Grahame: As the resident Scottish member and local expert of The Geomancy Group it was my responsibility to organise this trip to the stone rings of Aberdeenshire. As a group we are always difficult to organise - there are always last-minute drop outs and 'don't knows', making the logistics of trips like these a complete nightmare. Two weeks before we were due to go, it still looked as though we would have to cancel the whole thing due to lack of numbers.

Nonetheless, we decided to press ahead regardless, and even though the final numbers were not as large as we had hoped, the energy of the Group adjusted to those who were there and it turned out to be a really fantastic week, and one of the best experiences we have had as a group. Here are my additional thoughts on how things went:

Haughton House was actually the second choice of venue. I had narrowed my original list of possibles down to two, and I made a trip up from Glasgow in July to have a look at both prospects. My original choice was Templars Park, a Scout campsite near Petercoulter. This had excellent outdoor facilities including a fabulous fire pit arena; however the indoor accommodation was a little cramped and the loos were across the courtyard in the general toilet block. I decided this was a bit too much hardship for October!

Haughton House was much more comfortable on the whole, despite the separate flats, and it had the added attraction of a little home-made stone ring, plus the extra ‘residents’ in the building. I was aware of at least three spirits – one on the stairs, a green lady on the top floor, and there was some presence in the attic space that I didn’t feel inclined to investigate further. The stone circle wasn't too energetic on my visit in July, but that was something that we could easily fix! The discarnates in the building would not pose any problem for us, and if desired, we could help them on their way.
The top flat was spacious enough for us all to eat and meet in, and in general Alford is much more centrally located in the heart of the stone circles for day excursions. So it was definitely the right choice.
I remember the traditional orientation walk around midnight on Friday that turned into more of a ‘beating the bounds’ exercise as I tried to remember exactly where in the grounds the stone circle was. We did find it eventually after following the ‘grand tour’ route along the river that the warden had taken me on during my reconnaissance visit in July, but the walk was considerably more labyrinthine than it should have been!

Dave & Geo: Dave is an archaeologist who had worked on the excavation of Tomnaverie, a favourite circle of Ros and Grahame’s. He has good contacts with many of the farmers in the area and knowledge of many ruined sites that are not marked on the OS maps. Geo has become somewhat of a celebrity on the Scottish pagan scene and regularly runs workshops. I met her a couple of years ago at the Pagan Federation conference, where I first broached the subject of doing a workshop for the Geomancy Group.

I found the shamanic journey to meet Manannan especially interesting, as I haven’t worked with Manannan, yet his presence is still prominently felt in central Scotland in place names like Clackmannan and Slamannan. I was looking forward to making contact.
On the journey, my guide, a large wolfhound, led me along a deserted beach and out along a tiny spit of sand to where a bleached and decrepit hut barely stood, battered by wind and waves. Manannan appeared as a dishevelled tramp of a figure, with crustaceans and seaweed in his long hair and beard, giving him the look of a watery green man. He seemed in want of nourishment and attention; I privately resolved to spend more time working with him.
We were joined by a guest, Jason Schroeder, a friend of Dave’s who has lived in the area for seven years and runs guided tours of local sites. See. www.sacredway.co.uk.
In the evening Dave did a fascinating slide show about recumbent stone circles in the area. He also talked about the Clava Cairns, in which he explained his doctoral thesis concerning the shadows cast on the cairns by the outlying upright stones at sunrise on significant dates, and how these were marked in the central ring cairn by radial stone ‘causeways’, and the use of different coloured stones in the other cairns. A fascinating thesis, and I resolved to pay more attention to these features on my next visit to Clava.