Spiritual Orkney no longer offer open public rituals in Orkney at the Ring of Brodgar or the Standing Stones of Stenness. 

Every year, we get a lot of emails about this, especially around Beltaine and Summer Solstice, and this post is an attempt to answer all the questions we get asked and to explain our decision(s).

We thank you for reading this post in full PRIOR to emailing us. We get LOTS of emails every year and they all take a long time to reply to – time which we don’t have – and some of the emails we receive can become quite ‘resentful’ about our decision to no longer to offer open public rituals in Orkney. 

Hopefully you will find all your answers here, and won’t feel the need to email us (unless you wish to book a tour or private ceremony with us, in which case your communication is most welcome).

We started to offer open rituals over a decade ago. Over the intervening years, the numbers of people attending increased beyond what we could confidentially cope with. We appeared in local and global media, including newspapers, documentaries and television programmes.

We were both flattered and concerned about the increase in numbers attending; we recognised there was a need for ceremony to mark the seasons in Orkney, but were also concerned that it was beyond our capacity to meet that need in a way that would continue to be safe for those attending and to protect the site(s) and non-human users of the sites (such as ground-nesting birds who were being disturbed). 

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has always been most accommodating to us, but the process of applying for permissions to use the sites took longer each year. We usually had to start the process early autumn the year before, write detailed risk assessments and produce other documents. Quite reasonably, HES expected us to be insured for the event and the amount of cover required was £millions. We couldn’t afford those levels of premiums, could find no one to insure us gratis, and a condition of use of the site included not charging for admission, so we couldn’t recoup costs from attendees either.

Then there were the increasing demands of attendees and potential attendees. Sharing some of the things which happened, may help you to understand our frustrations and eventual decisions:

• Some people brought dogs which were not under (what we considered to be) adequate control (not when other dogs and young children were present, and without an appreciation that some people are simply nervous around dogs), a couple of times we had people respond negatively with us when we suggested using a lead. 
• Others attended either under the influence of alcohol (or other substances), brought alcohol to drink during the ritual, or were just not very well mentally (and this being ‘obvious’). At all times we tried to respond sensitively and courteously but some people can respond negatively if they perceive that their ‘rights’ are being questioned.
• It wasn’t unusual to receive long emails or telephone calls from people with impressive Pagan ‘credentials’ who ‘expressed a desire’ to do a ‘star turn’ in some way – whilst most were wonderful and added to the atmosphere, not everyone asked in advance and some people just took over in the middle of the ritual (please, ask yourselves whether you would even consider doing this during a church service? So why might it be acceptable during a Pagan ritual?).
• At first we made honey cake to share but then we had to make a gluten free honey cake to be inclusive, and then a vegan cake and … the fear of inadvertently making someone ill due to a rogue ingredient became very real.
• We used to pass a horn of ale around but when every single attendee stops to take a selfie, a ritual act which should take a few minutes was taking half an hour (please, ask yourselves whether you would even consider doing this during a church communion?)
• People would telephone us to tell us we ‘had the wrong date’ (usually when the summer solstice fell astronomically on the 20th or 22nd June) or they had ‘just’ missed the event and ‘could we re-do it?’ Sometimes there was a ‘please’, more often we were the innocent recipients of angry disappointment (sorry we let you down, perhaps check an almanac for astronomical dates?)
• With more and more attendees, parking was becoming a problem at both sites; on a couple of occasions there was nowhere for us to park … and we could see everyone waiting for us and for the ritual to start …
• With people travelling from all over the world to attend, we just started to feel as if we were adding to the problem (you know, the problem of climate change crisis) by encouraging people to travel unnecessarily. As Pagans, that seemed counter to much that we believed in.

Despite asking for help from our local Pagan community, enough reliable assistance did not materialise. It was just the two of us, with occasional assistance from good friends who were sadly unable to commit in the manner the open rituals needed to continue their momentum. We really needed a team in order to continue.

These were the main hazards we could feel developing, and every year we were becoming more reluctant to offer another cycle of events; our concerns had moved beyond people simply falling over in the mud and had become compounded into mutual feelings of dread and exhaustion.

The various lockdowns meant that our open rituals had to stop. 

Like many people, the changes which came as a result of COVID meant that, even when we could restart again, we reappraised the situation and decided then that we did not wish to continue to offer this service to the Pagan and wider community. 

We stopped publicising open rituals and placed a notice on our web-site to explain, but people still continue to contact us about the possibility of attending open rituals in Orkney. 

We have no plans to restart the open public rituals in Orkney. No plans whatsoever; none.

We believe they were ‘of their time’ and that time is now past. If you ever attended and enjoyed them, please tuck the memories away in a special place and nurture them. We hope they continue to bring a smile to you as you remember the happiness and peace of watching a sunset or sunrise in a special and sacred place.

As far as we are aware, we do not know of any open public rituals taking place in Orkney. There could be some private rituals going on in Orkney, but these will necessarily be ‘private’ and they are not the sort of thing anyone can just invite themselves along to (no matter how extensive your Pagan ‘credentials’ might be).

There is nothing to stop you going to the Ring of Brodgar or the Standing Stones of Stenness and holding your own ritual there – but please get permissions in advance from HES if you plan to do anything substantial or involving a lot of people and please, please, please follow all guidance at the site (specifically: do not go in amongst the stones at Brodgar if the gates are closed, never go in the middle of the site at Brodgar even when the gates to the inner path are open, don’t climb stones or tumuli, and don’t leave anything at the site because the best offerings are not left but rather involve taking away by picking up litter and disposing of it carefully in a bin).

There is nothing to stop you going to the Ring of Brodgar or the Standing Stones of Stenness and meditating there at dawn or dusk or noon – either on your own or with others – the sites are open access at any time.

We have no plans to restart the open public rituals in Orkney. We simply do not have the time or the energy, the patience, or the ‘calling’ to do so, nor to be able to do so in a manner which honours those attending and the site. 

If you are visiting Orkney and you don’t wish to use our paid-for services (life rituals or guided tours) but you do want lots of ‘where should I visit as a Pagan?’ advice, please contact the Tourist Information Centre in Kirkwall.

However, if you wish to book us for a tour and / or you would like a seasonal ceremony to be conducted for you or your group, we are open to discussing this with you and would welcome your email communication to us.

Thank you for reading this and for your patience and understanding. We are sincerely sorry for any disappointment we may have inadventently caused you but hope you will still enjoy your holiday to Orkney.

Updated April 2024