February 2004 - 3 Stone Circles and a book launch

To get 19 TDs, partners and friends out on the same day was quite a feat - to see them taking off their coats on Bodmin Moor on a Sunday morning in February, quite remarkable.

We had two cracking bits of good fortune that set up the day’s outing a treat.  Not only was the weather unseasonably bright, but our group mentor, Alan Neal, also made an unscheduled appearance.   

Annie had prepared a folder for everyone, containing a super write up on the history and layout of the Hurlers, some very useful plans for map-dowsing later and a questionnaire prompt.  She also led the group for the first part of the visit, searching for the ‘coloured’ earth energy and water lines, the Michael and Mary energy super-highways and the hidden granite processional path linking the circles.

However, I was fascinated to trace some of the pictograms in the northern circle, first described by Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst in their book, The Sun and the Serpent (Pendragon 1989).  There are crosses of various types, a sun symbol, a shamrock, a figure of

eight and various other figures.

I mused as to whether these energy miniatures had any metaphysical relationship to the much grander crop circles or chalk hill figures – icons possibly placed strategically by the power of thought alone?  When Guy Underwood wrote in the Pattern of the Past (Abacus 1969), that there were underlying energy forms describing the massive hill figures of the Uffington White Horse and the Cerne Abbas Giant, I for one was highly sceptical.  Yet, having sensed the forms at the Hurlers for myself, and then considered the possibility of a generation of fading sensitivity carving them out on the ground to save them from oblivion – suddenly, I’m not so sure.  Recent archaeological work at the Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex showed it to be of recent - post medieval – origin, despite the associated dowsable energy.  But if it was only replacing an earlier, underlying energy form, then it would be . . .but I digress.           

  

We considered the relationship of the Hurlers circles to the nearby Pipers standing stones and the astronomical possibilities of megalithic people using the sighting point of Stowe’s Pound to the north to calculate the days and the seasons.

We moved on to survey the sad remains of Rillaton barrow, trashed by successive grave robbers, but still energetically active.  We investigated the integral kist, in which the famous Rillaton Gold Cup (now in the British Museum) was found.  A cameo piece of pot-holing by Graham Montague revealed the current kist was only a few feet deep, and nowhere near the spot where the group had already agreed the cup and its attendant skeleton had been found.  However, further meta-geophysics revealed that the cavity had been refashioned several times, and was much larger when the forerunners of that modern-day energy form, Lara Croft, originally found the hidden treasure.

Back at our meeting point, Alan was cajoled into an impromptu personal distribution of his new book ‘Ley Lines of the South West’ (through Bossiney Books £2.99 - ISBN 1-899383-67-0 – you heard it here first).  There was much signing and thumbing of pages.  The Hurlers is probably the quintessential location for this purpose anyway, given the vast array of Ley lines crossing and focusing on the site.         

The complex and mysterious melee of energies that can be sensed at the Hurlers makes it one of the jewels in the crown of the TDs manor.  We had only scratched the surface on this occasion, around some of the more easily accessible parts.  There was the legendary fourth circle to hunt, not to mention Daniel Gumb’s house, the Circle on Craddock Moor and the Cheeswring outcrop nearby - but hey, dowsing isn’t a thing to hurry, and anyway Sunday lunch was beckoning . . . .  

Many thanks to Annie Holland, for her excellent preparatory work and tuition - which was particularly appreciated by some of the less experienced members of the group.  Also to Alan Neal, for giving us the benefit of his experience - and for having his International Book Launch on a picnic table in a crowded car park in Minions. 

  

Nigel Twinn

Tamar Dowsers

February 2004