I stepped from the car to quickly scan the house, which sat on a modest rise. My driver, who I'd met an hour before at the airport stood silent as I queried my dowser's mind. I shook my head to say, "Doesn't look good."

He went inside to set out lunch while I slowly circled the house to count water veins and confirm my survey: 14 under the house -- nine from a column rising below it. I saw folded, crystalline bedrock outcroppings west of the house. The front yard was full of ant nests amid sparse grass.

Inside, I ate as my host detailed their problem; by phone three days earlier he'd told me the basic facts. His wife eight years ago developed breast cancer which metastesized. After three years of medical treatment she went totally macro and improved greatly, but never gained victory, suffering many setbacks. Now she was bedridden in pain; doctors said cancer had invaded her liver and without chemo she'd be dead in three months.

Her macro counselor insisted she was fine, but her cook, who felt something was wrong, had heard me talk at the Summer Conference and suggested calling me. I'd consulted my dowsers' mind, which told me I could help, so I'd agreed to this visit. Now, I explained to my host and his two daughters what I, as a dowser, would do.

"Earth is like any other subject -- there's more beneath the surface than we suspect. As a dowser I use an innate sense we all possess to locate water underground. Dowsers study water in the Earth, and there's two kinds. One is surface springs and streams that, with rain, soak into soil to become groundwater aquifers.

"But another water rises from deep in the earth in vertical columns. Near the surface these fountains of the deep crown to fan out in horizontal veins. The columns and veins form networks circulating thousands of gallons a minute. Dowsers pinpoint the veins of primary water for wells.

"The idea is Earth, like our body, has capillaries to circulate fluid inside the planet's skin. Like blood and lymph vessels, these veins are common. There's 14 under your home: nine 170 feet deep from a column rising under the house; two 250 feet deep; the rest over 300 feet. The ideal is to have none; 14 is very bad.

"Water in these networks can be different. Some contain minerals -- sodium, calcium, sulphur, etc. These waters are charged with different energies, too. I've seen places where water emerges almost glowing with subtle light. I've just enough insight into this to arouse my curiosity.

"Years ago I read reports from Europe that disease was induced by emanations given off by Earth. In Germany, investigators, including doctors and scientists, studied cancer houses, so-called since many of their residents died of cancer. Consistently these cancer victims slept over crossings of veins. Europeans wrote of noxious rays given off by Earth."

My host interjected, "The previous owners of this house died of cancer."

"I'm not surprised," I replied. "At first I discounted the reports. Their terminology seemed antiquated -- outdated by modern wave physics. But I stumbled on a remarkable example of this, so I began to look carefully. My record for 14 cases is ten direct hits, a near hit, two negative, one uncertain. Direct hit means the tumor was directly over a crossing.

"A friend from Quebec showed me a new book called "Experiences of a Dowser." Austrian government funded a dowser to compile 3,000 cases in 13 European countries. Unfortunately, the book is in French, but well illustrated with diagrams. As more information comes to light, the term noxious ray is being replaced with geopathological energy, or geopath.

"I'll use dowsing to study your home's geopathology. Perhaps earth energies are affecting your wife. If so, I'll try to find a remedy, but I'll tell you now your home has several problems. It's not very healthy here."

After lunch I met the veteran of this struggle with The Big C. She lifted her thin, frail body from her bed to give me a delicate embrace. I sat to stare a long time into her dark, intense eyes as she recounted her ordeal. In five days she'd see her doctors to decide about chemo. I asked a few questions to learn she'd slept 19 years where she was now. I repeated my explanation: I'd trace veins under the house to look for crossings. We all talked about these ideas for many minutes. I promised to teach them all to dowse before I left.

When I sensed they understood, I stood up and went to work. As I took my second step across her bed's foot, my dowsing rod spun to reveal a vein running right. Looking left I saw a sharp intensity flash in her eyes in the instant she realized she'd slept 19 years above a water vein. Silently I noted, "fear, kidneys, water, dark, turbulence." I announced a large vein -- nearly a stream of 25 gallons/minute -- at 180 feet running from her head to her feet. Continuing, I crossed two more before reaching the bathroom. I dowsed her bed's other side to find a small vein crossing the first beneath her left side. She watched my rod spin over her chest and said weakly, "It began in my left breast."

