One who went before

Often, I love to travel alone to honour the land's ancestors, bringing with me a sense of gratitude and respect for all the people who walked before me many centuries ago.

There are many burials, megalithic monuments, stone circles, and spiritual shrines well preserved in every corner of this beautiful Isle.

Usually, I know my voice and not a replicant of others, I prepared some seasonal flowers tied with some of my hair to be placed in a particular piece of land near the sites.

An effortless way to say 'thank you for walk-in this land before me.'

I don't try to 'possess' their lives or reclaim power because I live here.

Instead, it is the reverence that guides me.

Maybe I can say that I try to understand their society and their cultures.

Yes, maybe I can say this.

But the reality of my heart is very different, especially at Stonehenge.

While I walk in the path that introduces me to the sacred site, I know that people walked before me in the same way.

I can feel their benevolent presence and the land's energy under my feet; I can feel the sense of community of the past bringing inside the site a communal effort, bringing people together for a particular purpose.

Most people are tourists who take a selfie without respect for the sacrality of the place, and others feel a sense of 'shall we come back quickly to our car, please? I'm not well.'

The energy that emerges from the land is so powerful and sometimes intimidating for someone.

To me, it is the contrary. I noticed that in every site that I visited.

I felt the belonging, the connection, a sense of home and strength.

But belonging is the correct word in every sense, especially here in Stonehenge.

So, I walk with flowers in my hands, and I start the procession with the reverence that is the contrary of the grandiosity nowadays.

I have a particular preference; a little stone has always captured my attention, and I spend a lot of time in contemplation.

I don't know why but it's beautiful to live moments like that without questioning about this or that.

It is what it is.

This Kingdom untouched by time, as I love named this Isle, was not born or made by Roman Empire, Vikings or Normans.

It was made by the ones who walked before them a long, long time ago.

Bruna