tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3130566520954194626.post2208248771820577815..comments2023-11-26T23:24:15.748-08:00Comments on Time Present and Time Past: The Winter Solstice - a pre-Christian EpiphanyMark Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06621801968983662236noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3130566520954194626.post-29243011676305432012012-12-21T01:32:33.705-08:002012-12-21T01:32:33.705-08:00I am wondering whether that was the site of Dissig...I am wondering whether that was the site of Dissignac (www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=633666), probably before it was restored by my friend and colleague, the late Jean L'Helgouach? The imagery of birth/rebirth is unmistakeable in most of these monuments. Sadly we didn't get to see the sunrise at Newgrange this morning because of the clouds but, when one does experience it, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that, on one level, it represents a sexual consummation between the sun and the earth, enabling the rebirth you talk about.Mark Pattonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621801968983662236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3130566520954194626.post-23508689800469995502012-12-20T22:39:51.822-08:002012-12-20T22:39:51.822-08:00Modern pagans still celebrate the Solstices and Eq...Modern pagans still celebrate the Solstices and Equinoxes. We'll be doing our "return of the light" ceremony on Saturday. <br />In St. Nazaire where I used to live in Brittany I came across another of those chambers which was totally unpublicised and marked as merely "ancient monument". When I finally got into it, the symbolism of birth was striking. A low narrow passage led to a chamber, where I presume the select few would gather, the light would strike into the chamber (the only time of the year) and they would then crawl out through the passage again in a re-birth ritual.<br />I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised - Carnac, one of the greatest collecton of menhirs was not that far from our home there.Cameronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07745199648604340657noreply@blogger.com