I returned to my seat and said, "Eleven of 15 -- all direct hits. I'll keep looking into this." I watched her eyes mirror her struggle to form questions about something totally unknown. I smiled and offered, "There's many theories, lots of confusion and little understanding of these geopaths, but, as you just saw, they seem to exist.

"European ideas of noxious rays suggest these cancer spots are hot spots, like nuclear radiation. But I think they're cold spots --like dark holes, not points of radiation. In fact, people who sleep on veins feel cold, sleep restlessly and awake tired and swollen. They shrink your body's energy field to drain your vitality.

"To get an idea how it feels to sleep above a vein, imagine lying in a rushing creek. It feels good at first, but after eight hours you'd be cold, weak and wrinkled. Now imagine the water's gone, but the stream's energy -- its temperature and movement -- still flows past you. The energy will affect you in similar ways.

"Recent discoveries brought this to sharper scientific focus. One is about vortexes -- the spirals in a sink drain. If Nature abhors a vacuum, then she loves vortexes. They're everywhere -- from sinks to hurricanes out to galaxies. Water in pipes or veins doesn't flow straight, but whirls in a vortex. It's called the "Corriolis effect," caused by Earth's rotation, or spin.

"It was recently learned water whirling in a vortex generates a measurable electromagnetic (EM) field. As water spins, it acts like a dynamo. This is why observers see lightning inside tornadoes. This means underground water flows create EM currents. In fact, magnetometer studies show where dowsers detect veins, the geomagnetic field drops. This is quite ironic, since water is the analogy used to describe EM currents. In Basic Electricity they taught us voltage is like water pressure, and amperage is like volume of flow.

"So where two veins cross there are two magnetic minima. This is where my tale takes a twist," I said with a smile, "an excursion into EM physics. Hold your right hand so your index finger points ahead and thumb up. Now extend your second finger to point left at 90 degrees to both thumb and index finger. You now have 3 planes intersecting. "This Right Hand Rule says an electron traveling in the index finger direction in a magnetic field in the thumb direction deflects in the second finger direction. This is no flatland collision of billiard balls on a two dimensional table -- it's three dimensions -- at least three. Electrons bend in the third dimension -- left in the Right Hand Rule. In other words: the universe is a revolving door -- the harder you push, the faster it spins out of your way.

"Spin is the word, since every-thing in the universe spins --protons, electrons, atoms, water, wind, stars, planets, galaxies --they all spin. Spin is why energy flows in spirals, whether subatomic particles in physicists' cloud chambers, swirls in your sink, or solar particles in Earth's magnetic field. Right Hand Rule is for counterclockwise spin; there's a Left Hand Rule for clockwise spin. Once you understand spin, you can learn about weaving.

"Back to water veins. So two magnetic minima meet to form a vortex-- a downward spiral -- a void in Earth's magnetic field. An empty place -- a hole, like your sink drain. How intense it is varies with depth, size, speed, direction of whirl, angle of intersection, and other factors. Veins that twist and bend cause more distress, possibly because the more turbulent water flow creates stronger magnetic fields. Some dowsers talk of dark streams that cause greater disturbance, too.

"To park your body on one of these crossings all night weakens your own energy field. Sleeping on a vein lowers your vitality, but a crossing has more intense effects -- as if your vitality disappears down the hole. Your magnetic field above a crossing becomes a site for stagnation, a key synonym for cancer. Many cancers develop from cells suffocating in toxic debris. And the most common toxin isn't DDT, PCB, or TCE, but FAT. Based on limited study of eleven cancers and 30 other geopathic cases, I don't believe these magnetic holes cause cancer by themselves. They create a site to favor a tumor, but it's stagnant waste that feeds a tumor.

"In 1987 the Power Authority of the State of NY (PASNY) released a ten year study which showed kids sleeping near power lines had double the rate of leukemia, a rare cancer in kids. It wasn't what PASNY wanted to find, but attention has focused on how man-made magnetism generated by power lines disrupts natural magnetism. One implication is to avoid electric blankets and waterbeds with electric heaters. It also shines light on my theory magnetic holes form at crossings of water veins.

"Unfortunately, we know little about magnetic effects on organisms. Fish in aquariums avoid intensified EM fields. Worms exposed to strong South magnetic poles become fat and aggressive, while worms in a strong North pole remain small and weak. We also know Earth emits energies in extremely low frequency (ELF) ranges of less than 100 hertz -- same as our brain waves: alpha, delta, theta.

