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LEYLINES AND ECOLOGY first published in 1985 by Gothic Image, Glastonbury
William Bloom and Marko Pogacnik
Sections:
Introduction
Earth Spirit
Ley Lines
Ley Centres
Tracks and Aquastats (water domes)
The Human Factor
Ecology and Artscape
Further Reading
Dedication: for Austin Arnold
Loving thanks: to the whole
family of landscape angels for their joy and inspiration, particularly
the Angels of Sempas, Novi Pazar, Venice, Glastonbury and London – and
their mother, Gaia.
Introduction
Over the last few years interest has been growing in the idea
that the surface of the Earth is covered with a network of energy lines
known as leys or dragon lines.
There is uncertainty as to whether these lines are real or
imagined, but the original basis for thinking that they exist is the
positioning of ancient monuments, of sites of worship and of standing
stones in straight lines sometimes over several hundreds of miles.
There is disagreement over whether the ancients made up these
alignments or whether they were following patterns already there in the
landscape which they could 'see' through poetic imagination,
clairvoyance, geomancy or dowsing.
In this short booklet we hope to provide a comprehensive overview
of the phenomenon of ley lines which we understand to be not only real
but also a vital, dynamic and beautiful aspect of this planet's life.
The first few pages tend to be somewhat 'scientific', but we feel that
this is necessary in order to draw a picture that satisfies twentieth
century thinking as well as our intuitions.
To put into words, however, a reality that is made of dancing
energy is a dangerous task, for there can be no guarantee that these
static printed symbols on paper can properly tell the truth about a
phenomenon that is multi-dimensional.
It is, of course, for each individual to find her or his own truth and perspective.
Earth Spirit
There are many mysteries concerning this planet which modern science
has not yet deciphered. As yet, there is no satisfactory theory to
explain gravity and the magnetosphere which surrounds Earth. If Earth
has the properties of a giant magnet, then what is the source of this
magnetism? Similarly, the constitution and temperature of Earth are
unknown.
Living on her surface and in the turmoil of human life, we tend
to forget the wonders of her greater nature. She is 7,900 miles in
diameter and 24,800 miles in circumference. In perfect rhythm she spins
on her axis every twenty-four hours at a speed judged at the equator of
approximately 1000 miles per hour. She also dances around her older
brother the Sun every 365 (and a quarter) days making a voyage of
around 760 million miles every year at a speed of 66,000 miles per
hour. And the Solar System itself, as part of a far greater galaxy, the
Milky Way, is making its own great spiralling voyage through space.
These celestial mechanics are wonderful enough. but there are
other phenomena linking the Sun, the Planets and the Galaxies in a web
of electromagnetic and higher frequency energy waves. The closest and
most well-known is the rhythmic magnetic pull of the moon on the
Earth's oceans. Less known but in every children's encyclopaedia is the
solar wind of ionised gas that flows outward from the Sun at speeds of
180-310 miles per second. Then again there are cosmic rays, highly
energetic fast moving particles, whose source also is still unknown.
Modern astronomy, astrophysics and sub-atomic high energy physics
are investigating areas of knowledge which stretch the human
imagination and consciousness. The more that science unveils, the more
fantastic and exquisite the mysteries of life become. The perfect
harmonics of Newtonian physics, the mystical qualities of sub-atomic
particles and the galactic stretches of the imagination required to
grasp modern astronomy: all these demonstrate that the discoveries of
contemporary science can also be understood and perhaps best be
understood – as an unfolding revelation of Spirit.
It is for every reader to hold her or his own philosophical and
religious beliefs, but by Spirit we mean the following: that everything
which we know tangibly and physically to be in existence is, in fact,
the manifestation of a more subtle and invisible energy existence. To
put it another way: every thing which can he perceived by our usual
five senses has an invisible hut a real and dynamic existence at a
higher frequency energy level. Sometimes these higher frequency energy
states can be registered by scientific instruments, eg: X-rays, gamma
waves and cosmic rays.
Moreover, we suggest that this higher frequency energy existence
is the essential life-giving principle of any form and that it is not
simply a radiation effect. This is not a novel idea for it is. of
course, a basic proposition of much philosophy: that Spirit (1)
manifests as Life (2) through Form (3).
