Welcome to [dice]george's web
page about June 2001 at Stonehenge, with links to other pages
and pictures.
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george@dicenews.com
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Hello George! Hello to the rest of you whom I've corresponded with over the past few weeks.
I, personally, thought the Solstice event was powerful and magical. Yes, there were a "few" bad seeds. But all in all, I thought the entire event was respectful and honorable....to the rights of ALL worshippers, to the sacred stones themselves, and to the police and local farmers. Everyone I came into contact with, including authorities, were nothing but kind.
Unfortunately, I was unable to connect with those whom I corresponded with but made wonderful friends along the way.
I was saddened to hear the story about the dog whose spine was injured told by Dougie Punk. Being an animal freak myself, I would have taken that dog home with me....or left the "henge" to have found him comfort had I known this. I find this terribly disturbing. From the rest of the event, most of the animals seemed to have been treated just like family.....as they ARE.
But, I guess to put things into perspective, here I am in a foreign country and I was taken away by ambulance about 8:30 or 9:00 am due to a kidney stone attack!!! No one there knew this was happening as I didn't want to make a scene or disturb the unity.....I was fine. I quietly asked authorities for help and they took me by ambulance to Salisbury hospital shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, I was unable to get my new friends Kelly, Ryan and Darren's emails or addresses as I was wisked away. Hopefully, I'll see them again next year!!! I happily passed my stone around 11:00 at Salisbury hospital!!!! Thankfully, my attack didn't come until much after the sunrise was over, so it didn't hamper my evening one bit!!! (Or anyone elses, for that matter!) I jokingly told my friends it was a "kidney stonehenge" for me!
Anyway, enough of that. Below please find the link to my photo albums of that evening. Download and share all you wish! And keep in touch and let me know if anyone has trouble accessing these pictures!! There are at LEAST 4 pages of pictures for your choosing!
http://communities.msn.com/JerisWorldTravels2001PhaseI/stonehenge.msnw?Page=1
Enjoy and Many Blessings to all!!!
Jaide
as to the rest of it......
I'm sorry george
[firsoff]
, without wishing to be in any way offensive I see English Heritage as the latest to have seized the stones in a long struggle for the right to worship other than a christian god.....
what has been going on at the stones is both ethnic persecution and religious persecution I don't actually think weshould all be singing the praises of EH for letting us in one day of the year
what's more.... did they let us in or did we let ourselves in? I thought we all just kept on going and trying to get in till they recognised the futility of trying to stop us mass occupations without their consent were turned into 'organised' events almost overnight all that changed was horribly intrusive lights arrived along with a load of 'tourists' and masses of the media
those of us who would have been here any way were and I for one do not feel at all greatfull to english heritage for belatedly granting me (for one poxy day) what I see as my basic right to worship.
Hey sorry if this sounds a bit strong man nothing personal at all just have a strong animosity towards those who have deprived us of access for all these long years
people cause trouble at football matches but they don't shut the grounds for 17 years and create 2 mile exclusion zones around them do they?
Whoopsie Lampa
I wouldn't disagree, that Stonehenge is, and probably always has been, contested. Nor are our efforts (whoever "we" are) for our rights etc., irrelevant. However I learnt that peace-making, co-operative efforts are effective, while "us and them" propaganda illusions and "invasion" battle plans got us nowhere.
If all it was, was that there was a demand for organised pagan and/or druid ceremonies, I don't think this would have caused all the trouble that we have had. If it were a conspiracy by church leaders, or freemasons, to stop rival forms of worship, they've kept it very secret, so in fact there is no concrete evidence for such an opposition having ever been mounted over the years.
Instead it is quite clear, that the opposition was to "The Festival", to "New Age Travellers" and to "Anarchists" who appeared to threaten the rights of ownership of landowners in Wiltshire. Some of the legitimate needs, for celebration, park-ups, camping, are negotiable in the future if we remain calm and pragmatic.
But the government is not going to abandon Stonehenge to those forces and if it did, they are probably right to think that eventually it (Stonehenge) would be destroyed by the inability of the mass of the people to organise themselves and stop abusers.
Prior to 1985 when nobody took measures to stop The Peoples Free Festival, the Dept. of The Environment paid the estimated £10,000 a year for rubbish, water, and to mend the fences etc. This year English Heritage paid considerably more than that on safety/management measures so the Managed Access could legally go ahead.
So the situation is now that we, the managers of the stones, druids and pagans, and the people, are moving towards the same agreed goal, of open access at all times of the year.
So I am not sure what your alternative plan would be, that tourists and the media should be subject to an exclusion zone? I'm not sure that would stop them. That pagans and/or druids should run the stones? A nice idea, but one would in fact have to specify which faction of pagans and/or druids that would be, as on most days of the week, they are irreconcilably divided, and finally one would have to ask what facilities and infrastructure any such group have for such an enterprise?
Meanwhile, can you tell us your story, as to what "worship" you were able to accomplish at Stonehenge at the Solstice. It was, fairly crowded, for anything structured, I thought? Our Greenwood Goddess got to the Stones, but she never got inside the Stones as they were perceived (by women in our group) as too deeply "contested" for that.
mail to: george@dicenews.com
end of Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2001