Celebrating the Summer Solstice, Stonehenge and the Right to Spiritual Expression

Soon, the sun will reach its peak on the longest day of the year. Celebrated famously by new age spiritualists at Stonehenge, but also by diverse cultures across the globe. The summer solstice is known for bringing people outdoors to bask in the light. That’s exactly what we ought to do at this time of year. It can be hard to feel grateful for the good in the world when there is so much going wrong. It’s not about pretending the night won’t ever come, but appreciating that on this day the sun is more powerful than the void. The light is what keeps us going. It represents hope, the transformative power of change, the strength community brings us and the peace we can achieve by living in the moment. 

I’m going to take you back in time. Not to the ancient past, but to the early 1980s. The Stonehenge Free Festival was a large-scale, multi-day gathering occurring each year in June from 1974 onwards. Reminiscent of today’s music festivals, there was a variety of music, community events and anti-establishment sentiment. Picture a flowing rainbow of colourful clothing, braided outgrown hair and the iconic standing stones reaching long shadows across the meadows of Wiltshire. The climax of the festival each year was the summer solstice – a communal celebration of life and light, of creativity, freedom, expression and love.

Sounds like a dream for those of us in isolated spiritual communities, still searching for where we belong. So why doesn’t the Stonehenge Free Festival still take place? It occurred at a time before the barriers were put up around the great monument. It caused more restrictions to be put in place to protect the archaeological value of those fields. You see, in 1984, reports circulated of festivalgoers using neolithic burial pits as bread ovens and bathrooms. The litter and soil damage from the tyres of vehicles cost upwards of £20,000, not to mention disruption to local farmers and the priceless archaeological artefacts possibly destroyed in the process. All this damage in the wake of what should have been a free, open celebration of light and spirit led to a violent police suppression of the festival in 1985. This celebration of summer was sadly clouded by the behaviour of its participants.

Hereafter, access to Stonehenge has been increasingly restricted. The festival was dispersed in 1985 and was never re-established due to the police brutality and hundreds of arrests that occurred which became known as the Battle of Beanfield. Similar free festivals were also dissolved during the 1970s and 80s. In my lifetime, I have never known Stonehenge to not have at least a barrier of rope around it preventing anyone from getting within touching distance of the stones.

The first fence was put up in 1977 to prevent worshippers from touching or climbing the stones and to protect the site’s integrity. These actions are necessary for preserving the stones for future generations. This point is validated by the Just Stop Oil protestors spraying orange powder on the monument in 2024, breaking headlines globally and sparking fears of permanent damage to the stones and local ecosystem. It is clear that protection is absolutely needed if we want to keep being able to celebrate this iconic structure for years to come.  

I find this a sad truth. I yearn for an experience I have never had – the opportunity to go up to the stones and touch them, to connect to the ground and bask in the shadows of such a valuable part of our national and spiritual identity. While I have my spiritual desires, I acknowledge that these restrictions are time and time again proved necessary by the thoughtlessness and negligence of the few, and therefore must be given priority. And so I appeal to everyone reading this – if we want to maintain our rights to the monuments we currently enjoy – to get close to them, to celebrate our festivals like Litha in the way we so desire, we must conduct ourselves with decorum and respect for our surroundings. Clean up your litter, follow fire safety rules, keep noise pollution to an acceptable level and do your best not to damage crops or vegetation. This will not only help annual celebrations become more widely accepted but aids other related movements too like the Right to Roam campaign which calls for wider freedoms for people to access common land and public footpaths. Especially in this current era where we are experiencing a resurgence of conservative values socially and politically, it’s important to be grateful for our freedom of expression and exercise it with joy.

We should all be respectful in our celebrations so that we can keep the access to spiritual places we currently enjoy. We should also never stop fighting for our right to mark these festivals and express our spirituality in ways that feel rewarding and connecting. Each blog, zine, song, artwork, poem and repost demonstrates the strength of spirit we have. Each and every person who reads our books is part of that global community of support. We have the power to forge new, respectful and inclusive traditions which honour and are informed by the past. So this year, use the sun’s great power to charge your energy and use it for positivity. Bask in the light and the freedom we enjoy.