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The Ring of Brodgar, sometimes spelled Brogar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland. The ring of stones stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray. The center of the circle has never been excavated by archaeologists and scientifically dated; the monument's age remains uncertain. However, it is generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC, and was, therefore, the last of the great Neolithic monuments built on the Ness. The circle is 104 meters in diameter, and the largest in the British Isles. The henge originally comprised 60 stones, of which only 27 remained standing at the end of the 20th century. It became an UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999 and is part of the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney."
I'm putting this in here for fun. You actually can't see all that much but this is a two-minute hop between Papa Westray and its neighbor Westray and is the world's shortest scheduled flight. You will get to take off and land. This is a flight that is routine. Here is a little about Papa Westray:
Papa Westray (Papay is what the locals call the island) has the oldest standing domestic structure in Northern Europe: the Knap of Howar, dating back almost six thousand years. There is also a neolithic chambered cairn on the Holm of Papay and numerous other smaller neolithic and bronze age burial structures and "burnt mounts." the kirk at St. boniface dates from the 12th century and is built on the Munkerhoose settlement which was a Pictish bishopric and power center in Orkney. Papa Westray is one of the most northerly of Scotland's Orkney islands. Described as "Orkney in miniature," this small island is rich in archaeology. The Knap of Howar as previously mentioned is older than the Pyramids. You can also find chambered cairns on the Papay Holm - and birdlife, especially on the North Hill RSPB reserve.
Found a video that you can hear the music for a few seconds from a plant. Some call this group a cult but to me a cult is a place where you are brainwashed and forced to stay. Those that come here have to apply and have their own source of income to be able to live here. In otherwords you must have a job of some sort. It is just a small spiritual group and some call them neopagans...doesn't make them a cult because they are not part of mainstream religious views. Anyone can leave there at any time. As in any place where a lot of people live communally, sometimes it doesn't work out and people get disgruntled...its life. Here you go.
I was going to put in some pictures but I found the video and you get a better look that way. It's an amazing place if not a very unusual one. This is just information I have collected from various places. You can find this group easily on the internet. I think it is www.damanhur.org
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"Damanhur is an internationally renowned center for spiritual research. Situated in Valchiusella Valley, in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy, Damanhur is a Federation of Communities and Regions with over 800 citizens, a social and political structure, a Constitution, 40 economic activities, its own currency, schools and a daily paper." They have a "university that attracts philosophical and spiritual students of all ages from all over the world. They describe themselves as the result of the practical application of a spiritual philosophy in harmony with the environment and our Planet."
Damanhur is a unique spiritual and religious group whose beliefs are derived from several ancient sources: Celtic Paganism, Celtic Christianity, Egyptian and Greek Pagan religion. Influences from Gnosticism, the New Age and Theosophy are also present.
In common with many New Age and occultic believers, they regard the earth as a living entity. They believe that a series of synchronic lines traverse its surface. The community located their site at what they believe is a point of convergence of three such lines. These "rivers of energy surround the earth and link it to the universe."
Members of the community live in homes. Each contains about ten to 15 people -- adult citizens with their children. Although their eventual goal is self-sufficiency, many citizens hold jobs outside of the community.
Many married couples have joined Damanhur and live communally with other couples. Single individuals have also joined the community. Many have entered into one, two or three year provisional marriages. Most of the latter are renewed at the end of their term. The result is a form of serial monogamy for some members, that is not unlike the lifestyle seen elsewhere in industrialized countries.
Citizens abandon the use of their family names and adopt two new names when they join the community. The first is the name of an animal species, the second is of a plant.
The community has a "programmed births" project which attempts to time the arrival of children to meet astrological and economic criteria.
They use magic and alchemy practices to promote a return to humanity's pre-fall state. Unique to Damanhur is "selfic" science -- the study of spiral-like forms.
The use of tobacco and illegal drugs is prohibited within the community.
The most important activity of the community is the construction of its underground temple.
The Temples of Humankind are a collection of subterranean temples decorated in several motifs stressing peaceful human collaboration. The Temples are located in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy, 30 miles from Turin, in the valley of Valchiusella.
The temples were created under the direction of Oberto Airaudi who, having claimed visions of ancient temples at age 10 from a previous life, began excavation and building in August of 1978. By 1991 most of the chambers were reportedly complete when Italian police, acting on a tip from villagers, conducted a raid on the Temples. Eventually the Italian government reportedly gave them retroactive excavation and erection privileges and the Temples are now open to visitors. The Italian government has gone so far as to say that they believe it is the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Temples of Humankind are an underground work of art, made entirely by hand and dedicated to the divine nature of humanity. They are a three dimensional book that narrates the history of the human being through all forms of art. They include the following:
Blue Temple
Hall of Water
Hall of Earth
Hall of Metals
Labyrinth
Hall of Spheres
Hall of Mirrors
This is one of the most amazing things I have read. I would love to hear the music.
MUSIC OF THE PLANTS
Damanhur has developed equipment to evoke and amplify musical signals from plants, enabling musicians to play concerts with trees and other plants.
