Journal of Geomancy vol. 3 no. 2, January 1979

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LETTERS

From John Fletcher, Pilton, Somerset:

I expect you knew this a long time ago, but it keeps forcing itself on my attention as though it won’t rest until I’ve written to you.  It’s about Walsingham in Norfolk, the great centre of medieval pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary.  Its part of the landscape was always identified with the Milky Way (Milk from the breast), and in England the Milky Way was often called Walsingham Way or Watling Street, because it aligned in the sky in the general direction of Walsingham.  The souls of the dead were also meant to pass to heaven by way of the Milky Way.  This is obviously pre-Christian.  Is there anything in the landscape around Walsingham to correspond with the Milky Way or the Virgin Mary? 

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From Colin Bloy, Brighton:

I am glad you felt my paper of interest (Telluric Lines, JOG 3/1, 9–13).  I cannot, of course, comment more authoritatively than you on Watkins’s vision, but I have personal contact with Professor Laithwaite of Imperial College, who has recently admitted on radio that the spirit of Michael Faraday aids his researches.  I say this to emphasize the point that access to knowledge does occur, it appears, through paranormal channels.  I was very pleased with your comments on the Church of England and magical ritual and an increasing willingness by the JOG to admit of the validity of new energies and their connexion with “magic”. 

May I take up the point about Tom Graves’s overgrounds and military establishments.  I confirm his findings about microwave towers in the following way: 1/ The hexagonal mausoleum of Sir Francis Dashwood at West Wycombe is on a main dowsable line which runs along the straight main road to London that he built.  It runs through backwards to the strange church with an Egyptian hall and a golden globe on the tower where he and Benjamin Franklin held meetings – if you take a bearing in the direction of the line, it goes precisely to the GPO microwave tower you can see next to the London–Oxford motorway.  2/ I have investigated the following transmitting points and find them to be in the system: a. BBC TV centre at Shepherd’s Bush, dowsed inside; b. The Crystal Palace TV mast; c. BBC TV mast at Brighton; d. “La Vey de Madrid” transmitter at Madrid; e. the transmitter overlooking Glastonbury; f. A strange private transmitter on an estate to the north of Madrid from where a guard with a rifle warned me away; g. the Sussex Police communications centre at Lewes; h. various similar gendarmerie centres in France; i. the RTVE centre in Barcelona, and many others, including the GPO tower in London.  The majority of such sites are involved that I have tested.  I also confirm that an analysis of a medieval castle belonging to the Order of Calatrava in Spain south of Madrid connects to ancient megaliths, modern megaliths, wayside crosses commemorating deaths in the Spanish Civil War, and directly to the first civil nuclear reactor built in Spain. 

An analysis of the S.A.C. base of Torrejar, south of Madrid, where U.S. atomic weapons are stored, revealed a most idiosyncratic convergence of powerful lines on a point at which the nuclear arsenal could well be allowed to be. 

I also confirm two cases where an identical series of modern megaliths have been erected in two different countries, Spain and England, and appear to modify in case a, the main line onto El Escorial monastery and b, the BBC TV transmitter in Brighton.  The photographs of both sites are fascinating in their complete similarity. 

Those ley hunters who have calculated leys, not dowsed them, through Aldermaston and stood back thinking they must have got it wrong, would do well to look again.  All this I state by way of personal observation, with confirmation from others. 

Nikola Tesla.  Preliminary indications are that the use of electrostatic fields, modified or magnified by a psychic field created by the human mind, are capable of modifying the ley system, and thus implant suggestion if the input is so oriented, in the collective unconscious of groups of people who are affected by the modulation.  Tesla knew of this, as did Moses and Joshua – not to mention wireless power transmission of a both psychic and electrical nature employed by all three.  I am glad the IGR is now off the fence and recognizing that geomancy, magic and the ELF part of the electromagnetic spectrum are inseparable.  {52} Having made that as an academic observation, we cannot escape the conclusion that we are but scratching the surface of the profoundest mysteries, not new knowledge, but ancient knowledge, established aeons ago and preserved with esoteric groups ever since, even to the point of their use in the political manipulation of nations — and the examination of the possible motives for such manipulation.  And there is plenty of evidence for some of it being benificent on the part of the operators — leads one inevitably to give the Manichaeans best in their contentions. 

Happily, thanks to the IGR and similar groups, some sort of Promethean process is taking place.  I cannot but feel that until we fully comprehend what it is all about, then the idea of the full realization of the potential of the individual remains a pious aspiration or a dangerous delusion. 

From John Keansley, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.:

In JOG 1/1 (1976), there is an article Ley System Measurement by Ian Worden.  He discusses two linear units, 295·3 metres (x) and 464·1 metres (y), which were traced or reported from European Ley systems by Michael Behrend.  It appears that neither Mr Worden or Mr Behrend are well acquainted with ancient metrology.  In case any of your readers are interested in this subject, A.E. Berriman’s Historical Metrology furnishes most of the basic data.  The units mentioned in Worden’s article indicate a connexion between the Ley System and ancient metrology and it appears desirable to clarify these connexions by giving the necessary more detailed information. 

