The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘perthshire’

This is the final part of The Perthshire Trilogy, as I’m now calling it (don’t worry – it won’t stick). This post covers Lundin Farm, a site particularly mentioned by David Cowan as forming a component of an energy formation covering a large area around Loch Tay and Crieff. I then go on to reveal the questions that I posed at the sites, and the accompanying answers that were dowsed, for what they are worth.

Lundin Farm circle

Lundin Farm can be found on a small track just off the main A827 road, about a mile and a half north-east of Aberfeldy, Perthshire. A short walk up the steep track reveals a large King Stone with four stones in a circle some thirty feet further on. Truly a beautiful sight – four stones nestled beneath the protective arms of a spreading oak tree. The site is perched on a hill overlooking a valley that runs East-West following the River Tay. 

David Cowan uses the term “four poster” to describe the circle, and it is certainly a comfortable and restful place to spend a few hours in quietude, but I think there may have been possibly one more stone in there. I also think there were some around the outside of the tall inner circle, although it’s difficult to distinguish the detritus from the avenue of stones that leads down from the hill behind. Some of this is in place, but much of it has been either purloined and re-used or dumped in one corner of the site next to a wire fence.

I didn’t pay the dumped material much mind until I asked to find the transformer stone and was taken to a large flat rock that sat amidst the general smaller rubble. I was quite surprised that it was still linked into the main circle and was active, although being female/moon oriented the incoming energy felt like a low-level trickle whilst the sun was out. The link was to the two stones nearest the approach road (nearest in the picture above). These two circle stones dowsed for female qualities and were linked by the same kind of nemeton field as I found at Carnac in Brittany for the two mounds at the end of the Kermario field.

Apologies now to David for using an image from his books, but hopefully it will inspire you to go and take a look for yourself like it did me, and to determine for yourself what the purpose of these links between stone and sites may mean for the longevity, the power and the influence of these energies through the land. Here we see that David links Lundin Farm’s circle to others at the “Praying Hands of Mary” split stones near Loch Tay. My dowsing results indicate that the energy link is from the Praying Hands to the Lundin Farm circle. The energy comes in, but doesn’t go out again. Now I need to go back and test some of the others. What is the nature of their energy links to the central point? Does this bolster the idea that the ‘surrounding’ connected circles were drawing energy towards the local constructions – in other words, several places benefited from having a storehouse for earth and radiant energies, much like having your own generator in the back garden! According to my findings (see answers to questions below) there is only energy coming into this circle, and not going back out. If there is a connection with other sites (and I agree there is) then Lundin Farm circle has a parasitical relationship with the energy circuit.

The King Stone

This unassuming stone stands at the edge of an entrance to a field. There is such an entrance on the other side of the track too, so you could say it stands at a crossroads. In terms of its energy patterns I found that it was sites atop a geological fault. I also dowsed for the presence of water crossing that fault line, and I believe this effect is responsible for the energy that this King Stone is placed close to. The stone itself registers for the presence of male and female earth energies. So, next I dowsed for the energy coming up from the earth at this stone – it was female earth energy, as found at many other sites. So, where did the male energy come from?

Where the water crosses the fault ion the rock below an earth energy power centre is created that is a combination of male and female energy. his was difficult to distinguish at first, until I realised that the male energy was coming OUT from the power centre. The King Stone then seems to attract the male energy to itself, absorbing it into the side facing the stone circle. Back at the power centre there is a female energy there too – where does it come from? I dowsed it back along its spiral course until it wove into the King Stone close to the termination point of the male energy. So, the female energy was coming up from the earth, through the stone, out of the stone and into the power centre a few feet away. The male energy was coming out of the power centre (fault + water) and heading for the King Stone. All together the two energies and the two power points produced a neat little circuit of opposing energy polarities.

Dowsing the circle

I dowsed the four or five stones (the recumbent stone next to the tallest stone is not ‘counted’ by Cowan) and found out the gender characteristic of each stone. Three of the stones (the smaller, flatter ones) were FEMALE. The two taller, pointier stones were MALE. It’s almost getting to the stage now that I can tell what gender type stones will align to by their shape and position. Recumbent, flat, or rounded stones are usually female. Pointed, sharp-angled, tall stones are often male. When I say that they “are” male or female, I mean I can’t tell yet whether the stones ARE that gender, or contain earth energy of that polarity, or whether the earth energies of those types simply flow through the stones and they register this polarity. I’m not sure which, yet.

I’m also not sure yet whether the shape of the stones dictates the qualities of the earth energy.  Do the pointed stones have male energy in them because they are shaped like that? Do the female stones give off or attract female earth energies because they are flat or round or recumbent? I don’t know yet.