Our twentieth century understanding of electro-magnetic and wave
phenomena has given us new terminology and insights for such a
philosophical proposition. eg: high frequency and low frequency states
of energy. Thus we might say that all Life (2) is the manifestation of
a higher frequency energy state (1) expressing itself through a lower
frequency energy state (3). A crude example of this might be the
emergence of organic life in what is called the cosmic slime as a
result of the action upon it of the Sun's rays.
These three factors – the higher manifesting as life through the
lower – form a triangular relationship for understanding life and
creation that has been symbolically expressed in many religions and
philosophies as a Trinity of goddesses, gods and divine principles.
A major point which we wish to make in this short essay is that the
energy network which covers the surface of Earth cannot he understood
unless it is realised that the geological solid Earth is only the form
(lower frequency energy state) of a more electric and subtle
electro-magnetic essence (higher frequency energy state). Just as human
bodies are the vehicles of manifestation for an inner, dynamic and
multi-dimensional self, so the geological Earth is also but the vehicle
of manifestation of a far more subtle, more dynamic and more electric
inner Spirit.
Ley Lines
Ley lines, then, form the matrix of energy which is the dynamic
physical principle of the geological body of Earth. Ley lines are the
essential structure of the etheric body of the Earth Spirit. To
appreciate this, it can be helpful to imagine Earth as having no dense
physical existence, but being only a globe of interconnected lines of
electric energy, a sphere made up of webs of energy.
These lines vary in length from five miles to approximately two
thousand miles; they are straight, but not dead straight and may over
distance undulate gently. They also vary in width and in intensity of
energy. If one looks through one, as if a cross-section had been cut, a
ley is hourglass shaped, its narrowest section occurring at the point
of intersection with the Earth's surface. The ley exists below the
Earth as much as above it.
It has the internal formation of a double vortex. This double
vortex brings energy down into the geological Earth; at the same time a
particular quality of energy is also radiated out from the ley line
into the atmosphere.
The energy that is brought down in the double vortex is of
various densities; some of these correspond to the human experiences of
feeling, of emotion, of mentality, of spirit and so on. In a very real
sense this vortex phenomenon is the manifestation of the will of the
Earth Spirit to be in incarnation. The essence or the consciousness of
the Earth Spirit exists at a very high frequency energy state – which
if experienced directly by a human being induces a state which is often
called bliss. The dynamism of the vortex structure of leys is the
result of the force – or purpose or will – used by the Earth Spirit to
manifest in form.
We also mentioned that the double vortex of a ley radiates a
particular quality of energy. Why is this so and what is this
particular quality? To answer these two questions requires an
understanding of the purpose of the Earth Spirit in taking on dense
physical form life at all. It parallels, of course, the purpose of
human incarnation. The Earth Spirit's purpose is, through the process
of time and vibratory experience, to distribute a new quality of energy
to the fields of energy that make up her body. Human beings experience
this new quality of energy in a manner that may be summed up in the two
words unconditional love.
in a very real sense what we interpret in human experience as
unconditional love is that cosmic principle which actually brings about
what we recognise as life and the life force, whether in the case of an
incarnating planetary spirit or a human multidimensional self soul. The
force of unconditional love as it incarnates in form is the indwelling
cosmic fire without which there is no life – no life of growth. change,
rhythm and movement.
The life force of the Earth Spirit radiates from the leys and ley
centres. Without this life force radiating from the ley network, there
would be no growth in any of the different natural realms – mineral,
vegetable, animal or human. In some Eastern teachings this force is
called fohat or prana. The life force of Earth which radiates from her
ley network is intimately bound tip with the life force of the Sun,
being as they are part of the same pranic field. There is thus an
exceptionally close interconnection between the Sun, the ley network of
Earth and the health or life force of all the natural realms that
inhabit Earth. This is why it is that throughout history people –
instinctively, intuitively or self-consciously – have paid great
attention to Earth's ley network. By doing so, people have been able to
enhance and enrich the growth of their natural surroundings, for
example their crops, as well as enhancing their own health – physical
and spiritual. They have also, of course, been acknowledging their
relationship with Earth.
