May 2006

I remember my first visit to Stonehenge at age nine: the power of the stones themselves, the open landscape, and feeling the ancient rituals that hung in the air like they had taken place yesterday.

Part of the magic, I understand in retrospect, was that we were there alone. There were no fences or lines of tourists. Just the sun, lying on the stones, and me.

Long ago before Stonehenge became oriented toward the solar calendar, its original inner circle of stones was oriented to the lunar cycles. Irish sites, such as New Grange (which everyone ought to visit in this lifetime) are also oriented to the moon. Earth mound sites likewise are considered ‘bellies’, referring to the ‘Mother’ and the Moon/ Earth relationship.

Opportunities to interact, at a very personal level, with sacred sites around the world are increasingly impossible. This summer presents a unique opportunity to gather with other like-minded moon-lovers in Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland for what is referred to as the Major Lunar Standstill.

Every 18.6 to 19 years the Full Moon shows itself as being the highest in the sky at the Full Moon closest to Winter Solstice, and then at its lowest or closest to the horizon line, at the Full Moon of Summer Solstice in June. The builders of the ancient stone circles 5,000 years ago understood the Lunar Standstills and built their sites accordingly. One of the most desirable spots to be is within the Megalith Stone Circle of Callanish. This stone circle site was placed so as to observe the full moon of the lunar standstill move along the horizon where it interacts with a hill range that is in the form of a woman lying on her back, known locally as ‘Sleeping Beauty’. This summer the full moon will rise through her belly, her throat, and later dance in the famous stones themselves, where, at a certain point, the moon is the size of a human and then is ‘reborn’ with a human silhouetted inside the moon.

Lovers of sacred sites and lovers of the moon will have a powerfully illuminating experience. Not only is this a powerful place to be for this Metonic cycle, it may be one of the last times this can be observed without fences and burger joints nearby. Being there, observing with other pilgrims this most primal and mystical of connections between the Moon and the Earth would deepen and, for some, awaken an unforgettable connection between ourselves, our home, the moon, and the cosmos. 

The moon is a feminine principle for many as its gravity pulls on the oceans of the world and, likewise, affects when women have their bleeding cycles.  The moon is also associated with emotions that are not expressed ‘during the light of day’, so again there is an association with water, feelings and the feminine.

For many, this year’s standstill represents the rebirth of the feminine principle in the world, returning balance to the world in this time of earth changes.  Certainly, long ago, there was more balanced appreciation for the feminine, birth, and the sacredness of creation. Moses said that Adam worshipped the moon like the Mesopotamians, and the Ten Commandments came from Mt Sinai, which means Mountain of the Moon.  Jews still honor the new moon, Rosh Cades, and the symbol of Islam is a crescent moon representing the pre-Islamic moon goddess Manat or Al-Lat. In Asia most of their holidays are based on the moon, and the original calendars were based on the thirteen moons, which are still more exact than the later adopted solar calendar.

So it is primarily we westerners that are out of practice focusing on the moon. From a Christian perspective, as the orientation became on ‘god the Father’, references to the Mother were considered pagan and in many cases sinful. To us nature-lovers that’s ridiculous of course. So put on your best moonlit finery and get yourself to the Hebrides for the Woodstock of lunar events. Regardless of how many find themselves gathering in Callanish your relationship with the moon will be personal, and powerful.

There is a group going to Callanish from Toronto this summer (whisperingsong.com) if this inspires your imagination. For more information on the actual mathematical movements of the moon this summer, there are lots of sites if you Google ‘Lunar Standstill’.

For information on the history of lunar worship I also enjoy Donna Henes’ Moon Watcher’s Companion.

“Ah, moon of my delight who know’st no wane. The moon of heav’n is rising once again.” (Omar Khayyam – 11th century Persian)

From a poetic point of view the moon is the great lover who inspires the lover in each of us: “The moon rises stealing the sun’s light between her thighs. The man steals the nectar between her thighs” (folk song from Chhattisgarh, India).

And on that delicious note I wish you a moonth of spring delights.