Uni Glos RPE: Avebury! first field-trip since Lockdown.

  11th June 2021

Students of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics managed to escape the drab and dreary memories of the last few months, at least for a while, and entered the beautiful ritual landscape of Avebury Stones in Wiltshire. This ancient place, location of the the biggest Stone henge in the world, welcomed us on the day of a lunar eclipse as a small group of Druids performed a ceremony among the stones. We then walked down the great avenue, across the meadows of the ridge before descending to Silbury Hill (see featured picture), which the great Julian Cope describes as the Umbillicus Mundus, the centre of the world, and where devotees of the Goddess have gathered at certain points of the ritual calendar over many years. We then entered West Kennet Long barrow (see below) before returning to the Stones for a well earned lunch. This was a great day out and despite social distancing and masks we experienced a sense of relief and release being out there and (for some) connecting with the ancestors?