Review of the weekend BSOD event featuring Paul Devereux, Tom Graves and more

Submitted by Runemage on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 Page Views: 6224

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Last weekend the British Society of Dowsers "Earth Energies" Special Interest Group held their first meeting and site visit of this year in Terrington, York. As both Paul Devereaux and Tom Graves have pretty much retracted their old views on 'energy/leys/dowsing' we were very interested to hear where they both now stand with their respective histories, particularly as this talk was held by the Brit Soc of Dowsers! At the last minute Runemage got a window of opportunity to attend, so she leaped at the chance and went and has kindly written it up for us:

Saturday was spent listening to the speakers and purchasing goodies from the stalls, books, dowsing equipment and jewellery. And of course eating and drinking, the catering was superb.

Jim Lyons on Quantum and Cosmic Dowsing.

This talk was about many theories we’ve heard on the board over several years and some new ones.
He started off outlining the split between science and spirit in the 1600’s and how each path is now considered separate still. He went on to discuss platonic solids, the torus, mathematical tones like 0.891, mathematical equations for the deviation of Thornborough Henges being sin-1(1/9)=6.379 degrees. He covered mathematical concepts , prime numbers, fibonacci and fractals, Chromatic and Diatonic scales, 7 notes and 7 colours plus discussed and illustrated the observer effect showing light through one slit then two slits then repeating the experiment with a quantum laser. He covered so many topics in such a short time I couldn’t take notes quickly enough!
In relation to megaliths, he discussed Men an Tol being a dipole magnet and he showed this photograph of energy captured on film at the Hazlewood Stone.

Tom Graves on the Disciplines of Dowsing

Tom wrote the classic book ‘Needles of Stone’ about 30 years ago, which can now be found for free via our Downloads section. This talk was very cerebrally challenging from the word go. He started with this, ‘Whatever we feel is a fact. How we interpret what we feel is an interpretation. How do you know what you know?’

After a short elaboration, he then produced a diagram that was at once challenging and so obvious because it’s not usually looked at in this way. It showed that skills development isn’t linear, it’s akin to walking a labyrinth and he identified different places of achievement, disappointment and crises of confidence on that route. That was a lightbulb moment for many in the audience but then Tom hastened on to describe and give out a worksheet on what he sees as the four disciplines of dowsing and not only how to recognise which discipline you are in and how to change between each one, but to bring them all together as an integrated whole so you have an objective overview of what you are doing and what you are finding. There’s a free pdf download of Disciplines of Dowsing here

He also mentioned how important it is to learn to listen to a place and recommended a site which has information on rules for local distinctiveness. If that vast array of information wasn’t enough, he finished with this piece of enigmatic advice. ‘In order to remember something you never knew, set out to forget it!’

Paul Devereux on Sacred Geography.

Paul began his talk with slides of sacred places, starting with sites that had seen signs of veneration before Man began to build. Split and saddle peaks, water, bends in rivers, caves and trees. Then came wooden structures, parallels with Seahenge and Saami shaman’s upside-down world trees, places with faces natural and otherwise, progressing to omphalos which were evident in many cultures. Perception is modelled on where the body is in the landscape. Later came pilgrimage routes which he’s described as choreographed geography.

Many people have wondered if Paul has turned his back on Earth Mysteries as he was Ed of the Ley Hunter for so many years and ran the Dragon Project etc. He was at pains to point out that with EM, he’s not done a U-turn but is pursuing a different way of investigating these days. Leys aren’t energy lines, they are alignments, worldwide they have been found to be spirit paths, either for the dead to find their way upwards or for shaman to access whilst under the influence of something hallucogenic.
Why were lines drawn on the land, he thinks to superimpose the spirit world on the living world. He thinks cursuses and stone rows do this too.

The land also makes noises. He’s just completed a 3 year study with the RCA investigating outcrops of bluestone, both spotted dolerite and rhyolite at source and found some of the stones ring. Some sound like gongs, tin drums and to me, bongos. Details at http://www.landscape-perception.com

On EM, he did say that for 18 years he had tried to read landscapes and failed miserably, he was at his wits’ end and one day at Avebury, he fell to his knees and pleaded with the Genus Loci to be shown. On subsequent visits, to his amazement, he actually saw.

Another thing he mentioned was that he believes circles are built within sight of an older venerated place, the distance often being that the older place is far away, almost or on the horizon.
Of course he plugged his new venture Time and Mind magazine and stressed how it’s the only journal of its kind to be peer-reviewed. The current issue has an article on the Sunroll at Silbury.

Bill Holding gave a short illustrated talk on his dowsing group Ridings Dowsers then outlined the next day’s activities planned for Byland Abbey.

Tim Walter was the last talk of the day, it was his first time in front of a large audience and he did very well indeed, describing his introduction to dowsing, his hilarious attempts when it just would not work for him, his eventual success and his meetings and film-making with Hamish Miller. Tim runs his own film-making company and has already made several films on earth energies, dowsing and other ‘alternative’ subjects but is constantly told by TV channels that ‘There’s no market for that sort of thing’ so that’s why none of it is broadcast on mainstream TV – so far. Watch this space!

Sunday started with meeting at the hall for refreshments, organising folks to go in as few cars as possible and setting off in a convoy to Byland Abbey.

Of course it rained, so the usually spectacular undulating North Yorks scenery of the Howardian Hills and beyond was a little duller than usual, but interesting nevertheless. We all parked in the nearby pub car park because the one opposite Byland itself is tiny. A quick shuffle sorted us all into our five chosen groups or independents and then we were off, the rain is no deterrent to determined dowsers! I’ve never dowsed with a group before, or had flags and tapes to mark out what had been found. The abbey grounds were soon a riot of colour and climbing onto the raised areas showed the patterns on the ground.

After a couple of hours which disappeared in the blink of an eye, it was back to the convoy and the hall for a superb three course lunch followed by short reports from each of the group leaders. Naturally as soon as we were under cover the sun shone in spectacular fashion and all too soon it was time to say goodbye to new-found friends and make our separate ways home.

I’ve attended several workshops and events on other similar topics but this one was the best so far, not only for the speakers and content but also for the genuine friendliness of everyone there, the atmosphere was fabulous and lots of fun was had by all.

More about the The British Society of Dowsers Earth Energies Special Interest Group.

Meeting Report by Runemage.

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