The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘hamish miller’

Sunday 22nd August, 2010 – The Hurlers, Minions, Cornwall.

Having driven through the village of Minions to get to Trethevy Quoit the night before we were fairly confident about finding the famous stone circles called “The Hurlers”. There was a big brown sign pointing to them and everything so how could we miss them? We missed them. The morning mist was so dense that visibility was down to twenty feet, and as we trudged along the damp granite path our attention was on avoiding the larger puddles. At one point I stopped, intuitively feeling something was nearby. As I looked up I could see a small marker stone making an unusually prominent shape in the white misty background. We decided to head in that direction across the moorland and soon other shapes were coming out of the mist confirming that we had made a wise choice. Luck was with us and we hadn’t gone too far past, and soon dark shapes were appearing in regular patterns like dull ghostly sentries. We remarked how ‘atmospheric’ it was, which translated meant, “Dammit – why couldn’t it be sunny – this is spooky!”

What the Hurlers can look like

The Coach and Four

Other people were knocking about too, somewhere. Occasionally we would hear the sound of feet on the path and calls to a dog, or a group of walkers crunching past. It seemed that everyone else was missing the stone circle too because we were not disturbed during our hour long visit by anyone else, despite hearing man other voices nearby. Talking of which, as Kal and I convened on our way back we discussed the sounds we had heard in the mist and realised that both of us had heard the same strange noise. It was the sound of a carriage being pulled by horses. Undoubtedly. I’ve heard that sound in so many films that I couldn’t mistake it. I heard the sound of at least two horses, more like four, and they were accompanied by the sound of wooden wheels crunching on the path. There was no engine noise accompanying it. Most odd. Maybe some people with horse and cart were going past at nine in the morning? Even odder, the sound didn’t fade into the distance as you would expect, but disappeared as it passed us. You heard it clearly for a moment, and then as it passed by it died off quickly, it didn’t fade away. Again, very odd. I shivered a little in the morning gloom, and put it down to the atmosphere, but then when I mentioned it to Kal he nodded – he’d heard the same, and he added his own impressions of the noise which confirmed mine. However, on to the circles….

The Hurlers – The Male Circle and the Cross

There are three circles marked on OS maps, but in the mist we only found two of them. The Secret Cornwall site tells us that we are even wrong about that:

“The remains of a smaller fourth circle have recently been found north-north-east of the obvious three circles and a further fifth circle has been suggested between it and the others” (source: Secret Cornwall)

The first circle we encountered was the larger of the two, then there was a small pathway which linked to a slightly smaller ring of stones a few feet further north. One of the first things we independently dowsed was that the larger circle had a female characteristic, whilst the smaller circle was male.

Can you spot the stones?

Kal spent his first hour in the female circle, or rather, around its periphery, whilst I tried to get to grips with the male circle. I had come to the circles with an idea: I wanted to know whether it was possible to connect to the Sirius star energy, and what would happen if I did. I found a power centreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. and began to work with it, connecting to its core. I identified the location of Sirius, and then sat facing it. Almost immediately I got the impression that I should walk around the circle to stir up the energies. I dowsed for the start point, and then which direction – clockwise. No surprises there. I walked around twice, the second time the path began to weave as though the energies around the stones were becoming agitated. This was good – I had done a similar thing at Mitchell’s Fold stone circle once. At that Shropshire circle I had walked around five times, each time dowsing a more erratic path with higher peaks. This was similar, but only required two perambulations to get the energies flowing enough to work with.

Male circle Power CentreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. marked by feather and staff

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May 1st, or May Day, is the ancient Celtic fire festival of Beltane. It traditionally marks the appearance of the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, an event linked to the start of the farming calendar (which ends at Samhain, or All Hallow’s Eve). It is a fire festival in recognition of the rise of the fire element (i.e. the power of the sun) at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, and so solar deities and mythical royal figures are linked to this time in the year. They are said to flourish in their youthful phase, starting at Beltane when they begin to rise to prominence. I planned to mark this by lighting a small fire or a stick of incense at each site to ceremoniously mark this event. I hoped the spirit of the year would travel with me as I journeyed from one site to another, linking them through energy work and fire.

The beautiful Pleiades

We decided to keep our work local today. I wanted to visit a familiar haunt that meant something to me, as well as discovering a new one, so I planned three sites: Helsby Hill, Woodhouses Hill and the site of a structure that looked like a hill fort close to Frodsham. The two hills had hill forts marked on the Ordnance Survey map of the area. They are the sites of ancient hill forts. I say ancient, because the hill forts, I suspect, are a much later addition to sites that had some spiritual and energetic significance long before they were fortified or stocked with invading Roman soldiers. A tourist sign in Helsby village reminds us that the archaeology has dated the sites to having habitation since the Iron Age – approximately 800 B.C.E – 42 C.E.

I walked up Helsby Hill in the mid-morning sunshine hoping for a clear day to do some energy work. My intention was to try something that Hamish Miller had suggested: that manifested (i.e. visualised) patterns can be imprinted onto a place, then they will appear in a more complex form at a connected site. By connected I assumed he meant a sacred site that had some kind of energetic connection to a nearby site. I wasn’t going to rely on that though: I had some ideas in mind to make that connection myself by forming an energetic bridge from one site to another.

