Towards linking Stonehenge and the moon

THOUGHT, cosmology, beliefs and worldview define shape and inform cultural practices and the design of artefacts.

These are the drivers and influencers of cultural practices and the rest of the cultural world. By studying what communities do on the cultural front, we can deduce their thought, cosmology, beliefs and worldviews that underpin and inform their cultural practices. Conversely, we may be able, by carefully observing cultural practices be in a position to arrive at the cosmologies, thoughts, beliefs and worldviews of a given community.

Both science as understood in the Western world and spirituality as espoused by African communities, are hubs of thought and drivers of cultural practices. When the more cogent worldview, thought, cosmology and beliefs change, through endogenous and exogenous agencies, the change may be monitored through tangible cultural practices.

The two walk and change in tandem.

This is what iconic African writer Chinua Achebe of Nigeria observed and aptly expressed when he titled his novel, “Things Fall Apart.” Yes, the centre could no longer hold. The basis and support pillars of cultural practices were no longer in a position to provide an anchor to the cultural practices. The change had been wrought on several cultural fronts through the agencies of exotic book religions, colonial education and urbanisation inter alia.

The material/physical (tangible) and the non-material world (intangible) are related and mutually influence each other though the much older intangible world is intrinsically and intricately wrapped and woven into the newer material world.

A shifting dynamic equilibrium seems to exist between the material and the non-material. The ever-changing relationship also exists at the level of thought, cosmology, worldview, beliefs and cultural practices. Dynamic, related and mutually influencing changes define the totality of the universe.

Are we back to the “Journey to the Stars?” It is my well-considered view that in the final analysis, this journey and its complementary one, the “Journey to the Ancient African Science (AAS),” are related and both seek and apply related concepts. Spirituality, for example, cannot be divorced from the cosmos.

That organic relationship manifests itself in the ways of life of communities, particularly in terms of thought, worldview and hence the economic, cultural and political activities of various communities.

What a convoluted way to get to the gist of this article that links and encapsulates common ideas, concepts and principles. It may seem like we have taken a diversionary course. No, we are dealing with expressions, manifestations and indicators of the same universal phenomena.

I shall argue that the famed English World Heritage Site (WHS), Stonehenge, displays similar ideas, beliefs, worldviews and cosmology as found among and to some extent, still practiced by African communities. Cosmological linkages and connectedness are too obvious to be ignored. At Stonehenge in England, the links are still being unpacked, investigated and digested. For the English archaeologists, astronomers, archaeo-astronomers and their collaborating partners at several academic institutions, the challenges are enormous.

This is easy to appreciate and understand. Some few years back I took delivery of a well-researched and written book through Christopher J Stone. He brought me an autographed book, a result of a research project by the River Valley Project.

The influence of that book on my perceptions, ideological inclinations and leanings was phenomenal. I understood the commonalities among the ancients in terms of their ideas, perceptions, thoughts, worldviews and cosmologies. The link between the cosmos and the earth was apparent and was expressed through shared cultural practices.

At Stonehenge, I saw some resident African Minds. Ideas that are still in vogue on the African continent have been abandoned in the Western world. For example, the ancients embraced circularity in their designs on the cultural front. The concept of eternity as wrought on earth by mimicking the cosmos was given emphasis. Stone, as expressive of eternity, was embraced within the context of built environments as witnessed at Stonehenge. I began to appreciate the adage, “As above, so below.”

Further, I coined the expression, “Communities build as they believe.” The mind creates and builds in tandem with beliefs regarding how the resulting structure will be put to use. The mind provides some link or thread that runs through the disparate and yet common amongst creativity, construction/building/production and the envisaged application/use/purpose of the final product.

When thought, worldview and beliefs change over time, the result is a mental or cognitive mismatch between new ideas and the abandoned old beliefs resident in ancient monuments. In England, the Neolithic Age and its particular technologies and techniques ultimately gave way to the more advanced epochs, the Bronze and Iron Ages. Researchers, unfamiliar with the ancient ideas that are still resident on the African continent are not familiar with these and find it challenging to get, not into the shoes of ancients, but their minds.