There are two other major factors that have to be taken into account for a full understanding of the ley network.
First, Earth is not a uniformly smooth energy sphere with the
same amount of energy and activity evenly spread across her. She has
differentiated levels of activity and distinct centres of energy
sensitivity and radiance.
Second, Earth and the Solar System are part of a far greater
Galactic and Cosmic system in which there are many very intimate and
sensitive energy relationships that are crucial to the existence and
growth pattern of Earth.
Thus the ley network does not only carry the energy of the incarnating
Earth Spirit, but the ley network is also a receiver and distributor of
those other galactic energies which are relevant to the growth of Earth
and her inhabitants. The most well-known of these other energies are
those associated with the constellations of the Zodiac and with the
other planets of the Solar System; less known, but equally vital for
example. are the relationships with the stars of the Pleiades, the
Great Bear and Sirius. It should, however, be noted that it is not only
the ley network which is sensitive and reactive to these incoming
energies; all life, both individually and in groups, and particularly
human life, is also sensitive and reactive to these incoming energies.
The ley networks therefore, works in conjunction with the energy
bodies of the mineral, plant, animal and human realms. The energy body
of each plant or of each human, for example, is therefore involved in
both the general energy system of the whole of the plant or human realm
on Earth and also in the general energy system of Earth as a whole.
There is thus a vital and dynamic interdependence between the parts and
the whole, as the Earth Spirit carrying that new quality of energy
which we call unconditional love incarnates through the total system.
This interdependence also incorporates our Galaxy and Cosmos.
Ley Centres
Just as the whole of the plant realm or mineral realm or human
realm can each be understood as just one centre – one great energy
centre – in the body of the Earth Spirit, so the geological Earth and
the ley network also have their own specific geographically located
centres. These specific centres act as earthing physical points of
focus for the Earth Spirit and the other incoming energies. These
points of focus are similar to the nadirs of the human body which are
known in acupuncture; much can be learned about the principles of the
human body by studying Earth, just as much can be learned about her by
studying a human. These 'power' or 'magnetic' centres vary in size and
in quality, but they are always the focus where several leys intersect
and fan out. Like the leys themselves, ley centres are great vortices
accepting incoming energy and are also powerfully radiant. They vary
greatly in terms of size and vitality. The core vortex of etheric
energy at Glastonbury is one of the largest we have observed and is
over half a mile in diameter. The more general radiatory vortex at
Glastonbury, which is receptive to very high frequency and high quality
energies, is over a dozen miles in diameter.
At some ley centres a primary function of the centre is to funnel
the incoming energy deep into the body of the geological Earth so as
purposefully to anchor and radiate the new qualities from the very
energy base of the physical planet. This, so to speak, requires a more
forceful and wilful entry into the Earth's physical body; the ley
vortex is therefore more vital and more 'sharp'. We can call these
types of centre power centres.
At other centres this wilful descent into Earth's body does not
occur and the effect is gentler and purely radiatory. These we can call
magnetic centres. In London, for example, Primrose Hill is a power
centre and Ludgate Hill is a magnetic centre.
Some centres are significant for the globe as a whole. Others are significant only locally.
Tracks and Aquastats
Leys are not, however, the only lines of energy upon Earth's
surface. There are other types of line that humans often sense or
dowse. As Guy Underwood correctly noted, one is to do with the repeated
movement of creatures over the same stretch of land and the other is to
do with the flows of 'electric' water, beneath the surface of Earth, in
the atmosphere or under the surface of the sea or a lake.
As all creatures – animal and human are magnetic energy beings,
an energy trail is left behind them wherever they go, like the wake
created by a boat passing through water. If a particular path or track
is taken time and time again, so the repeated wake effect creates a
permanent energy imprint of the movement. These tracks can be very long
and wide, such as the old drove roads down which flocks and herds were
driven sometimes over many hundreds of miles, from pasture to pasture
and to market. A similar effect, of course, is created by the migration
routes of animals; the tracks of migratory birds are in the air high
above the ground. Often these tracks or droves coincide with leys.