Atop Helsby Hill I dowsed to find the location of ‘The Spirit of Helsby Hill’. I didn’t know what that actually might mean, but it seemed a good thing to ask for, as it would involve the co-operation of Nature in my work. I found a circle of lush grass just back from the cliff edge. There I asked to dowse to formation that was the symbol of the hill’s spirit. I traced the following shape: a serpent-like curved zig-zag shape that ended in a sphere. It reminded me of a caduceus symbol without the wings, or at least one half of that shape. I meditated until I felt that I had a connection to this spirit, then added a circle around the symbol as my own identifying mark.

Then I projected that image to the next site, even though I had never visited Woodhouses Hill. I simply looked at the map and sent the image to that place. I formed an energetic link by visualising a bridge of energy arcing from one place to the other, and then imprinted the symbol at the other side, and hoped for the best. Woodhouses Hill was a couple of miles’ walk so off I trudged, with Kal in tow acting merely as an animated observer to this energy-play. Most unusual that he didn’t want to participate today, but that he was having too much fun prancing around pretending he was 30 years younger!

We climbed the very steep sides of Woodhouses, taking the most direct route up to the hill fort site at the top. All along the route crows had been flying around Kal, seemingly accompanying him on his journey. Often I pointed them out, sitting in tall trees that marked our route, or hovering on the wind just in front of us as we walked. Kal just laughed at this. He has come to accept their presence quite naturally, and is beginning to try to tune into any significance they might have as signs or omens. Certainly they have become his totem bird.

Kal’s not one for heights, but he danced up and down the hills that day as though he were unafraid and on springs! Since a recent episode with a tree (post coming soon about that) he had gained a little voice that informs him that he will be just fine when he finds himself on the high edges of paths. A year ago he would never have even come up Helsby Hill, never mind the run up the dizzying sloped of Woodhouses Hill! How we have progressed since starting this journey. We have both overcome things that would make our former selves squirm in fear! ‘Fortune favours the brave’, I believe the saying goes.

We stood now in a beautifully varied and pleasingly-spaced wood at the top of the path, looking around for signs that we were actually in a hill fort – only the slope of the ground would indicate that we were. I dowsed to find the location of where my Helsby Hill circled half-caduceus symbol might have ‘landed’. A minute dowsing through the trees and I found it in a circular clearing between some birch trees. Kal was busy touching trees and occasionally muttering things to them. ‘Edge Wizard’ indeed! He was turning distinctly ‘druidy’ so I ribbed him about it. Of course he protested!

I dowsed for the symbol as Kal watched, It was looser than the original, but it was the same shape, circled strongly by my additional energy. It’s at times like this that you begin to doubt your sanity. Had I just found that because I wanted to find it? Who knows? There it was, responding to the rods whilst I tried to maintain a clear trance-state to be as objective as possible about it. I checked it several times. It was as ‘there’ as anything I had ever dowsed. I was convinced. Kal was surprised and childishly delighted too. I spent a few minutes sending the same pattern on to the next site, just like last time. Again, the destination was not somewhere I had visited before, although I had passed it many times. I could visualise it generally, but not a specific ‘landing site’ for the energy. I wondered what would happen?

We headed off down the slope heading for the back of Frodsham Hill. As we descended the back of Woodhouses Hill we met a man surveying the earthworks that ran along the hill. ‘What are you surveying?‘ we asked after introducing ourselves. The earthworks apparently, to construct a 3D map of the site. Great! All good information that might reveal something interesting, and may add to our understanding of its age and the ways of the people who spent time here.

We arrived at the final site. It turns out it is a man-made long construction, with locked trapdoors in its roof. Was it one of the many World War II bunkers that peppered the hillsides around here? It certainly felt like one, but it was huge – a hundred metres in length and about fifteen metres wide, by about five metres tall. Who knows how deep it went into the hillside? This was no hill fort site! Nevertheless, I wanted to see whether I had sent the symbol onwards as I had done at the two previous sites.

Somebody else thinking of patterns around here?

I dowsed in the strong winds that buffeted the now rain-sodden grassy bunker roof and found a pattern some ten metres away from where we had sheltered behind one of the many turrets. It was a circle again. Inside the circle was the snaking three energy curves, and the sphere at the bottom, but the rods continued on a different path! They rods wove back and forth in ever-longer sweeps to form a snake pattern that was exactly the opposite of the original form. Now I had a whole caduceus symbol of opposing energy paths coming together at the circular base (or head) of the formation. Wow! Like Hamish Miller had experienced – the manifestation had complexified from one site to another. What did that mean?

I felt that the experiment had been a resounding success. Perhaps I even missed at trick when dowsing the formation at Woodhouses? I couldn’t be sure. However, the main objectives had been achieved. It is possible to send energy from place to place, both a symbol from the land itself, and my own energy formation too in the shape of the enclosing circle. Perhaps next I should see if I can draw a formation from another site that has a manifested energy pattern?

Gwas Myrddyn
Following a local path, for local people.