The Transformer Stone

Another often-overlooked aspect of these circles is the Transformer Stone. Such a stone serves the purpose of transforming radiant energies from bodies such as The Sun, The Moon and the ‘stars’ (in this I include other planets that predominate the sky at particular times of the year, as was the case earlier this year when I was transfixed by Venus). As the study of Astrology suggests there may be some very subtle energetic influences radiating from such stellar bodies, and their relative proximity and aspect seems to form part of the matrix of radiant energy that Transformer Stones can draw upon to perpetuate the energy flows within sacred sites.

In the picture above you can see the Transformer Stone, which is now nestled amongst some stones strewn around one corner of the small hill upon which the main stones stand. This transformer is still active and supplying female radiant energy (moon) to two of the circle’s stones that are closest to the road. These two circle stones have a female field around them that has the same shape as the two small mounds that I dowsed at the end of the Kermario field of standing stones at Carnac. The nemeton even forms the same kidney-bean shape! This energy field dowses as having female and neutral qualities.

A demolished avenue and a collection of boulders

The Lundin Farm site is surrounded by strewn rocks of various sizes. As you walk up the hill at the ‘back’ of the circle you will see slight raised earth ‘tramlines’ forming a rough avenue, and occasionally there are some small stones demarcating this narrow channel. I wonder if this once formed an approach avenue, much like the avenues close to Stonehenge or Avebury, but on a much more intimate scale?

In the field next to the stone circle is a collection of larger boulders. At first I thought this would be the site of the cup-marked stone that Cowan refers to in his books when he talks of this site, but I couldn’t actually find anything that looked cup-marked, and I had a ruddy good look! The boulder site looks similar to some destroyed “preparation” enclosures that I’ve seen (such as the one at Stanton Drew). I can only speculate, as there was nothing energetically significant about the stones here, so I left it to the sheep to continue to use as a wind-proof toilet facility!

Question Corner

During my visit I asked a series of prepared questions, some sensible, some far-out and superficially ludicrous, just to test what the responses would be, and perhaps to reveal some surprises. Just to remind you of the questions I was asking:-

Q1. Was this site created…

1. …before the time of the Druids?
2. …by The Shining Ones?
3. …according to principles established by The Shining Ones?

Q2. Was the purpose of the sites….

1. …to generate subtle energies?
2. …to collect and store such energies?
3. …to disperse such energies into the land?

Q3. Where does the energy at the site…

1. …come in?
2. …leave?
3. …get generated?

Q4. Were there any burials at the site, and if so, did such burials imprint the person’s energies into the site?

Q5. Is this site part of a larger energy system?

Q6. Was this larger system created to…

1. …generate energy?
2. …act as protection?
3. …harness the energy for some other use?

——————————————-

Here are the results for Lundin Farm:-

Q1. Who created it?

• Built on the principles established by The Shining Ones. Also responded to the idea of The Annunaki. A confirmation from the earlier Monzie Circle site.

Q2. What is its purpose?

• Healing and human fertility (as opposed to the fertility of the land). Given that the energies don’t seem to emerge from the site this fits with the dowsing results, as I guess that all activity (ceremony, ritual, magic) would have taken place within the energy field of the stone circle.

Q3. Where does energy come in and go out?

• Comes in through the Transformer Stone, and does not emerge again. The energy is contained in the circle.

Q4. Is there anyone buried in this circle?

• No.

Q5. Is this site part of a larger system?

• Yes.

Q6. What was the purpose of the larger system?

• Could not be identified, perhaps because the question was too vague or had multiple answers.

——————————————-

Conclusion

You know it’s funny. You can’t make out in these pictures the telegraph poles that run alongside and very close to the stone circle. I spent a couple of hours there and didn’t notice them either until I walked away up the hill from the circle and turned around to watch the darkening clouds looming over the high hills to the south. I jogged back to dowse for their influence on the circle – they were affecting the circle’s energies – perhaps this was why the circle wasn’t outputting anything? Maybe. There was also an irrigation channel dug alongside the site and I think that the unnaturally straight flow of water also had some energetically-draining qualities about it too. I’ll have to go back with more time. But then I had to head off in search of the cup-marked stone that was somewhere nearby. I didn’t find it and now I was really pressed for time and had to leave.

Still – things learned, some things verified, and a delightfully peaceful timewas had sitting under the oak tree, listening to the beck babbling, the birds singing, the lambs bleating. Not even the cloudburst that appeared next could dampen that moment. Just before I go – here’s a thing I’ve begun to take notice of. I know we have changeable weather on this island, but it seems like every time I do energy work at a site the weather changes. If it’s sunny it will cause wind and rain to arrive, and if it’s cloudy a small break appears and the sun shines through. Just like the effects of Wilhelm Reich’s Cloudbuster. Just noted, that’s all. I read that, according to New Scientist magazine, our brains are hard-wired to detect patterns in just about anything. Must be useful for something then, eh? I wonder if the Druids who are doing a ritual to keep the rains away from the Green Man Festival this year are doing something more than ‘praying’?

