Autumn Equinox March 2002
the E-magazine of dowsing & geomancy,
in Australia and beyond. Edited by Alanna Moore.
Welcome to the autumn edition. More fascinating original articles await you here. Also a reprint from a previous edition. As back issues are mostly sold out it is timely to start to reproduce some of the best articles from them in future Geomanticas.
Apologies to anyone who did turn up to the Deva Walk in Melbourne. Sorry - but Geoff Campbell was stuck in Hobart and he sends his apologies for not being able to lead the walk.
Next edition will be out early and devoted to reproducing previous articles. So if you want to offer a letter or article please email them in before mid April.
Cheers - Alanna Moore.
Surprised by our own success
Since about 12 months, the Freundeskreis Geomantie e.V. can be found on the net at www.geomantie.org
We are pleasantly surprised that more than 100,000 hits during this time bear witness to the great interest in the information which we offer.
Let yourself be surprised as well by the refinements and improvements which we have added to our website why don't you just drop in for a visit?
We thank you for all present and future links to our site and would also be grateful if you could help with your critical and constructive feedback to improve our presence on the net even further.
Freundeskreis Geomantie e.V.
Letter from From Anthony Riddell: 'Difficult Terrain'
At risk of repeating myself to a maddening degree, I am vitally interested in uniting study of energies of the Earth with that field of existence degradingly regarded as Disability. For one thing, I regard such labelling as pathetic and counter-productive - I prefer a label that acknowledges the discipline necessary to maintain such a state for an extended period.
I do regard it as an Initiation, although
into what, I fail to know
P.S. Expect a book soon
Aent-honey (meniscus137@yahoo.com.au)
Alanna Moore © March 2002
Tony F., of central Victoria, has been honing his dowsing skills over the last twenty odd years, with water divining and the detection and alleviation of radiation stress.
Constantly experimenting and developing his methods, his abilities are fuelled by an intense curiosity about the subject. And knowing that he has the ability to help diagnose people's problems is something that Tony has put into practise in a wonderfully community spirited way. He offers his services freely to the local cancer support group. Time after time he has found unhealthy radiation stresses affecting the homes of cancer sufferers.
Unusual Neutralisation Method
Tony also neutralises the noxious energies he finds. He used to insert copper pipes and rods into the ground to affect Earth acupuncture treatments. Always the innovator, he decided to try a house brick instead. It worked! Now this is his preferred method.
I watched on as Tony conducted a house survey for a friend of his (having known from a previous map dowse that radiation stress was present). The radiation levels were measured, then he set about finding the best brick for the job. Testing a pile of red house bricks left over from building - one gave a strong response (according to the number of rotations of his pendulum) and so this one fitted the bill.
The brick was placed (with the dowsed positive end end-up) on the spot which Tony had dowsed as being the one on the map. We went back in the house and tested the results. At the spot where his dowsing wand quivered to indicate high levels of radiation stress and the aura of his friend had shrunk in response to this negative energy - it now tested okay.
A further exercise showed the value of selecting the right brick. Another brick with a lower level of energy potential was substituted for the better one. A further dowsing test proved that the suppression factor was halved by doing this. Tony measured this by the effects on his friend's aura, which shrank to half its former diameter with the second, weaker brick.
I like Tony's method because a brick is a common enough item to find and quite effective too. The wide suppression effect I saw that day was impressive. The precise energy point located for achieving this was crucial, no doubt. Tony is keen to emphasise that there is a right and a wrong end of the brick to use. The negative end should always be placed on the negatively charged Earth.
The Importance of Correct Polarity
"I can tell you what I think is wrong with some of those Towers in South Australia" said Tony, who has recently read my book 'Stone Age Farming'. He took me out to a negatively charged energy centre in the yard, where a short length of old concrete pipe lay. Tony dowsed the size of my aura as I stood on the energy centre. Then he dowsed the polarity of each end of the pipe. Placing the pipe positive end downwards in the centre of the energy point made my aura shrink down in size a detrimental effect.
