Planets for Pagans, excerpt #2 - The Dance of the Sun: Temples: The Sky Expressed In Architecture People throughout time have expressed their understanding of planetary motion in their architecture. While celestial observations obviously played a key role - these places were designed to showcase the specific details of the planets – many of these were places that brought people together and evoked the mysteries of spirit. These were also places of awe and wonder and connection with The Beyond… Rösaring, Sweden: roughly 59º 30 N, 17º 30 E, c. 1700 BCE -1200 AD. A 15-circuit stone labyrinth gives this site its name. At Rösaring’s location, summer has eighteen hours of daylight; winter has only six. The Sun is barely 7º above the horizon at the Winter Solstice. A unique ceremonial roadway is positioned to take best advantage of a near-exact north-south alignment. The road is short (1774 feet/540 meters); at its southern end is a low, flat-topped mound and a panoramic view over Lake Mälaren. Some speculate that this may have been a ceremonial processional route for a wagon carrying a sculpture of the Earth goddess Nerthus, as described by Roman author Tacitus in Germania, c. 96 CE. Edged by tall pine trees, then as now, the road is dark at the Winter Solstice until noon. Then the low Sun shines into this tree-lined “canyon” from the south, lighting first the western side, then shining straight up the avenue, then lighting just the eastern wall of trees. Thirty minutes later, the avenue is dark again. The sunlight remains directly centered for about fifteen minutes, just enough time to traverse the full length and reach the mound, as if walking into the Sun’s orb along a tree-walled temple of snow-spangled light. — Renna Shesso, from *Planets for Pagans: Sacred Sites, Ancient Lore, and Magical Stargazing* - Available now
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 21:30:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015