It seems appropriate that, in the week that saw this site’s visitor numbers top the one hundred mark for unique visitors per day, that we should also hit the one hundred posts mark too.

I can only say thank you for choosing to spend your time reading our material. I hope by now that our honest, open, and frank approach to reporting our findings and ideas has been of some use to your own personal quest for enlightenment, and has shed some light on your own Way of Knowledge.

Ironic that this image is from James Randi's site!

My own thanks go out to some of those marvellous pioneers and free-thinkers who have, through their own endeavours, contributed to my enthusiasm, my direction, and my good intentions. It seems scant reward to simply name-check them, but you may see a name that prompts you to explore further, so here is a list of some of those people who have helped me get to this stage on my journey:-

• Emma Restall-Orr – for showing me that druidry can be a living calling, not a dying tradition
• Hamish Miller – for inspiring me to get out into the land and trace the energy paths
• Sig Lonegren – for inextricably tying together dowsing with its spiritual dimension
• Terence McKenna – for revealing a treasure of knowledge without boundaries and being brave enough to tell us
• Dr.Yang, Jwing-Ming – for his explanation of human energy systems and how to use them

Of course there have been many more sources that have helped me understand this ancient tradition of energy knowledge. For all those who have encouraged me in this work, I thank you for your motivation.

Last, but foremost, Kal. We’ve written one hundred posts together, and our friendship and teamwork has never been stronger. Now we can look forward with our usual childish enthusiasm to the wonders that may come our way this year. Thank you for following our path.

Gwas.

There are many ways to hide a secret, but one old adage that keeps re-appearing in my research into life’s mysteries is this: If you want to hide a secret, put it where everyone can see it.
Such is the way with the knowledge passed down through nursery rhymes.
We all know about the bubonic plague symptoms hidden within the words of the “Ring-a-ring of roses”, but there’s a rhyme that is particular to earth energies, and that is “Mary, Mary, quite contrary“.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary.

The rhyme goes:-

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary.
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
and pretty maids all in a row.”

The traditional interpretation is that the references are to types of plants, but when you ask which plants these are then you simply get told that they are bluebells and…er….foxgloves maybe, or…..well, the pretty maids are pansies, right? Actually, we don’t know. But we can make it fit by just assigning random flowers whose shapes may suggest the silver bells or cockle shells. Well, I can make it fit another way too.

I think this is revealing some clues about the nature of earth energies.
‘Mary’ has long been associated with the female energy lines. The obvious example is Miller & Broadbent’s Michael and Mary Line from Norfolk to Land’s End. There are many elements of her meandering across the landscape that is contrary:

1. she wanders back and forth in snake-like sinewy paths
2. she is powered by the moon, rather than the sun (which powers the plants and male energies)
3. she runs contrary to the male energy in a double helix of alternately opposing and attracting waves.

Mary is quite contrary in so many ways.

But what of the relationship with the garden? At a recent BSD conference I met a few people whose interest was in the cultivation and fertility of their land through the employment and understanding of the relationship between earth energies and the soils and seeds that it flows through, not to mention to morphogenetic fields of the plants themselves.

One book in particular was recommended to me: Burke & Halberg’s “Seed of Knowledge – Stone of Plenty”.

This book hypothesises that ancient sites were built to generate fertility energy for the land, to “harden” seeds to yield double the normal amount of crops. When tested in the labs they claim this resulted in reliable increases in the yield of seeds subjected to the kind of electromagnetic fields found at ancient sites.

The Asian continent has long maintained this idea in the practise and theory of Feng Shui. Feng Shui, or the layout and patterning, the direction of flow of chi within the garden, is a strong part of the Chinese and Japanese cultures, wherein these energies are encouraged, directed, deflected or nullified to appropriate effect on the prosperity of the landscape and the people, animals and plants within it.

The ancient information being passed on to us is contained in the final lines too, where a recipe list of contributing factors if revealed. How does your garden grow? With silver bells, cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.

Silver bells or cockle shells?

Silver bells are associated with the calling of the devas, faerie spirits and tree spirits that inhabit the world between our world. These spirits are supposed to heed the call of silver bells, and can be called upon to bestow their energies upon the plants they tend to encourage them to grow stronger, quicker and healthier – to be more abundant in their flowering and fruiting.
Many fertility rituals were and still are enacted at appropriate times of the year involving some form of ringing musical tones to encourage the spirits of the land to grant their fertile energies to the plants for a good harvest.
We are being told that this is a method to gain their help – to call them with silver bells.

The reference to cockle shells is rather more difficult to interpret. Some books on sea magic propose cockle shells as ornaments to an altar, but another suggests they were used in bunches much like shakers. I prefer this interpretation. A bunch of cockle shells might be the poor man’s version of the silver bells! Can’t afford silver bells? Well, nature provides – use a bunch of cockle shells instead. Makes sense to me.

I suppose the modern equivalent is the fascination with Wind Chimes. My wife has put several of them up in our back garden, but ask her why and she can’t tell you. Is it an intuitive feeling that it will attract Nature Spirits into the garden to promote the growth and safeguard the health of the plants?

