Stonehenge

Stonehenge was an actively worshiped for 1,500 years - yet for half this time the stone circle took on many other guises. It started out as nothing more than a forest clearing; but by 3000 BCE, something profound inspired the minds of our ancestors to worship this open prairie.

1. CAUSEWAY: our ancestors marked out this sacred land by carving a circle of earth around it. It was as if to say, ‘this ground is hallowed and should be set apart from its natural surroundings.’ These earth enclosures were called 'causeways' and are found all around Europe.

2. WOOD-HENGE: tribes began to erect timber posts around the Causeway, turning it from a two dimensional feature into a three dimensional shrine, dominating the landscape. This wooden henge was a highly ritualised site, where there is evidence of mass cremations (whether for burial or sacrifice, we can no longer tell).

3. STONE-CIRCLE: The timber was removed, making way for a circle of blue-stones (which had travelled 200 miles from Wales). Such a feat suggests they were greatly revered by our ancestors. Perhaps they believed the rocks possessed ‘Numen’ (a spiritual energy).

4. STONE-HENGE: A horseshoe of sarsen stones were erected in the causeway - the blue-stones now arranged among them. This megalithic temple now took on a more significant role, its trillionths mapping out the heavens, and the blue-stones radiating a 'divine force'.

In the Human Odyssey, I’ll set out to explain why our ancestors chose this earth feature as a sacred ground, what rituals were really conducted in the wooden henge, and reveal the secret behind the great stones of Britain.