Migrating animals instinctively follow these tracks and ley patterns;
flocks of birds can frequently be seen circling at ley centres and
energy junctions as they reorient themselves.
These tracks can also be tiny, like the path that mice might
regularly take in a hedgerow or the path that some characterful bugs
might repeatedly take in a kitchen towards the magnetic centre of an
open jam jar. Woods and forests are beautifully patterned with these
paths. One can lie in a meadow and peer at ground level through the
long grass following these little tracks.
By the deliberate use of the principle energy follows thought an
individual or group can 'magically' create, effect or rework these
paths in order to guide the movement of people and animals. The great
sweep in London from St. Paul's Cathedral on Ludgate Hill down to
Westminster is just such a great path.
The other type of line is that associated with 'water' and Guy
Underwood called these aquastats. The reason, however, that we write
the word water in quotation marks is that by 'water' we do not simply
mean the liquid, but we are referring to more subtle magnetic currents
which pattern Earth. We wish to be very careful in explaining these
currents for in them is held the key to the perfect ecological
relationship between humankind and Earth, a relationship which can be
expressed life as art.
The first point to understand is the nature of the dynamics of
energy at all levels of analysis. It has three major features which
occur simultaneously. It revolves on its own axis, spinning. It moves
in a circle, orbiting. it moves forward while spinning and orbiting,
spiralling. This three-fold nature affects the form and shape of all
manifest life and can be seen, for example, in the spiral of the Milky
Way or the double helix of the DNA molecule.
In the geological Earth or the physical body of a human being.
this spinning, orbiting and spiralling nature tines not define shapes
in an obvious manner. in a subtle way, however, this three-fold nature
of nature does actually define quality and features. Using the eye of
poetic imagination one can perceive that there is always a quality of
perfection and symmetry in landscape. One never senses that a stream, a
hill, a mountain or a vale are out of place. This is due to the fact
that the landscape is the result of the historical interaction of
natural flows of energy – spinning, orbiting, spiralling. It has the
essential quality of a natural dance. Landscape is apparently frozen
but is, in fact, still part of immensely long-term changes. This is to
say that all natural shapes are the result of this immense fluid dance.
On a shorter time scale than the formation of geographical
features, this phenomenon is easily observable in the growth of plants.
It can also be seen in the texture and curvature of the human body. it
is copied in dance and in the rhythms and descants of poetry and music.
All landscape then demonstrates this natural art – and water,
still moving, demonstrates it par excellence. The magnetic fluids or
aquastats have the same quality as water but being even more fluid
possess even greater natural playfulness. When one is near a spring or
running water, one feels a sense of beauty, of well-being and of
playfulness. The aquastats being invisible to ordinary sight, one
notices them and their atmosphere only if one is more sensitively
instinctive. Where aquastats burst forth vertically through the
surface, like springs of real water, one finds areas in the landscape
that have fairy-like atmospheres, that are magic rings. Pine trees
frequently mark their position. These nature and beauty spots vary in
size from a few feet across to, in a few very rare cases, some tens of
miles in diameter, as for example in the Lake District in north west
England or the Novi Pazar region of central Yugoslavia. The fluid
movement of aquastats frequently inspires human design, for example in
mosaic patterning or playful landscaping. in cities. where aquastats
burst forth to create this magical atmosphere, one often finds the
location of craft shops, street markets, art galleries, boutiques and
other places where people like to gather to play or be creative.
Whereas leys are straight, purposefully radiatory and
'masculine', aquastats – being a result of the interplay of leys with
form – are curving, spiralling, spinning, playful and 'feminine'.
Aquastats dance between leys, sometimes linking them over several
miles; aquastats dance and spin where leys end, where leys intersect,
or where leys interact with natural or human-made monuments and
centres. This dance between leys and aquastats occurs not only
horizontally upon the immediate surface of Earth, but also vertically
beneath the surface, both in earth and in water, and above the surface
in air. All this is happening not only at a neo-physical or etheric
level - which, for example, can be seen by many people in the electric
shimmer around a tree – but also at higher frequency energy levels of
existence up to and including what we call spirit.
