I recovered the attached illustrative tale from my personal backups after discovering it had been deleted from the internet archives.  Think of it as my musings for a screen play that could use some impressive computer generated graphics to offer an alternative mythology to the normal Arthurian tales.

The Fiery Sword

There have been plenty of wild ideas about Stonehenge and the annual gathering of “Druids” there tends to highlight some of the them. Other than the operation of the site as a seasonal “clock”, few have speculated as to a practical—even industrial—use of such a structure. The function solely as a clock seems tendentious for the history and scale of the undertaking by people for whom survival made practical considerations paramount, and unfalsifiable appeals to the “ritual site” hypotheses can be made about virtually any impressive structure . However, we’ve seen technology mythologized in our own time in the form of space travel, atomic weapons and the like. What if some of the myths of the ancient Brits had a basis in a technology within the grasp of bronze-age peoples that had a practical and profound impact on their society—profound enough that it would make neolithic people transport large stones many kilometers to construct an otherwise-mysterious megalithic structure, and leave myths that sound supernatural to us because they appeared supernatural to the inhabitants of the time?

I think I may have identified such a technology in the geometry of Stonehenge. Here is a very short, illustrative story.

Imagine you’re part of a bronze age European people.

One of your main activities in life is the fire—its maintenance and use. It is central to life, particularly in colder climates such as yours. You would spend much of your life gazing at fire, watching it dance about in the shifting wind. As is required of your ancestors, to survive as a predator in environments unsuited to simple instinct, you are observant, curious and thoughtful.

Occasionally the play between wind and fire produces an impressive sight: A swirling tongue of flame that seems to leap to life under the higher wind and stand upright—if only for a moment. This happens enough times and you notice a correlation between the way the wind comes and the rise of the flame. No Pedant of the Gods is there to tell you “Correlation doesn’t imply causation.” so you continue your Promethean inquiries uninhibited. You notice other correlations. Your neighbor walks by the fire with a sail, as they’ve done before, but this time it catches the wind at a particular angle when the swirling flame leaps brightly upright.

You call out to the person carrying the sail to come back—that they’ve somehow conjured the swirling flame—but they’ve got more important things to do and besides everyone knows how obsessed you are with these temperamental sprites. Your neighbor doesn’t insult you—he knows it could lead to his death in single combat—but neither does he vary his course. “Perhaps later. Now there are fish to catch and mouths to feed.”

You have sailed. You know how the sails and wind shape each other. Now you see how the fire is shaped by the wind. Your inner-predator gets the better of you. You grab the sail from your family’s boat and bring it back to the fire. Holding it in the same place you just saw the other sail catch the wind, a gust hits. The fire is blown brighter but does not leap swirling upward. This doesn’t put you off. Stalking your prey you know you can’t give up. Changing the shape and position in which you hold the sail, as you might during during a trip on your boat, the wind gusts again. This time the swirl appears to slightly leap!  Was it just your imagination? Adjusting again the next gust does the mundane. But finally you adjust and the flame leaps up in a bright swirl that persists longer than you’ve seen before! You’ve caught your prey.

You call to your brothers to show them the fire sprite you’ve conjured with your sail. They know you are obsessed with the fire sprites but they also know you are skilled with a sail and the wind. They drop what they’re doing and come to see if what you say is true. They aren’t disappointed. They each try their hand holding the sail up and catching the wind. You then ask them to bring the sails off the neighbors’ boats, if they can borrow them. The neighbors, now seeing an entire family interested in your fire sprite, agree as long as they can hold the sails at a safe distance. You show them what you’ve done and then ask them to arrange themselves in a circle about the fire. They don’t know why you ask this but their inner-predators now have hold of them too. At first it seems to defeat the purpose. But the entire hunting pack is now cooperating. You ask them to orient the sails in a vortex pattern and the next gust of wind induces a pillar of fire to shoot up—the likes of which the people have never seen. You direct those on the leeward side of the wind to form a wall with their sails to keep the wind from exiting. The flame straightens up, and builds faster, higher brighter and hotter. You now sense the wind itself is being shaped by the powerful flame as all sides of the circle feel wind pressing in toward the pillar of fire. You tell those on what was the leeward side to open their sails to guide the in-rushing wind to the same vortex. The pillar of fire strengthens again and the people holding the sails backup to keep the sails safe from the heat. The pillar narrows, straightens and tightens—seemingly to a glowing solid for a few moments.

