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Dancing Down a Dream

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photograph by Tom Quinn Kumpf

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Ardgroom Stone Circle, Co Cork, Ireland © Tom Quinn Kumpf

 

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There are remnants of more than 50,000 stone circles in Ireland alone. There also are 30,000 ring forts, and an incredible, though undetermined number of dolmen, cromlechs, and lone standing stones. Many are carved with spirals and other ancient designs, and appear to be aligned to the sun, moon, or other specific astrological events. Similar stone structures dot the landscapes of England, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany, and are found all over North Africa, Siberia, India, China, and in several locations of the Americas. These structures are the very same that drove the Irish warrior hero, Cúchulainn, on his quest for greatness. They go back a long way, many given form and life thousands of years before Cúchulainn and the Celts appeared on the scene. Indeed, Newgrange was built as a celestial observatory around 3000 BC and predates the pyramids by 500 years.

Stone circles, with magical names like Ardgroom, Drombeg, Knocknakilla, Beltany Tops, Inishowen, Carrowmore, Derreenataggart, Drumskinny, and Ballynoe are places of power and pure spirit. No one knows for certain who built these fascinating structures. They are known to us only as the Megalithic People, tribes who inhabited the region thousands of years before Christ. It was a time when shamen, wizards, and chieftains were seen as half-god half-mortal, and what they left behind speaks of a people well aware of their environment, both earthly and celestial.