LIFE AS MYTH
JOURNAL
JOURNAL 2013
A living myth
Seven year cycles
SUMMER 2013
Love as myth
LIFEWORKS
ATLAS
SUMMER 2013
STONES AS PORTALS
(clockwise from top) Standing stones on Machrie Moor, Isle of Arran, Scotland. Mark Phillips; Poulnabrone Dolmen, translating hole of sorrows. The Burren, Ireland. Stonehenge trilithon, UK.
A dolmen is a neolithic burial structure which consists of two upright stones capped by a third. It is also known as a portal tomb. These structures are found throughout Europe. And it is the designation "portal tomb" which comes to mind this morning in the context of the Easter tradition of death and resurrection. It is extraordinary to contemplate these structures -- to think that, thousands and thousands of years ago, humanity attempted to create an architectural symbol for death. And what they expressed is this: death is not the end -- it is a gateway, a portal, an opening between this existence and another.
A trilith or trilithon (Greek, trilithos, having three stones) is a megalithic monument consisting of two large stones installed upright in the ground, supporting a third stone on their tops. They are usually found in Europe.
A standing stone or menhir is a tall vertical stone erected by prehistoric groups in western Europe.
