The Ness - And Dowsing - At Tankerness House……Sun Circle In St. Magnus….
by Bernie Bell - 09:25 on 11 July 2023
The Ness - And Dowsing - At Tankerness House……
I could say ‘two for the price of one’ but, fortunately, museums are run as a public service here and entrance is free!!
Looking across the Bay, we could see that there wasn’t a Cruise Liner parked up by Kirkwall, so we decided to go for it and see two of the summer exhibitions in Tankerness House Museum….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16325
First – The Ness of Brodgar…..
I had hoped that the Ness finds would have a BIG exhibition in the BIG room upstairs in the Museum, but it’s quite a small exhibition, in a small side room, downstairs – ach, weeeel – it’s there, and that’s what matters. Maybe there will be a BIG exhibition sometime – maybe to coincide with the last dig, next year?
There were some old favourites which I had seen before including what, in my opinion, is the main find of the site – the EOASSK….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/02/26/more-mathematical-neolithic-musings/
While I’m on the subject of maths – ancient geometry? ‘Butterfly’? My money’s on geometry….
And what I call the Sky Stone, because it reminds me of a summer sky….
The nice piece of Banded Gneiss – OK – I couldn’t resist that – in among other mace-heads…….
And…and….and….
The ‘Brodgar Eye’….
I have a booklet called 'Concise Guide to Newgrange' by Claire O'Kelly, in which there is a picture of a carving which is on the underside of Kerbstone 18
– which I think looks a lot like the Brodgar Eye - both of which I think could be representations of Maes Howe from above. Maes Howe and New Grange balance each other. The sun sets midwinter in Maes Howe, and rises in Newgrange.
As a friend said when we were discussing this….
“For me it was always the decisive difference in the full sense of the word between the sunset-orientation and the then beginning sunrise-orientation - what means for me that recreation is always bound to death first. The sun must go down to get up again, life must come to an end, only then recreation will be possible.”
Why is the Newgrange carving on the under-surface of the kerbstone? Zen and the Art of Neolithic Carving.
The Orkney Brewery has a Brodgar rye beer….geddit?
https://untappd.com/b/orkney-brewery-brodgar/3396915/photos
The Brodgar Boy – I haven’t seen him for a while..
I previously mentioned the carved triangles which were found last year…. http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15841
……and here they were – but – by chance – what’s decoration and what’s reflection?
There were some objects which I had seen pictures of, but had never seen in actuality, such as the ‘Saltire’ stone….
….and the big ‘cup mark’ block…
Writing? https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/10/29/writing-symbols/
Examples of Grooved Ware potttery, plus miniature pots - possibly for holding pigments….
And…haematite nodules - haematite was used to decorate walls and pottery….
I keep asking where’s the evidence of the Bronze Age at The Ness? Here it is – an early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrow head…..
There are more exhibits - but I decided not to photograph everything!
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And now to the second of the exhibitions……Sam Gray is a Reiki Healer. I’ve been to her for Healing, and can vouch for her being a wonderfully clear channel….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16383
She’s also a Mixed Media artist…. https://www.samanthagrayart.com/ . I’ve seen some of her work before, and was interested to see more.
I immersed myself in the images, which I will now present to you….make of them what you will….
Better still – go and see for yourself….
Sam's Dowsing rods…
‘Stones and Spirals’ - Concertina Sketchbook….
……reminded me of lines from ’Dancing in Heaven’ by Robert Plant –
“Precious memory carry
As we move through the circles and stones”
And also of a poem by Mike…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/02/14/poetry-corner-connection/
My favourite section of ‘Dowsing Energy’ – Concertina Sketchbook.....
'Ring of Brodgar Dowse'….
'Maes Howe Dowse'.....
'Brodgar Connected’ – Us reflected..
'Ring of Brodgar Dowse Walk Two'.....
Two screen shots – Sam dowsing The Ring of Brodgar....
And Sam dowsing The Stones of Stenness.....
Which shadow is Sam?
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Our own tale of dowsing…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16335
It’s worth mentioning that the Museum shuts for an hour for lunch – best check times before going there.
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Sun-Circle in St. Magnus…
After visiting the Museum, we crossed the road to St. Magnus Cathedral to sit quietly and absorb what we’d just seen/experienced.
And we saw…..
‘Annular’ by Evie Donaldson. I’ll quote from the information card…
'An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, but when it is at or near its farthest point from earth....it appears smaller than the sun....creating what looks like a ring around the moon.'
Circles & Stones.
Orkney – what a place to live – in any time.
PS
And then…there was this…..
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/14/ring-fire-eclipse-visible-states-us
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231016.html
Evie’s circle of light
An un-expected delight
Circles of light
Arches of stone
And the peace of St. Magnus
Over all
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Just wanted to say a quick thanks for mentioning my artwork in your blog! Sam shared it with me today. (Beautiful images of her lovely work by the way). Hope you enjoyed.
Best wishes
Evie