Grahame page 3

Hi, Grahame here again, with more of my thoughts on the Aberdeenshire trip...

On Tuesday we put ourselves into the care of Jason and his Toyota minibus for a tour of some of his favourite sites. Jason runs personalised tours round the sites of the area (see www.sacredway.co.uk), and he very kindly agreed to give us a tour for free. I have to say I really enjoyed today as I didn't have to drive, which meant I could take a back seat and have a leisurely time of it. Jason is a great tour guide; full of enthusiasm and very knowledgeable about the sites he visits. I think we managed to teach him a couple of new tricks as well, so his tours should be even more interesting now!

Jason's circle:

This is a location with stunning vistas, high on a hilltop. It's a HUGE circle - forty metres across! There is a lovely correspondence in profile between the top of the recumbent and Glack Hill just to the west, halfway to the horizon. You can just about make it out in the picture (Jason said that this was totally coincidental and that he hadn’t noticed the match until the recumbent was placed, although he did align it with the hill fort on the Barmekin Hill. What he hadn't planned on was an alignment with Wester Echt, Midmar & Sunhoney stone circles, and Blacky Duds on the Hill of Fare). It’s a beast of a stone, and broke the axle of the trailer that was bringing it up the hill. But for me the recumbent and flankers were the best bit of the circle. The other stones felt too widely spaced to ‘connect’ properly, as we found when I led a guided meditation to send energy to the stones – it seemed to take forever for the energy to reach them! This is definitely a circle to use with large numbers of folk.
Jason has picked some lovely stones for the circle, including a red jasper beauty that is very reminiscent of a stone at Easter Aquorthies circle, our next stop. But first we were to visit Alan, the landowner, in his farm store at the foot of the hill. On our way down the hill, Jason pointed out a Moody Coil that had been installed in the front garden of a house by Alan’s father. A Moody Coil is a dowsing device constructed from fencing wire, designed to harmonise energies around it to eliminate geopathic stress. This was the first one I've come across and it was good to see it here.

Barry tries the healing bowl We visited Alan in his farm superstore, where he let us try out a Chinese healing temple bowl. This was a big copper bowl with two brass handles attached to the top rim. With water in the bowl, you rubbed the handles with wet hands to create friction, and ‘nodes’ of dancing water would form. The number of nodes varied from person to person (I managed four). Still frantically rubbing the handles, you could then bend over and let the dancing water sprinkle on your face, purifying the aura. A lovely thing, and something else I hadn’t come across before. Today was a day with lots of 'firsts'!

click for more pictures of this site

East Aquorthies:

This is one of the showcase restored sites, and one of my favourites. I love the little bank around the stones and the dish-shaped feel it gives to the circle; I love the variety of stones used in the construction, and I love the recumbent with its two additional support stones in front - a feature not found anywhere else. It makes sitting in front of the recumbent very cosy.

I’m always drawn to the red jasper stone in this circle, which is incredibly beautiful and very energetic. I could hug it for hours! Each stone in the circle has a very individual feel and texture, and this is a great circle to spend time in and get tactile.

I taught Jason how to dowse the stones to find the 'fifth band' spiral energy, and how to lean into the stone at this point to find yourself being twisted to one side by the energy. The red jasper stone in this circle is a particularly good one for this exercise as it is so strong. This is a great trick to try with sceptical people, as it produces a quite unmistakable sensation when it works.

Dunnideer:

Dunnideer has been called 'the Glastonbury of the North' and its easy to see why. The ruined castle wall with Gothic-arched window on the summit is visible for miles around, and a strange trick of scale makes it look like some neolithic dolmen from a distance. Many of the surrounding sites seem to have a focus towards the hill and it's clear that this area forms part of a sacred landscape. But actually there are three hills - Dunnideer stands out solely because of the ruins on top. Triple hills were sacred to the ancients, and places like the Eildon Hills in the Borders or even the Malvern Hills have always been held in special regard. Dunnideer may not have been the primary hill in neolithic times, but nonetheless it has become so nowadays. The climb is rather steep and unrelenting, and certainly feels longer than the walk up Glastonbury Tor! Look out for the herd of fake deer on the side of the hill - the "Dunny Deer" indeed! However the views are stunning from the summit - the sun was getting low in the sky as we looked out towards Bennachie and the colours were just gorgeous. We stood huddled against the castle wall to keep out of the wind and soaked up the meager sunlight.

