Updated 26th Nov 09
The exciting thing about working with ancient sacred sites is that, despite many sites having been destroyed, there are an astonishing number still waiting to be found, or at least recognised as sites of energetic interest, even if their name and usage has faded from common knowledge. There are many out there to be discovered still, and not all have been catalogued despite the wonderful efforts of collating them by sites such as The Megalithic Portal and The Modern Antiquarian.
If you are wondering how we manage to find some of the sacred sites that we have listed in our blog section entitled, un-mysteriously “Sacred Sites”, then we can reveal that the simple answer is Google Maps. We don’t use Google Maps because they do particularly great maps (other sites are as good if not arguably better) but because of their simple facility to draw a straight line on a map and store that map for later use.
In combination with sites such as MultiMap‘s utterly fantastic Ordnance Survey mapping it is possible to trace a line between known sacred sites, save it, and then use MultiMap’s OS detail layer to find out if your new line crosses any known ancient placements such as tumuli (barrows), circles, standing stones, hilltops, hill forts, sacred wells, and all the rest.
Of course it’s possible to argue that drawing a straight line between any two points on a map of the United Kingdom will inevitably pass through or close to other sites of interest. True, but not the whole story (see my Random Ley Map where I drew four cardinal lines at random). It gets particularly interesting if you set yourself some rules of the game before you begin, for example, the line is only interesting if:-
- it starts and ends at a known sacred site that align along cardinal points (particularly North-South and East-West alignments)
- it passes through at least TWO other known sacred sites on that path
- it passes directly through the sites, right in the center – not slightly off to one side
- it passes close or through towns or villages ending in the word “-ley”, “-leigh”, “-lea” or “-lee”
When you establish some ground rules like that you will convince yourself much more clearly when you find such a correspondence. Then you can start adding together many of the other intruiging ‘sideline’ properties of these correspondences, such as:-
- if the line passes through a golf course, the course is often split to avoid the line.
- the line goes through the wealthiest areas of a town or city, or the most exclusive villages.
- lots of churches on that line are dedicated to either St.Michael, St.Mary, St.George or St.John (the Baptist). St.Margaret is also a frequent contender.
- The place names along the line have obvious druidic references such as: the word ‘Druid‘ or it’s Welsh equivalent ‘Derwydd‘ (as with “Derwen’ or “Derwent’ for example); a grove, or an ancient woodland.
- The place names include the words “cross” or “bridge”, e.g. “Lea Bridge” or “Crossley”.
We do not fully understand yet why the alignment leys (as I prefer to call them) link in this way, but there is mileage in the suggestion that the lines form a worldwide grid of energetic straight paths known to many older cultures. The Chinese know them as Dragon Paths, the Incas called them the Nazca Lines, Alfred Watkins called them Ley Lines, and many other cultures recognised these lines either as pilgrim paths for their religious groups, or may have employed them to navigate the globe before modern navigation techniques (see the ‘conspiracy’ theories surrounding the navigational capabilities of the Phoenicians, the Knights Templar or the masonic knowledge supposedly in the hands of early globetrotters such as Christopher Columbus or Ferdinand Magellan). Today we recognise the Hartmann Grid as a manifestation of that knowledge.
With Google Maps it’s possible to find so many interesting correlations of sites that happen to have a mystical connotation, a myth, or that is a natural wonder waiting for you to discover it. Many delightful and mystical expeditions have been traced out by drawing straight lines around the North West of England and Wales. Some of my lines connect the North and South and draw us ever onwards to new adventures.
Here are some of the maps I have created using this tool:-
Always a worthwhile activity.
Gwas.
Follow the energy paths.
