What are Ley Lines or Leys
Ley lines (or leys) are alleged alignments of ancient sites stretching across the landscape. Many ancient sites as well as holy places could be seen situated in a straight line ranging from one to several miles in length. In other explanation, ley lines or leys are a network of surface energy lines runnin across the countryside.
Most cultures have traditions and words to describe this straight, often geometric alignments that ran across ancient landscapes, connecting the natural as well as sacred prehistoric structures together. The names given to represent these invisible and mysterious lines are usually translated to an equivalent of ‘energy’, ‘dream’, or ‘spirit’ paths.
Along with water lines, ley lines can also be found at most ancient monuments and sacred places. As technologies are developing to detect the presence of earth energies and underground water, we must then rely on the intuition of our minds and the sensitivity of our body to guide us in the right directions. We can detect many things that technologies or machines cannot, especially in the areas of feeling, consciousness and emotion.
Our distant ancestors may have built their standing stones and churches on these lines, performing an “acupuncture of our earth” as they tapped into its energy. They also believe that the lines provide routes for travellers.
History
The story of ley lines starts in 1922 when a locally well-known and respected Herefordshire businessman as well as a trader and amateur archaeologist by the name of Alfred Watkins (1855 – 1935) sitting on a hill in England and suddenly realized that sites of historical and spiritual significance, earth burial mounds, standing stones like stonehenge, and churches were all aligned in perfect straight lines. He then set about finding more leys and told his findings through his book “The Old Straight Track”. Watkins adopted the Saxon word ‘ley’ (which means ‘a cleared glade’) in his book in order to describe his discovery.
Some people claim that the lines are evidence of the invisible energy lines of the earth, while others said they are navigational markers for UFOs. Many people also believe that their existences are just coincidences. Since the publication of ‘The Old Straight Track’, countless leys have been found by Ley Hunters across Britain, Germany, France and even as far a field as Peru (Nasca lines).
The idea that our earth is covered with many lines of energy is not only found in Western Europe. These lines are referred to as Song lines in the aboriginal culture of Australia. They are called Nasca lines in Peru, and in the practise of Feng Shui this earth’s energy plays a significant role.
A pioneer in modern dowsing techniques, Guy Underwood, claimed that he could detect complex webs of energy under monuments, old roads, churches, paths and hill figures. Dowsing is the intuitional technique or practice for locating the earth energies. In 1978, another dowser, Tom Graves, also claimed that he found a dowsable link between two such sites. However, after 10 years of investigation using electromagnetic detection, dowsing and other scientific instruments, they found no conclusive evidence to suggest that leys or these sites do possess energy fields, but they did find that many of the sites often had up to about five times the amount of background radiation. Some researchers also claimed to have visionary episodes that lasted for a few seconds while others found themselves in a whole other scene.
Recent research by Devereux and others told that ley lines are evidence of perceived paths of the dead and spirits – this belief is also held by many cultures around the world. In the 1950’s French UFO enthusiasts told that the sightings of UFOs occured in straight lines. In Ireland Fairy paths follow straight lines and building houses on these paths is believed to invite bad luck. The Chinese believe that spirits travel along straight line.