JOHN MAHONEY

Stonehenge has to be oneof the most powerful energy centers on the planet.

It does not rest on thesurface. It is not even that its massive uprights are well-anchored in the earth.

Stonehenge is of the planet.

It is not a matter of it surviving for 5000 years.

Stonehenge endures.

The photographer Paul Caponigro once told me that if you will slow down and listen, Stonehenge will speak to you. But you must do your part...

Stonehenge is hard alongside the A30. It is both a protected heritage site and a commercial asset to be exploited. Tourists from all over the world come by the thousands. Because of people abuse, it had been closed and was only reopened this year.

There is a car park, eatery, gift shop, and ticket windows. You cross under the road through a tunnel, after picking up a hand-held electronic explainer.

Visitors circumambulate Stonehenge via a well-trodden path. The stones are protected from the visitors graffiti lust by a knee-high rope barrier.

Some walk the path, study the stones, listen to the explainers: stop, study, listen, move on.

Others, too many others, give the powerful grouping of stones a passing glance or two, then circumambulate --heads down, explainers jammed into ears, listening to the recorded voice speaking possible explanations of how Stonehenge came into being and what it means.

Assholes. Go home.

"Well," said one hole, a North American Uglianus by his accent, "who's going to take the picture...show we've been here...at Stonehenge?"

Stonehenge was profound. Spiritual, yes, but something deeper, more primitive, more elemental, right down to root and rock of being. Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Me. You. Us.

Grounded .

Next stop: Old Sarum, then Salisbury Cathedral. To come: a series of photographs of Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and the cathedral.

Next: Old Sarum

Click on the links to view photographs

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