Plants respond to the emotions and intentions of the musicians and audience as well as to the music the musicians are playing.
Some info is at www.wikipedia.org/wiki/English and ReligiousTolerance.org
The song that is playing on my profile, Skellig is about these two islands. Here is some information and then I will tell you about something else that I believe was also inspired by the islands.
**It is no longer playing on my profile. You can listen to it here.
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The Skellig Islands (Irish: Na Scealaga) are two small, steep and rocky islands lying about 16 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland.
The smaller island is Little Skellig (Sceilig Bheag in Irish). It is closed to the public, and holds Ireland's largest and the world's second-largest Northern Gannet colony, with almost 30,000 pairs. It is about 1.5 km east of Great Skellig.
Great Skellig, also known as Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl in Irish), this is the larger of the two islands, rising to over 230 m above sea level. With a sixth-century Christian monastery perched on a ledge close to the top, Great Skellig is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
NOW THE BOOK
Skellig is a children's novel by David Almond, for which Almond was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1998 and also the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. In 2007 it was selected by judges of the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children's literature as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years.
This is a beautiful, highly emotional story about a young lad who does an angel a good turn and who gets his reward.
The first thing you need to be clear about is that this is not your average Angel Gabriel. He's a disgusting crumpled-up heap of vermin-ridden, tramp, I suppose, who Michael finds in the far corner of their derelict garage. He actually eats the spiders that scramble across him and the mice that scuttle round the disintegrating lean-to.
"I thought he was dead. He was sitting with his legs stretched out, and his head tipped back against the wall. He was covered in dust and webs like everything else and his face was thin and pale. Dead bluebottles were scattered on his hair and shoulders. I shone the torch on his white face and his black suit."
But Michael is in a highly-charged emotional state. His life is temporarily on 'hold' while his parents, and he, wait to see whether his new baby sister, born with a damaged heart, will live. In this super-sensitive state Michael and his new friend, Mina, take on the burden of care for the shrivelled creature and Skellig, for that is the name of this creature, thrives as he licks out the left-overs from Chinese take-away trays.
Because this story is written in the first person it has the power almost of a confessional:
"It was already getting light when I got up and tiptoed into their room. Her cot was beside their bed. They were lying fast asleep with their arms around each other. I looked down at the baby. I slipped my hand under the covers and touched her. I could feel her heart beating fast. I could feel the thin rattle of her breath, and her chest rising and falling. I felt how hot it was in there, how soft her bones were, how tiny she was. There was a dribble of spit and milk on her neck. I wondered if she was going to die. They'd been scared about that in the hospital. Before they let her come home she'd been in a glass case with tubes and wires sticking in her and we'd stood around staring in like she was in a fish tank.
I took my hand away and tucked the covers around her again. Her face was dead white and her hair was dead black. They'd told me I had to keep praying for her but I didn't know what to pray.
'Hurry up and get strong if you're going to,' I whispered."
In fact, Michael is in as much need of healing as his baby sister, and in return for the gentle care and concern which Michael has shown towards Skellig, Skellig is able to help the quietly desperate family.
Is Skellig an angel? He undoubtedly has the form of an angel. As he thrives under the care of Michael and Mina his wings unfold and his face becomes young and beautiful. Though he still lives on just the food which is brought to him:
"When he smiled at me I caught the stench of his breath, the stench of the things the owls had given him to eat. I gagged. His breath was the breath of an animal that lives on the meat of other living things; a dog, a fox, a blackbird, an owl. He squeezed me again and smiled again."
But perhaps that is the key to his identity. Perhaps Skellig exists solely on the kindnesses that are shown to him. Taking a disgusting form which most of us would recoil from he can recognize and repay kindness which is shown to him. So he will eat Michael's Chinese take-aways with as much relish as the mice that the owls bring to him.
'Can love help a person to get better?' Michael asks of Doctor MacNabola at the hospital. Well, I think he's got to the core of the issue there.
More about the novel:
2003 play
Skellig was adapted into a play in 2003 directed by Trevor Nunn, who thought it was important to follow the book's example of not revealing Skellig's exact nature.
2008 opera
Skellig has been adapted into a contemporary opera with music by American composer Tod Machover and libretto by David Almond himself. The opera was staged at The Sage Gateshead during November 2008, with orchestration by the Northern Sinfonia.
2009 film
In 2009, Sky 1 announced that an adaption of the book was in production to be shown over Easter in both standard definition and high definition. Skellig, produced by Feel Films, is part of the channel's plan to invest £10 million to produce three new high-definition dramas. Filming started on the 2 September 2008 in Caerphilly.
Cast members include Oscar-nominee Tim Roth in the title role and Bill Milner as Michael Cooper, Skye Bennett as Mina, with Kelly MacDonald and John Simm cast as Michael's parents, Louise 'Lou' and Steve Cooper. The film is scripted by Irena Brignull and directed by Annabel Jankel.
The first showing of Skellig on Sky 1 was on Easter Sunday 2009, 12th April.
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