"But if we put the negative end of the pipe on the negative energy centre, then the energy will be flowing properly." Not surprisingly, my aura was now enhanced to its greatest size at this point. "The guys with the Towers that don't work should try up-ending them, to correct the polarity" Tony suggested.
The importance of polarity was emphasised again when we checked out Tony's energy enhancing installation (mini 'Power Tower') a terracotta plant pot topped with a short clay pipe placed on a negative energy point. Again we did the aura measurements. Only when the polarities were arranged so that the negative ends of the two pieces were downward facing did my aura expand to its largest size.
Water & Health Divining
Tony is in demand as a water diviner (and isn't looking for more work!) and recently found a huge source of mineralised waters in the mineral spa country of central Victoria.
But the challenge of reducing geopathic stress in the community is foremost in his mind and he is currently designing a wire coil neutraliser which is shaped like a potent healing symbol. I can't divulge the exact shape because it is still in experimental stages, and he's keeping it to himself.
Tony has also been successful with distant diagnosis and healing work. His confidence was initially greatly boosted when his local chiropracter gave him someone's first name and a date of birth to try out a diagnosis. "The patient has lung problems" Tony informed him, after dowsing over an anatomical chart. "That's correct he's a chronic asthmatic" he was told.
D-I-Y Stone Circles
Tony has researched stone circles such as Stonehenge without having to go there. He does this from the comfort of his home, by map dowsing. He has also tried making his own stone circles and observed the energy effects of these. Around a cypress pine gazebo that Tony has been building a ring of white water washed quartz rocks has been placed.
"I discovered that the gazebo was giving out some negative energy. But these rocks have knocked it out" Tony explained.
Tony's tools
Tony used a brass pendulum and a wire wand/bobber to dowse with when I visited him. He also had a German gadget with which one can tune into different frequencies of energy, but only if the operator can dowse. Tony and another delegate from the cancer support group had attended a seminar a few months previously in which a German doctor spoke about geopathic stress. The hosting company, the Melbourne agents for Rayonex Medical Equipment, were selling such instruments to therapists and health professionals who mainly were in attendance. Tony agreed that a dowser did not really need the device he had bought. But I suppose it looks more professional for the health practitioners to work with.
Tony's bobber wand is a Rayonex product. This 'Rayotest' device "is a special spiral shaped aerial which is connected to a fine wire" says the brochure. It has a wooden handle.
Thanks go to Tony (seen below) for his time and generosity in describing his work and methods. Tony provides a wonderful example of how someone can exercise their dowsing skills by providing a valuable community service to people with cancer, who are often found to be the victims of geopathic and electro-stress.
A section of my new videofilm 'Dowsers Down Under' features Tony in action with his dowsing equipment. The film should be ready for sale in early April 2002 (see under Advertising).
The invitation.
I was with the Journey to Infinity people on their double journey
around Australia when they passed through Gundagai in March 2000.
They had just spent a few days with us in Galong. Gaye Macdonald
who runs the popular Gundagai Genesis Centre asked me to speak
at her planned Earth Connection weekend early in 2001.
I puzzled over what I could say. As the invitation
was for a year away I
suggested that I could talk about "The New Australian Folk
Soul". I think
I had in mind the building up of spiritual forces that I had
been experiencing
in Canberra over the last 15 years. Surely, the same was also
happening
nearby in the down river town of Gundagai.
I puzzled over who would be coming for the weekend. What could
I offer that
would help people? I kept asking Gaye for a profile of the participants.
Planning the talk.
The Monday just before the gathering I sketched myself an outline.
My talk
was to focus on place. How people affect places - QUICKLY, by
building
and living in a location ... and how places affect people - SLOWLY,
as the
Devas of place set up an image, a tone, a matrix in which people
live.
My notes suggested that I should contrast the Aboriginal vision
of Australia
with the British tradition, which (reconciliation or otherwise)
is the
social and political matrix which governs the way Australians
interact
with the land, the plants and the animals of Australia.
The Aboriginal tradition? A dreaming interaction between spiritual
beings
and people - each aware of each other - keeping a spiritual,
ecological harmony between the land, people and animals.