Aquastats also always play with and follow the course of natural
running water, and form definite intersecting vortices over and around
springs and wells. Aquastats also tend to play around the tracks and
paths made by humans and animals, but this depends on the inherent
power and playfulness of the track.
We have, therefore, three types of line – leys, tracks and
aquastats. lays are the major lines of force that are a direct electric
result of the Earth Spirit wilfully manifesting as physical form.
Tracks are lines created by the repeated movement of living beings over
the same path. And aquastats are the patterns of dancing energy that
emerge as a result of the interaction between ley energy and the
intrinsic energy of form or matter. In terms of frequency, there are
more aquastats and tracks than leys. By and large, however, walking for
a mile in one direction should bring one across a ley. The frequency of
aquastats and tracks depends upon the particular history of the region
and the living interactions that have taken place there.
The Human Factor
Humans are very dynamic energy beings. Our movements, feelings,
sentiments and our thoughts are powerful transmissions. As a species we
are the bull in the planetary china shop. Our stupidity, ambition,
fear, clumsiness, pride, greed, self-satisfaction and limited vision
lead us to creating fantastic messes. But the most crucial part of our
inner essence leads us to great sensitivity, to a sense of the
exquisite in nature and to a powerful aspiration to cooperate. We are
capable, consciously or unconsciously, of working with the great energy
network that permeates Earth. We are able to cooperate instinctively or
self-consciously by directly affecting the ley network and landscape of
Earth.
The ley network can be used and affected in the following ways:
(1) Fertility
In the description of the vortical nature of leys and ley
centres, we explained how leys were the source of the life force that
radiated from them – this being the result of the incarnation of the
Earth Spirit with her dynamic new quality of life. The functioning of
leys and ley centres has a direct effect on the surrounding plant and
animal life (and more slowly on mineral life). An enhancement of the
radiation of a ley centre or a ley will itself enhance the fertility of
crops and livestock.
People can themselves increase the quantity and quality of this
life-enhancing radiation. This can be done in two ways: by using the
human body itself as a boosting transmitter or by using other forms.
such as standing stones, as boosters.
There are several ways in which people can use their own bodies,
– and, by body we, of course, mean the whole electric human being
functioning with energies of feeling, sentiment, thought, intuition and
spirit. These different methods include: meditation, contemplation,
prayer, worship, ritual, ceremony and folk dance. Each of these methods
involves raising and peaking human awareness so as to reach and draw in
new energy fields; here the human is her/himself a vortex. The degree
to which these methods will be successful in enhancing the ley
radiation will depend on how well attuned the person is to two factors:
first, to the vibration of nature in Mother Earth and, second, to the
cosmic principle of unconditional love. Perhaps a helpful phrase for
attuning to these elements is: the loving playfulness of human
creaturehood. it involves a careful mixture of innocence, high
attunement and anchored radiation.
The major use of other forms as boosters is found in standing
stones and in structures of worship such as temples and churches. Tom
Graves compares the use of standing stones to the use of needles in
acupuncture. This is right. As the stone or rock is cut, prepared,
moved and ceremonially positioned, so the intention of the architect
transmits itself into the stone. The energy structure of the stone
absorbs the idea of the architect. This intention may, of course, be
intensified by the use of further ritual and blessing. When the stone
is in position it therefore carries its own electromagnetic dynamism as
well as the dynamism imparted to it by its architects – this is then
anchored, increased and enhanced by being in the dancing energy of a
ley vortex. Thus a beneficent circle of radiation is set up between the
stone and the ley.
When stones are set up in patterns that are symbolic of
cosmological principles of evolution and cosmic sources of energy, then
the radiance effect is greatly increased. This comes about because the
cosmic energies represented symbolically in the pattern are actually
magnetically attracted into the structure by the function of the two
principles 'like attracts like' and 'as above so below'. This is the
essential purpose in an architect's use of sacred geometry.
Church and temple buildings can also be energetically radiant but
only if the structure is also based upon principles of sacred
architecture in which form is resonant with the harmonics of the energy
structure of our cosmos. Examples of this kind of architecture can be
seen in pyramids, palladian forms, resonant gothic arches and radiant
domes.
