Stonehenge

The very word kindles in the imagination visions of robe-clad druids in solemn procession, perhaps singing Celtic chants and bearing flaming torches, gliding slowly toward the center of the megalithic circle to perform seasonal rites honoring the gods and goddesses...

Okay, I'm a romantic dreamer..."the Henge" (as the British call it) lends itself so well to such flights of fancy. However, there is much, much more to Stonehenge than solstices and equinoxes!

First, a bit of archeological history:

Archaeology: (If this doesn't interest you, feel free to jump ahead to Interpretation.) "At first sight this unique and enigmatic site appears smaller than imagined, but the tallest upright stone is 22 ft. high and another 8 ft. below ground.

The outermost element of the site is the Avenue that runs straight down a gentle slope for a distance of 560 yds. into Stonehenge Bottom. The Avenue consists of twin banks about 40 ft. apart with internal ditches and it begins at the entrance to the earthwork enclosure. Here is the Heel Stone, a large upright unworked sarsen (hard sandstone) which lies immediately adjacent to the A344 road. It is worth noting that the nearest source of stones of the size represented by the large sarsens at Stonehenge is on the Marlborough Downs, about 18 mi. to the NE. It can only be assumed that these stones (the heaviest of which weighs about 45 tons) were transported on some type of sledge.

"Moving inwards from the Heel Stone there is an earthwork enclosure that consists of a ditch and an interior bank, the height of which was calculated by Professor Atkinson as being about 6 ft. It is known that there were at least two entrances, the one now visible (facing NE) and one to the south. Lying within the entrance is an unworked and now recumbent sarsen stone, stained a rusty red caused by rainwater acting on iron, and known as the Slaughter Stone. Arranged around the inner edge of the earthwork bank were originally four small uprights: the Station Stones, of which two can still be seen. Immediately adjacent to the bank there is a ring of 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes, marked by circular concrete spots. The area between the inner edge of the bank and the outermost stone settings includes at least two further settings of pits: the Y and Z holes.

"On the central area of the site there are the stone settings, the sophisticate arrangements that set Stonehenge apart from any other prehistoric monument in Europe. In their construction two types of stone were used: sarsen and bluestone. The sarsens used in the central settings are much larger. The bluestone is a mixture of rocks found on the Preseli Mountains in SE Wales. The most widely accepted theory regards the arrival of the bluestones on Salisbury Plain as the result of human effort, with the route being partly overland and partly by water.

"In its complete form the outermost stone setting consisted of a circle of 30 upright sarsens, of which 17 still stand, each weighing about 25 tons. The tops of these uprights were linked by a continuous ring of horizontal sarsen lintels, only a small part of which is now still in position. The stones in the sarsen circle are carefully shaped and the horizontal lintels are jointed together not only by means of simple mortice-and-tenon joints, but they are also locked using what is effectively a dovetail joint. The edges are smoothed into a gentle curve which follows the line of the entire circle.

"The bluestone setting, concentric the outer sarsen circle, consisted originally of about 60 stones but many have fallen, dissolved or been crushed. Inside these two circles lies the sarsen horseshoe, consisted originally of five sarsen trilithons (a Greek word that means three stones), each comprising two uprights and a horizontal lintel. Although now fragmentary, the arrangement shows the careful grading of the five trilithons, the tallest of which is 22 ft. high above ground level. Enfolded within this massive horseshoe, lies a smaller horseshoe arrangement of upright bluestones.

"Current archaeological research shows that this site was constructed and modified on various phases, spanning several centuries:

· "Pre-Stonehenge (9th-8th millennium BC): at least 4 mesolithic pits which originally contained big pine posts, in a line about 200m from the present henge site

· "Stonehenge 1 (from 3100 BC): construction of the circular bank, the ditch and the 56 Aubrey Holes which probably originally contained timber posts

· "Stonehenge 2 (from 2550 BC): pottery, animal bones and cremated human remains placed in ditch; cremations deposited in some of the partially filled Aubrey Holes; complex of posts in interior and in entrance causeway

· "Stonehenge 3 (from 2100 BC): sequence of stone-related structures. It's not possible a close dating, but the sequence should has been as follows:
· "Bluestones from Wales erected in q and r holes and then dismantled
· "Sarsen circle and trilithons erected, possibly also a bluestone setting which may have included trilithons, this latter then dismantled
· "Bluestone circle and oval setting
· "Arc of bluestones removed from oval to leave present horseshoe setting
· "Y and Z holes dug, probably for stones which were never erected; during this phase the avenue has also been constructed."

(From "Stonehenge and the Universe" by Nyven at http://ytt.org/stonehenge.htm (This site no longer exists - April 14, 2007))

Interpretation: "Already in the 18th century the British antiquarian William Stukeley had noticed that the horseshoe of great trilithons and the horseshoe of 19 bluestones at Stonehenge opened up in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. It was quickly surmised that the monument must have been deliberately oriented and planned so that on midsummer's morning the sun rose directly over the Heel Stone and the first rays shone into the centre of the monument between the open arms of the horseshoe arrangement.

