Belerion | The Shining Land
Audio > The Aha Class
Belerion, the Shining Land
West Penwith as a Landscape Temple
Weds 18th December 2024
In my talk in June about the ancient sites of West Penwith (worth a listen) I proposed that the whole of Penwith is one big ancient site - an enormous cliff sanctuary. It's not just a scattering of stone circles, quoits, carns, menhirs and cairns. Why did ancient Penwithians bother to build so much of this 'holy machinery'? What was their thinking and what did they seek to achieve?
I've been studying ancient sites since around 1970 in Britain, Scandinavia, Greece and Palestine. Since moving to Penwith in 2009, I've been working on mapping Penwith's sites, researching their alignments, and divining some valuable psychic-intuitive clues concerning their possible meaning and function. These observations are outlined on the Ancient Penwith website and in my book Shining Land.
In the first half of this evening's talk, I go further into the sacred energy-technology of Neolithic and Bronze Age Penwithians, and the patterns that suggest that they function as one big megalithic system. We'll look into how it all took shape from the beginning, the functions of different kinds of ancient sites, and how it all fits together into one big geomantic system.
In the second half, Going Further, I propose what I feel needs to happen next. We need to find out how ancient sites actually work, geomantically and energetically, and what we can do now to enhance and re-enliven their energy-fields and world-healing qualities - through sustained energy-work, learning more about the specifics of how to do it.
Penwith is ideal for this kind of work because it is concise and contained, with plenty of ancient sites and people interested in them. Also, this is Cornwall, not England - here in Penwith, out of sight and out of mind, we have an opportunity to frame things in a rather different way from the customary Oxbridge-style archaeological thinking.
There is the possibility of starting a research project involving 10-20 people, in which (say) about forty local sites are surveyed, mapped and chronicled by dowsers and sensitives over (say) a three year period, for their subtle energy characteristics and place-memory. (See below for a shortlist of sites.)
Steadily and systematically, we can visit the sites and truly listen to what they want to say - not imposing our own ideas and predilections but letting the sites and the landscape speak, using methods such as pendulums, meditation, inner journeying and talking stick as research methodologies. Then a report (or a series of them) or a website can report on the findings uncovered by the project.
So I'm wondering out loud whether we need now to take things further, to try realistically to penetrate the minds of the Neolithic and Bronze Age megalith builders, to uncover more about ancient sites' energy-mechanics, their intention and usage, and what we can do about them now.
Audio recordings:
The Shining Land
The waves are from Sennen beach, West Penwith
Part One:
Belerion
Part Two:
Going Further
It's all about crazy things like loving rocks - in this case, one of the gateway stones at Carn Lês Boel.
Below: Palden sensing the vortex at Boscawen-ûn.
Resources:Shining Land - the ancient sites of West Penwith and what they say about megalithic civilisation. A book available online.
Palden's Prehistory Pods. Podcasts at and about local ancient sites
Ancient Penwith Picture Tour. An intro to the different kinds of ancient sites in Penwith.
Cornish Ancient and Holy Wells. Maps and details of all known wells in Cornwall.
Radiation at Penwith's Ancient Sites - map showing radiation counts at various sites
CASPN - Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network. Monthly clear-ups and maintenance of local ancient sites (join in!).
Cornwall Council Interactive Map. Showing all known archaeological finds in Penwith.
Key Maps used in this talk
Click any map to see a bigger version.
For full-scale detailed Google maps, go here: Penwith Ancient Sites | Penwith Alignments
BASE SITES
If you came to a virtually unpopulated Penwith 6,000 years ago or more, and you ranged around the peninsula, these are the natural sites you would probably notice and take note of. These sites form the basis of the distribution of ancient sites in Penwith.
NEOLITHIC SITES
These were built in the Neolithic 3000s between 3700 and 3200 BCE, and the first constructed sites in Penwith. These are the Neolithic Tor Enclosures, the Quoits and the Cliff Sanctuaries. They also set up a variety of propped and placed stones (not marked).
PENWITH'S GEOMANTIC SYSTEM
This is a key map, showing alignments between cliff sanctuaries and Neolithic tors, and the way that they determine the location of many of the man-made sites of Penwith, many of them built later in the Bronze Age.
THE RING OF LIGHT
The cliff sanctuaries and also three hill camps overlooking Mount's Bay form a protective ring of light around the peninsula. This is what makes it a 'radiant land' and, arguably, it is a reason why Penwith has never been invaded.
LOCAL ALIGNMENTS
These are exact shorter-distance alignments connecting particularly Bronze Age sites - 90 of them were first identified by John Michell 50 years ago. There's an amazing number of them. To see a fully detailed Google map, click here.
BACKBONE ALIGNMENTS
These are regional and longer-distance alignments crossing Penwith, many leading upcountry or to Scilly. These are based on cliff sanctuaries and Neolithic Tors and they determine the locations of many Bronze Age sites.
