by Glenn Broughton

Why do so many people visit ancient sacred sites each year? Why are so many people drawn to England’s Stonehenge, or the Pyramids in Egypt. What is going on?

In my experience as a guide to ancient sacred sites in Britain there are various reasons why people make these journeys. For some it is a quest, such as following the Arthurian legend in a personal search to find the meaning of the Holy Grail. For others it is a modern pilgrimage to walk the paths of our ancestors. Others instinctively know that a healing awaits them at one of these places shrouded in mystery. Whatever prompts the decision to travel, journeys of this kind are almost always transformative.

Reading The Signs
Our ancestors knew the Earth intimately and understood her wisdom. Living in much closer communion with the planet than we do their sense of the natural forces of the Earth was a finely-tuned whole body awareness.

Imagine yourself as a member of a neolithic society living five thousand years ago. You are walking along and suddenly you feel a tingling in your hands or feet or maybe a rush of energy throughout your body. You have just walked over an energy hot spot. This is where you would choose to build a structure in which you could work with the energies present for purposes of healing or spiritual insight.
Today this same sacred site might appear to be just a dead relic of a bygone age. However, myths passed down through the generations tell a different story. For example, it is said of several stone circles that the stones go down to the water to drink at midnight or on a full moon. This folktale speaks of the connection between the stone circle, ever-present underground water and the earth energy that is carried by the water. This varies according to the seasons, the phases of the moon and even day and night. All holy wells have stories of healings attached to them. When we realise that strong Earth energy currents have turned the waters into something akin to a homeopathic remedy, these tales make perfect sense.

Sacred Space

Originally all energy spots were simply in nature – a hilltop, a wooded copse, a spring. The trees were the first to teach us the consequences of enclosing natural energy. The energy can be contained and built up to create a super-charged space. The Druids performed all their ceremonies in sacred groves for this reason. We can all feel these ‘magic’ places still, even if we don’t feel energies; they create in us a sense of silence, of wonder, of gratitude. The stone circle builders developed this theme and used crystalline rocks in order to control the energies. Today we utilize crystal (silicon chips) in all our computers; our ancestors were really using the same technology but for different purposes and on a different scale.
Medieval churches and cathedrals were often built on the sites of stone circles, ensuring that these energy hot spots would empower their Christian ceremonies.

Intent

What makes the crucial difference between a tourist visit and a transformative experience is our intent. Combining this committed intent with the super-charged atmosphere of a sacred site on a spiritual journey opens the door for extraordinary things to happen. On some level we still know what our ancestors knew – that the ancient sacred sites hold power and potential. Yet, our logical thinking often tells us this can’t be true. If we are prepared to quiet the sceptical mind for a while and act as if magic is possible, then magic does indeed become possible. As Albert Einstein once remarked “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”

About the Author:
Glenn Broughton has been researching and visiting ancient sacred sites for twenty years and is drawn to explore their energetic properties and how such places of power affect us today. He has been a tour guide for most of this time leading groups exploring the mystery of sacred sites through http://www.journeyswithsoul.com
He also lecturers internationally on sacred sites, earth mysteries and crop circles, and is the co-founder / co-organizer of http://www.earthspiritconferences.com

By Susan Radcliffe

There are plenty of places in the UK where you can take a break from life.  Every part of the country has spas and country house hotels, but if you want something more out of your trip you could choose a spiritual retreat.  There are properties run by many different religious groups and according to different belief systems, and most are open to visitors of any faith.  Here is a selection from around the UK.

St Cuthman’s

Cowfold Road, Coolham, West Sussex, England RH13 8QL

This retreat offers a place for peace and reflection.  It’s owned by the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, but it’s open to all faiths and those of none.  The Edwardian country house has lovely period features like wooden beams and paneling and there’s accommodation for couples or individuals in the bedrooms, which are decorated in a warm and simple way. There’s no programme to follow and you can choose to eat in silence in the dining room, or in conversation with other guests, in the conservatory.  Quiet time can also be had in the chapel or the well-stocked library.  Outside, there’s a lake and 20 acres of gardens, woodlands and meadows, where you can find a secluded spot for contemplation or bird watching, as this is a designated UK nature area.

