"Ceremonial time is the moment when past, present and future can be perceived simultaneously."
Ceremonial Time is a non-fiction book written by John Hanson Mitchell and first published in 1984. It takes a look at fifteen thousand years of the past on Scratch Flat, a one square mile tract of land in Littleton, MA. The book is heavily influenced by Mitchell's accounts from his Indian friends.
Although rock piles are not specifically mentioned, there is much information to be gleaned from this book -- particularly for those of us who spend time exploring in Littleton.
The definition of, "ceremonial time," alone is remarkable, particularly as I recall my own experiences while documenting stone structure sites. I have experienced this concept of ceremonial time more than once while exploring. The most remarkable occurred just before I left Rhode Island -- it was an experience that left me quite shaken, actually -- but it also left me far less of a skeptic than I was before.
Ceremonial time adds to the idea of convergence at many sacred sites. Not only were they places where the Skyworld, Earthworld, and Underworld converged, but they may have also been places where time was least linear -- where the past, present, and future could be perceived simultaneously.
[CLICK HERE] to see a preview of Ceremonial Time at Google Books.
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This is about rock piles and stone mound sites in New England. A balance is needed between keeping them secret and making them public. Also arrowheads, stone tools and other surface archaeology.
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"I have experienced this concept of ceremonial time more than once while exploring. The most remarkable occurred just before I left Rhode Island -- it was an experience that left me quite shaken, actually -- but it also left me far less of a skeptic than I was before."
ReplyDeleteWould you care to elaborate on that?
If you are wanting to discuss John Hanson Mitchell's writing I would mention his "Tresspassing" which covers the history of the Sarah Doublet Conservation Land (The Nashoba Praying Indian Village) in Littleton. That book does mention of rock piles several times.
ReplyDeleteMy link to ceremonial time was when I found an old Indian tool quarry. I pealed back the layers of leaf mould and saw the hammerstones sitting there like someone was using them yesterday. The all the stone chips seemed to still have stone dust on them, still sharp as razors.. It was an amazing feeling. I guess you can get that discovery feeling on an archaeological dig, but being the first to find and discover a site in such untouched surroundings, alone deep in the woods, adds that much more excitement. Not a cermonial sacred site, but still brought one thousand years up to the present in a blink of an eye!
ReplyDeleteCeremonial Time is an excellent book.
Keith
Ceremonial Time mentions the destruction of the Flagg Swamp Rockshelter in Westborough, MA, around 1980. This was the site mentioned in Curt Hoffman's book People of Freshwater Lake that had a stonewall some 4600 years old under the dripline of the shelter until it was blown apart to make way for an offramp for I-495. As Keith says, this is a marvelous book, one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Larry's question -- Larry, I had told you about the terrifying vision and then dreams and nightmares I had following my explorations at Rockville, eventually leading up to what the police found there. I was a complete skeptic before, but that experience shook me to my very core.
ReplyDeleteIn a flash, I sensed the past of the site in the features found there, explored and experienced it very much in the present, and received a vision of the future that was so powerful I continued to dream about it for weeks after.
I hesitate to talk about this for obvious reasons. But it was such a remarkable experience, I have a hard time not sharing it.