Sunset at Callanish Stones

first quarter moon; cloudy and windy

The Isle of Lewis is often referred to as the edge of the world as it represents the far western edge of Europe. Yesterday we traveled north – two ferries and several causeways from the southern island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides all the way up north to the Isle of Lewis. We are here to visit the famous Callanish Stones.

There are two other smaller stone circles to the east, one on the rise of a hill and the other in a large field that line up with Callanish.The two are beautiful and under any other circumstances would be wonders unto themselves.

But when you visit Callanish no other stone circle seems imaginable. Although a few houses are fairly near, when you are on the grounds and can look off to other horizons you see mountains and water and hills, each refernce points to the pattern of the stones.

They are each so unique with their own personalties and are elegantly placed. And they are large. Much thought and care must have gone into their positioning.

We visited once in the afternoon and then returned later that night. I made some rubbings while one of our group took photos. After more than an hour a few others arrived to watch the sunset. It was a typical summer evening (as i have learned) in Scotland; overcast, chilly and a bit of wind. But the sun broke through and what I thought were magnificent gray, very textured stones suddenly came alive, or should I say became flesh-like because they were pink and sparking wth glitter in the stone.

I was surprised at how few people were milling about. It is only a few days until the summer solstice and it will look very much the same at that sunset. This year a music celebrity is making big plans for the solstice with live video streams at the site.

I have discovered more evidence of ancestors from thousands of years ago.There is much conjecture and imagination around their movitves.

What I experienced was that these were incredibly observent people who used their creativity and love of nature as a palate or design playground to not only mark movements in the heavens, but also to make places of wonder where people could congregate and celebrate life.

I wonder if they had the notion that these stones would be visited by people many generations into the future. Regardless, it gives one great respect for the imagination and dedication found in these people. Also how they made choices to highlight and position stones that have such strong images like the lady below.