newgrange & the winter solstice
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| zander770 |
22 Dec 2002 |
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http://homepage.tinet.ie/~sanzen/newgrange.html
i was lucky enough to have lived and worked in ireland in 1996-97 and i have been to (i've been INSIDE!) this rune.
it pre-date's king tut's tomb by 500 yr's and what they DON'T tell you is that there is yet another "grassy mound" seen off on another farm in the distance!
in "typical irish fashion" i asked a local why they've not excavated it, yet, and he said: "it's not going anywhere..."
slan leat,
~Z~770
:smoker:
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| Kiama |
27 Dec 2002 |
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A bit of info: Did you know that you can go through a sort of initiation in Newgrange? There si a ten year waiting list to spend the night before the dawn of the Winter Solstice in Newgrange itself, and re-ermerge from it just as the sun pierces into it... Apparantly it's a very spiritual experience, and I wouldn't mind doing it myself...
Kiama
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| zander770 |
27 Dec 2002 |
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i know. and, wouldn't that be grand! however, one has to "put money down," and...who knows where one's gonna be in "ten-yrs?"
no one! ha!
we went w/a group durring the summer of 1996 and, at "other times"--every other "time" other than 22 dec!!--they recreate the light of the sun illuminating the inside of the "chamber(s)" electronicly. i know, one may think that that'd be "cheesy," but, it's really not! it STILL is rather, ummm..."chilling!" yes, that's a good word to discribe it! this phrase is even better:
"bone chilling..."
sera'!
~Z~770
:T8W
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| Ophiel |
27 Dec 2002 |
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I have a friend who is quite drawn to Newgrange, Knoweth, and Doweth, I believe, as the seem to be linked. He has published a book of photography for the area, and told me that modern archeology does not support the idea that these sites were used for initiatory rites and that whoever is in charge of this area allegedly sabotaged evidence that would support this (the area being used as an initiatory site) and would disprove his own theory that these sites (or at least one of them) was used as a burial chamber.
Have you heard anything to this effect?
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| Kiama |
29 Dec 2002 |
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Hello Ophiel!
I have never read about any theories as to how this site was originally used, but I would tend towards the theory that maybe it was made in such a way in relation to the Winter Solstice sunrse, is possibly due to a rebirth after death... Wasn't Newgrange a burial mound originally? So, my theory (Which I don't hav any evidence for!) would be a bit like why Muslims bury their dead facing Mecca, and why the pyramids were created in the way so that th soul would be able to have a good afterlife...
But in the end, I don't suppose I mind how it was originally used, because personally for me, it would be very spiritual to do the initiatory rite at some point, whether or not that was it's original use.
Kiama
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| zander770 |
29 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Ophiel
I have a friend who is quite drawn to Newgrange, Knoweth, and Doweth, I believe, as the seem to be linked. He has published a book of photography for the area . . . Have you heard anything to this effect?
hey. no, i've not (but, i'd very much love to! does your friend have a web site? would you tell me the title of his book? i'd appreciate that!)
truthfully? i'm "into" soooooo many things (well? not "really," but, between magick, joyce, poetry, writing, friends, PARTYING, aecletic! ha ha ha!!! i just happened to be at univ college, dublin, at the time and the tour was GOING!!! i was lucky, as usual!)
p.m. me and i'll tell you some REAL "stories" regarding that area!
what truly half makes me laugh and otherwise makes me "pitch a fit," is the FACT that off in the distance is that "other mound," sitting there: "la la la la la..." EVERYONE, of course, knows what it is! i just don't get it. i mean, it's On a FARM, man! they're NOT going to "disturb the environment," or anything, at all!
"them eiremen is just, plain, er . . . errie, ye recon?"
e gads, man . . .
slan leat!
~Z~770
:smoker:
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| Ophiel |
29 Dec 2002 |
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Zander...stories about the area?
Regarding my friend's website, he has none at the moment. He did. He mentioned recently that he'd like to get one back up. I will keep you posted. Hank lived there for a while in the early eighties. His books are tough to find and probably only available from him at this time.
I do not know the title of the photography book.
The book on the Celtic Grail is called "The Cauldron and the Grail" by Hank Harrison. I will ask him about the other book.
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| zander770 |
30 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Ophiel Zander...stories about the area? . . . I will keep you posted. Hank lived there for a while in the early eighties. . . . The book on the Celtic Grail is called "The Cauldron and the Grail" by Hank Harrison. I will ask him about the other book.
thx! re "stories": yes, just "general strangeness," the "circles on the rune's," the "panaeolus 'magic' mushrooms" which abound there, the "folks that farm nearby," et al . . .
even robt graves (in the forward to his _the greek myths_) changed his thoughts and opinions re dionysus, the centaurs', the satyrs', the drinking of nectar and ambrosia to the realization that all that was due to the taking of "magic mushrooms"!
true. look it up.
yes, ophiel, please, "keep me posted," for i'd like to chk out his book.
leat,
~Z~770
:TDEV (edit)
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| zander770 |
30 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Kiama
I have never read about any theories as to how this site was originally used, but ... Wasn't Newgrange a burial mound originally?
too "small" to be a burial "mound"; crypt. it was used as a type of crematorium (there're only apx four- or five-type relatively small "crators" in which a body, or bodies, could have been placed).
newgrange is "deceiving" to look at, esp in a photograph, because, altho it appears--the "mound," surrounding grounds, etc--to be quite huge (and, it "is"), that is because the "tunnel" leading into the "crypt" is so very long! inside there's only room for apx 10-15 people! VERY clostraphobic, it can be.
and, yes, as i've said, there's a "slot" directly above the tunnel enterence and the sun shines directly thru it, illuminating the inside of the rune, ONLY ON 22 dec--the winter solstice, which is why i posted this on that day!
the "idea" was that the sun (viz; "god") would "wash in" to the crypt and "take the souls" therein "away to heaven" when it left.
okay, so? "nice, great idea," right? so? how? why? when? who?!!?
did you not note my links, above?
~Z~
})
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| Ophiel |
31 Dec 2002 |
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Regarding Hank Harrison's book, the photo book of the stone sites in Ireland (at least the three I named before), I heard back from him and he has that book in limbo right now, and wants to expand it, with a new section on stone sites in France, which he says is quite compelling. This could be a long time. He's in the U.S. right now, unless...he already has the pics. And no website up yet.
In his book about the Celtic Grail, he describes what he thinks it might have been like at solstice, with at that precise instant of the sunrise when the sunlight enters the long chamber, it connects in the chamber, reflecting in a large crystal or something. I would imagine if that were the case, that would be a powerful moment, when the solstice sun makes a direct connection with a chamber used for that reason.
I also understand (though this is a totally different "stone site," different era, different country) that the Chartres Cathedral is supposed to be pretty spectacular with [i think] the summer solstice, that the sun dances on the floor of the church in a particular pattern that is supposed to have some particular meaning.
These could definitely be moments of empowerment, witnessing such an event.
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The newgrange & the winter solstice thread was originally posted on 22 Dec 2002 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.
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