Standing stones, from the Celtic colloquium

Standing stones have a great thirst. They were giants once. Once every hundred years they go down to the river to drink, and if you have mistletoe and clover, you can steal their treasure. Stones know things. PStanding stones, from the Celtic colloquiumeople used to cut crosses into the stones to baptize the stones in order to make them Christian. But in Carnac, the people were turned into stone. Girls were turned into stone at midnight. Did you know the stones of Stonehenge were brought from Ireland, or Africa, or a parallel universe. They have medicinal virtues. Fertility. Rub a bare breast against the stone. Bathing at the base of the stones will give you domestic power. But stones can cause disease—like the wasting sickness of Cuchulain. On the stones is where the Otherworldly birds gather. In the Táin, Fergus talks to the stones, and the animals talk to him. The curative stones are associated with the Saints. The harmful stones are associated with the dead. The Giants stones are neutral. Stones know things, ignore them at your peril.

From a lecture by Anton Minard, Brittany, Celtic Colloquium 25 at UC Berkeley 4/3/03