This is one of the better examples of 'vitrified forts' to be found in Scotland; there are a few good sections of stonework remaining where you can see the internal timber bracing and the melted stone. It is not known exactly how the walls of these forts were vitrified as it requires enormously high temperatures to melt stone. I wondered if complete vitrification was the intention, as some sections of wall here look more like the stones are cemented together with some black tarry gunk. Perhaps they were just trying to produce a sticky mortar?

click for more pictures of these sites

The Maiden Stone:

I love these enigmatic Pictish carved stones that are found all over the north-east. This is a Class II beauty in hard pink granite, which is probably why the carvings still seem reasonably well-defined. You can still make out teeth on the comb symbol. It's nice to see these stones in their natural state; many of them have been moved from their original locations and re-erected elsewhere, often with a collection of other carved stones.

This one has a lovely carving of the mysterious 'Pictish beast', thought by some to be a 'kelpie' or water-horse, whilst more sceptical researchers think it more likely to be a bottle-nosed dolphin.

We speculated as to the purpose of these dual-faced stones with a Celtic cross on one side and symbols on the other, wondering if they marked tribal boundaries between the pagan Picts and Christian neighbours. Or perhaps the combination reflects a change in belief system at the time it was carved.

Read more about the Maiden Stone on Ancient Scotland.

We also drove past a farm where Jason had found another Pictish carved stone, thought to be lost, set into a wall. And there was a brief stop at Old Rayne {NJ 679280}, a somewhat ruinous circle but with impressive views of the sunset; and hopping over the electric fences to get to it only added to the excitement! This area around Huntly shows signs of having once been an extensive Neolithic ceremonial complex, but sadly very little evidence remains - most of it is now buried under the town.

click for more pictures of these sites

Loanhead of Daviot:

I’m never quite sure what to make of this site, perhaps because of the way it’s been restored. It feels quite peaceful, but there is a slightly darker edge to it that’s hard to pin down. It's a very different feel to any other circle I've been to up here.

In the rising moonlight it was quite ethereal and magical, but I didn’t feel like spending too much time there.

This circle also has an unusual feature in stone 'causeways' linking the central ring-cairn to certain stones in the circle. This is very similar to what Dave told us about the circles at Clava, and he had wondered if this circle was built by the same folk.

