Tuesday 3 December 2013

Carningli "sleeping goddess"

Shock!  Horror!  I have just been reading a somewhat imaginitive article by Paul Devereux and Jon Wozencroft about the visual and acoustic significance of Carn Meini (Carn menyn) and assorted other rocky places in Preseli.  It's all extremely unscientific and is good rollicking  harmless fun -- but hang on a bit -- when they talk about Carningli they get things totally screwed up. 

I'm not greatly into earth goddesses and such, as readers of this blog will know, but I am prepared for a certain amount of speculation regarding the pagan or prehistoric significance that might have been attached to the silhouette or profile of the mountain, when seen from certain directions.  Paul and Jon take a look at this tradition, but they have to be 100% incorrect when they say that according to tradition the goddess's head is in the east and her feet are in the west.  See the caption in the illustration above.  It is patently obvious to anybody who knows the mountain that the head is in the west and the raised knees and legs are in the east.  The breast is in the right place, as is the rib cage and stomach -- and if you insist on anatomical details, the navel (the grassy patch near the eastern summit) is also precisely located, and the damp ferny area below that is in exactly the right place for the genital area. 

So there we are then.  All sorted.


Here we see the profile more clearly.  It's not perfect,  but from west (left) to east (right) we can see head, neck, breast, rib cage, stomach, raised knees and legs.

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To cite this article: Paul Devereux & Jon Wozencroft , Time and Mind (2013): Stone Age Eyes and Ears: A Visual and Acoustic
Pilot Study of Carn Menyn and Environs, Preseli, Wales, Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and
Culture
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2013.860278

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