Gwas

Following the high road

This is the second part of what is now a three-part report of some of the megalithic or other sites that may be of interest to earth energy students, or students of the arcane and esoteric – all of which are accessible in a day’s drive around the area near Dundee in Perthshire, Scotland. In this post I describe my visit to Monzie Circle near Gilmerton village in Perthshire.

Monzie circle

David Cowan has some interesting things to say on his web site about the stone circle near Monzie Castle. On his web site he discusses the idea that some ley lines may be considered the same as the ancient concept of “spirit lines” – lines of energy connected with people’s graves. He gives us this information about his discoveries around Monzie circle:-

“The knowledge that spirit lines wander around is puzzling, as we have become accustomed to thinking of spirits as following straight “spirit paths”.

Perhaps when the energy leys were working properly they were used to channel the spirits safely down a line which could be avoided by the living, as, especially in Ireland, it is still good policy to avoid these “faery paths”.

One such faery path near here begins at a ten-stone circle at Monzie Castle, outside Crieff, again on a fault line. The energy ley in this case travels south, down a 1 1/2-mile long “spoke” road, (ghost road), and terminates at an old burial-ground situated on an obvious volcanic dyke (the river Earn tumbles over here just twenty yards away). Not only is the burial-ground on the dyke, but the powerful and landed Drummonds built their Castle several miles to the west on that same dyke. ”

David R.Cowan – from the Leyman web site.

I really wish I’d re-read that before I went. My visit was in search of more than dead spirit energy, though. I was prepped to ask some questions that were not strictly energy-based, but we’ll come to that!

This photo below isn’t as good as the one on Cowan’s Leyman website, but it does show the link distance between the circle and its’ King Stone outlier, which is barely visible between the tall trees as a dot on the near horizon.

As I walked around inside the circle I noticed that the north side of the circle (shown above) had slightly wider spaces between the stones. It indicated to me, as with other circles, that this was an exit point for the energy flows from the circle. It was diametrically opposite from the entrance I had found between two more tightly-spaced stones.

This cup-marked stone lay just six feet away from the main circle. The cup marks themselves are quite pronounced and beautifully adorned with concentric rings. If I knew the area better I’d know if it was a map of the energetic points in the landscape. As it was, I found that some female earth energy flowed down from the hillside that was next to the circle (pictured below). The hill is part of the long Knock of Crieff, an unusual-looking hill with some standing stones on the Crieff side.

There is a tale about this crag facing the stone circle, which is called Kate McNieven’s Crag, and Visit Scotland’s web site tell  us:-

“A well known local tale tells the story of Kate McNieven who suffered a cruel end in an attempt to prove whether she was a witch. Reputedly, she was rolled off a crag in a barrel lined with spikes. To this day, the crag, situated on the Knock of Crieff, bears her name.”

From Visit Scotland

The stone below was an outlier, being some half a mile away from the main circle. This stone emitted a male energy, and was drawing that down from the sun, as well as being placed over a neutral earth energy source.

Acting as a King Stone for this circle, I thought it was a considerable way away to still have a link, but it did (possibly the furthest outlier I’ve found yet – being situated in two fields away, about quarter of a mile distant from the main circle). I dowsed the energetic link between this stone and the main circle and found a strong male line, but following it was difficult due to barbed wire fences, so I can’t confirm a continuous link.

A Starter for Ten

During my visit I asked a series of prepared questions, some sensible, some ludicrous, just to test what the responses would be, and perhaps to reveal some surprises. Here is my question list, and then I’ll show you the responses:-

Q1. Was this site created…

1. …before the time of the Celtic Druids?
2. …by the Shining Ones?
3. …according to principles established by The Shining Ones?

Q2. Was the purpose of the sites….

1. …to generate subtle energies?
2. …to collect and store such energies?
3. …to disperse such energies into the land?

Q3. Where does the energy at the site…

1. …come in?
2. …leave?
3. …get generated?

Q4. Were there any burials at the site, and if so, did such burials imprint the person’s energies into the site?

Q5. Is this site part of a larger energy system?

Q6. Was this larger system created to…

1. …generate energy?
2. …act as protection?
3. …harness the energy for some other use?

Of course there was always room in those questions for the response “none of the above”. I just wish there was room on the political ballot papers for such a response too, but that’s a separate matter. Now, please adjust your seatbelt and your credulity monitors in readiness for the answers…

Here are the results for Monzie Circle:-

Q1. Who created it?

• created before the Druids by local farmers
• built according to principles brought to them by The Shining Ones!

Q2. What is its purpose?

• To generate energy and disperse it out into the land
• I verified this by dowsing a hand-spread pattern in the field on the eastern edge of the circle

Q3. Where does energy come in and go out?

• Comes into the circle from the cup-marked stone just outside it
• The cup-marked stone gets its energy from earth energy flowing down from the Knock of Crieff hillside – like a witch in a barrel, this esoteric energy rolls down the crag to meet its termination point!
• The energy enters the circle in a gap between two stones on the south side where the stones are more tightly spaced
• The energy flows out of the north side where the stones are slightly wider apart
• Two streams of energy flow out – a male line goes to the outlying King Stone, and a female line goes into the field as a hand-spread shaped patch of energy (just like at Kermario, Carnac).