"Russian studies show EM fields affect the central nervous system by means that bypass our sense organs. They reveal geopaths affect the brain, heart rate, thymus, and even alter our biological clock. Many European scientists have begun to study geopaths, and this is now taught in architecture schools.

"In the U.S. Dr. Robert Becker, an orthopedic surgeon at NY's Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, is a leading researcher of EM effects. He mapped the body's EM fields and found that pulsating magnetic fields affect the cortex's hemispheres, skull, heart, and aorta. His most astonishing research used electricity to increase regeneration in bones and other tissues. Becker retired from research when his funding was cut after he testified against high voltage power lines and microwave pollution, but in 1986 he published his work in The Body Electric. Last year he spoke at the Dowsers' Convention in Danville, Vermont. Says he can't dowse, but believes there's something to it. But U.S. research on effects of EM fields -- and dowsing -- is far behind Europe.

"Researchers find EM fields cause tumors and increase their growth. And cancer tissue has a reversed electric polarity. Studies show increased miscarriages and changes in kidney function related to electric blankets. We've begun to see our body as a radio transceiver that interacts with the environment by magnetic resonant feedback. This startles scientists as much as it does you."

I spent the afternoon dowsing the house and yard. There were so many veins I had to mark them with masking tape. I stopped at intervals to teach the family to dowse. Before dinner I compiled my information into a map. After dinner the woman and I talked a long time. I went over my map detailing where each bed was, where there were problems, and how to adapt to them. Then we talked of her condition. I complimented her to hang on so long with such a ruthless disease. We agreed her diet, wonderful cook and caring family were her best allies. We reviewed her diet; I could offer few improvements. I said I admired her clear mind, calm self possession, and direct, honest communication. I said I felt her words came clearly from her mind, but also her heart.

We paused in silence, then, looking softly at her, I said quietly, "You're going to be all right." Her eyes reflected an affirmation. We were silent again, then, with a smile, she said, "Tell me more about this terrible hole I'm sitting on."

I smiled back and said, "Eastern Europe has odd tales about vampires who suck blood from victims at night. Some dowsers think vampire myths refer to these crossings: sleep on one and your vitality is drained. Slavic countries are loaded with faults and water flows. It's a useful, if dramatic image to describe these holes.

"By macrobiotic principles, these water flows are yin: they're water, centrifugal, disperse rather than concentrate, and make you feel cold. They affect watery parts of the body to cause swelling and stagnation. To sleep on a single vein contributes to constipation, lymph stagnation, heart disorders, environmental illness, restless sleep, heaviness, breathing stress, sinus and mucous problems, and can bring on asthma, bronchitis, arthritis, and stroke. One doctor who dowses claims sleeping on veins promotes parasites like candida, allergies, even bedwetting. Some dowsers say they increase mold and spoilage in food. They're great for compost piles, but lousy to park your body on overnight or at work.

"Underground veins affects trees, causing branches to twist and bend. Burls -- cancer-like growths on trees -- are always above a vein. In areas saturated with veins, trees become so twisted the woods have an eerie look of a dark, evil forest. Indeed it is.

"Some things intensify geopaths. Oddly, one is common bedsprings. Those wire coils on a magnetic hole amplify the effect. You have a futon, so I won't suggest buying a new bed. It's a shock to learn something so simple as bedsprings are harmful!

"In your case, five years of careful macrobiotic eating has discharged stagnation which once crowded your organs and lymph. Your present pain, hardness and swelling is your body's last struggle to clean out. It's early summer -- the end of cancer season. Once I move your bed you should regain your vitality steadily to be on your feet in weeks. Congratulations!"

An intense look swept her face and emotion tightened my throat. We were silent a while, then I continued, "We're just learning the ways we are interdependent with Earth. Ideas of noxious rays once seemed fantastic to me, now EPA requires radon testing. Earth affects us in ways we have yet to think of."

With a laugh I said, "We feel her fields, regardless of what -- or how -- we think. Some dowsers claim to neutralize effects of veins. One way is to pound iron rod in the ground above a vein on its upstream end -- the same therapy given vampires: an iron stake in their heart. This may seem superstitious, but remember iron is magnetic. Some put charged stones around the house. Others put open loop copper coils under mattresses. I've no experience with any of these. My advice? Move your bed. With 14 veins, it will be hard to find a safe place.

"Can you make my house safe?" she asked.