Seren Retreat

Bryncoch Farm, Gower, Swansea, Wales SA2 7LB

This is a retreat for Ayurveda, yoga and cleansing.  The daily programme includes an Ayurvedic bodywork session, yoga and meditation instruction, healthy Ayurvedic meals and cooking demonstrations, with produce coming from the organic garden.  You can take a walk in the 23 acre grounds or soothe away your stress in the hot tub and sauna.  The accommodation is 4 star bed and breakfast standard.  There are 4 bedrooms, which can be double or twin, and extra beds can be put in to accommodate families.  There’s also a play area for children.

Dhanakosa

Balquhidder, Lochearnhead, Scotland FK19 8PQ

This is a Buddhist retreat located within the Trossachs National Park, on the shores of Loch Voil.  You can explore the waterfalls and woodlands in its 16 acres of grounds.  A wide range of programmes are on offer along with introductory meditation teaching, including Yoga, hill walking, Tai Chi, Arts and Alternative therapies.  There are also more advanced meditation courses.  The accommodation in the farmhouse is a little basic, but you would choose this place to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding nature and to concentrate on your inner life.

Launde Abbey

Launde Abbey, East Norton, Leicester, England LE7 9XB

This is an Anglican-run retreat and you can attend the liturgies in the Abbey’s beautiful 12th century chapel.  It is, however, open to anyone who wants to go on a spiritual journey.  The retreat is set in 450 acres of parkland and has a Victorian walled garden where much of the food for guests is grown.  There are 45 bedrooms in the main house, parts of which date back to the 16th century.  It’s filled with historic features, fireplaces and antiques.  There are several different courses to choose from, including individually guided retreats where you take part in personal reflection along with daily sessions with a spiritual guide, or other courses which include activities such as painting, prayer or discussion groups.

Writer Bio

Susan Radcliffe is a British writer and TV researcher, with connections to several towns and cities around the UK.  She has Northern Irish ancestry and was born in Scotland.  She then lived in York and Sheffield before settling in London.  She loves to travel and to explore the many beautiful places around the UK and abroad.  She enjoys sharing her discoveries and being able to recommend hotels and accommodation, sights and attractions to other visitors.  She currently writes for sletoH.com, a price comparison site where you can book UK hotels as well as hotels in several other countries.

A Lady in Waiting: An explanation of the Avebury Complex

4,500 years ago at what is now known as Avebury in Wiltshire, Neolithic man erected a vast stone circle (the Great Circle) many times larger than the more publicised Stonehenge twenty miles to the south. Surrounding the outside of these 100 or so sarsen stones is a huge partly silted-up ditch some thirty feet deep thus classifying it today as a henge site. So big was the circle that much of the modern-day village of Avebury lays within its circumference of four-fifths of a mile. To say it is only impressive is to underestimate its grandeur.

Joined to the Great Circle were two double rows of standing stones known today as the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues. The West Kennet Avenue was nearly one and half miles in length but the now all but missing Beckhampton Avenue’s termination point is presently unknown although believed to have been similar in length.

At the farthest end of the West Kennet Avenue and connected to it, is the site of a now destroyed set of stone and timber circles known as the Sanctuary and this lies on Overton Hill alongside the oldest and longest track-way in the British Isles – the Ridgeway Path.

Three quarters of a mile to the south of the Great Circle was built the enigmatic Silbury Hill, the largest man-made hill in Europe with a huge surrounding 20ft deep ditch now mainly silted up. Covering a ground area of five and a half acres it is 130ft high with some estimates claiming it took some 18 million man hours to build using nothing more than antler picks and the shoulder blades of Oxen and wooden tools. Running north to south from Avebury is the Avebury Winterbourne stream which merges with the River Kennet to the south of Silbury Hill.

Also just below Silbury Hill lie the Swallowhead Springs where the main River Kennet rises. A quarter of a mile further south on the top of rising ground is the West Kennet Long Barrow, a chambered Early Neolithic chambered burial tomb believed to have been in use some 1,000 years prior to the construction of the other megaliths in the area.

These combined man-made structures are known collectively as the Avebury Complex and it has been classified as a World Heritage Site such is its importance. However, even after many excavations have taken place at the Great Circle, the Avenues, the Sanctuary and Silbury Hill, no practical or tangible theories or understanding of why they were built and what they were used for on completion has been put forward – until now that is! They had remained as much a mystery as when the first known official excavation began back in the 17^th century.

