Stone Circles – Thin Places of Wonder and Mysticism

The Irish call them thin places -where the veil between worlds is thinnest. For some, this manifests as being able to ‘reach the hand of God’; for others it is crossing into the Other Kingdom, connecting to The Invisible, or opening to multi-dimensional realities.

Many thin places are natural: a breathtaking seascape or landscape, or a more intimate grove of trees or a rippling brook. Others have become sacred through the intentional creation of edifices that are meant to call in, amplify, celebrate, or somehow connect to Universal Forces. It may be a simple medicine wheel, a magnificent temple or a country cemetery. 

I have become besotted with the thin places of Celtic lands. Standing stones, stone circles, round towers, mythical castles, ruins of abbeys, sacred wells, fairy trees dot the already captivating countryside. I am particularly drawn to the Neolithic stone circles and wonder what the Ancient Ones knew that gave them the knowledge and the motivation to create them. Most of us have watched with curiosity documentaries of Stonehenge, the grandest and best-known Celtic stone circle. Other grand circles and even more small circles appear throughout the Celtic Nations. Most are aligned to summer or winter solstice, thus celebrating the Sun. Others align with the Moon. No one can explain how or why these differences occur. They range from the gigantic monoliths of Stonehenge to the grand stone circles believed to have deep regional connection and then small, local stone circles that thankfully have been preserved by individual farmers.

We may never know exactly how or why the Ancient Ones built these places but the result is palpable. The stones connect to the invisible world, a Universal Force beyond ourselves. It was on a visit to the Ring of Brodar in the Orkney Islands of Scotland that I experienced a grand stone circle personally. My friends and I were immediately in awe of these tall, thin slabs of stone which were placed to create a gateway and then a magnificent stone circle in a grassy field near the coast. We went into the circle and walked around it mesmerized. Later that night, one friend and I returned to experience it more deeply in the solitude of a beautifully moonlit night. While my friend observed, I connected with each stone individually and felt an amplification of a different emotion or state of mind at each one. Together we traveled around the circle clockwise, then later counterclockwise, feeling the building and waning of the energy flow with us. I felt both grounded and uplifted. The experience was transforming.

A few years later, I had the opportunity to visit The Callanish Stones on the island of Lewis, Scotland. Here not only was there a similar stone circle but also elaborate avenues to the circle, set in an amazing landscape. At sunset on our last evening, my friends who are sound healers played violin and cello, sound weaving additional harmony and joy into the experience. I invite you to see and hear a snippet of the experience yourself at https://youtu.be/zfuajJP64P8.

Later experiences at smaller, even more intimate stone circles in Ireland led to my writing Amidst the Stones of Celtic Ireland. It is the story of an American visitor who is drawn to the stones. She opens to messages that help her find sovereignty as she connects to her past and to past lives as a young woman in Ireland centuries ago. The novel is inspired by my own experience in County Cork.

About Jeanne: Jeanne Crane is author of Celtic Spirit A Wee Journey as well as Amidst the Stones. She also has published a small series of photo journals entitled Snapshots of Celtic Ireland. You can be sure they are filled with pictures of stone circles and information on how to find them. 

Jeanne’s website: https://www.celticspiritbooks.com/about