The British tradition was (and still is) extractive - designed
to take
from Australia and send to the "home Country" whatever
could be mined, farmed
or killed. We live so deeply on this British tradition that it
weaves a
spell over us making us unable to focus on its exploitive premises.
It is
indeed a magic spell. For the Geomancer its workings can be seen
in the buildings,
locations and ceremonies of inner Canberra.
The gathering.
We meet Saturday morning in the Returned Soldiers Club. About
50 people.
Vince Bulger, a local aboriginal custodian gave a greeting. Although
given
an hour to talk about the local aboriginal experience Vince was
reticent
and finished in three minutes.
The atmosphere in the club's function room with its plate glass
windows
out looking out to the car park was terrible. It smelt of alcohol
and beer.
In it floated the left overs of war. Pussy sores, anger, fear
and
frustration.
Clearly, here was a place that had been created
by people which couldn't
help but affect the mood and thoughts of the people sitting inside
the heated, sealed space.
Other speakers followed. On bees, On the Winds of Change, On
the Southern
Cross - which by a strange coincidence is hidden in the plan
of inner
Canberra. By mid afternoon it was my turn to speak.
My talk.
I used the overhead projector to show crop circle pictures -
yes, beyond any
possibility of doubt, cosmic forces do work their way into the
landscape. I showed artist impressions of huge landscape sized
devas. All drawn in the
Theosophical tradition, some from well known books some created
by a
friend from what he discovered around Canberra... I was succeeding
in building
up a framework of belief.
I reached out for Vince and asked him about the local aboriginal
guardian
spirit, who's presence I could feel as a blue haze over layering
the room.
Reluctantly he named the spirit, "Munja" who lived
on Cypress Pine ridge
upriver towards Tumut.
With Vince's help - which became less reluctant as he realised
people
were accepting his statements - I explored the importance of
Gundagai as a
Dreaming place that linked he hills that encircled it to the
Murrumbidgee,
which flows slowly down hill from the town eventually reaching
Adelaide.
Gundagai was important in British times too. Again it was the
river. It
was the highest point from which goods - the extractions of Australia
- could
be sent down river. "The Road to Gundagai", a popular
folk song sets into
the record of myth the point at which the land journey home with
its horses,
drays and terrible roads ended and the soft, cool river journey
could
begin.
I showed a slide of Shiva in her Nataraj form, superimposed on
the
eastern hemisphere of the earth and explained how his limbs represent
the main
energy pathways over the planet. These follow the main mountain
ridges,
peak in Tibet and flow to world's holy places. I explained how
Shiva - the God
of destruction and creation - dances, ripping apart the old as
he puts the
energy in place for the new to happen.
I presented my understandings as to how these Shiva energies
which, when
they flow, enliven creative and spiritual thought. How this energy
is
attractive to people and draws the talented to locations to begin
new cycles
of civilisation.
I suggested that in the last 15 years there had been profound
changes in
Shiva's dance. The freshest energies on the planet had totally
changed
direction and now flowed from south to north. Southeast Asia
and India
now received energies, interlaced with Australian thoughts, rather
than the
other way around. Australia's eastern mountain range was the
main line
along which the Shiva energies flowed. Canberra had become a
key place in this
new development, giving Australia the potential role of becoming
a
spiritually and culturally important place some time in the future.
These winds were also affecting Gundagai. That the fact that
we were
here, as a group where proof of that. I asked the question...
" What next in Australia, what next in Gundagai? How do
we move from here
to the future? "
People responded, I suggested meditation as
a way to work from the
spiritual into the physical. But my answer was as hollow as theirs.
We didn't
know, we has come to the end. Surprisingly, the next day was
to provide the answer.
Three of us independently, and in different ways, were to get
the same answer.
What to do. The insights.
Ross, from Canberra, awoke at four and received in writing a
message
about the prime importance of the Gundagai location to the future
spiritual awakening.
Ilyanha, from the Gold Coast hinterland had a sleepless night,
all too
aware of the energies that were trying to make their way from
the ground to the
sky through her body. And I, in my morning meditation, visited
the Gundagai river flats with its surrounding circle of hills
and witnessed the howl of anguish that took
place as the dancing elders (who I saw in their huge etheric
shapes) shut
down the relationship between sky, hills and the river system.