Sea shell wind chimes 

The pretty maids all in a row sounds like a row of aligned stones to me, or a stone circle. In our dowsing experiences the energies are generated at stone circles, the dispersed out into the landscape, often through rows of stones aligned like paths or pointers along the ground. They are always “in a row”. The female energies necessary to fertilise the landscape bounce between the rows of stones, directed like pipelines sending the energies out across the land to other sites, or into a valley, or through a large country estate.

So, I believe this little innocent cute nursery rhyme which originated who knows when actually contains several key facts about earth energies and how they can be used to make your garden grow:-

• the female “Mary” energy runs in sinewy paths contrary to male energies
• attract beneficial nature spirits to your garden by tinkling silver bells or bunches of cockle shells
• aligned rows of stones can be used to direct the natural earth energies into your garden

All that in a little ditty that everyone learns!

Gwas

Following the garden path.

Kal has already written a lengthy and laudable account of the British Society of Dowsers conference recently, but he has urged me to add my own bits to it, and so I will add those elements that are in addition to his write-up, or which display my own perspective on those events.

As we journeyed down to deepest darkest Gloucestershire we were in good spirits. I was excited, and wondering about how we might fit into a group that I expected would be primarily of retirement age, or batty as Battenburg cakes. Probably both.

On arrival we were immediately made to feel welcome, and were given our name badges and starter packs. Hmmm. At least Kal had a pen and notebook in the pack – he always takes mental notes instead of writing stuff down. Kal ditched the name badge. I played the game to see what happened. As I’m not a very social person it seemed to help during the day.

Dr. Serena Roney-Dougal – Where Science And Magic Meet:

Although the first lecture of the four we would attend that day, this was the most interesting. Dr.Serena talked about what seemed to be quite diverse subjects, and in some depth, but she managed to pull them all together into a cohesive argument for the validity of shamanic practises, as they related to the earth’s energy grid and fields.

The important information I got from this lecture was:-

• The earth’s “GeoMagnetic Field”, or GMF, is perceived by Dr.Serena as synonymous with the Hartmann and Curry lines and grids.
• Earth energy at ancient sacred sites is probably linked to geological features such as fissures, weak points, stress points, fractures and fissures. Water is a factor in the production of earth energies too.
• When the GMF is strong (or active) due to earth changes (seasons, tide, sunspots, moon phase, geology, earth’s magnetic core) then poltergeist activity and healing work is stronger.
• When the GMF is weak (or less active) then remote viewing and telepathy is stronger.
• DMT (Di-Methyl Triptamine) is in the pineal gland of the brain and directs all other systems depending upon its chemical levels.
• Triptamines can be introduced from external sources such as the ayahuasca vine, or many other shamanic plant extracts, to induce a living dream (or lucid dream state).
• At 3AM (“The Witching Hour”) our brains naturally produce more triptamines and start releasing them to induce dreaming.
• Certain structures such as long barrows (which have a layer of organic, then inorganic substances) seem to act as shield against the effects of the GMF on “psychic” abilities.
• Our sense of direction and navigational abilities are linked to the GMF (studies of pigeons).

As you can see, she pulls together brain chemistry, dream states, psychic abilities, the effects of the electromagnetic energies of the earth, and the purpose or usage of ancient sites. Quite a lecture in an hour!

I found that so many of those topics chimed with me. In addition I have always had a good sense of direction (on most occasions) and can find paths through seemingly impossible terrain, but have never linked it to the GMF activity before. Something for me to think about. I particularly liked the link between GMF activity and “psychic” abilities. I will try to be much more aware of this when attempting druidic work.

I think that the conclusion we could reach is that remote viewing and telepathy would work better from within a long barrow or chamber, whilst a stone circle may be better suited to healing and spirit activity.

Dr Tim Darvill – Stonehenge and Healing:

Dr Darvill (‘Davros’ I kept thinking) was something of a coup for the convention. His TV programme about his excavation work at Stonehenge was getting its first showing on mainstream TV that night. Dr. Darvill therefore delivered his lecture with the smooth assurance and well-rehearsed aplomb of a man who has worked through his theories and re-visited them until he felt they were as convincing as he could muster.

I must say I found it all very fascinating and I felt it turned a listed contender for the purpose of this most famous stone circle, and elevated it to an ‘almost definite’. Healing was, I am convinced now, being done at Stonehenge at some stage in its development, and Tim can practically pin-point that time. But it’s not the whole time. It’s a fragment.

Whether healing was Stonehenge’s original purpose, capability or raison-d’etre I wouldn’t like to say, as I think other competing theories are just as likely seeing as the monument went through several re-workings, and passed through thousands of years of use. Ye gods, we can barely keep one of our modern miracles of architecture for the same purpose more than a year these days!! Now it’s a bank, now it’s a cinema, now it’s a shop, now they’re all flats….Imagine trying to trace an original purpose to any modern building after even 200 years of use. The one constant we can rely on is change. The line may become twisted and broken. The evidence may be cleared out. Purpose may have to be divined as much as reasoned. And we use written records. Most of modern archaeological theory is as much creative cultural anthropology based upon fragments as it is true history backed by permanent record.

