A Tamar Dowsers Field Trip on Sunday 26th September
A visit to this enigmatic rock outcrop to the south of Bodmin is not for the directionally challenged. Almost all of us who attended were obliged to use electronic assistance and/or flag down a local hiker at some point. However, the destination was well worth the journey.
Helman Tor is a separated outcrop, some distance from Bodmin Moor itself, to which it is geologically related. It is an important viewpoint in the southern part of the county and was clearly inhabited for millennia. On a sheltered platform close to the summit, both Dave and Pete independently found the energetic remanences of four hut circles, although little remains on the surface today to indicate their previous existence. Portable rocks at a high point such as this would always have commanded a premium, and would inevitably have been recycled many times.
The whole of the top of the tor is surrounded by a still-visible boundary wall. Many sites around the county, and indeed around the world, have similar features and I had assumed it was essentially a spiritually protective structure - as in the earth banks that surround ancient churches. But no, it dowsed as being a simple wild animal deterrent, from the days when the beasts of the Bodmin moorlands were more commonplace.
Despite the longstanding human presence here, the potential sources of fresh water were at a geographically lower level. Our intrepid scouts investigated two of them, but returned with tales of an indeterminate muddy patch, and a more promising site that would have needed a machete to reach practically. Another visit on another day, is clearly required - and preferably when the vegetation has died back (or indeed a machete acquired!).
Image courtesy Paul Gerry
My initial request for ‘the most important feature to dowse on the day’ led me to a prominent line that turned out to be part of the lunar grid. The line not only edges past the triangulation point atop the highest point of the tor, but cuts straight through two rock-cut basins, one of which contained rainwater. These both dowsed as having been natural artefacts that have been enhanced by humans over the generations.
In terms of the everyday use of these depressions, I received a ‘no’ for healing, which seemed surprising, but a ‘yes’ for birthing, which also seemed surprising - and gained no support whatever from the female members of our group! Maybe ‘birthing’ has various alternative connotations, and not all of them physical.
Very close to this apex, two significant energy lines cross, creating the trademark spiral and a manifestation pattern. These lines dowsed as being 5 and 15 metres wide respectively at our arrival, and both were predominantly female in ‘nature’. Helman Tor, despite its landscape elevation and prominence, is a powerfully female place - and those who have found the aforementioned spring on previous occasions have also commented on the strong female presence there.
Given the modified form of the rock basins, we considered the striations on some the large rocks close to the peak of the outcrop. Although they could have been entirely natural, they do look as if they might have been modified in some way, perhaps to create rough symbols. The dowsing was inconclusive - how much change has to be effected to make a natural crack into an enhanced marker? A similar situation at the Devil’s Arrows in Yorkshire dowsed conclusively as ‘humanly enlarged’, but at Helman Tor the Cornish jury is still out.
Pete found an interesting double spiral close to the hut encampment, which defied the usual earth energy explanations. I felt it could have been some form of water feature but, if so, the water would have been at great depth and of no practical value to those living next it in times gone by.
I found a distinctive energy drain towards the top of the site, which was associated with one of the female lines that passes over the peak. Energy drains and vortices seem to be part of yet another earth energy network that we can explore on our trips. Each discovery leads on to another - and the matrix of subtle systems seems to get ever more complex.
Needless to say, various long straight lines criss-cross the summit, with leys and lines of sight to the horizon in various directions. Many of these seem to flow through some of the wind farms in the area, but even I would not make a case for this correlation being much more than co-incidental!
Many thanks to Pete Bousfield for organising the trip, and for giving us a helpful introduction to the site. This is such an enigmatic location, which clearly needs a longer follow up at some stage.
If the unknown person who removed the vital finger post at the entrance to the small lane that leads to the Helman Tor car park would put it back, that would be much appreciated, too!
Nigel Twinn Tamar Dowsers September 2021
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