Perhaps
come time in the 1840's. That howl still lingers in my ears.
It seemed that the weekend was about connecting the dreaming
between the
surrounding hills, the river flats, the river and the sky. The
energy was
to plume into the pathway of the Shiva winds racing north from
Antarctica. I
saw that the Devas, some of great age and majesty needed people.
Stuck in
the landscape they needed humanity to act out their creative
impulse.
It was Ilyanha's job to lecture to the group in the morning.
The three of us
discussed the situation and decided that she, with Ross's help
would do what
they could to help the group link between earth and sky. I elected
to sit in
a corner and meditate, watching over what was happening, try
to protect the
group and facilitate the energy flows. I asked that I remain
undisturbed
and that my name not be used during the talk.
Doing.
Ilyanha described the situation in intellectual Merkabaha terminology
using the concepts of projective geometry and crystalline structure.
Slowly,
ever so slowly, the energy in the room started to lift from ground
level to
the solarplexis area. To me it looked as if the room were filling
up with a navy
blue liquid, which sort of sloshed around the edges.
The energy level raised and fell with the activities taking place.
Toning
increased the level. American Indian drumming decreased the level.
Songs, mostly hymns had little affect, the "Road to Gundagai"
gave a good boost.
Some aboriginal figures appeared holding spears,
I counted a few times
and I think there were five. The group, struggling with its task
did a dance -
a circle dance in the shape of the figure 8 infinity sign. This
helped and the energy finally raised itself tentatively to the
throat chakra level.
Coming out of mediation I was asked to speak. Using the white
board I
drew 'The Dog on the Tucker Box', a symbol of Gundagai that is
world famous.
I rubbed out the dog and opened the lid. "That's what we
are doing," I
said, "The tucker box is the Pandora's box holding the creative
energies which
have been placed there when the dreaming stopped. The dog, the
guardian
has been removed. It is now our work to open the lid." As
I looked around me
at the tired bodies and confused minds I wondered if anyone understood
what
I had said.
Clearly, the RSL function room with its steel and cement floor,
low flat
roof and stale air was an impossible structure to work in. We
needed a
cathedral or a least to get out into the open.
We asked Vince to suggest a suitable area. The best place, he
said was ten
kilometres upstream where the Tumut and Murrumbidgee rivers met.
Too far.
So we went to the river flat monument area - it marked the site
of the first
(and quickly flooded out) township. It also, Vince said, was
the location
of the local Bora ring.
Parking our cars near the eight metre high pyramidal monument
Vince
walked a little way and lined up three old man guardian trees.
The ring's outline
could just be seem as a circular impression in the grass. It
could easily be
felt. The group assembled, Vince told a man carrying an American
Indian
drum to leave it outside - please use clap sticks if you want
to have a
rhythm.
And so, in our different ways - singing, breathing,
toning, dancing, mime,
movement - we all worked at raising the energies from our throats
to our
heads and the sky above. (We really do need new understanding
and new
ways of doing Australian ceremonies in Australian places.)
I meditated and softly did an etheric dance.
I felt contented. People
wondered in and out of the ring. After about ten minutes a sort
of climax
was reached. At this point I counted 32 people in the ring. This
seemed
significant because it was half of 64 - I have no idea why this
should be so.
Well the job was done. We had our picnic lunch near the monument
and
listened to a farmer telling us about his experiences in improving
his
health. This light story telling seemed to help ground the work.
How did it all go? Now four days after the event my meditations
lead me
to the Gundagai river flats with its ring of encircling hills
and I sense a
plume of energy rising far into the sky. It's still unconnected
to the
planetary network. Will this need further human involvement?
Or perhaps
it will all sort itself out on its own?
Alanna Moore © March 2002
Recently I ran a workshop to introduce people to geomancy in a small country town in central Victoria. The afternoon would include visiting a local site which has been special to the white villagers since the gold rush days of the 1850's.
Our exercise in connecting to sacred space firstly needed some definition. To start with just what is geomancy? Geo means the Earth in Greek. The mancy bit means divination, also from the Greek. (Gaia-mancy sounds even better!)
