Newgrange, an ancient sacred site about 30 miles north of Dublin, was constructed over 5,000 years ago, making it older that Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne River Valley. Archaeologists describe Newgrange as a passage tomb. Like other similar architectural examples in the region, it was precisely constructed to be aligned with solar movement. There are many who speculate that the term passage tomb is not an accurate description. There is mounting evidence in Ireland to support the notion that the Neolithic community in the area was adept at studying the movements of the heavens. Lately, Newgrange is more likely to be described as “Ancient Temple,” a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance. www.newgrange.com, http://www.mythicalireland.com/
As we neared the destination, I was becoming increasingly more excited. I had been looking forward to this day since my travels to Ireland six years ago when time didn’t allow for a visit here. In the Welcome Center, a museum section offered fascinating displays and exhibits about the pre-historic society living at Newgrange. I discovered that the “blueprints” for the Valley’s many passage tombs had common elements. The classical form was called the cruciform style. A narrow tunnel led from the outside to a large underground chamber. Three smaller recesses branched out from the main chamber and along with the passageway formed the arms of a cross when viewed from above. The passage and chamber, once constructed, was then covered with soil and in most cases topped with a cairn (a man-made pile of rocks). The entire structure was fortified with a stone kerb (Irish for curb) consisting of huge boulders that wrapped around the base perimeter of the mound. (www.megalithomania.com)
From the Visitor’s center we made our way to the area we were to await our scheduled shuttle which would transport us to the actual structure. We delighted in crossing the Boyne River via a suspension walking bridge. The river meandered gently between lush green grassy banks. It was easy to imagine ancient ancestors walking toward the river banks to perform daily routines. The Boyne made its appearance in several of the stories I had read about Ireland while preparing for the journey. It felt as if I was meeting a treasured acquaintance. In Ireland, it is said that the river was created by the goddess Boann and that Boyne is an Anglicized form of the name.
Legend tells that a sacred well was located near here. The well is said to have contained the source of knowledge. All were forbidden to approach this well, with the exception of Boann’s husband Nechtan, a water god. Boann, ignoring the ban, approached the sacred well and lifted the cover, violating the purity of the area. For her disobedience she was punished. (Hmmm, doesn’t that sound somehow familiar?) The waters of the well rose, transforming into a raging river that pursued her. Some stories say the outcome for Boann was drowning. I prefer to believe the way another version ends. Boann outruns the water and becomes revered as goddess of bounty, fertility, and healing.
On the way to Newgrange, we drove past scenic fertile land that had been nourished by the Boyne. Down a country lane bordered by tall shrubs was the entrance to our destination. When the coach stopped, I stepped off near an opening in the hedges. My intuition told me it was a gateway between two worlds. Passing through the portal, I felt myself being lifted from the mundane world of roads, motor vehicles, and the trials of travel into a Sacred Sanctuary. Up in the sky, hundreds of crows flapped their dark wings, “caw-cawing” until they landed in a giant old oak tree to roost. The tree’s branches became iridescent as light shone on crow feathers. It was a cold but sunny day, rare for Ireland, as we leisurely made our way up the gravel path to view the massive earthen mound called Newgrange.
Right away my attention was drawn to a stone retaining wall appearing to rest atop the kerb stones forming the base of the structure. The wall that wrapped around the front of the verdant hillside was breathtakingly beautiful. While traveling I can often be stopped in my tracks to view and photograph stacked walls such as these. I marvel at the way the rocks are placed like puzzle pieces by human hands to form lasting evidence of skill and patience. This particular wall was stunning, made with white quartz and rising straight up almost ten feet in height.
The wall, rising up almost nine feet, is a re-creation constructed during a restoration process in the early 1960’s. Controversy as to whether its current form is “anatomically” correct stills abounds. Formed mostly with stones found at the ruins of the site, a panoramic view reveals two lengthy walls on either side of the monument’s entryway. Pure white quartz stretching dramatically all the way to the opening glowed brightly in the sunshine. Scattered abundantly and randomly over the entire wall were ball-shaped granite stones. The tomb’s entrance was a bordered by black stones. The contrast of dark and light in the design caused me to speculate about what the architect may have intended to symbolically represent with his work. Was it symbolic of the ray of light penetrating the darkness of the passageway during winter solstice here each year?
The overall appearance of the site had changed greatly since it was “rediscovered” by the landowner in 1699. After many centuries of abandonment by its original Neolithic population, nature had taken its course. Piles of stone rubble had built up at the base from deterioration of the cairn. Course vegetation had taken over the hillside, camouflaging its original purpose. The entrance opening and a huge spiral-covered stone were completely covered until laborers began to quarry material from the site at the request of the landowner. A large boulder, magnificently covered in prehistoric art, was revealed. Double and triple spirals carved into the stones both at the kerb and inside the passage have caused scientists and lay people alike to wonder at the meaning intended by the ancient artists. For some reason, I felt more drawn to the double spiral than the triple one. In my mind’s eye I circled back and forth tracing the path of the carving, each time crossing the bridge between the two coiling lines. The action of the flowing balance aided me in sensing my own wholeness.
