Two Tribes

Hengist Journey #8

Avebury Henge

The fourth book takes the concept of time-travel and goes large. No less than the story of how Stonehenge and Avebury Henge were built. Nothing to do with Frankie Goes to Hollywood (although it is on my playlist), but the idea that two tribes – the Durren (Durrington Walls, where the people who built Stonehenge lived) and the Kenit (from the river Kennett near Avebury) were at war. Each built massive temples to their Gods, competing to make it bigger, better and more imposing than their rivals’ efforts. “Slater,” goes back in time to these places, connecting with the powerful shamen in charge of these complex creations which boasted so much more than the normal bank and ditch (the henge itself), enclosing a circle of stones.

Stonehenge

Just in case that wasn't enough scope for a story, poor old Slater has to find himself in proper pickles as the tribes' powerful shamen seem set on outdoing each other when it comes to who can create the scariest way for him to die. Whether it's ritual sacrifice with the beautiful Sun Princess, being buried alive in a tomb with the rightful prince or being burned alive atop a massive beacon bonfire, Slater has to tap into levels of ingenuity he never knew he had. Luckily, he is aided by some delightfully spunky females along the way. But it takes the aid of Albion himself to settle the age-old rivalry as the two tribes go head-to-head in the final battle for supremacy.

The main challenge of this book had nothing to do with all the technical stuff I found out about building these monuments or the complicated math in the alignments. Nor having authentic descriptions of the mechanics of dowsing, having done Maria Wheatley’s amazing course and gotten to grips with it.
The hardest bit was most definitely getting credible speech for my stone-age characters. I read a bunch of stories where people had written about this period and most of them barely even made a nod to it. I tried my best, and am still looking for any kind of language expert prepared to read it through and critique. Believe me, in the interests of accuracy, I have tried. But to no avail. I hope my compromise does not detract too much from your enjoyment of the story.
And who knows – some of the stuff in my version, could be right.

Crop-circle Central

Hengist Journey #7

Reagan

In the third Hengist book, “Reagan” is the boy closest to my own heart – a total geeky math-nerd. Comes in handy when you have to solve complex puzzles involving numbers, patterns and geometry. This picture was from the original cover of the paperback and I had poor Connor sat at my kitchen table surrounded by magical artefacts to get this piccy - photoshopped beyond recognition to get all the cool magical effects.
Like Archer, Reagan gets bullied by Edlyn, and has a couple of cute girls fussing over him. But unlike Archer, he's not naturally bristling with courage - although he finds it from somewhere when he needs to. Like when he's threatened by fierce Renegates - just as Archer was. The supporting cast in this one are particularly fun – an equally geeky mentor (with a side-line in using torture to hammer points home), an irascible female blacksmith and an irreverent painter – the spit image of a young Brian Blessed/John Rhys-Davies.

Wessex White Horses

I saw my first crop circle back in the early naughties when I took my kids on an adventure which included Avebury, Stonehenge and Woodhenge – a real whistle-stop tour. I’d never been up-close and personal with a White Horse, and while scrabbling down to see the one at Pewsy, there it was in the adjacent field. We didn’t have time to walk all the way down to it, but it was not the last. I later discovered that this day was actually Lughnasadh (1/8/2) – pretty cool huh? And yes, there is a bit of a theme going on (see previous post about Beltane in Glastonbury).

Doug - aka Tu-Bardh

Exactly six years later, I was in Edinburgh for the fringe festival and saw the most incredible drummer band (Clanadonia) who provided me with the idea for Archer’s favourite band Celtic Sound. Check out one of the vids on their website and you’ll see Doug in all his glory. Early on in Archer, we sow the seeds with Archer and his friends talking about having a song sung about them, and this has proved to be a fun part of pretty much every book since.
Still with the dates (yep I do have a file called holidays which starts in September 1985), I planned a visit with my Dad in September 2009 where we followed a dozen or so of the sites in Hamish Miller’s awesome Sun and Serpent book about the Michael and Mary alignments. I made myself a couple of dowsing rods and was chuffed to little pieces when they worked. Our visit coincided with the Autumn Equinox (Herfest).

Crop circle designs

So, about these crop circles.
I discovered a database, from which I extracted cool facts like a huge percentage of the world’s crop circles occurred within a small radius of Silbury Hill – which is coincidentally UFO-central.
For those non-believers, one book shows a guard at Stonehenge gazing out a nearby field where a design appeared within minutes of the time-stamped photo. I'm not saying they're all kosher - hoaxers create poor-quality designs using boards to flatten the crops, but they invariably result in messy, geometrically imprecise knock-offs.
Farmers report that on the authentic designs, all the stalks are neatly bent in the same direction and all have identical holes at the bend as though a tiny explosion weakened them. They continue growing and the seeds from those plants produce a bumper crop in the following year(s).
Many investigators have noticed peculiar effects, and there are definitely some weird energies around. On a couple I visited, my dowsing crystal went totally amok and my phone stopped working. I reckon you shouldn't write them off as fakes without checking them out first.