That’s not to belittle the work of Darvill and others before him. Anything that adds to the certainty of a theory is welcomed by me, and he presented his arguments assuredly and provided physical and historical evidence to back his claims. Diseased bones that could be traced to a man who came from the Alps is n interesting development. Click here to read about his recent work and theories.

A convincing answer is what Kal and I are after – not an intractable debate. There is more to Stonehenge, though, than simply a healing site, however good it was in its prime. This quote about it comes from a Guardian newspaper article:

The latest finds imply a much more complex story: they include a Roman coin among stone fragments, suggesting the Romans also believed in and sought out the healing magic. The later charcoal deposits suggest to Darvill and Wainwright annual gatherings, perhaps for feasting and ceremony at the winter solstice, continuing as late as the 17th century.

The modern-day druids and pagans who assemble bearing green boughs for the winter and summer solstices may not be so far off the mark after all.

Guardian newspaper, 23rd September

I found it interesting that the healing Blue Stones were from the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire (not the Presley Hills, my American friends, he didn’t own them too – and they probably can’t revive him now). Recently I had been on holiday to Pembrokeshire but had had no idea as to how many sacred sites there would be in that area. I now wish I’d gone for a fortnight instead of three days! A strong place for energies and sites, a rather uninspiring holiday destination though.

Darvill continued to raise the stakes though by saying that Stonehenge might have been a copy or replacement for a more natural circle of stones atop one of the mountains in the Preseli Hills. His candidate is Carn Menyn. From his slide presentation photos it looked a good bet. A complete circle of jagged natural ‘blue’ stones formed a gigantic cathedral that is a natural wonder.

A lunchtime interval came as a welcome opportunity to try a bit ofdowsing in the warm afternoon sunshine, the results of which Kal amusingly recounted in his post. I must say I had to laugh when I guessed that he had played a trick on the rather-too-smug lady by shrinking the boundary of her energetic aura to a few feet. It had a positive side – every time we dowsed for auras now we were able to pick them up easily. Now Kal was demonstrating his skills at manipulating them too, which is something I want to study and practise too after learning about the concept of the nemeton (see previous post).

Hamish Miller – The Southern Serpent, New Zealand and Healing The World:

I had been looking forward to Hamish’s talk, as I have read a couple of his books and had a lot of respect for the work he has put into understanding the nature of the energies he has encountered. Luckily, he didn’t so much re-capping on his near-death experience, or much about the Michel and Mary line that he had dowsed with Paul Broadhurst. Instead he started off talking about the Apollo/Athena line, a line running from Skellig Michael in southern Ireland, and which continues through many sacred sites until it reaches Armageddon in Israel.

Hamish then told us about a phenomenon that he had experienced on both lines – that when he placed a stone on a power centreA place where a person of a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. (see ‘AlignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment.’) feels particularly comfortable and empowered. The place is an energetic centre where a particularly beneficial combination and formation of energies is formed into a pattern that is harmonic with the person for whom it can be called a power centre. at the sites along those lines the manifestation pattern would complexify as he followed the alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. ley from one site to the next. Even going back would increase the complexity.

Whenever I have manifested patterns I have invested my energy into the stones before producing the manifestation, but Hamish doesn’t believe that is necessary, in fact stated to me directly that he thought it should not be done using one’s own energy. I will have to test this out – any stone vs. one I pick and invest energy into. I will see what differences emerge. I also plan to pick three sites on an alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. to check for the compelxification of energy patterns as I travel to each in turn. I have such an alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. locally, so it should be easy to check out.

The second half of Hamish’s lecture concerned his visit in search of what he called the “Southern Serpent” in New Zealand. He talked a little about the potential that there had been an indigenous people in NZ well before the Maori people colonised the islands, which he named as the Hawaiki. This group of people may well have come from China, the Pacific Islands, and possibly even Easter Island! I believe there is little at the moment to back this up except ancestral memory, folklore and strong supposition, yet it was an endearing thought, because many of the tales of energy paths, spirit and energy flows and netherworlds all seems to have originated from this Hawaiki people’s culture.

A mother and daughter that Hamish and his wife Ba met whilst there were Maori people who were well-versed in energy work. The daughter had been taught from a small girl to appreciate the energies, venerate them, work with them, and induce energy through the use of a “magical” stone that she kept in her possession, and which had been a gift to her, presumably as some form of rite of passage with the work. During her tuition she had been taught songs to draw out the “song lines” as the Maori’s call the energy. This girl then visibly demonstrated her powers to Hamish’s assembly of friends when she placed her stone onto a sacred site’s centre and sang energy into marvellous patterns of manifested earth energy.

After the talk I questioned Hamish about some of our suppositions: did he agree that energy lines were male, female and neutral? He did, but was not sure what I meant by neutral. I think other people call them ‘null’ lines, alignments, ley lines. They are the guiding force that keeps the male and female wave patterns moving along a particular alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between sites. But we have also seen the lines have a vital role within the sacred sites themselves in terms of linking the major stone of a stone circle, for example. Hamish stated that the polarities, he found, flipped over between sites so that male became female and vice versa, at various points along a long line.