The Macquarie Concise Dictionary gives the two meanings. Secondly - it is a type of divination where shapes made at random are interpreted as prophetic. But firstly geomancy is "the achievement of harmony, physical and spiritual, between a person and their environment, with regard to the placement of buildings, monuments, etc. Cf. Feng shui."
I would hastily add that geomancy is a lot more than just putting the shed in the right spot. Aboriginal geomancers would give much deeper meaning to the term, and speak of the consciousness and life force of the landscape.
And what of sacred sites? Do white fellas really have none? What has the Macquarie got on this?
The Macquarie provides three definitions,
which range from the intensely sacred to the highly secular.
We are told that a sacred site is:
1. a site of significance or sacredness in Aboriginal tradition.
2. a site or institution with a particular religious, cultural
or historical significance. Eg Lourdes is a sacred site to many
Catholics.
3. (usually ironic) a site or institution of significance to
a particular group of people eg the Melbourne Cricket Ground
is a sacred site to cricketers.
Well then it seemed that we were indeed heading for a proper sacred site that day, a site of cultural significance to the local white people at the least. Unfortunately little is known about the Aboriginal significance of the site, although some people, myself included, have been aware of an Aboriginal spirit presence there at times.
The Legacy of Mining
As a sort of warm-up for our 'pilgrimage' the group ambled up the slope of a ridge that comes down off Mt Tarrengower, a large ex-volcano behind the village. Here the ravages of intensive gold mining are obvious and ugly. Open shafts only partly filled in and mullock heaps are everywhere. Topsoil is mostly gone and the regrowth of the eucalypts is typically scrawny, the coppiced limbs weak.
Billy Arnold, my co-facilitator, described to the group how he comes here to visit a huge Earth mother spirit with rayed headdress and powerful presence. He first observed this Wandjina type nature spirit when we were in Western Australia late 2001. In this part of the world are found, in the Kimberleys at least, depictions of the Wandjina at rock art sites and she is considered to be a supreme Earth mother being by the Aboriginals. When he described the being to Malcolm Borgward in Collie, it was suggested that Billy was actually seeing the great Wandjina.
When Billy first saw Wandjina here at this place she was weeping. Weeping for the degradation of the environment, no doubt. When we visit her we send our respects and good energy to her. It was good to hear that today Wandjina was not crying.
We sat on the rocks that covered the area - white quartz left from the mining, now encrusted with lichen and tuned into the spot, going into meditation and opening up to any impressions received. There was the usual good feeling to the area, despite its past history.
A Nature Temple?
Billy reports seeing many nature spirits in the vicinity and we suspect that the area is what Marko Pogaknic (author of 'Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings', Findhorn Press) would describe as a nature temple. That is - an area where strong energies and nature spirits abound. Such sites, with added cultural significance, would be known as sacred sites as well.
Nature temples often comprise groups of high energy/spirit centres in a triangular arrangement. Here it is so, with three old volcanoes Mts Tarrengower, Alexander and Franklin - at each corner. It's certainly a magical area.
You may remember a past editorial speaking of that longest tradition of pagan festivals in Australia, being the Beltane gathering held annually in the crater of Mt Franklin, over the last 30 odd years. At Mt Alexander the Dog Rocks site is used by local Aboriginal people and the reconciliation movement for gatherings. Prof. Callahan has also checked out Dog Rocks energetically, finding it to be very powerful paramagnetically (see his book 'Paramagnetism,' published by Acres USA).
Pogaknic talks of such volcanic areas as being the home of fire spirits, which he finds very difficult to observe clairvoyantly, as they manifest as pure light. Evolved fire spirits act as muses to the human kingdom, he says. Well there are certainly a lot of creative and musical souls living in this little town. As soon as I came to live on the flanks of Tarrengower last winter I felt inspired to write a flurry of poetry..
the old North British mine
and golden light shafts
cut the mist
around the mullock heaps.
mining history murmers
of the toils and spoils
of yesteryear.
And we are beguiled
by ruins in stone,
the fabulous industry
wrought by countless hands.