Q4. Is there anyone buried in this circle?

• Someone is buried there who was of local renown (sorry – didn’t ask ‘male or female’, which seems particularly annoying now that I have found the story about the witch and the nearby crag. Damn!)
• Their death energy is still faintly present, although very weak now
• This burial is sited at the western edge of the circle, just inside it between two of the circle’s stones

Q5. Is this site part of a larger system? Yes.

Q6. What was the purpose of the larger system?

• Fertility for the land and human prosperity
• Partly for protection (from something as yet unknown)

Conclusion

As a first stab at trying some pretty strange questions I got some pretty strange answers. Take them or leave them – but don’t believe them (isn’t that from an ABC song?). Please go out and try for yourself. Then YOU will know what I’m talking about, or you’ll be able to totally dismiss it all as crack-pottery. Your choice. I’m just reporting what happened on the day. I totally accept there are many factors involved in the answers, but I’m still going to ask difficult questions otherwise it all stands still and no progress is made. At the moment it’s true enough for me to work with.

The Shining Ones didn’t build these local megalithic structures, but they were built on their principles!? I was going to have to go away and have a think about who these Shining Ones may have been. As it happens, a few weeks after this visit, I got the chance to ask a bit more about it, but that will be another post!

Gwas.

Following in the footsteps of giants.

I recently got the chance to scout around the countryside between Loch Tay, Crieff and Dundee. This is David Cowan’s neck of the woods – the Scottish earth energy researcher – so I was delighted at the prospect of visiting some of the megalithic sites in the area.

In this first part of a two-part report I visited some of the megalithic (and other sights) that may be of interest to earth energy students, or students of the arcane and esoteric – all of which are accessible in a day’s drive around the area near Dundee in Perthshire, Scotland.

Dundee Town

In dry dock at the Discovery Point (brown signs everywhere in Dundee pointing to it) is the RSS Discovery ship formed part of several polar expeditions by Captain R.F.Scott.

Interesting design inlaid into the floor outside Discovery Point, with the cardinal points guarded by four vicious-looking penguins. I thought the personification of the winds was quite traditional, along with the presence of the sun, moon and stars. Knowledge exchanged with the Phoenicians about navigation, perhaps? Certainly a knowledge of the movements of the stars and the moon must have been treasured information, as it enhanced the naval prowess of any country that could use it.

In the centre of Dundee, in the middle of the main shopping thoroughfare, you can find this fairly large dragon statue. It’s a magnet for kids who want to be ride it. It’s also close to the main banks, and so echoes the dragon statues that surround the financial centre in The City of London.

Walking from the central church in Dundee towards the Discovery Centre you may come across a newly-built wall. It looks very organic and yet intricately organised. It’s a delightful work of art, and more walls should look this good! Every so often a small decorative stone is featured, and the symbols carved hark back to quite ancient roots: the trefoil and spiral, for instance…

…or some Ogham script, the language created by the British druids, the tree alphabet…..

Cultural echoes of a past being re-discovered and reclaimed. It’s like we’re blowing the dust off our heritage, bringing it once again out into the light of day and exposing its symbolism and shape to a new audience who are more able to listen, even though the modern world has been constructed in such a way as to distract us, to obscure its significance, and often to simply annihilate it without trace. Like the Green Man the familiar foliage re-appears each year anew. That’s happening in Dundee. You wouldn’t have thought it was a prime candidate for an archaic revival!

Eassie sculpted stone

In the ancient church of Eassie village, just west of Glamis Castle on the A94, you can find the encased remains of a Pictish Sculptured Stone. It is one of many in the surrounding area (see ‘Fowlis Wester’ below). Pictish culture, so-called because their legacy of mainly pictorial, was around for the transition from a predominantly Celtic imagery and mythology to one that was a mixture of Celtic and Christian imagery.

This quote published on the Megalithic Portal site by C.Michael Hogan:-

“The appearance of a tree branch in conjunction with the cross on the Eassie Stone is taken to represent the sacred manner that certain trees were held in regard by the Caledonians. (Wise, 1884) The appearance of sacrificial cattle on the Eassie Stone is common to other Pictish Stones after the instruction from Pope Gregory to Abbot Melletus in 601 AD; that instruction permitted the Picts to sacrifice cattle at their ancient pagan temple sites, only if the sites were sprinkled with holy water and consecrated to the true God. (Bede, 731). A procession of ecclesiastics is also evident on the stone, a theme being common to other carved stones of this era. (Hogan, 2005) A portion of the Eassie Stone has been likened (Leslie, 1866) to a crouching warrior image (Kells, ) in the Book of Kells, potentially connecting this site to events at Iona, where the Book of Kells may have been produced.” {Eassie Stone entry on Megalithic Portal}

Not to mention the angels that stand sentinel perched on either shoulder of the stone like some kind of Angel and Devil figures as expressions of conscience.

