10th Anniversary of the Stanstead Stone Circle
In 2009, the Town of Stanstead was gifted with its very own stone circle. Installed on the Autumn Equinox, which takes place every year between September 21st and 23rd, the stone circle has served as a significant place in the lives of many ever since. With its 10th anniversary quickly approaching, The Record recently sat down with Kim Prangley, the instigator of the project, to discuss the role the site has come to play in the community.
Prangley, who describes herself as a landscape artist, was born in Newport, Vermont but has always lived in Stanstead. For twenty-five years, she worked at the Haskell Library and Opera House before leaving in 2005. After leaving her job, she headed over to the United Kingdom and Wales to travel and take some time off. That is when she discovered what she called the healing powers of the earth.
“I was always interested in stone circles. I ended up going over to the United Kingdom in 2005 and I had an extraordinary experience standing on a Neolithic stone creation,” Prangley recalled. “It was a very healing place and I thought we needed one like this in Stanstead. I’ve been over a few times now and I always visited sites that involved sacred stones.”
While spending time in the U.K., she continued to experience the earth’s energy and what it had to offer. “While I was there I had a wonderful month long experience. On the eve of the summer solstice, I was standing on a sacred burial chamber. As I was standing on the tomb, I looked to my right and the sun was setting and I looked to my left and the moon
was rising. It’s like I was holding the sun in the moon in my hands. That’s when I went oh my god we don’t have this in Stanstead but we need it, I need it!”
After returning home from her trip, she started to look around for the perfect location for her very own stone circle but she didn’t have any formal plans. What started off as a personal project became something much greater.
Before starting her project, Prangley familiarized herself with stone circles by attending workshops that were held by Ivan Macbeth, who has created stone circles throughout the world by hand, in Massachusetts.
After returning home from a workshop in 2008, her friend approached her with some exciting news. “When I got back from that workshop, my friend told me that he found me a place to put my stone circle and got me free rocks!” The quarry in Bebe had gone bankrupt and her friend, Bashar Chbib, approached them about using their stones to build the stone circle.
“He was eager to put it together quickly but things don’t happen overnight.”
Other people joined in on the project as well. “I had someone come forward to fund the project and they are Gabriel Safdie and Eva Juul. Christian Ouellet agreed to put the stones in the ground. It was the three of us.”
She was allowed to choose her own rocks for the stone circle and she accomplished this through dowsing. “Dowsing taps into your energy and the energy of the world. You can ask the world questions using a pendulum.”
She went on to explain that the pendulum is like a necklace with a stone attached to it and it answers your questions depending on the way it moves. “I got the permission of the stones for the stone circle. Everything on the planet has an energy, it’s a very complicated topic.”
In the fall of 2008, she went to the Colby Museum where she sat on the Zigzag Sculpture, created by Kate Pond, during the equinox to help her navigate what she wanted her stone circle to represent. She explained that Stanstead is located on the 45th parallel and that is why this sculpture was placed in Stanstead. At the time of the equinoxes, their shadow marks the passage of the sun along the pipe on the ground.
After this experience, she decided she wanted to have her stone circle align with the equinox. “The equinox is the balance point between light and day. Day and night are of equal length. It’s about halfway points; the fact that our community is half Canadian and half American and that Stanstead is located on the 45th parallel which is halfway between the equator and the North Pole. It’s also about peace.”
As the ball started to roll, the project kept being delayed due to the weather that caused many inconveniences for the installation process. When Prangley finally received a phone call from Ouellet telling her to mark her calendar for the installation, she couldn’t believe the day it fell on. “It landed one year to the day that I sat on the equinox.”
Prangley explained that stone circles align with the constellations, making it a difficult task when it came time to position the stones. Prangley, Safdie, and Ouellet worked together to install the stone circle down to the very last detail.
The installation of the stone circle took two days to complete and it was a grand affair. “People came from all over to participate and people brought different items.”
When installing the first rock, there happened to be an equinox sunrise and Prangley’s friend Ivan suggested marking that spot to put a stone there in the future. It just so happened that when they finished installation, they had an extra rock leftover and it was added last minute to align with the sunrise.
She had to wait for another equinox to determine whether this stone was in the correct position. “I didn’t know if the stone on the ridge was in the right place so I needed to wait for another equinox.” In the days before the March 21st equinox, she calculated that the stone was a little off which resulted in Prangley marking the spot where she thought the stone should be. On the day of the March equinox sunrise, it was confirmed that her mark was correct and represented the moment the sun rose above the horizon. However, as the sun continued to rise it looked like it was sitting on top of the stone that sat in its original position. “I knew that was supposed to happen and everything fell into place.”
She ended up keeping the stone in its original spot. “The sun was sitting right above the large stone. I’ve never seen it line up that way again. What we saw was quit exceptional. It is very connected to the equinox and that was my intention from the beginning.”
While the stone circle involved lots of hard work, it was defiantly meant to be. “The universe wanted it there. Every time I came in contact with an issue everything worked out. That’s working with the earth as well.”
In terms of the stone circles impact on the Stanstead community: “Everybody reacts to it differently. Some feel a really strong energy and some see a huge beam of light. It depends on the person and their awareness. Part of it is to be out in nature and see the stars. Being in contact with nature, that’s what we desperately need. We need to go back to a more peaceful time when we were connected to the universe.”
Since its installation, there are stone circle celebrations that are held by Prangley and some by the Town of Stanstead. “I usually do something for the summer solstice and the equinox in September. The day the stone circle was put in is close to the United Nations Day of World Peace so what I’ve been doing is dances of universal peace on the weekend of the equinox. They are just wonderful. We need to give more of our energy to the energy of peace.”
This years celebration will take place on the Autumn equinox around September 21st or 22nd and if people want to know more about this upcoming event or future events that will be taking place at the stone circle, you can always add your name to the event list by sending an email to stansteadstonecircle@gmail.com. By adding your name to the event list, you will also be kept up to date about any changes involving the event that is taking place. This is event is free with a donation option and if it is raining it will be held at an alternate location.
If you would like to visit the stone circle and experience its beauty and energy, it is located on Notre Dame Boulevard in Stanstead and it is advised to bring your passport since it is located near the Derby Line!