Then the fire suddenly goes out, its small bit of fuel rapidly consumed, leaving a swirling pillar of smoke twisting high into the sky.

The nephew of the clan’s Smith King sees this happen. He knows how his uncle struggles with his hearth to make the fire hot enough for the refining and working of his metals. He runs to his uncle to show him the twisting pillar of fire.

Comes the Smith King.

The Smith was King due to his ability to turn stone into tools of great strength using very hot fires. Few possessed such skill and none as great. He produced legendary swords but they were just one aspect of his power. All warriors knew their debt to him but so did the farmers and fishers. Indeed all men played all these roles from time to time and all recognized the Smith as their King for without him they knew their lives would be vicarious.

We’ll call him Arthur for he was the King made rightful by drawing legendary tools of hardest metal from ore stones with his fire.

All bowed with respect as Arthur strode with his nephew up to the circle of sails but Arthur’s attention was not on his people.

He saw but just one thing:

The dissipating pillar of smoke twisting and knotting itself as it continued ascending.

Finally Arthur looks down to see his people in a circle holding their sails in a strange symmetry, now themselves looking up at the last remnants of the event go with the wind.

“My nephew says a fiery pillar has been conjured by this circle.”, said Arthur.

“Indeed it has, sovereign.”, you say stepping forward.

“Ah, its you.” says Arthur. “I don’t doubt what you say is true for I see the strange tail of smoke in the sky and the circular ash where there was a fire. You are obviously hosting this gathering since, although you’re a bit mad you’ve frequently spoken to the nature sprites in ways the rest of us cannot. That cassiterite vein you found was quite precious to us. We were losing many of our men digging too deeply in the old vein. What have you found this time?”

You explain to Arthur the trick of the sails, wind and fire.

“Then tell me, what would you have us do to conjure the hottest flame possible?” asked the Smith King, knowing the hotter the flame, the greater his fame.

You think back to what you saw in the preceding minutes—more sails, the need to flexibly change their direction on the leeward side in response to the rising inward wind as the pillar of fire grew, the increasing intensity and solidity of the pillar of fire when the people backed away from the flame.

“I’m not sure what to do exactly,” you say, “but if you would indulge me I would like to try something.”

“I asked what you would have us do to conjure such a flame—not what would conjure such a flame. It is your opinion we desire.”, said Arthur.

“The most men carrying the largest sails in the largest area with the most fuel to burn following my directions as I shout them.”, you say.

“We’ll do our best.”, said Arthur. Then turning to the sail holders, “Tell all your relatives to bring a third cord of wood each, the largest sails they can, and people to hold them upright, to the middle of the grazing plane tomorrow at noon. We’ll host a festival with beer and food for the families of all who so contribute. Bring beer and food for yourselves and others if you can and you’ll be rewarded with tools according to your contributions.”

It was midsummer and the days were sunny, hot and humid. Many preferred the cool of the forest in such weather unless working but Arthur had ordered it and it looked like the event could turn into quite a spectacle.

30 families show with their largest sails and masts at your disposal.

“Pile the wood in the center and form a circle with your sails…. Move out. Further out. Bigger circle. There.  Now tack the sails as though you were on the windward side of the circle, directing the wind Sunwise around the inside of the circle.” you say.

The families, each with a sail painted in the sign of their family follow your directions quickly. You light the 10 cords of wood at the center of the circle.

“Now mark your location and come halfway toward me.” Most pounded a hole in the ground for their mast as a mark and then stepped inward toward the center as the fire began to flame up.

“Closer in. Closer still. There. Now you on the leeward side of the wind. Remember how you have your sails pointed now but form a solid wall of sails to capture the wind within the circle.” you command.

Before they have completed following your command the fire is already slightly swirling. You walk to the leeward side of the circle and wait. Some gusts of wind come and shortly thereafter the fire sprite manifests briefly. The fire grows. More gusts. The fire sprite is brighter and more persistent. The fire grows higher and brighter. More gusts and the fire sprite persists and grows upward forming first a fiery sword piercing upward and then a bright twisting pillar. The fire grows more intense there is now a breeze coming in to feed the fire from all directions.

