Observations placeholder
Sacred geography – Picts – Mark stones
Identifier
026507
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
As mark stones can be used to point to any number of sacred geography structures, we have listed them all under concepts so that you can see the variety of structures used in sacred geography and their meaning.
Current distribution of Pictish mark stones in situ - note that many may have been buried or lost, broken up for walling, or taken to museums
A description of the experience

Mark stones are stones that mark out features of sacred geometry. They occur on old tracks and roads that were once, and still may be, ley lines.
Ley lines tend to follow telluric currents and the paths of telluric currents can be altered by road works, building, diversion of streams and so on, so they are not permanent features, but the existence of a mark stone indicates that at least at one time this was on a ley line.
Very sadly, many of the Pictish mark stones have been removed from where they were found and placed in museums. Although this helps preserve the carvings on them, it also means all records of their original positions has been lost together with the details of the sacred geography that existed. It is a bit like removing all the signposts on the M1 to a museum and then attempting to work out where the M1 once went and all the places that could be accessed from it using just the signposts.

re-used later as a grave marker and thus no
longer in situ
The Pictish mark stones are possibly the most beautiful and intricately carved of all the mark stones and contain a host of symbolic meaning. They are nearly always profusely carved with symbols, using a symbol system that is consistent and universal. Each symbol describes
- the type of building - broch, wheelhouse, important grave, barrow etc,
-where it is to be found
- when it should be used, or put another way, when it is of greatest potency.
- to which totem group it belongs.
For example the Boar is a totem group and represents one of the constellations and Signs of the Zodiac. A stone might say, “the Broch belonging to the Boar and of this Sign of the Zodiac is to be found in this direction, so many megalithic yards away, and should only be used at summer solstice – [or alternatively] is open for use at summer solstice”

The symbol system used is extraordinarily comprehensive and in the observations for symbols you will be able to find the meaning of the symbols that provide the details of the type of building as well as the directions. The Totem group observations then fill in the details of the symbols in use here.
One of the most important symbols is the V rod and crescent moon. The V rod is a compass, and it is symbolically being used to enable people to calculate the times of maximum potency of a place in relation to certain activities
The best video I have found to show this graphically [and I hope the link stays unbroken as it is well explained], is this one from Jason Bellchamber whose exhaustive research into this area deserves considerable credit
How to Draw Celtic Patterns 2 - The Pictish Crescent V-rod.
The source of the experience
PictsConcepts, symbols and science items
Concepts
Symbols
Science Items
Sacred geographySacred geography - altars
Sacred geography - ancient trees
Sacred geography - artificial hills
Sacred geography - barrows
Sacred geography - beacons
Sacred geography - bridges
Sacred geography - castle
Sacred geography - citadel
Sacred geography - cities
Sacred geography - cliffs
Sacred geography - crack or crevice
Sacred geography - cross
Sacred geography - crossroads
Sacred geography - cursus
Sacred geography - enclosures and camps
Sacred geography - gardens
Sacred geography - henges
Sacred geography - hollow roads
Sacred geography - initial sites
Sacred geography - islands
Sacred geography - isthmus
Sacred geography - labyrinths
Sacred geography - ley lines
Sacred geography - lighthouses
Sacred geography - mapping the spiritual onto the physical
Sacred geography - mark stones
Sacred geography - mountain
Sacred geography - natural hills
Sacred geography - obelisk
Sacred geography - palace
Sacred geography - physical caves
Sacred geography - pole
Sacred geography - pyramid
Sacred geography - rivers and streams
Sacred geography - sacred grove
Sacred geography - the muddying of the maps
Sacred geography - underground secret passages
Sacred geography - volcanoes
Sacred geography - water sites
Sacred geography - ziggurat
Telluric currents