Take a wee look at those symbols that are shown in the plaque above. A boar – a symbol used to denote King Arthur – is easily discernable. The other look more artistic. A crown, perhaps, with the two central swirls similar to the cobra symbols on Egyptian crowns? The symbol on the right looked to me like a geomantic map of the energy formations at a sacred site, but I’m sure it’s just a stylised squid or something.

A quick digression

In the churchyard itself there are lots of graves that still display their carved symbols of the hourglass, the skull and crossed bones, and the ceremonial vase used to contain a person’s ashes. Now, either there were a lot of pirates buried in Eassie (although it’s far inland), or these are masonic symbols. Some people do propose a link between the Templars and the Pirates, so when I say “charnal urn” you say “bottle of rum”, okay?

A strong link is often made by authors tracing the history of the masonic teachings between Scotland and France, a link of Knights Templar and Freemasons, Masons supposedly emerging out of the dispersal of the Templars. You may recollect we found such symbols on the graves at the church in Dyserth village too, in North Wales. One often finds Templar or Masonic symbols of bones, skulls, time markers, swords, unicorns, lions, dragons and shields emblazoned with simple crosses at ancient churchyards, usually where an ancient pagan church has been built over by a Christian replacement (always aligned East-West to follow the sun).

Some authors make a convincing case for these organisations being the receptacles of an ancient knowledge that has to be handed down through generations unchanged so as to preserve it. The organisations insist upon a belief in divinity, but not in any specific deity. Their history includes the building of round towers and churches on ancient aligned sites to the proportions of sacred number. In short – they retained and re-educated their members in some very old traditions that incorporated ancient deities that have been regarded as sun-gods and moon-goddesses. Quite pagan.

Some authors argue that these organisations were of an altogether different spiritual alignment, and that they are a boys club for the super-rich families and the well-connected to retain power over decision-making bodies. Sounds like a description of the ancient druid orders where rich kids would be sent to the druid colleges to be taught by a group of powerful men who were exempt from much of the law. These royal children were sent for an education in what is now called “The Classics”, but which back then would have been the Western Mystery Tradition.

Others say that the symbols simply mean something quite banal: an hourglass denotes a full life is vertical, a life cut short if horizontal; the cross-bones denote the mortality of man; the skull means…er..the mortality of man; the cross-swords that he was a warrior, veteran of a war; the urn denotes…er..human mortality encapsulated in a vessel of….er..hope of the resurrection into the eternal life. There you go – all easily explained. Unless you’ve read John J.Robinson’s “Born In Blood“, then things look a bit less arcane. (See also: Skull & Bones Society)

Some of the Eassie grave symbols:

There we can see an hourglass, crossed swords, a skull, a charnal urn (“bottle of rum!”) and crossed bones. This was repeated with only slight variations (some had fewer symbols) on many of the graves around the church. “3-2-1 – you’re back in the room“.

Fowlis Wester cross (not circle)

I say “not circle” because there is a circle somewhere up in the hills around Fowlis Wester, but I didn’t have time to find it. I satisfied myself with the sculpted stone that rests in the centre of the village.

This stone had very similar markings to the Eassie stone, and was in a very well preserved state, possibly because it’s a replica! The original in on display in the nearby church of St Bean’s, but the replica was interesting enough. The sculptor has used the bottom of the stone to represent the sea, and it is replete with human figures, animals (seals?) and a great decorated serpent. Very similar to how the Aboriginals of Australia depict the Rainbow Serpent.

Glamis Castle and Fergus Well

A fairy-tale castle is how most tourist literature describes it. Well, you have to think of some way of pulling in five coach loads of tourists in an afternoon. And that was just one firm’s coaches! Luckily they have a big tea room and toilet facilities at the back.

The grounds were superb, consisting of a “pinetum” (an arboretum of pine trees), a natural trail, a walled herb garden (currently being re-constructed) and a area where city kids can see what animals really look like.There’s also a free “museum” and video history of the castle, although some of the exhibits are a bit … tenuous. You get a mannequin sporting a royal dress from the 1930s next to a tableau showing a farmer on a tractor ploughing a field near some sheep. Still, when it comes to the royal history they’ve got some jazzy coloured carboard displays with gold lettering and pictures and everything. No expense spent, I mean ‘spared’.

There were some spectacular trees in the grounds, such as this very old sycamore tree:

Inside the tree were the ancient bowed branches forming a welcome shelter from the hot summer sun:

Some interesting things about Glamis Castle:-

1. It is mentioned by Shakespeare in the play Macbeth.
2. It was home to Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
3. A castle existed on the site 1000 years ago

Glamis Church and St.Fergus’ Well

Coming out of the castle ground you arrive at  Glamis village, with its churchyard and well dedicated to St.Fergus. The well is situated down a path alongside the church and is well worth searching out. You almost walk right past it, so keep an eye out for the sign on the wall.