Mr Worden is of course correct in stating that to express ancient metrological units in metric units leads to meaningless figures.  But it should be pointed out that the British foot, which is part of the old system, is also only rarely a meaningful unit.  The two meaningful, small units of length in ancient metrology are the inch and the digit.  These two units are related.  The digit is 0.729 inches and the ratio of the inch to the digit is therefore 10³ : 9³. 

The Roman foot was 16 digits, the Roman cubit 24 digits, the Nilometer cubit 30 digits.  The Greek cubit was 25 digits, the Remen was 20 digits. 

There were 216 000, or 60³ so-called Greek stadia to the mean circumference of the earth and the Greek stadium was subdivided into 400 cubits or 600 Greek (or Egyptian) feet of 12·15 inches.  (The Egyptians used this foot long before the Greeks).  A minute of the terrestrial circumference therefore was 10 Greek stadia, 6000 Greek feet, or 100 000 digits. 

The Roman pace was 2½ Roman feet and the 2000th part of the Roman mile of 5000 R. feet.  The megalithic yard although apparently used extensively in the British Isles at one time was not a major or widespread unit of the ancient metrological system.  It is again somewhat misleading to express it in feet.  It is better to give it as 32·61 ± 0·03 inches. 

Now concerning the Ley System-related x and y units reported as 295·3 and 464·1 mt: In the first place it is unlikely that these units he been determined with an accuracy of better than two or three parts in a thousand and they should therefore be reported as 295.3 ± 0.6 and 464.1 ± 1.0 mt.  For relations of the x unit to ancient metrology, we have:

The y unit is more closely related to the equatorial circumference of the earth than to its mean circumference.  But I consider it doubtful that this unit has been determined accurately enough to make such a distinction certain.  The minute of the mean circumference, also known as the meridian mile, is 6075 feet, the equatorial minute is 60871/3 feet.  The equivalents of the y unit are:

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I cannot agree with Mr Worden’s interpretation that the x and y units are linked by the ‘Golden Section’ ratio.  The ‘Golden Section’ ratio is 1 : 1·6180 and y : x is 1 : 1·5716, off by more than 3%.  It seems more likely that the x and y units were intended to be in the ratio of 16 to 25, a ratio which fits the reported data with an accuracy of 6 parts in a thousand. 

Editor’s note: Readers wishing to find out more about the x and y units can do so in the IGR Occasional Paper No. 1, which has just been reprinted for the second time – The Landscape Geometry of Southern Britain by Michael Behrend – 75p a copy from IGR. 

From W.A. Clark, Warden of Wandlebury:

Dear Mr Pennick, Sorry for the delay in sending the next instalment of the Wandlebury Saga.  Owing to Mr O’Brien’s accusation that Mrs Beamon and myself had failed to grasp the basic principles involved, I thought it would be best to get the data read by someone with a better knowledge of mathematics than yours truly.  My 23-year-old nephew (a student of astrophysics) agreed to do this for me.  Apart from his initial astonishment that the Stone Age mind was so extremely advanced that it needed this kind of mathematics to sift the grain from the chaff, he thought the work had been accurate, but would probably need an equal five years on the groundwork to prove or disprove the theory.  I then asked him whether it would make it impossible to reach the same answers if the cuts in the banks could be moved a few metres.  He said that, off the cuff, he thought it would still be possible to come up with the same answers, but he would really need to work on the site because of the ground layout, etc.  Significantly, when I introduced him to the actual site his enthusiasm for the entire project waned sharply, and he even allowed himself a good chuckle when I showed him the 3 to 5,000 year old cuts.  In fact he did not want to waste any more time on the project unless it could be proved that the cuts and stones were genuine.  In fact my nephew has only reinforced my humble view that Mr O’Brien has used a mathematical sledge hammer to try and crack a very improbable nut, and before trying to foist his mathematical Neolithic culture on us, he MUST prove that the stones and cuts are genuine. 

In answering Mr O’Brien’s criticism in JOG 2/4, I use his own paragraph numbers:–

1.  “The striking symmetry of the two eccentrically placed, accurately executed circles, etc. etc. …” How does he know that the filled-in ditch is eccentric; is he using the slender evidence of that (in his own words) “limited archaeological dig of 1955”? 

2.  That important outer ‘bulge’.  I know the outer bulge contains brick rubble and the other looks suspect. 

3.  The ‘gaps’ or lack of them have been covered fully by me, and I need only mention the mathematical probability now impresses me less than ever. 

4.  Even though I saw Mr O’Brien with his theodolite over what I later believed to be “the stone”, I in fact used his excellent map to pinpoint the spot, and as an added precaution I also probed a large area around, finding one other matching Wandlebury cement plinth.  I might also add that Mr O’Brien has not seen fit to ascertain where I say his stone is, so, how can he say I am 30 metres away! 