"No," I replied. "I'd never build here. The column rising under the house can't be neutralized or deflected. Besides, considering your precarious condition, the safe and wise thing is to move where there's healing energy. There's no positive yang energy here. Veins discharge energy; yang energy charges your body. I found only two yang spots for you -- in the woods beyond your yard."

"Can you find a safe place to move the house?" she persisted.

I chuckled to think of it, then shook my head. "No, this isn't a healing or healthy environment. Other disturbances are here besides veins. The bedrock is a crystalline, folded, metamorphic rock I that sense emits energy which is irritating. Many dowsers find this on geologic faults. There's few faults in central New York, so I have few encounters with this, but I see signs of fractured rock here. Intensified energy is also found with ore deposits, volcanoes and salt beds. NY's Finger Lakes are underlain by salt beds and surrounded by limestone. This seems to intensify yang positive energy.

"I dowse other kinds of geopaths besides water. Some are like high frequency microwaves. They boil up through soil in six-15 foot wide circles. Indian Paint Brush, an 18 inch high plant with dandelion- like orange flowers, often grows in these spots. Ant nests and sick grass in your front yard are clues to this energy. Ants synthesize formic acid to give their bite a fiery sting. These geopaths are like this irritating acid of ants. Cats like these geopaths, but fish, horses and dogs avoid them. Europeans have shown geopaths penetrate everything, even lead, to cause skin irritation, dizziness, hyperactivity, iritability, insomnia, migraines. Cracks in walls or weak, stunted shrubbery are signs of this geopath, although cherry and plum trees, asparagus and mistletoe like it.

"Magnetometers show turbulent magnetism where dowsers detect these geopaths. It has different effects than veins, which affect deep yang organs -- intestines, kidneys, heart, lymphatics. But geopaths affect yin parts: skin and nerves."

Still she insisted on moving the house.

I said, "Forget about dowsing veins. You lived here 19 years - eight in a struggle with cancer. You're about to deny death. Why stay here? It's time to move forward out of suffering into a new life. A change of habitat will be good. Don't get stuck. Why did you sleep all those years on this crossing? Consciously you didn't know about veins or vortexes, but your body experienced them daily. Why was your mind so out of touch with your body?" I paused for the implications to ripple home. "Now you know -- learn more. You can now dowse -- practice. Dowsing is useful far beyond knowing where to sleep -- it develops intuition. With strong intuition, you can deal with any problem."

I spoke of the transformation that occurs to any soul purified in a close encounter with death. I urged her to think of what she'd do when she was active again. "Don't hold back. Don't let fear restrict your growth -- not anymore. You faced death to gain a reprieve. Trust life -- it brought you this far. Now life has a mission for you. Find out what it is and do it. It's what Georges Oshawa called gratitude."

The next morning, after one last night to "sleep on it," we moved her bed. It was difficult to find a safe space amid so many veins, but I found one six feet away, leaving her bed in the middle of the room to block the bathroom. I gave her the best goodbye I could muster and fled out the door to rush through traffic to Boston's airport to miss my flight by minutes.

As her husband paid me, I said, "Seems so odd. To travel 400 miles to move a bed six feet to resolve eight years of disease. Only six feet, yet it seems such a long way, a long time."

He looked warmly at me. "Those may be the biggest six feet in her life. She's moved from fear to faith in the last day, too -- quite a leap."

Three months later I was teaching at the Summer Conference when this entire family appeared. Since the day I moved her bed, she didn't have another bad day, but steadily improved. Swelling and pain were gone and she was walking every day. Doctors considered her in remission. Still weak and frail from her long ordeal, she needed months to regain her vitality, but she was on her way home. Home, by the way, is a new house built at a site checked by a competent dowser.

Dowsing & Earth Wisdom: Asleep with a Vampire,
by David Yarrow reprinted from Solstice magazine, Summer 1989
 

"Men are affected by streams of varying potency issuing from Earth. Some drive people crazy or cause disease or death; the effect of others is good, soothing and beneficial. -- Plutarch, priest at Delphi, first Century A.D., in "The Decline of Oracles"
 

David Yarrow, Associate Editor of "Solstice," has studied the Earth and dowsed for over seven years, and is available to consult on dowsing problems for a green and peaceful planet, for the seventh generation ~

David Yarrow at Turtle EyeLand ~
c/o Broeckx, PO Box 6034, Albany, NY 12206 518-426-0563 ~ dyarrow@igc.org 
http:/www.estrie.com/macphi/yarrow/ ~

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