As you descend to the river there is an air of calm, broken only by the sight of a swarm of gnats buzzing furiously over a part of the rover where it breaks into white horses on the pebbles and rocks on a bend. Also on that bend you will find Fergus’ Well. Not much to look at, but when I dowsed it there was a strong neutral energy coming out of it and flowing towards the river. A female line also emerged from the well and rolled along the river bank, following the flow of the water.

I have never seen gnats, even Scottish midges, swarm so furiously before. Exactly at the point where the neutral energy from the well intersected the river, and where the river was bring churned up by the stones. Somehow, those things are all related. I will have to watch the activity of gnats a bit more closely in future.

Kirkwynd, St Fergus’s Church, Glamis village

At the local ancient church I found more of those gravestone with the esoteric symbols carved on them. Yo ho ho! The church is also the repository for the departed Earls of Strathmore. If only they had lived to see their bottled water concept go global! A sculpted Celtic cross was found at the site during some excavation. The site is described as an early Christian church (probably). What were they doing with a Celtic cross, then? Ahh…borrowing it for good luck. A gift from the local pagan community, no doubt. Kind fellows.

There’s them there sim-bulls again. In part two of this blog post about the area around Dundee I go looking at some stone circles that reveal some fascinating aspects: a cup-marked stone that provides a central link point for several earth energy leys, and a beautiful circle with a tree in the centre.

Gwas.

Following the high road.

When I first read a book by David Cowan called “Ley Lines and Earth Energies” the title seemed to match my desire – to learn as much as possible about ley lines. I wasn’t quite so sure about whether I was really interested in earth energies at that stage, or even what they were, in truth. So, I made an attempt to read it, but fell short of completing it. I was too new to the subject to grasp what Cowan’s ideas were, or how they had been achieved. I parked the book until a later date.

As fate would have it I recently purchased a copy of another book he’d done, and this book was kinder. Or maybe I was more prepared for it. For the first half of “Ancient Energies of the Earth” I was simply nodding in agreement – “Yep – we’ve found that too.” Then Cowan began to come out with a stream of properties about the energies – how they worked, what they were powered by, what they linked to, how they circulated, what forces attracted and repelled them. I was overwhelmed with information so I started to make notes.

In the following section you can read some of those notes I took which I think encapsulate a number of pieces of information, some coherent, some random, and they are classified by us as either confirmatory (confirmed), or speculative if undesignated. That is, his ideas either correlate exactly to our own findings, or we have not yet shown them to be true enough for us to convince us yet. We aim to try the speculative ideas out this year.

Cowan makes reference to two terms that I will mention: cup-marked stones and telluric energies. Cup-marked stones are large stones ranging from small boulders up to huge megaliths that have man-made carved depressions, hollows and gouges. Cowan links these stones intrinsically to the functioning of ancient sites. Telluric energies are simply Cowan’s term for the male and female earth energies that we have discussed many times on this blog.

Animals, plants and energy lines

• There are many tales of cows and insect swarms being attracted to geomagnetic areas.
• Cows sit on tumuli, barrows, etc.
• Church stonemasons had a tradition of sleeping where cows had been stood or had lain, as this ensured a good night’s sleep.
• Evil water spirits in the form of a horse,bull or cow are often associated with tales about lochs, lakes and tarns.
• Hares make their burrows on hills that have blind springs running beneath them.
• Mole nests and badger sets are also associated with the location of blind springs.
• Some plants grow better in areas where earth energy columns arise.

We have found an abundance of faerie rings with unusually lush grass growth forming circles around hilltops and sacred sites. At Arbor Low stone circle we found a column of energy arcing out of one faerie ring and joining to another some thirty feet away.

Energy Formations

• Quoting Guy Underwood, Cowan says that blind springs (crossing points of underground water) send vertical spirals of energy arcing into the air.
• The book shows an illustration of The Staff of Aesculapius symbol of entwined light and dark serpents (similar to the Caduceus symbol). A similar double-helix energy formation is shown emerging from a standing stone. (Confirmed)
• There are at least two types of straight leys: containment leys and national leys. National leys follow geological fault lines, whereas containment leys can be constructed with a stone and a mound.
• Underground energies are shaped like an inverted tree with the trunk being a spiral at the surface.
• Cup marks carved in a stone produce an energy beam. One ray per mark (although it could be two as the line may come back into the stone ).
• To make an energised stone carve a cup mark in sunlight. Once carved the stone can be moved, and the beam of energy directed by turning the stone.

