"Jack embodies the old Irish word Samhildánach, which
means "equally skilled in many arts."
It is rare in life that we get to meet people who have had a profound impact upon our outlook on topics which have interested us since childhood, let alone to then actually get to interview them later on in life. Artist, author, mythologist and Neolithic researcher Jack Roberts is one of them. It was through the most astounding sychronicities that about two years ago a friend of mine, Francis Presley, turned out to be also friends with the legendary (and I am being sincere stating this) Jack Roberts of the ground-breaking Stonelights team - who along with American artist and Neolithic rock art researcher Martin Brennan - became the great modern pioneers of Irish Neolithic the rock art and archeoastronomy world back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Stonelights made ground-breaking discoveries into Irish 'sacred sites' and astronomical alignments, especially at Loughcrew. Making the front pages of Irish national newspapers at the time.
Their discoveries culminated in Martin Brennan's seminal work on the topic The Stars and the Stones. A book that was to revolutionise the entire field of Irish Neolithic rock art and archeoastronomy research of the Irish megalithic scene forever. To this day, it has not been equalled in both its scope, originality and presentation. As synchronicities happen in life during the most poetic (surprising) moments, I first bumped into Jack in real life - by sheer happenstance - at the Carrowmore megalithic complex in Sligo last year when this guy walks up to me and says, "I know you Mr Sheridan..." Again, a few days later on the side of the mountain at Carrowkeel - on a hike up to the cairns - there is Jack waving to me across from one side of the same mountain that I was coming down from, and he was going up.
You honestly can't make this stuff up.
Several months later, another meeting and chat at the opening night of our mutual friend Francis Presley's 'What We Have Become' art exhibition at the Hawkswell in Sligo, and, over a few glasses of red wine, finally allowed me to work up the courage to tell Jack my theories on the druids and their clever infiltration of the early Irish Christian incursions into this country. He was interested...to my amazement. We then had a further chat at my art studio a few weeks later. The seed was germinating.
Eventually, I managed to arrange an interview with Jack and myself at the Wicker Man Studios in Rathcormack, County Sligo. My completely selfish agenda was to get Jack on camera (for the first time perhaps?) to promote the work that both he and Martin Brennan did in the late 1970s and early 1980s to as wide an audience as I can reach.
These guys are true legends, and dare I say it, antiquarian mavericks from a time when literally no one else in Ireland was doing it. Jack was also heavily involved with the Irish Punk Rock scene and the North Dublin band The Attrix, and as twee as this might sound, I like to think of Stonelights coming from the same 'just let's do it!' mentality of the 1970s Punk Rock scene which was also a huge formative event in my own early teens. They were out there - in the field and outside the pale - long before anyone else, and set the template for upstarts like myself to follow. Sleeping overnight inside Neolithic chambers waiting for stars to fall, and suns and moons to rise. Then observing the shafts of light making their course along ancient artwork created by Irish artists as long as five thousand years ago. Just let that sink in for a second.
I was very nervous doing this interview, as Jack has no idea how highly I regard his work and books, but here it is...the end result for your enjoyment. Believe me, it is worth it.
Special thanks to Nabil Shaban for working his magic in making this happen, as well as Mona for her awesome camera skills.
MORE LINKS:
Talking about ancient societies I'm beginning to believe that there was a garden of Eden. A true Oasis paradise called Eden to the people, which some pathological people ruin through murder and corruption. I don't think there was a god behind it as such but it was definitely a place.
ReplyDeleteWhen you see the beautiful, hypnotic, coral reef...the white sands of the Philippines and dazzling clear blue water. The tropical islands. Oasis in the desert (out of nowhere). Then you find out about certain tropical places where the humidity actually protects you from very powerful UV rays, and the moss ground that is softer than carpet, with its red, green and blue hues. And on top of this every religion talks about Eden, and every history book talks about the lost city of Atlantis , which is under sea. I think there might truly have been a paradise somewhere on the earth, that may have been governed and looked after by a highly advanced tribe of people. And that's if it still doesn't exist.
You also have places with beautiful caves, and with their own waterfalls. What if Eden was a natural Oasis that was somehow destroyed in ancient past (possibly by a flood) and ruled by man and the sin is what ancient people blamed for it disappearing under water. The lost city of Atlantis is perfect, as the gods could have been thought to be behind it. It is also described by ancient people to be extremely beautiful. I don't think that a god was behind it, but the Garden of Eden most certainly did exist.
Here is a link to a stunning bit of art, made by mother nature herself...it looks like a painting but it is actually an Oasis in a desert. Now tell me Eden never existed.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icUmhB9YqLc/VM_gIcK6saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/Ki3n00wbIZ4/s1600/beautiful-pool-in-a-desert-oasis-hdr-hd-wallpaper-505537.jpg
I need to say this now...If I ever get lost on a beautiful, Oasis like, paradise Island that hasn't been taken by the rich...DON'T FUCKIN' TRY AND SAVE ME.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it with behind the scenes music people and megalithic Ireland?
ReplyDeletehttp://atlantipedia.ie/samples/harrison-hank/
http://www.hankharrison.com/indexx.html
Very strange....
Very interesting. No idea he was interested in megalithic stuff in ireland. I knew he was in joycean stuff. Want to meet him now.
Delete1st 4 chapters of his book is available here. (Not released yet)
Deletehttp://www.arkives.com/soai/soai.pdf
His postal/email is on his site. The book cover mentions something about an ancient map he discovered.
Have you ever heard of the Zuma Rock? It is like a mountain monolithic, 725 meters high. They are obviously making these rocks on site. It would be impossible for any structure to be created to transport a mountain...although they have said they could 'move mountains' in the past.
ReplyDeleteBut you showed on your page a few months ago the buried part of a megalithic on Easter island, they look nothing, absolutely nothing, like the rock on top. It looks like a mixture of mud and sand (but probably other ingredient too)...in other words, they had a different kind of concrete back then. I don't think they even moved these monolithics. I think they built them on site. They just transported the mixtures over to a location and began building. I mean, who the fuck drags a trillion ton mountain for 100s of miles?
I've found the first Christian ministry who have debunked the flat earth using science, the guy is called Kent Hovind and he calls flat earth unnecessary and wrong. Shame they can't put this kind of thinking to the bible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo-Fkevgr6I
ReplyDelete