Stonehenge: Neolithic Ritual Art in Astrological Alignment Time, Nature & Being - Research Paper Example

? Stonehenge: Neolithic Ritual Art in Astrological Alignment Time, Nature & Being Stonehenge - This photo was taken on September 24, 2006 in Larkhill, England, GB. (Flickr, 2011) Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 The Mystery of Stonehenge 2 Historical Reconstruction of Stonehenge 3 Astrological Alignments in Stonehenge 4 Stonehenge as Inspiration for Being 5 Stonehenge as Inspiration for Art 5 Conclusion 7 Sources Cited 8 Introduction Stonehenge is a model of ritual art that combines religious practice with architecture to create a structural artwork as community symbol that also functions as a both temple and burial mound. Originally, the creators of Stonehenge buried the ashes of their leaders, forefathers, and priests in a circular pattern on the location, placing the cremation ashes in holes at the base of a ring of vertical stone columns, known as Aubrey Holes, and arranging these columns in concentric circular patterns. These burials expanded over time and generations with the growing complexity of religious practice on the site, which some have theorized as representing the operation of a regional temple complex with a residential committee of priests performing ritual services to the community and engaging in the advanced study of astrology. (Ray, 1987) Local construction continued over thousands of years at Stonehenge, adding elaboration to the monuments until the site eventually took a form and structure similar to the one recognized today. Stonehenge acts as a monument that bridges the macrocosm, represented through the duality of heaven/cosmos and the underworld/afterlife, with the microcosm, as represented by the body and minds of the people who worshipped there traditionally on earth. The Mystery of Stonehenge It is evident that the culture that constructed Stonehenge had complex religious and cultural views, even if the identity of the people and their religion remains a mystery to researchers to this day. Thus, in the context of art history one can view the Stonehenge monuments as one of the earliest records of cultural expression, and from there begin to decipher the symbols of its authors. Stonehenge is a symbolic artwork whose pre-historic creators are unknown to modern science. What modern individuals see in Stonehenge will be a reflection or projection of the individual’s own mind and sense of self onto the monument, of the individual’s own views of pre-history and spirituality. Thus it is a reverse expressionism where one comes to know one’s self and ideas through the de-constructing of a legacy artwork and cultural heritage. In building conclusions from archaeology, there is a greater ability to understand the religious significance of Stonehenge through the documented evidence of use as deciphered by years of research and excavations on the site in the UK. Historical Reconstruction of Stonehenge The history of Stonehenge dates back to the early Neolithic period, nearly 12,000 years ago when the first pre-historic people began to construct monuments of stone on the site. It is not known if there was even earlier cultural expression taking place there, and archeologists have not discovered much of anything about the language, customs, dress, or identity of the people who lived in England at that time. Yet, archeologists have developed a theory through excavations on site that posits that Stonehenge was a type of early cemetery, with burial mounds and monuments created in the manner Christianity creates tombstones today. Whereas current customs may include the engraving of the names of the dead with quotes on stone as the dead are lain to rest, the people who created Stonehenge built monuments that synchronized with the patterns of the stars, the movement of the celestial bodies, the round of the sun through the seasons – the people knew the solstice and equinox in a way that modernity has forgotten - existentially. What this model of Being suggests to modernity is one of interconnectedness and expansion, where mind is integrally related to nature through the movements of the heavenly bodies and the stars. Yet, it is still difficult to recreate the mythologies and stories that these early people included in this architecture. Instead, both the highest aspects of logic and dreams are required to approach it. Astrological Alignments in Stonehenge Stonehenge posits the question of the current nature of modern culture, and what will remain of it as art and monument 12,000 years in the future. For example, when Gerald Dawkins published his groundbreaking research in 1963 decoding the astrological connections in Stonehenge, he used what would be considered a primitive IBM computer today, but then top-of-the-line at Harvard University. He reported that through computer analysis, he had discovered 165 astrological alignments in the way Stonehenge matched the movements of the moon, stars, and planets on key days in the annual calendar. (Hawkins, 1963) Like the ancient Maya, the civilizations that built Stonehenge had a complex astronomical and calendar system, and Stonehenge likely functioned as a type of temple, church, and cemetery with different manners of priests and shamans presiding over rituals at key times of the year – solstices, equinoxes, eclipses, marriages, funerals, perhaps births. (Pollard, 2009) These astrological alignments suggest an expanded sense of Being in time based upon the principles of synchronicity advanced by Carl Jung in his depth psychology. The participation mystique described by Jung in primitive cultures was related directly to archetypal expression, as in Stonehenge, as well as dream symbolism and mythology in the collective unconscious. (Jung, 1968) Modernity has lost the chants and hymns that might once have been sung at these functions, as well as the meditations and prayers that composed the rituals of the priests of Stonehenge. Yet, one wonders if it was not the intent of the culture to create a structure that would endure, and cause people to remember them throughout time, as Ozymandius had proposed years ago. Stonehenge as Inspiration for Being Unlike that ancient king who would enshrine his ego in a monument to be eroded by the sands, the kings of Stonehenge chose to give us an artwork that coded Being as vast as the universe but anonymous as time. Their expression was not limited by form in the stone construction but reflected an expanded sense of cosmic