By the use of the human body, of standing stones and of sacred
buildings, humans can create new magnetic centres – though not power
centres. If the magnetism of this new centre is sufficiently powerful
it will draw unto itself energy from other leys and ley centres, thus
creating aquastats and in certain cases even creating new leys.
(2) Personal Growth
People can make use of the vortical quality of leys and ley
centres to aid their own spiritual growth and expansion of
consciousness. There are two major ways in which ley vortices can be
used to aid human beings:
First, at a ley or a ley centre, etheric matter and dense matter are
vibrating at a rate and with a quality of energy that is generally
higher than elsewhere on the planet's surface. When people are in a ley
or a ley centre this higher vibratory field directly increases the rate
of vibration of the etheric and dense matter making up the human brain.
The result of a higher vibration of the matter that makes up the brain
is that the brain is then more sensitive to and more able to anchor in
full consciousness new awarenesses and information that were previously
too subtle to register. Ley and ley centres may, therefore, help to
bring about what we call revelation. This can also work in apparently
negative ways, for this increased vibratory activity of the brain may
also allow the individual to register new energy information whose
source is actually within her/his own psyche but which has previously
been repressed.
Second, the nature of the ley vortex is such that there is, so to
speak, a warp between the planes. To put it another way, there is a
more dynamic interflow between the different frequency electromagnetic
fields – which fields we might call from the point of view of human
experience: feeling, sentiment, thought, intuition, spirit, cosmic and
so on. Thus someone who meditates or prays at a ley centre is
facilitated in consciousness expansion by the fact that there is less
environmental resistance to the individual pushing her or his
consciousness beyond previously held fields of awareness. The new
awarenesses are then also easier to register in full consciousness
because of the heightened vibration of the brain and the fact that the
brain can now register subtle information more easily.
If one lives permanently in such a place, this does not by any
means mean that one is naturally more spiritual in terms of attunement
to unconditional love. It does mean, however, that one is more active
as a psychic being – for better or for worse.
(3) Radiation Service
We have already discussed how people can affect the radiation of
leys and ley centres in order to enhance the life force and increase
fertility. In doing this people need only work at a vibrational level
that is attuned to Mother Nature and to unconditional love. It is
possible, however, for people to work with this radiation effect in
order to beam out waves of nurture and spiritual aid at levels other
than those specifically to do with Mother Nature. These other waves of
nurture and aid can be radiated out at any vibrational level within the
human spiritual spectrum to help any living being or situation.
The sentiment or thought that is transmitted may be a diffuse one such
as 'love' or 'peace'. or it may be more specific and aimed at a
particular problem that requires healing. Again, how efficiently this
works will depend, not simply upon concentration and willpower, but
upon the degree to which one is surrendered to unconditional love. This
is to say that careful attunement to a high quality of energy and
awareness is required before any effective radiation work can be done.
These three human ways of working with leys indicate that the
perfect temple situated on a ley would involve the following: 1)
radiant service to the fertility of the natural surroundings, 2)
private meditation and contemplation, and 3) the radiation of
unconditional love in diffuse and specific ways across the globe
generally.
Apart from the creation of the perfect temple, what is also
indicated is that to place an ashram, church, temple, spiritual or
community centre anywhere except on a ley is to ignore the great help
that Earth herself offers us.
Ecology and Artscape
In a perfect world human beings would live and behave in a manner
that was instinctively in tune with the energy and features of the
natural landscape. This would mean not simply that people would act in
an attuned way because they were being 'spiritual', but that all human
activity would naturally be in concord with its natural environment.
This would be a perfect ecology. Is it possible?
Many thinkers might object that it is impossible for humanity to
regress, to turn back history and to return to what they might call a
'primitive' state. This, we believe, is to miss the point that human
beings are not only dynamic psychic beings who have created this
wondrous twentieth century technology – and industrial/commercial mess
– but are also simultaneously creatures of Earth.
We share, as a species. the attributes of spirituality and
creaturehood. We may be enthralled and hypnotised by the complex social
superstructures of modern life, but we still dance, make love, need
nurture, dream, play and surrender to beauty and to nature.
