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With the Fire Festival over there will be no more field trips until next year.
As I write this there are only a couple of vacancies left on the Intro to Dowsing Workshop. If you would like to take part, please ring Sib Cole to check for availability of places.
Again for next year dig out your diaries. Shaun has come up with a goodly collection of Speakers and field trips. See the programs in the back cover of the newsletter. Details of the other dates as soon as we have them.
The nights are drawing in and thoughts turn to Christmas. As usual the December meeting will be a social event with perhaps some exercises to test your dowsing skills, and the chance to chat to other members and compare experiences.
If you plan to eat at the pub that night I would advise booking a table. There is a Christmas Menu, but the normal menu is also available.
Dear Sib.,
It was very good of you to send me all the information you have collected about Oystermouth Castle - thanks also for the names of the people in the photo, most useful!
There are similarities in the experiences you describe to me when compared to the reports from three other dowsers and psychics who have visited the castle. With such an ancient building there must be several spirits who belong to different time periods and, as yet, I have been unable to identify anyone - whether they are grounded or come in visitation. My only feeling about the souls who allow their presence to be felt is that, for the most part, they are benign. Those in the cellars of the West Range (14 & 15 on the plan) appear to be the most tormented. I have certainly never felt ill at ease or `threatened' in any way.
All these records will be archived by me and when written-up will be available to Friends of Oystermouth Castle and, indeed, to other dowsing groups (and psychics) who may, one day, visit the castle.
Please thank all your other contributors for me.
Sincere regards,
Roger Parmiter
Trustee: Friends of Oystermouth Castle
The letter above is in response to the information that was passed on to Roger from the members of the WDS who dowsed at Oystermouth Castle during this year’s long –weekend trip to the Gower Peninsula.
The secrets of water are still little understood. While some scientists scoff at the idea of water having a memory, many homeopaths are convinced that water changes according to the Information it takes in.
One controversial researcher Dr Masaru Emoto, is President Emeritus of the International Water for Life Foundation in Japan. His theory that water memorises and internalises information was tested by a simple experiment. He poured water into two glass bottles and labelled one 'Thank you' the other 'You fool’, in such a way that the water could 'read’ the messages. He froze the water and curiously found that ice in the ‘Thank you' bottle had formed beautifully shaped hexagonal crystals. The other, with 'You fool,' contained deformed crystal fragments. He repeated the exercise with different positive and negative messages He reported consistent results: positive messages created beautiful crystals, negative energy resulted in broken crystals, or no crystals at all.
The above piece is part of an article in the current “Weleda Revue”, the newsletter of the Weleda company, who are internationally respected makers of homoeopathic and herbal remedies.
Given that water is a component of almost everything that we eat and drink, blessing our food during preparation and before eating it would possibly have a beneficial effect on that food. Even medicines might become more effective. Blessing food is something that several of our speakers have recommended, and this seems to add further weight to their theories. S.C.
Once again Barbara and Adrian Crocker invited the members to have a Samhain bonfire at their farm. The event actually took place a couple of days early, the nearest Sunday that we could get to it, but since the Samhain festival covers the few days over the end of October and the beginning of November, I’m sure this was just as good. In addition, the weather could not have been better and there was a fantastic sunset to enjoy.
The first arrivals turned up soon after four o’clock and dowsing got underway while it was still light enough to see. Adrian had marked out a large ring where he plans to erect a stone circle, which will consist of nine large sarsens, and he wants stones to be accurately aligned with the solstice and equinox sunsets and sunrises.
Before the light faded, we were able to offer a number of dowsed suggestions for placement of the stones, even agreeing on some! Adrian is going to get up early to check the winter solstice site, but he is hoping to have the circle completed before the summer solstice next year, so those positions will have to be checked by other means.
Dowsing out of doors makes people hungry, so before the bonfire was lit we adjourned to the house for a lovely “pot-luck” supper in Barbara’s beautiful kitchen.
When what is now the house was just an ancient barn, we dowsed the energies and compared these findings to the energies of the newly created house which has been built more-or-less on the footprint of the old barn. Last year everything was fine except for a small room behind the kitchen, where there was a slightly uncomfortable feeling. The wall has now been removed between this room and the kitchen, and the problem has disappeared, with the added advantage of the sunsets now being visible to anyone working in the kitchen.