ALIGNMENTS RADIATING FROM BOSCAWEN-ÛN
Building Boscawen-ûn stone circle in the early Bronze Age was a geomantic master-stroke that lit up the whole landscape system of Penwith. Its location lies at a point exactly aligned between many cliff sanctuaries and other key sites - amazingly.
ALIGNMENTS THROUGH TRENCROM HILL
Trencrom (or Tor Crom) is a guardian hill (with The Mount and St Ives Head) and a gateway site for Penwith that connects the peninsula with major Neolithic sites upcountry, such as Carn Brea, Roundwood Fort, Nare Head and Rosemullion Head.
NEAR-PARALLEL ALIGNMENTS
The parallels crossing the peninsula could mark an astronomical orientation. Note the other near-parallels. Their intention is yet to be understood. Click for a detailed map.
Key: | ^ Neolithic Tor | * Cliff Sanctuary |
• 123.0°. Cape Cornwall* - Boscawen-ûn - Kemyel Point*.
• 124.0°. Pendeen Watch* - Chûn Castle - Lesingey Round - Lizard Point*.
• 123.5°. Bosigran Castle* - Carn Galva^ - St Michael’s Mt^ - Pollurian Head*.
• 122.0°. Gurnard’s Head* - Castle an Dinas - Porthleven Head - Carrick Lûz*.
• 121.5°. Trendrine Cairns - Trencrom Hill^ - Godolphin Hill - Three Brothers of Grugwith quoit.
• 121.3°. Carnsew - two barrows - Bonallack Barton - Tremayne Barrow - Dean Pt*.
• 119.5°. St Ives Head* - a succession of seven barrows.
• 118.2°. Trevarnon Round - Maen Tol - Rosemullion Head*.
• 120.0°. Crane Castle* - Carn Brea^ - Stithians Moor menhir - Pendennis Point*.
LANDSCAPE TEMPLES AND CLAN AREAS
A conjectural map, based on field observation, of natural areas - landscape temples - and possible clan areas. The clans conceivably occupied these natural landscape areas. These would have morphed over time - though everyone was somehow related anyway.
ANCIENT TRACKWAYS IN PENWITH
This is a part-conjectural and part-evidence based map of ancient trackways. These were not geomantically based - they're practical, taking routes that people naturally followed when crossing the peninsula. Detailed Google map here.
CAIRNS and BARROWS
Cairns are of stone and earth while barrows are made of earth. Again, they're concentrated in the northern uplands. Some chambered cairns were near villages and some were built as geomantic cairns in prominent places.
SETTLEMENTS
Map of known settlements in Penwith. Note the concentration of settlements in higher areas - many were in lovely places with a view and near springs. In the south it's possible they used wooden buildings (its being more wooded).
KEY SITES
Map of the key ancient sites of West Penwith. If you want to get a feel of Penwith's geomantic system (and some exercise), then visit these sites. That'll keep you occupied for a few summers! See the shortlist below or this bigger site list.
MENHIRS
Built as relays and connectors for amplifying larger sites such as stone circles, menhirs or 'needles of stone' played a big part in the colonisation of the lowland south of Penwith during the Bronze Age around 2400-2000 BCE.
A shortlist of ancient sites in Penwith
Making a shortlist of forty ancient sites in Penwith is surprisingly difficult! To demonstrate this, here is a list of seventy sites. There are bound to be people who would prefer to add sites (such as holy wells) to this list rather than remove sites from it - and justifiably so. However, for practical reasons, giving proper attention to seventy sites is unlikely to be doable - and it's better to do small things well than big things badly. It might be that the list needs cutting down even to a well-chosen thirty sites.
Neolithic (3000s BCE) Tor Enclosures Carn Galva Carn Kenidjack Trencrom Hill St Michael's Mount Quoits Bosporthennis Chûn Lanyon & West Lanyon Mulfra Sperris & Zennor Cliff Sanctuaries Bosigran Castle Cape Cornwall Carn Lês Boel Gurnard's Head Kenidjack Castle Maen Castle Pendeen Watch St Ives Head Tol Pedn Penwith Treryn Dinas | Bronze Age (2500-1200 BCE) Stone Circles Boscawen-ûn Mên An Tol Merry Maidens & Tregurnow Nine Maidens Tregeseal E & W Enclosures Bartinney Castle Caer Brân Castle an Dinas Pordenack Point Hill Camps Chûn Castle Lesingey Round Faugan Round Lescudjak Castle Cairns & Barrows Ballowall Barrow Boscregan Cairns Bosiliack Barrow Botallack Common Botrea cairns Brane chambered cairn Mayon Cliff cairns Treen chambered cairns Sancreed Beacon Watch Croft cairns | Cairnfields Beacon Barrows Chapel Carn Brea Menhirs Boswens Carfury Drift menhirs Kemyel-Swingate Mên Scryfa The Pipers Fogous (Iron Age) Boleigh Carn Euny East Bosporthennis Higher Bodinnar Lower Boscaswell Pendeen Vau Queried Sites Trevorian – stone circle? Giant's Grave – quoit? Grumbla Cromlech – quoit? Rosemergy – stone circle? Treen Common Circle ?? |
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