The dreams of our ancestors
mouldering now
under lichen stone munchers.
will heal the scars.
But we are the living legacy
born from the dreamers of gold,
the harshness of landscape and life.
ponder the nature of true wealth
and the piles of junk,
like our own issues,
whisper
The Rock of Ages
We then headed off to the site known as the Rock of Ages, winding our way up the charming little dirt track, through the regenerating forest of the Nuggetty Ranges, up to the magnificent pink granite bouldered hilltop site. (The hills were denuded during the gold rush. Now a new threat to the site emerges, as a mining development threatens to send trucks roaring past here, with the rustic track enlargened, cleared and straightened for them. We have been writing letters of protest to the council.)
The Rock of Ages site has a wonderful energy, thanks partly to the presence of the pink granite. I have been told that it is a Rainbow Serpent site, of Aboriginal significance. Billy certainly sees a Rainbow Serpent frolicking around the site, and I have sensed its presence too.
The site also has significance to the rest of the local community. With its wonderful views of Mt Tarrengower and distant plains punctuated by extinct volcanoes, it has drawn white people to have picnics there since the days of the gold rush, one hundred and fifty years ago. The miners and their families would attend church on Sundays, then walk up the track to the hilltop singing the song 'The Rock of Ages'. That is how it got it's name.
The first thing we did was to ask the spirits of place for permission to visit. We lay our hands on a special rock at the site's entrance and silently attuned to the place. After a few moments I felt a flood of loving energy going straight to my heart. A good sign of welcoming, I felt.
We then sat in the shade of a tree and played around with pink granite pendulums, using them to help us find interesting spots to go and attune to. I had dowsed that an energy ley line was coming over here from Mt Tarrengower. One of the participants placed herself just where it touched down!
I was guided to a huge boulder that jutted out from the hillside and afforded great views. Oddly I had always previously been guided to avoid this spot and had never before gone there, although I had always wanted to. We had a ceremony of thanks and chanted harmonically, our hands joined as we sat in a circle on the rock.
Billy observed that the nature spirits were delighted about our activities and positioned themselves above us, directing our energies upwards as we sang. It certainly felt magical.
Pogacnik says that the devas love to be recognised and acknowledged. This is why people have long gone on pilgrimages to sacred sites, where their offerings are reciprocated as they receive the blessings of the spirits of place. I felt that we had also been successful at making a good connection with the devas here. It is hoped to have regular gatherings at this site in the future.
Billy and myself are also keen to offer more geomancy introductory workshops such as this one, both locally at the three mountains, and also further afield. So far, one more is planned, to be held on Sunday September 22nd, (spring equinox!), 11-4pm. 'Workshop at Hanging Rock', just north of Melbourne, will include a bring your own picnic! (Bookings Sandra, Elysium, email - elysium@iprimus.com.au)
Postscript The miners' application to widen the road for truck access near to the Rock of Ages has now been withdrawn! Sacred sites rule OK?
- Australia Re-Creates Integrity/Wholeness/Unity
By Richard O'Neill, Sydney.
David Mowaljarlai, a noted elder of the Kimberley had a vision to bring the Wandjina spirit of the Kimberley region to Sydney for the Olympic Games, to share Wandjina with the World ....
Wandjina emerged in the opening ceremony as sacred ground was re-created through song and dance, and Cathy Freeman ignited the Olympic flame - and the passion & fire in our hearts. The fire burned as it was lifted through the waterfall to create the best Olympics ever.
Fire cleanses the 'dead wood' and water is the bringer of new life with the wet seasons of the Kimberley. Both are necessary for the cyclical patterns of re-creation and are powerful symbols of the coming together of opposites, the quickening move to re-conciliation (ie integrity and wholeness) in Australia and the world.
The Rainbow Serpent is moving more freely
now throughout the land and the songlines are humming up the
energy from the creation centres of the deep south to the northern
hemisphere to lift Europe and the 'old world' for the next Olympiad.
"You Thrive When True to Your Identity & Nature's Principles."
Thriving humanity, in harmony and synergy with nature will increasingly be experienced as people co-create the connection and quality of their relationship with their own true nature - and their unique identity. Those who avoid or deny their "nature within" will increasingly struggle.
