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Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge

MARLBOROUGH, July 23, 2008 - Ever heard of or visited the Salisbury Cathedral?  I had not before this trip.  What a marvelous experience it was.  It's every bit as enchanting as the Notre Dame in Paris (in a moment, you will see why I am comparing it to a French cathedral rather than some others in Britain).  And our late evening visit to Stonehenge was also exciting.  Everything else in between - the many long hours of unplanned activities - was, well... BOOORRRING!  If I had not acquired a newfound patience in the Holy Mountains of Peru, I would be probably popping tonsils today.  Instead, I submitted to quiet meditations on the lawn of the cathedral to pass the time on a beautiful, warm summer day.

We started the day with a visit to another new crop circle.  This one came down actually yesterday, while I was taking a day off this snail's pace tour, but was expanded overnight.  The new section that looks like a sea shell is depicted in the left two photos.  I used the long stay at the circle to do my morning shamanic ceremony (middle right).  The new crop circle is also marked by an imperfection... the section of the crop (right) that seems ruffled like a bad hair day.  "A novice artist did it," I joked.

P.S. Here are also two photos of the last crop circle we had seen on our tour that I have just received from my roommate Walter (Aug 3, 2008).  It's a beautiful and very elaborate design. 

Afterward, we visited the Woodhenge (above), another ancient ceremonial site that lies on the outskirts of Salisbury.  This used to be like Stonehenge except that the posts sticking out of the ground used to be made of wood.  Now they have been replaced by concrete posts on which some of us are sitting in the above shots.  According to the legend, on summer solstice, the daytime celebrations were held at Stonehenge.  Then a procession took place along the river valley between the two sites leading to Woodhenge, where the evening summer solstice ceremony was held.

Salisbury is a charming town built around the banks of the Avon river (yes, the one that Shakespeare immortalized - right shot), full of ancient buildings and beautiful flowers (middle right).

But what defines Salisbury is its beautiful cathedral, built in 1258 after 38 years of construction.  The structure is as huge as it is magnificent.  Its spire stands 123m (404 ft) tall, the tallest in Britain.  it houses Europe's oldest working clock (1386).  It is home to the best preserved copy of the 1215 Magna Carta, etc.  But what I found particularly charming is the French influence in its architecture.  There are fleur de leis everywhere in the facade.  Also, the spire, for example, is a mark of central European churches.  Most English ones feature a tower like "steeple" (like the St. Thomas Becket church in Salisbury, for example, on the right). 

The cathedral is so enormous that it makes one contemplate how on earth did they have the skills and the technology to build something like that in the early 13th century.  As I walked in, I heard angelic sounds of what seemed like a children's choir.  What it treat it was.  Take a look at this short video clip I made as I walked through the cathedral...

Salisbury Cathedral BBC concert (July 23, 2008) (2:20 mins)

As luck would have it, at that very moment the BBC TV was filming the "Song of Praise," performed by the winner of the "School Choir Showcase" contest - Coventry Bluecoat High School.  The show will be broadcast on Oct 5.  And you and I are the lucky ones to get this free preview three months earlier.  :-)

Here are also some still pictures of the winning choir, with front, back and side views.  You can also see a light "orb" in the rightmost shot.  :-)

I also snuck into the High Altar area (left) which was closed off due to the BBC taping.  Along the side, I also found some pretty fancy memorial crypts.  In another part of the cathedral, one can see the best preserved of the four original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta (two right shots).

The cathedral interior courtyard ("close") is also beautiful.  This is where I had my trail mix lunch, lounging on the lawn, in virtual solitude except for occasional sounds of church bells and the ancient clock.

Stonehenge

We had a private viewing of Stonehenge arranged for 7:30PM.  While waiting for our appointment, I took some pictures of Stonehenge in the nearby museum shop.  One of them included an artist's depiction of what Stonehenge had looked like originally (middle right).  There was also a beautiful picture of a sunset there.  As it turned out, we were about to experience the same...

Above are some of many shots from different angels I have taken of this sacred site that's over 4,500 years old.  I'll let you enjoy the rest of the pictures without much commentary...

Yes, this is yours truly looking very insignificant relative to these massive stones (two left shots), and with Joy from Perth, Western Australia, in the rightmost shot.

Some people got to hugging of the stones (two right shots)...

...while others enjoyed a quiet contemplation. 

And even here, birds have found me... this time in the form of this crow.  When I told Heather, my Sedona shaman friend, about it, she laughed and said, "you'd better stop traveling so much.  You are tiring out all these birds that are having to follow you around the world."  :-)

Finally, fere's Joy again, meditating between two huge stones (left), and Heather, conducting a brief ceremony at a nearby spot... in a lovely sunset that makes for a good note on which to end this story from Stonehenge.

And that's all she wrote from this Wed, July 23, in Wiltshire, England.

A Post Script from Australia

SCOTTSDALE, Sep 16 - I just got a number of photos from Joy, the Australian woman you can see in some of the above photos, which I am adding here to the Crop Circles Tour collection:

In the leftmost shot, Joy and I are shown at the Stonehenge.  In the two rightmost pictures, I am digging the ground for a burial of a crop circles despacho that we had all prepared earlier that day.  Heather, my Sedona Inka shaman friend (blue jacket), actually did the ceremony.

With Heather and my roommate Walter at a restaurant in Wiltshire (left).  With another Dutch tour member at a crop circle (right).  All of the above photos are courtesy of Joy Bok of Perth, Western Australia. 

Love  Light

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