We joined a tour to learn more about the history of the site. It seemed remarkable to me when I heard the guide explain that the quartz and granite stones we viewed in the retaining wall had been imported from areas far away from where we were standing. Apparently they had been transported in boats made of hazel and willow rods and covered in cow hide. I wondered if these boats resembled the little golden boat I had admired in the Archeological Museum in Dublin.
There was time for exploring the grounds before it was our turn to enter. I wandered around in a daze like someone under a spell. Gazing past the well-tended fields to the hillside horizon on the other side of the narrow valley, I imagined the sun peeking up on the morning of the Winter Solstice. Turning my head, I peered behind me at the “light box” sitting atop the doorway leading to the inner chamber of the “tomb.” I sensed the anticipation that had likely been present long ago as each morning, nearing that time of the year, the sun rose ever closer to its precise alignment with the opening into the passageway. On the appointed day, those waiting in the main chamber for the event would witness a beam of light magically entering the tunnel coming to rest on the recessed alcove in the rear of the chamber. Our group would soon be experiencing the same journey, sacredly stepping in the footsteps of the ancients who were seeking light to illuminate darkness.
Originally, for those who entered the interior chambers, it would have been necessary to climb up and over the decorative kerbstone. Perhaps they traced some of the spirals to help them begin to achieve a meditative or altered state. Today, understandably, no one is allowed to touch the artwork. Currently, wooden staircases allow safe passage over the boulder. Tourist access has been well planned, including lighting the path inward with faintly glowing electric bulbs. Those who admitted to being claustrophobic were encouraged to stay at the end of the single file line so they could make a quick retreat if the need arose. At the end of the walk through the tight passage, the space opened up dramatically into a domed room large enough for our group of twelve to comfortably stand with space to spare.
Gazing up, I was awed by the twenty foot high ceiling made of gigantic slabs of stones. The roof was built “by placing the huge, flat stones (called corbels) on top of strong supportive vertical stones forming the interior walls. Each round of corbels had been stacked horizontally around the perimeter of the chamber. Row after row was placed a little closer to the center so that the opening to be covered grew smaller as the sloped roof rose higher. Finally the space left at the top was closed with a massive cap stone.” (Loughcrew, the Cairns by Jean McMann) My fascination with the construction of the ceiling reminded me of the lazy summer days of my youth when I would lie on hay bales studying the way the thick well-worn beams intersected inside the roof of our old barn. Back then, I imagined myself becoming an architect, a dream that never materialized.
The corbelled ceiling of the chamber at Newgrange is said to be one of the finest of its kind in Europe. When the site was excavated its ceiling was found to be standing intact without any repair work exactly as it was when first built. I stood in wonder trying to envision those who had accomplished this remarkable feat thousands of years ago. How did they hoist those stone mammoths up to form such an enduring edifice? The builders must have been very adept at structural engineering. How could anyone conceive of the idea that they were “primitive”?
Once we were all gathered in the main chamber, our guide asked us to move to the sides and clear a center aisle so we could experience a re-creation of the solstice event as it would look in current time. The lights were switched off. The darkness was total. Whispers transformed into silence. Ever so slowly, the beam entered and crept along the dry dirt floor of the passageway.
The leader explained that thousands of years ago when the alignment was determined, the light would have spotlighted the smaller chamber adjacent to the main one and opposite to the passageway. Today the beam landed on an area slightly to the right of center very near to where I was standing. The change was evidence that earth’s relationship to the sun had shifted. The amount of change seemed minimal compared to the millennia that had passed since the alignment had been originally established. It was a vivid reminder of the brevity of a human lifetime.
A wave of the insignificance of my own existence rolled through my consciousness until I recalled something I had read about the meaning of the symbols appearing in the artwork here, “The spirals symbolize how time passes - rather than being linear, time is circular, like the seasons. While we live in this time we could be passing closely by those who lived before us and will live on after us. Time turns – rather that passes.” Pondering that thought, my sense of being somehow connected to the greater ALL was re-awakened. Feeling comforted, I made my way back out in a state of grace and reverence. (http://travelhag.com/2011/05/30/newgrange/)
Slowly strolling along the path leading down to catch the shuttle, my thoughts turned to the lives the ancients had experienced in this space as their hard work progressed over at least two generations. What compelled them to create such a remarkable monument? I neared the hedge; the portal that I had thought divided two worlds, and realized that on this land, long ago, humans had existed with no separation. There must have been nothing mundane. It must have all been Sacred.
They fed themselves, respected the land, nurtured their children, and worked as a community all the while approaching their days with divine purpose. It must have been why they built a tribute grand enough to praise their celestial spiritual partners in the heavens above; sun, moon, and stars, along with their sustaining sources on earth; plants, animals, soil, water, and stone. In this place, still, once a year the cosmos, our source of inspiration, literally penetrates or merges with earth, our source of sustenance, graphically demonstrating they are one in the same.
When I returned home, I read this quote and felt a kinship with the writer, “There is a dim light which shines from the remote distance of the Neolithic past. It carries a message of wisdom, of understanding, of cosmic awe and inspiration, and astronomical mastery of the highest order.” (From Website: www.mythicalireland.com)
To be continued………