I found this food for thought and thanked him for his input, and the lecture before Kal and I moved off towards the enticing book store that had been housed int he next building to the lecture theatre. We had one more lecture to attend, but there was some debate. Kal wanted to go and see a workshop about earth acupuncture. So did I, but that workshop was officially full, and so we had to stay where we were.

Michael Bott – Standing With Stones:

Michael was not a dowser. He was, however, amiable and amusing, so despite the fact that he had very little to offer a group of dowsers he managed to make a reasonably entertaining hour pass with some beautiful photos taken from the DVD he has produced with his mate Rupert Soskin – who he said WAS a dowser, but didn’t dowse during their epic tour of hundreds of megalithic sites across the country! O…K…..well.

There’s not much to say about this really. The images were nice, the stories vaguely amusing (in a kind of Open All Hours sort of way) but when I asked whether they had had any mystical experiences then answer was…er…no. They had been too busy filming. O….K…..well. See you then!

However, Kal and I saw Callanish in all its glory and if nothing else we learned that we really needed to go there and do some energy work – preferably close to Winter Solstice, if possible. What a place!

All in all it was a hugely enlightening experience to spend time with some seasoned dowsers, but we did wonder how often they dowsed these days – no-one seemed to be doing it – were we falling foul of some rule of etiquette?

I’d like to thank the staff of BSD who organised the event for making us feel so welcome and remaining upbeat to everyone they encountered. It made the travelling worthwhile. A special thanks to Helen Lamb for making every effort to get us there and for her helpful recommendations all through the day. That’s the kind of dedication and effort that keeps societies going.

Gwas

It was a dark, starry night when Gwas and I set off towards the far distant destination of Cirencester and the British Soc. of Dowsing annual conference. It was a 3 hour trip and we aimed to get there for about 8:30a.m. A monumental feat since my clock doesn’t have a such early times on it.

Nevertheless – my motto is very simple – Its the company that counts – and since that was fantastically provided by my dear friend. The journey promised to be filled with lively debate.

So…with hearts filled with adventure and minds yearning for new knowledge and meetings we set off – heading almost into the sunrise

Some of the questions that came into our minds on the journey were: Would we know enough to fit into the conference? Would the conference speakers fulfill our expectations…It was an interesting speculation to be sure. I have to confess a couple of the titles in the presentation list did not inspire me with confidence.

Anyway – the journey was wonderful, with mist and fog rising at certain points and they days promise of sun was all we needed to keep our spirits enlivened.

We arrived at the wonderful Agricultural College (where the conference was set) in good time – Gwas will no doubt furnish the blog with pics – and we walked about the crisp autumn coloured grounds with coffee in hand wondering what the day would unfold.

Dr Serena Roney-Dougal

To begin with we attended a lecture by Dr Serena Roney-Dougal entitled ‘Where science and magic meet’ – and I was completely engrossed – I felt a real connection with Dr Serena – The way she brought ideas together and connected disparate pieces of information and wisdom was very much akin to the way that my mind works – There were several salient points that she brought to bare on the topic some of which I will note here:

• A calcite crystal forms in the brain at puberty
• The pineal gland (thought to be influential on Psi activity) decreases as one ages – beginning at puberty
• The earths GMF affects the Pineal Gland
• Decrease in GMF helps Telepathy and Remote dowsing type activities
• Increase in GMF promotes healing abilities and interestingly poltergeist activity

There was plenty more – but my mind is still assimilating the ideas and so patience is needed.

Nothing more could show my enthusiasm for Dr Serena’s work in that I immediately went in search of both her – alas slightly old books.

There was a one hour interlude where I – synchronistically? – met a lady who had a fascinating tale to tell – which I have pinched for my other blog originalpurity.wordpress.com.

The rainbow maze that wasn’t

In one of the quads they had laid out a maze using coloured ribbons – the purpose of this escaped both Gwas and I. However, we dowsed it and found that the coloured ribbons which were laid out in circles should have been spiraled and that the center was off by about 3 feet.

And since we have recently come into dowsing colours – we dowsed the coloured concentric circles and found that the ribbons were about 2 foot less in radius. or about a colour out if you like. In our estimation, red was where they had put orange, orange was where they had marked yellow, and so on.

In the centre they had marked a manifestation pattern – two in fact. The inner pattern was familiar to me – a trefoil, three leaves of a flower. The outer pattern was a shamrock shape with three leaves again. We could only confirm the inner petals; the outer petal shape eluded us. Dead centre they had placed a flower pot containing several roses not in water. Inside those they had placed a pot with water, and in the water they had placed some shard of coloured glass. Most intriguing!

Hamish Miller

Gwas has on many occasions mentioned Hamish and his theories and experiences. I was prepared to meet a dowsing ‘giant’ and from the few glimpses of him during the day he did seem to be the part. The father of Dowsing – hmmm. And so I was so looking forward to Hamish’s presentation.

