September 2006

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This and That

We have again been invited to visit the Crockers’ Farm to have our traditional fire festival, which brings to a close the field trips for the year.  More details when everything has been confirmed. 

We will be running an Introduction to Dowsing workshop in March next year.  See the advert at the end of the newsletter.  The places will be very limited and allocated on a first come first served basis, so if you want to attend book early!

Anyone wishing to attend future meetings of the Bristol Dowsers please note that their meeting venue has changed to the Theosophical Society’s premises at 14, Tyndalls Park Road, off Whiteladies Road in Bristol.  Shaun please note!! I see he is their speaker in October, on the 20^th.

September Field Trip

September 24^th. Meet at 10:45 at the Farm.

In the morning visit Camden Farm, nr Faringdon, Oxon.  In the centre of Faringdon take the A4095 to Witney.  Go past the sign for Littleworth and Trupp.  After 200 yards the Camden Farm turning is on the left close to a red post box.  Camden Farm is about half a mile up a potholed drive past 2 cottages on the left.

We shall be investigating the former sites of buildings, a medieval road and the water supply to the farm borehole among other things.

Following lunch, visits to Alvescot (Spirit Path), Black Bourton (Wall Paintings) and Beckhampton (Barrows and Prehistoric Enclosure) Churches.  Shaun.

Info for New Members.

New members who have not been on one of the field trips can find out more details about them from Shaun if needed.  It is advisable to take wet-weather gear and a change of footwear as much of what we do is outside.  Shaun usually books a table for lunch at the nearest pub that does reasonable food, although of course you can have a packed lunch in your car if preferred. 

Don’t be embarrassed to come if you feel you are a beginner at dowsing, there are usually a number of experienced dowsers at the outings who will be most willing to give you any help needed.

The trips are usually good fun and a chance to sort out any dowsing queries you may have in a “real” rather than a hypothetical situation.  S.C.

Crop Circle Conference 2006.

The WDS once again had an invitation from Francine Blake to take part in the annual crop circle conference that she has run regularly over the last few years.  The venue has changed over the years, starting at Alton Barnes, then moving to Devizes and for the last two years has been held at Marlborough College.

We had a better site than last year, when we were in a pretty part of the grounds, but slightly hidden from view.  This year we were asked to set up by the folly, situated at the entrance to a rose garden in front of Merlin’s Mound and the college chapel.  Our labyrinth was constructed just behind our stall, on the green area in front of the chapel.

As those of you who have read the “Sun and the Serpent” will know, this part of the grounds has the Michael line running through it, which made for some interesting energies at the labyrinth – very powerful but not unpleasant.  It also made a good dowsing practice area – useful for the brief free lessons Shaun gave over the weekend.

Apart from an interesting weekend, we managed to sell lots of goods from the stall, thus raising a few pounds for the society’s coffers.  S.C.

Chedworth Roman Villa.

The recent weekend at Chedworth was run on similar lines to the session at Marlborough.  Again, sales were good and plenty of visitors turned up to the event in spite of a number of rival attractions in the area.  As usual at these events, a number of people come up to tell of the own experiences of dowsing, and it is always interesting to realise just how many apparently “straight” professions actually teach dowsing as a tool of the job.  This weekend we heard from employees of water-boards, builders and civil engineers.  One man worked for the National Trust at one of the north-country sites and used dowsing for his hobby of archaeology.  He was so proud of one of his finds that he had brought it to show around – a perfectly preserved flint arrow head of museum quality.  S.C.

August Meeting.

John Girvan was the speaker for August, his talk was based on the tools and methods he uses in his paranormal investigations.  He is based in the Devizes area and is well known as the leader of the “Devizes Ghost Walks”, where he takes small parties of interested people around the historic town to show them the haunted buildings.

Some of the artefacts he brought with him were imbued with strong emanations that made one or two of the audience feel a little uncomfortable but were fascinating never-the-less.  One example was a small piece of skin from the body of an executed murderer!  Less gory were some of the tools he uses to assess “presences”, one of which was a small theramin, an electronic musical instrument which produces a funny noise when anything approaches it.  [As used by the Beachboys on Good Vibrations].

John is a good raconteur and had a number of amusing anecdotes which raised plenty of laughs, and after the break there was plenty of opportunity to play with the equipment he had brought and dowse energies from the artefacts that he had brought.

