The 5,500-year-old West Kennet long barrow is one of the most precious and magnificent ancient sites within the sacred landscape of Wiltshire, England, says Peter Knight at the beginning of his inspirational new guide to the prehistoric monument, not least because of what he sees as its growing symbolic importance to us today.
Indeed, Peter, author, dowser and sacred sites tour guide, believes the long barrow has survived the millennia to become as vital to us today as it was to our ancestors during the neolithic revolution -- the period when people first became aware of a creative and timeless energy that pervaded nature and supported human existence, as evidenced by the megalithic temples they orientated to the seasons and the stars.
With his all-embracing book, West Kennet Long Barrow: Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos, Peter has infused the monument with myth and meaning, the idea always inherent in myth having been to tap into that creative cosmic energy.
Spirituality of the Long Barrow's Builders
We need myths to help us venerate the Earth as sacred once again, instead of merely using it as a ‘resource’. Consciousness itself being mytho-poetic, each of us has a myth to live by and our myths can fill our lives with meaning.
A concept of sophisticated minds, and much more than a Stone Age burial place, the West Kennet long barrow, just south of the Avebury stone circle and 16 miles north of Stonehenge, was more for the living than the dead, and Peter, whose key interest is the spirituality of its builders, suggests its time has come again; that it 'yearns' to be a focus once more for high spiritual ideals sorely needed in time of global reckoning.
Very much ‘open for business’ today, he says, the long barrow can encourage us to get back in touch with the earth in a closer and more spiritual way. In his research for his book, he walked the surrounding landscape to connect with it and sense what it wanted him to know. And he says: 'To look back in time may well help mankind survive the future.' Accepting that consciousness has a spiritual function, this returns us unequivocally to the mythic.
Barrow Aligned East-West to the Equinoxes
So what 'business' does West Kennet have with us today? It is remarkable how, as Peter reveals chapter by chapter after appraising the archaeology, the monument is now manifesting its potential in so many different ways.
As an astronomical calendar, the long barrow, as well as being aligned east-west to the equinoxes, was built with sight-lines to the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, as well as to moon risings, to the bright stars Sirius and Deneb, and to the constellation of Orion, Peter has discovered.
Peter also investigates the site's role as a shamanic power centre, a major node of earth energies and leys, an example of sacred geometry (the barrow's dimensions reflect the Golden Ratio), a shrine to the earth goddess, a centre for paranormal activity (the experiences of psychics and mediums are recorded), and even a sounding chamber with acoustical properties that can cause strange mental and physical effects.
Returning Knowledge to the Ancestors
If the West Kennet long barrow's time has come again, it must be in no small part due to Peter himself, and the relationship he has built up with the monument since he first visited it 20 years ago.
After his father Ernie died, Peter scattered his ashes at the site, an act which in itself ensured a 'deep emotional bond'. Since then, Peter has felt his father's presence there several times. Peter says: 'He has appeared and/or spoken to me in my thoughts during shamanic journeys and in meditation. He told me that I have a responsibility to the ancestors - because I am an ancestor. We all are.'
Thus, Peter feels a responsibility to return knowledge to the ancestors of the neolithic, especially in terms of the conservation of the long barrow and its deepening significance for today: 'It's a two-way exchange of information and not all about take, take, take.'
And Peter personally cares for the site with weekly visits - he lives only a few miles away - removing litter and cleaning the stones when they have been blemished by thoughtless visitors who, for example, sometimes light fires or burn candles. Like his book, it's a 'labour of love'.
Sources
* Knight, Peter, West Kennet Long Barrow: Landscape, Shamans and the Cosmos. Stoneseeker Publishing, 2011. £12.99. ISBN 978-0-9560342-1-2
Geoff Ward - Geoff Ward, MA Lit., is a British journalist, media consultant, author and lecturer/tutor in literature and creative writing
