Trust your Dowsers!

Due to unfortunate circumstances (Jackie says due to my drunkenness - I deny this vehemently) Sian has had a fall and sustained a badly broken arm and so we have had to curtail our field trips and updating the blog. The latter being due to Jackie being hopeless and too lazy to do the typing.

On our last field trip before Sian's accident, whilst we were out following ley lines in deepest countryside, she lost her dowsing rods and bobber amongst high grasses and hedgerows. (No! I wasn't drunk or staggering - this is a vicious calumny). Jackie thought this a wonderful opportunity to dowse for the dowsers! I immediately found my bobber and very close by was one of the dowsing rods. But there was no sign of the other one.

After re-tracing our steps, Jackie asked her rods, and I asked my bobber, to show us where it might be. They all pointed in the same direction and when we asked the question "Where is the rod" they kept saying, over and over, it was ahead. But our logical minds kept thinking it was behind us. We followed our logical minds and kept walking back and forth to no avail. We were getting more and more convinced we were not going to find the missing rod. So we started making our way home.

Whilst we were walking back to the starting point of our walk we were asking our dowsers where the missing rod was and they kept saying - it was ahead of us. We didn't believe them. But they were insistent that the rod was ahead of us. We came to a turn in the path and Jackie decided to follow her rods away from the path and kept following her dowsers into some long grass. I became despondent and kept to the main path. We had became separated, when I heard a triumphant shout. "Here it is!!!!" And it was. My lost rod. Wow!!!!

If we had trusted the dowsers and not our logic we would have been in the pub much sooner.

The Trail to Grove Mill

Using a 1790 map we noticed footpaths and a footbridge leading to the possible site. A promising start. We deduced from a modern map the footbridge was likely to be near the Grove church and could be accessed from the modern day Grand Union Canal towpath. Once again our intrepid duo took out dowsers and set off to find the footpaths and bridge. Much to our amazment it was very simple and we crossed over the bridge. Following the energies from our dowsing rods we came to a raised area which looked like earthworks. Had there been a building here? We both felt very strongly that this area had been inhabited at some time. We noticed a small pond and Jackie had one of her psychic flashes of insight and had a strong feeling that these were ancient ponds and that had been used for fish farming, possibly for the priory. Our later research showed that there had been a Chapel of St. John of Grava 1227 on this site, which had possibly been part of the Grove Priory. The research also stated that the site and shape of fish ponds could still be seen when the stream was in flood. Well done Jackie. Amazing.

Subsequently, Sian was talking to her father-in-law who, as a boy knew this area really well, and called this raised area "The Haunted House" and he remembers a house being on that site. He also remembers the footbridge being called the One Plank Bridge. The haunting needs further investigation.

We hadn't found Grove Mill but we definitely were on the right track. We both were drawn to a beautiful big oak tree and our dowsers were showing us that we were in the correct area for the Mill. Standing by this oak tree we were in sight of Grove Church and our research told us the Mill was less than 400 yards from the church and 200 yards from the Priory. So we must have been pretty close.

Whilst we were standing there we noticed that not only could we see Grove Church, but also Billington Church, All Saints Church and Ivinghoe Beacon. The latter is well known as being on a ley-line and the start of the path to Avebury. We were overwhelmed with energies and we concluded we were standing at a conjunction of many ley-lines and would have been a perfect spot for the Priory.

On our way back to the car we passed the pond and lo and behold in it were three carp. Jackie couldn't believe her eyes - her prediction was correct. However it wasn't a proper pond but had been floodwater from the river. She went back a few days later as she was concerned that they had been trapped there but unfortunately the water had dried up and they were dead.

Coincidences

We feel that coincidences don't just happen, they are signposts or pointers. We had been in the library and Sian chose a book at random and it opened at a page about ley-lines. We are both interested in this phenomena so thought perhaps that this could be our next dowsing project. Walking home from the library we found ourselves in All Saint's Churchyard. Jackie was drawn to a gravestone; it turned out to be Flemons's, the owner of Leighton Buzzard windmill - was this a sign that perhaps we should still be investigating mills? Grovebury Mill, having links with Leighton seemed the obvious choice. On further research Jackie discovered that Grove was a very important area, as it is at a conjunction of several ley-lines, as well as having an important Priory used by royalty through the ages. We now knew what we had to investigate next!

The Holy Well

While we were researching the Leighhton Buzzard windmill we came across a reference to a a Holy Well at Old Linslade where pilgrims would come to be healed in the sacred waters. According to the books nothing could be found of it as the Grand Union Canal had been built over the site of it.

Well! This was a challenge we couldn't resist. We were intrigued as, looking at the old maps in the library, there appeared to be loads of ancient footpaths coming from all directions to this area. We decided to go to the old church at Linslade and see what we could see. It was quite obvious where all the footpaths were, and indeed they all seemed to converge on this area. The towpath to the canal ran quite near to the church and so we took our dowsing tools out and had a stroll along the canal.

Again, we had a couple of funny looks from walkers and cyclists but we were getting hardened to it by now. We walked along asking our rods to show us where the holy well had been and eventually we came to spot almost opposite the church where our rods suddenly changed from pointing ahead of us to actually pointing at the canal. We felt we had reached it! After taking our bearings and being pretty confident about being able to find the spot again we came home quite pleased with ourselves.

Jackie then came up trumps a few days later. She found some amazing information in Wikipedia on theholy well with quite good detailed directions to it. Wow! This meant we could find the actual spot and either verify our findings or fall flat on our faces. So, armed with a compass this time, we followed the directions to the letter. I can hardly believe what I am about to tell. WE WERE SPOT ON. It was in the place where our rods had pointed to. Damn - we're good!!