Circularity as expressed in architecture, dance choreographies, expressions of eternity through the use of rock and the locations of monuments on lay lines are evident in African thought that was concretised and monumentalised at Stonehenge. These range from the practical considerations of burials to cremations in circular ditches. Ancient monuments have preserved old ideas, beliefs, thoughts, cosmologies and worldviews that have become obsolete. These present difficulties in explanation and interpretation.

I will argue that Stonehenge is an expression of ideas that are still in vogue amongst communities on the African continent.

In my book, “Journey to Stonehenge,” which was inspired by the work of Professor Mike Parker Pearson of the University College of London, I did indicate these resident ideas, perceptions, thoughts and worldviews that were behind the structure, form and design of Stonehenge.

I am quite alert to the fact that some people are not yet clear about the relevance of Stonehenge in a series of articles that are about AAS and in particular, the theory and practice of witchcraft.

Energy and spirituality are the common denominators in a monument such as Stonehenge. A monument captures the distribution of energy and spirituality as applicators of force, power and work that are of benefit to communities.

The physical infrastructure handles the more destructive forms of energy and spiritual power.

At the same time, the energy may at times have to be stored for future use, as happens and is practiced about electric energy when it is stored in batteries. This narrative compares favourably with the much-maligned witchcraft. Underpinning science for both is the same. The presence and manipulation of energy is what we are seeking to highlight at Stonehenge. Harnessing and manipulation of energy is characteristic of witches who possess the capacity, expertise, skills and techniques to ritually harness energy and put it to work.

Energy is a force. Like spirit, it is power. It will work. That is what humans are interested in. Energy requires domestication through a physical medium. Energy is needed for the growth of crops to maturity, so that humans access the necessary stored energy through food consumption. Energy is indestructible and so is spiritual power, which may transform from one form to another and survive eternally through incarnation. For the manipulators of energy, safe handling is of the essence. Electric energy must travel through safe conductors and sometimes stored for future use as happens with batteries that store electrical energy as chemical energy.

Researchers are excited about a forthcoming phenomenon referred to as “lunar standstill” by which they are referring to moonrise and moonset that are farthest away on the distant horizon. It is a phenomenon that is observed every 18 and a half years. In other words, it is a phenomenon that is cyclic and therefore a result of orbital movement effected by some cosmic body. The movement is rhythmic, seasonal, regular, periodic and therefore predictable.

At the time we wrote articles under the banner of “Journey to Stonehenge”, we indicated the presence of four station stones. There seems to be some alignment between these stones that display a rectangular arrangement and the moonset and moonrise when they are farthest from each other in the north and the south.

Researchers acknowledge that the siting of monuments has hitherto concentrated on the link between Stonehenge Monument and the sun. Strangely, the link between the monument and the moon has been ignored in favour of the sun.

Africa is surprised at this oversight and what led to the side-lining of links between the monument and the moon. “Journey to the Stars” emphasized the moon as a cosmic body and one nearest to earth. That proximity translates to the moon exerting greater influence on the Earth as witnessed by rising tidal waves. When water moves, we know it has been acted upon by energy. In this case, it is forces of mutual attraction between the moon and the earth.

We shall seek to unravel the link between AAS and the moon and how lunar ramifications and expressions relate and are applied for example, to the practice of witchcraft.

However, what is important is the appreciation of the presence of energy and unravelling the link between the moon and the earth in particular and the movements of cosmic bodies, the earth itself and the cosmic bodies including moons, planets and stars.

In the end, whatever the archaeo-astronomers, archaeologists and astronomers seek to unravel in their quest to establish the link between Stonehenge and the moon, it is imperative to always keep at the back of their minds the role and purposes of the moon not just as a moon, but as a dispenser of energy when it moves around the earth. As it does so, its energy potency varies over different places on earth.

Further, there will, inevitably, be some reconfiguration of energy distribution when the moon revolves around the earth, which has its geophysical energy that is distributed unevenly.

Where leylines, that is energy distribution lines, energy potency varies and there is juxtaposition between the moon’s reflected solar energy and its geophysical energy and that of the earth.

Communities’ concern with this variable is that it has implications for the success, execution, or lack of same, in numerous cultural and ritual fields: economic, political social and cultural in terms of continuity, perpetuity, eternity and endlessness of communities. These traits are keenly sought after but not guaranteed.