After some 30 years investigating the Complex, stone circle researcher Roy Goutté has reached some amazing conclusions that he says will change our understanding of Neolithic man in Great Britain and their beliefs for ever if correct. No longer will the Great Circle at Avebury, or Stonehenge for that matter, be seen as ‘stand alone’ structures, but part of huge complexes. It is by reaching this understanding that we can now begin to decipher their true meaning.

Working systematically through eight individual man-made or natural parts of the Avebury Complex as he sees it, he has now intrinsically linked them to show that they were all interconnected to form a huge hitherto unrecognised Female Earth Figure laid out over hundreds of acres of the Wiltshire countryside and has written a book on his discoveries. The Work is titled ‘A Lady In Waiting’ and clearly shows that this figure was designed and built in the Late Neolithic period. Roy Goutté firmly believes it was built with one aim in mind…to lead the Souls of the Dead into their Afterlife and his book guides the reader through the various stages of the Neolithic transition from this world into the next!

Contemporary with the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Egyptian belief in the Afterlife, Roy Goutté has been able to show that it wasn’t just the hierarchy of its time that benefitted from the promise of an Afterlife at Avebury, but everybody, for he believes that the Earth Figure was built by the people, for the people. How it functioned and how it all worked in the mindset of Neolithic man is clearly shown by the intricate layout of the figure and how it used the natural waterways which ran through the figure’s body to bring it ‘alive’ to them by representing its Lifeblood.

The Swallowhead Springs were a representation of the birth canal with the New Life emerging from the womb which was itself represented by Silbury Hill with its water filled ditch symbolically representing the ‘waters’ around the unborn Spirit while awaiting its emergence into the Afterlife. The Stone Avenues were the arms of the Figure and the Sanctuary at the conclusion of the West Kennet Avenue the Gathering Hand alongside the Ridgeway Path where the burial ground, mortuary house and drying-out platforms were situated and from where the Afterlife journey began. The Ridgeway Path was the route that led directly to the Sanctuary and would have been witness to much sadness as dead or dying people were carried or walked to their last earthly resting place prior to beginning their journey into the Afterlife.

The Great Circle was of course the Head of the Figure and the two smaller stone circles within it the Eyes. It had a Mouth which ringed a Sacred Well that is still in evidence today.

In all it is an astounding discovery and the actual layout of the Figure showing all the relevant parts can quite clearly be seen on the overdrawn map within the book or on the Lady In Waiting website along with over 50 photographs of those component parts. In all, the book is innovative and groundbreaking and more importantly, very plausible if one reverts to a way of thinking not seen since Neolithic times.

Roy Goutté concludes his book with the words:-

‘Nearly everything that should be there still is – the only things really missing are the people and their beliefs’.

And he’s right and I’m sure that after reading this book you too will think again about the true meaning of the Avebury Complex.

More details about the book can be found at the Lady In Waiting website:- http://aveburyaladyinwaiting.co.uk/

About the Author

Roy Goutté was born in the Channel Island of Jersey, but now lives in Cornwall on the edge of Bodmin Moor with his wife and their two sons.

His interest in the past began as a child when growing up in the south-east of the island where many of his early boyhood days were spent playing around such important sites as the passage graves at La Hougue Bie in the parish of Grouville; La Pouquelaye de Faldouet in the parish of St Martin; Mont Ubé at St Clement and the gallery grave Le Dolmen du Couperon at St Martin. At the time they were just places to have fun in on days out, but as he matured he began to take more interest in them for what they really were and not just as playgrounds.

After leaving Jersey he became a regular visitor to Stonehenge and Avebury as his interest had moved to mainly investigating stone circles. Access to Stonehenge then became so limited that he felt it restricted his investigations there, so he concentrated solely on Avebury. He had been working on a theory that both Stonehenge and Avebury were not ‘stand-alone’ sites like many thought, but part of huge complexes, so this gave him good reason to investigate Avebury fully and without distraction.

Working alone, his dedicated research into the Avebury Complex has resulted in this – A Lady In Waiting - his first archaeological style book investigating an ancient wonder that has captured the imagination of people since the days of such notable antiquaries as John Aubrey in the 17^th century and William Stukeley in the 18th.

Roy Goutté is also the author of eight previously published books in the Principal Lines series on the bloodlines of the Border Collie in various disciplines – and an Obedience dog training book – Get It Right.