Energy Properties

• Cup marked stones are the SOURCE powering circuits of energy linking several ancient sites into a circuit of energy on both a local and national geographical scale.
• Straight alignment leys differ from the earthy telluric energies (male and female lines). Alignment leys are neither male nor female, he says. Neutral, we say. (Confirmed)
• Telluric energy follows the path of least obstruction, e.g. animal trails, tramlines in cornfields, or through forests. (Confirmed)
• He equates the telluric energies to the Yin/Yang properties discussed by Chinese geomancers. The male energies come from edges, whereas the female energies emerge from hollows. These energies are also attracted to features of a similar type: i.e. male energies seek edges, whereas female energies seek hollows. (Confirmed)
• This energy tunes into resonant cavities – holes or hollows, skulls and bones. These cavities are resonated by wind passing through them, causing vibrational resonance.
• Qualities of the energies:

1. takes the easiest path,
2. attracted to bodies of water,
3. attracted to recent death sites.

• The wavelengths of telluric energies are phased, and seems to be based on a two-minute cycle. Dowsing the same wave twice within that two minute cycle ought to yield variations on the position of the wave.
• Straight leys do not cycle their phase and are STATIC. (Confirmed)
• SOLAR ENERGY produces the shape wave around objects on the earth (trees, stones, tumuli). This means that the size of the “aura” of that feature is linked to the extent of its shadow in the sun. The extent is mirrored not only on the shadow side, but on its opposite side too, like an anti-shadow.
• In derelict houses the energy will enter the door and leave by another “hole” such as a chimney, or window.
• The energy will often pass across bridges.
• Male lines spiral clockwise, female lines spiral anti-clockwise. (Confirmed)
• Streams, rivers, roads, paths, railway lines and electricity pylons all act as carriers for telluric energies. Straight leys are not re-directed by the presence of obstacles, but travel in straight lines naturally. (Confirmed)
• The width of the holes in standing stones or cup marks in stones denotes the breadth of the telluric line that emerges from it (or travels through it). Narrow holes or slits concentrate energies into thin lines, whereas wide or gaping holes emit a broad encircling line of energy.

Winter Hill cup-marked stone

Ancient Site Construction

• Two standing stones side by side form a portal that focuses energy lines along a particular direction. (Confirmed)
• Standing stones are situated on the crossing points of two or more underground streams.
• Some piles of stones (cairns) attract the paths of energies, and may even be sources of energies themselves. If one stone is moved away from the pile then an energy path will come with it. (Confirmed)
• The gaps in piles of boulders attracts telluric energies, as do man-made gaps between hills and split stones (like The Praying Hands of Mary in Perthshire).
• Telluric energies avoid Forestry Commission Plantations. The trees being so close together form an impenetrable barrier.
• Four-stone circles work differently from other types of stone circle. They are called “four posters”. These circles transmit energy out to circular burial grounds.
• Dolmens or cromlechs seem designed as parabolas for the purpose of concentrating energy. (Confirmed)
• Suggests that Arbor Low is a hub for many radial alignment leys. Kal found 12. (Confirmed)
• Confirms that energies come out of the FLAT side of a stone in a circle (like at Druid’s Circle, Penmaenmawr), circles around, then comes back into the stone. (Confirmed)
• Sites tend to be built upon geological fault lines, and lines cross at nodes where activity is strongest.
• Lakes, tarns, lochs and just about any standing water body acts as an attractor pulling energy currents towards them, even uphill.
• Sacred sites usually have some element of PARABOLA involved in their design. These concentrate the energies coming in to a single point.

Consider the position of power centres in stone circles, which are always off-centre and closer to the edge of a site. There is also an interesting story (upcoming blog post) about some Tibetan monks being observed and photographed by a German scientist demonstrating their powers of levitating a megalith by using sound energy. This was achieved whilst stood in a semi-circle a precise distance away from the stone and chanting whilst drumming.

Death Energies

• A ram’s head skull found int he path of a ley line had a set of concentric rings around it in the shape of the skull. These got narrower apart at the outer edge. The spread of these concentric waves supposedly can vary according to how recent the death of the animal was.
• The burial sites of ancient warriors is a likely place to find telluric energy flowing through (cf. Hawarden – the Gladstone tomb). (Confirmed)
• Healthy lines turn to unhealthy lines when they pass through a graveyard.
• The more recent the death, the stronger the attraction for energy lines.
• The paths of the dead were always straight, and many straight leys run through ancient burial sites. It seems as though the dead were transported along these straight trackways (or “doodwegen” - ’dead ways’  in Dutch). Many cultures believe that the recent dead travel in straight lines.

