Copyright of the Journal.
Contributors
to the Journal are reminded that the copyright of material published in the
Journal becomes the joint property of the contributor and the Society. This means that while the contributor retains
their full rights to reproduce, in other publications or in other forms, the
material they have submitted to the Journal, they at the same time allow the
same right of use of their material to the Society. This has always been a condition of the
Society and the Journal.
Disclaimer
The
Society and the Journal editors do not necessarily associate themselves with
the views expressed by contributors and correspondents.
A quick visit has been made to Gower Peninsula, the area where this year’s long-weekend dowsing trip is to be held. A suitable camp-site has been found, at Port Eynon, and Shaun can supply several phone numbers of bed and breakfast establishments nearby. The surrounding countryside is beautiful and there is plenty of potentially interesting dowsing sites all within a short distance of each other. The area is steeped in ancient history, including standing stones, old churches, at least one holy well, burial mounds, an old castle, along with an interesting looking heritage centre which has a 12th century watermill at the centre of the complex.
The Seven Wells, at Bisley, near Stroud, is the venue for the April field trip.
Due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to change the meeting place for this trip. We will now meet at 10:15 at the Coaley Peak View Point & Picnic area on the B4066 north of Uley Map Ref SO 794013 land ranger 162, otherwise meet at the pub where we are booked for lunch – the Lamb, at Eastcombe, at 11.50 for 12 o’clock. After lunch we proceed to the holy wells, the church and possibly one or two other local sites of interest, time permitting.
In the churchyard is a well, this one is covered with an ornate stone well-cross known as the “poor souls light”. It covers the well, in which a priest was said to have fallen in and drowned. The popular name for this monument is “The Bonehouse”.
The Seven Wells lie just to the south of the church, and they are usually dressed on Ascension Day, which is fairly unusual outside Derbyshire. This custom was introduced by the Rev. Thomas Keble, who restored the wells in 1863. The well-house structure is one of the most unusual in this country, having a semi-circular shape with five spouts of water pouring into the trough, with another two at the ends. The sacred number 7 is often used in rituals at wells.
The modern sports coach is never phased. He goes with the flow.
"Bob," I called out, "fresh kit and a shower for Mr Longcake and Mr Mouse. And don't let them at the beer."
"Very good, Coach," my trusty spiritual batman made reply. Leaping up, he led the bedraggled pair away before too many interested flies could gather round them.
Loafing about with a kind of Aussie swagger, the Archaeologists formed a tunnel and applauded them into the rickety pavilion. Had we lost an early psychological advantage? The possibility had to be entertained.
Or were we lulling the Brickies into a false sense of security? I tried to look as though we were.
"What was all that about?" I said to Dave on the quiet.
"Cyril's been out on the cut with the Trust," he advised.
Of course, one could say, what's he doing that for on the day of the match? And why did he have to take our secret weapon, Fred, the Twister of Tamil Nadu, with him?
But astrologically it's inevitable. Cyril is a water-bearer and will always be drawn to dew-ponds and damp patches and canals, come what may. Sometimes out on a ramble one comes across him staring into puddles.
If enquiries were made, it would no doubt be found that the Twister was of the Crab family, and susceptible to watery invitations.
It was probably a full moon.
Cyril is always the first to spot a grey phalarope on the Crammer in Chiseldon and come rushing to me with the news, causing me to look the creature up in my bird book under migratory waywardness due to high wind. For the eternal student, it is a vital stimulus. Fresh data, that's what we must have. Always fresh data. And grapefruit for breakfast.
My old friend is a diver after lost golf balls in his spare time, providing a much-lauded service on the Chiseldon links for a few pence and an occasional dram. He always seems to be on hand when a stricken cow needs pulling out of a mire.
Could he be a throw-back to Celtic times when water was an object of veneration? Is he the reincarnation of a holy man who guarded the sacred sites?
On dowsing trips he is always ready to jump into holy wells "to test the depth" but is he, in fact, atavistically remembering a time when goods like jewelled swords and gold-embossed shields were laid down in streams as an offering to the spirit of the place?
A modem-day equivalent of this behaviour can be seen, I think, in the British habit of fly-tipping in disused canals.
Ignoring their local recycling depot and the Council's fortnightly collection of bulky items, devotees load up their cars with old and useless gear - mattresses, tractor tyres, solidified paint tins, supermarket trolleys.
They head off under cover of darkness to their pilgrim destination.
At dead of night, working in silence, they unload the sacrificial goods and lug them across fields, down narrow muddy lanes, over awkward bridges and along the bridle path to the exact spot where they must be deposited.
In no time at all others follow suit and a cult develops. Within weeks there is an indescribable spread of offerings at the site - black bin-liners full of ineffable rubbish, cookers, white goods, broken glass and old Wellingtons.
It lies rusting in the cut, keeping company with the water-weed and tadpoles. It migrates up the embankment and builds nests under clumps of nettles.
