The gate of the year

Megalithic monuments of Mên-an-Tol, western Cornwall (Great Britain), composed by a pierced circle stone placed in front of two menhirs. Their shapes recall an evident sexual symbolism and seems to anticipate the representations of the pair Linga/Yoni, typical of Hinduism, which represents the union of the male and the female principle. The link between these monuments and fertility is further demonstrated by the persistence of beliefs in the local popular tradition of the healing powers of these stones; according to a tradition, if a woman passes through the hole in the stone, at full moon, she would be cured of her barrenness (Symington 2011: p. 70).

[Image: http://www.mydaily.co.uk/2010/08/06/standing-stones-in-the-uk/]




Female Symbols

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Megalithic monuments of Mên-an-Tol, western Cornwall (Great Britain), composed by a pierced circle stone placed in front of two menhirs. Their shapes recall an evident sexual symbolism and seems to anticipate the representations of the pair Linga/Yoni, typical of Hinduism, which represents the union of the male and the female principle. The link between these monuments and fertility is further demonstrated by the persistence of beliefs in the local popular tradition of the healing powers of these stones; according to a tradition, if a woman passes through the hole in the stone, at full moon, she would be cured of her barrenness (Symington 2011: p. 70). [Image: http://www.mydaily.co.uk/2010/08/06/standing-stones-in-the-uk/]