The Nine Maidens Of Dartmoor – The Witches’ Sabbat
11/02/2010 by: eyepriestess
THE NINE MAIDENS OF DARTMOOR – THE WITCHES’ SABBAT
Imagine walking the high rolling hills of Dartmoor at dusk…the smell of heather permeates the westerly breeze and the screeling buzzards circle above. As your eyes wander over the carpet of gorse flowers and granite rock formations, you notice an unusual stone circle in the distance. Your instincts warn you to keep far away - but you move on regardless. Suddenly, a blast of wind shoots its icy breath behind you as an eerie realisation sets in…the stones are swaying.
WHAT ARE THE NINE MAIDENS
Legend has it that the 17 stones (so why are they called the nine stones? Curiously, there is no logical explanation) are the petrified figures of nine maidens or witches turned into stone as a punishment for dancing on the sabbath (the harmless ‘sabbath’ was said to be substituted for the original ‘sabbat’), but resurrected to dance again at every Hunter’s Moon…’twixt dark of night and break of day’. At this time, the stones are said to rhythmically rock back and forth before the eyes of countless witnesses.
The site is an unrestored Bronze Age barrow, sitting in a very bleak and isolated part of Dartmoor called, Belstone, which is situated 2 miles south east of Okehampton. The circle of seventeen stones are the retaining wall of a Bronze Age burial chamber (kistvaen) which was once housed within it.
At dusk, this place is said to hold a very strange and melancholy atmosphere. This could be the reason why it has been used in ancient and recent times as a sacred place for covens of witches to enact the ‘sabbat’. The meetings take place here during the pagan festivals. Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon and Samhain.
Note: Worth wrote about the stones (Dartmoor, 1953): “A fine kistvaen was unearthed in the centre of a sepulcral circle, and in a cavity in its north end were found two large coils of human hair. There is little doubt that this represents an act of attempted witchcraft in comparatively recent times”.
If you visit Dartmoor, it is advised in the Dartmoor Ghost-hunter’s guide, by R.W Bamberg, to keep away from the nine maidens during the pagan rituals and plan your expedition accordingly.
Read, Occultism In Dartmoor click on this
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By J Reynolds, copyright 2010 @World Mysteries And True Ghost Tales.
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I never heard of that before, that must be so weird to see those stones moving back and forth. I’m sure there are still covens that do go there as that would be a scared place for them! That was very interesting , I’ll have to look more into Dartmoor.
Thanks Isis, Dartmoor is full of witchcraft, if you read ‘Occultism in Dartmoor’ on the link above there are news reports of occultism, even on Prince Charle’s estate.
is dartmoor where there was a “pair of hairy hands”?
or exmoor?
i read that long time ago in a book…from library/
a pair of hairy hands takes over the wheel of cars…
interesting that the stones are said to move here…i can beleive it because of my own experiences..
the human hair, is interesting… is that a connection to witchcraft? i suppose hair from the time the circle was erected could not survive… the passage of time…
sounds like the sort of place that thrills me lol
I dont know Paul about the hairy hands lol, but Dartmoor is a spooky place!
Where is the Dartmoor district? Is it a county? I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio)RIck Steves travel show and a Brit guide said that Kent was the most haunted county in England. Anything to that statement?
Dartmoor lies South of England, almost near the bottom coastline. It is in the beautiful county of Devon. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote ‘The Hounds of The Baskervilles’ (he was also the author of the Sherlock Holmes books) after visiting Dartmoor, he said of it in his book, ‘I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted’.
It is a place rife in witchcraft, there are often dead animals found at dawn, and laid out in a sacrificial manner.
Not heard of Kent being the most haunted area, i would have thought Dartmoor comes a close second if it is true about Kent.