This is one of the many stone circles I’ve visited in Scotland over my lifetime. This one is at Lundin, and it’s a pretty small one, but rather uniquely, has a tree growing in the middle of it. That’s pretty unusual. Mostly these circles have just grass or a covering of small stones in them.
I suppose you could look at this and say it’s just a few stones, placed on their ends in approximately the same part of a field. So what’s the big deal? But wouldn’t that be a terribly reductionist, thin, and poor way to encounter something like this.
The truth is I don’t think anyone seriously looks at this and thinks, so what, just some stones in a field!
There’s something about the arrangement of stones into rough circles which resonates deeply with us. They catch our attention, provoke our curiosity and stimulate our imagination. They may even invoke memories for some of us, remind us of stories, create a sense of deep time connection to ancestors.
There is something else they can do too – they can move us. I’m sure I’m not the only person to feel a thrill approaching a circle like this, to experience a quickening of my heart and my breathing. Not with all of them, but with many of them, I have a distinct feeling when I step inside the circle. I can’t quite pin it down. It’s partly a feeling of joy, partly a feeling of wonder, and partly a feeling of expectation. Of what? I don’t know. About the best I can say is that the feeling inside some of these circles is special. It’s unique.
Is this why they were built in the first place? We don’t know. Are they works of art, places of ritual, scenes of celebration or enquiry? We don’t know.
But here’s what I do know. They aren’t just a few stones in a field.
They are opportunities to be enchanted. To be re-enchanted. Because, hey, let’s face it, it’s pretty easy to feel dis-enchanted these days!
There are many kinds of special places for human beings of course. They aren’t limited to stone circles. I wonder which special places you’ve found in your own life?
These special places make us more aware that life can be deep, rich and meaningful if we look behind the superficially disconnected material view of reality.
Here’s to a life of enriching experiences!
Heroes Not Zombies 
The romantic and enchanting nature of stones in a circle or is it something less positive?
Agree here that we need to look deeper for a meaning – as to why there are stones on top of a wee hill surrounding a tree, in a remote part of Fife, Scotland. Is the type of tree of any significance?
Easy to walk through life without seeing what is in front of us!
Cheers
Well we can be pretty sure the tree isn’t as old as the stones but was there a different tree there originally? Probably not. Most circles I’ve seen don’t have trees in them. But hey maybe that’s part of the same point – when we notice these “strangeness -es” (ok, probably no such word) wonder, and, even enchantment, can come flooding in! I love that!