Every time we drive to and from our adopted home, we pass Stonehenge. Whatever the time of day, week or year, there is a constant stream of pilgrims circling the stones, paying homage. For us it has a particular, if somewhat trivial, meaning - it signifies that we are well over half-way to Frome, and the change in landscape as we climb up from Amesbury lifts the soul. But why do people travel from all over the country (and all over the world) to see a a collection of rocks in a Wiltshire field? Is it simply their age - the fact that they are still here at all? Is it the myths and legends that are attached to the place? Or is it because it's a World Heritage Site and must simply be ticked off from the list of X Hundred Things To Do Before You Die?
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| A heap of stones in Wiltshire |
In the 1990s, you might recall there was a quite a craze for "spiritual" music - Gorecki, Tavener et al. Aided and abetted by some canny marketing, people who wouldn't usually touch contemporary classical music with their neighbour's bargepoles, snapped up works like 'The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' and 'The Protecting Veil'. The feeling was that traditional religion was not fulfilling the need we have for something beyond this temporal being, and that this music filled the vacuum.
I wonder if a visit to Stonehenge likewise - knowingly or unknowingly - somehow connects people to an other-worldly past, plugging a gap in our predominantly secular 21st Century lives. The same coach parties might go on to Salisbury Cathedral or Bath Abbey. Are they all connected?
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge
PS. Am going to try and get to this - spiritual void or no spiritual void: http://www.salisburyfestival.co.uk/cms/site/news/the-festival-presents-fire-garden-at-stonehenge-for-the-london-2012-festival.aspx
Stonehenge is a great place to visit, probably only once is necessary though. I'm not really that spiritual so have never been more than once as an adult, but I think I was taken as child once apon a time. If you do go make sure you listen to the info tape as well as its quite good and because everyone is listening to it then it becomes a really quiet and peaceful place. Because the admission to stonehenge is quiet steep if you want similar peacefulness and spirituality try taking a walk up glastonbury tor. You get the same peaceful feeling up there but the bonus is its free.... mm perhaps i am more sprirtual than I think. I've been to glastonbury tor many a time and every experience has been different. If you havn't go there too. Oh and avebury but its quite busy there.
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