Should we preserve stone circles as museum pieces or use them and allow them to continue to decay?
How do you feel about sacred sites, what should Druids be doing with them? Below are some opinions on the use of sacred sites, send your opinions to the ethical pages coordinator.
Cathi Yarrow : Use them! And preserve them. Why would these be mutually exclusive?
Louise Sutherland : Some sacred sites don't belong to us and don't want us, like the old ones circles in the wild places. We shouldn't use them for modern ritual but to visit with respect, not even entering if you aren't wanted, just acknowleding their continued presence feels honourable to me. Some sacred sites and the gods of those places, are fed by our presence and honour and it feels right to use them. Any preservation actions would have to be done fully awake to both the intention of the place and all those that live there.
Hrafn : Why are the two apparently mutually exclusive? Can't both occur?
Cursuswalker : I think such sites should only be "used" in a way that minimises risk of decay. For example, I don't particularly mind people dancing Solstice night away inside Stonehenge. It's the climbing up on the stones that makes me want to buy a gun.
AntonyB : I have grown up with dolmens and menhirs, and the local heritage organisations (and planning department) ensure they are well maintained. Providing they are not abused, they are hardy places (having stood well over two millenia!) and decay is not a huge problem. One coastal site locally was a very small islet with small burial cysts, and these were transferred and resited to a country museum site (where there is also a covered dolmen that has not been moved) or they would have been lost to erosion. I think that was a very positive move, and I cannot see what would have been gained by letting the sea and rain wash those away, as was likely to occur in the next 5 years. I can see that places like Stonehenge may require more input because of soil erosion etc from all the visitors, and I don;t see that is just maintaining them as a museum piece, but keeping them as a living monument rather than a ruin. If the builders were around today, I'm sure they would prefer that.
Phil Ryder : My thoughts on 'Sacred Sites' are that they should have been left to decay - or at least any preservation shouldn't involve restoration. Many folk are unaware that sites like West Kennett are largely reconstructions. In the north of England we have many burial mounds that are just part of the landscape, same with small stone circles and enclosures, I find these sites much more pleasant to visit and most people don't even know they are there. The use of famous sacred sites for ritual isn't really a problem for me because I avoid them, preferring to hold ritual in my local area on 'my' land. It does seem to me though that the more a site is used by various groups the more uncomfortable I feel if I do visit - Stonehenge being a prime example.
Red Raven : I visited Stonehenge on the day I went on hols on the cross channel ferries. I followed around 40 German tourists entering the site, couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't connect, complete waste of time! I understand the status of stonehenge is going to draw in the tourists, which generates revenue to maintain the site, but for me, it took away any connection that I could have made.
I am in full agreement with Phil on this one, I will be sticking to my "local" area where I can connect properly, maybe this was the lesson for me to learn.
Ximena Eduarda : This debate or the provoking motif behind led me to envision the importance of sacred sites as a source of the forgotten knowledge, acting at some level within each of us to trigger who we are. Therefore, I do vibrate with any effort to keep on emanating knowledge from them, whoever does it, for we are able to discern, conscious or unconsciously, what is implied in there for us. If we are able to receive knowledge flows from any stone, imagine what we can do with sacred sites, and still to come the underrated relation they have with the forgotten histories and traditions of peoples.
