Callanish Quotes

“What happens over 18.6 years is that the monthly cycle of the moon rising and setting north to south gets bigger and smaller. For about a year or so every 18.6 years it rises and sets extremely far north, then two weeks later extremely far south. At this time we experience bigger than normal tides. From the latitude of Callanish, when the Moon is at its southern extreme, it stays very close to the horizon. This creates a remarkable illusion; the moon looks huge, really large, much bigger than at any other time, for the whole of its transit across the sky... The size illusion is visible to a smaller degree every time you see the moon rising - it looks big when close to the horizon but gets smaller as it rises in the sky. It has been much discussed since at least Aristotle in the 4th century BCE, and is thought to be due to certain visual cues in our perception of scale. Needless to say this is a beautiful thing to watch and would be anywhere at this latitude. However at Callanish, this is just part of the experience. Tursachan Calanais are located exactly so that this huge moon rises out of a mountain that looks like a woman, lying on her back, knees raised.”
― Ian McHardy, Contemplating Calanais: A Guide to the Standing Stones