The global rise in health, family and environmental issues, and the desire to connect (evidenced by communications, internet, tourism booms) is no co-incidence. It is the evolutionary process of expanding consciousness, seeking enrichment of relationships and the result of accelerating pressure on the human species to evolve (ie adapt to changing environments), excel ... or simply just survive.
Throughout the ages, nature has been our greatest teacher and as the repercussions of the industrial age are being felt, the information age opens and reveals lost knowledge and new opportunities.
The lessons and wisdom of indigenous people are increasingly relevant as humanity recognises the need for an interdependent relationship with the planet, and all Earth's species.
"Keeping the water pure is one of the first laws of life" says ancient indigenous wisdom.
This is why tribal boundaries are largely defined by water catchment areas - each tribe was a responsible caretaker for the special properties of the water of their tribal area- ie its mineral content, magnetism, harmonic frequencies - to maintain resonance (harmony) with the plants, animals and totemic beings of that area). Homeopathic medicine is also based on the principles of the subtle energies and memory of water.
Aboriginal and indigenous people traditionally also understand and teach the importance of maintaining connection with nature. The word integrity (from the Latin "one-ness") means living an understanding of our connection and interdependence with all beings of the Uni-verse (one-song).
Integrity for many has lost it's meaning and understanding - our leaders, elders, teachers and media have forgotten it's truth. Increasing harmony in our life and society comes from re-membering, and living our truth, and true identity, moment by moment.
Singing and dancing in indigenous societies was an important way to maintain harmony with nature. Stomping the Earth to African or Indian drums or didgeridoo connects the body to the natural rhythms of Nature, and Earth's electromagnetic fields. These energy fields (song lines) have frequencies often now up to 10 Hz (beats/sec). They have been rapidly rising in the last 10 years from a constant 7.82 Hz, with also a major drop in Earth magnetism. This frequency coincides with low alpha brain waves - the state reached in meditation and an effective frequency for healing, learning & creativity.
Research at UCLA California by Dr Valerie Hunt has measured these human energy fields and confirmed how they significantly affect our mental and physical health. Leading scientists and religions are now coming to understand what Aboriginal, Indian, Chinese and other traditional cultures have known for thousands of years. This is the leading edge of healing, and human being-ness.
Simple yoga like exercises are an easy way to open the mind & body's cells to nature's frequencies, & Qi (Chi) or life force flow. Blockages & distortions of this energy flow can lead to dis-ease.
With the thought energies of the "collective ego" or "collective consciousness" driving us to perform - for employer, partner, parent, or something else, we have to increasingly make the effort to be true to ourselves, ie our own nature. One of the best ways to do this is by committing time to honouring and loving our nature, and the nature within us, on a daily basis.
People are most effective & powerful (watch a sumo wrestler, or tennis player's stance) when grounded electrically (our body runs on electricity) to the Earth. Trees are expert at this. American Indians say that humans are "walking trees" creating the relationship between heaven & Earth.
Reprinted from an information leaflet from the British Druid Order, published in 1996.
"Druids were the intellectual and religious caste among the pagan Celts whose culture spread throughout most of Europe in the centuries before our Common Era. They were custodians of the whole cultural and spiritual heritage of their people.
Druids worshipped in sacred groves and held many aspects of the natural world as sacred, including certain trees, plants and animals, rivers, springs etc.
According to classical writers, Druidry originated in Britain and Druids from all over Europe came here to study. Remnants of Druid teachings survived in Bardic colleges in Ireland and Scotland until the 17th century as well as in oral tradition and in manuscripts.
The British Druid Order is a pagan Druid group formed in 1979. Their work is rooted in British tradition and is aimed at restoring the ancient traditions of Britain to a level where Druidry can regain its place as the true native spirituality of these islands. This process of restoration involves recovering a sense of the sacred in all areas of our lives so that we can begin to heal ourselves, our society and our land.
