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Sacred Earth: Places of Peace and Power | 
 enlarge | Author: Martin Gray
Creator: Graham Hancock
Publisher: Sterling
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $20.17
You Save: $14.83 (42%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 29762
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.9
Dimensions (in): 11.4 x 10.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 1402747373
Dewey Decimal Number: 203.5
EAN: 9781402747373
ASIN: 1402747373
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Acclaimed photographer and anthropologist Martin Gray spent the last 20 years on an amazing pilgrimage: he visited 1,000 sacred sites in 80 countries around the world. His journey unfolds in a remarkable compilation of images that reveals just how devoutly pre-industrial cultures everywhere worshipped and respected our Earth. From the Western Wall to the Great Mosque of Damascus, Mt. Olympus to Assisi, Tibet's Potala Palace to Hawaii's Mauna Kea, Teotihuacan in Mexico to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, these are the awe-inspiring places from which all the world's great religions sprang, along with our finest culture, art, and architecture. Gray's stunning photographs and fascinating text provide unique insight into why these powerful holy places are the most venerated and visited sites on the entire planet. Maps adapted from the National Geographic Society show the locations of all the sites presented, and a thorough appendix includes a comprehensive list of over 500 of the world's sacred sites.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Sacred Earth: Places of Peace and Power August 21, 2008
Wow. Spellbinding, magnificent, beautiful. Let this pilgrim take you on a journey you'll never forget. There are places in this book I didn't even know existed. Now I feel like I've been there. Martin Gray is not only an impeccable photographer, he is a brilliant and gifted writer. I highly recommend it. I've also given it as a gift and several friends have commented on how they treasure it.
Fantastic book AAAAAAA+++++++ August 13, 2008
I have used his web site for our travels around the world for years now, I have purchased 5 of these books last year for Christmas for pressys and for us too, it is so beautifully presented and full of Sacred Sites all over our wonderful globe. The pictures are stunning.
 Total rubbish August 3, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
While some people might find this book "inspiring", it insults the intelligence of actual archaeologists, theologians, and anthropologists by suggesting that they are simply too closed-minded or backward, even stupid, to believe that the naturally supreme ancients did not map out a worldwide grid of sacred energy zones, Eastern and Western hemispheres retained close cultural contacts with each other, and that sites were built to magically retain and use energy put off by the earth, via special stones or other mystical sources, for use in healing and other feats.
Also, the author has a clear bias against Christianity. It seems the only thing which makes Christian holy sites holy is because they used to be used by previous pagan cultures; then the Christian religion was ruthlessly "imposed" and "forced" the "eradication" of pagan religious beliefs while at the same time making them their own. While as an anthropologist I cannot say that the Christian church was a model of tolerance, it seems the author denies that any good, positive spiritual force can come from Christianity, and that only previous use of a site by superior ancient cultures can render it "sacred". Of course, other heavily missionizing religions, such as Islam, are presented as pinnacles of spiritual achievement.
The author's prejudices and suspicion of genuine historical fact and the people who actually study culture and history, makes this book a prime example of something I will return to the store very shortly.
Vision Photography- Capturing the Unseen May 20, 2008
Clearly this is not another coffee table book. Even so, it could grace any coffee table, or bookshelf anywhere in the world. National Geographic photographer, Martin Gray, displays his lifework in this treatise, as he portrays his ongoing love affair with the earth in exquisite and stunningly expressive photography.
The motivating factor behind these photographs has been threefold. The first was to "gather evidence showing that many pre-industrial cultures, recognized the earth as a sacred being, worthy of deep respect". The second was, to document, on film "the world's sacred architecture, the most sublime example of human artistic expression, before it is lost to the ravages of modernization". The third reason was "to study the miraculous phenomena reported at sacred sites around the world".
To this effect, this volume contains pictures of many of the well-known sacred and religious shrines of the world. The first section deals with pictures of sites in Europe, taken by the author during a year's bicycle tour. Starting with Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments and other similarly mystical sites in the British Isles and Western Europe, he goes on to present photographs of holy shrines associated with the early era of Christianity. Some of these are major pilgrimage centers such as the Cathedral of Compostela, the Church of La Magdalena, and Avila in Spain, Mont St. Michel, Notre Dame, Our Lady of Lourdes in France and our lady of Fatima in Portugal. Thereafter, lesser known monuments in Continental Europe appear. The emphasis goes on to Grecian influences, there is a fine picture of Mount Olympus and the Parthenon among others.
The second section takes up the Middle East and North Africa. Here the author proceeds eastwards, starting from remnants of Grecian and Christian ruins from Turkey to a beautiful cityscape of Jerusalem and other Jewish shrines. This is followed by rare pictures of the Kaaba in Mecca and Medina. The towering peaks of Mount Olympus as seen from Armenia are followed by remnants of Sufi shrines in Iran, after which appear the Pyramids, the Sphinx and other structures of Ancient Egypt. Other sacred Christian and Islamic sites from Ethiopia, Tunisia, Mali and Morocco are depicted. The pictures are accompanied by fascinating glimpses into the history and mythology of the people living in that region. One example of these nuggets of text, is about the Dogon tribes of Mali, who are believed to be of ancient Egyptian descent, and who surprised anthropologists by telling them secret Dogon myths about the star Sirius, having a companion star. This star, now called Sirius was photographed by modern astronomers only after 1970!
