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Orcadian Revelations

We were really only there for the eclipse. I had seen a photo of the Ring of Brodgar stone circle, which looked interesting, and I remembered that Time Team had done an excavation at Mine Howe. What I did not expect was a whole string of high-quality dowsing sites - pleasantly linked together by top flight bird (and seal)-watching, exquisite scenic walks and excellent refreshments.

The guide book said this was one not to miss. How right. Maes Howe is a 5000 yr old chambered mound, as big as a bungalow. Despite being ravaged by Vikings (who left some rare and enigmatic runic graffiti) the site retains some wonderful stonework, linking four buried standing stones and three burial chambers. The guide was unphased by my use of the rods, I was not the first dowser to pass this way - indeed even weirder people had troubled her earlier that same day. A wide Ley crosses the Howe diagonally, passing through two of the underground menhirs. All four standing stones have their own energy spirals and the energy lines can be easily detected from outside the mound. This is indeed a special place - and it feels it. A place of archaeological, astronomical and energetic importance - and still very alive today. The guide asked if I could tell if three large rocks, now lying next to the three chamber entrances were in fact previously blocking those entrances. The answer was a straight No - it seems they had previously formed part of the roof that the Vikings had collapsed on their way in.

Just across the loch from Maes Howe is a small ring of very tall standing stones. Although only half a dozen of the group now exist, those that remain are impressive indeed. There are various Leys and energy spirals - and a strange 'cove', consisting of two small stones close together. The latter appeared to mark the course of water through the ring. A fellow visitor told me he used to look for underground cables using dowsing rods, while decommissioning Corby Steelworks.

No wonder this area has been designated World Heritage status! A few hundred metres up the road again, stand the remaining 28 of over sixty original stones, with several outliers, that make up the massive and still compelling Ring of Brodgar. Only Avebury and Stanton Drew are larger, and this henge is sufficiently remote as to avoid the desensitising effect of mass tourism. While we were asked not to traverse the centre of the circle, to minimise damage to the frail heather ecosystem and the ground nesting birds, this site felt like the real McCoy. Location, energy, Leys - the whole works. One stone (which stood on a Ley) had been splintered by lightning as recently as 1960, indicating that not all damage to ancient sites may have been caused by over-zealous Christians or heedless farmers!

When Time Team assisted the excavation of this site a few years ago, it was catapulted from relative obscurity into the public eye. The site still exhibits some adverse energy, which appears to relate to this period, but it is a super place nonetheless. Enigmatically, there is an earth mound containing a beautifully-constructed backward spiral of 29 steps, leading to - apparently nothing. Just a small 'chamber' - with a plain one-slab floor, big enough for one person to sit comfortably, two or three, if they all stood up. I asked about burials and rituals, but got no each time. This place, at the centre of a strong downward energy vortex appeared to be a place of contemplation, perhaps an oracular site. Even in this confined space, several metres underground, there was no sense of confinement or alarm, just peace. The energy spiral dowsed to having once covered the whole of the mound. Back at the portakabin visitor centre, the helpful man at the desk had heard of dowsers - indeed I had been preceded by a year by one Hamish Miller. The visitors' book was turned to reveal his comments. 'Energy vortex at level two' - and a little anti-clockwise spiral drawn in the margin. Bit of a relief for yours truly! Interestingly, there are no ley lines here.

From the sublime to the - er - Nissen hut. In 1941, a group of Italian POWs, billeted on Burray, next to Scapa Flow, were given the task of building a causeway using huge concrete blocks, across a channel that separated Burray from the Mainland (the biggest island of Orkney). They were granted their wish to establish a place of worship on their camp, far from their Mediterranean homeland. Two Nissen huts were allocated to them and located in the corner of a field overlooking the channel. The Italians took their opportunity with much gusto, and transformed the interior of the utilitarian sheds into an incredibly ornate reproduction Italian Church. Fifty eight years after the end of the war, the camp has long returned to pasture, but the ugly causeway and the beautiful Italian Chapel remain, both as significant tourist attractions and, in the case of the latter, as a memorial to the transcendence of the human spirit. It would be too much to ask to find standard church dowsing lines in such a location, but amazingly two energy lines do cross the little chapel obliquely, which may help to provide it with its surprisingly calm and positive feel, in an otherwise bleak and soulless part of the islands. Interestingly, I could find no other energy lines in the surrounding area!

On the cliff edge, on the south tip of South Ronaldsay (the bit closest to Scotland), stands a chambered tomb, which was found to contain the talons of numerous sea eagles. This is another wonderfully-preserved and sensitively-excavated site. At its heart is a huge energy spiral which was far too big to dowse underground.

This is a similar site to the Tomb of the Eagles, but situated on the edge of the loch near to the Stones of Stenness. It too has a massive energy spiral at its centre.

I have to admit that the locations of the Norse Sagas, where people beheaded one another and then drunk themselves senseless, leave me a bit cold. But Orphir is subtly different. Here, as a penance for murdering his brother, one Viking had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land - and had come back with this really cool idea of building a domed church, like the one in Jerusalem. He must have had a bit of help from a locational perspective as he sited it right over a massive energy spiral, which still dowses almost out to the line of the foundations of the wall of his church. A remarkable site. Most of the church was subsequently pulled down to build a bigger one in the 1700's, but that has completely disappeared, leaving only the dowsable outline of its walls across the churchyard of Orphir and the lawn of the visitor centre.
Next to Orphir church are the remnants of some Viking houses - possibly the drinking hall where the original murder took place. Was this the site of the alleged murder? - no. Was anyone murdered here? - yes. Can I be shown to the spot? I am led to a location in what would have been a narrow alley between two buildings. There seems little point in raking over the gory details, so I just ask if any negative energy remains - no. Orkney is an upliftingly clean place on any number of levels.

This is just a sample of the superb dowsing to be enjoyed and experienced on the Islands of Orkney.

I would just like to take the opportunity of thanking all those Orcadians who tolerated our eccentricities, helped us with our dowsing and then came to our rescue, when it all went hideously wrong.