Incidentally, the term British is used not in a narrow, political or nationalistic sense, but to evoke a time when the two islands of Ierne (Ireland) and Albion (England, Scotland and Wales) were jointly known as the Pretannic Isles, from the Pretani, the Painted People, who were our spiritual and actual ancestors. This name for our islands was in use at least five hundred years before our Common Era and the modern name of Britain derives from it. It thus spans at least 2500 years of our history. But mainly we call ourselves the British Druid Order because Britain in that old inclusive sense is the land where we walk our sacred walk. Its ancient trackways are where we make our pilgrimages. Its sacred sites are where we work with the spirit/s within and around us. Its myths and mysteries are the well-spring of our tradition.
The essence of the Order's teaching lies in working with the spiritual energy known as Awen. Awen literally means 'flowing spirit'. The Bards of medieval Britain saw it as their principal source of inspiration and as a gift bestowed not only by the Christian God, but also by an ancient pagan goddess, Ceridwen, the 'Crooked Woman' or 'Bent White One', who they referred to as the Patroness of their Order. In this they were undoubtably continuing the tradition of their pagan predecessors. The energy and direction of the BDO is generated by contact with this powerful goddess (or spirit) energy, through which the Order maintains an open, dynamic and fluid structure, responsive to the needs of time, place, people and spirit. Members are encouraged to make and develop their own links with this inspiring spirit and thereby develop their own energy and creativity.
The Order has three grades, although much of the work done in each grade overlaps with each of the others. The grades are those of Bard, Ovate (Ofydd) and Druid (Derwydd). In the Bardic grade the spirit of Awen is directed into personal creativity. The Bards of old were inspired poets, musicians and storytellers, as well as seers, diviners, dream-weavers and word-magicians who sang the world alive and who, through the exercise of their skills, perpetually renewed the living spirit of the Gods and heroes of their people. The spiritual force of the old Bardic tradition was strong.
The BDO seeks to renew that energy by encouraging a new generation of bards to walk the Earth in a sacred manner; to rediscover its holy places; to recover its ancient songs and stories, and to bring them back to life for the renewal of the land, life, love, liberty and laughter. In the Ovate grade Awen is directed towards the development of gifts of prophecy and divination, and to awareness of the Faery realms; the Otherworld. In the Druid grade Awen is related to the Earth energies, or Dragon lines, which run through the landscape, connecting sacred places. Each grade is a process of discovery and healing; of the individual, of society and of the land. There are no set initiations and no standard tests for admission to the grades. These are, instead, given on an individual basis.
In all our work we call on the aid of our Ancestors, who are both our physical forebears who have passed on, and our spiritual Ancestors; the Druids, priests and priestesses of past ages, and the old Gods of our people. Much of our strength and wisdom comes from them and they give it freely and joyously, because we are part of the same golden chain of age-old tradition.
The Order is now entering a new phase of activity, marked by a new/old approach to teaching the Druid tradition...and (as of 1996) now offers a range of camps, talks with guest presenters, workshops, sacred walks, sweat lodges, howling under the full moon nights, singing on high hilltop days, wading in the waters of life, forest gatherings, fire dancing, spirit weaving, soul healing, eisteddfod and re-creation sessions. Through these events we simultaneously present and re-create the spirit of the Bardic/Druidic tradition. Events are provided at minimal cost, being organised primarily for people, not for profit. Many events, such as the ritual celebrations of the eight-fold festival cycle, are held within the magnificent stone circles of Avebury in Wiltshire. Avebury is the largest structure of its kind in the whole of Europe.
The BDO organises the annual Avebury Spirit Camp, around the autumn equinox in September, as well as Druid-Christian and other inter-faith conferences and gatherings. They produce various publications,including A Druid Directory, with details of over 20 Druid, Bardic and pagan groups in the UK and overseas; also the 48 page introductory booklet 'Druidry: Native Spirituality in Britain'. To get a year's subscription to the BDO newsletter - 'The Druids' Voice''- plus the intro booklet send a cheque or international money order for £6.50 (to overseas) payable to : The British Druid Order, PO Box 29, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 7YP, England.
Below: Some of the 25 cards in the Druid Tarot set, produced by the British Druid Order (black and white, £10 per set posted within UK).