| Chapter I - 1975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colin
relates that he learned to dowse from a friend who stuck two severed
halves of wire coat-hanger in his hands and showed him how to locate
his water mains and other public utilities, such as electric cables,
gas pipes and drainage. When this friend moved to Suffolk, they extended
their research to fossils. This was in 1968. Several years went by without
any startling developments. However, predictably enough, Colin 'happened
upon' two relevant books, almost certainly the two most important works
in this context. These are; Alfred Watkins' "The Old Straight Track"
and Guy Underwood's "The Patterns of the Past". Both authors remain
extremely significant - Watkins because of his vision of the straight
alignments of ancient sites and Underwood for his meticulous research
into the underground water systems associated with the siting and lay-out
of such sites. Inspired by the work of both men, a team consisting of
Colin and David Bloy (Colin's brother), two interested friends and,
in Colin's words, "a covey of assorted and bewildered children", undertook
their first dowsing expedition in search of confirmation of Underwood's
claims. Their target was Wolstenbury Hill, on the Sussex Downs, where
they had noticed form afar a strange plateau, about the size of a football
field, which seemed to have been hollowed out of the hill. It was marked
on the map as a chalk pit, but Colin sensed that it had some deeper
significance. To start with there was a long barrow at the site. This,
when dowsed, revealed the spiral energy indicated by Guy Underwood.
On the hill above is located one of the ancient sited dubbed by the
archeologists as 'hill-fort'.
The dowsing of the site proved spectacular. They found more energy spirals at the foot of the hill, traced and aquastat (Guy Underwood's term indicating an underground stream) and further spirals near the hill-face. Further curved lines were dowsed within the 'camp' above and an apparently straight line heading off towards the Clayton Windmills on the adjacent hill. They were pleased to have found confirmation of Underwood's theories, as well as a link with Watkins. The straight lines (designated hereafter as 'ley energy lines') were not at this time foremost in their minds. To quote Colin's own words;
Car-dowsing was an important discovery since it enabled the researcher to cover wider areas without undue walking, although a good deal of this is still necessary. Throughout all their earlier experiments to prove Guy Underwood's conclusions, Colin had been sure that there was some deep underlying factor to be discovered. The first clues were found in Sussex, at Newtimber and Alfriston, a cruciform church on a circular, pre-Christian mound, led Colin to discover and walk his first line of 'ley-alignment'. The dowsing of many sites, Christian and pre-Christian, now became a regular leisure activity, each occasion adding to a growing body of experience. Recurrent patterns, many of them various forms of the spiral, together with the multiple dowsable lines converging on churches, were building an impressive collection of evidence for the reality of the phenomenon. Ever aware of the hazards of self-delusion and prejudice, Colin bore in mind the words of Guy Underwood;
These considerations were soon to be supplanted by a major discovery at St. Mary's, Shipley, in West Sussex, known to have been a Templar preceptory (i.e. a training centre for novices to the Order). Several visits to this site began to reveal that the surrounding area contained unusual dowsable patterns and configurations. More and more of these appeared to cover several acres around the church. It soon became obvious that they had come upon something very complex and more deliberate than the patterns found at other sites. To quote Colin;
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