After the feast Adrian got the fire going and sparklers were the order of the day.
Once the fire had died away it would have been interesting to have re-dowsed the area to see if there was a difference in the energies of the site, but of course it was too dark to see to do this safely.
A good time was had by all, and thanks once again to Adrian and Barbara for their generous hospitality. S.C.
October’s speaker was Hamish Miller, recently returned from yet more dowsing trips to far-off parts of the globe. Many of the slides he brought were of sacred places in New Zealand, where he was unfortunate enough to have a severe allergic reaction to something that had bitten him, resulting in a stay in hospital.
Prior to this he had been trying to connect with “the ancestors” at a place that is very sacred to the Maori people. One of the elders at the site said that Hamish should not try to contact the ancestors as there were 7 levels of understanding but that Hamish was not yet ready for the second level.
While recovering at the hospital, Hamish, seriously ill, was having hallucinations and after one of these he drew a sketch of what he had seen – a couple of large, curiously shaped rocks. After his release from hospital he resumed touring the sacred sites and was astounded to find, at the next one, two rocks identical to the ones in his drawing. He was then told that it was now alright for him to contact the ancestors!
Hamish also played a recording of crickets which had been slowed down, had certain frequencies enhanced, then returned to the correct speed. The sound was totally amazing – just like crickets singing to a background of Gregorian chant. This was so popular that Hamish played it again at the end of the meeting.
Lots of the members took the opportunity to buy some of the books that Hamish had brought with him, but I don’t know whether any one was brave enough to try any of his huge dowsing rods. Incidentally, this summer I managed to use a pair of Hamish’s rods for the first time ever – but that’s another story – more later.
It was good to see such a large audience for Hamish’s talk, which was thought-provoking and entertaining. S.C.
How many times have you cursed the foot-ache inducing trudge round the shops at this time of year? Help is at hand. In 1656 a book by William Coles entitled “The Art of Simpling” stated that “If a footman takes Mugwort [artemisia vulgaris], and puts it into his shoes in the morning, he may go forty miles before noon and not be weary.”
Since footmen spent much of their time running along beside their masters’ carriages, Mugwort must have been a very popular herb.
Rosslyn Chapel, or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been known, was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, third and last St Clair Prince of Orkney. It was originally intended to be much larger with a tower at its centre, but what stands today took 40 years to build, so after Sir William’s death in 1484 he was buried in the unfinished Chapel and his plans for a cruciform building never materialised. If it had, it would have been quite a remarkable structure, and the nave may have extended up to ninety-one feet beyond the original west door, right under the existing baptistery and on into the churchyard. Nevertheless, the Chapel as it stands is quite stunning with a double row of spires along its exterior walls linked to the roof by slender flying buttresses, all of which are covered by ornate carvings of flowers and leaves. There would also have been statues of sundry saints, but there were removed during the reformation. In fact, it’s a wonder the chapel survived at all, for in 1589 William Knox, brother of John Knox, was censured ‘for baptizing the Laird of Rosling’s bairne’ in the chapel which was described as a ‘house and monument of idolatrie, and not ane place appointit for teiching the word and ministratioun of ye sacraments.’ In 1592, the family was finally threatened with excommunication unless they closed the chapel, which soon fell into disrepair. In 1650, Cromwell’s troops under General Monk stabled their horses in the chapel, and in 1688, shortly after William of Orange landed in England, a mob from Edinburgh and some locals broke into the Chapel intending to destroy the furniture and vestments, which were now considered to be Popish and idolatrous. The chapel remained abandoned until 1736, when the family repaired the roof and glazed the windows, and in 1861, the 3rd Earl of Rosslyn agreed that Sunday services should resume, and the chapel was re-dedicated in 1862. The interior is even more remarkable than the exterior, and took a while to get used to at first as there are just so many carvings, it’s a little disorientating. It reminded me of an ornately iced wedding cake, but it has a lovely atmosphere. I finally sat down facing the main altar and looked up at the barrel-vaulted roof, which consists of five panels, showing daisies, lilies, flowers, roses and stars. I got the impression these would have