𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐈𝐈
Upon the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland stands a complex of 19 standing stone circles built some 5,000 years ago by Neolithic peoples. One of these, Callanish III, sits atop a hill about a mile and a half from the main stone circle of Callanish I. The circumference of the circle is defined by 13 stones of varying height.
Within the circle are 4 primary standing stones. Three of them are set in a triangle that reflects the exact positional relationship of the Summer Triangle (Deneb, Vega, and Altair) that passes directly overhead at midsummer. The stars of the Summer Triangle are solidly known to be the three stars of the Triple Goddess: Deneb/Maiden/White Stone, Vega/Mother/Red Stone, and Altair/Old Woman of Wisdom/Black Stone.
Deneb/Maiden/White Stone
Vega/Mother/Red Stone
Altair/Old Woman of Wisdom/Black Stone
The fourth stone is set apart, across the circle. It stands tall and is phallic-shaped. From the tip of the stone runs a vein of white quartz, exposed down the upper 1/3 of the stone. This quartz is unequivocably meant to represent semen emitting from the tip of the shaft. Clearly, this stone is the Male Inseminator Stone. But what celestial body does it resonate with?
Moon Stone/Male Phallus
In many indigenous societies even today, and in most tribal peoples prior to the incursion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans into western Europe about 2500 BCE, the Moon was held as the embodiment of the Sacred Masculine, the Grand Inseminator. It was only with the introduction of the patriarchal P-I-E that the concept of a feminine moon was adopted.
The Moon, for the Neolithic peoples, was and is revered as the Divine Masculine principle embodied! Thus, the phallic stone of Callanish III is none other than the Moon himself. This stone circle is a map, a calendar, that denotes a specific yearly alignment of the midsummer’s Full Moon and the stars of the Triple Goddess.
These are the primary Ceremonial Knowledges that Callanish III conveys.
Sacred Cattle and the Pleiades
As we, the group of Travelers who had come to this sacred site at the time of the Full
Moon at midsummer, ascended the hill, we were met by a group of shaggy Scottish cattle who were gathered within the confines of the stone circle. As these cattle are feral, we were wise to know not to seek to chase them away, as their horns are long and sharp, they had calves with them, and this was their land. Instead, we approached the outer perimeter of the circle and then stood silently. The cattle eyed us, waiting to see what our next move was. We chose not to act from fear or aggressiveness. It was then that I recalled that the Summer Solstice (remember, we were in the three-day window of the solstice, ie, midsummer) was the time when the Pleiades/Seven Sisters rose heliacally in the early morning eastern sky, visible for the first 
time in the year. From Paleolithic times forward the artists who painted scenes of bulls upon cave walls deep within the earth did so because the stars of the Pleiades are prominent in the horns of the constellation of the Bull. For Earth Peoples, Horned Cattle and the Pleiades were one and the same thing. The Cattle embodied upon Earth the vital principles of the Pleiades.
The Pleiades were once again prominent in the morning sky beginning at this time. Embodied as these Cattle standing in the stone circle, the Cattle were, mythically, the presence of the Pleiades taking station to note how we would approach them: with fear and aggression, or with respect and honor. Calling upon silence and presence from my fellow Travelers, I began to sing my Grampa Peña’s song of the Seven Sisters/Pleiades. Seven verses I sang. The Cattle stood in rapt attention, staring at us, even moving close with curiosity. With the conclusion of the Pleiades song, the Cattle turned around and exited the stone circle, and went on down the hill! We stood there with our mouths dropped open. We had just experienced a most tangible experience of communication between the beings of Myth and the inhabitants of the Earth.
Entering the Circle
We were a group of ten: six women and four men. Now that the cattle had bid us adieu, we were free to enter the sacred circle. Circumnavigating the stone circle in a moon-wise direction (counterclockwise) we filed in on the south side of the phallic Moon Stone. We all made one more round in a moonrise direction, this time within the inner side of the 13 stones that defined the circle. The men gathered at the Moon Stone, while the women gathered around the three stones of the Triple Goddess. To our southeast was visible the mountain range that the Hebridean locals called Sleeping Beauty, as it has every appearance of a woman lying on her back, with every contour of the female form visible. Through the heavy cloud cover, we could see the glow of the Moon as it passed in a southerly direction, left to right, feet to head, across her body through the course of the night.
I am not at liberty to reveal the actual rituals that were undertaken that night. There is a power that builds in the presence of a revered silence. What I can say is that the building of Power was of utmost focus for us, both the men and the women. The rites that we performed that night were as a lens through which the Power was focused to best ensure a successful fulfillment of our intent, that of Sacred Union. Suffice it to say that we all, in each group, sat with ourselves and the fellow members of our group, with lucid honesty, and a willing relinquishment of that which stood in the way of purity of our purpose. For the women, that purpose was exemplified as Surrender. For the men, the purpose was expressed as Dedication. The initiation of Sacred union occurs when the men are in fullest dedication to that which the women hold sacred: Life, its care, and nurturance, and when the women surrender to that which invigorates every purified man: the awakening in the flesh of Spirit, together Sacred Union is born.
There were songs sung by each group. Dances and movement were the natural order of alignment with the pulsating rhythms of the Moon in his vigor and vitality and of the generative forces of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Elder Woman of Wisdom. With a synchronism so exact as to appear to have been on a pre-arranged signal – but it was not – the men turned to face the Triple Goddess stones and their attendant women, just as the women stood facing the Moon Stone and his attendant men. The Speaker for the Men addressed the Sacred Women and pledged Dedication to All Women and all aspects of the feminine.
Each Sacred Man then placed a single flower at the base of each of the three stones of the Triple Goddess: a white flower at the base of the white Maiden stone, a red flower laid in front of the red Mother Stone, and a dark purple flower at the feet of the black Elder Woman of Wisdom Stone.
The Sacred Women each stepped forth with a ribbon she had woven through the course of the night, a ribbon woven of white, red, and black. Each was wrapped around the base of the Moon Stone.
Now the Dedication of the Sacred men, as symbolized in the flowers, and the Surrender of the Sacred Women, as represented by the woven ribbons, were exchanged, and in that manner, Sacred Union was fulfilled! With shouts of glee, we circled the inner ring of the stones and exited on the north side of the Moon Stone, just as the Sun rose and the Full Moon set.
The Ceremony of Sacred Union has been sealed.
©2024 Jade Grigori
