Autumn edition / March 2004
the free E-magazine of dowsing & geomancy,
in Australasia and beyond. Edited by Alanna Moore.
Welcome to the autumn 2004 edition of Geomantica.
Right now it doesn't feel like autumn (it's a heatwave here) as Geomantica is out a bit early again, because there's lots happening!
The long awaited Geomantica news is the production of (some of) the 'Earth Care, Earth Repair' film series (it was originally going to be one long film) and the start of the 'Geomancy Today' film series. So now finally people can view the dowsing of the energy of paramagnetic rock dust, see a Power Tower being made, the Agnihotra fire ritual being done, watch radionic farmers at work, etc etc.
In this issue there are several more New Zealand stories. The Green Man piece is really getting around! It was originally comissioned by the UK Feng Shui Society magazine and is also being published by New Zealand's Rainbow News and probably Theosophical Society newsletters in Dunedin (NZ) and Dublin (Ireland) too. (Be aware that it is also an extract from a chapter in my book - 'Divining Earth Spirit' which is currently being revised and updated, after which a global publisher will then be sought.) The school dowsing story will be in Australia's New Dawn in March, together with a feature on geopathic stress by me; and the Hugh Fraser story is destined for Acres USA... But don't forget - you read them in Geomantica first! For free!
If you enjoy Geomantica you can ask to go on the email list for quarterly notification of its publication. And if you do value Geomantica you might also like to send an annual $20 donation to the address above. That and letters to the editor are great incentives to keep plugging away...
Until next quarter
Peace and bright blessings
** Hi , I was wondering if you would have
a contact of either a group or
person or persons in the Canberra region?
It was a great find for me ( After reading
your article in the Witch Craft
magazine ) to find that there are other people out there that
are interested
in this type of work, in Australia I was starting to think that
I was the
only person that had an interest in dowsing in this area, that
being
relating to energy and devic situations.
Thanks Brett
stmt@goulburn.net.au
** A photo emailed from Linda and Richard Masters in Victoria of their beaut new terracotta Power Tower:
** Dear Alanna
Thanks for your email. I forgot to say - I enjoyed reading
your 'Towers of Power' book greatly. You are doing great
work. Incidentally, the book is on sale now at the
BSD London lectures.
With best wishes for a very Happy Christmas
Anne
Anne Leonard
(British Society of Dowsers)
** Greetings
I have 2 domain names that I have registered, with one web site:
www.radionicconsultants.com.au just about ready to go....
The other site: www.biologicalagriculture.com.au will be the next one along the line.
Love
James Hedley
** Ms Moore:
I have just read your two articles in Acres,
USA. (I am from Pennsylvania) and I am glad to see a woman writing
about farming. I will be getting your book "Stone
Age Farming" to understand more about the coils used in
radionics. But I wonder if there is a book on frequencies
used in radionics farming or a book that explains more in deatil
on the subject. Does Mr. Cox have a book, or email?
Unfortunately, in 1990, I spent $2400 attempting to be healed
of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Chronic Fatigue.
All that left me was the money. I still have the disease.
So I had an attitude about radionics. The allergies are
forcing me into my own gardening to avoid chemical fertilizers.
I need more information on radionics because weeds overtake my
garden and I can't keep up with the extractions.
I have also worked with a pendulum for a few years and have studied
magnetic energies since 1984. I think that I may be able
to understand radionics better now (than in 1990). Please
advise. Your assistence is appreciated. Patsy Sporer
Hi Alanna
thanks for your reply
I'm in WA, but I'm definately interested in doing
your distant course, and if you know any contacts in Perth,
it would be great. ...
I was wondering also if you have ever worked
with
land in helping it deal with trauma? I am not sure what
exactly I mean, but I feel there is a way to
communicate with the land..let me explain..
At the moment in WA we have quite a sacred
aboriginal
womans site*, and energetically a very powerful place,
which is about to be mined, totally exploded. We have
done a lot of land ritual with the space and direct
action is becoming less effective to stop mining. I was
just wondering if you had had any experience with this
type of thing?
thanks alot
ailsa
* Its near to Koolyanobbing, the site itself
is
called Windarling.
Feb 3rd.
...It would be great to publish my letter,
with my email
address, and perhaps my location too - Perth, as I am
trying to start an Earth healing group.
Ive just met Moss, he does your course, and
I am
excited to get started. But I still haven't posted you
my forms. In the next week.
Thanks for your help.
ailsa
ailsagrieve@yahoo.com
** Hello Alanna
Thanks for the info... You mentioned a basalt quarry at Jugiong.
(in 'Stone Age Farming' book, editor)
There are 3 quarries at Jugiong, but only one, Bald Hill Quarry, has basalt.
The man there was most helpful and amazed that they were mentioned in your book.
I obtained a report (mineral analyses, editor) and several bags of fine dust.
As I don't sleep very well I have put 5kgs in a box under my bed
and have been sleeping very well since.
I have begun to experiment in the garden and have written off to biodynamics in Bellingen and about to join.
What an exciting new adventure!..
Thanks alot
Ernie Summerfield, Griffith, NSW.
Thirty five minutes, VHS
Glastonbell is part of the magnificent, rugged sandstone escarpment wilderness of the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. It was developed as a 'holy place for Australia' by Phillip Simpfendorfer over 20 years. Here people can visit, and discover and nurture a deep connection with the living landscape. You will see some of it in the film.
Phillip, who lived 7/6/31 to 5/7/03, was one of Australia's foremost geomancers. He helped to forge a bridge of understanding between Aboriginal and modern perspectives in Australia. He organised 'Renewing of the Dreaming' Camps in the early 1980's with Guboo Ted Thomas (an elder of the Yuin tribe of south coast New South Wales, who also died in 2003) and, together with the others he inspired, evolved an eco-spiritual awareness of the world around him.
In this interview Phillip talks about his
life, from his very first stirrings of love for the land, through
the growing understandings he gained. He elucidates on some of
his many spiritual adventures, journeys to Kashmir, central Australia,
Tasmania and Antartica, showing great wisdom and humour in the
telling.
This film is Part One in the series: GEOMANCY TODAY by Alanna Moore.
(Later, when more have been produced, this
film series will be sold in groups of 4 on a VHS tape - running
for approximately 2 hours - at $40.)
