The Great Stone Circles – How they Work Part 16. Types of Goddess Stone
Submitted by JACKME on Monday, 01 September 2008 Page Views: 7439
StonehengeCountry: England
Having recently posted Stonehenge re-visited where I discussed in detail the possible Goddess symbol on Stone 16, I will not repeat it here (see The Great Stone Circles - How They Work Part 15 Stonehenge Revisited for more information) but I now believe that there are at least two types of Goddess Stone.
Type 1 - I think this symbol means life as depicted by
a. The human figure as seen at Druids North Wales (Fig 1 above)
b. Stonehenge Stone 16 (see Stone 16 at Stonehenge. Photo by Angie Lake).
c. Full statue of a fat lady, similar to the tubby female figurine that was dug up at Grimme’s Graves and depicted in “Introduction to British Prehistory” edited by J.V.S.Megaw and D.D.A.Simpson. Leicester University Press.
[This book dates from 1979, these days the goddess is generally considered to be a modern hoax, even by that great pagan scholar Ronald Hutton. - MegP Ed]
At Swinside and Castlerigg there are rough stones with a protrusion, which could be imagined as a head, and could also represent the above figure. In both circles these stones are so positioned that the Midsummer rising sun at full orb is seen behind them.
At Swinside we look at the Midsummer sunrise over Stone 6 (see Fig 3. Stone 6 at Swinside) from across the circle whilst at Castlerigg the ‘Head’ on Stone 2 is exactly where midsummer sunrise full sun is seen. (see Fig 4. Castlerigg Stone 2)
Type 2. I think that this bird symbol means Death. Corpses were laid out on platforms, protected from carnivorous animals, by a wooden paling fence, for the carrion eating birds to pick the bones clean, which were then put into a passage tomb, normally facing one of major Sun positions at Full Orb or higher. The Sun then lit up the back wall of the tomb. Those tombs facing due south were lit up by the midday sun at the midwinter.
This Figure on Hesk Fell SD1728 9419 may be chance, except that it has been most carefully propped up with surrounding stonework, and has a probable area for the de-fleshing of corpses. Within a few hundred yards there is a large burial cairn field recorded by the National Park Archaeologist, with over 200 cairns of various types, from small heaps of stones, which could be just field clearance, small round cairns, and on to small long cairns pointing in various directions to the major Sun positions. I only had a general walk through the cairn field with the Local History Survey Group, and I noticed that several of the cairns had been dug into in the past. This gives credence to the idea that the bird symbol is the sign of Death.
Another similar example of this is the Pictish Stone, Broomend of Crichie (NJ 779196) as posted to the Megalithic portal by rldixon on 17.1.08. Were these Pictish Stones with the bird on them grave stones?
Help is required to locate other similar images.
Please post on the Portal or Private message.
All comments are also useful in helping to justify or repudiate the claim.
Jack ME
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