Solstice Sojourn: Newgrange embodies the magic of pagan astrology

There is somewhere older than Stonehenge, and it is arguably far more impressive. Dating back more than 5,000 years, Newgrange is a passage tomb in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, that embodies all the extraterrestial magic of pagan astrology. Pitch black inside throughout the year, on the morning of the Winter Solstice the sun hits a small opening on the eastern wall, after which a thin stream of light runs along the interior floor and illuminates a triskellion carved on the central partition. After about a minute of brilliance, the light slowly fades and retreats along the path from whence it came. For the rest of the year, Newgrange returns to darkness.

Getting from Rhody to Newgrange to witness this event is simple now that direct flights to Dublin leave T.F. Green five days a week. And once you’re in the Irish capital, it is but a 30-minute hop to take you back in time almost 3,000 years. Newgrange is located 27 miles north of Dublin Airport, so if you rent a car at the airport you’ll be in possession of your very own time machine to whisk you back to the heart of the Neolithic!