre had plenty of spaces to park, we were really surprised to find this. Sure the pub was a bit busy but I still managed to have a few jars.

ARRRGHHHH!!! what is WRONG with people??? Can't they take their feckin' rubbish with them?? Selfish bastards!

i'm with that.


and

celebrating any piece of land is surely the way to really honour it.

Photo 6 is DISGUSTING.
and a pox on those who dropped rubbish, and who drop rubbish may their testicles wither and their intestines prolapse to their knees

Actually this is NOT so.

Stonehenge was willed to the British Nation on the 26/10/1918 by Cecil Chubb. The deed of gift included the following conditions 1) That the gate money for the remainder of the war should go to the Red Cross 2) That there should be free admission for residents of local parishes (Shrewton, Netheravon, Durrington and Amesbury), later extended to the seventeen parishes of the old rural district of Amesbury, 3) That the entry fee should be not more than a shilling and 4) That no buildings or erection other than a peg or similar should be located next to the stones.

Local residents still receive free admission.

My trip to Stonehenge was most enlightening this year and unfortunately I found myself being almost as 'self-righteous' about the event as are many 'religious' neo-pagans and have come to some very stark conclusions about Stonehenge which has increased my appreciation of the Stones triplefold, so much so that I would like to see a restriction on the amount of visitors [largest crowd this year for 6yrs - and not pleasent], making it a visit by application only event [as it is for private access during the year] - but obviously allowing a much larger crowd to attend at the Solstices and Equinox's ie maybe something like only 5/10.000 people.

I have written a private account of my visit in my blog for those interested.

syno, your blog is empty

OH, hold on a mo

Is it there now?

nope have you hit the publish button

OK has that now worked

its worked now.

YAY

Well I consider myslef to be a 'real' pagan and didn't go to either!
Do we have to use such provocative terminolgy - isn't paganism a path of tolerance?

I consider myself fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time - a partially completed "modern" stone circle at the top of Northallerton hill - and to have witnessed a beautiful sunrise which stayed with the camp until well into mid-morning until all that cloud from "down south" obscured the yorkshire skies.

Im a real pagan and I dont go to either I celebrate in my garden, though im sure plenty of real pagans got to the stone circles.

Myself, my partner and her sister travelled down from Liverpool on Friday via Glastonbury Tor, and arrived at the stones car park just after midnight. We managed to get a couple of hours kip in the car and headed to the stones, but were all disgusted at what we found there. The litter, the disrespect, the pervasive influence of alcohol etc, and the crush turned a celebration into a post-mortem.

Hats off to English Heritage and the stewards who did their best, the parking arrangements were well-organised (around 10-12000 cars fitted into the car park - using a rough calculation of 55-60 vehicles per row and 180-200 rows in the field), and it only took 40 minutes to get out. Every vehicle was given a bin bag but how many bothered to use them?

I am one of those who fought for access to the stones in the late 1980s (see my own blog for an account from 1987) - before the battle of the beanfield the free festival (held in the field diagonally opposite to the stones behind the permanent car park) acted as a safety valve as those who just wanted to get trashed could watch Hawkwind playing their sunrise set, leaving the stones (mainly) for those for whom they had meaning. For too many this year it was just an excuse for a p*ss up.

I don't know what the solution is - reintroduce the free festival e.g on MOD land near Larkhill a couple of miles away to act as a safety-valve and give the ravers an alternative focal point?

I'm sure the site is now pretty much cleaned up again by contractors, but the sheer numbers just made the whole thing get out of hand. I won't be going again - I might go to Avebury, but more likely find a little-known ancient site in the North with a small group of like-minded pagans to welcome in the dawn.

OK we all suffered over the weekend, but it was muscle aches and pains due to all the walking and standing up (not just the stones but the Tor as well was perhaps a tad overdoing it) - just a general feeling of having been let down by humanity.

Sacred places should be held as sacred - which doesn't include being swarmed all over by pissed up/spaced out wanabees. Or being left desecrated by their rubbish, to say nothing of their bad vibes. (<-- For want of a better word.) But that's just my opinion.

I Googled for any info on Solstice activities at Callanish in Lewis, but there don't seem to have been any - or else they were too civilised to merit media attention. Either that, or the increased radiation there at this time has frazzled away all the nasties!

I think if you want to really have your own religious pagan ritual the best idea is to find a stone circle near you. If you want a hedonistic pagan celebration then Stonehenge is he place to be

Or they're too concerned with being stoned to death or burnt at the stake by the Wee Free....

Saying that I live a few miles away from Avebury and tend not to go as Im not sure it has anything to do with the summer solstice

What radiation?

Certainly when I was there at the end of May, there was absolutely no mention of any gathering whatsoever, either in local ads, press, or *ahem* church notices There is a bit of a to-do over a local wanting to put up a wind turbine and the stand-off between the locals who don't have a problem with it and the, um, incomers, who are vehemently opposed on the basis that it'll destroy the character and ambience of Callanish... (for those who've never been, there are houses literally a few yards from the stones - the folk of Lewis don't really hold Callanish in the same regard that many folk like us do - they (locals) think of pagans as interfering hippies (and that's the charitable description! ))

A small stone circle was exactly the sort of place I had in mind. I know most of them within a couple of hours drive.

Would one of those be a place where sheep skulls aren't exactly uncommon?

Obviously not likely to be in stonehenge at any solstice but we have much the same problem here at some sites - but it's as often locals (local kids expecially) who cause the trouble. So much so that last year people wrote to the newspapers at samhain to describe the mayhem at Tara with local youths running riot and tourists and pagans literally hounded off. Ohoh I've been at fabulous events there that had locals and pagans and visitors all together having fun - it seems to go in waves.
Sometimes locals don't respect something and resent being told it's important and sometimes pagans call something important but don't respect it!

