Summer Solstice at Stonehenge – in Pictures:

Wonderful really fabulous I spent some time down in that neck of the woods years ago.. you can't help but love the place.

tho I prefer mother elm to standing stones.. guess it is just a local thing... lots of elms and few stones

I live quite close so have been a few times but missed the last couple of years as i've been ill. The atmosphere is indescribable. We're lucky due to its location when you consider the closeness of modern life to the pyramids.

I actually find it disgraceful that an ancient national monument of world importance is treated like this twice a year to the likes of new age scum, hippies, drop outs, self appointed 'druids' and basically drugged up wankers scraping away the stones, kniving their initials into them. Pissing and #ting all over the place, leaving joints all over. etc etc etc

Is it too much to ask.

I would have liked to have spent my birthday there once, doubt that will happen, but it would have been pretty awesome.

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


As a "Self appointed Druid" and a Druid Member of OBOD I would like to point out that I have never noticed any initials carved inside the Stone circle - I doesn't smell of wee - and why should normal people be banned from their own heritage site. If you have ever been to a solstice celebration then you may not realize that the crowd is extremely good a policing themselves and have nothing but the utmost respect for the stones......

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent
I actually find it disgraceful that an ancient national monument of world importance is treated like this twice a year to the likes of new age scum, hippies, drop outs, self appointed 'druids' and basically drugged up wankers scraping away the stones, kniving their initials into them. Pissing and #ting all over the place, leaving joints all over. etc etc etc

Is it too much to ask.

Each to their own opinion. What I find disgraceful is down from Stone Henge is Knowlton Henge. Its not well known and out of the way fortunately. It is beautiful, a sacred landscape with a timeless tranquility. However in the middle of it some Christian built a little church. That's now derelict and the Henge is maintained and still encompasses that sacredness and tranquility that people who go to henges celebrate. I look at those out-of-place ruins and see the 'State Religion' and its frocked and suited and booted members deliberately desecrating an ancient site.

Henges were built for people to go to and connect with what they each perceive as sacred. Many people see 'Paganism' as a living religion and the connection with the earth and sky is essential.

I first went to Stone Henge when I was four on Boxing Day. Then the Henge was not fenced off but open and you could park close by. It was foggy and damp and suddenly out of the fog, the hunt appeared. We stood on the stones to watch this almost surreal apparition sweep by.

Originally posted by druid1
reply to post by EnigmaAgent

 

As a "Self appointed Druid" and a Druid Member of OBOD I would like to point out that I have never noticed any initials carved inside the Stone circle - I doesn't smell of wee - and why should normal people be banned from their own heritage site. If you have ever been to a solstice celebration then you may not realize that the crowd is extremely good a policing themselves and have nothing but the utmost respect for the stones......

So you subscribe to a monthly magazine, a couple of booklets and suddenly you're a druid.

Totally laughable.

And nobody is banned its open all year round, but fenced off as it should be to new age scum.

I dont think people would spend the money/time to travel to stone hedge to get high/party for the sun.
The sun/moon cycles have been important to different faiths for thousands of years.I dont consider myself a hippie/hipster/druid/shaman or anything. I just seek to exist and to progress spiritually as a being and know my roots. I always appreciate the earth for what it has given to us.
If some decide a place is special to give thanks(in this case stone hedge) to what has bestowed upon them, who are we to look down on them for it?
Sure there might be some crack pots in the lot, but if you truly believe in something it's worth fighting for no matter what.
To those who feel they wont make it out there for the solstice here's what i reccommend. Go to a favorite spot of yours out in nature whether it be woods, on a hill, even in your backyard and revel and the wonders of the earth.
Hope I dont sound looney

reply to post by anon72


Thanks for the pics. I live in the UK and would really liked to have gone to stonehenge for the solstice but bad planning and financial dificulties have stopped me.

There is a lovely planetary alignment tonight though so I am gonna try and catch that if the cloud stays away. I just need to stay up till 4 o'clock to witness it... tired already

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


Your attitude towards this is a little harsh. I have never heard of anyone damaging the stones at these celebrations. I understand that back in the day the stones had been vandalised and that's why they fenced stonehenge off but since it has been opened a couple of times a year, just for the solstices, people have respected the area and any joint nubs will be cleaned up by a team of litter pickers.

A joint never hurt no stone dude, seriously.

If it was as bad as you make out, don't you think it would have been stopped years ago?

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


Dude, you just became a rival of mine.

No insults, just honesty... I really disagree with your attitude. Kinda makes me angry, not sure why.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/787d5b3ad016.jpg[/atsimg]

A MAN with a split lip throws a punch at a bare-chested reveller as 18,000 flock to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.
Cops arrested the pair but said celebrations at the ancient site were otherwise mostly peaceful. Druids, pagans and New Age revellers -
Superintendent Gavin Williams, of Wiltshire Police, said: "The vast majority behaved very well and came to see the sunrise in the spirit of the event."

link

reply to post by anon72

At least this shows that the axis hasn't changed like some people here seem to think.

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent
I actually find it disgraceful that an ancient national monument of world importance is treated like this twice a year to the likes of new age scum, hippies, drop outs, self appointed 'druids' and basically drugged up wankers scraping away the stones, kniving their initials into them. Pissing and #ting all over the place, leaving joints all over. etc etc etc

Is it too much to ask.

I think might be generalising a bit??

reply to post by juleol


< waits for someone to claim that "TPTB" moved stonehenge to fool us into thinking everything is normal

Just proves how dillusional many on ATS are with all the "OMG the sun isn't rising where it's supposed to" thread.

When in fact they are only noticing now where the sun rises or sets (after decades on the planet) and are comparing it to where they *THINK* the sun used to rise and set.

OMG THE WORLD IS END.

UPDATE: I found this follow up story about the event and the crowds.

Is nothing sacred? The Solstice isn't what it used to be... (with video)

Police patrolled the site where 20,000 revellers greeted the sun's first rays yesterday morning, making 20 arrests. Eleven were for drug offences, five for breaches of public order, and 47 drug seizures were made. St John Ambulance treated 60 casualties on site for minor injuries and transported four people to hospital. A local news agency photographed young men fighting each other: one had a bloodied mouth.

The summer solstice, which usually falls on 21 June, is the only day on which the public is granted access right up to the stones themselves, without prior appointment. Many people are drawn by this unique cultural opportunity. Thousands have since followed, drawn more by the urge to have a good time.

Source: www.independent.co.uk...

I've always wondered what the lineage is of modern day Druids? I've always assumed they promote some kind of modern paganism and nature worship, but this may only be traced back 150~ years or so? Would this be correct, or is there any evidence that proves they trace their rituals and beliefs back to the original pre-Roman people of Britain?

Originally posted by anon72
UPDATE: I found this follow up story about the event and the crowds.

Is nothing sacred? The Solstice isn't what it used to be... (with video)

Police patrolled the site where 20,000 revellers greeted the sun's first rays yesterday morning, making 20 arrests. Eleven were for drug offences, five for breaches of public order, and 47 drug seizures were made. St John Ambulance treated 60 casualties on site for minor injuries and transported four people to hospital. A local news agency photographed young men fighting each other: one had a bloodied mouth.

The summer solstice, which usually falls on 21 June, is the only day on which the public is granted access right up to the stones themselves, without prior appointment. Many people are drawn by this unique cultural opportunity. Thousands have since followed, drawn more by the urge to have a good time.

Source: www.independent.co.uk...

Proves my point exactly.

Keep the scum off.

reply to post by anon72


That is really sad Anon, society is breaking down,