"This discovery has had tremendous impact on how Stonehenge has been interpreted. For Stukeley in the 18th century and Sir Norman Lockyer in the first years of the 20th century, this alignment implied a ritualistic connection with sun worship and it was generally concluded that Stonehenge was constructed as a temple to the sun. More recently, though, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins has argued that Stonehenge is not merely aligned with solar and lunar astronomical events, but can be used to predict other events such as eclipses. In other words, Stonehenge was more than a temple, it was an astronomical calculator."

However, and this is the fascinating part: "Contrary to expectations, the great stone circles and horseshoe arrangements for which Stonehenge is famous are later additions to the monument (mostly Stonehenge III) and are not essential to the lunar and solar calculations.

"Inside the bank were dug 56 holes -- discovered by John Aubrey, and known as the Aubrey Holes -- placed at precisely regular intervals around a concentric circle of about 285 feet in diameter. Archaeological investigations have shown that these holes were not dug to hold upright stones or wooden posts. Besides the Aubrey Holes, of crucial importance are the four Station Stones marked at positions 91, 92, 93, and 94, to form a rectangle that stands in a precise relationship with the centre of the monument and with the Heel Stone. Only two of the Station Stones survive, and one of those may not be original.

"For the archaeoastronomists, the Aubrey Holes served as fixed reference points along a circle, and their number was essential to astronomical calculations. The cycle of the moon, for example, which takes 27.3 days, can be tracked by moving a marker by two holes each day to complete a circuit in 28 days.

"A much longer calculation is to move the marker by three holes per year to complete a full circuit in 18.67 years. In this way, it is argued, it would be possible to keep track of the nodes, points where the paths of the sun and the moon apparently intersect to produce an eclipse. Because the moon slews around in its path, the two nodes move along the path of the sun, a complete circuit of which takes 18.61 years. By means of the markers in the Aubrey Holes and keeping track of the directions of the sun and the moon, the astronomer at Stonehenge could calculate nodal points ahead of time and thus predict both lunar and solar eclipses." By Chris Whitcombe on his Earth Mysteries website, "Archeoastronomy at Stonehenge" page.

Daoism on Spring Equinox

In honor of the Spring or Vernal Equinox, the quote below is “Spring” from 365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Deng Ming-Dao, Harper San Francisco, 1992, ISBN: 0062502239.

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Sun and moon divide the sky,

Fragrance blooms on pear wood bones;

Earth awakens with a sigh.

Wanderer revels on the path alone.

It is the time of equinox, when day and night are briefly equal. This day signals the beginning of spring, the increasing of light, and the return of life to the frozen earth.

Of course, this day only represents a moment in time. Spring has long been returning, and we know that summer will soon follow. The cycle of the seasons will continue in succession. There is no such thing as a true stopping in time, for all is a continuum. Nature makes its own concordances as a mere outgrowth to its movement, it is we who see structure and give names to pattern.

But who can begrudge temporary pleasures to a solitary traveler? Let us go out and enjoy the day, revel in the coming of spring, rejoice in the warming of the earth. For though the ground may be covered with frost, movement and growth are taking place all around us. Beauty bared fills our eyes and makes us drunk. As we wander the endless mountains and streams, filling our lungs with the breath of the forests, let us take comfort in being part of nature. For life has enough misery and misfortune. Philosophy reminds us enough of the transience of life. Give us the charm of the ephemeral, and let it silence all who would object.

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I wonder if "Wanderer revels on the path alone" refers to a human wanderer or a heavenly one – the sun! Consider: 'Planet: late O.E., from O.Fr. planete (Fr. planËte), from L.L. planeta, from Gk. (asteres) planetai "wandering (stars)," from planasthai "to wander," of unknown origin. So called because they have apparent motion, unlike the "fixed" stars. Originally including also the moon and sun; modern scientific sense of "world that orbits a star" is from 1640. Source: Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/planet

March 20^th is the Spring Equinox for the northern hemisphere, the time of year when the sun is at zero degrees longitude and latitude on the ecliptic, and the hours of daylight and dark-of-night are of equal length.

On the equinoxes, the sun and moon pass each other in the sky at the intersection of the ecliptic with the celestial equator as they rise and set. (The ecliptic is the path followed by the planets against the backdrop of the constellations. The celestial equator is the projection of the Earth's equator onto the sky, an invisible line enabling us to determine whether a heavenly body hovers over our northern hemisphere or our southern hemisphere. These two invisible lines intersect at the equinoxes.)

Eclipses often occur about the time of the equinoxes; solar eclipses right on the equinox day, and lunar eclipses about two weeks before or after the equinox day. Indeed, there will be a partial solar eclipse on the 19^th of March this year that, providing my solar eclipse mapping program is correct, will be visible from Southern India going northward, across Eastern Asia, over the North Pole and down to Western Canada and Alaska. The time of the eclipse will extend from 0:38 to 04:24 UT with the greatest coverage of the sun by the moon occurring at 02:31 UT.