It becomes entangled with rusty barbed wire. It cannot somehow be moved. No-one seems willing to touch it. It is sacred.
A shrine like this exists at West Leaze Farm near Wroughton, by the banks of the old Wilts and Berks Canal.
Half a mile to the north-west, the farmer's field gives on to the bulging curve of Old Town, Swindon.
The town-dwellers swarm along the canal bank after Sunday lunch. When they come to the fly-tipping they are held in awe by its opulence. They prod it. They coo over it. They check to see whether it has grown since their last visit.
We rustics may hold the Swallow-head Spring near Silbury Hill in revered affection. But town-dwellers have their own spiritual sources. They leave small votive offerings of frayed football scarves and unwanted children's toys.
It's the power of water.
When Cyril saw the shrine he persuaded me that we should become members of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust for a tenner a year and help to carry on the good work.
The very name of the canal is a pleasing anachronism as the Berks part has been in Oxon since local government re-organisation in 1974.
The irony of canals is that their nineteenth century hey-day was eclipsed by the railways, then eclipsed again by the road network, then eclipsed again by the Information Super-Highway - which rescued them.
For the growth of information and leisure put the canals back on the map. Since the 1970s vast stretches of the national network have been restored for recreational use and pleasure craft. Hooray!
But not in the centre of Swindon. In the commercial heart of down-town Swindon the only memories of the Wilts and Berks Canal and the North Wilts Canal which ran down from the Forest of Dean to join it there, are in the names.
Bridge Street. Canal Walk. Golden Lion Bridge. Whale Bridge. Greenbridge.
Within the ranks of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust there exists a militant tendency. This lobby group within the lobby group insists that, against all prevailing likelihood and common sense, the Canal will one day flow again along its old route through the centre of Swindon.
When will the day of liberation come?
Some have set a deadline of 2014, the centenary of the canal's closure by Act of Parliament in 1914. Some are giving it until the end of the century. But on their web-site it already exists in virtual reality.
It worries me that Cyril has fallen in with these Diggers and Navigators. Whenever he turns up covered in sewer mud, I fear that he has been doing something not strictly legal, prospecting in the drains beneath the House of Fraser, laying plans for dynamiteering along the Parade.
I was awoken from my thoughts by a sharp voice at my elbow. It was young Jeremy. Opening bowler. Demon with the crimson rambler. Or so I hoped.
"Why is our team called the Old Soaks?" he wanted to know. "Is that a reference to excessive consumption of alcohol?"
Already I could feel a generation gap opening up.
“We just thought it would probably rain today," I said.
"Because if it is a reference to excessive consumption of alcohol, I don't think it's very appropriate, as this is meant to be a sporting occasion."
"Jeremy, why don't you buzz off, you little prig?" I said.
"Are you trying to get me angry?" he said astutely.
“Yes," I said.
"Well, you needn't. Because I'm always angry."
Grey Wolf
The W.D.S. has had several enjoyable field trips to dowse at local “bluebell woods”, to West Wood, which has a lozenge-shaped long barrow in it and part of Wansdyke, and to Ringsbury Camp near Purton. West Wood in particular is spectacular when the bluebells are in full bloom. It is hard to believe that such a lovely flower was not always appreciated. In the West of England it was believed to be unlucky to have bluebells in the house. However, they found a use for the plant in olden times – the starchy sap from the bluebell bulb was used to make a strong glue which could be used to glue feathers to the shafts of arrows.
William Turner’s “Herbal” of 1568 reported that “The boyes in Northumberland scrape the roots of the herb [bluebells], and glew theyr arrows and bokes with that slime that they scrape off”.
The linen and lace neck-ruffs and lace cuffs were starched using the sap as a stiffener in the same way that modern laundry starch is used.
The now-popular daffodil has also had its share of bad-luck connotations. The drooping heads linked them with ill-luck and death. If the first daffodil seen in the year hung its head towards the viewer, it foretold a bad year, while in the West country, it was believed that bringing daffodils indoors would lead to problems with the poultry.
Incidentally, you should never let a young child step on a daisy, as he or she may grow up stunted.
Another plant bursting into flower at this time of year is the Celandine. Local names such as wartweed, killwart and wartflower indicates one use for the plant, while the yellow juice was believed to cure jaundice.
Pliny believed that swallows used the celandine[ sometimes called swallowwort], to improve the eyesight of their young. It was also used by humans as an eye remedy.
8oz mixed fruit
4oz soft brown sugar
7oz lukewarm tea
1 egg
8oz self-raising flour
Method
Dissolve sugar and fruit in warm tea for at least 1 hour or overnight if possible.
Then add 1 beaten egg and sieved flour and mix together. Turn out into a 2lb (greased and floured and bottom lined with baking parchment) loaf tin and bake for 1 hour gas mark 4 - middle of oven.
This is so scrummy!
