The Cirencestershire Conflab

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 centre at the sites along those lines the manifestation pattern would complexify as he followed the 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 alignment to check for the compelxification of energy patterns as I travel to each in turn. I have such an 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 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