Scientific and Paranormal properties of energy

• The dowsing brain is sensitive to electromagnetic fields. Passing through these fields with increasing speed increases the voltage in the brain from around 4microvolts @ 1m/sec to 400microvolts @8m/sec.
• Rotating the head also causes a similar increase in voltages. Are increases in voltages associated with altered states of consciousness?
• Welsh folklore has it that cup marks and petroglyphs hold the key to all knowledge of the arts and sciences of the ancient world. See also the book “Lost Arts and Sciences of the Stone Age”
• Apollonius Rhodius (Greek poet) said: “Stones placed at the apex of a tumulus are so sensitive as to be movable by the mind.”
• Telluric energy may be capable of splitting stones, or causing weaknesses in stone to be exposed to weathering, thus creating unusual gaps along the paths of straight leys.
• Up until the 1950s it was common for Glasgow women to draw “step charms” in chalk on their doorsteps. These were intricate patterns of sacred gemoetrical shapes. The idea was to give whoever stopped over them the benefits of their benevolent energies. In India they are called “kolams“.
• Kiva, or magnetic chambers, used by the Native Americans for the purpose of transformation of consciousness. Souterrains like Bryn Celli Ddu, or Lligwy chamber, serve this purpose too. (Confirmed)
• Chladni patterns produced by sound vibrations shaping sand on a smooth surface – are these designs the format of crop circle designs? Does that mean that crop circles are produced by energy at differing frequencies?
• Crop circles could form ever more complex patterns through the input of ever stronger electromagnetic forces, producing a pattern much like when sand on a flat plate is vibrated at higher and higher frequencies.
• Margaret Watts-Hughes used her voice to create patterns (lycopodium grains, sand, powder and a ‘singing tube’) – they are called Eidophone Voice Figures. This was simply done using a pipe with some rubber stretched across the ‘trumpet’ or bowl section. The power and sand are mixed with some water and spread across the membrane. Gentle tonal singing through the tube then produces patterns.

Healing with Energy

• There is an ancient tradition of burying silver bells to ward off malignant energies. As the bell shape is concave it deflects bad earth energies.
• Lines from a stone can pick up healthy negative IONS by following a stream or river (especially a lively one).
• Energy lines that follow a stream or river can be attracted and directed around houses to form a shield against unhealthy energies in the area.
• Drilling a hole in a stone (The Cheesewring, Cornwall, for example) causes it to emit a form of energy that is traditionally associated with healing.
• Healthy energy waves can pass through glass, but unhealthy waves cannot, and avoid or go around the glass obstacle.
• Confirms that electricity pylons attract and act as a conduit or carrier for both healthy and unhealthy energies.
• Putting a mirror or glass (glass is the key) beneath a bed will deflect harmful energy lines (‘black lines’) and aid a restful sleep.
• T.C.Lethbridge believed that waterfalls, spring and streams were places where humans could interact best with the natural force field, as they generate negative (good) ions. They certainly have the power to enervate the human spirit.

The Geology and Geography of Ley Lines

• There is a long straight ley running from Glastonbury Tor to Edinburgh Castle
• Cowan speculates that highest telluric currents originate from volcanic activity (volcanies, volcanic plugs). These volcanic plugs often have large castles situated on them that housed rulers and kings.
• Magnetic anomalies of Croy Brae, Ranmore Common (Surrey), Isle of Mull, Mt Cavo in Italy, and Long Mynd in Shropshire all have unusual effects. Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire has an extremely high geomagnetic field.
• The Isle of Staffa (near Mull, site of Fingal’s Cave) and the Giant’s Causeway – both originators of straight energy leys, and made from volcanic basalt rock. The cave is huge, and combined with the volcanic source material, projects a powerful ley across to Iona.

Tiamat: The Chromatic Dragon

Miscellaneous

• Names for the energy dragon around the world:

1. KUEI (China) – travels in straight lines, dislikes iron & steel.
2. ECHIDNA (Greece) – lives in caves, moves at night, shuns the daylight.
3. ORME (Gaelic) – worm that suns the daylight.
4. TIAMAT  – lives below water, is evil.
5. OMNIONT (N.America) – giant snake, when angry makes thunder, lightening, hail and rain.
6. WHOWIES (Australia) – lives in caves, travels only at night.
7. BUNYIP (Australia) – lives in damp sand.
8. UROO (Australia) – water serpent that twists and turns below the earth’s surface.

Conclusion

Many assertions that need testing, wonderful description of layering up over energy systems over a wide area. Describes how to build a ley system. Second half of book is by Anne Silk and is attempt to scientifically (specif. geologically) explain paranormal phenomena via earth energy qualities. Similar to work done by Paul Devereux.

It is clear there is a link made by Cowan (as by many other researchers, archaeologists and dowsers) between the siting of ancient burial sites and their energetic potential. It seems as though death, or the extinction of life in particular, attracts telluric energies. A connection we were not keen to explore after our Norton Priory experience last year (see blog post), but may have to revisit.

I heartily recommend the “Ancient Energies..” book as a useful insight into how David Cowan deconstructed then reconstructed the makings and working of a large-scale energy ley system and its associated local telluric energy systems. When you see the scale of the work done by ancient cultures it only further impresses you with its ingenuity and sensitivity. We know little of its actual power potential, however.

References

1. David Cowan & Anne Silk : “Ancient Energies of the Earth“  (buy)
2. David Cowan & Chris Arnold : “Ley Lines and Earth Energies“  (buy)
3. If you want to see what kind of subjects David is drawn to research then you should visit his website: http://www.leyman.demon.co.uk

Gwas,

Following in the footsteps.