It is, it seems, as people seek power that they lose a true
perception of their environment, Earth. In seeking power, people either
move too fast or are too egocentric to perceive their natural
surroundings. The seeking of power can be for various reasons – to
satisfy ambition, to cradle insecurity or simply to satisfy hunger in
conditions of hunger. In the case of fear of hunger we can only be
sympathetic; we should remember that mass starvation is not only a
horrendous contemporary reality for many millions, but is also an
archetypal folk memory for the whole human race.
Our major concern in this final section, then, is to attempt to
provide some helpful insight into the way that people can live, work
and create in the natural environment. Idealistically, we are
suggesting that no intervention take place in the landscape and that no
new structures or forms be created except in attunement with the
natural dancing energy environment.
The first major problem is the very practical one of how we can
get in touch with and 'sense' the flow of lines and landscape. It seems
to the authors, however, that it is an inherent part of human nature to
be able to attune to environment and landscape. Everyone is sensitive
to and moved by the beauty of dawn and sunset, by the playfulness of
running water, by the moods of forests, mountains and deserts. The
trick is to transfer this sense of awe and this awareness of natural
beauty to wherever we happen to be. This is possible no matter what the
surroundings are. It can be achieved by a private act of will-to-good –
by a purposeful act of joyful surrender.
Another method of achieving this awareness is gently to relax
one's body, one's feelings, emotions and thoughts, and then to study
carefully and in detail one small object such as a tuft of grass or a
rock or a paving stone or a chair leg. Study and be aware of it for a
length of time; follow its shape and texture: touch it and be loving
towards to it. Then slowly transfer attention to the environment of
which it is a part, yet still retaining one's attitude of awareness and
care. Slowly and innocently be aware of all paths. shapes. textures and
curves. Surrender to beauty, which is not in the eye of the beholder
but which is always there. One's imagination must be playful and
everything that one notices is meaningful.
If an exercise of this kind is frequently repeated, it can bring
great clarity of perception and discrimination. This form of attunement
can then be complemented by dowsing techniques, but we feel that
dowsing without a general awareness of natural beauty is a scientific
dead-end.
in the East, a highly sophisticated and intricate science of
studying the environment in order to landscape and to position objects
was developed known as feng shui. This careful approach to landscape
and balancing the elements was, we feel. appropriate to the far eastern
cultures of the last two thousand years, but is not necessarily
relevant to our own times. We propose as perhaps more relevant to our
modern times an approach that is essentially intuitive and one of
inspiration and art. A modern approach includes not only the principles
involved in the perfect symmetry of a Japanese water garden. but also
the humour and cultural insights contained, for example, in surreal art
and dada. There are many helpful books on landscaping and feng shui, a
few of which we list in the bibliography.
The positioning of buildings, structures and plants, then, takes
place with a thorough instinctive, mental and intuitive awareness of
the place in which we are artscaping. The actual proportions and shapes
of the new structures also follow the environmental flow, and in
designing them one can make use of either the proportions of sacred
geometry or else the inspiration of art; using either of these
procedures, but preferably both, new structures are sculptures of the
landscape and are never simply functional objects. This is clear, for
example, in the planning of classical Athens, of St. Paul's Cathedral
and the Wren churches that were built in London after the Great Fire,
and much of Venice. There are examples, of course, all over the world.
In terms of dwelling places for humans, animals and plants, a
total approach must also include an acute awareness of the needs of the
potential inhabitants, with a profound focus on the kind of space that
is required for free and unhindered growth. High rise flats, most city
planning and factory farming are monuments to thoughtlessness and
disharmony. Before intervening in any landscape, therefore, it is
crucial that one is intimate not only with the landscape but also with
the beings who use it. Awareness and a sense of art must be
complemented by respect.
Most of us, of course, are not in the professional business of
creating structures; but we can affect those who are. This issue of how
we affect professional builders, architects and landscapers, leads
directly to the far greater issue of how we personally situate
ourselves in the environment and how we relate and act towards it.
Particularly living in the middle of a large city, it may seem
impossible to achieve a satisfactory attunement. But we do have to
achieve this attunement and act on it; surely we have little choice if
we are to return our planet to a semblance of harmony and order.
