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| The Cove at Avebury |
Listening to a programme this morning about a charity ride in Scotland on horseback, or at least walking alongside the horses, I though about walking pilgrim ways. This walk was eventually to finish at the island of Iona. There is so much to think about that we need at least three lives to sit down and ponder.
Going on a pilgrims walk does not necessarily mean you are religious, same as retreats, you escape life for a bit and live in the present. I bet even blogging is an escape route into past memories. Why do we collect our photos of churches we visit, there is no religious need to do it. but we have an innate curiosity about the world around us.
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| West Kennett Long barrow |
My interest has been in megalithic prehistory, the grey standing stones that pockmark this country of ours, and other countries of course. Still, silent sentinels marking perhaps a grave spot like the great Neolithic long barrows. Is there a spiritual magic that the stones speak of? Or is it our reverence for the passing of Great Time over the millennia.
It is like belief in ghosts, we never see them but just hope that they are there because without ghosts life would be a bit boring. Do they live in our psyche or wander around in the spirit world calling out to us. An unexplained mystery.
I am whittling on because I rather fancy a trek by horseback through England, though this should be undertaken in the months of May and June but it wouldn't be to a place of religion, it would be more an acknowledgement to 'The Spirit of Place' Does it exist?
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| The length of West Kennett long barrow |
Interesting post Thelma. I like what you say about ghosts. You don't have to believe in them to sometimes feel their presence. So often - at least once a week- I go into the sitting room and - for just a split second- David is sitting on the settee. Then he is gone. All in the mind of course but quite comforting.
ReplyDeleteAlso regarding retreats. I have a friend who runs them. I am tempted but when one lives alone, as I do, life in itself is a retreat - broken by friends or my son calling - many days I am left with my own thoughts and I value these times.
David never lived here - he visited once with me as it was part of the agreement when we left the farm that we should live here if we liked it. But he died before we could move - as we both knew he would. In some ways that enhances my sense that he is sometimes here for a second - making sure I am happy here. All in the mind but it does me no harm.
A good answer Pat, the presence of David whether in your mind or an actual ghost still to be answered, but it makes you happy at just the thought of it. I am not sure that retreats are needed, we carry within ourselves the ability to retreat. Jan Morris once said on seeing a small square metre of rock in the Wales she loved so much that the whole of Welsh history could be read in the stone.
DeleteAh, burial chambers bring us closer to the past. We understand part of what they are about - death, respect, probably claiming the land by having your ancestors there, but then there are many elements we don't totally comprehend - the rock art, the bringing of quartz stones from elsewhere as a mark of respect, the moving of certain stones to a special place in the landscape that encapsulates a connectivity with the earth.
ReplyDeleteChurches too, the oldest ones are built in a certain spot because of that connectivity with a place. York Minster, Hereford Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral - in each of these I have felt that connection so strongly in one spot. The power of prayer is in the very stones, just as it was, to other gods, in the prehistoric remains which fascinate us so much.
How I would love to do a long distance ride like Celia Fiennes. I am reminded me of a copy of Riding magazine from the 1950s where someone did something very similar on her "cock-tailed cob" - riding into the view, exploring those narrow little lanes leading to who knows where. I can dream.
One of the things that caught my attention during the programme Jennie was the person saying even the horses never wander far when they are let loose at night to graze. And the reply was that they were part of the tribe they had no need to run off. It was the photos of the horses in the link that captured me as they rode over a continental landscape. Churches are often built on old prehistoric sites, but whether to dominate or to acknowledge the sacredness of sites is still a puzzle.
DeleteHow mundane life would be without mysteries. If we had none we would have to create some. Maybe we did...
ReplyDeleteI think we do Tom, we never let go of the possibilities, whether they are little green men from Mars or the magnetic pull of a prehistoric stone.
DeleteMy feeling on ghosts is that if you accept the fact that energy can neither be created or destroyed, it is simply there, well, then, it is not hard to make the case for ghosts. In my case, I believe that there are things that I can't understand, and one of them is that we all are coexisting, blissfully unware (for the most part) of each other's presence.
ReplyDeleteOnce, years ago, leaving a historic village set up outside a nature preserve early in the morning before the place opened (I was dropping my children off at the Nature Center for a day camp adventure), in the school house window, I got a glimpse of a woman standing at the window. Just a glimpse, but her hair was up and she wore a high collar around her neck.
Did I see a ghost? Did I see a reflection of the sun? I couldn't tell you, but I will tell you that it was a comforting thought to think that perhaps our 'energy' lingers on after we are gone in the places that we love.
I loved Weaver's comment.
Your pilgrimage sounds like it would be a wonderful book. (hint, hint)
To old to trek Debby, also it would have to be in Wales or Scotland. I like the idea of energy lingering on in the places we have lived and loved. I bought Paul's ashes back to the place he loved. He would sit on the bench in the front garden on a summer's evening with a beer totally happy and content.
DeleteInteresting what you say Thelma. Being alone for long periods does give one ample opportunity to look both forward and back and contemplate on anything we wish. In many ways my life now is one long retreat punctuated by visits (most welcome) of various friends and my son.
ReplyDeleteWe are given a long retirement Pat and a time to reflect so it is a sort of retreat when we move back into memories and give thanks for the happy memories we have.
ReplyDelete