April 2009 - East of Looe bay

Monkeying about near Looe

Astonishing! - and that was just the view from the car park. April found twenty-odd TDs, and a few family friends, catching their breath at the magnificent panorama of Looe Bay, whilst imbibing a long draught of the regenerative Spring sunshine. The dowsing was quite interesting too.

Near to the nationally renowned Monkey Sanctuary in East Cornwall, we were the guests of TD member Caroline Petherick, who uses some of the pleasantly energetic fields that adjoin her home as a less well known sanctuary for horses and ponies, sheep and goats - and a dog or two.

But we weren’t there just to admire the surroundings and the fauna; there was serious dowsing to be undertaken. We started with a visit to the most recent addition to the etheric environment - a standing stone that had only been set up last summer, surrounded by the tracing in the turf of a soon-to-be-constructed spiral. Caroline had clearly received some sound advice, as the stone, from the nearby Carnglaze Quarry, was already drawing in several water and earth energy lines from the surrounding networks, even though it had only been in place for less than a year. None of this energy dowsed as having been present at the site of the stone prior to its placement.

I was also a bit surprised to find two minor ley lines were also passing through it. These dated as having being established within the last year, so it just shows how easy it is to set them up, even inadvertently - be warned. Dating ley lines can sometimes give unexpected results, with some apparently pushing seemingly unfeasibly towards the edge of human history, while others, like these, having been laid down almost in real time.

A powerful, genuinely ancient and highly beneficial ley courses across the upper part of the main field on its way from St George’s Island, heading towards Kit Hill. The general ambience of the energy here is calm and restorative - as sensed by the dowsers and evidenced by the contented and quietly curious equine inhabitants. Whether this is still true on a day when the wind at this seriously exposed site is rather more typical of the season, we were unable to test.

Further down this field sits a flurry of nettles in a damp depression. It dowsed as having once been a spring, from which animals had drunk. However, at some point the stream that had fed it had been diverted, but apparently not intentionally and not by man. I was a bit confused - until we reached the adjacent copse.

Our next port of call was to examine (with great caution) the dangerously dilapidated and romantically ruined remains of the previous house on the site, now being progressively reabsorbed by the woodland vegetation. The current building there dowsed as having been built in the mid-Victorian period, but hastily abandoned following a landslip, on this notoriously unstable strip of coastline, sometime in the 1950’s. Such was the speed of the evacuation that decaying fixtures remain in place and - despite the Cornish reputation for the reclamation and recycling of almost anything that drifts past or washes up - no attempt appeared to have been made to salvage even the timber or the masonry.

This part of the site had a very different energy quality. The moving undercroft had doubtless given rise to geologically detrimental energy, but beyond that, some members of the group sensed several entities, at least one of whom was in a state of considerable discomfort. There was a sombre, time-shifted sort of mood here -not the sort of place to stumble across in a thunderstorm, whilst performing in a B movie. However, group members offered their assistance and, following the visit, Caroline has reported a big improvement in the energy generally. Well done whoever was responsible - you know who you are.

The site of the old house had been in use for many millennia before the Victorians discovered the delights of the holiday home. No doubt shelter from the northerly gales and a luxuriantly verdant front garden were just as attractive in the Iron Age, as the traces of a cluster of round houses indicated. There were burials from this period here too, including that of a stranger - a man whom I could only describe as a travelling salesman. It seems he may to have come to grief in a transport- related incident, perhaps being knocked down by a horse. My granddad was a travelling salesman too, but I think the unfortunate visitor to what is now Looe, was more likely to have been bartering tools or weapons rather than selling Be-Ro flour.

Moving back towards the house, we passed an old Holm Oak, which was clearly still growing, but also suffering from die-back and disease. A quick survey indicated that the bifurcating trunk was bisected by a positive earth energy line, but immediately to the east, a strong detrimental line seemed almost to throw the dowser down the field - a strange effect. It is likely that the tree’s distress may also be the result of geological movement.

On the flatter grassy slopes below the modern house, there are the remanences of another settlement of round houses from the Iron Age, together with trackways and a well which was used during that period.

Caroline had asked if any members of the group could help her by finding a leak in the aging black alkathene pipe that supplies refreshment to the pony fields, but is losing a significant quantity of water somewhere along the way. Several people had a go at this, with the consensus that there were at least three leaks. However, the points identified seemed to vary from person to person, indicating that the whole pipe may be close to perishing and in need of replacement.

There was a lot to see and sense at this spectacular site and it is not surprising that the nearby monkeys howl with joy (or something). We really only looked at a part of the area and we didn’t even get around to having an altercation with the goats. Will the standing stone and its attendant turf-cut formation continue to focus the power of positive thought? Another visit, another day, hopefully . . .

Many thanks indeed to Caroline Petherick for hosting this particularly enjoyable event, for providing excellent direction signs and maps and for offering such generous hospitality before our departure.

Nigel Twinn

Tamar Dowsers

April 2009