or universal mind. Everywhere one looks at Stonehenge, one sees the patterns of angles and lines of connection to stellar bodies in the deepest space. The human mind travels on these pathways to a vision of Being that is wide as the universe, and cyclical as time. This integral geometry of Stonehenge has been associated with ancient wizardry, as modern cultures have been amazed at the mystery of its construction and believe only magic could have been its cause. Stonehenge carries magic and mystery into the modern age from the very pre-history of civilization, and inspires the minds of the entire planet in a way that few other works of art can claim. This is why Stonehenge is appealing as an object of art for study, for it functions as a type of portal and mandala of being that keeps the primordial, mystical, and magical active in the imagination of the 21st century and inspires pilgrimage through reverence for nature. Stonehenge as Inspiration for Art As artist, poet, and individual one can search for the miraculous and try to preserve it from further deterioration and dissolution in the post-modern age. When the IBM computer discovered 165 astrological alignments in Stonehenge in 1963, few modern priests in England could likely even name one of the alignments referenced. Stonehenge challenges modern ideas of progress in a way that brings one to a recognition of Being as an integral part of the environment, but also a Being that expands the self to the farthest reaches of the universe. This is why the intentionality of the creators of Stonehenge is inspiring historically, for few other cultures have been able to preserve and transmit a subtle vision of such complexity to such a wide audience over time. The sense of environment communicated at Stonehenge is beyond the situational use of space that is characteristic of post-modernity. Rather, its environment is archetypal as the constellations, and through this the sense of time at Stonehenge relates to the unconscious. The mythological and dreams operate in the unconscious realms of mind according to Jungian theory, and on this basis the ritual archaeology at Stonehenge can be viewed as an ancient model of the self. Jung also saw mandala structures as symbolic of the archetypes of self expression, yet just as in Tibetan mandalas, the Stonehenge circle invokes an entire universe in synchronized Being through astrological connection. This aligns the monument with a transpersonal expression of Being that is beyond the limitations of the post-modern ego, and as such, Stonehenge as art or communication has a vibrancy that has lasted over 12,000 years through the vision of a collective cultural expression that must nevertheless be recreated in interpretation by the individual of today. What this suggests to the artist of today is complex, for it can feasibly be asked if even one individual living on the earth today will be able to create an object of art that lasts for as long of a time as Stonehenge. If they do, will they do so consciously as the creators of Stonehenge did, communicating an intricate synchronization with the astrological bodies of the farthest reaches of the universe, or will they do so randomly, as related to mundane objects of consumption? It may be that our culture collectively will leave monuments that are visible in 14,000 AD, or that fragments of our society will be analyzed at that time. But in consideration of that scenario, how could any individual or culture communicate their life’s essence and message to future generations through enduring art? These are the complex questions that Stonehenge poses for artists and collective culture that are not easily addressed by our current patterns of conscious awareness. Conclusion To consider Stonehenge as a model on which to create new forms of art, artists may struggle with the challenge of its complexity, for Stonehenge is a collective work of art created by untold number of hands over millennia, not the work of a solitary individual. At one point in English history, it was believed that Merlin created Stonehenge through wizardry and druidism, associating the level of being of a saint or mystic beyond time and space as being truly able to create an artwork of such complexity and spiritual power through magic. This is another reason why Stonehenge is inspiring as an art work, for it draws one magnetically to a higher level of being through natural intelligence. This affects perception, for the individual then sees the world in a different way: the night sky, the setting of the sun, the phase of the moon all take on new meaning, one that is simultaneously resonating with the most ancient wisdom. This can additionally increase the feeling of connection felt by the individual to the universe as a whole. There is also a synchronicity in the structure of Stonehenge, in the Jungian sense where the time and place combine with mental significance and emotion to create symbolic meaning on multiple levels of Being. This is paradigmatic of what a religious artifact must do in the mind of the individual – to open the mind to the cosmos and expand Being to the farthest reaches of time. In this manner Stonehenge symbolically represents the merging of heaven and earth through being and time in mediating the knowledge system of the microcosm to macrocosmic patterns of identity in synchronicty. Sources Cited Gingerich, O. Astronomical Alignments at Stonehenge and Callanish. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 10, p.612 (09/1978). Web, accessed July 25th, 2011, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1978BAAS...10..612G. Hawkins, Gerald S.. Stonehenge Decoded. Nature, Volume 200, Issue 4904, pp. 306-308 (1963). Web, accessed July 25th, 2011, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1963Natur.200..306H. Jung, C.. Psychology and Alchemy. In: Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 12., 2nd ed., Princeton University Press, 1968, p. 473-483. Pollard, Joshua. The Materialization of Religious Structures in the Time of Stonehenge. Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, Volume 5, Number 3, pp. 332-353(22), November 2009. Web, accessed July 25th, 2011, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/berg/mar/2009/00000005/00000003/art00005. Ray, Benjamin C. Stonehenge: A New Theory. History of Religions Vol. 26, No. 3 (The University of Chicago Press: Feb., 1987), pp. 225-278. Web, accessed July 25th, 2011, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062375. Read More