Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Totenwege

Wormbach is just like neighbouring Berghausen part of Schmallenberg. The romanesque parish church of Wormbach dates back to the 13th century. The parish of Wormbach is one of the oldest in the Sauerland area. A legend tells, that St. Bonifatius himself (or -maybe- one of his followers) built the first chapel in Wormbach, what would mean - around 750. Excavations, undertaken in 1908, found the foundations of a small 8th century-basilica. This was a hub of early christianisation. All of the those places that were important during the Christianisation in die area (eg Balve, Hellefeld, Stockum, Huesten) probably had some ritual importance already during pagan times. But it is Wormbach, where strange, esoteric and sometimes weird theories found their center. This interest was mainly triggered, when in the mid 1950 the signs of the zodiac where found under the layers of plaster. The signs have been painted in the 13th century. To be buried in Wormbach had a strong attraction already in very early times. Still in medieval times, dead bodies have been carried over long distances, to be buried right here in Wormbach. Old maps show a net of little paths ("Totenwege"), that all run to - Wormbach.

Wormbach is just like neighbouring Berghausen part of Schmallenberg. The Romanesque parish church of Wormbach dates back to the 13th century. The parish of Wormbach is one of the oldest in the Sauerland area. A legend tells, that St. Bonifatius himself (or -maybe- one of his followers) built the first chapel in Wormbach, what would mean - around 750. Excavations, undertaken in 1908, found the foundations of a small 8th century-basilica. This was a hub of early Christianisation. All of those places that were important during the Christianisation in die area (eg Balve, Hellefeld, Stockum, Huesten) probably had some ritual importance already during pagan times. But it is Wormbach, where strange, esoteric and sometimes weird theories found their centre. To be buried in Wormbach had a strong attraction already in very early times. Still in medieval times, dead bodies have been carried over long distances, to be buried right here in Wormbach. Old maps show a net of little paths ("Totenwege"), that all run to - Wormbach.

The romanesque parish church of Wormbach, a little village near Schmallenberg, dates back to the 13th century. The parish of Wormbach is one of the oldest in Sauerland. A legend tells, that St. Bonifatius himself (or one of his followers) built the first chapel in Wormbach, what would mean - around 750. This was a hub of early christianisation. But there were a couple of those places (eg Balve, Hellefeld, Stockum, Huesten), and all of them had probably some ritual importance already during pagan times. But it is Wormbach, where strange, esoteric and sometimes weird theories found their center. To be buried in Wormbach had a strong attraction already in pre-christian times. Still in medieval times, dead bodies have been carried over long distances, to be buried right here in Wormbach. Old maps show a net of little paths ("Totenwege"), that all run to - Wormbach. The signs of the zodiac under the vaults of a remote little church - in the sticks. They were discovered during the restauration period (1955-1957) under a coat of paint. Facing west, to the organ, it is clear, that all three bays have the zodiacs. Heinz Kaminski, a chemical engineer, radio-amateur, astronom and the very first, who recorded the beeping tones of the Russian Sputnik in 1957, saw here "the oldest signs of the zodiacs north of the Alpes" - and he saw these signs as pagan/pre-christian symbols. Kaminski connected the order, in which they are to be seen here, with the solstice. Contemplating about a pagan/celtic/germanic center of astronomy, he found out, that Wormbach and Stonehenge share the same latitude (51th). So - he saw Wormbach as a stone age observatory. From that idea, he developed the "Wormbach System", that I tried to explain (a bit) on the predecessing photo. In case you have the impression, Kaminski is already "left of the field", then let me introduce you to Herbert Knorr and Wolfgang Thiele. Knowing Kaminski´s system of a grid that runs all over central Europe, they have focussed on the region - and found not less than "The First Wonder of the World between the Rivers Weser, Lippe Ruhr and Rhine". In 2003 they published "Der Himmel ist unter uns" (= "The Sky is below us"), as they had found the largest zodiac signs ever. Here! Actually the authors listed about 200 cult- and/or ritual places in the area, connected them by lines - and found that they had found the complete northern sky. Wormbach is in the center of the Virgo constellation (= delta vir), connecting to Attendorn (my vir) 30kms east, Berghausen (epsilon vir) 5kms northwest, Schmallenberg (gamma vir)... The constallation stretches about 40kms east/west. The Great Bear constellation stretches over Sauerland from Wenholthausen in the west, via Meschede to Thuelen and Bontkirchen in the east, what sums up to nearly 50kms.