Hamish is a world renowned writer and dowser having dowsed many ancient sites across the globe. An interesting phenomenon he mentioned is that a manifestation pattern he found at one juncture of a major – world crossing ley lineThe term used by many British dowsers to describe an energy leyA straight line of neutral energy linking two or more sacred sites or other energetic centres. This is often confused with Alfred Watkins’ concept of the Ley Line. Strictly speaking a ley line does not necessarily mean a neutral energy line, only a sight alignmentAlignment relates to the concept that humans have their own energy fields that are oriented or formed in a specific way such that the person is either suited better to one energy source of another. Some people have their energy fields empowered by the direct subtle energy force of The Sun, whilst others are empowered by the indirect subtle energy of The Moon. Due to the historical associations and symbolisation of The Sun with masculinity and The Moon with femininity we designate these alignments as either being ‘male’ or ‘female’ alignments accordingly. We interchangeable refer to people as being ‘sun-aligned’ or ‘male-aligned’ and similarly with the female alignment. between notable places, whereas an energy ley is like a radial spoke in a wheel, with energy flowing outwards across the land in a straight line. It has sometimes been found that the energy ley can be diverted from its strict straight path by changes in the landscape or strong attractors that pull it away from its original course. Energy leys may have inter-twining streams of male and female energies weaving along them, as though the energy ley is an attractor, a pathway or a conduit for the male and female energies.. It is easily confused with ley and therefore its use is not recommended by dowsers. – will grow and change as one travels along other junctures along the line.

He also told a story of a manifestation created by a Maori girl in a sacred spot. She manifested an energy pattern through song and rock.

For the latter part of his talk, Hamish concentrated on the responsibility of Dowsers to aid in the “setting to rights of the world” – I am all in favour of setting the world right – but I have no more responsibility of it than anyone else has.

And in essence those were the salient points of his talk, I was left deeply disappointed and now that I think on some of his experiences I find myself wondering…see upcoming post…on his theory and recollection.

Some aura work and Ego’s

Gwas and I were prone to laze in the afternoon sun as most of the other participantsof the conference were. However since this was a ‘dowsing conference’ we decided to stray from the norm and er…well…do some dowsing.

Whilst I was sat on the grass, Gwas dowsed my aura (ok – “Nemeton”!) and found it to be some 3/4 foot slightly oval shaped around me (with a bit of a bulge in the back (hmmm – was that were the tree was?)

I said to him – “Dowse it again and I will make it bigger” As Gwas walked away, I visualised my aura expanding (by filling it with crown chakra channelled energy) to about two and half times the size he previously measured it – and sure enough his rods flew apart at that distance! Fantastic!

Another conference participant was sat some feet away and Gwas asked to measure her aura. She agreed and it came to about 5 feet away from her body. She said she would expand it. Gwas asked “How far back shall I walk” The lady replied all the way to the end of the Quad – this was some 60 metres away…

As she was directing Gwas further and further across field – I felt a tinge of trickery enter my oft devilish mind – and so while Gwas was dowsing her aura – I placed a shell that pushed her aura in and in – and so it was that Gwas eventually arrived at a foot before her body before the rods announced the boundary. She was highly disappointed and I had a grin on my face – and Gwas looked at me with a suspicious druid eye

Then it was turnabout and I dowsed Gwas’s aura. He told me to wait a moment as he settled under a tree. I started to dowse and found his aura expanding some 30 feet before him? It was my turn to raise a suspicious eye now – why did he sit under the tree? Mr Druid

Michael Bott

Michael has done a lovely DVD (“Standing with Stones”) of his and his mates’ visits to over 100 sites – really nice and artistic. Dowsing content = nil point! Still – nice to see! O and I did say we should go to something else – but too late we had already sat down – still – nice DVD [Gwas notes: Actually, the alternative lectures were already full - that's why we ended up at this one.]

And so…

Well the conclusion of our trip left me with the following:

• We are definitely in frontier territory already – see my intent blog item from only last week! It was worth the money just to know that
• Serena has some really interesting stuff on Parapsychology – I might even get in touch with her and see if I can get involved – ok – I was impressed!
• I’m a people person and I got a lot to assimilate from my chat with…see my own blog – link above
• Hamish is a nice guy on a mission
• We (Gwas and I) really need to sort out a methodological way of reporting and making notes – because although we know loads – our conversations are spattered with “o i forgot that we knew that or did that”
• We have to visit some of the sites Michael’s DVD showed – Callanish in the Hebrides of Scotland – is definitely a contender

O yes I forgot

There was a guy (Dr Darvill) who did a one hour talk to tell us that Stonehenge was used for healing (D’oh!) – O and he was also the guy who was on the Timewatch program this weekend (see blog date) just gone.

Kal

PS – notes:

• use ribbons to map out spirals and energy paths
• video our dowsing activities
• be more concise with note taking
• never throw away a theory or suggestion no matter how wild – indeed the wilder the better

Helsby Hill, Cheshire. September 21st 2008

A short while ago I got back up Helsby Hill. I had been reading about Hamish Miller finding rainbow ‘ribbons’ of energy, and I needed to get a handle on that. As Kal has mentioned in a comment to the previous post our brains had been scrambled by the malign energies emitted from the electricity pylons on top of Runcorn Hill, so I wanted to repeat the experiment at a place that I knew was unencumbered by such things. Helsby Hill is close, and clear of energetic obstructions!