Now what do we do next!

Our curiosity piqued by our last outing, after lots of research in our local library of historical books and records and very old maps, we discovered that Leighton Buzzard had another windmill at Grove. Apparently, the Leighton Buzzard windmill had been built because the local townspeople found it too far to walk to Grove. We also found in our research that there was another abbey or priory at Grove as well. This was fascinating and we were amazed that, from one tentative outing as a bit of a laugh, we were in a full blown search to find not one but two priories and, what's more, two windmills to boot. We could see a whole summer of adventures ahead.

Sian's husband had worked at the council offices in The White House and vaguely remembered a small hidden path that led nowhere in the grounds. One of the old maps showed this path. So that is where we opted to go next.

We weren't sure whether we were allowed in the grounds but discovered that houses had been built on the site and it was open to the public; so in we walked.

We didn't need our dowsing tools. There, right at the back of the grounds, was a path and it was precisely parallel to the old walls. And even more excitingly, the path came to a stop at secret gate set into the old walls. This was probably where the monks walked. The gate was in a direct line to the town centre so perhaps they used this gate to leave and enter the monastery. We then walked back outside to see if we could see where the secret door was and found that it had been concreted in and no-one could possibly have guessed it was there.

We took our dowsing tools once again down Windmill Path. Not so nervously this time and asked them to show us where the Windmill had been. Quite independently from each other, we were directed to spot at the far end, near to Beaudesert and set a little way in, on the right, from the path. We were to be vindicated in our conclusions - but that is for another entry on another day!

So, to finish for this part of the town, we came to the conclusion that the entitites that people had been seeing were probably the energies left behind from the townspeople going to and from the windmill and monks going into town and back again from the monastery.

Old monastery walls

Our interest was aroused by stories we had heard about an old monastery which used to be on the land now occupied by The White House. We had been told about the old walls that still stood there and had heard, from a couple of sources from people who lived either end of these walls, that there were some strange "goings on" around that area. Jackie knew that area so we took our dowsing rods and "bobber" and off we went. I have to say we did feel a bit on the silly side - every time someone near we hurriedly put away our dowsing tools!!

What we found was fascinating. Down one side of the walls there was a very wide path which Jackie "felt" she had been there before. Perhaps when she was a child, she definitely hadn't been there before in her adult lifetime. We both had a "flash", a feeling, that we saw a woman walking along this path - in both our visions she was wearing dark clothing, long black or dark gray wide skirt, back or dark gray top with white collar and white apron with a white bonnet. Quite extraordinary that we both felt the same thing. This wide path we discovered was called Windmill Path and, after research in the local library, we discovered that the main windmill in Leighton Buzzard was at the end of this path.

Anyway back to the old walls. We found a Yew tree which suggests there might have been a church on the site. We found archways and a strange curve in the wall. We discovered part of the old wall in the car park of what is now the Catholic Church. Churches are invariably built on previous church sites, going way back into ancient and pre-christian times. We were pretty convinced that these walls were, in fact, a religious site. We also thought that the phenomena that our two sources had been seeing, might have been the townspeople going to and fro the windmill. In spite of some funny looks we were determined to come back and see if we could find the energies of the lost windmill and to explore inside the walls.

The Purpose of these Diaries

What these diaries are going to be about are our experiences using dowsing to locate the hidden energies of historical and lost buildings or disused areas and/or in our local area. Dowsing is an amazing tool for doing such a thing. If it can find the energies in peoples auras, if it can pick up the energy of water hidden underground, it can definitely find energies left behind.

These are our experiences in finding these lost energies. If anyone has any suggestions as to where we can go, please feel free to email me with ideas.

How we got started

I (Sian) got interested in Dowsing in 1994 and after reading a couple of books had a go at pendulum dowsing with a fishing weight. I found I had a facility for it and before long was using it every day. Fishing weights are excellent to start dowsing with as they are very cheap and come with a ready made hook on the top just waiting for string or cotton! I was using it for determining what vitamin tablets I needed, how many I needed etc. I was also using it in my practise for prescribing Bach Flower Essences, finding and correcting chakras and auras. It became an important, useful tool.

My friend's brother in Kenya is a "proper" Dowser and uses it to find water out in the bush and she wanted to learn more about it. So she and I did an intensive course in St. Albans learning much more about it and how to dowse over maps, earth energies etc. And then for several years got stuck and didn't hardly use it. I wanted to expand but didn't know what direction to go in. Then Jackie came along with the answer. she wanted to learn to dowse. I shall hand over to her for the next part.

I first met Sian about 10 years ago when I had a bad back and went to her for Reflexology (it worked!). During the following years I saw her occasionally for an Aromatherapy massage, usually as a gift from my daughter. My daughter studied Reiki and was a member of Sian's Reiki group. During a difficult time in my life, two and a half years ago, my daughter talked me into having a Reiki session with Sian. I went grudgingly as I would have much preferred a nice Aromatherapy massage and couldn't see the point of just laying there with someone's hands resting on me. I would rather have been at home doing the ironing! How wrong could I be!! It had a profound effect on me and not only has Reiki become an important part of my life, it was a catalyst for opening me up to "other"energies and hightened my intuition. After several meaningful discussions with Sian I thought that dowsing sounded very interesting and she has been teaching me to dowse for the last few months. I started with a pendulum, graduated to a bobber and I am now the proud owner of a pair of dowsing rods! I still have a great deal to learn but feel I am improving with each of our dowsing "adventures".

What to do now with our dowsing? We are really enjoying our discoveries and hope you will enjoy reading about them in our diary.