I like to think that this article, in another dimension, is accompanied not only by a voice-over telling readers 'Don't miss the last gripping instalment of our brave heroine's adventure', but also by a slightly manic organ player thumping out the theme tune to Dick Barton. And maybe somewhere, in the faerie dimensions, that is exactly what's happening. ln fact I'm sure I can hear the faint strains of A# under pressure...
In the last episode we had constructed the cairn and everything, including weeds, was proceeding very well. However things were not quite right, there were differences in growth rates among certain crops within the area of influence of the cairn. Dowsing had shown that some adjustment to the
cairn was needed, and our intent had, on our plot, made up for enhanced energies that were lacking from the cairn. We made the decision however to look at cropping prior to making any adjustments.
It has to be said that on the whole cropping rates were extremely good. We had fantastic sweetcorn; ready earlier than expected. The runner beans and dwarf French beans did extremely well despite
ln fact all those allotments in the vicinity claimed it was a great year for potatoes, yet those plots further away (beyond the range of the cairn) did not make the same claim. lt was not only the amount on each root, in some cases it was the size- from wrist to elbow - and the centres were
sound. The fruiting plants had a very successful year. The raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, blackberries, gooseberries and plums were all laden. lt was in fact all we could do to keep on top
of picking all the crops, with our fridges permanently full of huge bags and cartons of produce. And all produce seemed to keep very well, without deteriorating.
However whilst our Plot did well in everything, some neighbouring plots did well in some crops, but not as well in others. As I mentioned previously, if the cairn was working to full capacity surely
the effects should have been roughly the same on all crops throughout the whole area of influence? Yet dowsing had revealed that intent on our plot had made up for a shortcoming. I thought I would
wait until all the summer produce was picked and we started to clear the ground before I investigated further. But to give thanks to the cairn and all the levels of consciousness that had
supported us we decided to have a Samhain fire; a small ceremony involving a bonfire, some nibbles and a flask of tea.
ln order to work out where mY error lay, I was going to ask questions through dowsing about each stage of construction to see what I had missed and then, hopefully, the amendments could be made. However, at this point, I received an email. No, not just an email, THE email. The BSD office forwarded me a letter they had received. lt was from none other than Billy Gawn himself. I was
like some star-struck groupie who refuses to wash their hand after touching a polystyrene cup reputedly used by their idol. I stared at the email in disbelief. I had attracted the attention of a dowsing legend through my small experiment. It was like the Queen suddenly arriving to
compliment you on the condition of your cross-bred Corgie, or Elvis turning up for your fried cheese sandwich. I was, as all the papers say, 'shocked and stunned'.
I was also very relieved to find after reading THE letter, that the majority of work in the cairn was sound. The problem with the effectiveness lay in the size of the quartz crystal I had used in the lightbox. lt was gratifying to have confirmed that the siting and all the other elements were sound, as an adjustment to the light box was not a huge task. Up until Billy's advice (see - first name terms now!) I had visions of some hard-hatted, fluorescent jacket-clad faerie with a clipboard looking at proposed development plans for my cairn, sucking air in through its teeth in that way builders do, that normally means in the near future your wallet is going to be lightened to such a degree that even gravity will cease to be an influencing force.
However, it seemed that the size of the quartz crystal used was simply not large enough. The three energy lines that enter the cairn and then terminate in spirals in the three chambers, needed to pass through the crystal. The crystal I had used needed to be slightly larger to accomplish this. The centre line was passing through, but to incorporate the other two it needed to be wider and lower.
So, over the late autumn the allotment as cleared and we aimed to replace the quartz. We had planned a run-of-the-mill trip to a garden centre to buy some quartz but our quartz did in fact present itself one day in one of those synchronistic happenings. Whilst out researching sites for my guided dowsing walks held over the summer months, I had visited several earthworks, long ditch and bank structures that meandered across the country, often adjacent to rivers. Although not suitable for an event one in particular was an interesting old earth work. Circular field boundaries in an otherwise squarish Iandscape suggested this may once have been some kind of serpent mound or rams horn structure, with place names such as 'Rams Hill' adjacent, hinting at something long forgotten. This large bank and ditch structure has a public footpath down some of its length. lt was down this path that we came across what can only be described as a faerie glen, with a babbling clear brook cutting through the large bank. Running down the course of the bank and the stream were huge lumps of quartz crystal the size of footballs and in abundance! They were obviously part of the large bank and must have been used in a way similar to that in which the quartz is used in a cairn, to anchor in and enhance the energies. lt was in this glen that we asked permission from the Genius Loci to take a few pieces of the quartz to use not just in the allotment cairn, but also a planned one at my farm and also to use in an earth energy workshop at the forthcoming BSD conference. We received permission for all three purposes and very gratefully, and with considerable care we chose some quartz from the sparkling stream bed and bank and took these away with us to begin their new energy work.
And so the lightbox of the cairn has been duly amended with new quartz to a size that incorporated all three energy lines. Since then of course it has done nothing but rain and early cultivation has largely been overrun by weeds (all growing well and uniformly I notice) but those crops that have been planted -potatoes, tomatoes, onions, peas, beans etc look healthy and well. We are looking
forward to the coming growing season with great enthusiasm not just for our plot but also those neighbouring us in the area of influence. But right now, l'm reconsidering that tattoo of Billy's name...
