Earth Energies

In the page on Feng Shui I wrote :

Energies from the Earth
The earth is undergoing constant change, with movements within the molten core and continental drift.  In addition there are fault lines, underground water courses, and much else, including the traces people leave behind.  Energies from the earth can be detrimental or beneficial to us, and dowsing can be used to detect such energies, so they can then be transformed.  In the west this is usually referred to as 'Earth Energies'. The study of Earth Energies includes that of 'Geopathic Stress'.

The subject of Earth Energies is large.  One of the usual associations is with 'Ley Lines'.

Ley Lines

Leys are straight lines connecting ancient sites, churches, marker stones, mounds, etc, running for some distance across the land.

Their existence was rediscovered in the early 20th century by an extraordinary Herefordshire man called Alfred Watkins, inventor of the Bee photographic meter and much else.  His books on this subject include Early British Trackways and The Old Straight Track.

Ley lines can be detected by dowsing.  One of Britain's best known leys runs from St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, across Britain to the Norfolk coast. This is the subject of research by leading dowsers Hamish Miller and Paul Broadhurst, and written up their book 'The Sun and The Serpent'.  Their next book set out details of a line also running from St Michael's Mount, but the line in 'The Dance of the Dragon' crosses Europe and ends up in the middle east.

Ley Lines are therefore long distance lines.  There are other 'energy' lines which cross the land, and these may be detrimental, or beneficial, to health.  Sometimes all such lines are referred to as ley lines, but within the earth energy community, the term 'ley line' is now restricted to long distance lines of great antiquity, a kind of neolithic regional planning.

Geopathic Stress
There are many other lines besides ley lines.  There are many different causes, and many different manifestations.  Some detectable (dowsable) lines are due to underground water, some due to faults in the earth. 

People also leave traces behind them, and we are familiar with entering a room where there has been a argument and remarking afterwards that you 'could cut the atmosphere with a knife'. These traces can sometimes leave detectable fields or lines embedded in buildings or the landscape.  The subject of the origin and nature of the different lines is considerable, and the Earth Energies Group of the British Society of Dowsers ~ probably the key community for people interested in these things ~ has produced a booklet defining some terms, in order to further understanding.  

Where the effect of a line is detrimental to health, the land is referred to suffering from Geopathic Stress.

Intervention
If the lines running through a property are detrimental, they can be injurious to health.  There are a variety of ways of transforming the situation so that the problems are removed.  The different methods usually consist of some outer action ~ such as the placing of crystals ~ together with some inner action, such as focussed thought, intention, or prayer.  One such technique is known as ...

Earth Acupuncture
With this approach dowsing is used to identify detrimental lines.  These are then 'staked out' by the insertion of copper rods, twigs ('wands'), etc at appropriate points along the lines.  At the same time the person performing the action undertakes various inner exercises/requests that the energy be transformed.

If all goes well, dowsing will subsequently show that there is no longer any detrimental energy present.