I'm a heathen, and I love Silbury dearly, it means tons to me. I've never climbed it (despite having visited once), since it is so sacred to me that setting foot there is not something I would undertake lightly or in a hurry. It seems to me that no-one knows for sure just how unstable Silbury is, but given that parts of it have collapsed in the recent past I think it safe to assume that nobody should walk on it for the time being. It makes me sad that people who call themselves "pagan" or "druid" or whatever (and this is not a criticism directed at "pillars of the pagan community" like the lovely Cursuswalker) are walking on Silbury, in some small way decreasing the chances of me ever being able to make the climb, later in life when I feel like I have earned the right. I called myself a heathen at the beginning of this post, but I have to say that I feel absolutely nothing in common with the people who climb Silbury, at this time, in the name of paganism/druidry/whatever. They strike me as very selfish, potentially denying Silbury's tomorrow (and with it my tomorrow with Silbury), in the name of performing their rituals today. I just wish that more of the people who claim to hold Silbury sacred would treat it with the respect that something so very sacred (and delicate) deserves. When I hear of "pagans"/whatever climbing Silbury at this time I can only think that they have no understanding at all of what sacredness means.
Oh, and I think there's something fundamentalist and obsessive about insisting on holding a Lughnasadh (why do "pagans" prefer to call it Lammas, the Christian name of this festival?) rite on top of Silbury when there's so many other places around Britain that are known to have been significant to the ancients at that time of year. It seems to me that people like this Terry chap are more keen to be <b>seen</b> honouring their gods/spirits/whatever than they are on actually honouring their gods/spirits/whatever. Public piety of this sort disgusts me: a quiet, simple and humble honouring of Lughnasadh is surely more pleasing to the gods, if you ask me. I agree with Ishmael on that one: it <b>is</b> just posing.