Avebury – The Magical Stone Circle

Stukeley's Serpent Temple

I first came across Avebury stone circle on a day trip to visit Stonehenge; we’d planned to stop somewhere first for a cup of tea and a cake. I knew nothing back then about the centre-piece of what William Stukely called a “Serpent Temple.” It was the start of a love affair for me with ancient Wessex, crammed full of Ancient Monuments, White Horses and the epicentre of the UK’s prolific Crop Circle/alien activity.

When I needed a stomping ground for my medieval teens to experience their adventures, I looked no further than Avebury itself – a place that resonates with magical energies, unsolved mysteries and the clang of swords. I was – and still am – totally under its spell.

“But I’ve never heard of it,” I hear you say. “Why not use Stonehenge, it’s much more famous?”
Not that size matters, but the bank and ditch (i.e. the henge itself) at Stonehenge is only a quarter the diameter of Avebury’s – which, at 1,140 feet, is the largest henge (and stone circle) in the world.

The Priest's Chair

Many of the stones from the impressive outer ring remain and you can actually go and touch them – unlike the other place where you have to petition for a private viewing or join thousands of thrill-seekers at the summer solstice.
My personal favourite is the Swindon stone – an impressive, almost regular pentagon which guards the northern entrance.
A close second is the one at the southern portal which houses the priest’s seat. I was lucky enough to be on one of Maria Wheatly’s tours when she taught us to dowse the stones for the bands of energy which transmit an aerial form of electromagnetic ley-energy. As you sit in the seat, your head is level with one of these bands which can induce a state of heightened awareness necessary to connect to spirit in order to lead a ritual. If you ever get the chance, try it for yourself. Or if you’re interested in the science behind it, check out Sun, Moon and Earth. So. Much. Stuff! - P.S. It’s cheaper on AMZ, but only if you’re in the UK.

Avebury in Neolithic times

Inside, the northern (moon) and southern (sun) rings have diameters of 322 feet and 354 feet respectively. Compare this with the sarsen circle at Stonehenge - only 100ft in diameter. In theory you could get ten times as many people in either of the small Avebury circles than it’s more glamorous counterpart. When it comes to height, there’s no touching those horseshoe trilithons, but having experienced the solstice sun rising at both, there's no contest.

Avebury might not have scores of drunken youths spraying beer and crowing their achievements as they disrespect the sacred monument, but it does have a stack of friendly people only too ready to share their celebration (amid tribal drumming and fire-poy), their cakes and ale, and their stories as we all tap into a common magic.

I've barely scratched the surface - there's so many different aspects, like Michael and Mary ley-lines, the properties of the stones and the competition to outdo Stonehenge. Along with all the other components of the landscape (the Sanctuary, the ceremonial avenues, Silbury Hill and various burial structures). I'm hoping you'll share my spiritual journey, picking it up piece-by-piece.

To delve into Avebury’s chequered history and awesome facts about each feature, try these:
Avebury-web (aubrey/stukely)        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury
If you’d rather experience the magical aspects, and maybe plan a visit, I recommend these:
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury       https://theaveburyexperience.co.uk/

Whatever, I hope I’ve piqued your interest about the first place to capture my heart.

Prequel to a prequel??? Say what?

Because I loved the Hengist series so much, I will take any excuse to stay in that world. However, a number of people have asked about how it came about, so last year, I set about writing a prequel, and met Senna - a spirited midwife, who told her story through 12 Days of Yule. Three chapters into the sequel, 8 Sabbats of the Sun, Lyran tapped me on the shoulder and demanded why I hadn't bothered to give him the mic until right at the end of 12 Days. Just to get him off my back, I wrote a prequel to the prequel: 3 Handfastings and a Burial (yeah, I know!!!).
This will be available very soon, and you can pre-order it now at only 99c/99p.

Here are Icy's Gorgeous covers, and the links.
Nature's Tribe Series - Buy (or preorder) from Amazon/Read for free with Kindle Unlimited:

3 Handfastings and a Burial

12 Days Of Yule

8 Sabbats Of The Sun

Because I like to give myself a challenge, I've put the 3rd book on pre-release with a ridiculous deadline of early February. Guess you know what I'll be doing over Christmas!