The VHS film retails at $AUD20 plus $5 postage. Or you can buy a DVD and pay $20, posted in Australia, or pay $28 for a PAL or NTSC DVD posted overseas. (Pay by cheque or cash only.)
EARTH CARE, EARTH REPAIR
A film series made by Alanna Moore
Scientists have been painting gloom and doom scenarios for the environment for too long. While they are busy writing up reports about widespread land degradation there are ordinary people out in the back blocks practising creative, intuitive, innovative and practical solutions to the environmental crises they face.
These often unsung heroes of land care and land repair are not shy to try out unusual or controversial methods to challenge the current destructive paradigms of agriculture. As a threat to the status quo, it often means that we never get to hear about such environmental success stories.
This film series is a call for all people to consider positive approaches to their environment, and to discover backyard solutions to global problems. Alanna Moore is a great believer in the power of positive focused thought put into action.
Part Five: 'Remineralising the Soil'
24 minutes
Land degradation is rife in Australia, with farmland topsoils vanishing rapidly. Our foodstuffs have ever decreasing nutritional values as a result. Mineral imbalance in modern society is abysmal, and is linked to disease on physical, mental and spiritual levels.
The answer to the problem of low mineral status comes to us from the Earth. Crushed rock of many varieties can help to rejuvenate soils in a short time (given enough organic matter and the presence of moisture and soil microbes) and provide greatly improved nutrition from crops grown in them.
Alanna Moore introduces the subject from an intuitive perspective, and we get to see a dowser in Tasmania showing his method of soil testing by dowsing. We then get to learn about the energetic value of volcanic rock dusts, at a training session run by Alanna.
This beneficial energy, known as paramagnetism, seen in much of Australia's basalt rock, is explained, and samples tested with a magnet. The dowsing approach is also demonstrated, while Professor Phil Callahan's discoveries in this regard are outlined.
A case study, where excellent results are seen from using biodynamic growing practises combined with rock dust, is then showcased, with Pia Lindgrew talking about the amazing growth in her commercial olive grove.
Part Six: 'Making Power Towers'
32 minutes.
The mysterious Irish Round Towers found in the monastic complexes of old Ireland have caused much speculation about their purpose. Professor Phil Callahan discovered that these antenna like stone structures, up to some 34m/100' tall, act as wave guides for cosmic energies which can have beneficial effects on Earth.
In this film we get to see several Towers in Ireland, then find out how small replicas can be used in the garden and farm to enhance plant growth, enliven livestock and a host of other effects.
Alanna Moore demonstrates dowsing the energy fields of mini Towers made from paramagnetic sandpaper and talks about some of her experiences and results from building over 100 Towers around Australasia.
She outlines the theory of modern Power Tower building to her dowsing class, then we get to see one being constructed by them, and dowsing of the resulting energy field.
Eight Tower owners around Australia then talk about their Towers and the effects they have noticed since they went up. From lusher orchards, increased wildlife, happier chickens, improved business, greater family harmony and more rainfall, to increased productivity in commercial strawberry, herb and wheat crops.
Part Seven: 'Agnihotra'
33 minutes.
A revival of ancient Indian tradition, the practise of Agnihotra can help restore harmony to the environment and make plants grow better. Frits and Lee Ringma talk about the benefits of Homa farming at their Hunter Valley, New South Wales, property 'Om Shree Dham' and demonstrate the fire ritual.
Part Eight: 'Radionic Farming & Landcare
in Australasia'
42 minutes
Agricultural radionics is a form of applied dowsing, or 21st century water divining. Radionic methods include soil testing and balancing, and health diagnosis and healing at a distance.
Alanna Moore interviews four radionic practitioners who talk about their methods and experiences in this cutting edge of esoteric agriculture. Find out how they treat health problems of livestock, soil imbalances, rain making, and more.
Ross Henderson in Tasmania tells of his many years of radionic cattle farming, starting with a sick farm he brought back into harmony. Ross talks of how he pioneered the use of agricultural radionic coils with master dowsers Ralph Thomas and Frank Moody (including Frank's anti-rabbit coils).
In central Tasmania Peter Downie describes the challenging problems of his large highland sheep farm and how radionics is helping to improve the harmony of the land and his family's health and happiness. We get to see some of Ross's coils there, while Peter dowses the energy field.
Then James Hedley, a radionic farming consultant of New South Wales tells of his discoveries and explains his methods. James is in demand from landcare groups eager to control pests without the use of toxic chemicals. He can even make it rain!
James uses radionic coils, biodynamic sprays and a standard radionic instrument. We get to see the effects these have had on rejuvenating the soil and orchard on his farm.
Lastly, we get to hear from professional radionic consultant Alistair Cox on the subject, at a dairy farm near Auckland in New Zealand, and see some more radionic coils.
Later in 2004 it is planned that Earth Care, Earth Repair, Parts 1-4 will be finished.
Part One: 'Dowsing and Re-afforestation' (how dowsing can be useful with tree planting)
Part Two: 'Soil Saving Solutions' (looks at grassroots solutions to soil salinity control)
Part Three: 'Permaculture Pioneers' (includes a tour around the gardens of the two originators of permaculture design)
Organisations and publications are welcome to make enquiries
The 22m mobile phone tower that Hutchison 3G Australia P/L erected as a 'low impact facility' in Oatley Park, Sydney, without public consultation, and which the community successfully argued was not 'low impact' at all, was dismantled October 4th 2003. This is the first time in Australia that community action has toppled a tower... According to the Sydney Morning Herald " a project manager for Hutchison has stated that many more 3G sites might be affected."
A study of the health of people living near a mobile phone base station operating at 1800MHz in Murcia, Spain, published September 2003, has found residents plagued with a range of neurological problems.
The adverse effects, from exposure to low levels of microwaves over long periods, which is also known as Radio Frequency Syndrome, have been previously described in a number of papers, many fom Eastern Europe. "Symptoms include central nervous system effects such as headache, fatigue, irritability, appetite loss, sleepiness, problems with concentration and memory, depression and emotional instability. Symptoms related to the cardio-vascular system include bradycardia, arterial hypertension or hypotension"....Researchers found that "discomfort, irritability and appetite loss are the most relevant symptoms correlated with exposure intensity."
A Turkish study of factors associated with Alzheimers last year found that "occupational exposure to e-m fields was associated with four times the risk and the use of electrical heating associated with nearly three times the risk of getting the disease."
A Dutch study of third generation mobile phone antennas is the first to find an impact from 3G technology."The study found that exposure to the UMTS signal (2100MHz) produced significant effects on subjects' perceptions of well-being, particularly in relation to feelings of nausea, tingling and headaches."
Much controversy has raged in Holland and Denmark, where 3G has just been released, since the study was published. Danish political parties have demanded a parliamentary hearing and the country's largest newspaper has run articles on whether international guidelines are adequate for protecting public health. Authorities in some cities have banned the new antennas on public buildings until emissions are proven harmless and are trying to stop them from being erected on private buildings.
Australia already has 1600 3G antennas erected in metropolitan centres (500 in Sydney alone) and 3G phones are owned by over 50,000 Australiians.
The Spanish authorities have been getting tough with mobile phone carriers. The Mayor of Montilla ordered the removal of a communications antenna from the city centre or else his administration would tear it down. A new city regulation has prevented their construction within 650m of populated areas. Carriers have been requested to organise liability insurance against all possible damages including public health. Another mayor cut the electricity supply to a mobile phone facility and prevented technicians from repairing the damage.
"Popular disaffection with antennas has been growing in Spain since a number of children developed cancer and leukemia after the installation of 35 antennas near their school."
American parents are suing their children's school for exposing their kids to potential danger. They have filed a suit against Oak Park Elementary School (due to be heard this February) for installing a wireless computer system which emits radio-frequency radiation.
In the last few decades many people have been rediscovering the eco-spirituality of our pagan heritage. They recognise a Mother Earth Goddess and even scientists, such as James Lovelock, talk about Gaia. But the masculine spirit of nature has lain silent and invisible to us until only recently.
Enter the Green Man. Most people would never have heard of him. But some may have noticed curious foliage covered faces looking down at them from house fronts or the ceilings of medieval or neo-gothic churches. Could these faces be harking back to a time when Pan was perceived as the potent, Earthy god of nature?
Who or What is a Green Man?
These foliate faces have become a symbol for our connection to nature, in their celebration of the masculine spirit of nature and our own wildness.
The earliest types of Green Men were faces made up of leaves, often oak leaves with the odd acorn. Later styles have foliage sprouting from the eyes, ears nose and particularly mouth of the faces. Later still mens' and womens' faces came to be depicted emerging from foliage, flowers and fruit. In churches the faces are traditionally painted gold.
Images of the Green Man are first seen in the UK in 1340 at Manchester Cathedral. There are many from the medieval period, but no mention of them is made in literature.
Pagan Green Men
But the Green Man is no isolated figure of mere decorative character. It is surely related to the once widespread folk customs of the British Isles (and Europe). Leafy figures representing 'Jack in the Green' the 'wild man', the May King and Robin Goodfellow aka Robin Hood once danced upon village greens everywhere, in celebration of spring and the cycles of fertility and plenty. Protectors of the wild places, these virile folk certainly are referred to in old writings - the stuff of ripping yarns and classic, archetypal myths and legends.
And that great god of nature Pan, is another important, related being. As the Celtic deity Cernunnos, he sports antlers and leaves sprout from his head, in a famous depiction on the 1st century BCE Gundestrup Cauldron. (Illustrated) Sitting erect and cross legged, Cernunnos holds a serpent in one hand, has animals around him and, in other depictions, a stream of coins flow from his lap. His benevolence extends to agriculture, hunting and sexual activities.
The similarity to the Indian god Shiva is striking. Shiva is also shown cross legged, horned, highly sexual and Lord of Animals. The multinational Horned God stirs our wild, creative energies to benefit all life.
Grugach was the ancient British Wild Herdsman, a guardian of nature, naked, capricious but largely benelovent a being, whose assistance was once invoked in pastures and farmland. His equivalents Fachan in Scotland and Bachlach in Ireland had similar duties and were considered also as gigantic guardians of the entrance to the underworld (which was usually deemed to be in an ancient tumulus/ mound). They were precursors to the Green Knight of Arthurian legend.
Looking back at earlier epochs, another possible connection is to the Celtic tradition of stone heads, apparently based on the idea that the severed heads of your ancestors or enemies are a source of great mana (as was also thought in Polynesian cultures).
The legendary figure associated with this tradition was Bran the Blessed, a demi-god / king of Powys, north Wales, who possessed a cauldron of rebirth. After death, his severed head possessed oracular powers. King Arthur went to consult the head of Bran, it is written.
Bran's head was eventually buried at the White Hill, where the Tower of London was later built, as a means of magical protection for the nation.
Bran's name means 'raven' and the continued residence there of many ravens is said to augur well for the nation. When World War Two was raging, Churchill frantically stocked up on Tower ravens, to ensure the survival of Britain's sovreignty.
Vigilant Celtic heads are found acting as gate guardians, set into barns and walls, and adorning sacred wells. However they do not have the foliate features which distinguish the Green Men of later times.
Bran's legend hints at universal folk tradition, whereby the adornment of buildings with human, animal and mythic figures conveys symbolic protection for the inhabitants. This function may well have been implied in the purpose of the Green Man figures.
Global Green Men
So foliate faces hark back to ancient times and to other places too. Green Men in the medieval churches of Europe were probably inspired by the foliate heads of classical Roman architecture, from around 2000 years ago.
Some of the earliest examples are seen in mosaics from North Africa, and similar figures have been found in India from 2,300 years ago.
They have also been depicted all around Europe and in ancient China and Mexico. To this day, in San Pablito, Puebla, Mexico (and probably other parts) bark cutouts of people sprouting foliage are paraded during crop fertility rituals.
After a rise in popularity in the Middle Ages, the Green Man saw a resurgence in early Renaissance architecture, and then in the classical buildings of the eighteenth and nineteen centuries, such as Queen Anne's Gate in London.
Countless Victorian Gothic and classical renaissance style buildings in the USA, Australia and New Zealand and no doubt many other parts of the world, are also adorned with the Green Man.
The return of the Green Man
It was Green Man researcher Lady Raglan in the UK in the 1930's, who gave them their generic name, which she took from the many 'Green Man Inns'.
But it is only in the last decade or two that there has been a real rise of interest in the Green Man. Nowadays there are several books and websites on the subject, as well as wall charts, cards, sculptures, brooches, prints and pendants to be had. The Green Man has also become a symbol for the men's movement in the USA.
Society has been starting to take eco-responsibility and here we are provided with a symbol to remind us of our connection with nature, an archetype of our own wild and free spirits. A fun character, who exudes the boundless joy of nature.
Experiencing the Green Man
I needed some photos for this article just as I was heading for a trip around the south island of New Zealand. Synchronistically, my stay in Dunedin couldn't have been in a better spot. Green men and women gazed down at me from many an old classical styled Victorian era city building. Other places in NZ proved much less fruitful. Could Dunedin be the Green Man capitol of New Zealand? If it isn't - I'd love to know better!
Returning to Dunedin a couple of weeks later I looked forwards to running my last 'Deva Dowsing' workshop before I flew home. I had already undertaken an initial dowsing survey to map out the location of important nature spirits in Dunedin's beautiful old Botanic Gardens.
Fortunately the weather was kind for our field trip and it was a mild summer's evening. We first had a tour of the Green Men and Women of downtown Dunedin, which participants had barely noticed before. (Typically - it takes a stranger to point out what is in front of you!)
Then we were off to the Botanic Gardens where we arrived just before closing around 9.30pm. A beautiful sunset unfolded and we had the place to ourselves as we dowsed for the energy fields of the Earth and water spirits we met. Most of all I wanted to connect with the Pan of the Park, who resided in a regal position, up a hillside at a stone walled sitting area. ("I like to see" he told me, in my 'mind's ear', when I asked why he liked it there.)
Each going into meditation in the vicinity, we attuned to Pan's special presence, which, for me, can often be an electrifying experience! When I immersed myself in the Dunedin Gardens Pan I instantly heard laughter. Joyous, bubbling, unabandoned and infectious laughter from that great being.
Earlier in the year, when I met Pan for the first time in Dublin, Ireland, in a corner of the park-like grounds of an old ex-convent, I felt so honoured and excited! I had dowsed his energy field from a distance and it felt powerful and special.
But what was the identity of this regal feeling devic presence? When I asked the deva who he was, I heard the words "I am everywhere". It must be Pan, I thought elatedly. Then I happened to look down at an old solitary fern frond that had survived a recent mowing, in the fading light of the summers evening. There, in the shape of the fern, I immediately saw the very obvious face of a Green Man. I felt even more humbled by the experience
A few days later, as I sat on a Dublin bus, heading back to the old ex-convent, I pondered on what would be my next line of research Then I looked up and saw out of the window a sign on a gate post: PAN RESEARCH.
OK, so I got the message! And thus this article has come to be written.
Locations of green men and women in Dunedin,
New Zealand:
The Chancellor, 310 Princes St
Consultancy House, 7 Bond St
Dunedin Casino (1883 Italian Renaissance style, architect Boldini)
cnr High and Princes St.s
ANZ Bank, corner Rattray and Princes St.s
Queens Gardens Court, corner Rattray and Bond St.s
(This article is an extract from Alanna's currently-being-updated
and, hopefully, soon to be republished book 'Divining Earth Spirit')
Note: There's more about the Green Man, including other images, in the book reviews section.
References:
'Green Man A Field Guide'
Clive Hicks, Compass Books, UK, 2000,
ISBN 0 9517038 2 X
www.clivehicks.co.uk/greenman
'Reclaiming the Gods Magic, Sex, Death
and Football'
Nicholas R. Mann, Green Magic, 2002, UK. ISBN 0 9536631 8 3.
'Explore Green Men' Mercia MacDermott & Ruth Wylie. Heart of Albion Press, UK, September 2003.
'The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom',
John and Caitlin Matthews, Rider, UK, 2001.
Other Green Man Books
ANDERSON, William, "Green Man - The Archtetype
of our Oneness with the Earth"
HarperCollins 1990 and COMPASSbooks, Fakenham, England, 1998,
ISBN 0 9517038 1 1
BASFORD, Kathleen, "The Green Man"
Ipswich, 1978, and D. S. Brewer, Cambridge, 1996 & 1998,
ISBN 0 85991 024 5 & 0 85991 497 6
HARDING, Mike, "A Little Book of the
Green Man"
Aurum Press, London, 1998, ISBN1 85410 563 9
MILLAR, Ronald, "The Green Man - Companion
and Gazetteer"
S.B. Publications, Seaford, East Sussex, 1997 & 1998, ISBN
1 85770 131 3
Other books
CAVE, C.J.P., "Roof Bosses in Medieval Churches", Cambridge University Press 1948
JENKINS, Simon, "England's Thousand Best
Churches"
Penguin, London, 1999, ISBN 0713 99281 6
PEVSNER, Sir Nikolaus, "The Buildings
of England" series, Penguin.
In the times of the pioneering Polynesian explorer Tamatea, a sacred fire, sent by the great high priest Uenuku, was brought to the south island of New Zealand from a volcano in the homelands. It came on the Arai-te-Urel waka (canoe), together with 200 men and women and all kinds of food plants.
After its epic voyage across the Pacific Ocean the Arai-te-Urel nearly capsized at Hawkes Bay and it finally overturned at Matakaea Point, near Oamaru. Here it still lies, says Maori legend, for the great double waka was turned into stone.
The entire crew of the Araiteuru dispersed and were likewise transformed into hills, mountains and pillars of stone. Her cargo was swept ashore at Moeraki, south of the Waitaki river mouth, where eel pots, gourds and kumara were turned into the curious spherical and ovoid boulders seen on the beach there today.
But the sacred fire was saved and a contingent of chiefs brought it up the Waitaki River and placed it in the Earth somewhere up-river. Here a seam of lignite burned "until about 45 years ago" says James Cowan in 1923. 1)
Wherever that mythological site might be could well be destroyed if Meridian Energy's proposal - 'Project Aqua' - goes through. This New Zealand government owned business wants to create a 60 km long stretch of canal parallel to the river on the south side of the valley. This would be siphoning off some 75% of the river's water for hydro-electricity generation at six power stations along its length.
What would be lost if the project succeeds?
The Waitaki is partly a wild untamed river on the east coast of the South Island between Dunedin and Christchurch. One of the last wild rivers, it is New Zealands largest 'braided river', which are rare in the world at large. It's many strands fan out into a wide gravelly delta, swelling when snows melt each spring and shrinking in the heat of late summer. It drains a significant part of the Southern Alps, including the Mount Cook region.
Although the upper Waitaki has been modified by hydro-electricity schemes, the lower Waitaki flows in extensive braids for 70 kilometres to the coast. It provides important habitat for endangered bird, fish and plant species and offers outstanding recreational fishing.
"On the east coast of the South Island most if not all of the rivers have been seriously abstracted in the last few years due to changing land use. This has lead to conflict in many communities between competing water users and the flow on effect of that water use. In North Otago we have been spared that problem because of the volume of water available in the Waitaki River" says the Waitaki River Users Liaison Group Inc. website.
"Project Aqua will substantially alter that situation and has the potential to create long term conflict in our community." 2) "Meridian will divert 280 cubic metres per second which is approximately 73% of average mean flow of water in the Waitaki River." The New Zealand Green Party say that this figure is way too high, being based on high flow periods seen only in the last 2 decades. 3)
"Meridian proposes spending $1000 million on this scheme. For that money you could put solar water heating in every home in NZ and you would have meet all our electricity needs for the next 10 years without stuffing up any rivers and reducing everyone's power bill."2.
What of the geomancy of place?
"To most of us a river is something to use, but we don't
revere it as Maori do. To them it represents their ancestors
and has its own wairua or spirit.", said Sir Douglas Graham
of Ngai Tahu (the local Maori tribe) cultural heritage.
The Waitaki is a Ngai Tahu taonga (treasure),
a river of deep significance to the tribe, in "historical,
spiritual, cultural, and historical terms" - as acknowledged
in the Ngai Tahu Treaty Settlement Act, just as Mount Cook is
a sacred mountain to them, writes Dave Witherow (21/12/2003).
4)
"For Maori, the land and the sea is more than a property:
it is an identity", according to Ngai Tahu's Mark Solomon.
Pouakai, the giant native eagle of the Southern Alps, is said to be the guardian of the river. 5)
"Numerous other places are said to be precious, in the hills, by the lakes, by the sea, and in consequence Ngai Tahu have been given many of these, including the Greenstone and Caples valleys, as theirs to exclusively cherish," says Witherow.
"Ngai Tahu, so far, have had almost nothing to say on the fate of the Waitaki, their special river. Do they oppose its destruction? Why are they not at the head of the queue, leading the charge, determined, more than anyone else, that the "tears of Aoraki" will not be wiped forever from the landscape?"
In his article Witherow talks about the very non-traditional attitude that local Maori leader Sir Tipene O'Regan has exhibited on this issue.
"Sir Tipene is scornful of those who petition his tribe to share the defence of the lower Waitaki. The river is a mess, in Sir Tipene's view. But, as a board member of Meridian Energy, he is perfectly placed to do something useful about it.
"Project Aqua is the answer, Sir Tipene thinks, and will be thoroughly beneficial. The river - once most of it has been safely locked away in a concrete canal - will be "environmentally-improved", and "a whole lot of the values that Ngai Tahu puts on the Lower Waitaki will be enhanced". Just leave it to Meridian Energy.
"It is long past time that Ngai Tahu
were judged by their actions - rather than their windy propaganda.
They are opportunists, not conservationists, and their record
speaks for itself - on the Clutha, in the Greenstone, and now
in the Waitaki Valley," says Witherow.
"Mercenary considerations have always been paramount, and all the fine talk of spiritual things, of identity and sense of place and the overweening cultural role of the living land is just hot air in the face of a fistful of money.
"And Sir Tipene, comfortable in his Meridian
chair, might contemplate the same question: what form of wairua
will survive beside a concrete canal, six power stations, and
the polluted remains of a river?
4)
Seeing the river
There is no doubt that the damming of a wild river will wreak
havoc on the ecology, the spirits of place and many important
sacred, mythological and special energy sites in the process.
My opinion as a geomancer was sought whilst visiting the area in December 2003. So, for whatever it was worth, I decided to reschedule my itinerary to pass by the Waitaki, when driving north from Invercargill, via Queenstown.
Wild rivers are not easy to get to. The roads on the north and south sides of its valley are far from the riverbanks. I had limited opportunities and time to gain geomantic insights.
High up in the mountains, after turning off highway 8 onto route 83, I was able to pass through the river's high country and glimpse her three big lakes. Lake Benmore, Aviemore and Waitaki have long ago been dammed and there are eight power stations there already.
Energetically these lakes and power stations were pretty awful. At Lake Benmore I discovered, by distant dowsing assessment, a very angry taniwha (pronounced tanifa, the Maori peoples' name for an important water spirit) behind the dam wall. I had already been told of the bad energy felt around there. So here it was confirmed that energetically at least - not all was well with the river.
A few kilometres downstream I got to Kurow and the turn-off to the road that runs up the north side of the Waitaki valley. The bridge over the Waitaki seemed to go on forever At one point I was able to pull over onto an island and do an energetic assessment of the river water.
A couple of weeks later I drove over the Waitaki mouth on the coast, a bit north of Oamaru, to do likewise and collect a water sample.
The spirit of the river
The first time I got close to the river was on the island up
river. Energetically inspecting the river's clear, shallow waters
it felt sadly dull and lifeless. I was expecting a wounded
taniwha or something hopefully more dramatic to report on, but
no.
All that I can say (and this was confirmed by others later who checked out a water sample) is that the very spirit of the water has been hammered in those power stations.
The Austrian 'water wizard 'Victor Schauberger spoke of this kind of energetic degradation of water when it is subjected to heat and pressure. And I pondered on what sort of effect this virtually lifeless, spirit-less water has on the lands it might irrigate..
Nevertheless, I don't think this river deserves to be raped and bled dry along most of its length. It is still a sacred being, with sites of significance for a whole range of beings along it. It should not be written off as a consumable chunk of landscape resource!
Somebody once said that the Vietnam War became a 'war against topograghy', with the extreme ecological damage it wrought. For a supposedly peace loving nation, would New Zealand be no less destructive if this project goes ahead?
Long live the Waitaki!
References:
1) 'Maori Folk Tales of the Port Hills' J. Cowan, 1923, Witcombe & Tombs, New Zealand.
2) The Waitaki River Users Liaison Group,
PO Box 32, Oamaru, New Zealand. Website: www.waitaki-river.org.nz.
Email waitaki.users@xtra.co.nz
And www.waitakifirst.co.nz
3) www.greens.org.nz/campaigns/conservation/project_aqua.htm
4) 'Ngai Tahu taonga, for what it's worth', by Dave Witherow, Otago Daily Times 12/12 / 2003.
5) Korero Story - Waitaki River ceremony a Waitangi Day drawcard, 5 /2/ 2004, Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2004.
Related Links from the Waitaki Users Website
(including general ones about rivers and dams)
Meridian Sites:
Meridian Energy
http://www.meridianenergy.co.nz
Meridian's Project Aqua site
http://www.projectaqua.co.nz
Meridian's Wind Power site
http://www.windpower.co.nz
Meridian's Project Aqua Team
http://www.meridianenergy.co.nz/ProjectAqua/the+project+aqua+team/default.htm
Regional Councils:
Canterbury Regional Council
http://www.crc.govt.nz
Environment Canterbury
http://www.ecan.govt.nz
Otago Regional Council
http://www.orc.govt.nz
Waitaki District Council
http://www.waitaki.govt.nz
The Media:
The Otago Daily Times
http://www.odt.co.nz
The Press
http://www.press.co.nz
The New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
The Timaru Herald
http://www.timaruherald.co.nz
Government Ministries:
Government website
http://www.govt.nz
Ministry for the Environment
http://www.mfe.govt.nz
Other Government Agencies:
Department of Conservation
http://www.doc.govt.nz
Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority
(EECA)
http://www.eeca.govt.nz
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
http://www.pce.govt.nz
Environmental Risk Management Authority
http://www.ermanz.govt.nz
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research
http://www.niwa.cri.nz
Local Government Online
http://www.localgovt.co.nz
Other Interested Parties:
Fish and Game New Zealand
http://www.fishandgame.org.nz
Tourism Waitaki
http://www.tourismwaitaki.co.nz
Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand (Inc.)
http://www.fmc.org.nz
Greenpeace
http://www.greenpeace.org.nz
Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society
of New Zealand Inc.
http://www.forest-bird.org.nz
Enviro-Funz
http://www.envirofunz.org.nz
Environmental Education Directory of New Zealand
http://www.eednz.org.nz
Renewable Energy
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
http://www.nrel.gov/
Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable
Technology (CREST)
http://solstice.crest.org/
Wind Energy
New Zealand Parliament
http://www.parliament.govt.nz
American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org
Windustry
http://www.windustry.com
Solar Energy
ASES - The American Solar Energy Society
http://www.ases.org
SEIA - Solar Energy Industries Association
http://www.seia.org
Solar Energy International
http://www.solarenergy.org
EERE: Solar Energy
http://www.eren.doe.gov/RE/solar.html
BP Solar
http://www.bpsolar.com/
International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power
Systems Programme
http://www.iea-pvps.org/
Water, Rivers, Hydro and Dams
World Commission on Dams
This site, named for an independent commission of experts who
review the impact and performance of large dams, contains hundreds
of brief reports on dams around the world, plus news, photos
and many links.
http://www.dams.org
WaterWeb Consortium - Information on Water
and Environment
http://www.waterweb.org
EWRI - Environmental and Water Resources Institute
of the American Society of Civil Engineers
http://www.ewrinstitute.org
American Whitewater
http://www.americanwhitewater.org
American Rivers
http://www.americanrivers.org
American Rivers - Condit Hydroelectric Project:
background for the press (September 22, 1999)
http://www.americanrivers.org/pressrelease/pressconditbackground.htm
Dams & Reservoirs
Corbis Corporation's Images of Dams - type "dam" into the search field and you'll be presented with images of several hundred dams from around the world
Dam-Reservoir Info & Impact Archive - offers information on information on dams, impoundments, water diversions and hydroelectric projects, plus related links about dams worldwide
United States Society on Dams - offers general information on dams and their benefits and links to related organizations
National Performance of Dams Program - contains links for dam engineering and safety organizations and technical resources
Association of State Dam Safety Officials - news and federal legislation updates about dam safety, plus related links and resources
Dams Around the World - clickable maps and descriptions of some 50 worldwide dams, which, in view of the Environmental Fund, threaten the well-being of the land and the people
Canadian Induced Seismicity Research Group - studies how built structures, such as dams and reservoirs, may trigger earthquakes and investigates how to mitigate such hazards
Dam Decommissioning
World Commission on Dams. Ripple Effects:
United States - Seeking Approval for Removal?
http://www.dams.org/news_events/n7_usa.htm
Decommissioning Non-Federal Hydroelectric
Dams: Procedures and Considerations
http://www.sdafs.org/meetings/99sdafs/ferclic/hoar1.htm
River Recovery - Restoring Rivers Through
Dam Decommissioning
Global Examples
http://www.recovery.bcit.ca/global.html
Portland General Electric to remove two hydroelectric
dams in Columbia River basin
http://www.americanrivers.org/pressrelease/sandy102402.htm
Dam Removal - It's Hip, It's Happening, It's
Now - But is it all it's "cracked up" to be? (i.e.,
What Else Is Needed to Restore Rivers)
http://www.naep.org/CONFERENCE00/janopaul.html
Don't get too excited but check this out...
Loire Dams dismantled for Salmon
http://www.rivernet.org/stedvig.htm
I'd known of the local school for nearly 20
years before I ever managed to teach there. The school seem to
be continually beset by problems, too many problems. The academic
record for decades had been very low with a significant percentage
of the 11 year old graduates being barely literate and numerate.
The lost property box was huge, and always
contained at least a dozen or so items, and this in a school
with less than 30 kids. Kids couldn't always even recognise their
own stuff. Highly prized pieces of art work destined for home
littered the corridors and grounds at the end of each art session.
Adults who had attended the school as children thought of themselves
as dumb.
It wasn't right. It just didn't make sense. In 2003, 11 new kids arrived, only one of whom was a beginner. There was only one full time teacher, and several others who came in varying percentages of time. The full time teacher had a heart attack and for 8 weeks, the kids had a large number of supply teachers. The kids really went mad. The behaviour was more like an inner city school in an impoverished area than a tiny remote rural school. Parents of the new kids reported that their behaviour had never been quite like this in the other schools.
In desperation I sent a map to Alanna to dowse. She found an underground water stream running the length of the grounds and through the main building. She also found an Aboriginal burial site near the playground equipment. She sent instructions on where to do Earth acupuncture.
Now this was not the sort of information that I particularly cared to share with the wider school community, and I certainly did not want to do anything on my own. I carefully sounded out several people, and one Friday night, just rang 3 other people and asked if they'd help the next day. They all turned up and brought anything they thought appropriate.
We did a blessing first, and as soon as we started, there was a huge clap of thunder and it started to pour down. We moved in soaking rain and did the acupuncture next. The copper barely went into the ground before the crystal indicated the energy had stopped. Still drenched we moved to the burial ground and using incense, brown sage, smudge sticks and rose quartz, we walked in a circle saying what ever we felt appropriate, (basically sorry we don't know the right thing to do, and sorry anyway). As we finished, we planted some of the sage and buried some of the rose quartz. And then the rain stopped.
We went inside the building and wiped each doorway with sandalwood oil and also smudged the building...
One week later
One week later, an older boy, feared throughout the region and famous for his destructive behaviour came charging into the kitchen (also used as a staff room). He had not voluntarily entered this room all year. He agitatedly confessed to breaking a drainage pipe and apologised. This behaviour was so out of the ordinary I went with him to have a look. It was a tiny crack in the down pipe from the water fountain. Negligible really. But only a metre or so from where the acupuncture was performed. This from a boy who only a week previously had taken a baseball bat and destroyed neighbouring property.
For the remaining 3 months of the school year, the behaviour, and the attitude to work as well, could probably be described as 2 steps forward 1 step backwards. A 10 year old boy who had spent his entire school life in the room where the water entered the building and was completely non literate, started reading. He even started doing homework voluntarily. A 10 year old girl with the same background, finally worked out the difference between addition and multiplication, and place value with numbers.
One whole classroom, settled down and completed work regularly for the first time,
The school bursar reported that for the first
time ever in her 10 year career at the school, she had completed
the paperwork required before the summer holidays on time and
would not have to come in during the holiday period.
Back to the top
New Zealand dowser Hugh Fraser
Whilst touring the south island of New Zealand in 2003 I met several people who asked me if I knew Hugh Fraser, a maverick dowser and energy worker in the far south. This was a man whose reputation went before him, and it was a highly acclaimed one! So I made a point of getting down to Invercargill to meet and interview this extraordinary man.
Starting with Earth sciences
Hugh told me how he was brought up near Ohai in Southland, on
a huge family sheep farm, whose boundaries went some 40 km.
The property was an unique geological area, where three accessible fossil fields, including coal fields, from different geological eras, attracted the attention of scientists who made regular visits.
"I got to learn science from my push chair" Hugh reminisced. He remembered fondly the couple of professors who came to see the past set into stone there.
"I had instilled in me very early on an appreciation of the extreme pressures and ground forces that are at work within the Earth, usually at very deep levels," Hugh explained. "So I gained invaluable insights into Earth science."
Toxic overload
But Hugh's idyllic childhood was sadly not to last. While the
usual sheep dip chemicals being used at the time arsenic
and creosotes were bad enough, the government introduced
dieldrin, an accumulative poison, without warning.
Soon Hugh was getting sick regularly and was in and out of hospital, seeing doctors and specialists. But no-one knew how to deal with his problem.
It was only when he was around 30 years old that Hugh worked out how to de-toxify himself of the dieldrin.
Hugh's family may also have been affected, as his 17 year old daughter was diagnosed with a rapid spreading cancer Burketts lymphoma, usually a tropical problem in Egypt, and the first case in the region seen in 40 years. She had her lymphs removed, and intensive chemo- and radiotherapy. After a 5 day course of this, which used a massive 52 lt of chemicals, she did recover. Hugh also helped her to de-toxify afterwards, with the techniques he had developed for himself.
Later, after marrying, she started to go downhill and doctors thought she may have contracted fibro myelia, common around Tapanui, which is close to a volcanic crater. After 15 to 20 examinations by cancer specialists, no-one worked out that she was actually pregnant! They all believed that she would have to be infertile, after all the cancer treatment.
Discovering dowsing
At around 7 or 8 years of age Hugh was taught to dowse by an
old uncle who farmed a peat bog. It was essential to understand
the flow of water through the property in order to drain it successfully,
so he was a well practised water diviner.
From these early beginnings, nowadays Hugh can dowse and measure anything, and he might use his hands alone (deviceless dowsing). He checks on land energy, toxin levels and the restoration of health.
For over 15 years Hugh had his own farm. He started with grain growing, then went to processing split peas and pearl barley in the Canterbury region. He has also worked in the fields of surveying, transport, electronics and mechanical work.
The self clearing methods Hugh developed were energetic processes which aimed to break down chemical compounds. These were intuited and honed with practise, trial and error, until his own problems were initially cleared.
Eventually his interest in intuitive energy work grew from being a successful hobby to a full time concern. "When you heal someone who has been sick for 20 years the word gets around fast!" he told me.
The de-tox challenge
Some years back Hugh had a friend who wanted to sell his farm.
He had got a good offer for it from someone, but there was one
big snag - the soil was contaminated by high residual levels
of DDT, and the offer was subject to the soil having acceptable
contaminant levels.
There was just 24 hours left before the would-be purchaser was coming to get soil for testing and, although he couldn't quite imagine it to be possible, Hugh decided to give it try with his own de-tox methods.
Which methods?, I asked. "You can call it radiesthesia if you like, radiesthesia at a distance," Hugh said.
"48 hours later the soil test came back with the DDT at only half the previous level, which made it acceptable to the buyer. It also doubled the value of the property!" And the experience was a great confidence booster for Hugh.
De-toxing tools
Hugh's methods have subsequently been refined and the energies
involved 'captured' in glass plates that Hugh has been manufacturing
over the last 15 years. Calling them 'Living Land Plates', each
one is made up individually to suit the requirements of each
unique piece of land. They must be placed and oriented according
to dowsing.
Originally Hugh experimented using stainless steel to create "energetic packages to hold intentions in". He started using rolls of stainless steel three sheets thick and rolled flat. But he found that glass was a superior carrier, or energy medium, and "it never sleeps" .
The glass has to be fired up in a specific way and it is imparted with intentions after heating in the furnace, he told me. "There are about one and a quarter million different frequencies to bring harmony and balance in these plates. To use them you have to place them according to dowsing and leave them there, correctly oriented, also according to dowsing."
Hugh makes similar plates that are tuned for household energy balancing, for food and water energising, and a bigger de-tox plate for clinical use. (Because of the work and logistics involved Hugh does not wish to sell the Living Land Plates plates in Australia just yet.)
Some success stories
In one case a farm that was contaminated with toxins was able
to get organic status after only 9 months of transitional status.
"It could be a world first" Hugh suggests.
"They got their certification because the contaminant was down to just 2 parts per billion at worst. People were incredulous! The topsoil had increased an inch and a half of depth in that time and the worm population sky rocketed from 11kg/acre to 300 kg/acre. It had all come back to life."
Hugh got to be fairly well known, with his successes speaking for themselves. He told me that Lincoln University in Christchurch had been having problems with poisoned land and the Board of Trustees decided to get Hugh in to sort it out.
In another case at an educational establishment that had rampant health problems, Hugh did a health dowsing survey for no less than 4000 people. Many of the employees there were chronically ill, from the building and environment. Things improved dramatically afterwards.
Working with water
Hugh has been experimenting with his own form of energised water.
His water energising unit can increase the shelf life of parsley
to over 20 days.
Installed on a hydroponic tomato farm, a month after Hugh's water energising unit went in the farmers reported that there were more fruit, they had thicker stems, the fruit was better spaced and had good colour. Two months later they reported that the greenhouse felt and smelt better, and the pH testing bottles were keeping cleaner. They used to have a big aphid problem there, but it was gone a few days after installation. And there was no more calcium build up on irrigation nozzles.
Hugh's current project is a study of the white tailed spider and he intends to impart its frequencies to the personal de-tox plates that he makes. The bite of this spider can have some very nasty affects and even prove fatal, while modern medicine can offer no cure.
Hugh's distant dowsing work knows no bounds. He can remove toxins and help restore health for people anywhere in the world. (He has just been working on clearing a health problem from an African tribe of some 12,000 people!).
by Nicholas Mann, Green Magic Press, 2002, UK.
ISBN 0-9536631-8-3
In this new work Nicholas Mann delves into the roots of the European spiritual heritage to reveal the potent pantheon of gods who were once reverred as forces of fertility, prosperity, wisdom and vitaility.
"In the same way as the Goddess has been reclaimed in recent years this book reclaims the God. Nicholas Mann shows how the figure of the God has become monopolised, marginalised and corrupted, to our great loss"
"The restoration of the God in our lives will liberate our individual spiritual experience, enabling us to see with new insight the reality of good and evil. To understand the true nature of our sexual passions, our relationship to others and the world in all its true beauty and magnificence."
My only gripe with this book is that Mann deems the Green Man as "a northern European deity of vegetation" who harks back to "an early foliate aspect of Dionysos-Bacchus called Okeanos, and later known as Silvanus". While this may be true and there is no proof I think the Green Man is a more complex, composite being than this.
Dr MacDermott's research follows the Green Man back from the previous earliest known examples into its hitherto unrecognised origins in India more than two thousand years ago. This book starts by discussing the 'paganization' of Green Men in recent decades, then traces them back through the Victorian Gothic Revival and the Italianate periods, to their heyday in the Gothic and their supposed origins in the Romanesque. For every period there is background information on the cultural changes that affected how Green Men were regarded.
The author also discusses (quite dismissively) the comparisons that have been made with Cernunnos, Robyn Hood, Jack-in-the-Green, woodwoses, Baphomet, Al Khidr and Bulgarian peperuda. She also investigates which pagan god Green Men supposedly represent.
Explore Green Men is illustrated with 110 photgraghs and drawings, mostly of Green Men who have never before showed their faces in books.
"This book takes you on a journey of discovery, to a place where two worlds meet- the world of faery. Serena Roney-Dougal describes a scientific spiritualiy with its roots in the ancient past but with profound implications for modern spiritual thinking. The Faery Faith sheds a bright new light on the ancient mystery of humanity's relationship to the world of faery."
The author blends psi subjects, with folklore and neo paganism. There are sections on magical reality and sacred sites- the home of faery. A look at hauntings and apparitions, UFO behaviour, mythology, eco-spirituality and much more. This eclectic book will be of interest to dowsers and energy workers alike.
My only gripe - has Ms Roney-Dougal ever met a fairy or know of people who can see them? There is no mention. Thus there's an air of unsettling unreality to this book. In contrast - one only has to read the delightful accounts in old Theosophical books of elves frolicking etc as seen by Geoffrey Hodson, to realise that magical reality is just that. It is real. And people don't have to know about mythology or science or partake of Fly Agaric mushrooms to come across mythical beings that are actually out there, to experience the faery dimension. Many ordinary people just simply see them!
Despite the reality shortfall, the book is nonetheless an interesting read.
"William Stukely was the first man to chronicle the greatest prehistoric stone circles in th world - Stonehenge and Avebury. One of the eighteenth century's most remarkable characters, he was friend and colleague to some of the most gifted men of his time, including Sir Isaac Newton.
"Stukely's work laid the foundations for the modern study of prehistoric monuments, influenced the Druidic Revival and inspired some of William Blake's most celebrated paintings.
"For the first time, 'Stukely Illustrated'
brings together over 100 of the best engravings from his most
brilliant books, 'Stonehenge: A Temple Restor'd to the British
Druids', 'Abury: A Temple of the British Druids' and 'Itinerarium
Curiosium'. 'Stukely Illustrated' shows how this meticulous and
inspired drughtsman changed the way we look at ancient sites.
The book is a tribute to an increasingly relevant figure, and
is indispensible to anyone interested in the sacred sites and
landscapes of the British Isles."