To cover his final points:–

a.  I did not think it so praiseworthy to dig a hole through the causeway, it was so blatantly and obviously modern to Mr Hartley that he did not deem it worthy of a second thought, and I was of the same mind until I read page 10 of Mr O’Brien’s treatise, well worth reading in full:–

“Gap B: a 5 metre wide, U-shaped depression, worn down to the level of the outside terrain, and aligned with a 3 metre wide causeway across the outer ditch to the inner circle.  This causeway is now less than 2 metres above the ditch at its middle, having suffered considerable erosion as a path to the interior.  Hartley dismissed this entrance as “modern”, presumably meaning not pre-historic, but advanced no evidence for this conclusion – it has not been excavated.  The site lends itself to a contrary argument in that the total volume of the material in the causeway is now of the order of 60 m³, and before erosion was considerably more.  There are no signs of quarrying in the vicinity for the chalk filling, and if modern the material would have been derived from the destruction of the interior ramparts in the 18th century.  But that material was used for a 50 metre wide infill – covering of the ditch in the northern sector, only 60 metres distance away.  The addition of a second, adjacent {54} crossing at that time, appears improbable.  As only one entrance to the earthwork was recorded in medieval times, and the causeway and gap align, with the summer solstice sunrise, and since its eroded and compacted nature is comparable with that of the outer bank, there is a case for considering the causeway to be the original entrance.  It would then be comparable to the Heel Stone entrance at Stonehenge”. 

It is worth noting that also, at the site he mentions 60 metres away, the outer bank is missing along its length, a much more probable source for the infill at that spot. 

And lastly, b.  Mr O’Brien says “Your correspondents are completely wrong over the siting of the hole” etc., and it was pointed out to him by the Warden in office in 1974.  I am sorry to disappoint Mr O’Brien, but I was most certainly the warden he dealt with at that time if only by reason of being the only Warden employed by the Cambridge Preservation Society since 1973!  There is certainly no muddle on my part as I remember the incident well.  At the time I found it very amusing and recounted the facts on many occasions.  I maintain that not only was the hole in the south side, but I will go on oath that it still is.  He is right – we did have very little to say to one another, having severe doubts, especially after some of his questions asked.  I deemed it prudent to keep the Society’s brief, and just keep a good eye on the goings on, which brings me to another mystery (for me at any rate): At the foot of page 11 in the treatise, and I quote: “the author’s reconstruction, with a smaller amount of spoil available from the inner ditch (d) would only allow for a height of 11 ft (3·4 m) but this gives a reasonable height to breadth ratio of 0·85”.  Now I read this to mean mechanical reconstruction, which most certainly did not take place, but no doubt Mr O’Brien will also tell me where I have gone wrong on this presumption. 

From Rupert Pennick, Bexley, Kent:

The recent vote against priestesses by the clergy of the Church of England reminds us yet again of the fear of women which has pervaded Christian thought from its earliest years.  It may be of interest to JOG readers that at a council for church leaders held in the year 400 in the church of Toledo, Spain, there were nineteen bishops present, presided over by the Bishop of Merida, Patriuno.  The bishops were seated and the deacons and congregation were admitted, standing.  In a long address the president selected Woman as the victim of severe episcopal reprobation.  “She must not presume to chaunt antiphones whether nun or widow, in the absence of the bishop, neither with her confessor nor his attendant”.  Such communion of the sexes under the banner of religion the Council held as pernicious and a snare.  It fulminated against the ‘frail sex’, but for whose existence man were a sage and a saint.  They considered it a pity the almighty did not consult the Fathers before casting this fatal and corrupting instrument of misfortune upon the world! 

It is amazing however that at the time of this Council of the church in September 400, the clergy still might marry.  However, the status of their wives was highly suitable for their authoritarian ways.  They could beat her, tie and lock her up, give her salutary punishment that was not mortal, deprive her of food, and forbid her to sit at table. 

Never mind, she had her revenge.  She felt her power and was conscious that she was a sin! 

From Mollie Carey, of Corton, Wilts:

I have discovered that we appear to have a Nasca situation here in Britain.  Well, to start with, the Glastonbury Zodiac is held down by the hind leg of the effigy of a bear which has its head in Warminster.  The winged dragon is stretching over Somerset and Devon, there are two enormous lions (pair) guarding Winchester, donkey riders trot in a most dignified way across the whole of Dorset.  A poor old giant can only show a leg and bits of his robe on Salisbury Plain and the Dorset Cursus is revealed as part of his robe, and he is remembered by two graves (long barrows) and the Giant’s Armchair (tumulus).  As if that isn’t enough there is a semicircle of human heads stretching over the Cotswolds and right across to Buckingham.  The problem with these is they are ten miles or more in size, so far I have found 5 males and 2 females all on the same scale!