{"id":872,"date":"2007-05-09T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-09T21:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=872"},"modified":"2007-05-09T21:35:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-09T21:35:00","slug":"baca-county-beltane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=872","title":{"rendered":"Baca County Beltane"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the photo, the Beltane Sun (astronomical Beltane–May 5) has recently risen. When it appeared on the horizon, it fit right into the little notch in the rock just below its current position–an alignment that happens only on Beltane and Lammas.<\/p>\n

The site, on private land, is known to the students of archaeological sites as “the Sun Temple.” I went there last weekend with filmmaker Scott Monahan<\/a>, researcher Phil Leonard, and Martin Brennan, author of several books on Irish megalithic alignments, including The Boyne Valley Vision<\/em><\/a> and The Stones of Time<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some people prepare for ritual with baths and meditation, but maybe a 150-mile drive into the gradually darkening prairie works as well. A little synchronicity: on the way to La Junta, I heard the NPR report on the Neolithic temple unearthed in Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We camped at the site. A wall of lightning flickered silently to the north. Some 200 miles to the east, Greensburg, Kan., was being obliterated, but we did not know it. Our part of Colorado, which had been smashed by blizzards last winter<\/a>, was warm and quiet. A great horned owl and a screech owl called from the cliffs.<\/p>\n

Left: Martin Brennan viewing the sunrise<\/em>. <\/p>\n

On of the cliffs, someone centuries ago scraped the rock smooth and pecked a circle a little bigger than a human head. If you sit precariously so that your head is in the circle, then you see the alignment. A couple of alleged ogham inscriptions are nearby.<\/p>\n

I am not qualified to judge the ogham, but I know that more and more (although still few) people visit such sites at the appropriate days. They watch as the old drama of sky, Sun, and rock plays out for a few seconds on a quarter or cross-quarter days. Afterwards, I suspect, they feel a little different about their place on this planet and on the southern High Plains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the photo, the Beltane Sun (astronomical Beltane–May 5) has recently risen. When it appeared on the horizon, it fit right into the little notch in the rock just below its current position–an alignment that happens only on Beltane and Lammas. The site, on private land, is known to the students of archaeological sites as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,23,48],"class_list":["post-872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-archaeology","tag-colorado","tag-nature-religion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-e4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=869","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":0},"title":"What I Will Be Doing for Beltane","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, \"will be doing.\" Some people look at the calendar and say that Beltane is this evening and tomorrow. Others celebrated last weekend, according to the \"weekend nearest the cross-quarter day\" rule. Only by that rule, it comes next weekend.By the Sun, it falls on Saturday the 5th, as this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":871,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=871","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":1},"title":"This is not my Beltane post","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"But the Beltane post is coming. Maybe tomorrow. It was interesting--meaningful in a kind of low-key way.And should I mention that it is snowing? Just another springtime in the southern Colorado foothills.","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13347,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13347","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":2},"title":"Beltane and the Birds","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Beltane snuck((OK, \"sneaked,\" if you don't like vernacular irregular conjugations.)) up on me this year. While much of Colorado had more snow than usual, here on the creek we did not. It was cold, dry, and windy week after week. Finally, a combination of rain and wet snow brought two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Beltane\"","block_context":{"text":"Beltane","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=beltane"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/bird-migration-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/bird-migration-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/bird-migration-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2634,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2634","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":3},"title":"After the Beltane Festival","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Kinesthetic religion: my left arm was a little sore on Sunday from helping to carry the Maypole in procession\u2014a pine trunk the size of a smallish telephone pole, ridden by a zaftig May Queen. And yes, we heard every ribald variation on \"riding the pole\" shouted from the onlookers. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Beltane\"","block_context":{"text":"Beltane","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=beltane"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1582,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1582","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":4},"title":"Gallimaufry with Grosbeaks","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If it's Beltane, why I am still splitting firewood? Usually I observe the rhythms of the \"Celtic\" year by turning off the furnace at Beltane and relighting it at Samhain, using just supplemental wood heat otherwise. Not this year. But during a brief sunny interval yesterday morning, the first black-headed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Beltane\"","block_context":{"text":"Beltane","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=beltane"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-headed grosbeak, evening grosbeak, downy woodpecker. Photo by Chas S. Clifton","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/BeltaneFeeder.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10687,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10687","url_meta":{"origin":872,"position":5},"title":"Scottish Academic: Runes are Hate Symbols, also Anti-Celtic","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A free download from the journal Temenos: \"Pagans, Nazis, Gaels, and the Algiz Rune: Addressing Questions of Historical Inaccuracy, Cultural Appropriation, and the Arguable Use of Hate Symbols at the Festivals of Edinburgh\u2019s Beltane Fire Society\" The abstract: Although Beltaners \u2013 members of Edinburgh\u2019s Beltane Fire Society (BFS) \u2013 can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Beltane\"","block_context":{"text":"Beltane","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=beltane"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/runes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}