I have been seeing, hearing and thinking about the dowsing response in relation to the Earth’s Magnetic Field a lot recently. Having spent many years attuning myself to the feel, the movement and the changes of this energy field, it was with some delight that I began to hear some reports from the scientific field that are confirming what I and many others have felt for a long time – we humans can sense changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. Here is a quote from a recent article:
Cryptochrome
Humans may have a sixth sense after all, suggests a new study finding that a protein in the human retina, when placed into fruit flies, has the ability to detect magnetic fields.
The researchers caution that the results suggest this human protein has the capability to work as a magnetosensor; however, whether or not humans use it in that way is not known.
“It poses the question, ‘maybe we should rethink about this sixth sense,'” Steven Reppert, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, told LiveScience. “It is thought to be very important for how animals migrate. Perhaps this protein is also fulfilling an important function for sensing magnetic fields in humans.” (source: LiveScience)
The article goes on the relate how a test involving the injection of blue-light sensitive cryptochromes into the eyes of fruit flies found that it aided their navigation of a maze whose guidance was achieved in response to the the emissions from electro-magnetic coils. This takes us a step further in our understanding of the navigational capabilities of our own species, rather than simply those of specific animals such as pigeons. Here is the current Wikipedia definition of cryptochromes, which may now need to be expanded to specifically mention humans:
Cryptochromes (from the Greek κρυπτό χρώμα, hidden colour) are a class of blue light-sensitive flavoproteins found in plants and animals. Cryptochromes are involved in the circadian rhythms of plants and animals, and in the sensing of magnetic fields in a number of species.” (source: Wikipedia)
Ancient Sites and the EMF
I was listening to a talk delivered by Dr.Serena Roney-Dougal who has studied the relationship between the pineal gland and the human response to the EMF. She points out that this gland, located in the centre of the human brain, is “exquisitely sensitive” to changes in intensity, but also to changes in our relationship to the field in space. In other words, we are aware of our location in relation to the magnetic field, and can point to North without requiring any external guidance (once we get beyond puberty and the pineal gland begins to calcify).
She also points out that ancient sacred sites have been designed with two specific function inherent in their design – they either INTENSIFY the EMF (stone circles and standing stones), or they NEGATE the EMF (the layered construction of barrows, caves and dolmens originally had these properties). Of course, many of these sites have been tampered with, denuded or rendered dysfunctional these days, but their original function fits these patterns in relation to the Earth’s Magnetic Field.
How do we sense the field?
Sixth sense for magnetism?
From the two sources discussed above it seems that we have at least two inlets for sensing the EMF – we have our eyes, and the part of our brain that is linked to dreams, psychic awareness and visions. Perhaps I might suggest another sense too? I believe that we can physically feel the EMF through our bodies in general. There have been times when I have physically felt the pull or push of some force on my stomach, or in my hands. Could this have been the EMF? Or was it something else? This is difficult to say for certain without recourse to some measuring device at the moment it happens, but I can say that this usually happens around the edges of a sacred site, or upon entering an underground site, and I am suggesting this may be a physical response to the EMF change at that moment.
Dowsing and the EMF
Kal made a good point. Recently we discussed Dr.Roney-Dougal’s inference that the dowsing response was a biological and/or a psychological reaction to the changing fields of the EMF. In other words, she states that dowsers are reacting subliminally to changes on or in the human body to the forces surrounding and pervading it.
It may be that dowsers are indeed capable of picking up changes in magnetic field forces, but this should by no means be considered to be the full extent of the dowsing response. For example, most dowsers are capable of dowsing non-physical questions. An example of a physical response would be to the presence of water underground or indeed the EMF. A non-;physical response may be given to a question concerning something in the past or future (i.e. divination) or a question such as “Would it benefit me to go down this particular path?” These aspects are clearly not related to anything physical, and cannot be a subliminal reaction to external stimuli in the present surroundings.
So, it looks like we DO have a ‘sixth sense’ for the magnetic fields of our planet (and possibly beyond that too), and that we take this in through our eyes, if not other parts of our body too. When dowsers respond to that field they are only responding to one of many things that can be tuned into, and the dowsers’ sixth sense seems to be far wider than simply a response to a change in the magnetic fields of our planet.
More information:
See also: University of Illinois article. This article is highly technical, but explains the whole concept beautifully, including all of the experimentation done to validate the link between the cryptochrome protein and the sense of direction as it relates to the earth’s magnetic field.
