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Subtle Agroecologies
Such energies go under the general description of ‘subtle energies’. It is no accident that modern
regenerative farmers – in moving to a post-mechanical mindset – have discovered and recognised
these and increasingly begun to use them to regenerative effect.
Subtle energies come in different forms and expressions, but quite simply, they are those energies
present within and around us, which are beyond perceiving by our standard fve senses. Moreover,
conventional instrumentation can’t measure these energy frequencies. However, importantly, they
affect living systems at the cellular level, and this is dependent upon both the perception of the quality and character of the energy, and the sensitivity of living systems to the energy. In the modern scientifc era, Albert Einstein frst mooted some of these energies, which later led to the feld of quantum
physics: things too small to be seen but which are a basic part of our world, matter and the universe.
Our restricted modern worldview recognises just fve main descriptions of subtle energies in our
environment: electricity, magnetism, gravity, and weak and strong nuclear forces. Yet our living systems themselves are bio-electromagnetic (Malmivuo and Plonsey, 1995), and we can only see, hear
and touch a narrow range of these frequencies. There is a good reason for our restricted perceptions:
if we were able to perceive, feel, hear, etcetera everything out there, then we would be in a constant
state of sensory overload.
The detection of magnetic energy lines and energy fows, patterns, auras or force felds is a skill
that can be developed – as I found out in that park in Dubbo. In everyday language, such detection is
called divining or dowsing, and in the case of treating animals or humans has various names, such
as radionics and kinesiology. Ancient people with an organic mindset were incredibly sophisticated
at detecting and experiencing subtle earth energies. That is why they attributed them to the activity
of the Earth Spirit or nature spirits. The purpose of applying these skills was to connect themselves
to special places, times, cosmic positions and to purpose. The age-old science of doing this is called
‘geomancy’. 4
Because their minds were totally trusting of their indivisibility with Mother Earth and her cosmic forces, such peoples were able to enter more directly into the spiritual realm: much of which is
a realm of energy and mind and includes the physical power of human thought. This, as a researcher
in the feld, Nigel Pennick, says, led to people of an organic mindset revering ‘stream and fountain,
rock and grove, not as gods in themselves…but as inherent sources of the spirits of the earth such
as the Yarthlings and Hyter Sprites, still talked of in East Anglian folklore’ (Pennick 1979: 7–9).
Places of geographical interest were aligned on identifed or dowsed energy lines called leylines.
Sacred monuments and megalithic arrangements were erected on these lines at key nodal points,
which were deemed to resonate with special psychic energy.
In short, there was an ancient geomantic and geophysical knowledge which underpinned most of
the major religions of the world and which was largely lost as the organic mindset morphed into the
rationalist, sceptical mechanical mind. This knowledge is now being put to constructive applied use
by human healers, geomantic earth healers and regenerative farmers who in many other respects
have moved into the post-mechanical or emergent mindset.
THE ART OF DOWSING
As I wandered around the city park in Dubbo, refning my dowsing skills, I refected on how, over
my life, I had met various water diviners or dowsers. A now deceased friend of the family, not far
from our home, had an English aunt who used to come out to walk his farm and, through water
divining, would accurately map his underground streams. During World War II, this lady was called
in by the Ministry of Defence to divine the whereabouts of German U-boats. She used a pendulum
over a map to do so. 5
4 ‘Geomancy: or “earth divination”, is the subtle relation between humans and their natural surroundings. It is the science
of putting human habitats and activities into harmony with the visible and invisible world around us’ (Pennick, 1980: 7).
5 In the UK in 2017, 10 out of the 12 main private water companies were using dowsing to locate water (Le Page, 2017).
Subtle Agroecologies
Such energies go under the general description of ‘subtle energies’. It is no accident that modern
regenerative farmers – in moving to a post-mechanical mindset – have discovered and recognised
these and increasingly begun to use them to regenerative effect.
Subtle energies come in different forms and expressions, but quite simply, they are those energies
present within and around us, which are beyond perceiving by our standard fve senses. Moreover,
conventional instrumentation can’t measure these energy frequencies. However, importantly, they
affect living systems at the cellular level, and this is dependent upon both the perception of the quality and character of the energy, and the sensitivity of living systems to the energy. In the modern scientifc era, Albert Einstein frst mooted some of these energies, which later led to the feld of quantum
physics: things too small to be seen but which are a basic part of our world, matter and the universe.
Our restricted modern worldview recognises just fve main descriptions of subtle energies in our
environment: electricity, magnetism, gravity, and weak and strong nuclear forces. Yet our living systems themselves are bio-electromagnetic (Malmivuo and Plonsey, 1995), and we can only see, hear
and touch a narrow range of these frequencies. There is a good reason for our restricted perceptions:
if we were able to perceive, feel, hear, etcetera everything out there, then we would be in a constant
state of sensory overload.
The detection of magnetic energy lines and energy fows, patterns, auras or force felds is a skill
that can be developed – as I found out in that park in Dubbo. In everyday language, such detection is
called divining or dowsing, and in the case of treating animals or humans has various names, such
as radionics and kinesiology. Ancient people with an organic mindset were incredibly sophisticated
at detecting and experiencing subtle earth energies. That is why they attributed them to the activity
of the Earth Spirit or nature spirits. The purpose of applying these skills was to connect themselves
to special places, times, cosmic positions and to purpose. The age-old science of doing this is called
‘geomancy’. 4
Because their minds were totally trusting of their indivisibility with Mother Earth and her cosmic forces, such peoples were able to enter more directly into the spiritual realm: much of which is
a realm of energy and mind and includes the physical power of human thought. This, as a researcher
in the feld, Nigel Pennick, says, led to people of an organic mindset revering ‘stream and fountain,
rock and grove, not as gods in themselves…but as inherent sources of the spirits of the earth such
as the Yarthlings and Hyter Sprites, still talked of in East Anglian folklore’ (Pennick 1979: 7–9).
Places of geographical interest were aligned on identifed or dowsed energy lines called leylines.
Sacred monuments and megalithic arrangements were erected on these lines at key nodal points,
which were deemed to resonate with special psychic energy.
In short, there was an ancient geomantic and geophysical knowledge which underpinned most of
the major religions of the world and which was largely lost as the organic mindset morphed into the
rationalist, sceptical mechanical mind. This knowledge is now being put to constructive applied use
by human healers, geomantic earth healers and regenerative farmers who in many other respects
have moved into the post-mechanical or emergent mindset.
THE ART OF DOWSING
As I wandered around the city park in Dubbo, refning my dowsing skills, I refected on how, over
my life, I had met various water diviners or dowsers. A now deceased friend of the family, not far
from our home, had an English aunt who used to come out to walk his farm and, through water
divining, would accurately map his underground streams. During World War II, this lady was called
in by the Ministry of Defence to divine the whereabouts of German U-boats. She used a pendulum
over a map to do so. 5
4 ‘Geomancy: or “earth divination”, is the subtle relation between humans and their natural surroundings. It is the science
of putting human habitats and activities into harmony with the visible and invisible world around us’ (Pennick, 1980: 7).
5 In the UK in 2017, 10 out of the 12 main private water companies were using dowsing to locate water (Le Page, 2017).