2014 August
Duloe and St Cybi
On a dry, cool Sunday in August 2014, over 20 members and friends of the three Cornish dowsing groups (plus a couple of passers-by) gathered in the quiet hamlet of Duloe, in the south east of the county, to investigate the intriguing energies and spirituality that imbue the antiquities of the parish of St Cuby (the Celtic – St Cybi).
Our assembly point was the nine-strong circle of upright and recumbent stones that nestles in the corner of a field opposite the village church. With such a large group of dowsers, and a wide span of experience, there was inevitably a great variety of interests and dowsing applications to consider. Some were first-timers here, while others had visited the site numerous times. However, and needless to say, everyone found something new and something to set them thinking. Even the grey-rods were surprised to find that the usually ubiquitous water spiral feature seemed absent from this focal part of the site. Water was certainly flowing in to it from various directions but, rather than a spiral, we appeared to be dowsing a ring of bright water – with a hole in the middle! We were bemused as to whether this was a unique feature of the circle that had somehow escaped the attention of decades of previous dowsers, or whether something had happened more recently to affect the water energy footprint. The presence of a geological fault nearby, which traverses the field and dowses as narrowing to a point within the circle, suggested one potential further line of enquiry – as well as providing a possible reason for the location of the megaliths.
We were able to dowse which stones had been re-erected following the removal of a hedge, which had bisected the site until Victorian times – and we could also assess whether the re-erected stones had been correctly positioned (two of them seemed to be in need of a bit of minor tweaking). We located a number of other locations of former standing stones in the field, presumably outliers of the once, much larger complex.
Our colleague, Andy Norfolk, produced a singing bowl from his rucksack, which enabled us to measure one aspect of the impact of intentional sound on the ambience of the place. An earth energy radial count showed a modest, but detectable, rise as the playing progressed – while the aura of the largest stone in the circle more than doubled in width during the process. Bart O’Farrell, dowsing in another part of the field at the time, and out of earshot of the bowl itself, found that the outer aura of the circle expanded hugely during the process.
The entrance path to the circle is along a ley (both an energy ley and a line of consciousness) leading to the church. The path also has the dowsing signature of a ‘trackway,’ when using the terminology of the late Guy Underwood.
There was clearly enough dowsing here to keep a small army of dowsers busy indefinitely, but our next location beckoned. Across the road stands the church of St Cuby, with elements of foundation and masonry layers dating from the 12th century onwards. There are also indications of a much older use of the site. The consecrated boundary is more oval in shape than the modern, squared-off footprint – and the edge of this llan dowsed as having a saw-toothed energetic imprint, which could indicate a form of embedded interference pattern.
Inside, the church exhibits most of the usual energy features but, as ever, there are a few surprises. The current altar has no trademark water encirclement, but a previous one, in a older part of the church, does have that water energy signature – three sides of which dowse as being physical groundwater, with the fourth seemingly brought into existence by the consciousness of the originator.
The outline of the first wooden structure on the site was detectable by dowsing.
The dating of an old stone font caused much head scratching. The artifact is clearly of some antiquity, but did not seem contemporary with the church itself. The fact that it had been damaged during a period that it had been illegally removed added to the confusion. The suggestion, derived by dowsing, was that it is part of a Romano-British column, later hollowed out to form a font bowl. This might account for the presence of pre-Christian motifs – a gryphon (Celtic – griffin) and a snake – topped by badly damaged carvings of dolphins.
The modern font has been relocated away from crossing water lines but, interestingly, still lies on a substantial water line, wider than the font itself.
An inverted green man hides away among the masonry carvings in the transept, and the ancient energy ley coming from the circle crosses the nave diagonally.
Some of our number found water energies towards the east of the building rather unpleasant, due to both external physical pollution and the carriage of non-physical detrimental energy – and they were glad to move on.
The early plan shows the tower and the body of the church to be quite separate structures marking, and/or attracting distinct energy patterns. This aspect will require further investigation in due course.
Our last port of call was the tiny, much restored, but still picturesque housing of the holy well of St Cuby. Despite being next to a busy through road with no pavement, it still has a considerable presence. Overhung by the sinuous strands of a huge cherry laurel, it resembles a tiny temple from the Cambodian Jungle.
With synchronous earth energy and water spirals, plus a wide ley encompassing the site, this is a very much a dowser’s Holy Well – in use as a sacred site since at least the Bronze Age, and contemporary with the stone circle itself.
The latest incarnation of the housing comprises of two chambers. One with granite-hewn seats, the other with steps leading down in to the well water itself. The water was clear and cool, and dowsed at 8 out of 10 in terms of purity.
A super cameo site to end a most enjoyable day.
Many thanks to Bart O’Farrell for setting up the event on behalf of the Cornish dowsing groups, and for providing us an informative introduction to the various elements of the Duloe complex.
Nigel Twinn Tamar Dowsers, August 2014