The mysterious and magnificent Stonehenge has fascinated people for centuries. Archaeologists speculate that this grand structure was used for astronomy purposes because of the way the stones align with certain planets and stars. Others further speculate that the rocks are involved in the transmission of terrestrial magnetic cur-rents, believing huge surges of solar and lunar energy touch upon the stones then sweep across the planet at equinoxes, solstices and other significant astronomical days.
     This idea of seeing our planet as a place of interconnecting energy lines is gaining attention, especially how such energy might affect us in our own homes, in our lives and with our health. It is these unseen yet powerful energy lines that gave rise to the now mainstream Chinese art of feng shui, yet there are relatively few known practitioners who deal with the effects of earth energy.
      Early work into the phenomenon was carried out by German scientist Freiherr von Pohl, a talented dowser who believed that earth radiation affected tree growth, animal behaviour and human health. Pohl discovered cats and insects were attracted to areas of earth radiation -cats slept on such spots and bees nested there.
      In 1929, Pohl worked with the Centre for Cancer Research in Berlin to investigate one of the most cancer-ridden villages in Southern Germany, the town of Vilsbiburg. Using his own `Pohl' scale of earth radiation, the scientist mapped earth energy lines in the town, then compared them to the records of the district hospital. It was found that every cancer death had occurred in people who slept in beds exactly above the lines.
    The Centre for Cancer Research accepted Pohl's findings and published the information in their July 1930 journal, raising the idea that earth radiation could be a causative factor in cancer. In 1932, Pohl published a book on his work and a number of German doctors began working with the material to help their patients.
      Pohl's work was further advanced by German/ American doctor, Manfred Curry. Curry was head of a research clinic in South Germany and investigated the earth
energy phenomenon between 1935 and 1953. From his work on the impact of weather on humans and human energy fields, Curry discovered an energy net that affected human energy levels and even had an impact on blood sedimentation rates. It became known as the Curry Net.
The Curry Net grid forms 3.5m x 3.5m squares and runs from South/ West to
North/ East and in reverse. Curry became so skilled in detecting the Curry Net that he could diagnose a patient simply by doing a site test and knowing where the patient' s bed was positioned. He knew that, where the energy lines intersected in a knot formation, cancers would manifest.
      In 1950, a German medical doctor, Ernst Hartmann, was dowsing for water and discovered what became known as the Hartmann Net. The Hartmann Net has a different pattern than the Curry Net. It is 2m x 2.5m lines running North/ South and East/ West.
      Hartmann, who has published three books on the impact of energy lines, spent decades researching the phenomenon. He found that if people worked or slept over the meridians of earth energy, they could suffer heart attacks, insomnia, chronic asthma, migraines, backaches and cancers. In his work, he discovered that constantly disturbed and crying babies would settle immediately when their cot was moved. He further found that sleeping on a North/ South line made people prone to cramps and rheumatism, an East/ West line prone to inflammations. But most notably, he documented three generations of a family who all slept in the same bed in the same house where two Hartmann lines intersected and had all died of stomach cancer.
       Said Hartmann: " Cancer is a disease of location triggered off by geopathic stress. We all produce cancerous cells on a regular basis, but they are continuously destroyed by our body' s immune system. Geopathic stress does not cause cancer, but weakens our immune system. "
       As a six year old, New Zealander, Phillip Grey, suffered from chronic migraines. In desperation, his mother finally turned to a colour therapist for help.
      He raised the possibility it could be geopathic stress and we had the house dowsed and found I was sleeping above an underwater stream, " says Phillip Grey.
      The problem was remedied with copper wire installed in his bedroom and Grey never suffered another migraine. The therapist taught Grey to dowse and Grey has since been developing this sensitivity toward the environment. With four decades of experience now, Grey works with `earth acupuncture' to remedy problems with
natural earth energies.
     Typically, Grey first meets with his clients to discuss any disturbances they have noted about their property. He then plots the perimeter of the land, marking the location and flow of each Hartmann and Curry line with a short iron rod. Grey explains that these lines of energy run through the earth and transect properties, and as a result, people are subtly affected by the lives and problems of others on the same energy lines. Much like the human nervous system which is treated with acupuncture, Grey proclaims that earth energy lines are part of the planetary nervous system and can also be treated with acupuncture.
      Thus, each carefully placed rod is driven deep into the ground to clear the land of energy disturbances and create a more positive and healthy environment.
     Though earth acupuncture is not yet widespread, Grey and a few others are continuing to practice this off beat philosophy. Although it may not hold all the answers, it is at least fascinating enough to continue exploring.
© Melt Magazine 2001