been painted in times past, as the stars seemed to glow against a dark sky, in my mind’s eye, at least. There is also a pendant-shaped keystone overhead showing the Sinclair engrailed cross. This ‘grail’ has nothing to do with a certain book, but is the family coat of arms consisting of an equal armed cross, decorated with small triangles, forming a zigzag edge. Amongst all the angels and other Christian carvings are many pagan images, including pentagrams, horned gods and a gaggle of green men. Their faces appear in the ‘vine of life’, which is a magnificent carved garland running around the entire chapel, ‘growing’ up and around doors, and under windows in one continuous line. Over one hundred green men appear in the chapel, which is not really unusual in a place influenced by the Celtic tradition. The first green man is young, almost boyish, but behind the altar in the Lady Chapel he is in the prime of life, looking as crisply carved as if the mason had only just put down his chisel and walked away. These images are remarkable, considering the chapel was exposed to the elements for many years. Various carved bosses protrude from the ceiling here, with both angelic and demonic figures including Lucifer, the fallen angel, who hangs bound and upside down. The heads of the St Clair family were hereditary Grand Master Masons of Scotland, and these images equate to the rites of freemasonry. There is also a series of figures on the ribbed arches rising from the pillars which is known as the ‘danse macabre’, or ‘dance of death’. Each figure here is shown with a skeleton, reminding us that none can escape death, whether a king or courtier, bishop, or child. Here also stand the Mason’s pillar alongside the Apprentices’ pillar. These magnificent pillars have a grisly past, because while the Master Mason travelled abroad to view a certain pillar before carving a replica of it, his apprentice had a dream showing how it should be done. When the Master Mason failed to return, everyone assumed he was dead, and the apprentice was allowed to carve the pillar. This is quite stunning, with eight dragons at the base, from whose mouths the vine grows up the pillar. These probably represents the dragons of Neifelheim, which lie at the base of Yggdrasil, the great Ash tree in Scandinavian mythology, which bound together heaven, earth and hell, and would have honoured the founder’s connection with Orkney. To everyone’s surprise, the Master Mason eventually showed up alive and well, but he was so incensed that the apprentice had been allowed to finish the work that he struck him with his mallet, killing him outright. The other apprentices rose up then, and killed the Mason. There are two small stone heads high up on the wall facing each pillar that depict the sad tale, one showing the murdered apprentice, still bearing the wound to his head. The other shows the Mason, doomed to stare at his victim for all time. From here, you descend to the sacristy, which may be older than the chapel itself. This is a rectangular room some thirty-six feet long. Carved angels placed at intervals around the room just above head height bear shields showing family coats of arms. These still have traces of the original paint, and it is rumoured that if you follow their eyes around the room, you will find the entrance to the secret chamber - if you can figure out where to start, of course. There are still the mason’s original drawings visible on the walls, but the room is plain compared to the Chapel itself. Continuing around the Chapel, there is an inscription in Latin, which translates, “Wine is strong. The King is stronger. Women are stronger still: but truth conquers all”. I like the idea of women being stronger than even a King! Also, there are carvings here reminding us of the seven virtues and the seven deadly sins, but charity and avarice have been misplaced. This is probably due to a boo-boo during carving rather than any deeper meaning, and the mason must have hoped that no one would notice his mistake. Also along this wall is the last green man, now sunken eyed and hollow cheeked compared to his previous virile self, representing the cycles of both life and nature. Once outside, you can climb the scaffolding supporting the protective roof covering the entire Chapel. This gives a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the exterior, showing a previous roofline that is mirrored on the flying buttresses. (Interestingly, this isn’t mentioned in the guidebook.) The whole scaffold shimmied very slightly if you stood still, which was rather disconcerting, but gave an idea of what it must have been like to be up on a flimsy wooden scaffold hauling up huge chunks of masonry by rope! Rosslyn Chapel is well worth a visit if you get the chance, but it gets very busy so arrive early if you can. I also recommend the guided tour, as lots of things are pointed out that might otherwise be missed.
Barbara Withers (information extracted from Rosslyn Chapel by the Earl of Rosslyn)