Happy Lugnasadh, the cross-quarter date between summer solstice and autumnal equinox.
Davd and I got back a few weeks ago from a month-long trip to Scotland where we visited a great many stone circles. We spent time in three different areas: Aberdeenshire, the Isle of Lewis, and the Orkney Islands.
Davd got so much footage on this trip! Since we’ve been back, he’s been processing time lapses like crazy, but it’s been a pinch to get this video together. We’ve yet to go through any of our drone footage and have only skimmed through our interviews, which is where the story really is. We’re very very pleased with the interviews we were able to conduct and the connections we made with people on the Isle of Lewis and the Orkney Islands. Special thanks go to Karen Roach, Ian McHardy, Dr. Alison Sheridan, Dr. Roberto Trotta, Alice Glenday, Emma Rennie, Charles Tait and Sandra Miller. Our trip would have paled in comparison without you!
Heading out for our trip, I was quite worried about our timing. Solstice, southern lunastice and the weekend all coincided and I knew that there would be a lot of people at the stunning Calanais stone circle. We usually try to get shots without people in them, and this just seemed impossible with our timing. However, even more than lunar documentation, this trip was going to be all about procuring interviews, and in that way, this triple coincidence was perfect. So many people came together to share and celebrate these rare celestial happenings at this unrivaled spot on the planet. Even though we were 99% clouded out all three nights of the lunar standstill, the human connections we made were above and beyond anything we could have hoped for!
We hope you enjoy this video we’ve put together with time lapse footage from many magnificent Scottish stone circles. Our goal is to make a feature-length documentary on stone circles as our third volume in the Axis Mundi series.
With Mars inching towards Jupiter in the morning sky,
Chloe and Davd Valentine
retrogrademotionpictures.com
P.S. I’ve been working on the lunar calendar for 2025 and preorders are now available on our website. Those of you who are interested in exploring the year through the lens of the moon, feel free to take a look here.
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