The Andalusian landscape does not have many sacred sites compared to an island like Britain, but the ones it does have are rather special. After having visited El Torcal and seen the sleeping dragon in the landscape I wanted my fix of megalithic sites. Can’t go a whole week without one! I had identified three in the area – two together and one a further mile away. Seemed like a plan to go visit them as the clouds started gathering. No sunbathing today!
Alongside the town of Antequera there are two dolmens – “Cuevas De Menga Y Viera” (Megalithic Portal link]. The Menga dolmen is reputed to be the largest in Europe. Luckily for us the site has now been fully restored and turned into a proper visitor attraction. Did I say lucky? I meant… lucky for the site. Because the restoration has been very well done. The site is clearly looked after, well visited, and protected from harm. The restoration work itself seems to have been both sympathetic and without any lavishness or unnecessary additions. I would go as far as to say it’s one of the most pleasant ancient sites to visit anywhere, and this one is on the outskirts of a busy large town – surrounded by homes, businesses and busy roads. Yet, it is given the proper space, the right restorative treatment (despite a crumbling economy), and the dolmens are free to go and see. What more could you ask? English Heritage take note!
Inside the chamber one begins to appreciate the size of the construction. Here is a plan showing the construction, and then a picture I took inside the dolmen.
At the rear of the dolmen is a well that is said to have been constructed in Roman times. Certainly it did not feel, dowse or look like it was part of the original construction – nothing like it has ever been seen before. Yet, you could imagine that the space could have been useful to the Romans when they conquered the area. There are some gouge marks in the pillars that seem to have once supported some wooden beams – possibly the Romans converted the space into a storage facility? The well was interesting, but it didn’t add anything to the energy of the site, I felt. Mike agreed – it wasn’t part of the original construction.
As you turn to look out of the dolmen you begin to understand why this particular site was chosen. The view of the La Peña De Los Enamoros mountain (Lovers Mountain) is incredible. From the dolmen the mountain looks like a lady sleeping in the land. Look how the monument is positioned to frame the mountain perfectly…..
Menga is definitely a sun-aligned dolmen. I reckoned, using my Starwalk app, that the sun rises out of La Peña mountain, right along the line of the rock strata, on many days over the course of the year. I expect that if I’d had enough time I could have found the exact data when the alignment is perfect, or rather WAS perfect. It’s a little off to one side these days, but thousands of years ago I bet it was perfect.
By contrast, the neighbouring mound of Viera is definitely moon-aligned in terms of its feel. The mound has a female feel, and when inside the mound you definitely get a feeling that it was used for contemplative, passive activities such as meditation, initiation or communing. It was too cold and inconvenient to try to determine whether there was a specific moonrise or moon-set alignment, but I am guessing there might be.
Inside the chamber there is a small square entrance to another even smaller chamber. I felt this was a meditation chamber inside the moon mound. I reckon the entrance was blocked up with a stone cover and then someone would sit outside keeping watch while the initiation or meditation was progressing. I have seen a similar set-up in places like Newgrange where there is such a chamber at the back of the main mound with exactly the same sort of waiting chamber/meditation chamber architecture.
Recalling the Fire Dragon
OK. Enough of the tourist stuff. We were wandering around the mounds trying to work out whether we should go or do something else. Mike walked up to join me on the top of the Menga mound and gave me a look that suggested he was about to suggest something. It was a suggestive look! “I get the feeling that the two mounds should be linked, but they’re not at the moment.” he commented. I agreed. More than that – there was work for us to do here. Mike confirmed he felt the same, and after a quick dowse to confirm it we instinctively took up our respective positions at power centres on the top of the mound. Neither if us had mentioned what we would do to link the mounds, but hey – let’s see what happens.
I stood looking at the mountains that framed a backdrop some few miles distant to the town of Antequera. I didn’t realise at the time but of course these were the Sierra del Torcal mountains that we had been wandering around the day before. This was the lair of the sleeping dragon! I honestly didn’t connect the two at the time. Instead, I felt like I should look to the tops of the mountains – their peaks – and I should call upon the forces there to deliver energy down the valleys to the mounds. Within moments I could ‘see’ the energy coming down as I called it, like a torrent, a deluge, gathering streams of energy together and flooding own the mountains towards me. I panicked a little bit. I had expected a few small streams maybe, but this energy was more like a flash flood! By the time it reached the mounds it was like a tidal wave or tremendous force!
The bow wave of the energy hit the moon-mound and began to flow around it as though creating an island in a flooded landscape. “Like Avalon…“, I thought. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike with outstretched arms rock back as the energy hit. He nearly fell over but managed to recover himself before he dropped backwards. He got back into position, a little stunned I could see. No time for more romantic thoughts, I needed to direct this energy. I swept it around the moon-mound using a circular visualisation until it flowed strongly but purposefully. It was flowing in a circle but still growing in strength. How could I get it to connect with this sun-mound, I wondered?
I needn’t have considered how. As the thought appeared so a bright shape emerged from the back of the moon-mound. It was a red dragon, all ablaze in an aura of dancing flames that reached twenty feet beyond its shape. The dragon was looking right at me, so I accepted the stare – and it came towards me, as though I had called it. It followed the flow of energy, snaking around the moon mound anti-clockwise and then around the sun mound clockwise.
The fire dragon from the hills lifted itself out of the circular energy swirl and came up onto the mound, melding with me in a flash like a firewall, a bursting blaze that embedded itself into my spine and made me shiver with the strength of the pulse. I lifted my head skyward and a grin broke out across my face and emerged as a barely audible chuckle. All around me I could feel and see an aura of yellow flame flickering and dancing. At that moment Mike turned round with the most astonished look on his face. His mouth opened and closed in wonder and I looked into his eyes. He looked back at me and said, “You’re all ablaze! You’re surrounded in flame!” I nodded slowly at him and then lowered my arms, letting the dragon’s energy descend gently to seep into the sun-mound and settle.
Rarely have I experienced anything quite so intense. Mike and I had been ‘working part’s in the mechanism that brought about the return of the fire dragon. The sleeping dragon of El Torcal had awoken and returned back to its rightful place. The mounds of Antequera were once again linked together, and the energy was re-stored.
Gwas.
Wow! Great insight. Keep em coming!