The stones had five to seven irregular sides and these columns make a magnificent sight. It is almost impossible to gaze at the Giants Causeway and not ponder on the mathematical nature of the creative forces. The entire structure continues under water to the tiny Scottish Island of Staffa and end up in an area known as Fingals Cave. Local folklore has it that the entire structure had been created, for reasons of Love or Theft, by a giant named Finn MacCool.
As you approached the Causeway along the rugged Irish coastline if you looked away from the sea, to the neighboring mountains, you could see the Sleeping Giant. Well, you had to use a touch of imagination and squint a bit, but there he was! A series of mountains stretched across the skyline looking very much like an immense figure stretched out across the hilltops. A gigantic rocky figure; looking like he had wandered out of a storybook, had one to many pints of Guinness, and was sleeping it off before returning to his fairytale chums.
Local legend had the giant guarding the entrance to the Causeway, but to me it looked more like an afternoon nap that had been frozen in stone.
My mother was what is now known as a ‘rock hound’ and loved to collect interesting stones and rocks during our family travels. To her just wandering around this 50 million year rock formation was seventh heaven and a site to be visited more than just once. In fact on the last day of our visit, my parents decided to make one last pilgrimage to the Causeway to photograph it yet again for future family holiday slide shows. We passed the Giant on our right, and then took the small uneven road that branched out towards the sea and wound its way down to the foot of the Causeway. Just before you arrived at the base of formation was a dirt-covered field that served as a parking lot.
We got out of our car and started to walk towards the Causeway. Along the path was a wooden bench; sitting on it was a local who seemed to be totally involved in keeping his briar pipe lit. My dad greeted him in a friendly manner and we began a typical tourist conversation about weather and the uniqueness of the Causeway. “Did you know?” he said. “How the Causeway began?” we listened as he explained some things we knew and some we didn’t. One of the things that we had not heard was that this entire formation of seven sided stones was based around the very first rock created as the stone had crystallized. “That’s the keystone.” He said “The magic rock that brought the others to life. It is the only one that has six sides instead of seven.” My Dad asked him where it was so that he could add a picture to his all ready extensive collection of Giants Causeway photos. “Ah,” he replied, “ A magic rock it is, and can only be found by a magician.”
“Oh, I can find it!” I said, and walked away towards the heart of the Causeway. After climbing and scrambling a while I stopped at one section and called out to my parents; “It’s right here!”
Then I looked down around my feet and there it was. A solitary six sided stone amidst a jig saw puzzle of seven sided ones. It didn’t look much different from the others, except for the obvious and indisputable fact that it only had six sides. Well it took my parents a while to make there way over to where I was standing. When they arrived they counted the edges of the stone and agreed that there was definitely one side less than the standard seven sides of its neighbors. My father was a chartered accountant or as he would be known in America a CPA and numbers were his game. He walked around this six-sided oddity counting the sides of all the other stones and soon my mother joined him. I remained where I was, standing on the Magic Stone. I had said I would find it, and found it I had. Now, I would like to tell you I had walked directly to it but the uneven terrain made any such thing impossible. There I was standing on the rock with a happy smile on my face. My parents wandered further and further away somewhat bewildered to realize that this did indeed seem to be the only six sided stone within the geometrically arranged mass of almost identical seven sided ones. After a while, they tired of the search and rejoined me and decided to take my photograph standing on my discovery. There were only two shots left in the camera and Dad, after his customary lengthy preparations used up the remainder of the roll shooting downwards on my feet and the magic keystone beneath me.
Time was passing and the sun was sinking fast in the sky and we had to leave to catch the car ferry that would return us to the English mainland. As we were making our way back across the rocks towards the rustic car park, on an impulse I said; “Let me go back and look at it one more time.” I retraced my steps, but, I could not find that stone. I had so confidently walked to it when I didn’t know where it was but now I could not find it for the life of me. My parents joined the search and they too were baffled. Eventually the darkening sky made us abandon our efforts and returning to our car we completed our journey. The ferry took us away from that enchanted country to English soil, and since that time I have yet to return to the Emerald Isle.
The pictures never came out. They were the only exposures on the entire roll of film that did not develop into prints. Maybe, it was too dark? I don’t think so. When I look back after forty odd years I am more than ever convinced that something different had happened. Years after the event I read about the alchemists strange and mysterious Philosophers Stone that shows itself when it is ready to do so and vanishes just as quickly. The stone that I stood on certainly didn’t look like it could change into gold. All it had was one missing side, and that was all that it needed to transform its surroundings. Looking back it wasn’t that I really wanted to find it, it was more of a feeling that I knew I could. Would a photograph have made this experience more real for the three of us? No, we didn’t need it because we were there. One thing for certain within a couple of years I did start working on my magic and have been a magician ever since. Coincidence? Maybe.
