Power sites

Within and around the earth,
Within and around the hills,
Within and around the mountains,
Your power returns to you.

A Tewa Prayer

Yesterday, while on a short trip to the Estonian countryside, I visited a place known for the locals as a "power site". People from around the country visit this small little circle on the ground in the middle of nowhere, some continue on a little pilgrimage to also similar circles in the neighbourhood, in the belief to improve their physical and mental well-being, it is thought that on these sites there are powerful good energies emanating from the earth. Some people say that these places are very similar to the power sites in Tibet, only on a smaller scale. When I asked my relatives how they felt there, they replied that they always like to go there when their mood is down, and that they always return happy and feeling balanced.
Having always felt energies and having a keen interest in this theme, it is needless to say that I could not pass up an opportunity to see what its all about- these so-called power places.
A small circle in the grass, that's all that it was. In fact the only sign that this was the right place was that all the grass had been bent down from people walking around on it. Yet the instant that I stepped in I started to feel my fingers pulsating with energy. Wow- so it is true, I thought. My fingertips felt like I had been touching a live-wire by the end of it, when I took off my shoes and walked barefoot on the grass the same feeling crept up my toes as well. A kind neighbour who did this tour almost every day was explaining to us to find the most beneficial spot on the circle for each of us personally by simply walking around and stopping where it feels right to stop. My brother noticed a pain in his stomach in a particular spot, and I a sensitivity in an area that was most recently sick. I was wondering whether, like in Reiki, the energy enters the places in your body where they are most needed. And yes- we all bounced away in a good mood, there was no doubt in that.

"I have recognized twenty factors that contribute to the mysterious power of sacred sites. I believe these various factors function, independently and together, to create, perpetuate and amplify a presence or field of energy that surrounds and saturates the sacred sites. This energy field, or power of place, may be defined as a nonmaterial region of influence extending in space and continuing in time. To conceptualize this idea of sacred sites having spatially defined energy fields, it is useful to consider the phenomenon of magnetism. As any school child knows, if you place a magnet beneath a plate of glass having iron filings on top, the filings will be influenced by the power of the magnet. While science is not able to fully explain the dynamics of this power, the phenomenon is real. It is called a field.

     Similar to the power of a magnet, the power of a sacred site is an invisible field of energy permeating the area of the sacred site. Myths and legends of the sacred places tell of certain sites that have the miraculous ability to heal the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity, develop psychic abilities and awaken the soul to a knowing of its true purpose in life. I believe that the energy fields of the sacred sites are responsible for these extraordinary phenomena.

     Evidence indicating the existence of such energy fields may be found by studying the discovery, development and continuing use of sacred sites. In other words, how were the sacred site locations initially discovered or chosen? What are the ethos and the esoteric wisdom that went into the construction of the structures and artifacts at the sites? Why do human beings continue to visit the sites over long periods of time? Considering these questions will allow us to build a convincing argument for the existence of subtle energy fields at the sacred sites.

     Although this information is intellectually fascinating, my primary purpose in discussing it is to introduce the idea of a power of place existing at the sacred sites, and to assist people in experiencing that power when they visit the sites. Simply by walking into the immediate area of a sacred site a pilgrim enters into the energy field of the place whether they know of the presence of energy fields or is unaware of them. Our experience of the energy fields, however, may be amplified by consciously connecting with them through knowledge, intention and meditation. By knowing of the existence of the fields, by mentally intending to connect with them and by practicing meditation when we are at the sacred sites, we can actually establish a psychic linkup with the power of place. Such a linkup with the fields will assist us in more fully benefiting from the power of the sacred sites.
 
     Paul Devereux, an authority on the geophysical aspects of sacred sites, comments that:    

When a person visits a ceremonial monument, is it their intellect, their five senses, their intuition, or the electromagnetic fields around their bodies that perceive the place?....One may individually respond in a limited set of ways to a site, but it is crucial to know that one's preferred reactions are only part of a network of knowing that is involved in a more complete description of the place. (1)

     I believe that the nature of a person's experience of a sacred site may be influenced by them having what Devereux calls a "multi-mode" approach to the sites, that is, by experiencing the sites from the vantage points of both knowing and feeling, both mind and heart. Knowing means having an understanding of such matters as the mythology, archaeology, history, geology and (possible) celestial orientation of a site. Feeling means the ability to sense and tune into the presence of power at a site.

     The ancient people who discovered the power places and erected structures at them quite probably related with the sites through both feeling and knowing. If contemporary people wish to access the energy fields of the sacred sites they should likewise use both knowing and feeling. "

Source, including a list of sacred sites from around the world.


"[...]Thus far I have recognized twenty different factors that may contribute to the localized energy fields at the sacred sites.
I classify and analyze those twenty factors according to the following four categories:

1. The influences of the Earth.
2. The influences of celestial objects.
3. The influences of the structures and artifacts at the sacred sites.
4. The influences of the accumulated concentration of a charged field of psychic power deriving from the focused intention, prayers and meditations of millions of pilgrims over long periods of time.