Only been to Stonehenge once,bit busy for me,Nine ladies in Derbyshire used to be lovely,haven't been for few years,to be honest,my own garden is good enough for me,just being outside,listening to thwe birds&feeling the sun(or wind and rain!!)on my face

The only good thing about all the scrotes going to stonehenge is that they leave everywhere else alone.

Yeah but what about the poor buggers who live nearby? So much for a nice celebration at the nearest local "sacred" place

Strangely enough we found ourselves at a stone circle on Solstice - the Merry Maidens. It pissed down and we were the only ones there. We didn't do anything though on account of the rain and the general feeling of abandonment about the place.

As for Stonehenge, you can keep it. Can't stand the place.

Why does everybody dislike Stonehenge so Much? I find it odd. Absolutely nothing wrong with the old place. Access is the only issue that I can think off.

I was lucky enough to have gone before the fence - just me and the stones and a cold and windy night. I have loved the place ever since and consider it very personal. I agree with PK the problem is access... and money, always money. The energy was there and on my last visit it was still there. English heritage must be rolling in it, they get a free bunch of stones to exploit and just rake it all in. The henge at the end of the rainbow.

Avebury is still nice, except on sunday. Give it a few years and it'll be the same as stonehenge.

I'd like to defend the access offered by English Heritage and the fact that they charge money.

As a symbol, and a magnet for nutters, the security for Stonehenge costs money. There are over a million visitors each year to this special place, if all one million were allowed free access to roam and, in the case of the nutters that get attracted, damage the Stones, they wouldn't be there in 10-15 years time. Everytime security have to deal with a fence leaper or 'runner', they don't know if it's someone who wants to just sit and meditate in the stones, or someone who wants to throw paint over them. Would you like them to always take a chance on it being the former? What about the (presumably) pagan person who scratched a triple goddess sign into one of the Stones a couple of Solstices ago? Should people like that be allowed free and unfettered access?

English Heritage are doing the best they can to enable those who want some spiritual experience at the Stone to have access, and to control the massive number of tourists who also want to see the site.

Yes, Stonehenge is a money-spinner for English Heritage, but by being a 'flagship venue' it means the money raised can be spent on other less well known sites owned by them. Sites and venues that would otherwise have to close through lack of funding and care.

English Heritage have always been very accommodating for our group and very willing to work with us to enable us to have time in the Stones to be spiritual, without the risk of nutters joining in or disrupting the proceedings. I think they're doing a very good job of balancing the need to protect the Stones from damage and enabling those who want to appreciate the spirituality of the place to get what they need from the site too.

Rhiannon

Here are some pictures I took over the weekend .

The last picture was taken by a friend on the same day and not my good self!

Oh joy!

Does anyone else understand the need for costumes? (says the girl that will probably get married wearing a viking age outfit because she can't convince her fiance that penguin outfits *are* the way to go)

Its to make them look important. After all Stonehenge belongs to them doesn't it

Sorry if I seem a bit snarkey, but I'm tired of it all. The very reason Stonehenge feels so unpleasant is because people insist on forcing their beliefs and ideas upon it and as I said before the ancient dead are buried in and around the henge, so its hardly a place for a party!

Well yes, didn't they in fact build it?



The same can be said for so many of the well known places. I have never understood why certain folks insist on trying to do fertility rites in burial mounds either. And my pet peeve....people that call up foreign deities into those burial mounds. There's no bloody rest for the dead. If they're not in museums, they're having their bones reburied by a bunch of people using rituals that are just as foreign to them as Christian ones would be, if they're not being reburied in modern rituals that have nothing to do with the ones of their time, they're having their mounds invaded by shagging Pagans or foreign deities.

It sucks to be one of the ancient dead and to be honest I'm not sure if it's archaeologists or the people that claim to care that show the greatest levels of disrespect.

Actually it was Comfey!



At one point during the proceedings everybody joined in with a healing for my little 3 year old daughter who has been suffering with Cancer. Very powerful stuff it was too! She was presented with a little teddy bear dressed as a Druid which we called Arthur.

On the way out we saw King Arthur. He is game for a laugh because he named the Teddy Bear Arthur .

Keith, we've had our clashes but I am sorry to hear your daughter is sick and I really hope she gets well again.

But it doesn't feel unpleasant at all. It is in your opinion only.

You know more about EH than i do Rhiannon so i respect your pov and also you have probably a more intimate aquaintance with stonehenge than i do as i have lived away from it for so long. I just think that they could organize it better. When i accompanied some friends last year it was TERRIBLE. I've never seen so many japanese and americans in one place before, buses of them, dare i say dozens of buses. I ws almost in tears of rage. People selling ice cream and sick tourist souveniers, concrete, the bloody road. From what i heard from a furious local in a pub, it's like that every day. That is just exploitation. Sod the Japs i say (bit of gratuitous racism there ) open it for some months but not all. Close it down say for two weeks either side of the solstices and equinoxes and at any other pagan festival that springs to mind. Start regulating access for those that (going out on a very thin limb here) have more right to it through belief than a bunch of druggies and snap-happy tourists Make it into a national park with no vehicular access. Make them walk for the spectacle. ANYTHING is better than how it is now surely. I appreaciate that EH do other stuff as well and if they do a good job then full marks to them but at stonehenge there has to be a limit i think. Some italian sites have had a good idea (unusual) and have tourist quotas in delicate areas. Stonehenge doesn't need millions to tourists to survive, it too could limit the number of tourists.
mini rant over.