Can’t wait to sit in our new lounge....hopefully all the readers of this blog will join us at some point to sit there too.
Welcome to THE VIEW FROM RHOS HILL ! I'm Ninahare and I live at Rhos Hill in West Wales with Jim. We are Ovates in OBOD, dedicated to the land and to their myths. I invite you to share our spiritual journeys through the practice of British shamanism and the sacred path of ritual. I dedicate this blog to the land and all its creatures and invite you in to share their wonders.
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Friday
January is nearly over!
Can’t wait to sit in our new lounge....hopefully all the readers of this blog will join us at some point to sit there too.
Wednesday
January 11th
Rhos Hill snowdrops |
Jim's first buy was Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun; it's one of the few books by Ronald we've not read, and that was specifically because the font in the paperback was so tiny. This book moves through the seasons looking at traditions of the British Isles, and begins right now, at Christmas and the new year. It inspired us to Wassail our apple trees with apple juice. We paced around the chosen tree chanting the rhyme...Here's to the, old apple tree, Whence thou mayst bud and whence thou mayst blow! And whence though beat apples enow! Hats full! Caps full! bushel-bushel-sacks full, And my pockets full too! Wassail! Wassail! Wassail! We are hoping for a mammoth crop of apples after all that hard work.
Meanwhile the buiders are back and the extension keeps extending. The man for the windows came yesterday, bringing a sample of the oak windows he's going to fit, and planning is looking to reduce the roof size so that we can still look out of the landing window. It's looking exciting...just a bit cold and wet, without a roof or windows, but it grows ever day and we can't wait to get going on the inside...once there is one.
Tuesday
Unlocking the Secrets of Ancient Worship : The Ness of Brodgar
Ten or more years ago, my imagination was captured by the mind-blowing discoveries at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, where the archaeological dig had unlocked some amazing secrets.
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk Investigating a prehistoric complex in the heart of Neolithic Orkney |
Archaeologists started uncovering this new discovery in a 2010 dig. Brick by brick, bone by bone, they are revealing a 5500-year-old temple complex with more than 100 buildings, surrounded by a 10ft wall. Some of this complex is possible more than 800 years earlier than Stonehenge and could be as, if not more, important than the Wiltshire site.
An artist's impression of what archeologists are uncovering |
The Ness of Brodgar, the thin spit of land where the dig is taking place, links two of the stone circles we saw when we were in Orkney. In the centre of the Stones of Stenness is a square defined by kerbstones. To the east side of the circle is a small ‘cove’ – three waist-high stones. I had no idea what these inclusions are, but then neither did the guide, pontificating to the little crowd of people he’d brought to the site. But he told them (I was lying on my back in the centre square at the time, looking up at the intense blue of the sky), that one night, unable to sleep, he’d come here in heavy mist. He’d got out of the car and become quite disorientated in the mist, not even able to see the stones until up close to them. But when he lay in the square in the centre and gazed up, the stars were clearly visible above him.
The Dig will go on, and every year amazing and exciting artefacts are revealed, and our understanding of early man widens. But excavation on this scale is expensive. Each season in the field costs over £100,000. You can donate here,
and find out more about the dig here