At the top, I already knew that the trig.point marker was the centre of the energetic patterns on the hill. I also had dowsed along the paths nearby and knew where the boundaries of the energy fields were, so i deposited my bag of rods outside that area, took a pair in hand, and started heading towards the trig.point.

The first colour I asked for was RED. It was the first one I found, marking the boundary of the path which leads past the summit, and that connects to the path leading off the hill at the back. Next I chose GREEN. This had been Hamish’s next colour, and he had stated that he didn’t think the colours were in the same order as rainbows, i.e. red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. I walked about six or seven feet and then got a splitting of the rods indicating a boundary for this colour. There was quite a gap between red and green! If the distances of the bands at Runcorn Hill was anything to go by then there ought to be something in between those, I thought to myself.

I went back to the start again, and this time I dowsed for a random colour (but not indigo, I couldn’t envisage that colour at that moment). I imagined YELLOW. Where woudl that appear? I went past the red marker, and a few feet later it registered for yellow. OK. Yellow is past red. “Richard Of York…” – I went through the old mnemonic for remembering the order of the rainbow colours. If that was the correct order I should get ORANGE in between red and yellow. I stepped back and started from the outer edge again. In between red and yellow I got orange’s boundary. “Red and yellow and pink and green...” sang a little ditty in my head – STOP – those aren’t in the right order  – don’t follow that!

So now I had red, orange, yellow in the right order, and beyond that green. Given the fairly even 3 feet width of the bands so far I reckoned there was enough room for one more band before green. Wonder if it would be blue? I set my head for BLUE and repeated the dowsing from the outside edge again. Yep – there it was! Right where I had expected it. Now I quickly dowsed for VIOLET and found it only a few feet out from the trig.point. What about INDIGO? I still couldn’t picture its colour spectrum. I took a moment to recall it – it was a mixture of blue and violet wasn’t it? So, if I just picture such a mix…..Now I found it. About three inches from the stone pillar. Excellent! All in almost rainbow order.

RED – ORANGE – YELLOW – BLUE – GREEN – INDIGO – VIOLET

Although, I would swear when I first dowsed it Indigo and Violet were the other way around too, but I put that down to my inability to picture indigo as a colour the first time I found it. Perhaps something else was going on. The sun was just starting to set, and I wondered of the bands might change order depending upon the time of day? I can verify that next week by going to the same place at different times of day.

With the order and placement verified many times, extremely consistently in terms of placement of the boundary markers and the strength of the rod’s response, I turned my attention to direction of flow. Miller had drawn a diagram of several bands of energy which went in differing directions. I dowsed for the direction at each of the markers :-

Red – went sunwise; Orange – sunwise; Yellow – widdershins; Blue – sunwise; Green – widdershins; Indigo – widdershins; Violet – sunwise.

Next I measured the distance between the markers, using my foot as a measure (I take UK size 12 boots, so they’re about 15 inches in length). The measurements were:-

Red band – 3 paces; Orange band – 2 paces; Yellow band – 7 paces; Blue band – 6.5 paces; Green band – 6 paces; Indigo band – 2 paces; Violet band – 3-6 inches.

I thought next about dowsing to see if they formed a complete circle around the trig.point. I had the idea of following the direction of flow to do this. I started with red, and went left. It formed a wide oval around the stone pillar to return exactly to where I had started. I did the same for orange, which made a slightly smaller oval, passing slightly closer to the central point at its narrowest point. Then I did yellow. And it took me off behind where I had started, into the long grass at the back of the hill! Well, I didn’t expect that!

Now I was baffled, so I paused for a moment to think about it. I had followed the direction of flow for the first two and they had formed an oval around the centre. Both times I had gone left. I dowsed the yellow band heading left against its direction of flow. It formed a smaller oval inside the orange band! OK! I was able to do the same for the other bands too, and each one got smaller and smaller and always returned back to the corresponding marker.

So, what happens if you dowse the other way? I started with red, and it formed a large oval on the other side of my start point – down the hill, instead of around the central pillar – behind me instead of in front. Orange and yellow and blue lines did the same. The yellow line actually spiralled into itself as it came back towards the path, but didn’t touch it. How often do we see that? Energy morphing itself to fit in without touching other lines?

Satisfied with that much I watched the sun setting over the Weaver estuary, and then set off back down the hill. On the way down I felt myself ‘click into’ the snaking energy current that came off the hill. It pulled me downwards and made me walk left then right, then back again. I concentrated on trying to observe where I felt that feeling within my body. There was a pull in my head, around the temples, and also in my legs. Suddenly, I felt a sharp tug to the left, to veer in a tight arc off the path. I felt the urge to circle around quickly, so I stopped and wondered whether I was really following an energy trail.

I used my rods to dowse back up the path. I had been walking along the strongest path of energy, and it did indeed swirl to the left at exactly the point I felt the tug in my head and legs! Further dowsing  showed that the energy trail began to break up into a series of spirals that lead off to the left of the path into the undergrowth.

Well, now I’m beginning to know what that feeling is in my head, and to be able to recognise it as the tug of energy. Could be useful!