Dowsing the energy lines at Giant’s Castle Maze

Layan and Michael Dowsing at Giant’s Castle Maze

We knew from the beginning of this project that dowsing formed an important part of the story of labyrinths on Scilly. Donovan Wilkins, who restored Troy Town Maze in the 1980’s, had previously been employed on the islands as a finder of water sources, an extremely important role at a time when boreholes and wells were the only sources of fresh water here.

Dowsing seems to have somewhat fallen out of fashion in recent years, occupying a space firmly outside the realms of science and thus respectable believability for most. It was not always so, and well-known dowsers of previous generations like Wilkins and Hamish Miller firmly believed in dowsing’s compatibility with the scientific paradigm- perhaps just a subtle phenomenon that has yet to be apprehended by scientific methods, rather than a conflicting worldview. Dowsing, leys, and accociated earth mysteries practices don’t seem to occupy a central place in contemporary alternative culture, in the same way it did in previous decades. For me, it was something I was aware of, but didn’t put too much thought into, and certainly had never tried.

However, the idea of hiring a dowser much as one would any other contractor for finding water sources, a perfectly practical task in island life, felt very poignant to me. As well, there seemed important paralells between the archaeological surveying of an ancient site and the dowsing of one. Both have similar goals- to use sensitising apparatus to see what was previously unseen, to look into the earth for hidden meaning. Perhaps there could be a kind of reconcilliation there, between these apparently opposed (and sometimes antagonistic) ways of engaging with heritage.

We began putting out feelers online for a dowser who could come to the islands and look at the Maze for us. We contacted the British Society of Dowsers, and recieved no reply. We were informed that Trencrom dowsers (a Cornish dowsing society) was no longer practically functioning. We made some posts on the Tamar Dowsers Facebook page, but again no luck. The professional dowser of previous generations seemed to have become quite elusive. Finally, we went back to basics and put a post out on the Isles of Scilly community notice board. Within the day, a man named Michael who lived 20 minutes walk away messaged us, saying that he is a dowser, specialising in earth energies, and we were welcome to come over for a demonstration. We were overjoyed!

A few days later, we went to Michael’s house. He was incredibly friendly and generous, speaking openly about his experience with dowsing. It seemed a very practical, empirical practice for him, largely based on what he had experienced himself rather than encompassed by uniting theories or ideologies. He placed a glass of water on the floor of his living room, and asked the rods (L-shaped pieces of stainless steel, a gift from the man who taught him) to tell him where the water was. Of course, they crossed over the glass. Then, he handed them to us and asked us to try for ourselves. Feeling a mixture of open-mindedness and scepticism, I asked the rods to show me the water. I made a conscious effort to keep my wrists as completely still as possible. The rods moved, just as if someone had placed a weak opposing magnet beside them. It was a thrill, a minor tremor through my established worldview. It was difficult to explain it away as the power of suggestion. Teän experienced the same phenomenon.

The following weekend we met Michael at Porthellic and walked to the labyrinth site together. On our way, we passed by a strange site on Salakee Downs, a sort-of stone circle, spoken of by Borlase as a “Druid’s Temple” but dismissed as probably natural by modern assessment.

On a Karn adjoining to the Giant's Castle we found the back of the rock cleared by art, (at least as it seem'd to us) of all unevenness, and making one plane of rock measuring one hundred and seventy two feet from North to South, and one hundred and thirty eight feet from East to West… On the edges of the area are nine vast stones remaining, with some other of a smaller size, planted in a circular line; there is no uniformity in their shape, and at very unequal distances were they at first erected, as appears from that part of the circumference from which no stone has been taken away; from the other parts many stones have been remov'd in the memory of man, as a Gentleman in company, of his own knowledge informed us… This temple (as I think we may safely call it)…was intended for a place of Worship… subservient to the purposes of the Druid Superstition… When it was entire, you will agree that there must have been something wonderfully grand in this large Circle, the floor of which is one flat Rock, and the stones round the edges of so extraordinary a Size.

— William Borlase, A Topographical and Historical Survey of the Islands of Scilly, 1756

Diagram of “Druid Temple” stone circle on Salakee Down — William Borlase, A Topographical and Historical Survey of the Islands of Scilly, 1756

Michael spoke of four principle energy lines that streak through the world around us, invisible to our ordinary senses. They are Mary, Michael, Athena and Apollo. He said he visualised them as vortexes of spiralling energy. They are never straight, and, surprisingly, can be moved given the right intention and respectful asking. He has shifted the Athena line over the worn chair in his living room, so he can bask in its replenishing energies whenever he wishes. At the Salakee Downs site, he picked up Michael and Athena energies crossing the “circle”. Me and Teän had by this point purchased a pair of “solid copper” rods each (these turned out to be bits of welding rod. Ah well, Michael says dowsing is possible with almost anything. He has dowsed with coat hangers). It was harder for me to tell how they were moving this time, a bitter wind was blowing. Michael, with his heavy rods and experience, was more confident.

My rough drawing of the Giant’s Castle Maze, with the enegy lines detected by Michael plotted on.

At the Maze, Michael again picked up the same Athena energy coursing through the center. He circled around the outside of the Maze, pausing when his rods crossed, and “rocking” back and forth into the anomolous area, the rods swinging again as if passing over a magnet, to confirm the reading. To distinguish the different energies, he simply asked the rods to show him the energy he named. Interestingly, the same Athena line passed through the Maze twice, in a perpendicular cross shape with the confluence on the central quartz block. The line roughly parallel to the coast meandered towards the Salakee Downs circle. The second made its way up the slope of the headland towards the sea. This is the site of the Giant’s Castle from which the Maze takes its name, an Iron Age fortified settlement, consisting today of three concentric earth embankments, rippling inland from the promontory. The Athena line made its way across the banks to the center of where the settlement would once have stood (its wooden palisades long since dissapeared), before continuing over the cliff. Michael has never found a place where a line “ends”. I imagined the strange vortex plunging into the sea and flowing south to far shores.

We later asked Michael if the strange cross-shaped arrangement of energies on the Maze was deliberate, he said that he thought that it was more likely that the Maze was built, and then the energies were moved and arranged this way by a capable person, perhaps to deliberately augment the site, for some purpose now forgotten. It was a fantastic result to obtain- me and Teän were already convinced that this site, although not ancient, had a power and specialness about it. It would have been a shame if the rods had remained resolutely impassive. Our deep thanks to Michael for his time and generosity.

Michael sheltering from the wind behind a WWI embankment nearby.