Twinn
EEG Meeting at Colwall 2010
The EEG Autumnal Event – October 2010
Colwall, near Malvern
Quality and quantity; gnosis and knowledge; humour and bonhomie. From the opening joyous rendition of 'Happy Birthday' for your Hon. Ed. (EEG) to the climactic ascent of the Sunday field trip, this gathering was a classic of its kind.
Dr Patrick McManaway set the standard as the first purveyor of wisdom - and what a standard! Patrick has the enviable ability to explain potentially difficult concepts in a way that leaves you feeling you knew them all along - which of course you did, somewhere deep inside. It’s just simple, subtle, serious, science. He is able to compliment his warm, down-home delivery with a wealth of personal, practical examples of how his dowsing has helped farmers and growers on both sides of the Atlantic to minimise disease and increase yields. If ever there was a presentation of how the non-physical environment can harmonise with the hard world of agriculture that you can hit with a harvester, this was it.
A hard act to follow? Well, next up was the totally unphased Chris Street - a seasoned researcher and author of the sacred geometry of the Big Smoke. If you thought the forces of shapes and numbers only manifest themselves in the timeless landscapes of Cornwall, Caithness or Cambodia - think again. While some researchers find their chosen field taking them inescapably to Bolivia or Botswana, Chris - a proud Brummie - ended up in Barnet. His discovery of unseen geometric patterns, supported by many years of dowsing, iîsight and sheer leg-work, compliments that of the Wessex landscape geomancer Peter [niçht. The complexity of the expression of earth-enengy in London may look bewildering, but the evidence is impressive. The Luftwaffe and the property redevelopers may have done much to obliterate the pre-history of the capital, but the detailed investigation of old maps and records - and the rediscovery of so many half-hidden gems of Old England provide a persuasive case to support Chris’s assertion that, like the peoples across the globe, the inhabitants of the metropolis are influenced by, and reflect, the land they inhabit. The Croydon Triangle may not have the same ring as its West Indian counterpart, but it is just as significant.
And there was more. Robin Heath, has an unchallenged reputation for marrying a seriously scientific approach to an intuitive, intangible field. Building on the platform provided by the late Professor Alexander Thom, Robin has researched and investigated the stone structures of the UK and elsewhere to establish a rock-solid case for the past use of these places for astronomical purposes. While his work at Stonehenge is seminal, his less well-known examination of the dolmens and circles of his adopted West Wales is just as impressive - and on a much grander scale. As a trained surveyor, his weapon of choice is the theodolite. He emphasises that his measurements and records are as accurate as it is possible to achieve in the modern world - yet the ancient inhabitants not only came up with exactly the same alignments, but subsequently erected massive, complex structures to record their findings for posterity. You could hear the personal frustration of a lifetime in the field, when he asked - how many concurrent coincidences must it take to establish a fact? While astro-archaeology is edging towards the horizon of acceptability, you have to hope that Robin will still be around to surf triumphantly over the dam of scepticism, when it finally does burst.
Paul Remfry, a local Archaeologist and Historian, had the unenviable task of following both the presentations of three inspirational speakers and Robin’s tirade about the closed minds of the current historical establishment. However, he rose to the occasion with a passionately personal explanation of his local site - British Camp on the Herefordshire Beacon - and an acceptance that the received interpretation of it left much to be debated and had many historical holes left to fill. Paul’s encyclopaedic knowledge of his favourite place - and his desire to find out more about it were very evident. So, when the written record is insubstantial, what better than to call in a team of 70 assorted dowsers to substantiate, contradict and add confusion to the story?
Right on cue, Sunday’s weather was dry and cool. Even the strong wind on the exposed hilltops seemed to add to the sense of place. Paul gave us a series of cameo introductions to what we were seeing and standing on - but the dowsers were off, like an army of animated ants, rummaging through the ether for the untold narrative of the site. Paul had mused that he felt there might have been a standing stone somewhere on the summit, which was a bit like waving a next-generation X-box at a teenager. The EEG’s finest soon had an outer ring of 12 (or might it have been 13?) menhirs marked out on the outer rim of the ‘hillfort’, with an inner ring of 9 also located and flagged. Water domes, energy spirals and ley lines were detected and described against a most majestic backcloth.
Some of us became side-tracked by the discovery of ‘pictograms’ of the Hamish Miller/Colin Bloy School - and on a day of many delights, we were led to an enigmatic design on a flat grassy platform adjacent to the main footpath. Parts of it incorporated tight energy spirals that even had old insensitives like myself off-balance and in danger of tumbling into the deep defensive ditch. We realised that the shape could only be seen if the flags were joined up - and the outline was duly plotted in gravel. In minutes, something like a diminutive version of a Nasca figure appeared on top of this ancient and energetic hilltop. The colourful fluttering of BSD standard-issue flags soon had the passing public enthralled. Passing ramblers stopped and joined in, people asked for talks about this strange new subject - and the dowsing ground to a halt. As an exercise in impromptu BSD PR, it was a remarkable, if unintentional, success.
For good measure, others were able to help Paul with his search for the route of the Salt Way, by which the mineral was taken from the salt-pans of Droitwich and traded across the land, perhaps even being exported from the ports of South Wales.
10/10/10 was certainly a day to savour.
Nigel Twinn