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<body bgcolor='#000000' text='#ffffff' > <h2>Midsummer 2003</h2> <h3>Midssummer's Eve at the Rollright Stones<br> Inkubus Sukkubus at The Custard Factory, Birmingham</h3> <h2>Journeytime...</h2> <p>It has become my custom in recent years, as Midsummer's Eve draws nigh, to take to the roads and travel the lands, wandering hither and thither, sleeping wherever night may find me, and making my way to one of the ancient stone circles which adorn these ancient and sacred isles of ours. <ul> <li><img src='011-ruins.jpg' alt=''><img src='015-ruins.jpg' alt=''><p>The ruins are an almost abandoned abbey to the northeast of Peterborough, close by the northern shore of the Wash. Once a prosperous and bustling place, envy and greed brought its initial fall from grace, while the ravages of time and the depradations of the local inhabitants did the rest.</p> <li><img src='017-into-the-sunset.jpg' alt=''><p>Turning from this place, I headed due west, across the industrial and commercial heart of Northamptonshire, on major roads and trunk routes, passing trucks and yet more trucks as the ceasless pounding of the lifeblood or our modern world whirled about me.</p></li> <li><img src='018-sunset.jpg' alt=''><p>Once I stopped for a hitch hiker, a Christian by faith, who had been walking for hours before I took pity on him. The irony of all the "nominal Christians" who had thundered past uncaring, leaving him to be finally picked up by a neo-Pagan wandrer on his way to celebrate one of the most ancient of festivals, was not lost on him.</p></li> <li><img src='020-sunset.jpg' alt=''><p>All the while the sun was setting, shadows lengthening, until at last I found the old road south, twisting and flowing through village and vale, one of the ancient highways instead of endless dual carriageways.</p></li> </ul> <h2>Midsummer's Eve</h2> <ul> <li><img src='033-cross-hands-inn.jpg' alt=''><p>Full night was falling as I finally reached the Rollright Stones, and stopped for a pint of refreshing cider at the local pub. I had a long night ahead!</p></li> <li><img src='035-at-the-stones.jpg' alt=''><p>These stones are old, ancient and careworn, yet still they hold an aura of power and mystery. We may not know exactly why the ancients constructed such places, yet they seem to lend themselves to our modern re-interpretation of the ancient ways.</p></li> <li><img src='042-tv-crew-in-distance.jpg' alt=''><p>There was a local television crew present this time, filming a feature on the stones and those who care for, and make use of, the ancient place. They were a friendly bunch, and their lights were handy for night-time photography. Thanks guys!</p></li>  <li><img src='046-through-the-dark.jpg' alt=''><p>Many of us, myself included, had brought glass-encased candles and lanterns, their flames forming bright pools of colour in the deep night. My own lamps were the two blue glasses visible in this picture, however I learned much of the magickal uses of colour from chatting to new friends that night. They were also more than generous with their beer!</p></li> <li><img src='051-moonlight-darkness.jpg' alt=''><p>High above us, Lady Moon, just a few days past full, sailed fair and bright in the clear sky.</p></li> <li><img src='050-pre-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p>After a night of talk and learning, the first hints of false dawn appeared in the East. Initially our candles were the brighter...</p></li> <li><img src='049-pre-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p>...but soon the light grew brighter as Mother Earth whirled us towards true dawn...</p></li> <li><img src='052-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p></p></li> <li><img src='053-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p></p></li> <li><img src='055-awaiting-the-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p>Awaiting the sunrise.</p></li> <li><img src='060-midsummer-skies.jpg' alt=''><p>Midsummer skies, soon be sunrise!