Thursday, May 28, 2009

Menhirs and Sheep




Today was a foggy gray day. There was the finest kind of mist, off of the sea and lacing the air with a briny smell. One forgets that Boston was a harbor town, buttressed as it is by the giant glass sentries that make up the financial district. Anyway, I was craving the smell of a peat fire and the bleating of sheep and searched all day in sl for some virtual gorse and an Irish view. I have an innate passion for ancient standing stones and have spent some time doing field work, at a sanctuary that may pre-date Stonehenge by about two hundred years. Needless to say, there aren’t too many talayots in New England (though evidently there’s a site in New Hampshire that I’ve been too skeptical to visit).So, to get my prehistoric kicks, like any good archaeologist, I logged on...
I made my way to the Empress and Hierophant sim, currently under construction by Immortalis and Alchemy Cyannis. The tp landing presents a stunning view over rolling hills and rock walls. I wanted to embrace it, feeling like I had been transported to Derrynane, Ireland. Immortalis was busy building, holding a sheep in his arms. The Cyannis’ are planning a bed and breakfast, and from the looks of the site so far, I’d make plans for an extended stay. The stones at Empress and Hierophant are finely crafted, warm and lichen covered. I ran up to one menhir and imagined placing my palms on its surface. Rambling up a hill I got those butterflies in the tum when standing too close to a ledge. The waves below churned bright and blue and I felt compelled to walk and walk along the worn paths winding ‘round the island. Instead I tp’d my fellow intrepid explorer Wyatt and we sat among the blinking sheep, totally absorbing the countryside.

In this kind of place, your mind goes meditative, and we let our minds wander and ramble like our bodies had done, contemplating our environments, both inner and outer. Empress and Hierophant is extraordinary. Read more about it here.

I can’t mention megaliths without mentioning Julian Cope. For you stone lovers, you must purchase a copy of his book The Modern Antiquarian.