Letter: Unfair to Pagans
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Last year on the Summer Solstice, 21 June 1998, members of the Covenant of Earth Magic were bused in with a police escort to the centre circle of Stonehenge, along with other representatives of various Pagan groups, archaeologists, members of the public and Druid orders.
Imagine our dismay at learning that this year only Druids are being allowed access to the centre circle on the solstice and that all other Pagan groups are to be fobbed off with the promise that they may enter the following day.
In addition to this, the exclusion zone set up by English Heritage and the local constabulary is to be removed. This will allow anyone who so chooses to wander up to the boundary, but not enter the circle itself. Not only could this be a threat to the safety of the select few allowed within, it may also pose a danger to the structure of this historic and sacred site.
Not only are English Heritage discriminating against all other groups in their allocation of special access, they are endangering Stonehenge itself. Stonehenge is not the sole property of English Heritage. They are merely the appointed guardians of this ancient national monument.
We at the Covenant of Earth Magic will not be within the vicinity of Stonehenge on the Solstice this year, as we will be choosing another site to worship in peace, possibly Glastonbury Tor. In addition to this, we will be performing a ritual to protect Stonehenge from any damage it may incur and we urge all other Pagan groups to take similar action.
KEVIN CARLYON
High Priest of British White Witches
NICK RIVETT and JANE BRACKLEY
High Priest and High Priestess of Kent, Covenant of Earth Magic
St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex
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