The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

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Castlerigg (Stone Circle) — Fieldnotes

Last year, just as Summer was on its way and Autumn was beginning to make its presence known in the colour of the land a small group of friends and myself took a trip (in everysense) to Castlerigg. We camped at a small but funtional site about a couple of miles from the site.
In the day time we trekked up to the circle and were at once blown away by the perfection of the setting. The surrounding vista of hills and mountain hugging the circle was breathtaking. The only downer was the day-glo walkers and tourists swigging coke and squatting on the stones, unintentionally besmirching the vibe. We walked on into Keswick with a view to returning in the evening when the mountain bikes and lunchboxes had gone home.
Late at night, under a sky fit to burst with stars, we imbided a small amount of the ma's own fun-gals and headed back up to Castlerigg. The moonlit site was if anything more beautiful by the lady's light (though we did have a couple of torches). As the atmosphere brought the mushrooms up, the serene joyfulness of Castlerigg impacted on me and I did the only thing reasonable. I danced, with no music save that of the low pulse of the stones themselves. I felt obliged, out of politeness, to introduce myself to each stone and so went around and whispered my chosen name to each and every one. By the time I completed the circle, the stones were whispering back; a kind of shadowy mantra of my name coming back at me! We stayed for about 2 hours, us the stones, the sky, the stars...the cold a minor hinderance in contrast to the sustaining vibe of the circle.
Beautiful. It may not be the biggest, but for sheer setting and evocation of something ancient and magical, Castlerigg is a primo-atmos-circle and I feel I must return.
Bless!

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