space ritual

‘O how marvelous to be able to look at what one cannot see. O sweet miracle of our blind eyes.’ - godard, histoire(s) du cinéma (1988–98).

when horsemouth arrived at the drombeg stone circle there was a ritual in progress. the celebrants sat with crossed legs in the stone circle. some kind of a wind instrument was being played,it was all most celtic. later there would be an incantation and drumming on a shamanic frame drum -the celebrants were spanish speaking (latinas mostly - horsemouth guesses). horsemouth tucked himself in behind a stone and listened in (himself and the musician’s girlfriend exchanged smiles). when the ritual transitioned into frame drum and incantation horsemouth moved away to the vantage point overlooking the site - a few (more conventional) tourists arrived and held aloof also.

with the frame drum and the incantation the celebrants were up and moving drawing energy from outside the circle and casting it into the centre (towards the assemblage of crystal and silver laid on the stone marking the spot where the body of an adolescent had been found during archeological excavations). there were flowers on the altar.

but the energy was of a different order - indifferent to the ritual two workers from the ancient monuments commission were busy strimming the site - cutting back the grass - phasing in and out, rising and falling in intensity. the hands of the incantress (a patty smith look-alike) shook with this energy at one point her arm circled thrashing the air like pete townshend. the celebrants moved,some saluting the sky welcoming in the solar energy, some hands on heart, some moving their weight from foot to foot mobilising the energy. horsemouth quite liked this mixture of energies - a kind of folk industrialism.

and then the ritual ended - the celebrants dispersed - another took up the frame drum and kept a steady post-ritual beat for five to ten minutes whilst he looked out across the valley. there was a discussion with the tour guide about lunch. prehistorically there was a structure on the site intended for brewing beer or roasting meat, so these are not new concerns... and then hugs all round, they were off back up the lane, the tourists back to their coach parked a mile up the road (thoughtfully parked in front of the sign to the site). the musician and his mate shouldering a rucksack seemed to be off by different means.

there was a change of the guard - as you enter the site (where the site’s entrance now is) there was an information board with an speculative illustration, through the two tallest stones directly opposite the entrance the flat stone of the druid’s altar could be seen, there were offerings on the altar, a druid with raised hand indicated the cleft in the hills where the sun would rise (or was it set) on the winter solstice. that’s not right surely remarked the two women (and getting out their phones and google compass they settled it to their own satisfaction).

broadly horsemouth is neutral on this kind of prehistorical re-enactment. people are free to do what makes them happy or at least helps them make sense of the universe - even if it is an assemblage of celtic airs, amerindian ‘shamanic’ drumming, improv poetry and tai-chi warm up exercises (to be followed by chicken salad for lunch), even if it is misalignment.

drombeg is about two and half miles out of rosscarberry along the r597 (towards glandone). it is adequately signposted (but take a map to reassure yourself). in ireland they seem to have not so much the overlong country mile as the country kilometer but it was a nice walk on a mild day. there are other possible prehistoric sites for horsemouth to visit out west (there’s little locally to carrigaline) but they might be more difficult to find and get on to (templervan by clonakilty for example is not signposted, is on private land, is to quote one antiquarian ‘only accessible from the east’ and that after climbing through an electric fence).

when horsemouth got back into rosscarberry (birthplace of thomas barry, jeremiah o’donovan-rossa and michael collins) the sun began to shine. horsemouth sat out,read, drank a pint of beamish, walked around a bit and killed time until the bus back to cork came. once again his face is a little burned the rest of him pale.

from now until the end of his visit is the anniversary of alice coltrane recording lord of lords - presumably it took longer to record than the other albums because it’s an album with orchestra. santana lifted the version of going home (dvorak to you and me) to open his live in japan triple album lotus.