Earth Energies Group - Addington - 2013

Adding to Addington

 

The EEG and friends in the Garden of England

(or should that be Eden?)

 

The pre-history of north Kent explored by Hampshire archaeologists; the work of a Cornish-Scot carried forward by a Lancastrian from York; a workshop for deviceless dowsing given by a Sussex healer; aspects of dowsing from across the mental archipelago and accents of dowsers from across the British Isles - and   running through it all was the Earth Energy theme - like the sweet red message in a stick of Margate rock. 

 

Kent is a long way from almost anywhere - except, of course, from Kent itself - and it is all-too-easy to stereotype it as just another over-urbanised part of the burgeoning southeast.    However, anyone arriving with the mindset that any prehistoric remains worthy of note cease at the east Wiltshire border was in for a (very pleasant) surprise.

 

The EEG’s Summer 2013 event was held in the grounds of The Seekers Trust, a modern spiritual Christian retreat, adjacent to some remarkable megalithic structures standing in the private grounds of their charming custodian, Joan Bygraves.  It was an inspired location for an EEG meet, with more dowsing opportunities than you could shake an L-rod at.

 

David Charman - deviceless dowser and installer of bathrooms - got the show on the road in fine fashion.  His inter-active presentation of the method he uses to dowse in colour using, his ‘third eye’, gave us a very appropriate tool to employ for the rest of the weekend.  While David’s primary interest is in the field of health, the process he described - which many were able to put to immediate use - is clearly of great value whatever your line in divining.  Even those of us in the remedial class now have another aspect of the unfolding craft to investigate at our leisure.

 

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent out in the fields surrounding The Seekers Trust hamlet.  In particular, we were able to base ourselves around the off-piste megaliths of Addington Long Barrow and The Chestnuts (a former, fallen dolmen - possibly).  ADG mainsprings, Don Bryan and Edwina Cole, provided the professional archaeological input, and gained as much as they gave - which was rather a lot.  AIW and myself guided the group through the more traditional aspects of the EEG’s portfolio (although it is a ‘tradition’ that is expanding exponentially).   Derek Woodhead provided an on-site workshop for those looking to improve their practical skills, while Bill Holding, took a further subset through the development of manifestations and the building of labyrinths.  

 

Whilst standing by The Chestnuts, AIW was frawn to ask the question ‘Is there anything else of interest for me to find here today’?  The answer was an undeniable yes.  His rods took him to an innocuous tuft of grass, which turned out to be the energetic centre of the whole site.

Adrian dowsed that two streams of water crossed at this point, whilst I found that two earth energy lines met there too. Further dowsing revealed both a ley and a fault line also running through the centre point which was, not surpisingly, emitting (or hosting) a rather energetic group of spirals.  Standing above them for any length of time was not something for the super-sensitive!  The site had hosted a myriad of altars over the years, but now?  Just another tuft of grass.

 

The first afternoon ended with Bill constructing a full-size three-circuit labyrinth just beyond the boundary of the Addington Cricket Club pitch (while a local league game was in progress!).   Thankfully, no-one hit a six in our direction.  After a very enjoyable evening meal in the nearby aptly-named Angel pub, many of us returned to the cricket field to find that Bill had illuminated his energy-into-matter creation with a veritable forest of tea-lights.  Rounding the hedge to discover this low-tech, yet high impact, manifestation was an unexpected delight; walking the path in the dark was quite magical.

 

Day 2 found us with members moving to new interest groups and covering similar ground to their predecessors, albeit with new perspectives and consequently very different results.  

 

The morning was brought to a perfect conclusion by Joan Bygraves herself, who portrayed her own involvement with the stones in a relaxed and engaging style under the spreading branches of an old hawthorn.  Having become interested in dowsing, following a BSD visit back in the 1970’s, Joan has hosted numerous groups of dowsers, archaeologists and spiritual seekers of various persuasions throughout the intervening years.  Her description of how events have unfolded there, and of her personal growth along the way, was captivating.  Not even the intervention of the noise from two new motorways, within earshot, has dimmed her love of the location, and she was as interested as anyone in hearing what we too had to bring to her table of knowledge.  Having kept the ‘facts’ away from the dowsers up to this point, it was fascinating to note where there was an accord with the historical record - and also where the dowsing had indicated new areas of interest and further research.  After another delightful al fresco lunch in the calm, almost soporific, grounds of the Trust, we reassembled in the hall for a general de-brief of our findings.

 

The archaeologists had mapped out the locations, and previous locations, of many of the stone and earthen structures.  There was much debate about ‘lost’ stones and stone circles, and in particular the location of two substantial circles at the north end of the long barrow.  It appeared that stones from some of these circles had been re-used at the time of the creation of the barrow - and that, in turn, some of the larger boulders from the barrow had ended up amongst the Chestnuts.   It was evident that this area had once been the centre of a much larger spiritual and/or practical society - and is therefore of great interest that, after several millennia, it is again at the heart of just such a community.  

 

The ditches, which provided both the material for the barrow mound, and also functioned as a boundary for the site, were located by dowsing - as was a causeway, which had some significance as a ceremonial pathway.  The dowsing also suggested that in the past the central line of the barrow peeled off northwards towards a ‘Long Stone’.  It was here that people had once stood prior to a burial ceremony.  The body of the deceased was brought through the ‘doorway’ of the barrow, which was just wide enough for a priest and a priestess to stand side by side while a body was interred. 

 

The earth energy work backed up much of the archaeological dowsing, with the identification and location of stones that had been moved discussed and debated.  The energies were abundant, as you might expect, but they were also in some confusion.  This was probably the result of previous centuries of neglect, and it seemed if they were seeking a new harmony with the dawning of a more enlightened age.  The carving of a metalled roadway through the long barrow in historical times certainly would not have helped this process, and the removal or reuse of many of the original stones might have left some of the etheric currents somewhat ungrounded.  Partially re-erecting some of the stones at the Chestnuts in the romantic ‘Victorian’ style has left us with an intriguing stone jigsaw, with the picture on the boxlid laid in energy in the ground - and partly overwritten by new currents drawn in by the additional stones.  This was a place to be revisited, and we couldn’t really do it full justice in a Time Team whistle-stop manner.

 

The disturbed energies at the east end of the long barrow displayed a quite novel effect, in that I dowsed what appeared to be a rather jagged manifestation at the crossing point of the two most significant earth energy lines there.  However, the shape grew so quickly as I worked with it that to follow it I found myself following a rapidly unwinding spiral - a task that I only relinquished when it took me to the barbed wire fence and a fierce stand of nettles, much to the amusement of some of my colleagues.

 

In addition to practicing their dowsing skills, Derek’s team successfully located the site of a former well in the garden of the Trust’s main buildings.  It is possible that this was in fact a former Holy Well.

 

Bill’s teams working on manifestations and pictograms at the Chestnuts found that although the energies had largely been harmonised there, the images themselves unexpectedly consisted of groups of curled and wandering lines, rather than displaying the more usual recognisable icons and symmetrical patterns.  The reason for this was unclear, and it shows we have so much more to learn about this fascinating facet of the dowser’s craft! 

 

Many thanks indeed to both The Seekers Trust and to Joan Bygraves for allowing us precious access to their land.  Thanks too, as ever, to AIW for putting on yet another hugely enjoyable and well-organised event - and to Kent Dowsers for providing the introductions, for their local knowledge and for their hospitality.

 

I am running out of superlatives to describe the pleasure and interest gained from EEG outings, but this one (albeit weather assisted) was certainly one of the best.

 

Nigel Twinn, July 2013