Yes this photo again- this beach was once a forest, as you walk you can see tree stumps in the sand, yet the waves have claimed it ... everything changes and everything stays the same, the rhythm of the ocean is constant, with the ebb and flow of the tides- yet all the while the landscape changes.
I love this view of the waves washing over stones- this is the low est point of the tide- this part of the beach is more often covered in water than exposed.
For me this is a thin place, a place where I can pray freely and openly, and I love the sounds and the smells here, I love the different textures in the sand, and the stones and the salt marsh.....
There is more to Holme Beach than meets the eye though for it is the site of Sea-henge- a place of controversy and mystery, there are several explanations for this circle of 54 oak posts surrounding an up-turned oak tree:
It is thought timber circles were used by prehistoric cultures to expose their dead to the elements, birds and wild animals - a practise called excarnation. The belief was that allowing the flesh to rot from the bones in the open air would liberate the dead person's spirit.
Dr Francis Pryor, President of the Council for British Archaeology, believes the symbolism of the upside-down oak tree is very important to understanding the Bronze Age mind.
"We often find everyday objects deliberately turned upside down at Bronze Age sites. The inverted oak is a very complex statement. It is the world turned upside down, just as death is an inversion of life.
"From a ritual point of view it symbolises taking objects out of this world and placing them in the next. We're not absolutely sure what these people thought that next world was, but we think they envisaged a parallel world inhabited by their ancestors," Dr Pryor said. (BBC report 8/7/1999)
Other beliefs include these thoughts from modern day Druids:
Certainly from a druid point of view, both theories are possible, although to us all "house of the dead" theories are limited. To we druids, the place of the honouring of ancestors was nearly always also a place of the living, as life and death were anciently regarded as but two sides of a coin, and even in death those that had gone before still played an important part in the survival of the community.
Not only were such places as these shoreline sanctuaries used for magical ceremonies to stave off the threat of foreign invasion by the living, and to supplicate the forces of Nature to prevent coastal erosion and inundation, but they also sustained the life of the local community for whom they were built by providing a focus for the celebration of the passage of the seasons, according to the rites and ceremonies of the old druidic Nature religion, under whatever name it was then called. They were also linked to other sacred sites of national importance.
It is no accident that the major axis of orientation of the Sea-henge oak circle was found to be the line of the North-eastern summer sunrise and the South-western winter sunset. A feature it shared with the great stone circle of Stonehenge itself. More than this, the actual midsummer-midwinter ley-line on which Sea-henge used to sit, is the very same one that passes through Stonehenge, and eventually through Maiden Castle in Dorset, making the Sea-henge circle in Norfolk the coastal marker of the very first ray of light which enters the land on its way to the great sanctuary of Stonehenge itself.
In our view, as with all ancient sites that have suffered erosion, Sea-henge should be replaced some little distance inland on the same major axis of orientation as it originally was, if not with the existing timbers, then with new ones.
It was a place of major significance to the ancient spiritual ecology of Britain, whose rediscovery, associated world view and potential, may yet prove useful to the harmony of post-modern society, whilst according a unique insight in to the way our ancestors related to their environment. Preserved in situ, it was a wonder and a joy to all who were lucky enough to experience it. (Rollo Maughfling 25.3.2000)
One thing is clear- the tides that uncovered Sea-henge uncovered a mystery- I can identify with the thoughts that this is a thin place because for me it is, whatever its significance, it is clear that the siting of this monument was deliberate and purposeful. There have been some attempts to explain it away as a fish trap- fairly unlikely as it would not have been in the sea at the time and was probably situated on salt-marsh!
How do we as Christians connect with these ancient sacred sites, I believe that God manifests in nature and through the elements in ways our modern western world has lost touch with- the people who built these monuments had not lost that connection. Constructive dialogue with Pagan groups will help our understanding. Right now I have more questions than answers- but there is something special about Holme Beach, something I cannot explain. Btw- Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and Iona are alo sited on significant ley lines......just a thought!
