The purpose of the stones

[cjackson]

I am a long time student of the stones, mythology, and ancient peoples. My heritage is a mixture of Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Sweden and perhaps that may explain the great interest I have in the stones. My theory is based on much thought and personal research. The stone circles were not just temples, but a gathering place to retell oral history and to observe the heavens to predict future events such as the best time to plant, the most profile time to fish and when to gather food reserves for long winters or an upcoming draught. Even more than this, they were used for both delivering and blessing births and sending the departed onto the next life. The circles were a manmade nexus of portals to other planes such as the plane of birth and renewal, the plane of afterlife, the planes of light and darkness and the elemental planes.

In modern day we have separated the purpose of the circle into many different "buildings", a library, a school, a church or temple, and a hospital. These institutions are the mainstays and backbones of any organized group of people. Throughout history, towns were organized by first a church or temple close-by and then grew by building first a school, then a hospital, and finally a college or university. In ancient times, all of these were combined into once place, a specially built area unlike the surrounding huts or cabins or houses. Here too came trade and skills to fill the needs of the surrounding inhabitants.

Pre-Christian people often relied on the movement of the planets and the observation of the equinox and solstice to guide their lives. Actually even as child I remember my father and grandfather instructing me on the which clouds meant what weather and how to predict the moisture of the growing season by how much snowfall occurred, but especially looking to the night sky and observing the heavens. If something was not where they said it should be, they knew change was coming. Even as recent as last year my father informed me that the stars were not where they used to be and that a big change was coming.

These "old ways" were passed down from generation to generation. They weren't to be found in books but in the "oral" history taught to sons and daughters. All of this is considered "folk lore" and is often discounted by scholars now. Perhaps these teachings date back to when my ancestors possibly stood within a circle of stones themselves. The creation of circles ended with the invasion by civilizations such as the Roman Empire whose influence swept over the people and forced their "pagan" lifestyle out of the public eye and into the hearth and home, where it became "folk lore". The passing of oral history was left to the family and there it remains today.