Long ago, before refined columns of polished marble rose from the hard rock of the Earth to calibrate the night sky- long before Delphi, the Dragon houses (Dracospitos), solar temples at Karnac or even the heel stone on Salsbury Plain, there existed even older temples; temples not hewn and built from stone, but grown from nature.

Pillars of Time, monitoring heaven

  In following the trail of the Dragon through the millennia, we have been monitoring the development of time through various civilizations. Early peoples were just like us, trying to understand the rhythms of the world they found themselves living in. Some attempted to harness the cycles of the Sun and Moon as a single team; some thought to corral the rhythms of Venus. But for all the cultures living three, four, five and six thousand years ago, there was but a single constellation guarding the North Celestial Pole, the highest and most important axis of heaven.

Tree Temple

  Because of precessional motion, the North Celestial Pole points to different places in the sky over time. Now the Earth's axis points to a star called Polaris, the last star in the tail of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor). Five thousand years ago the North Celestial Pole pointed to the star thought to be the heart of the dragon (Draco).

  We know many megalithic sites were positioned on the coast line, where they looked out across bodies of water to near perfect horizons. Distant islands and mountain peaks were used as markers to help observe the risings and settings of the stars and planets, from Scotland, to Africa, to the US Southwest and beyond. Elements of nature were incorporated as aids in helping to determine planetary motion.

Winter Solstice dance

  The Stonehenge most people are familiar with as a grade school homework project is Phase III. The site was constructed in phases. Phase I is attributed to around 3000 BC. Phase III is about 1600 BC when use of Stonehenge was discontinued.

  The original Stonehenge was 56 evenly spaced wooden posts placed in a circle. Wood was used first, and if a site for one reason or another showed particular promise, they 'evolved' into more permanent structures made from stone.

  If we take this model one step further back still, is it so hard to imagine a living temple of Earth and wood, with live trees, especially pines with their pointed tops focusing on heaven. The ceremony of burning the Yule Log is linked to the wheel of heaven turning on the central axis, as the world turns. Like an English garden with its manicured hedges and guarded pathways, so the countryside was groomed to become a huge, Garden of Eden natural observatory of the skies.

  A living temple, reflecting and monitoring the Lord's creation, for all his children here on Earth.