Swinside and Sighthill in Stellarium

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

Cochno – revealed?

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?

Touchstones for Today

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

Saving Sighthill Stones

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

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

Machrie Moor landscape for Stellarium

After visiting a client on Arran a couple of weeks ago, I took the opportunity for a quick visit to Machrie Moor, which is about the closest thing Scotland has to a megalithic theme park. There are at least five sites in the complex, all very close together but of very different designs, as though the builders were experimenting to find out what worked best. One of the sites in particular has some spectacularly tall megaliths of a wonderful red sandstone – you can see some of these in the distance if you look to the north-east in this Stellarium … Continue reading Machrie Moor landscape for Stellarium

Callanish landscape for Stellarium

Ever since I saw the major southern standstill of the moon at Callanish on the Western Isles in 2006 (see my article The Song of the Low Moon), I’ve been wanting to recreate it using  the open-source astronomy program Stellarium. It’s taken longer than anticipated, but that dream has now been fulfilled. Earlier this year, I was working on a show in Stornoway, and took the opportunity to drive out to the stones one morning when things were quiet. Nobody was about and I had the site to myself. I took GPS readings at the northern end of the avenue … Continue reading Callanish landscape for Stellarium

Archaeoastronomy, Avebury and Crop Circles

I’ve just returned from a weekend teaching course in Avebury, where I was tutoring 16 students through the BSD’s Earth Energies Level 4 course ‘Understanding Earth Energy Power Centres and Features of Special Geomantic Significance’ . It’s probably the most academic and ‘left-brain’ of all the Earth Energy courses as it covers topics including sacred geometry and celestial mechanics – not the easiest material to teach even when you are interested in the subject. However, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good time exploring the Avebury complex of sites, visiting West Kennet long barrow, Swallowhead Spring and … Continue reading Archaeoastronomy, Avebury and Crop Circles