One of the authors of this booklet currently resides in the
centre of London having previously lived in the country. Before
returning to the city, for three months he daily sat in silence for a
few minutes and anchored into his consciousness the following facts:
that wherever he is, the major portion of Earth's surface is covered
with the wilderness of oceans, that the major part of Earth's land
surface is still green, that soil and earth is always beneath him
despite the intervening concrete and that the sky is always above him.
Regardless of where he is, he is always a creature of the living Earth.
This is to say that regardless of where we live, we can always be aware
that we are part of a total living environment. Daily focus upon this
is profoundly nurturing and helpful. This can also be enhanced by
becoming aware of the local landscape that exists beneath the immediate
appearance of the city or town: the underlying soil and rock type, the
lie of the land and hills, the situation of underground streams and
springs, areas of particular atmosphere, the situation of churches and
places of gathering, and so on.
We also believe that it is of fundamental importance that our
awareness of the environment should not be passive, but should be
positive and active. This requires effort, not only in terms of holding
on to a clear perception of the totality of life on Earth, but also in
terms of how we behave and create our lives. We may not be the builders
of great monuments and structures, we may not be landscapers, but we
each of us create and act in our own private environments, in our own
personal ecological systems.
Our personal ecological systems include our bodies, our clothes,
the general attitude of our personalities. our homes, our workplaces
and so on through to the general region in which we live. Care has to
be taken with each one of these personal environments and each one of
these environments can be individually artscaped to be in attunement
with ourselves and our environments. This is a process of art, of
discipline and of expansive love. It is also a recognition of our
intimate involvement with and dependence upon the ley and energy system
of our beloved Earth. It is for each one us to work in our own way, yet
all sharing the same understanding of our common reality.
In this short booklet we have only skimmed across the surface of
profoundly important issues. We hope that we have shared, and made more
clear, information and insights that all of us already instinctively
know.
And, in the unconditional love which is the Spirit of Earth, we
feel embraced by that great contemporary movement which is working to
restore sanity, balance and beauty to all Earth's life.
Further Reading
Jose Arguelles, Earth Ascending, Shambhala Publications, 1984.
Jose & Miriam Arguelles, Mandala, Shambhala Publications, 1972.
Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Lucis Press, 1970.
Louis Charpentier, The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral, RILKO, 1972.
Paul Devereux & Ian Thomson, The Ley Hunter's Companion, Thames & Hudson, 1979.
Michael Disney, The Hidden Universe, J.M. Dent, 1984.
Nan Fairbrother, New Lives, New Landscapes, Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.
Nan Fairbrother, The Nature of Landscape Design, The Architectural Press. 1974.
Findhorn Community, The Findhorn Garden, Turnstone/Wildwood House, 1976.
Dion Fortune, The Cosmic Doctrine, several editions.
Tom Graves, Needles of Stone, Turnstone Press, 1978.
Tom Graves, Dowsing – Techniques and Applications, Turnstone, 1976.
Geoffrey & Susan Jellicoe, The Landscape of Man, Thames & Hudson, 1975.
J.E. Lovelock, GAlA – A New Look at Life on Earth, OUP, 1979.
K.E. Maltwood, A Guide to Glastonbury's Temple of the Stars, James Clarke, 1982.
John Michell, The New View Over Atlantis, Thames & Hudson, 1983.
John Michell, The Earth Spirit, Thames & Hudson, 1975.
Marko Pogacnik, The Art Around Novi Pazar, Zajednica za Kultura, Novi Pazar, Yugoslavia, 1983.
Marko Pogacnik, The Hidden Pathway Through Venice, Carucci Editore, Rome, 1985.
Stephen Skinner, The Living Earth Manual of Feng-Shui, Routledge Kegan Paul, 1982.
Shirley Toulson, The Drovers, Shire Publications, 1980.
Shirley Toulson, Lost Trade Routes, Shire Publications, 1983.
Yi-Fu Fuan, Topophilia, Prentice Hall, 1971.
Guy Underwood, The Pattern of the Past, Museum Press, 1969.
Alfred Watkins, The Old Straight Track, Garnstone Press, 1970.
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