</p></li> <li><img src='063-midsummer-sunrise.jpg' alt=''><p></p></li> <li><img src='065-hail-the-rising-sun.jpg' alt=''><p>Hail Hail! The Sun is risen! Midsummer's Day is begun! <br>All of a sudden, the rim of the rising sun cleared the distant horizon, and fingers of clear light flashed across the fields, their brilliance picking out details hidden just seconds before. </p></li> <li><img src='067-the-kingstone-at-dawn.jpg' alt=''><p>As well as the main Rollright stone circle, there are two other main sections to this site, the Kingstone, shown here in the full light of Midsummer sunrise, and the Whispering Knights, of whom more is said below.</p></li> <li><img src='070-sacred-circle.jpg' alt=''><p>The Sacred Circle.</p></li> <li><img src='072-midsummer-field.jpg' alt=''><p>Midsummer Wheatfield.</p></li> <li><img src='073-whispering-knights.jpg' alt=''><p>Thw Whispering Knights. Modern archeology tells us that these stones once formed the core of a neolithic burrial mound. Folk tradition tells us that they were a group of knights who were turned to stone by some evil force, and who can still occasionally be heard whispering to each other.</p></li> <li><img src='075-whispering-knights.jpg' alt=''><p>Me? Well I find that having spent all night in the circle, and then witnessed the full glory of Midsummer Sunrise, and then slept for a couple of hours in the car, the walk down to the Knights, pausing to admire their magnificent setting with the rolling valley beyond, is a wonderful way to begin Midsummer's Day proper.</p></li> <li><img src='077-the-rollrights-across-t.jpg' alt=''><p>The Rollrights circle seen across the fields from the Whispering Knights.</p></li> <li><img src='079-young-bullock.jpg' alt=''><p>Meanwhile, all around us, the life of the countryside went on. Moo!</p></li> <li><img src='080-other-circle.jpg' alt=''><p>While in the pub the previous evening, one of the locals had told me of another circle in the area, not of stone this time but of earth banks. It's not far from the Rollrights, yet unless you knew exactly where to leave the road you would miss it altogether. It's an incredibly peaceful place, a place of trees and grass and flowers and sky, and I spent several hours there, lying in the shade of the great trees of the bank, being at one with the earth on which I lay.</p></li> <li><img src='081-the-trees-above.jpg' alt=''><p>Truly a place of peace, calm, and restoration of the spirit.</p></li> </ul> <h2>To the road once more!</h2> <ul> <li><img src='082-country-lane.jpg' alt=''><p>Soon enough it was time to take to the road once more, by country lane this time, and north to the great city of Birmingham, stopping at Shakesperian Stratford on the way.</p></li> <li><img src='083-little-stream.jpg' alt=''><p>Waters of Oxfordshire...</p></li> <li><img src='088-lancia.jpg' alt=''><img src='087-stratford-ferry.jpg' alt=''> <p>The vehicle which carried me so far, and the Stratford chain ferry. Stratford is highly reccomended for an ice-cream stop!</p></li> </ul> <p> <a href='../../../fs-live-midsummer-03-02.html' target='_top'> Journeytime - a Midsummer Pligrimage </a> - <a href='../../../fs-live-midsummer-03-03.html' target='_top'> A Midsummer Night with Inkubus Sukkubus </a> - <a href='../../../fs-live-midsummer-03-04.html' target='_top'> Homebound Wanderings </a> - <a href='../../../fs-live-midsummer-03-01.html' target='_top'> Midsummer Index </a> </p> <p><a href='/index.html' target='_top'>Home</a></p> <body bgcolor="#004000" text="#ffffff" link="#ff4000" vlink="#ff4000" alink="#ffffff"> <div id="navcontainer"> <ul id="navlist"> <li id="active"><a href='index.html' target='_top'>Home & News</a></li> <li><a href='fs-live.html' target='_top'>Live Gig Reviews!</a></li> <li><a href='fs-music.html' target='_top'>The Albums</a></li> <li><a href='fs-backstage.html' target='_top'>Backstage</a></li> <li><a href='fs-audio-video.html' target='_top'>Media</a></li> <li><a href='fs-links.html' target='_top'>Links</a></li> <li><a href='fs-circle.html' target='_top'>The Circle</a></li> <li><a href='http://supernature.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk' target='_top'>The Supernature Forum</a></li> <li><a href='player.html' target='_blank' onClick="return popup(this, 'notes')">Music Player</a></li> <li></li> </ul> </div> <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">  </SCRIPT>