Five years ago today I was in Avebury, Wiltshire in the UK, my favorite place outside Pennsylvania, to stay for a few days. I wish I’d had this phone so the photos would be better.

foxglove_and_ivy

Avebury stone circle: the misty sunrise after the winter solstice

‘Stones Over Avebury’ Hilary Paynter, 1984

"AVEBURY" | circa 1944 BILL BRANDT aft. THOMAS HARDY [gelatin silver print | 13 1/4 × 11 1/4"]

One of hundreds of large standing stones at Avebury, Wiltshire, England.

©wano

avebury church by me

Everyone has heard of Stone Henge but what about its less famous cousin, Avebury Henge? It’s bigger, more accessible and connected to Britain’s mystical ley lines.

A beech tree adorned with esoteric offerings- Avebury, UK 

Orion over Avebury.

📷 Jo Bourne. Facebook.

5 years ago today on the path from West Kennet Long Barrow, looking toward Silbury Hill. It was a beautiful morning and I took lots of pictures but I won’t flood you with them. I recommend staying in Avebury, getting up before sunrise and walking through the fields to these ancient sites. It’s a mood.

Avebury Circle

Standing stone in a field white with ox eye daisies: midsummer

The Christian church began its long fight against the Avebury stones in 634, smashing them or "exorcising" them with the sign of the cross. Both inner circles were destroyed sometime after 1700, and many of the other stones were demolished or simply buried. This was at the height of the witch-hunts, and these ritual stones of the Goddess—just like her priestesses, the witches—were actually "tortured" and "exorcised" by Christian priests: the stones were burnt, chipped, mutilated. The institution of private property finally brought about the end of the sacred stones, with the enclosure of common land by private, wealthy farmers. The emergence of the landless proletariat and the modern notion of individual progress at the expense of the community fittingly coincided with the fall of the Great Mother at Avebury.

-Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering The Religion of the Earth.

avebury stones