After sitting in the sunshine for a\u00a0while absorbing the intense lessons of Old Keig RSC, I\u00a0decided to give myself another chance to find Cothiemuir Wood stone circle. I\u00a0had stupidly managed to come out without both a\u00a0charged phone and a\u00a0OS map, so I\u00a0was in the dark. I\u2019d previously got as far as the sign off the road for the natural burial site before turning back – which since it used an image of the recumbent and flankers seemed like a\u00a0fair bet. I\u00a0went back towards Cothiemuir from Old Keig (which is pretty close) and impulsively decided to park on an unused track just off the road at the bend before the burial site turnoff. I\u00a0wandered up though lovely trees and suddenly spied a\u00a0flanker standing tall!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a\u00a0beautiful site, nowadays standing in an area of chopped trees, funny how that really changes things in photos but in reality it probably always had a\u00a0great ambience. Trees are still visible, just set back and of course the hill, not the water \u2013 I\u00a0always forget to look for the water, which is often nearby. In this case it was down the hill beside the road and the old granary – the Burn of Keig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flankers were great! They are pink granite and very impressive in person. The recumbent is huge and had a mad face in it. I was at first puzzled by the slab in the middle with burnt wood nestling underneath it, but that of course was the cist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had been there for a while when two other people appeared, which made me realise how lucky I am in Aberdeenshire to mostly have circles to myself. Still I didn\u2019t mind to share the space since I was thinking to head off; we said hello and one woman chatted with me about stone circles. She seemed quite knowledgeable so I enquired if she knew this website and she said she doesn\u2019t really use the internet which I have to admit surprised me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this day and age, I\u2019d find it very hard to research sites without this site and the internets more broadly. She told me she was a therapist and perhaps unsurprisingly she then told me the stones have healing properties \u2013 I don\u2019t necessarily disagree. In her opinion, Cothiemuir has a gentle healing energy, Old Keig more aggressive, Sunhoney is the best for healing, Monymusk is for making decisions, Midmar has hard energy, Aikey Brae is a good one as is Berrybrae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This made me wonder if my habit of trying to see two or three RSCs in an afternoon is the right approach; I do remember having a very nice relaxing time at Sunhoney and I would say Midmar once felt pretty scary visiting at midnight, however I also do think we all take (and give) different things to the stones. In any case it was an interesting spring equinox conversation. She told me confidently that the beautiful flankers had been quarried at Bennachie and most neighbouring stone circles had some pink in them. I do hope the two women had a great healing sesion after I left. I certainly enjoyed finding Cothiemuir and next time I\u2019d park at the burial site, which is I think is probably what they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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