A Wish-hounds recipe
Local Honorary Medicine-woman, Kate Fenn, was the March Speaker. The subject of the talk was the use of the medicine wheel and the meanings of some of the symbols associated with it. Kate has given an earlier talk on the medicine wheel to the society, and this talk went deeper into the subject.
Apart from the Native American traditions surrounding the wheels, Kate has managed to make many connections between the layout and uses of the wheel and our own local landscape.
After the break Kate showed many slides of her own and other medicine wheels, sweat lodge structures and sacred landscape. Over the years she has also made many visits to Egypt and has discovered similarities between the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians and our own culture.
We have a workshop planned for early May where Kate will show the creation and ceremonial use of the medicine wheel, at the site of her own wheel and sweat-lodge which is situated at a remote and beautiful spot near Calne. Full details near the back of the journal. Weather permitting, Kate has offered to light up the sweat-lodge fire for anyone who would like to stay on for a while after the Saturday part of the workshop, so that we may have a taste of the “sweat-lodge experience”. Shaun can tell you more about this.
Knoll Down was the venue for the morning session of the March trip. Despite the fact that it was Mothers Day, and the weather forecast was uncertain, there was a good turnout for the trip. Always a good place to dowse, Knoll Down is high up on what used to be the old road to London. When the well-known antiquarian, John Aubrey drew his plans of the Avebury complex, he included Knoll Down as part of the giant “serpent” that he claimed was marked out on the landscape. It is a very evocative place, lots of energy vortices and blind springs, and strong flows of earth energy.
After lunch we were met by Kate Fenn, the speaker for March, who took us to the site of the medicine wheel and sweat-lodge that she has created on a secluded farm near Calne. When we actually could see the wheel in use, it became a lot easier to understand some of the more esoteric points Kate described at the talk. After a demonstration of the correct way to experience the wheel, we were invited in to “have a go”. Dowsing here was not easy due to the number of us all dowsing at once in a comparatively small space. However, several very interesting things emerged.
There were a couple of incredibly strong energy streams running through the wheel, but immediately next to them, in three spots, I could get absolutely no reaction at all. Kate knew of these “empty” spots, and said it was usual in a wheel formation. I wondered if it was natures way of emphasising and defining the energy flows close by.
During the initial “tuning-in” before entering the wheel, I suddenly had a vision of very enhanced green colours in the grass and a generally green impression of everything I could see. Kate was not surprised, as the energy emanating from the wheel is a green energy. Suddenly, two deer ran through the field – for a moment I almost believed they were buffalo!
Another fascinating thing was the fact that the trees directly next to the wheel are some of the most twisted and distorted I have ever seen, but in spite of this, they looked healthy and happy. We were also shown the site of the sweat-lodge and had an explanation of the proceedings.
Kate and Ann, her helper, ended with a drumming session, which enhanced the energy of the site incredibly. You did not need a dowsing rod to see this – everybody felt it.
A big thanks to Kate for the chance to see her medicine wheel and sweat lodge.
During the above mentioned trip to the Gower Peninsula, I picked up a leaflet published by the Gower Heritage Centre which detailed several of the services they had to offer. One article that intrigued me was called the Power of the Stones, and is about the reconstruction of a Neolithic stone circle at the Heritage Centre, the design of which has been based on ancient stone circles at Gors Fawr in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire. The reconstructed circle is made from the “blue stones” from the same source as those at Stonehenge.
The Heritage Centre leaflet suggests that research has shown that standing in different sections of the circle can have a positive effect on one’s health, and it is possible that some of the stone circles might have been used by our ancestors as a treatment centre.
Certainly it is probable that Neolithic folk had a much greater awareness and knowledge of the natural properties of various structures, and how to make use of these properties to their benefit.
I reckon a visit to this circle might provide an interesting dowsing exercise, to check out the claims for ourselves.
The circle at Gower is made up of sixteen stones. The leaflet shows each of the sections between the stones with a number, also the part of the body which that particular section of the circle corresponds with. It is suggested that you stand in the part of the circle that corresponds with your ailment for a few minutes to see if you feel any effect. The theory is that electromagnetic forces are concentrated within the stone circle, to produce a therapeutic effect.
Of course, a dowser should be able to check this out even if in perfect health, just by asking the right questions. For example, section 1 deals with Bone, section 5 deals with Left Brain, section 15 with respiration.
Other possible places of interest to the dowser at the Heritage centre include a 12th century water mill which powers a corn mill and saw mill. S.C.
For those of you that still believe that no Sunday is complete without washing the car, a cautionary tail.
A lady went out to wash her car. She decided to push it out of the garage on to the drive, so after letting off the hand brake she went around to the front and started pushing. Fortunately the garage and drive was on a slope so she soon had the car rolling. Unfortunately the slope meant the car started rolling too quickly and the woman rushed to the back to try and stop it. By now the car was on a charge and it ran over her and didn’t stop until it hit the wall of the house opposite.
I suppose the bright side of this is that she won’t have to wash her car in heaven.