In the category of the influences of the Earth, there are the geophysical characteristics of the sacred sites, including localized magnetism, gravitational anomalies, geothermal activity, the presence of underground water, ionization, ultrasound and radioactivity. Paul Devereux and the Dragon Project, having conducted more than two decades of exhaustive studies of the geophysical anomalies at sacred sites, present striking evidence that ancient people recognized the powers of specific sites and utilized them for a variety of therapeutic, spiritual, shamanic and oracular purposes. How archaic humans discovered these power places was by an intimate exposure to the feel of the land and its subtle energies. With this sense they felt those particular places on the living earth that expressed a more highly charged vitality. These pagan ritual sites became the locations of the first shrines and temples. Over hundreds or thousands of years and the process of continuing construction at the sites, these places became the most visited and venerated sites on the planet: the great pilgrimage centers of Jerusalem, Compostela, Lourdes, Guadalupe, Bodh Gaya, Banaras and Mecca.

The second category of factors contributing to the power of place regards the influence of celestial objects on the local energy fields of the sacred sites. For reasons only little understood, certain power places demonstrate regular periods of increase in their emanations of geophysical energies that seemingly correspond to cyclical movements of the sun, moon, planets and stars. Many ancient peoples were concerned with the movements of the heavenly sphere and this evidence is particularly abundant at the oldest holy places. Over the ages of people living at or near certain power places, it was observed that there were cycles of increase and decrease in the power of place and that those periods were linked to the movements of specific celestial bodies. These periods of energetic increase, for example the solstices, equinoxes and various lunar dates, became the first festival times of prehistoric peoples (I am speaking here of regularly occurring events as opposed to irregular celebrations of the hunt). These festivals were earth-spirit ceremonies that actually predate agriculture (and correspondingly predate the less ancient agricultural myths that would later be associated with the earth-spirit festival dates).

The young science of archaeoastronomy (astronomy itself being vastly older) has brought to light remarkable evidence that a large proportion of the pilgrimage sites of deep antiquity are topographically situated to be in precise alignment relative to the position and movements of particular astronomical objects visible from each site. The most ancient science of our species, only recently being rediscovered, was the interweaving of terrestrial astrology and sacred geography. There is a great galactic symphony of subtle forces playing upon our planet by virtue of the cyclical orbits and particular positions of numerous different celestial bodies relative to the earth. The power places, because of their profound energetic resonance with different celestial frequencies, are ideal portals where humans may access those forces. The times most suited to interdimensional access at these holy places are the particular dates encoded in each of their founding myths.

The third category of factors contributing to the power of the sacred sites concerns the design, construction and ornamentation of the structures that humans have placed at the sacred sites. A particularly fascinating example is the Sacred Geometry used in the construction of the pyramids, temples, mosques and cathedrals at the sacred sites. Sacred Geometry is the formulating geometry evident in many facets of the natural world, such as sea shells, crystal structure and musical intervals. Numerous early cultures, observant of the mathematically repeating patterns of nature, sought to encode those same patterns and proportions in the architecture they created at the sacred sites. Similar to how the mathematically precise shapes of musical instruments create and enable specific sounds, the purposeful shapes of some (not all) sacred structures assist in the generation of specific fields of energy and influence. Contributing to and amplifying these fields of influence, shrine builders also made use of sound, light, aromatic substances, jewel-encrusted icons and gold/silver-plated sculpture. The German philosopher, Goethe, once remarked that sacred architecture is frozen music; this is a palpable reality for many visitors to the great pilgrimage shrines.

The fourth factor contributing to the power of the sacred sites is the most mysterious, the least understood. This is the accumulated and concentrated power of human intention. As photographic film (a small piece of earth) can record the energy of light, and as audio tape (another small piece of earth) can record the energy of sound, so also can a sacred site (a larger piece of earth) record, remember or somehow contain the energy and intention of the millions of humans who have performed ceremony at the holy place. Within the shrines and sanctuaries, countless priests, priestesses and pilgrims have gathered for hundreds or thousands of years. Dancing and chanting, praying and meditating, they have continuously charged and amplified the etheric fields of love and peace, healing and wisdom. The megalithic stone rings, Celtic healing springs, Taoist sacred mountains, Mayan temples, Gothic cathedrals, Shiite Islamic ziyarats, Hindu Jyotir Lingas, Buddhist stupas and Egyptian pyramids are repositories of the concentrated spiritual aspirations and attainments of all humanity. Here, too, are the places where Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Zoroaster, Guru Nanak, Mahavira and other sages and shamans awakened to the deepest realizations of spiritual wisdom.

The vast numbers of pilgrims visiting the sacred sites, both historically and in contemporary times, are not conceptually familiar with the different factors contributing to the power of the sites. They are not visiting for such reasons. They come because it is the momentum of their religious tradition that draws people to the holy places. Buddhists go to the four major places of Buddha’s life; Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Saranath and Kushinagar. Hindus visit sites sacred to gods and goddesses such as Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Saraswati, Shakti and Kali. Christians visit Lourdes, Rome, Jerusalem, Compostela and a host of sites associated with saints and the apparitions of angels. Taoists climb the sacred mountains of China; Muslims visit Mecca, Medina and the shrines of the Shi’te Imans; and Jews go to the Western Wall and the shrines of great Rabbis."

From "The Power of Place. Pilgrimage and the lure of sacred sites" by Michael Gray