The next section begins with the well known Hindu sacred sites of the Indian subcontinent, starting with Pushkar in the West, the stone carved caves of Ajanta and Ellora, and Dwarka in Gujarat, to the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the Jain temple at Shatrunjaya, the banks of the river Ganga at Hardwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi, among others. A number of temple sites in Southern India also find mention, Tirupati, Rameshwaram and Arunachala are those that are most visited. The Buddhist shrines come next with Bodh Gaya in Gaya, Adam's Peak and Mihintala from Sri Lanka.These are followed by pictures of the Bagan Temple Complex, the Yangon and the Mahamani Temples in Myanmar. The landscape moves on to Buddhist shrines in Thailand, followed with a picture of Angkor Wat at sunrise after which there appear other imposing temple complexes in the jungles of Cambodia. Sacred monuments and sites of Bali come next, before proceeding to the mountain temple shrines of Wu Tai Shan and Putro Shan in Mainland China. Next in line are the mountain and temple sites of Nantai San and Fuji San in Japan. There is a last coverage in the section on continental Asia, of Tibet and Nepal; there are pictures of Mount Kailash, Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple from Lhasa and the Swayambhunath Temple in Kathmandu.
From Australia, there are only pictures of the Ayres Rock from different angles.
The section on South America starts with pictures of Moai shrines in Easter Island, Chile, moves on to Lake Titicaca, sundry temple complexes in Bolivia, Machu Pichu, Peru, the Basilica of El Cisne, Ecuador and San Augustin, Colombia.
The last section in this book deals with North America. After the mountain complexes of Mount Popocatepetl and Mount Iztacchuatl in Mexico, the reader is led on to a beautiful picture of the Sun Pyramid, followed by Mount Alban, the Mitla Sanctuary and several other temple complexes associated with the Aztec and Mayan cultures. The Basilica of Nuestra, Mexico City and other churches follow before the entry to New Mexico in the United States, where the first picture is an aerial view of the Pueblo Bonito ruins, which are the ruins of the Anasazi community. This is followed by Shiprock Mountain and the White Sands in the same state. Thereafter, Devil's Town in Wyoming, the Red Rocks of Sedona make their appearance. Finally, the scene shifts to Mauna Kia in Hawaii and the Haleakula crater in Maui.
Most of the above sites are very well known, but a few are not.Some of the pictures contain mysterious stone heads representing enigmatic mythological figures. There are also megalithic monument clusters and statues of various gods and goddesses. All major religions of the world are represented in this volume. Some sites have no overt religious connections, apart from being ostensible power points, where Nature is at her wildest best. The book is clearly a feast for the eye, and generates a deep respect and regard for our heritage as custodians of the earth. However, there is more to this book than just a travelogue of pictures taken over a lifetime.
One of the major reasons why people travel is pilgrimage. Sacred sites, especially those containing relics of bygone saints are especially often visited by believers in search of miracles and healing. According to Martin Gray, and contrary to accepted beliefs, it is the topography of these sacred sites that carries an energy field, a 'field of influence extending in space and continuing in time', which characterizes their timeless vitality, rendering them as power points. The field could be produced by the earth's influences, the influence of celestial bodies, human intent, miracle working icons, ancient monasteries, places of Marian apparitions, whatever. It is the effect of this field that Martin Gray has attempted to capture on film through his photography. Therefore the medley of photographs have been taken from all possible angles at all possible hours of the day.When I see his pictures, it is as if history comes alive, as the monuments, stone structures and walls recount their tales of love, of lust, of power and passion to those who would stand by and listen.
Complementing each picture is an accompanying text that provides fascinating glimpses of the history of the site and the myths associated with its' rise to prominence'. Interspersed with these nuggets of wisdom, the author recounts his own personal moments of epiphany while absorbed in this work. It is clear that the author has gone 'out on a limb' to procure the outstanding photographs in this exquisite collection.
This compilation is truly a labour of love. It bears witness to Martin Gray's passion for Mother Earth and serves as a repository of Her memory of the collective history of the human race.
I can't recommend it strongly enough.
A remarkable book! January 20, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have a whole shelf of books on Sacred Places, but pride of place goes to Martin Gray's magnificent contribution to the appreciation of sacred sites. Martin's evocative photography inspires you and seems to evoke the subtle essence of the sites he has visited.
Sacred Earth is a book to be savoured slowly. It teaches us how to love and cherish this planet. It really is an outstanding contribution to the study of sacred sites and the mysteries they hold for us all.
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