A very entertaining evening, and John has promised to do a “Ghost Walk” for us if enough people are interested to make up a suitably sized party.  More on this when we’ve had a chance to check it out with him properly. S.C.

Press Feedback.

Recently an Email was received from an author who had come across a copy of the WDS Journal in which I had written an article about press coverage of dowsing, back last winter.  [Good job I acknowledged the source and didn’t just pinch her work!]

She was pleased with the positive way her article had been reviewed, as she hopes to write some similar ones,  The article in question was about a couple of small-holders who use dowsing extensively for their vegetable and herb gardens, and originally appeared in “Kitchen Garden” magazine.

The reason I wrote about it in the journal was because it is good to see dowsing treated seriously by the press rather than being rubbished by it.  If any members come across other press coverage of dowsing, or dowsing related articles, perhaps you could let me know, as its always good to share these things with members who may not have seen them.

Thanks in anticipation, Sib.

Trust Your Dowsing.

At the August meeting the speaker that had been booked for the evening had unexpected car problems that delayed him slightly.  We were just starting to get anxious when one of the members said she had dowsed to see if he was on the way, and had got a “yes” response.

I thought I would try this myself, out of interest and grabbed one of the dowsing rods from the sale stock on display.  Mentally I asked whether John was coming and I also got a positive response, so I decided to dowse for the time that he would arrive.  This was just a few seconds after eight minutes past 8 o’clock so I asked whether he would arrive at the pub before quarter past eight.  This also got a positive response, so I asked if he would arrive before ten past eight and got another “yes”.  I was a bit dubious about my dowsing proficiency as it was only a few seconds before eight-ten, but to my surprise the door opened and in he walked, just as the minute hand reached 10! S.C.

Bradford on Avon.

This year Bradford on Avon abandoned the summer solstice arts festival that they had run for the last few years, and decided to run an autumn event instead.  The WDS was invited to the previous two events which were very enjoyable, so it was pleasant to be asked if we would like to do something at the autumn one. 

The event takes place at the end of September so may be subject to poor weather, so we won’t be making a labyrinth and our stall will probably be under cover.  Shaun will be leading a workshop for an hour or so and the usual goods will be on sale.

Hopefully we will again meet some interesting people to talk to [Guy Underwood was from Bradford on Avon and they are very proud of him], and the event should be fun.  S.C.

Corn Dollies.

At this time of year I have often meant to write something about the corn dolly tradition, but have only just got around to it!  In my ignorance I had always assumed that that making of Corn dollies was a peculiarly British custom, but when I started to read up about them I was astonished to discover that they are made all over the grain producing world.

Each early community had their own legends, myths and customs associated with harvest and corn dollies.  In India it was believed that Indra, the god of thunder, brought rain to the pastures and fields, and so he was the corn-spirit and god of fertility.  After his battle with the demons who caused drought, rain came and revived the parched earth and produced a good rice harvest. 

At the rice harvest and at the spring barlet harvest the people thanks to the gods with special cakes made with new grain being offered to Indra and also to Agni who had brought the sown seed to life.

In India the corn dollies were usually made of rice straw and were often hung up as a talisman in the doorways of newly married couples.  There are a number of designs, including the Ram’s Horn which is a mystical emblem signifying a plentiful supply of food.  This must be similar in shape and symbolism to one of our designs, the Horn of Plenty, or Cornucopia.

This horn design was also used in Greece and was supposed to be a creation of Zeus, who died a violent death each year and was then re-born.  Japan and China have similar stories, but their dollies of fine straw are shaped like warriors.  In Poland the last handful of grain to be cut was bound up and called a Quail, while in France at the time of Henry4th, the straw figures were known as the Harvest Gosling.

Information for this piece was gleaned from an excellent Shire publication called “Discovering Corn Dollies.”  Lots of interesting lore and good instructions for several of the traditional designs.

Onions

“Onion skin, very thin, Mild winter coming in.

Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.”

A Cheshire farm, in 1968, escaped the foot and mouth outbreak, although being surrounded by it.  They claimed that this was because the windows and doors of the cowsheds had been lined with onions.  Another old belief is that a red onion tied to the bedpost will prevent the occupant from catching cold, and baldness can be cured by an application of onion and honey.  Apparently onions can also be used for divination.  I’m not sure how this is done – maybe a small onion on a long stalk could be used as a pendulum!  S.C.