Thoughts on its purpose

The four seasons of the earth -
The Four Ages of Man
The concept that Avebury and its various ancient sites, beyond the main focus of the Henge, is an outline of the Mother Goddess has much to commend it. Trace the outline of the places mentioned by William Stukeley in 1724, with the topography of the land on an Ordnance Survey Map and an image of the squatting Goddess appears.
How, though, would this have been known to the architects of Avebury, on the ground and without the benefit of an aerial view?
Let us credit them with the genius they deserve

Where else do we see this image of the Mother Goddess? In late winter/early spring, the winterbourne (dry in winter) river Kennet resurfaces and floods the low lying land, The ditch surrounding Silbury Hill is filled and, again, forms the shape of the squatting Mother Goddess. Such a clever design, using the seasonal flow of the river to venerate the Provider and where, from the summit, She would be visible. The annual, fresh flow of life-giving water from the Swallowhead Spring to swell the River Kennet, would have held great signficance to the populace living in and around Avebury. Swallowhead Spring, would have been seen as part of the Godess's living body. We see Spring, the Herald of new life, the first Age of Man and the first Season of Mother Earth. Contrast the absence of the water flowing from the earth which could signify drought, crop failure and to those reliant on those waters, death if the Provider witheld the bounty.

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The season of nurturing and growth and what better way to start than a great May Festival ? A Mayday event, for the celebration of coming of age, inside the main Avebury temple. The stone avenue or avenues, as Stukeley would have it, could have provided stunning processional routes* for the adolescents. In a shorter lifespan than we enjoy today, there would have been a pressing and earlier need for regeneration at a fundamental level. The union of male and female, at this time, would ensure that the progeny would develop in the comfort of the womb through the cold Winter months. At birth, in the early part of the following year, the infants would have the best chance to develop through Summer, to survive their first Winter. The main henge and circle of stones was a fitting monument to the Goddess, but seen as the living body. Ceremonial entry to the Circle would then have, indeed, been awe-inspiring.

*Travel west along the A4, from Silbury Hill and across the roundabout. In a short while, there is a lane going off to the left, up through an avenue of trees. Walk up this avenue and turn right at the top. You can look back across the flat summit of Silbury Hill, directly to the Sanctuary atop Overton Hill. Could this then be another Sanctuary and the starting point for a second procession. Little evidence of Stukeley's second stone avenue exists, if it ever did. It is interesting to note that, as with the Overton Hill Sanctuary, the Avebury Circle cannot be seen from here, but all three locations are visible from the Silbury Hill summit. Silbury would make an ideal beacon to start the celebratory processions to the circle.

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Silbury Hill, that extraordinary edifice which has lasted 4000 years and remains standing perfectly.** This is, surely, the representation of fecundity, harvest and pregnancy. We can only imagine the celebrations of a successful summer at this unique construction, but bearing in mind the logistics of creating it, it held signicant importance. This would have been a celebration of the third season of Mother Earth, the maturity of the Race, as new life developed within the pregnant mothers and the preparation for facing the coming, cold months of Winter.

**(The latest internal collapse from the summit is, very likely, the result of tunnelling over the centuries by treasure hunters, in whatever official guise and who are, sadly, responsible for so many desecrations of similar sites.)

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At each season we see a physical representation of the Mother Goddess. However, we should remember that Mother Earth is the living Provider and was revered as such. Our sophistication and beliefs have led us away from this perception over time, but the vagiaries of climate, even modest changes, will bring home, sharply, how dependant we are on the bounty of our great Mother. We bespoil Her at our peril.

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