The prehistoric megalithic site “Beglik Tash” never got very famous, not discussed in archaeological papers nor mystified in spiritual circles. Although it is quite unique: Giant Menhir and Dolmen, sundial Stonecircle, Altar, Throne, Cupmarks and waterbasins with celestial alignments, even a Labyrinth; its all there in one mind-blowing complex. A huge compilation of megaliths for Astronomy, celebration, worship and initiation. But it seems this sacred site protects itself from being crowded by hordes of interpreting scientists and bulks of enlightening Gurus. Though the spectacular place is not on a remote hill far out and hours to drive and hike to get there, like other ones. No, its just 2km from the sandy beaches of the Black Sea and a comfortable 2min drive from the holiday resorts and high frequented touristic town of Primorsko; Bulgaria. A large elliptic opening in the woods on beautiful Maslen Nos Peninsula, with cliffs down into the sea or to the river passing around it. Or, to put it in a more archaeological context: half way along the coast between the Thracian gold treasure of Varna and the Hagia Sophia of Byzantium, or should i say Neolithic settlements in Istanbul.
Bulgaria, and especially its spiritual culture, was and is still quite out of sight for the rest of the world. On top of that exactly the wonderful peninsula of Beglik Tash was locked off for any public for about half a century cause it was the president's private dacha, that is, his Villa on the beach including the dozen hectares for riding,hunting, fishing and whatever. What did the presidents know about the sacred site? They kept it to themselves.
Being there since the late Stone Age, it was officially discovered only in 2003, despite the very obvious several more Dolmen on the small Peninsula. Besides its Turkish name might indicate the site was at least known in the times of the Ottoman Empire ruling here..
But for now, lets forget history and have a look at what is present:
the Big Heart or Apostle Tash
Undoubted the eye-catcher and most spectacular masterpiece of the complex. And one of the most powerful, too. It is standing upright on rock surface balancing on merely two points. Balancing on top of a slightly rounded rock at the highest point of the barren rock plateau, it almost seems to float above it. Which would be something very uncommon for a slab of hundreds of tons of rock. Scientists gave the measures of 8m length, 6,5m height and only 2m thickness. I think that a bit exaggerated, but it is the GPS measurement of the extreme points. Anyway it seems almost impossible how this Giant is standing upright, and already here i wonder how nature or men or whoever else could have put this slab balancing there, withstanding erosion, storms, frost and even earthquakes for millennia?
It got its name Apostle Tash not after any apostle teaching there but for the similarity with the shape of an apostle's hat. Tas is Turkish for stone or rock. To me (and others) its shape reminds as well of a vivid organ, like a liver or rather like a heart. This even more as it has a very friendly, caring and at the same time very powerful aura around it, which make the sacred megalith one of the most outstanding here. Another name for it is Gods Hand. They say it was used for probing people before judging: Only one with a pure heart could cope to lay in or pass the little opening beneath the “Big Heart”.
I felt very warm welcomed there and somehow taken into another realm, where the presence of the rock's and trees and earths beings were dismantled from the mortal and material aspects.
However, laying under this enormous rock my mind still had to look right and left to make sure the two base points of the Giant were looking safe.
Right beside this balancing North-South-aligned megalithic Portal we found the next enigmatic rock:
The Sliced Stone or half Menhir
Smaller but not less enigmatic this rock in its original shape had made a perfect Menhir. Very close to egg-shaped with his elongated tip standing more than 4 meters high over its small base. This standing upright rocks got always a male, predominant aspect pointing up to the sky. But this original Standing Stone got split in half, from top to bottom. One half of it kept standing straight up, what is already very startling to me. However the other half rolled on its back, as you usually would expect both to do, and got split in half again and again, so there is one half, one quarter, one eighth, and so on. And all very neatly with almost even, almost straight cutting surfaces. Far too straight to be sliced, cracked or broken, but not flat enough to be cut by saw or laser. And no marks of any tools like chisels or drills to see. What is easy to spot is that the cuts are quite recent, that is, maybe somewhere between 40 and 150 years old. The edges are still sharp and the surfaces darker and much less weathered than the pale rounded outside.
While passing the stone plateau and getting closer to it this Menhir surprised me with a violet ray and a clear vision how it got split:
A Merlin or Merlin-like Magician in dispute with high-priests and King on the plateau, lots of people attending from the meadow in front. To prove his mighty power the Magus calls down a lightning to split the Menhir, and a second and third one a second later to split it again.
I am convinced a wise Sage should not force the superhuman forces, but there are moments...
The Plateau
In front of the above two megaliths the ground itself is bare rock, even and slightly concave, a bit like the polished top of a big sphere. Several cracks, or carved lines, could indicate directions and some kind of mapping. Towards the western and the lower southern part the smooth bedrock gets more molded like a model of mountain ranges and valleys, there are more lines and even little channels, several cupmarks and some greater basins that fill themselves with rain water. The lowest ones are partly filled with earth already, and here are smaller rocks spread to mark positions and lines. There is a seat on this molded rock.
The whole layout looks like a 3D model of a big country or even part of the globe. On the other hand the waterfilled cupmarks and basins were often used for spotting stars in the night sky at certain times, thus making a star map or maybe a kind of calendar. I am not an archaeologic astronomer to find out when they would see what and where, but it looks very plausible. More seats and benches we find on the various megaliths all around North side from West to East of the rock plateau, some of these described below.
Who built all that is supposedly the Thracians; for traces of them proof they lived here already 3400 years ago, and therefore they are assumed to be the builders of this sacred megalithic place.
The Nuptial Bed
On the western side of the rock plateau, where the sun goes down, we find this unique group of rock formation. One megalith in the middle with a smooth top surface of roughly 4m50 long and 2m wide, rectangular almost like a brick, a bit more than 1m high. Around this leads a wide and flat corridor and then on three sides other large rocks with high straight vertical surfaces towards the bed. Thus they build a large compartment with its length aligned East-West. The eastern side, the rock plateau, having the only open access and view of it. I was really happy the discoverer named it nuptial bed and not sacrificial altar! Anyway i got the feeling it was not made for a common wedding, not even a royal one, but for a sacred union, possibly something similar to the ritual one in “Da Vinci Code” or more precise the union of the male leader with the female high priest/Goddess. Or the mother leading the tribe with the holy sage?
Altars and Temples
The plateau's north side is continued with several different shaped megaliths, most of them much higher than we human, with benches, seats, cupmarks and sills. In their variety they give the impression to represent various archetypes, or Gods. So each one could get his appropriate gifts, symbols, prayers or whatever kind of attention, worship and communication. And every one of them would be present here, on his/her earthly home in a rock. The biggest one of them, on the legend called Menhir, got the round shape of a dome, and looking closely there is a fine line on its front marking an arched doorway. Another Portal? Access to the Underworld? Other world?
The Sundial
To complete the round on the plateau we come to the semicircle named sundial. the hours made by stones in a shape similar to a coin. Some of them are laying with one side on top of the other, but presumably they all stood upright, oriented radial to one center and possibly in equal distance. The centerpoint is now more or less the place where a tree stands, thus giving the idea of a post and the marking of hours by the stones. But that would never work cause the center is on the north side, so it would never cast a shadow on the stones. I could imagine it working another way: the viewer sitting in the center would see the sun at one slab or in between two of them and thus determine the TIME. The seat of Chronos.
Time to look up and back before we continue the virtual walk.
This got already a long post and there is much more. Like always, all pics out of my Camera, no filters and no additions with software. If you liked it, please leave a vote and move on to the 2.part: