After 6 months of broken promises 'Quicksilver Messenger' is still waiting for its 'phone to be reconnected following its inadvertant disconnection by British Telecom soon after we moved. For its consummate inefficiency British Telecom recieve the Quicksilver rotten tomato. If the area manager would care to call at the above address the editor would be glad to present it.

The bias in this issue is towards what is happening in the main stream of the EM movement.The instigator of the most important project afoot, Pau1 Devereux of the Dragon Project gives QsM readers the low down on what's happening. John Michell, perhaps the most influencial man in EM gives his reflections on a wide range of subjects relating to EM and cultural regeneration. These articles will help to put the more specific local research into a bigger context.

NEXT ISSUE : Second part of John Michell's epic interview in which the world's greatest Ley hunter talks frankly about atomic power, women, the great conspiracy, 'Megalithomania', and the importance of earth mysteries movement to cultural regeneration.....
Pau1 Screeton on J. Foster Forbes
Alan Gardner on a 'Fishy Tale'
your editor with a South Coast Urban Ley
Mike Collier on 'Mad' Jack Fuller, Sussex's Claim to inspired lunacy...

Quicksilver Messenger: First I'd like to ask you about your childhood. Can you tell where you were born, went to school and grew up.

John Michell: Yes, I was born in a nursing home in London. We lived for many years in Hampshire. I went to school locally, then to Eton and then did my National Service in the Navy. I became a Russian interpreter, then went to university in Cambridge and spent three years there.

QsM: What was the cheif influence on you during those years?

J.M.: Like a lot of people at the time I liked jazz. My first independant enthusiasm didn't come until quite late when I was at Cambridge. I became interested in Canals and the general pattern of the countryside. I became interested in Russian literature which I was meant to be reading at Cambridge. It was reading that for myself that gave me a new outlook on things. Because when I was at Cambridge the whole atmosphere was extremely rationalistic materialistic. Everyone believed the current academic orthodoxies of the time and there seemed no way of questioning them. I was never really sympathetic to them but I saw no way of questioning them. The first possibility of a breakout occured to me at the beginning of the UFO phenomenam, in the fifties when the first UFO books were coming out. It was quite obvious that people were having experiences that weren't allowed for within the context of our education. There was a split between the view of the world we'd been taught and accepted unquestioningly and the world of actual experience.

QsM: Your book 'Flying saucer vision' comes out of this period, doesn't it?

J.M.: Yes, that was when I was getting on for thirty ard had tried various businesses and had failed in a11 of them. I was left with little but my own thoughts and began to see a different view of the world which other people at the time were seeing. In many cases we were unable to reconcile it with angthing we'd learnt. It seemed that either one was going mad or else seeing a new view of things. As I began to look for evidence of the new view of things I saw the possibility of another way of looking at the world based on experience rather than on a11 the propaganda we'd a11 so readily absorbed through our education.

QsM: Following 'Flying Saucer Vision' the book that really took off for you and the book that certainly made your name and gave 'earth mysteries' a new lease of life was 'The View Over Atlantis'. I notice that in the list of acknowledgements Ogilvy Crombie, the Findhorn 'guru', is mentioned. What part did he play in the creation of this book?

J.M.:He was a remarkable man. I met him after I visited Findhorn in 1966 or '67 and stayed with him in Edinburgh. He was a delightful man. An o1d mystic scholar of the traditional Scottish sort, an old seer. His rooms were full of books, he had two pianos, he lived very simply. He was the first person I ever met who seemed to inhabit a quite different world: the traditional world of the seer. He'd tell one things in the most matter of fact voice which seemed absolutely incredible. I don't think there were any particular ideas of his which influenced me just the whole wag of looking at things, the whole type of reality he lived in.

QsM: I remember when I went to Findhorn hearing a lecture he gave in which he mentioned, in a matter of fact voice, an occasion in which he met the god Pan. Within a year or so of that lecture he died and the word was going around Findhorn when I revisited it that he was a maaician. Is there any truth in that idea?

J.M.: No, I think he was a gentle old mystic. He lived for many years in a remote part of Scotland by himself. He obviously had the traditional Scottish second sight. I'm sure he was no sort of black magician. He seemed to have an acquaintance, as he claimed, with Pan and the elementals and so on, this very much influenced Findhorn and they a11 began to talk about elementals and so on. I believe that stage is over now.

QsM: Let's go on now to your books 'The City of Revelation' and your new one on Stonehenge ( 'Ancient Metrology' ) Mathematics plays an important part in these books. What is your mathematic background?

J.M.: I have no mathematical background at a11. I loathed the whole subject at school. I bacame interested in number as number rather than mathematics. I remember very little mathematics from school. But, of course, once you need to learn something it very soon comes. You can spend years at school and learn nothing. of a subject. The moment you feel a personal need for it you can catch the principles and go as far as you want very quickly.

QsM: Good. Maybe there's hope for me then. Pentacle Books: you started your own publishing company in Bristol with John Michael. What's the basic purpose behind this venture?

J.M.:I'd always been interested in the possibility of publishing things without having to go through the agony of flogging. books round publishers. And the compromises which are necessary. I still think there is a way by publishing books which can be sold to special interest groups. One can still be a small publisher. I've published at least four books by subscription. That is by getting printers estimates, preparing a prospectus and sending round cards to everyone one knows and getting some of the money up front which will then pay for the printer and the binder and so on, signing the books and numbering them and publishing that way. Once one's got the first edition done say a limited edition of 200, 300 or whatever number one thinks would sell, one hopes to break even. Then : you're left with the books set up in print and, if necessary, one can do or sell a more general edition. But, basically, I'm interested in publishing for small interest groups and doing things which would be of too limited interest, or too new, to interest a commercial publisher. I think there's terrific opportunities for private and small publishing if one can get in touch with the people likely to be interested. People are much too inclined to think that if a commercial publisher won't do it they're stuck. In fact, for quite a small amount of money one can publish one's own things. Far from being as many people think a stigma to publish one's own things, I think it's a matter of pride. To get invo1ved in the publishing process is really part of the writers wish to communicate what he has to say.

QsM: Would you advise people who write and have difficulty in getting commercial publishers to take their work to publish it themselves?

J.M.: I think the main thing is that if you have something that you really think should be published you should get it out somehow. A11 I can say is that it's much easier than most people think to publish oneself.

QsM: Could you tell me how your initial interest in UFO's in the fifties turned into the interest that you're more well known for, that is, earth mysteries.

J.M.:Yes, from the very start it seemed to most people that UFO's had, as it were, some significance, some message. Jung did the best of a11 UFO books which he called "The Myth of Things seen in the Sky" published in the late fifties. It seemed to hit the nail right on the head. He said they were portents of changes. In particular portents of changes in the way people think. It seems to me that that has absolutely been proved right. In the early days of ufology many people were expecting some direct messages from UFO's some landing and message from the Space Brothers, and that sort of thing. But, it became evident quite early on that the message, whatever it was, was actually being delivered. It was that the very rumours of UFO's was changing peoples minds in certain directions. One of the first things that was being pointed out was that there was a pattern in UFO appearances connected with ancient places. Places which in former times had been considered sacred or special in some way. There was a book published by my near name sake Aime Michell in, I think, the early sixties, on UFO's and the straight line mystery. In this he postulated that UFO's were generally flying on certain flight paths on certain straight lines between various sites. This brought to several people's minds the memory of o1d Alfred Watkins's "The 01d Straight Track" in which, as you know, he suggested that ancient sites were arranged in straight lines. Now from there the actual effect of the whole UFO phenomena was that it awakened many people to the existence of some mysterious dimension in the landscape. And this is what actually happened: people became aware of a mysterious dimension in the landscape following the UFO rumours. The two were certainly connected. It was the UFO rumours which directly sparked off many peoples interest in some hidden dimension in the landscape. At the same time they connected it to the enigmatic discoveries of Watkins on the ancient straight line phenomena: Of course, since that time the straight line arrangement of sites has been found in countries a11 over the world, as far as South America. There's no doubt in my mind that the modern consciousness of an ancient scientific system connected with the landscape and the forces of the landscape, was prompted by the UFO phenomena whatever the nature of that phenomena may be.

QsM: I remember recently a series of articles appeared in 'Fortean Times' which were titled 'Abducted by an archetype' : to what extent do you feel this UFO activity is archetypal rather than physical and external?

J.M.: It seems to me that the UFO phenomena contains nothing new other than that the space connotations that modern consciousness has projected onto it. In other words the abductions associated with UFO's are direct continuations of the whole legend of abductions which have continued from the earliest times. That is of people being taken from this earth by fairies, by spirits, taken to another world, levitated, given experiences which often invo1ved amnesia; almost always some change of conscious in the person concerned. Specifically, that the persons affected became mediums, they developed psychic powers, often to their own detriment. In the past we know that people who had the experience known as a fairy or spirit abduction in the past and now known as a UFO abduction, would become changed and would often become the shamans in traditional societies. In the modern state of ignorance these experiences continue but we have no way of reconciling them so the people to whom they happen are often left to go mad. In general, I would say the whole UFO phenomena contains nothing new just a continuation of themes which have been common among people from all times.

QsM: Are you saying then that the same archetypes or the same beings are responsible for this pattern of occurances? Or perhaps both at the same time : the one not necessarily exclusive of the other?

J.M.: I don't know of any explanation. One could speak of beings or one could speak of archetypes. Or one could speak of something like Charles Fort did of a natural energy which he called teleportation which acts to remove or transport things or objects across the universe. I know of no explanation that one can put on the UFO phenomena. In one sense UFO activity is archetypal continuing themes that have been common in human experience throughout a11 times.

QsM: At present, in paranoid UFO and E.M. circles there's a scenario that's doing the rounds that goes something like this: Certain areas of big business knows a11 about the UFO's, in fact, they are even behind them. A super technology heavily laced with occult knowledge has been developed in secret by them of which UFO sightings, contacts and abductions are a part. Through contactee cults and the writings of people like Von Daniken the ground has been laid for the idea that higher beings from other planets have visited the earth in the past and control man's evolution. At the same time the idea that man must have a single world government is being fostered. Some people believe that a very convincing UFO landing will be stage managed at a critical point in the future. Maybe at the brink of a superpower confrontation and that the UFOnauts will be humans in sophisticated disguise. They will indicate that mankind is not capable of looking after his own affairs and that (s)he will have to be told what to do by the UFOnauts. What's our reaction tn this paranoid scenario. John?

J.M.: It's possible that some UFO's or some effects which are associated with UFO's could be produced by secret government research and so on. But I've never believed that anyone knew what was behind the UFO phenomenon. I've never believed the UFOlogists who've suggested that governments were secretly aware of what was going on. I don't believe that big business knows what's going on. I don't believe that anyone in the world really has any idea of what's behind the UFO phenomenon. I think it's quite absurd to suggest that it's being manipulated by any terrestrial powers. Nor do I think that any terrestrial powers can really be manipulating the rumours or the paranoia for their own advantage. I think it's a genuine mystery which no one knows anything about. People like to think that there are people in the know. I think it gives some people a sense of security to think that there are people who are both in charge economically and maybe in charge psychically so that somewhere there's a group of human beings who are in control of things. I don't think that that is so. I think that we are a11 as ignorant as each other over this.

QsM: Don't you think though that members of certain contactee cults think that 'higher beings' are in control psychically?

J.M.: Yes, a lot of people would like to think that. But I think there's nothing more to that than their own wish to believe that something or someone is really in control rather than to face their own responsibilities and to face the world without rulers and controlling powers and so on.

QsM: Following on from that, I'd like to ask you if you think that the traditional view of history, as taught in schools, is a deliberate cover up job?

J.M.: I don't think there's any deliberate cover up job at a11. A world view, and I think a very incorrect world view, has come in being just through the process of history. I don't think there has been any occult groups promoting Darwinism or Newtonism as it were or anything else. It seems to me that a11 the beliefs that make up modern orthodoxy have risen in the course of history. Many of them are not only wrong but dangerously and destructively wrong. The history we are now taught is not only erroneous and unbalanced but also completely inadequate for present life. It would be to our advantage to take a much longer look at history and to investigate the evidence of civilisations in the past which have come to grief or fallen apart for reasons which perhaps are not unlike those which threaten our own.

QsM: You've read the trilogy 'Illuminatus' by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. The ideas in that book about occult conspiritorial groups like the Illuminati has lead to whole offshoot growth industries in paranoia and conspiracy What are your reflections on 'Illuminatus' and those themes in general?

J.M.: Wel1 I enjoyed 'Illuminatus' and the pattern making of it. That is, the way in which bits of reality and bits of imagination were put together to make completely different patterns of the world. It's the sort of thing I'm interested in myself. But I don't take any of it seriously. I agree that many of the actual patterns are plausible but then so many other patterns are plausable too. As to the modern revival of paranoia. well I think that's quote a healthy sign. After all, Plato said once "The gods give us paranoia in order that we may occasionally glimpse a bit of the truth". And of course there's no doubt that there are many kinds of groups, pressure groups, special interest groups and big combines and so on who are trying to influence the future of the world in a way that might not be considered to be to most people's advantage. I don't see any conscious world conspiracy behind all this. But I do see a tendency towards a deculturisation of the whole world. The reduction of everyone to a helpless decultured state in which they become consumers in a one world system of economics and rule. That I don't see as so threatening now as maybe a few years ago. There are so many cultural revivals which often take nationalistic form, which is a11 that's open to them. I think that human diversity will eventually defeat the tendencies towards world deculturisation and a one world system. This would of course pose as a two world system - communists and capitalists - so as to keep the tension up between them. But that's still very much a living force: the move towards centralisation on a double axis. Again there may well be people deliberately promoting this and, no doubt, there are such people but I don't see how they can be sufficiently co-ordinated to carry out any deliberate conspiratorial scheme for world rule. What is alarming, however, is that so many of the orthodoxies of education are promoting materialism and opening people up for deculturisation. Yet against that there is everywhere a healthy reaction. In the end I think that human diversity will triumph over any conspiratorial schemes for one or two world rule.

QsM: What sort of people could be furthering these schemes would you say?

J.M.: Certainly it could be the people who have an interest in technology. The institutes of technology, the centralised corporations who have an interest in spreading, for example, atomic power and other institutions of centralised control. They'11 keep this going to the very end because any institution is more stupid than the individuals comprising it. So that an institution can never be turned from its purpose, and if its purpose is towards centralised control it'11 go on doing so dispite a11 attempts to reform it. However, I think that the whole tendency of world economics is forming against the big corporations, against the big centres of power, political or economic. All such central groups and organisations are now losing their power.

QsM: What do you mean by deculturalisation exactly?

J.M.:It seems to me that every culture comes from its own landscape. When people lose their connection and knowledge of this part of the earth they're open to deculturisation. That is, the removal of familiar landmarks, and the removal of their own basic identity, their basic connection with that part of the earth which they belong to. When this happens people are left open to a11 kinds of propaganda from the various centralised organisations dissapated through the media. We've seen the attempted cultural regenerations in the last few years as, for example, in Poland or Iran have always taken the form of nationalism which is perhaps the only expedient left them. Or they've taken the form of a religious revival as in Iran. That's something which the centralised powers, with their overiding belief in materialism, cannot understand. It seems to me that there are many elements of human nature which are not allowed for in the rationalistic scheme of things. The powers now apparently dominant are unable to cope with the reactions which are now appearing against the idea of one world or two world rule.

QsM: To what extent do you think the earth mysteries movement is combatting materialism?

J.M.: The earth mysteries movement is one of the most basic steps towards cultural regeneration that's possible, It's quite unrelated to the ideas in education that have been put forward by the interests of centralism. It relates people once again to the country, to the past, to eternal forces, eternal things. Through the earth mysteries movement we become aware that there were people before us who lead civilised lives without need for the vast technologies which are officially considered more and more necessary to preserve civilisation. Through the movement we can see the existence of civilisations in the past where people lived both simply and on a high level by considering human nature and human requirements as central to the scheme of things. They lived by using the landscape and acting in harmony with its natural forces rather than seeing the earth as a more launching pad for adventures in space for example.

The North Downs Way, a long-distance footpath stretching from Farnham in Surrey through Canterbury to the Kent coast, is a mine of information for the ley hunter, much more so than its better-known sister the Pennine Way. My walk began in Farnham, and continued a little beyond Guildford, but even in this fairly short stretch were a number of finds which would have pleased Alfred Watkins considerably.

The first of these (after leaving Farnham) was a point where the track makes a right-angled turn to the south and travels down a beautiful wide woodland hollow way for a short distance. It is not dead straight, but it is nearly so, and on looking on the map it was found to align with three churches, two cross-roads and a hilltop. It was going in the wrong direction for any of these to be visited on this walk (and the distances would have been too great anyway) but it is interesting confirmation of Watkins' findings on hollow ways, and brings up the question of leys following the mean of wandering tracks; this was to occur again later in the walk.

Approaching the village of Seale, the Way runs along a dead straight field boundary track which comes to a cross-tracks in open country where the four arms of the cross run dead straight to higher ground in each direction. Amazingly, none of these are marked on the map - it simply says (wrongly) "North Downs Way undefined". For this reason it is difficult to be certain of its position, but there does seem to be a ley following the straight stretch, going through Lasham church, a major cross-roads at Golden Pot, north of Alton, a church in Farnham, a coinciding track and moat near Guildford, and Merrow church. Another alignment which seems to meet this one at the cross-tracks point travels through a cross-roads near Farnham, skirts Farnham Castle, goes through Puttenham church (to be described) and travels along the mean of a stretch of the Pilgrims Way going through Chantries Wood, that I was to travel towards the end of my walk.

Shortly after this, on meeting the main road, I made a slight detour to visit Seale church, which was certainlv well worth the trouble. This is an idyllic setting on a small rise in a valley, with hills on each side. The atmosphere in the building, which has Norman origins, was marvellous, and there was fairly powerful "headhum" towards the east end. (Headhum is a kind of tone felt inside the head, which I have noticed for many years in seemingly powerful ley places). A good ley, running virtually along the route of the North Downs Way at this point, comes to this church from a major cross-roads at Upton Grey and a hill on Horsedown Common. It continues through Puttenham church and Shalford church south of Guildford. The church is oriented due east, in line with this ley.

Puttenham church, the next point of interest, is situated on a hill at the east end of one of the most picturesque and well-kept villages that it is possible to imagine. The church is old but it was badly restored in Victorian times. It is also oriented due east and has moderate headhum, but less than Seale. An interesting point (perhaps in connection with theories of underground watercourses at ley sites) is the parish well in front of the church, last used in 1750 and rediscovered in 1972. A nearby tumulus, on another ley, could not be found because of dense undergrowth.

From here the track continues uneventfully and seemingly interminably to Guildford, though it was an attractive walk running as it does south of the great ridge of the Hog's Back. Then, it goes north to find a place to cross the Wey, and comes down the A281 till it meets the Pilgrim's Way. I continued a little further south on the main road to Shalford church, on the Puttenham ley. It is a Victorian building with a copper-clad spire, but in a beautiful position beside the Tillingbourne. The church is built on the site of an earlier church, and is one of the few Victorian buildings where I have experienced moderate headhum.

Seale - After this detour I returned to the Pilgrim's Way, which begins as a housing estate but soon leaves the metalled road behind as it climbs through Chantries Wood. The track veers from left to right and back again considerably, but the ley mentioned before follows its mean. This mean following phenomena occurs so often that it seems to indicate that the tracks were a secondary phenomenon to leys, and not their main purpose as early ley hunters assumed.

The track continues to climb until it reaches the summit of St. Martha's Hill with its famous church, the high point of the walk in more ways than one. It is hard to believe that most of the present church was built in the last century; at the beginning of that century it was in a ruined state with very little left except the chancel. There has been a church here, however, since Saxon times and the earth circles to the south of the church show the site to be prehistoric. It has the feeling of being being a very important place in the ley network, with strong head-hum which could even be felt outside the church at the east end, which is rare. The church is on a ley through Shalford and Compton churches. Also there was an interesting tradition of Good Friday dancin at St. Martha's which went on until the beginning of this century; youths and maidens would dance from Guildford to St. Martha's over Pewley Down. As well as this there was a fair traditionally held at the foot of the hill; all of this points to the importance of the place in early times. There is also an interesting dragon legend associated with St. Martha.

While perhaps nothing startlingly new was discovered on this walk, it is always a good experience for a ley hunter to find map-leys confirmed as a living reality in the countryside.

The study of language is full of pitfalls; tracing the evolution of words is not the safe and certain journey it is sometimes made out to be. Philologically Alfred Watkins cut a few corners in his evidence which has never, to my knowledge, been checked.

For example, he noted the snail became the dodman or hadmandod in certain dialects, and that "dod" often occurs as an element of place names on leys. His conclusion was that the original ley surveyor was the Dodman, a name later applied to the snail because of the two "sighting staves" it carries on its head.

That perhaps we will never know for sure, for language is a strange creature, and English one of the strangest of all, due to the number of other languages it has both evolved through and borrowed from. Before tracing any word a brief history is called for.

The original Old English (before 1100) was a form of Anglo-Saxon, one of the Teutonic (Germanic) languages, ultimatley from Aryan. Earlier the language of Britain had been Celtic, but as the Celts were driven west and north their language was driven with them, surviving only in a few place names.

During Roman times Latin was not generally spoken by the ordinary people, but was slowly adapted into Anglo-Saxon with the arrival of Christianity. The language of the Vikings was akin to Anglo-Saxon. With the Norman invasion Britain became trilingual for a time. French is akin to Latin. Greek did not play a part until much later, with the rise of learning and science.

Words can originate in various ways. They can be an adaptation of an existing or a foreign word. They may in some way try to imitate in sound the thing or action described. Sometimes they simply appear, with no clear reason why or how. A great problem is that all we have to go on are old manuscripts. A word could have been used in speech long before it came to be written. Many words originate as and enjoy a long currency as colloquialisms before being accepted by scholars, the only ones who would have written them. Dodman, for instance, first occurs about 1550, hoddydod fifty years later, and hodmandod in 1626. That throws its origin wide open, though it is thought to have an East Anglian origin, which might trace it to the Mercian form of Old English. A Celtic source is very unlikely.

Some 38 English towns or cities begin with a "dod" element. It is usually explained as a personal name of the form Daeddel or Dudda. In Kent, Surrey and Sussex no really old forms survive, the earliest being 13th century. With such a late form about the only source language ruled out is Greek (as much as I would have liked to find a link with Dodona, the Greek oracle!)

The next problem is that words with "dod-" and related elements do not occur before Middle English in manuscripts. It may, then, have been a colloquialism, or a word borrowed from some foreign tongue at that time, or it may be a result of changing pronunciation modifying the spelling of an existing Old English word. In Middle English a number of words occur. They are given underlined, with the first recorded year of use, and modern derivatives are shown in capitals.

Dodden, to shave or clip (1225) has given us DOD, to clip hair or horns, lop branches from a tree; to make rounded or bare; DODDY, a cow with horns removed (1364); DODDARD, a tree that has been lopped (1693); and DODDERED, usually only of oaks, to have lost branches due to decay(1697). The evolution of sense is clear. It may be noted that a snail is hairless.

Finally came DOD or DODD, a treeless, rounded hill, often on the shoulder of a larger one, a Northern term first recorded 1715 (but the OED gives a much later first usage). A snail does carry a hairless, rounded "hill" on its back. DODDER, ME doder, is the commen name for the genus Cuscuto, a plant totally dissimilar to the reeds known as dod (1265).

Dudde apparently has not survived. It was the name of a form of hood or cloak but once more, metaphorically, the snail's shell might be seen as a hood. (There is no evidence for dudde becoming HOOD, for this is tracable to OE hod.) Diderin, to shiver or tremble, must relate to a complex group of words of uncertain origin having the sense to shake, tremble, quiver etc., among which are DIDDER, DITHER, DODDER andDADDER, as well as DADDLE, DIDDLE, DODDER GRASS (quaking grass), DODDLE and DOTTER.

Various words such as TOTTER, STUTTER and so on have a similar sense. DIDDER (diddir 1375) is the earliest recorded form. It may simply be onomatopoeic, a natural imitation in sound of a trembling movement, with the others both an easy development from it and representing a more clumsy form. The movement of a snail is anything but doddering, being sure and very straight when viewed briefly, though at other times its movement may seem "uncertain". Those "sighting staves" it carries tremble in the slightest breeze. Here is a good time to mention DOD, the reed mace. This sense of the word is first used in 1661, being cognate with Dutch dodde with the same meaning, and also staff, stalk or club. In English the word is mainly West Country dialect, whereas other forms of dod are mainly northern. I have not traced the source of the Dutch and Flemish dodde. The example does show, however, how the same modern word can end up with two opposite meanings.

DODGE is even more obscure than dodder, and a late introduction into the language (1573). German ducken, docken has the same sense, from MHG tucken, to duck down, to bow, but this etymology is not accepted by all experts. Some point out that the first English usage meant "to trifle with", though it must be pointed out the sense "to elude" followed very soon after. All of this has served only to take what seemed, if you will excuse the pun, a very straightforward theory, and confuse it no end. Philological evidence as it stands suggests more than one source for the dod words.

Watkins is vindicated on one point, and a significant one; that 't' may change to 'd' (as happens in the German example above). The two sounds are very similar, 't' often evolving into 'd', for both are formed in an almost identical way in the mouth, but 't' requiring a faster movement of breath. "Dod" and "tot" may well have been the same.

Tot-, and the related toot, may just get us somewhere. TOOT or TOTE is an isolated hill, a look-out point (ME tote, 1387). It comes from the verb TOOT, to protrude, stick out, peep out (ME totedun 1394; OE totodun 897; AS totian. The word may be traced to Old Teutonic, and has many derivatives in both ancient and modern European languages. An original root meaning something that sticks out is implied.

TOUT, to peep, look out (OE tutian, tytan, tutjan) has the same origin. Consider too Dutch tote, tuyte, apex, cone; Middle Dutch tute, nipple; Low German tote point, teat; tut, spout; Old Norse tota, teat. Place names containing tot-, toot-, generally imply a look out hill nearby, but some, such as Tooting, contain the personal name Tota (or Totta). (Tooting was Totinge in 675, "the place of Tota's people or tribe".)

A look out hill obviously had to be treeless; it "peeped out" above surrounding land or treeline. Perhaps wooded hills were cleared ("clipped, shaved") to make them suitable as look outs, and totodun became dodden. Before we object that a cleared hill that looked out over wooded country is not very useful, we must decide what exactly was being watched for. It may have been, for example, the sunrise.

The list of tot- related words could fill a page, but here are some more: dutto, OTeut duttjan, a small lump; OHG tulto, tutta nipple, cognate with OE dott =DOT); Old Frence tete - OE titt (=TEAT). Does then a stone or cairn placed on a toot hill become a nipple/teat, and the hill itself a breast? Are the hills the breasts of the Earth Mother? The teat gives milk = food = life (as do cows (DODDY?)), and perhaps the hills might be places from which the life energy may be "drunk". Such a sacred symbolic interpretation would need to date from very early times, and even tot- is only tracable to around 600 AD.

The word element does not exist in Celtic. Watkins mentioned Welsh twt, pronounced "toot", which signifies a hill, but the usage is not common, is confined to the borders (eg Hereford) and would seem to have been adopted from English. Now that it is established that leys are not confined to Celtic countries, the theory no longer depends on a source for ley-related words in Celtic.

Where, if anywhere, does this leave the dodman, the snail which has become the ley hunters symbol? Certainly there are several ways through metaphorical allusion that the attributes of dod words can be applied to the snail, though whether other folk memories are involved we may now never know.

In folklore snails have long been credited with the powers of healing. To remove a wart stroke it with a black snail which should then be impaled on a thorn tree. Snails are said to cure whooping cough, ague and gout; snail slime to cure consumption. Small white snails collected from the dew-fresh grass and swallowed alive cure a cough by eating the phlegm from the lungs. On the Isle of Man is a children's rhyme: "Snail, snail, put out your horn And give me your good wish this morn." For good luck on a journey, take a snail by its horns and throw it over your left shoulder.

Snails have long been eaten in Britain by the poor, right into this century. They were called "wall fish", and were an esteemed part of the diet in some country districts. In Newcastle there was even an annual snail feast early last century. The Romans ate snails, and imported one variety into Britain. The ordinary garden snail already existed here, and their shells have been found together with Neolithic flint implements on the chalk downs of southern counties, for example at Reigate. Whether this means Neolithic man ate them, attributed some significance to the shells, religious or otherwise, or whether there is some purpose beyond our present reasoning can be no more than speculation. Worldwide shells have associations with gods and religions.

My purpose here has not been to debunk everything, only to set out the known facts. apart from the speculation. We simply do not have enough information to rule possibilities out of court. Watkins may have reached the right answers for the wrong reasons. There are not sufficient surviving early English manuscripts to give all the necessary information. It might help if there is a qualified philologist among earth mysteries people somewhere. I have been dealing with possibilities, not answers, in the hope that a collection of notes related to "dod" might inspire someone.

Might the original Mr. Dodman have been named from his habit of wearing a dudde (hood, cloak) ? What of dowsing ? If it were confined to an elite group of priests or elders, the connection with elderly people doddering may be explained. A dowsing rod may be said to tremble, a dowser to move "in an uncertain way" by an uninitiated onlooker.

Then there is "dad", the child's form of father, often applied to any older man. As dada or tata arise independently in many languages with the same sense, a connection with dod seems unlikely except perhaps by recent confusion. Watkins did find a "dod" word in a Celtic language: the Welsh dodi, to place, lay. I do not know its etymology, but for the record he missed dadlau, a meeting or assembly, and the obsolete words didrosi and didro meaning straight. Celtic is a different branch of Aryan to the Teutonic group, which would suggest a very early origin indeed if there is a common root. Lastly, did and diden are the Welsh for i teat and nipple.

This article gives perhaps a couple of dozen pieces to a giant jigsaw which spans much of the globe, and time as well. I have other pieces which may fit, but these should be enough for an introduction! There is a great deal of work to find the missing parts, and no guarantee of course that they all actually fit the same picture..

ABBREVIATIONS

AS Anglo-Saxon
ME Middle English (1100 - 1500)
MHG Mid High German
OE Old English (800-1100)
OHG Old High German
OT Old Teutonic

Once upon a time ley hunters, dowsers and geomants in general talked a lot about "earth energies" - and they still do. Some mysterious force winding its way through the body of the Earth; now despised, unknown but once, perhaps known, understood and manipulated by the megalith builders and other early geomants around the world. In China the Earth Force is called the "Dragon Current", in France the "Wouivre". Some rlaces it has a name; in others it does not.

The folklore of our islands tells us that the old stones out in the wilderness parts of our landscape have curious properties; they can dance and move; they can heal; they can bring down thunder and lightning; they are the abode of nature spirits. Psychic and psychometrists tell us that their visions at such places show the sites being used for drawing down cosmic forces for a variety of purposes. Dowsers pick up all manner of exceptional forces above and below ground at prehistoric sites (though are remarkably inconsistent about the nature, beha- vious and extent of such forces!). From time to time anecdotal evidence for unusual energies at ancient sacred sites is presented: someone gets a static-like charge from a megalith (quite a common experience, in fact), or a major geophysical event seems to centre on a site (like the unexplained fireball/tremor/ explosion event over the Moel Ty Uchaf stone circle on the Berwyn, Gwynedd in 1974). Then in the mid-1970s came the first hints that scientists using standard physical measurement could detect anomalies at megaliths.

From wild claims to persistent rumours, the suggestion was that there was some unknown configuration of forces at ancient sites - and even perhaps an unknown force altogether, like Reich's "orgone energy". It became clear that there may be a geophysical dimension to such places: a geophysical piece of the mosaic that qoes in to produce "sacredness".

At the tail end of 1977 The Ley Hunter magazine brought together scientists, dowsers, electronics people and so on to explore the feasibility of commencing a research project designed to study the possibility of there being earth energies at megalithic sites. It was decided to go ahead.

It was not until the October of the following year, however, that the first fieldwork got under way. And that was possible only because of the generosity of that marvellous bunch of people - The Ley Hunter readers. From the odd couple of pounds to £50, the donations came in to enable us to get started.

But where to start? What where the forces we were attempting to measure? The electromagnetic spectrum provides the whole universe as we know it : around the world tens of thousands of people with the resources of universities and governments behind them were studying just one fragment of that spectrum: millions of researchers altogether on the whole spectrum with billions of pounds worth of resources.

Our beginning had to be anecdotal. We had been informed earlier by a zoologist that a colleague of his had noticed ultrasonics being emitted by an ancient site on an estate one early morning when he had been studying bat behaviour with an ultrasonic detector. We took up the clue, and the first instrument on site was such a detector.

The site we use primarily on the research project is the Rollright Stones complex 20 miles NW of Oxford. It's not the only site monitored but is the main, reference one.

The project had been named the "Dragon Project" with reference to the Chinese "dragon current" symbol for earth force.

The project was designed to cover not only physical monitoring but also "psychic archaeology (psychometrists etc), with dowsing spanning these two apparent extremes. Dr G V (Don) Robins undertook co-ordination of the physical work, Californian John Steele undertook co-ordination of the psychic archaeology while I took on overall co-ordination.

So it was one cold October morning that Don Robins found himself - a little self-consciously - wandering around a stone circle with an ultrasonic detector in his hand. When a coachload of tourists pulled up, the resourceful doctor pretended he had a "trannie" in his hand and made his way back to his car....

The detector didn't pick up a thing.

But the zoologist had picked up emissions around dawn. Robins, who was doing advanced work on the energy states of stone at various institutes, was aware that many geophysical changes occurred at dawn. A fortnight later he drove out of London into the exterior pre-dawn darkness of the countryside. The Rollright Stones are not the most comforting of places to be on your own in the dark hours before dawn but Robins was not be deterred. He wandered around the complex. An hour before dawn, still nothing registered on the detector. Suddenly, half an hour before sunrise, the detector sprang into life. In two- second pulses, something was stimulating the transducer in the detector. We had our first bite.

From there the effort developed. In the last four years we have monitored for ultrasonics, with geiger counters; electric field meters; infra red cameras and detectors; radio gadgets; Kirlian cameras; dosimeters.....to mention those methods which come to mind. In addition the site and its visible horizon has been fully surveyed. Geological work has been carried out at Rollright and extended to all the circles in the U.K. Rollright has also been subjected to aerial study.

At the same time, the site has been dowsed by all known forms of dowsing and by many practitioners. Some of them have themselves been monitored by "Mind Mirror" EEG biofeedback devices while dowsing on site. The Rollright site has been dowsed in a full survey independeritly by two of Britain's leading dowsers - Bill Lewis of Wales and Major-General Scott Elliot. A stream of psychics and sensitives have attended the site and their findings are collected so that eventually any common denominators amongst their accounts can be identified : a filtering process to minimise the unavoidable subjective filter in each sensitive.

Apart from Rollright, monitoring has been carried out at Castle Rigg, Cumbria; at Moel Ty Uchaf, Gwynedd; at Avebury, Wiltshire; at a modern stone circle also in Wiltshire; at various sites in Ireland, including Newgrange; at a concrete trig-point in Middlesex; in dirt tracks in Wales; on the top of mountains; in valleys; by lakes and rivers; by busy trunk roads....slowly and at times painfully, the site and control data is logged. One day, hopefully, to build up a coherant and accurate picture.

It is a tremendous task. Naively, I thought we may have some conerete results in a year or two....but I was not counting on the way of the dragon - or the way of the world.

We got very interesting ultrasonic results....then the doubters and sceptics started questioning our instrumentation. We had new, top quality equipment designed. A contributor to Quicksilver Messenger kindly put in some money towards some of the units. But....our volunteer walked off with the money. the old equipment and has since made elaborate arrangements to avoid communication. It has got to the point where it begins to look like deliberate sabotage - but perhaps that's just conspiratorial paranoia. But who knows? So that aspect of the research has been held up for over 13 months. Happily, by going back to the original designer and having another volunteer electronics engineer we are finally in production. But this illustrates just one of the frustrating, time-cnnsuming behind-the-scenes problems that outsiders never appreciate. There have been other problems,too, but there is no need to itemise them here.

Money is, as ever, one of the crucial factors. The brave TLH readership sponsorship got us started but even that was insufficient for our modest needs. Volunteer monitors were prepared to spend days on site for the Project, but I felt that they should get something towards the travel expenses. And batteries, equipment, office expenses etc all add up. And it is particularly difficult to make headway in this country at present, when we have a leadership that seems to have declared war on its people; when they can justify squandering and suppressing the native genius of the country - our greatest natural resouree. There are times, I can tell you, when I wonder just who is running things in this country.....

But in a land where support for adventurous, speculative research is almost non-existent, the Dragon was lucky. The Threshold Foundation came to its aid in 1980 with an overall generous figure, (four figures, actually). Pitted against the enormity of our task even this is scant resource, but it has ensured that we can continue into 1982.

And we need to go at least to the end of next year, and probably beyond. Because, in a way, we are being too successful in the project. Almost all our physical monitoring methods are revealing anomalies: this means that new equipment has to be brought in - made, bought, begged or borrowed. It takes time on slim resources. When an anomaly is recorded, the whole methodology has to be double-checked; equipment tested, monitoring runs extended, and so on. Just when you think you are about to sew something up, you suddenly find yourself going on for another six months or so. Paul Screeton called Earth Mysteries our "quicksilver heritage" and so it is.......as elusive as mercury.

Other ultrasonic methods have been used while we've been waiting for the new equipment. They have all come up with positive results, though not as readily as previously. Our infra red cameras have picked up what appear to be curious emissions from megaliths: Kodak have investigated and still haven't found an answer. The technology for taking a Kirlian photograph of a megalith is being developed and is nearing consummation; in the meantime we have been using a Kirlian scanning method using the Kirlian camera and a special sound level meter. This is a system devised and developed by Harry Oldfield for studying living organisms. He is having great success with cancer sufferers. Lo and behold, it works on standing stones too!

One of our most exciting results centres around our geiger readings. Recent findings have been exciting. We got onto this mode of monitoring as a result of anecdotal information: the great geometer Keith Critchlow was at Moel Ty Uchaf shortly after the weird events I mentioned above - scientists who were talking to him at the circle found their geiger counters chattering away. We have followed that clue up and it is coming up trumps. We are witnessing an unusual mechanism at Rollright - and at least one other site. I hope readers will forgive me if I say I must reveal the further information on this only in the pages of The Ley Hunter as I feel those readers have first priority on Dragon Project results. But be assured, we are making exciting findings - even though they are far from being understood by us at present.

We have also noted curious radio signals occurring in unlikely situations. But I could go on indefinately. We have the lid off a can of worms, as the saying goes, and it will be some time before we can sort any of the mess out.

The psychic and dowsing programmes have been proceeding well. In addition, there have been a few involuntary psychic happenings at Rollright affecting monitors who were otherwise engaged. We live in a mysterious world - Arthur C Clark doesn't know half of it.

One very successful aspect to the Project has been the geological research it has promoted: this has been undertaken by trained geologist Paul McCartney. He has uncovered some interesting patterns. A geological fault runs within a mile of Rollright, - this surprised us as one wouldn't readily expect a surface fault in the vicinity of the circle. But McCartney went on to discover that all circles he has so far studied in the UK fall within a mile of a surface fault in the vicinity of the circle. But McCartney went on to discover that all circles he has so far studied in the UK fall within a mile of a surface fault or an associated intrusion. There seems to be a tectonic dimension to the ancient sacred rings. But this information is expanded, with McCartney's contribution, in my next book dealing with UFOs and earth forces due from Turnstone books in Spring 1982. There are some exciting correlations discussed in that work.

I think we are coming close to getting a bigger share of our quicksilver heritage: perhaps because the hour is late for humanity, Mother Earth is prepared to let us see a little more of her mysteries.

But it remains a daunting task. This isn't helped by those unbalanced minds who, on the one hand, castigate the project for being "too scientific" (whatever that means), while those of the complementary persuasion, on the other, bellyache that we aren't being "sufficiently scientific", (whatever that means). You'd be surprised at the abuse and whining I'm subjected to - even from those who ought to know better. All in all, I think I prefer the way of the dragon to the way of the world.

Art Review - Chris Castle... "First Impressions And Their Master

Chris Castle is an etcher and painter who uses ancient sites and associated folklore as the subject matter for his work. This exhibition was a retrospective selection and included his 'Megalithic Mounds' series. In these etchings there was a strong reference to the earth energy or earth spirit flowing through the mounds in the form of snakes and spirals. In Mr. Castle's own words some of the motif's represent "patterns of the passage of time". One piece in this series had the poignant image of Leonado's whole man with deer horns set on his head: suggesting the complete man in harmony with Nature. For the reviewer this had the immediate effect of remembering that moment in Boorman's film 'Excalibur' when the grail hero discovers the grail secret: "you and the land are one" (see film reviews).

The sites Mr. Castle portrays are not only British. He has a Polish stone circle and mound amongst a variety of sites from foreign parts. He sees the landscape and the sacred sites relative position and pattern in it as mirroring the relationship between heaven and earth.

Playing the devils advocate and wearing a heavy disguise I went along to the exhibition and put it to the artist that there were multitudes of motifs which are more relative to modern man's condition than ancient sites. He was quick to respond that the consciousness of the ancients wil1 be reflected in the consciousness of the future man. And that a study of ancient sites will help us to get closer to ancient man's awareness of the landscape and the forces at work in it. This should have the effect of fostering a more subtle appreciation of the earth as a living being. "That sounds good", I thought, and offered Mr. Castle the current Quicksilver cover design... which he accepted!

T.V. Review - 'Heaven's My Destination'

The opening and closing sequences of this documentary on the effects of space travel on the religious beliefs of astronauts were taken at Stonehenge. There was moonwalker Jim Erwin, one time NASA spaceman, standing amongst the stones saying, "God walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon." Many astronauts claim that their lives were changed by their journey into space. But no, Erwin hadn't become a druid - he's a born again Christian. So what was he doing at Stonehenge most famous of pagan shrines? What indeed. This wasn't made clear but it could have been an oblique reference (conscious or otherwise to the, idea that the ancients' consciousness will have a lot in common with that of the future man; especially in having a greater and more realistic reverence for the earth (see art review).

The three astronauts that the programme centered on had had mystical experiences in space. On returning to earth this flash of insight had to be integrated into their Iives (1et's face it, when you play the mystical ball game you've got two choices: integrate or fragment! That's why there's so many nutters at these New Age Festivals.....it aint easy). Charle Duke and Jim Erwin had both become born again Christians and Ed Mitchell had become involved in a study of ESP, para-psychology and mysticism.

Mitchell has founded the Instiute of Noetic Sciences which is concerned with alternative social futures. He decribes his space experience:" What was happening on the trip was a peak experience, a mystical experience. I had the experiences on the flight of expanded awareness when I looked at earth, with flashes of insight, joy and well-being. I felt that the universe is OK, harmonious and not strictly the mechanistic, materialistic universe that we in science had come to describe. I was perplexed by the effects psychologically of the experience of the flight. I was enthalled in finding and explanation to bring the subjective intuition and objective scientific realities together.

Jim Erwin described his experiences like this, "Very beautiful. I felt I was like an angel floating in space, effortlessly. I felt that God was there in a very special way.....I hoped that we could bring back this feeling that the earth is special, that we are special. We must love one another and we must look after the earth."

The programme conveyed an impression that these first space pioneers are acting as living metaphor for the birth of man into a new consciousness. When a baby leaves it's mothers body a new awareness begins to develope. Likewise, when man first enters space and sees the body of the earth distinct and separate in space a new awareness begins. As one astronaut summed up," Going into space will help mankind to live in a more enlightened way.

BOOK REVIEW - AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF TRADITIONAL SYMBOLS by J.C. Cooper
Thames & Hudson 1980

Throughout all time and throughout all cultures man has always used symbols from remote antiquity to modern times. Some of the symbols are pan-cultural and where this occurs the various meanings from each cultural or religious system are listed to give the reader a quick appreciation of the symbols' diverse use and associations. So, say for example, if the reference for 'HARE' is looked up we see that this humble animal has lunar connections in cultures as different as African, Amerindian, Buddist, Celtic, Chinese, Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic and Indian.

This is a book full of fascinating facts from all over the world. It's well produced and profusely illustrated. As a reference book it can serve not only as a useful tool for literary, artistic and E.M. research, but also for the general reader. I even met someone who uses it to help him interpret his dreams.


BOOK REVIEW - SCHRODINGER'S CAT: THE UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR by Robert Anton Wilson
AND/OR PRESS 1980


Any middle aged professional writer with a family to keep who sits down and writes a trilogy on the theme of a 'comedy on quantum physics' deserves to be taken seriously. Mr Wilson has done just this. Throughout this the first volume of the trilogy he keeps daring the reader to take it seriously.

In the middle of the book the world ends in a nuclear holocaust - three times. The time period spans millions of years. Don't worry about the continuity of the plot in all this: you see the basic quantum leap takes care of it.

Theres a whole plethora of books coming out on the new physics and if you want to know more check out the reviews in Qs.M No. 4. However, let it suffice to say here that the quantum reality is far removed from the common sense reality. In fact it shares a room with the cosmic giggle in the cosmic joke factory. As such its the perfect subject for comedy.

Mr Wilson takes us through a hall of mirrors of himself and ourselves. meeting characters first incarnated in 'Illuminatus'. He thoughtfully provides a glossary of scientific terms.

A must for the R.A. bVilson fans, 'Illuminatus' fans and lunatics one and all.


BOOK REVIEW - GEOMANCY: SYNTHONAL APPROACH by Anthony Roberts
Zodiac House 1981


In this his latest work, Tony Roberts moves away from the grim back alleys of his previous paranoid book 'The Dark Gods', into a celebration of the inter-relationship of man and the natural forces.

Mr. Roberts holds a firm belief that the pan-cultural myth of the Golden Age describes a time in history when man lived in harmony with the planet. Futhermore, he sees the ancient stone structures and earthworks of Britain as part of a complete system of geomancy which man constructed out of a lost system of ancient intuitive science. The purpose of this operation was was to bring into balance the elemental forces of the planet with the impact of man's activities on the landscape.

The book does what it sets out to do: it gives a good clear reappraisal of the present state of play in geomantic research in the author's own great prose style. It paints a picture of terrestrial holistic health which should get it a place on the recommended books list of Friends of the Earth and The Ecology Party. Anyone wanting an ecologically minded intro. to the spiritual world in relation to the natural world would do well to read this.

The author has avoided the usual compromises that writers have to make when working 'for' a publisher by publishing the book himself. Highly recommended.


FILM REVIEW - EXCALIBUR by Directed by John Boorman

This film is a visual treat. Brutally gory in places and spendidly Pre-Raphaelite in others it takes you through the Arthurian Rcmances in 140 minutes with the Grai1 Quest as the central mystical element. The secret of the Grai1 is revealed - though we are kept a long time to find out what exactly it is. When it is revealed it turns out to be so beautifully simple that it becomes elusive almost immediately. The secret is at the essence of pagan religion and is linked to esoteric Christianity through the grail symbol. "You and the earth are one" booms the voice in the grail castle. The same idea flashed into the brains of some of the astronauts while on the moon voyages.

Merlin takes a cleverly played comic role and refers frequently to the passing of the o1d age and the coming of a new one. It's the same o1d story in that respect. Merlin is a man of the o1d age and can summon up the earth magic from stone circles. He calls this energy that he can manipulate the dragon power. E.M. enthusiasts are guarenteed a kick when Merlin retires to a circle and begins to mumble up the magic.

Though made in Ireland this film makes visual reference to at least two Cornish sites the Men-a-To1 and Tintagel. The director wanted to make this film for a long time and in waiting he's put together some interesting material. Visually beautiful with a sense of humour it's well worth seeing.


BOOK REVIEW - SACRED GEOMANCY by Nigel Pennick
Turnstone Press 1980

The quality of production of this book reminds me of the paperbacks that were coming out in the boom economy of the '60's. The price brings me back to the '80's. Mr. Pennick transcends both eras in this study of the perrenial symbolism and purpose in religious structures. He is one of those rare individuals who can stand outside the pull of the tide of his own time and describe the eternal to his contemporaries. He is a man who is capable of original and creative thought two mental processes fast disappearing into the sunset of the modern world.

This book is concerned with the basic order underlying the structure of the universe. From the DNA spiral up to the spiral galaxy forms are repeated. In an early period of history geometry developed out of measurement which was considered a form of magic. Sacred structures have the ability yo express the essential unity of all creation and are partly responsible for the "good vibrations" that can be felt at these places. The book traces the use of the basic principle of sacred geometry throughout history. Well worth a visit by students of the esoteric.

This small shrine of white Sicilian marble stands alone on the downs just north of Brighton, Sussex. It was erected there in 1921 to commemorate Sikhs, Hindus and Moslems who fell while fighting for their King Emperor in the 1914/1918 War.

When I walk near I usually linger for the memorial makes it a place of tranquil pilgrimage. Skylarks soar and sing and wild flowers jewel the turf. Blackberries can be gathered nearby in autumn while primroses and violets star the grass in spring and the coconut scent of blossoming gorse permeates the atmosphere almost all the year round. One can happily rest on the blue/grey steps of that little temple and watch the cumulus clouds pass overhead.

However, until I became interested in divining (dowsing) the actual shape of the small white building had not begun to intrigue me. I spoke of the Chattri to a traveller who then showed me a picture of a more famous domed building, the tower of the Chattri on Minar, part of India's Taj Mahal.

The Hindi word Chattri, Chatri or Ch'hatri means a cap. The rim of both these domes is eight-sided. Diviners know that certain shapes can act as protective barriers. My friend, for instance could prevent my pendulum from rotating simply by holding a cross made from two lengths of bamboo tied in the middle between myself and the object with which my instrument was in resonance.

The late T C Lethbridge, who was an archeologist/diviner discovered that a pentagram, or five-pointed star, also acts as a barrier. Once he merely imagined such a pentagram in light at the foot of his bed and was protected from an intruder who visited him in her astral body. She, a neighbour, said afterwards that she couldn't get near him because of two fiery triangles !

The number four and multiples of four also act as barriers. Both the Chatri on the Taj Mahal and the one in the English countryside have their capped domes supported on eight pillars. These give overhead suppressive protection against chemical wavelengths or radiations. The protection is extended right down to the base of each one of the eight pillars.

There were deep reasons why past designers and architects used cosmic geometry in their blueprints. Modern builders are in danger of rapidly losing this natural, yet magical gift which they, so obviously, fail to understand.

However, now that one reads that the Taj Mahal is crumbling because of pollution in the air, one realises that nothing is seemingly protected forever!

Dear Ed

With reference to your notice/ gift of £3.00 book token for the best letter which was first awarded in Qs.M. No. 4. What on earth are you basing your standards of judgment on when you make a choice like that? P. Johnstone-Smith is quite obviously a dangerous eccentric (at the very least) with little sympathy for or understanding of the kind of subjects covered in Qs.M. The token would have been far more appropriately given to any one of the excellent informative and coherant letters published in the last issue.

PETER EVANS - LEWES

Reply :

Standards of judgement are based on quality of information, coherance of style (here we agree) and also a sense of humour, spelling, correct use of grammar and the whim of the Letters Editor!


THE HOVE BURIAL MOUND

Dear Editor,

I do not think that this was put up for a native Briton. The reason for this is the amber cup now in Brighton Museum, found at the site. This ceremonial drinking vessel is the finest piece of worked Baltic amber in any of the worlds museums. I used to know the collectios in the amber towns Konigsberg, Memel, Danzig, and Stettin, in the years between the wars, and they have nothing to equal it. As the cup has been carbon dated at B.C. 1239, we are at the beginning of the long era of Baltic raiders along the East Coast and the South Coast as far as Weymouth.

Obviously the raider chief was killed in a battle which his army won, which would explain the dimensions of the mound and the relative magnificance of the trappings.

Surely there must be photographs in existence taken in 1857, or line drawings for the press. After a11, we are only separated from the demolition of the tumulus by 125 years, there must still be records in existence.

The value of the cup to an American, German or Swiss collection would be anything from a quarter of a million pounds upwards. I understand that the Hove council refuse to put up a plaque. This does not surprise me, their attitude towards intellectual culture since the war has not been encouraging. A block of flats appropriately named AMBER COURT, now stands on the site. I feel sure that the owners would fully appreciate the honour of a plaque.

EGERTON SYKES.
Fellow of the Roya1 Anthropo1olical Institute.
Fellow of the Roya1 Geographical Institute.


DREAMS CONNECTED WITH SITES

Over the last six years I've had a few experiences in Sussex of dreams connected with sites. Also I was taken to an area near Uckfield to find a spring which a woman in the 20s discovered by devic guidance. These experiences are a very strong part of my life which I would like to share with others.

I'd like to see the magazine also extend its boundaries; though I'm not familiar with the ley hunter which may encourage enthusiasts throughout Britain. I spent a few months exploring Iona - centre of a Druidic kingdom, five years ago - and also know a little of Tintagel. Articles on these places might be of interest to people going away from Sussex on holiday.

I find the magazine riveting because it touches the fields that interest me, but the looseness of the articles only generate more and more hypotheses.

Keep up the good work. Thank you.

STEPHANIE BOLTON - BRIGHTON


CIRCULAR LEYS AND THE LONG MAN

Thanks for the issue of Quicksilver Messenger, which I certainly found very interesting, particularly your article on Wolstonbury as I've taken an interest in circular leys recently - you may have seen my recent article on it in 'Northern Earth Mysteries'. I was particularly interested in the "Halfway" house, since according to the theory I put forward, one would expect a centre of normal leys halfway between circle centres. So I drew your circle on my map and tried to draw one of the same diameter round Ditchling church, but unfortunately there was nothing on it. However, there were some points on circles of double the diameter round both centres (thinking of the circles as standing waves of energy). The one round Wolstonbury goes through a cross-roads and two tumulii, the other goes through two cross-roads and two tumulii. It's not conclusive enough to hold up as evidence but encouraging enough to keep me looking in other places.

The article about the Long Man was interesting too. One thing that interests me about this is why the drawing of the figure in the 'Old Straight Track' appears to be wrong, the staves are angled instead of straight.

JIMMY GODDARD - WEYBRIDGE, SURREY


SPELLING - AGAIN!

Thanks for issue 4 of your interesting magazine. But please note, if you want to be taken seriously you must spell people's names correctly, i.e.
p.2- Paul Devereux (not Devereaux)
p.2- John Michell (not Michelle)
p.3- Egerton Sykes (not Edgerton)
p.9- Ian Thomson (not Thompson)


JANET BORD.

Reply to Janet Bord's letter When I was at primary school my class mistress used to say the same thing. And I quite agree that people's names ought to be spelt properly (especially when they are famous authors). However, I'd just like to say two things in my defence:

1. When you're running a magazine in your spare time and you have to borrow a typewriter so that you can take it 100 miles to your volunteer typist who turns out to be sick when you get there, and you end up having four typists a11 of whom are self- taught on two fingers, and you're working to a deadline that keeps you up several nights into the early hours then it often turns out you don't get chance to proof read.

2. Do you really think that the eminent readership of Qs.M find the ideas herein printed less credible on account of a few names being misspelt?


HOVE BARROW FUND

Dear Qs.M,

Thank you for the book token - I'm surprised you sent it to me I must admit. I spent it on a gardening book.

I'm also surprised that you printed my letter. However, I'm glad to see you've come clean on the King Arthur business. Your idea of erecting a plaque to commemorate the Hove barrow simply as an archaeological site is an excellent one. I enclose £5 for the fund.

P. JOHNSTONE-SMITH


MORE CLUES!

Re "The Wolstenbury Enigma" in Qs.M. No 4 you mention the legend of the Knight in a silver coffin at Clayton Hill.

There is a sizeable list of similar Sussex legends on page 26 of Janet and Colin Bord's "Mysterious Britain", i.e. Golden Calf at Clayton Hill and The Trundle. Firle Beacon boasts a silver coffin, Mount Caburn outside Lewes boasts a silver coffin, and a knight in golden armour and 1eading on to my next point, the Long Man of Wilmington is reputedly close to a burial of a Roman in a golden coffin.

Also, in the now defunct Journal of Geomancy; Vol. 3. No. 1, Colin Bloy in his article "Telluric Lines" surmises that Saddlescombe may be a man made mound and if so, is the largest in Europe.

Re."The Long Man" by Mike Collier. I agree absolutely with Mike's head-scratching over the so-called quarries. I have, several times, been to Malling Hill in Lewes which boasts such a "quarry" and find the description odd. Malling is not alone on the Downs in having these so called quarries which have 'spoil' shaped in to definate arrangements, ledges, and, as I found at Malling, a spiral of pits. My own investigations left me thoroughly confused as to the purpose of it, but one thing I am certain of is that it is certainly not a quarry and, barring any literature on Malling Hill, (I can find none) must remain puzzled as to its purpose.

ALAN GARDINER - LEWES