Mabon Equinox in the Stone Circle

Collection: Ceremony

September Equinox at Callanish Standing Stones (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this Pilgrimage Article, I introduced my recent trip to the Isle of Lewis & Harris to meet the Goddess, honour the physical and psychological changes that happened inside me recently. I described the different mountain ranges that resembles the bodies of sleeping women, and an ancient well dedicated to the Celtic goddess Brighde, and in a nutshell what I learned from them.

One of the reasons I travelled to these isles was the pull of the Callanish Standing Stones, with 5000 years one of the oldest stone circles in North-Western Europe.

If the land felt like the body of the goddess, Callanish would be her navel. It seems like the energy is flowing out from there to all edges of the island. Its shape resembles a Celtic cross. Unusual is that the site consists of one large, central standing stone, surrounded by 13 stones, and with stone avenues to the cardinal directions. With its solar alignment, paraphrasing Jill Smith,* the configuration looks like a cosmic dancer who juggles the sun from east to west. The “arms” are aligned exactly with the sunrise and sunset at this time of year. 

Model of the Standing Stones as seen from above, in Callanish Visitor Centre

Meeting the Stones

Callanish 1, the main stone circle, is connected to 11 other sites across the island, some circles, some solitary standing stones. Together they are called the Callanish Complex. I visited Callanish 1 many times that week, and I was lucky to spend the Autumn Equinox there. 

I’ve never come across stones that were so alive and expressive. Light would bounce off differently at different times of the day, accentuating irregularities, dulling, or sharpening edges, emphasising different aspects. I saw lion and wolf heads, young maidens, hooded wanders, gargoyle and dragon-like creatures, dolphins and even a Horned Dancer… Most importantly, it felt like in each of the stone circles in the area (Callanish 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8), there was at least one stone resembling a woman’s body, and I came to think of them as the Grandmother Guardians. They had a real living presence, that became even stronger as the day-visitors disappeared.

Usually there were 2-5 people there, sometimes I found myself alone. The sunset of the Equinox, however, drew many more people. There were about twenty tourists, who were taking snapshots of this magnificent light show, leaning, or pushing against the stones, talking, and giggling. Several professional photographers tried to capture a magical moment. And there were 5-7 fellow pilgrims, whom, like me, would stay long into the night. Everyone was so focused on the sunset, was I the only one who noted the rainbow in the east? 

The below images were literally taken a minute apart – rainbow to the east, sunset and silhouettes to the west.

Rainbow during the Sunset at Callanish 1, on the Autumn Equinox, September 22, 2022

Sunset at Callanish 1, on the Autumn Equinox, September 22, 2022

Into the Night

Eventually the tourists and photographers disappeared, and the rest of us gathered at the heart of the circle, in the remains of an ancient burial mound. With African and shamanic drums, a whistle, a singing bowl, an old man tapping his walking stick to the bottom of his tin mug, and some rattles, we improvised a rhythmic invocation to the spirits of the stones. When the rain increased, I soon found myself alone with the stones. Now I could finally sing, dance, weave between the stones without disrupting anyone, lean into the stones, close my eyes, and pray.

I felt very aware of the ‘balance’ in the year, the point of equally long days and nights. I asked for guidance on balance in my own life: between work and leisure, between doing and resting, between the first and second half of my life, between gathering wood for the fire and sharing it, between birth and death, and how I can better look after my body and energy living with an invisible auto-immune condition in these fast and demanding times.

After the rain departed, the clouds tore open, revealing the clearest and most brilliant night sky I’ve ever seen. The silhouettes of the stones reaching up into the night was truly magnificent. Moving, weaving, pausing, I made my way clockwise around all the 13 stones in the circle. I stood at either side of the stones, outer and inner, and took my place in between them, as if I was a moving stone myself. I reflected on centre and circumference, on axis, on direction, on the wheel of life, turning, turning, turning, turning… and felt connected to similar circles across Europe lighting up in the darkness, as a radiant hub of energy-places.

Photo Collage: Impression of Night Sky, by Eline Kieft October 1, 2022

After having completed my weaving of the circle, by which time I had enjoyed half of my ginger tea for a warm kick, I decided to return to our cottage – also an act of balance. Having a cold already, I did not quite have the proper gear to stay out in the windy and rainy night. My lovely bed was calling! On my way home I saw three deer next to the road. I stopped the car and could be with them for several moments before they wandered off.

Rising Sun

I had been so attuned to the rhythms that I woke up well before the alarm. I laid in the comfortable darkness, until it was time to return to the stones to witness the sunrise. My mom came along this time. Again, there were several photographers ready for ‘the moment’ (no tourists at this hour!). I just HAD to dance, and chose my spot at the far western end, out of line of any cameras. A dance of ground, earth, mountain, honouring the mother and my mother, weaving the light, the turn of seasons, changing, praying, calling, giving thanks, celebrating, welcoming, and letting go. Integrating all that the pilgrimage and the Mother in her different forms had taught me. Strong, soft, vibrant, still… 

Sunrise at Callanish 1, on the Autumn Equinox, September 23, 2022, View to the East

Sunrise at Callanish 1, on the Autumn Equinox, September 23, 2022, View to the West

Standing against the central menhir, looking east, we finished the last of the ginger tea. So special to be able to share this together. Mother and daughter in a circle of ancient Grandmother Guardians, witnessing the sun rise on a new day. Sacred land, ongoing cycles of time, and a modern-ancient pilgrimage… 

It will take many moons to fully digest and integrate the richness of this journey, but I already know this precious experience seeped deep into my bones. 

May the magic of the land touch you too, wherever you are.

Mother and Daughter - this photo was in fact taken at another moment, against another stone, mid-afternoon on 22nd…

I’d love to invite you for my series of Embodied Spirituality Masterclasses that are going to start this month! Have a look if you’re interested in reconnecting body and spirit, re-anointing the body as sacred, nature as a temple, contemporary ceremony and much more…

The small print...

• *) Jill Smith is a deep well of goddess lore on Lewis, and she wrote several books. These were the ones I consulted on my journey:

  • Mother of the Isles (2003)

  • The Callanish Dance (2000)