Stonehenge is one of those places where no one will ever be able to uncover the full mysteries of the place, forever mythic in its own way with the capacity to always teach us deeply. The Hele Stone, a prehistoric standing stone aligned with the summer solstice sunrise and winter solstice sunset, has undergone many name changes. Originally called the Hele Stone, Christians renamed it the Heel Stone, and today, some new age groups refer to it as the Heal Stone.
My first ‘Stonehenge experience’ was on Summer Solstice eve’ 12 years ago when a group of friends and I spontaneously decided to drive through the night to enter the stones for the Summer Solstice sunrise. I was guided by some druid elders within the henge that night who told me prayers are to be made on the Hele stone, due to the alignment it forms with the summer solstice sunrise. What prayer arose in me that morning as I pressed my body and forehead upon the Hele stone was to come into a greater connection with the waters of the British Isles. A prayer which was very swiftly answered whereby a deeper connection with the waterways and springs in London (where I lived at the time) started to take hold in me. This prayer grew and grew inside me as the years went by leading to mapping out the springs of London and the holding of pilgrimages. For all the ancient pilgrimage routes find themselves following the water ways, for water sustains life.
Prayers made on the Hele stone on a summer solstice morn’ can really assist in a deep realignment in life. And these prayers are answered fast.
Fast forward 7 years later, my ears prick up when the news tell me about the ‘Stonehenge tunnel’, a deep tunnel the British government want to bore through the Stonehenge Unesco World Heritage site to hopefully speed up the traffic by maybe 5 mins, a tunnel which would cost tax payers £3 billion to build, and destroy much of the ancient landscape. Notably the oldest site of them all, Blick Mead, often known as the ‘Cradle to Stonehenge’, a rare chalk filled spring, which holds archaeological evidence of people coming and living by the spring 10,000 years ago. A site which predates Stonehenge by 6,000 years, and has released over 200,000 knapped flints and ritual offerings from this site. Within the henge itself only 30 knapped flints have been found to put things into perspective.
The "Stonehenge Spring," a site many had never heard of until recently, holds a depth and beauty that seem to shine through its waters.
Its significance as the oldest site within the Stonehenge World Heritage area offers profound insights into the lives of our ancestors and their history. Yet, despite its importance, the UK government has shown little hesitation in threatening its existence—a heartbreaking dismissal of a place that could rewrite history.
I made an oath to do everything I could to protect these ancient waters. These waters taught me so much about the ancestors of these lands, of the vast incredible distances they travelled across many countries to congregate in this area of Salisbury, to live, hunt and trade together. It was the waters that brought people to this area of the UK, bringing them on boats down the river Avon, and into the glen of Blick Mead, the freshest chalk filled stream which was always flowing throughout the year. Which brought auroch (ancient cow) and wild boar to drink from these waters. A place where our ancestors never grew hungry or dry of thirst. A place where they set up semi encampments throughout the years when historians thought mesolithic humans were simply just hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago, because living next to these waters was so good.
These waters taught me that Stonehenge itself was not merely just the Henge, the iconic megalith of stones that we see in pictures.
The Henge itself is merely just a ‘Star’ on the top of ‘the Christmas Tree’, a star which is only rightfully in its place because it’s held by a vast network of roots - of sacred sites and waterways all interconnected with the seasonal alignments of the stars, moon and sun.
For example it is thought that, on the winter solstice, great feasts took place in the eastern section of the Stonehenge world heritage site where peoples gathered at ‘Wood Henge, another monument site’. On the solstice night, they travelled by boat along the River Avon, carrying the cremated remains of loved ones in clay pots to Blick Mead. From there, they crossed Vespasian’s Camp on foot, processing down the ‘Avenue’, and finally released the remains within Stonehenge at sunrise, as the rebirth of the sun could be seen rising through the southern trilithon of the henge. A whole ceremonial ritual and engagement of travelling with the waters, and letting go of loved ones took place across the stonehenge landscape during this tide of winter. You see the focal point of neolithic culture was never just about the Henge itself.
For the past five years, I’ve co-hosted public pilgrimages with folk singer Sam Lee and Druid Chris Park to the Stonehenge landscape during the winter and summer solstices, raising funds for the Blick Mead Trust. These contributions have supported radiocarbon dating of artefacts found at Blick Mead, known as the "Cradle of Stonehenge." The discoveries, dating back to the early Mesolithic, reveal that people inhabited this area 11,000 years ago, shortly after the last Ice Age.
This evidence was presented in the Royal Courts of Justice during the Stonehenge Alliance’s legal challenge to the UK government’s tunnel proposal. It played a key role in their victory in 2021, reinforcing the importance of protecting this World Heritage site. In some small way, these pilgrimages have contributed to the exploration and preservation of this remarkable landscape and will continue to do so as long as they are held.
The Stonehenge Spring at Blick Mead is an extraordinary place. This rare chalk spring, with its pure and soothing waters, often captivates visitors so completely that they’d happily spend the whole day there, forgoing a trip to the henge itself. For 11,000 years, people have come to this spring, leaving ritual offerings and finding spiritual connection. It’s a place of enduring reverence, where humanity’s adoration and remembrance have spanned millennia.
Water has a unique ability to connect us effortlessly and profoundly. Touching the waters at Blick Mead feels like touching the past. These waters, like all waters on Earth, have existed since the planet’s formation, carrying the memories and resonances of every being who has encountered them. At the Stonehenge Spring, this connection is palpable, resounding with the voices of ancestors who worshipped there over countless generations.
May these waters continue to flow and sing, carrying the lifeblood of the Stonehenge World Heritage site.
May they whisper the voices of our ancestors into the future, inspiring generations to come to honour and protect their legacy with song and reverence. The old understanding of what it means to be sovereign and upholding the sovereignty of the land, was to be in guardianship with it, in reciprocity with nature and the good of the All.
That is why it truly is down to us all, and always has been to take up our mantle of guardianship wherever we may be in reconnecting to those severed threads of belonging to the land; in a collective healing of the wasteland.
If you’d like to go on a pilgrimage to the Stonehenge landscape you can contact Charlotte on: https://www.instagram.com/pulvers.apothecary/ Email: [email protected]
