Standing Stones
After the UK Midsummer gathering, Kevin, Lauren, and myself (Jacob) took a road trip across England and into Scotland. We saw quite a lot on our 6 day journey beginning with the Castlerig Stones in Keswick, which are some of the oldest standing stones of the British Isles. By the end of the trip we saw a total of 8 neolithic/ancient sites from the Pre-Celtic people, and I have no other way to describe it than my mind was blown.
All I want to do now is talk about stone circles, cairns, burial mounds, and druid temples with everyone I meet, because to me this was the pinnacle of a pagan experience. I have seen a lot the past two summers in Europe, but nothing that compares to the sheer volume of pagan sites in the UK. I know many of us are Norse Pagan in the community, but even as a Norse Pagan I cannot deny the feeling that these old stones gave off when being around them. And one of the beautiful things about this faith is that the lands like Scotland were made up of so many different people groups: the Celts, the Picts, the Megalith Builders, the Danish Vikings, and even the Romans to some extent. There is so much history for nearly everyone to enjoy about these places. There has also surely been many different gods worshipped in these lands as well.
In a couple weeks my video on Celtic Paganism will come out showing off some of these locations, I have also already talked about it on the Folk Podcast, and then I am sure I will be talking about them in videos to come. Because I really cannot express enough how much we should all think about places like this more. When I was lying down in a 4000 year old burial mound, nothing else mattered. The politics, social turmoil, and war of our world, stopped existing as I became apart of that historical experience. I truly believe this is what we are all trying to get back to when it comes to Pagan beliefs in general; Celtic, Norse, Slavic, whatever you believe, I think we are all trying to get back to those burial mounds and old stones.
To even think, and dream of the rituals once held at these places is truly incredible, and what gets me excited to be following this path today. I know without a shadow of a doubt we will have land, we will have a hall, and now I tell you, I want some standing stones, and some stone circles. Just because I want to see if we can bring that same magic that the ancients did to these sites. I know not all of us will be able to make pilgrimages to Scotland, the UK, Norway, or wherever else these gods used to be hailed. But I know we can bring the standing stones, the barrows, and the halls back with us to our homes.
Long story short, get ready, get excited, because we are going to be building some stone circles in our future. And I cannot wait to perform rituals with what we discovered on this trip through Scotland. With that thank you for reading, hope you are excited, and!
Until the Hall…
Jacob
I made a whole video about this subject for those interested in a deeper dive!