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	Hi, Grahame here again, with more of my thoughts on the Aberdeenshire trip... On Tuesday we put ourselves into the care of Jason and his Toyota minibus for a tour of some of his favourite sites. Jason runs personalised tours round the sites of the area (see www.sacredway.co.uk), and he very kindly agreed to give us a tour for free. I have to say I really enjoyed today as I didn't have to drive, which meant I could take a back seat and have a leisurely time of it. Jason is a great tour guide; full of enthusiasm and very knowledgeable about the sites he visits. I think we managed to teach him a couple of new tricks as well, so his tours should be even more interesting now!
Jason's circle: This is a location with stunning vistas, high on a hilltop. It's a HUGE circle - forty metres across! There is a lovely correspondence in profile between the top of the recumbent and Glack Hill just to the west, halfway to the horizon. You can just about make it out in the picture (Jason said that this was totally coincidental and that he hadn’t noticed the match until the recumbent was placed, although he did align it with the hill fort on the Barmekin Hill. What he hadn't planned on was an alignment with Wester Echt, Midmar & Sunhoney stone circles, and Blacky Duds on the Hill of Fare). It’s a beast of a stone, and broke the axle of the trailer that was bringing it up the hill. But for me the recumbent and flankers were the best bit of the circle. The other stones felt too widely spaced to ‘connect’ properly, as we found when I led a guided meditation to send energy to the stones – it seemed to take forever for the energy to reach them! This is definitely a circle to use with large numbers of folk. Jason has picked some lovely stones for the circle, including a red jasper beauty that is very reminiscent of a stone at Easter Aquorthies circle, our next stop. But first we were to visit Alan, the landowner, in his farm store at the foot of the hill. On our way down the hill, Jason pointed out a Moody Coil that had been installed in the front garden of a house by Alan’s father. A Moody Coil is a dowsing device constructed from fencing wire, designed to harmonise energies around it to eliminate geopathic stress. This was the first one I've come across and it was good to see it here. We visited Alan in his farm superstore, where he let us try out a Chinese healing temple bowl. This was a big copper bowl with two brass handles attached to the top rim. With water in the bowl, you rubbed the handles with wet hands to create friction, and ‘nodes’ of dancing water would form. The number of nodes varied from person to person (I managed four). Still frantically rubbing the handles, you could then bend over and let the dancing water sprinkle on your face, purifying the aura. A lovely thing, and something else I hadn’t come across before. Today was a day with lots of 'firsts'! click for more pictures of this site East Aquorthies: This is one of the showcase restored sites, and one of my favourites. I love the little bank around the stones and the dish-shaped feel it gives to the circle; I love the variety of stones used in the construction, and I love the recumbent with its two additional support stones in front - a feature not found anywhere else. It makes sitting in front of the recumbent very cosy. I’m always drawn to the red jasper stone in this circle, which is incredibly beautiful and very energetic. I could hug it for hours! Each stone in the circle has a very individual feel and texture, and this is a great circle to spend time in and get tactile. I taught Jason how to dowse the stones to find the 'fifth band' spiral energy, and how to lean into the stone at this point to find yourself being twisted to one side by the energy. The red jasper stone in this circle is a particularly good one for this exercise as it is so strong. This is a great trick to try with sceptical people, as it produces a quite unmistakable sensation when it works. Dunnideer: Dunnideer has been called 'the Glastonbury of the North' and its easy to see why. The ruined castle wall with Gothic-arched window on the summit is visible for miles around, and a strange trick of scale makes it look like some neolithic dolmen from a distance. Many of the surrounding sites seem to have a focus towards the hill and it's clear that this area forms part of a sacred landscape. But actually there are three hills - Dunnideer stands out solely because of the ruins on top. Triple hills were sacred to the ancients, and places like the Eildon Hills in the Borders or even the Malvern Hills have always been held in special regard. Dunnideer may not have been the primary hill in neolithic times, but nonetheless it has become so nowadays. The climb is rather steep and unrelenting, and certainly feels longer than the walk up Glastonbury Tor! Look out for the herd of fake deer on the side of the hill - the "Dunny Deer" indeed! However the views are stunning from the summit - the sun was getting low in the sky as we looked out towards Bennachie and the colours were just gorgeous. We stood huddled against the castle wall to keep out of the wind and soaked up the meager sunlight. This is one of the better examples of 'vitrified forts' to be found in Scotland; there are a few good sections of stonework remaining where you can see the internal timber bracing and the melted stone. It is not known exactly how the walls of these forts were vitrified as it requires enormously high temperatures to melt stone. I wondered if complete vitrification was the intention, as some sections of wall here look more like the stones are cemented together with some black tarry gunk. Perhaps they were just trying to produce a sticky mortar? click for more pictures of these sites The Maiden Stone: I love these enigmatic Pictish carved stones that are found all over the north-east. This is a Class II beauty in hard pink granite, which is probably why the carvings still seem reasonably well-defined. You can still make out teeth on the comb symbol. It's nice to see these stones in their natural state; many of them have been moved from their original locations and re-erected elsewhere, often with a collection of other carved stones. This one has a lovely carving of the mysterious 'Pictish beast', thought by some to be a 'kelpie' or water-horse, whilst more sceptical researchers think it more likely to be a bottle-nosed dolphin. We speculated as to the purpose of these dual-faced stones with a Celtic cross on one side and symbols on the other, wondering if they marked tribal boundaries between the pagan Picts and Christian neighbours. Or perhaps the combination reflects a change in belief system at the time it was carved. Read more about the Maiden Stone on Ancient Scotland. We also drove past a farm where Jason had found another Pictish carved stone, thought to be lost, set into a wall. And there was a brief stop at Old Rayne {NJ 679280}, a somewhat ruinous circle but with impressive views of the sunset; and hopping over the electric fences to get to it only added to the excitement! This area around Huntly shows signs of having once been an extensive Neolithic ceremonial complex, but sadly very little evidence remains - most of it is now buried under the town. click for more pictures of these sites Loanhead of Daviot: I’m never quite sure what to make of this site, perhaps because of the way it’s been restored. It feels quite peaceful, but there is a slightly darker edge to it that’s hard to pin down. It's a very different feel to any other circle I've been to up here. In the rising moonlight it was quite ethereal and magical, but I didn’t feel like spending too much time there. This circle also has an unusual feature in stone 'causeways' linking the central ring-cairn to certain stones in the circle. This is very similar to what Dave told us about the circles at Clava, and he had wondered if this circle was built by the same folk.
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