“Leeward sails, return your sails to their Sunwise position to guide the incoming breeze.” you yell over the noise of the fire.

The leeward sails return to their open position and shortly thereafter the slender sword of fire becomes a pillar of fire, driving the sail holders away from its intense heat. As they do the twisting pillar begins to straighten and brighten and the pillar of fire is now topped by a pillar of smoke twisting high into the sky. The roar of the pillar of fire is now so loud you must motion for the sail holders to return to their original positions marked by holes for their masts. They understand and are quite willing to escape the fearful noise and heat you have created with their help.

At this point the pillar of smoke and fire seems to become narrow, solid and straight bending gently upward as it reaches toward the noonday midsummer sun.

This spectacle lasts a few minutes but as the fire goes out something very unexpected happens.

The incoming wind increases. Pillar of fire is replaced by a pillar of ashes and dust. Unlike the first pillar, this does not dissapate. Those holding the sails are growing tired but your predatory instincts are aroused.

“Stay where you are!”, you command. “Hold fast!”

The ground under the pillar of dust is now swept clean and only bits of twigs and grass are ascending to the sky within a clear pillar of air. Then you notice very high up in the sky something new—a cloud midst a cloudless sky, growing near the location where you lost sight of the pillar. The cloud grows and as it does it seems to descend through the invisible pillar, more and more grass is swept up from the ground and the noise grows deafening.

You see the sail holders are growing weary and you are growing worried that you may have only a single command left to give them as this new fury is growing seemingly without bound.

“Widdershins!”, you yell. But no one hears you over the growing cacophony of wind. You run to the circle and show one family what to do with their sail to redirect the incoming wind in the opposite direction around the inside of the circle. Others see you do this and understand what they could not hear. They do likewise.

Within seconds the pillar breaks up at the ground and then a lazy whirl in reverse appears. Quite prevails.

“Lower your sails! We’re done! Time to feast!” you yell. The families furl their sails and continue looking up at the cloud growing near the noonday sun.

Years later, when Arthur is near death, having relied on you as his adviser of things natural to expand farming and win wars using new metals he forged in the pillar of fire, calls you to his bed.

“When I die, I want you to be the one to cremate my body. Burn it at the ancestral ground in Salsbury plane using your pillar of fire and leave my ashes with my ancestors. Will you do this for me”, Arthur asks.

“You put your people at my disposal for the pillar of fire. It is appropriate.”, you respond.

Arthur responds, “Thank you. You have been my best friend, Merlin.”

ADDENDUM

Quoting Dr. Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe

The Sarsen Circle, about 108 feet (33 metres) in diameter, was originally comprised of 30 neatly trimmed upright sandstone blocks of which only 17 are now standing. The stones are evenly spaced approximately 1.0 to 1.4 metres apart, and stand on average 13 feet (4 metres) above the ground.

Quoting L.M. Michaud, inventor of the Atmospheric Vortex Engine

:

A medium size vortex power-station could be 300 m in diameter, and the perforated rotating screen could be 50 m high… Some dust devils are less than a metre in diameter. Under optimal conditions, it should be possible to start a self-sustaining vortex to demonstrate the concept with a station 30 m in diameter.

So here’s the theory behind the wild surmise:

The Atmospheric Vortex Engine height to diameter ratio is 1:6 and 30 meters is the minimum diameter believed to create a self-sustaining vortex (presuming a humid hot day like mid summer would produce). Stonehenge’s primary structure is about the same diameter and height to diameter ratio as that required for a minimal self-sustaining vortex.

Moreover, the AVE people in building a much smaller scale model have discovered that ambient winds can be used to start a vortex by flexibly closing off the leeward parts of a circle while guiding the incoming wind with movable windward-side surfaces to impart angular momentum to the wind entering the circular structure.

Furthermore, another technique used by the AVE people to start a vortex is fire to force an updraft and suck air in the sides of the vortex-generating structure. Quoting an AVE engineer: “it will only require a bit of heat to start and then will increase on it’s own”.

This is a situation that could be created in the Sarsen Circle of Stonehenge with large cloths, such as sails, approximately 4 meters by 1 meter, under control of about 30 pairs of people cooperating to create a vortex. There would, of course, need to be a fire in the center of the circle for “a bit of heat to start”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_whirl