Mandali is a new retreat centre located in the north of Italy that is opening early in 2017. Enjoying a beautiful mountaintop location above the town of Omegna on Lago d’Orta, the smallest of the Italian lakes, the centre can … Continue reading A Labyrinth for Mandali
September 2016 saw the complete excavation (and subsequent re-burying) of the largest piece of Neolithic rock art in Britain – the Cochno Stone – by archaeologists from Glasgow University. This was the much-anticipated follow-up to 2015’s preliminary test dig to … Continue reading Re:covering Cochno
I’ve just made two new stone circle landscapes for Stellarium, the free planetarium software. It’s been quite a while since I created a Stellarium landscape, and I’d forgotten quite how much fiddling around was involved. It does become quite time-consuming, but it’s very satisfying when you do get it to work. This time round, I used two programs that I hadn’t used before, and I actually found the process much easier than previous attempts. There are two main parts to making a landscape – the first is to create a panoramic image from a series of photographs taken from the … Continue reading Swinside and Sighthill in Stellarium
Versions of this article have been published in Dowsing Today, the journal of the British Society of Dowsers; and The American Dowser, the journal of the American Society of Dowsers. The ‘Beehive Hut’ in Danville, New Hampshire is one of … Continue reading Gardner’s World – Danville’s ‘Beehive Hut’
Spring is coming – can you feel it? Although there is still snow on the ground and the prospect of more to come, the snowdrops are already up and in flower, the mornings are noticeably lighter, and the sluggish energy following New Year starts to gear up for the months ahead.The beginning of February marks the old festival of Imbolc – one of the four cross-quarter days of the eight-fold Celtic year. The cross-quarter days happen roughly mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes. Unlike those, the cross-quarters are not set astronomical events, so their timing is a slightly fluid affair. … Continue reading Spring is coming – can you feel it?
Much in the news this week has been the suggestion, reported in The Scotsman, that one of Glasgow’s hidden archaeological treasures might be revealed for the first time in 50 years. The Cochno Stone is widely regarded as the finest example of Neolithic rock art in Europe. With its numerous cup-and-ring markings, spirals, footprints and other symbols, it was believed by maverick archaeologist Ludovic McLellan Mann to represent nothing less than a star map created by the Neolithic peoples inhabiting the area. He felt strongly that it was connected with the nearby ‘mortuary site’ at Knapper’s Farm (now lost under … Continue reading Cochno – revealed?
(and a stone circle too!) There have been some considerable developments to Glasgow City Council’s plan to redevelop Sighthill park into an athlete’s village for the 2018 Youth Olympics. Having lost their bid to host the event, the athlete’s village idea has been abandoned but the Council are still planning to proceed with a housing development in the area, necessitating the removal of the stone circle. However, largely as a result of pressure from the community and discussions between circle builder Duncan Lunan and the Council, a compromise agreement has been reached whereby the circle will be removed and reconstructed … Continue reading A Labyrinth For Glasgow
Touchstones for Today – Designing for Earth Harmony with Stone Arrangements by Alanna Moore The subtitle of this new book by Alanna Moore is ‘Designing for Earth Harmony with Stone Arrangements’, but it could equally well be ‘Everything You Need to Know About Stones’, such is the range of the subject matter. This is an updated and greatly expanded version of her 2005 book ‘The Magic of Menhirs & Circles of Stone’. The first part of the book looks at the traditional uses of stones and stone formations in cultures around the world, from the healing (and cursing) stones and … Continue reading Touchstones for Today
The Sighthill Stone Circle is a modern astronomically-aligned stone ring that was designed and built in 1979 under the direction of local astronomer and SF writer Duncan Lunan. It is situated in the centre of Glasgow right next to the M8 motorway, and is almost certainly the first astronomically-aligned circle built in Scotland for over 3000 years (I have blogged about it before here and here). When I first dowsed the circle many years ago, it looked pretty neglected and I was unable to dowse any earth energies of interest within it. All ancient stone rings (as well as many … Continue reading Saving Sighthill Stones
The Spine of Albion, by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare I have not anticipated the publication of a book for longer than this one. It’s been in the pipeline for over 15 years, and now at last it’s finally here! Following the ‘serpenteering’ tradition popularised by Hamish Miller & Paul Broadhurst, The Spine of Albion documents the several pilgrimages taken by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare to chart the course of the male and female serpent currents surrounding Britain’s longest alignment, the Belinus Line. Beginning on the Isle of Wight, the alignment bisects the country almost vertically, passing through six … Continue reading The Spine of Albion