For the next six months, the sun will continue to rise and set north of the celestial equator while the Full moon appears rising in our southern sky. On the Summer Solstice, the sun will rise at its northernmost point on the horizon and the Full moon will rise at its southernmost point. From then on, the points on the horizon they each rise will move back toward the center until they meet again on the Autumnal Equinox.

It's almost like a Square Dance when the caller sings out for the shining couple to leave their corner, do-se-do in the middle, and go back to the opposite corner. The heavenly bodies do indeed dance around the sky! :-)

(Here is my attempt at graphing this dance, and I have to say, the taiji or yin/yang circle has to be one of the most useful diagrams on the planet; it is such a perfect symbol to show so many natural cycles! I'm sure you noticed that the curved lines form an infinity sign, a sideways 8! That's a topic for another post, though.)

In the taiji diagram above, the curving line separating the black and white sections tracks the rise and set positions on the horizon of the sun from one Spring Equinox to the next. Each day from the Spring Equinox, the sun rises at a more northerly position on the horizon until, on the Summer Solstice, it rises at its most northerly position. From that point until the Fall equinox, the sunrise on the horizon is in the northern half of the sky, but moves slowly back to the Celestial Equator.

After the Fall Equinox, the sun's rising place on the horizon moves in a more southerly direction until it reaches its most southerly point on the day of the Winter Solstice. Following the day of the Winter Solstice, the sunrise point on the horizon rises again and comes closer each day to the Celestial Equator as the calendar approaches the date of the Spring Equinox.

Imagine an opposite line, a mirror image line (I attempted in blue), tracking the rise and set positions on the horizon of the Full moon for the same annual period. You see that the movement of the moon is the opposite of, and reflects the movement of the sun.

But, to get back to the Spring Equinox…

We know the sun is symbolic of yang, and the moon is symbolic of yin. At the equinox, yang grows not only as warmer weather and longer hours of daylight, but also as the sun climbs in our northern half of the sky above the Celestial Equator. Yin, the moon, diminishes by virtue of its rising and setting away from us in the southern hemisphere of the sky below the central Celestial Equator.

To follow the Dao and the example of Nature at this time of year, we begin to increase our yang activities and decrease our yin activities.

Spending more time out side is something most of us do, enjoying the fresh air and warm weather, and soaking up the sunshine to replenish our Vitamin D supply which no doubt is quite diminished after the winter! Meditation can move from the quiet, seated contemplations to more active styles such as Standing Like a Tree, or labyrinth walking. Definitely more physical activities like hiking and swimming are called for, though I find it impossible to put away the books completely! There is a lot to be said for spending a lazy afternoon outside, reading a book under a tree.

Since spring is the season of growth represented by the energy phase of wood, do some gardening! Even if it's a small pot of herbs for making fresh herbal teas or for wonderful gourmet dinners, you will be aligning yourself with the energies of the season. (I recommend growing mint. It's very easy to grow, it's an especially refreshing drink on warm days, and it aids digestion.)

You can grow all sorts of things, too, not just plants. Grow a hobby, or a business. Encourage your mind to grow by taking fun or challenging classes which might let your circle of friends grow, too!

Moon Phases and Trigrams in the I Ching

There will be a new moon this Saturday, and it is also the Chinese Lunar New Year, so some moon information seemed appropriate.

This diagram shows how the trigrams of the I Ching can be used as symbols for the yin and yang of the light of the moon as it passes through its phases. Beginning at the bottom with the New Moon, follow the trigrams on the right through the moon phases on the left in a clock-wise direction.












The New Moon is most yin, dark and invisible, so its symbol is Kun, made of three yin/dark/broken lines. Circling upward to the left, the light of the crescent waxing moon is symbolized by the bottom yang/light/solid line of the trigram Zhen. Dui, the trigram of bottom and middle yang lines and top yin line, represents the waxing gibbous moon phase. At the top, the three yang/light lines of Qian as the Full Moon keep the darkness of night at bay.

As the moon wanes, the darkness creeps in as shown in the lower line of Xun in the waning gibbous phase. The waning crescent that is two-thirds dark is represented by the two yin/dark lower lines of the trigram Gen. Coming full cycle, we arrive back at Kun and the next new moon.

Below is a photo from Wikipedia showing some of the figures found in a Full Moon, followed by some Chinese Moon Myths.

The rabbit is a popular lunar creature. Some folkloric paintings show Chang-E [moon goddess] clutching the furry creature as she floats to the sky. Legend has it that her husband, divine archer Hou Yi, summoned the rabbit to be his wife's companion for those lonely days at the cold moon palace. She rose to the moon after drinking a magic potion and became an immortal.

Matchmaker Yuexialaoyren is "the old man in the moon." Many tourists, young couples especially, adore posing with his sculpture in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong. He is said to preside over all earthly marriages. In some folklores, he is depicted as playing chess with the God of Longevity in a mountain cave.

The eclipse of the moon was a bad celestial sign in the old days. The Chinese believed that the Heavenly Dog was trying to eat up the moon. They would beat drums and gongs to scare the dog away.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!