Ley lines are alignments of a number of places of geographical interest, such as ancient megaliths. Their existence was first suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins, whose book The Old Straight Track first brought the phenomenon to the attention of the wider public. The existence of these apparently remarkable alignments between sites is easily demonstrated. However, the causes of these alignments are disputed. There are three major schools of thought: Anthropological: According ...

Including:

• Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track
• Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines
• Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments
• Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?
• Ley line - Controversy
• Ley line - Scientific investigation
• Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia - Ley line

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Controversy

List of ley lines - North England. West and South Yorkshire : There are many places here with names ending "-ley". This has been put down to Anglian colonisation, because the names of places in East Yorkshire are more Scandinavian or Danish. Lines connecting these settlements appear to be trade-routes. List of ley lines - Germania. In Germany are ...

See also:

List of ley lines, List of ley lines - England, List of ley lines - North England, List of ley lines - Germania, List of ley lines - South England, List of ley lines - London, List of ley lines - Americas, List of ley lines - India, List of ley lines - Australia

Read more here: » List of ley lines: Encyclopedia II - List of ley lines - England

For many thousands of years our ancestors have been visiting and venerating the power places of Europe. One culture after another has often frequented the same power sites and the story of how these magical places were discovered and used is filled with fairies and nature spirits, sages and astronomers, and enigmatic myths of world destroying cataclysms.

Read more here: » Sacred Sites: Pilgrimage in Ancient Europe - Megalithic and Celtic Sacred Space

Statistics shows that if you put a large number of random points on a bounded flat surface you can find many alignments of random points. Some people think that this can be used to prove that ley lines exist due to chance alone (as opposed to supernatural or anthropological explanations). One precise definition which expresses the generally accepted meaning of "alignment" as: a set of points, chosen from a given set of landmark points, all of which l ...

Including:

• Alignments of random points - An estimate of the probability of alignments existing by chance
• Alignments of random points - Computer simulation of alignments

Read more here: » Alignments of random points: Encyclopedia - Alignments of random points

Geomancy (from Old French geomancie <Late Latin geōmantia <Late Greek geōmanteia< geo, "earth" + manteia, "divination") from the eponymous ilm al-raml ("the science of sand"), is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground, or how handfuls of dirt land when you toss them. The Arabic tradition consists of sketching sixteen random lines of dots in sand. In Africa one traditional form of geomancy consists of throwing handfuls of dirt in the air and observing ho ...

Including:

• Geomancy - Literary Background
• Geomancy - Western Methodology
• Geomancy - Astrological Geomancy
• Geomancy - Other uses

Read more here: » Geomancy: Encyclopedia - Geomancy

Ancient trackway can refer to any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity. Such paths existed from the earliest times and in every part of the globe. The term is commonly used in the British isles to describe the ancient trackways that already existed when the Romans arrived, in Britain. Such trackways, were often built on by the Romans and form the foundations of some of the current system of roads. Ancient trackway - The beginnings. The Concise Oxford Dictionary gives the definition ...

Including:

• Ancient trackway - The beginnings
• Ancient trackway - The trackways
• Ancient trackway - Settlements
• Ancient trackway - Wallingford
• Ancient trackway - Brownhills
• Ancient trackway - Cadbury Castle and South Cadbury Village

Read more here: » Ancient trackway: Encyclopedia - Ancient trackway

The Lorelei (originally written as Loreley) is a rock in the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, which soars some 120 meters above the water line. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline caused many boat accidents in former times. The name comes from the ancient German words "luren" (look, lurk) and "ley" (rock). The translation of the name woul ...

Including:

• Lorelei - Translation of Heine's Die Lore-ley
• Lorelei - External link

Read more here: » Lorelei: Encyclopedia - Lorelei

Alfred Watkins (1855–April 15, 1935) is noted as being a scholar of ley lines. Watkins was born in Hereford to a family which had moved to the town in 1820 to establish a milling and brewing business. Watkins travelled across Herefordshire as an outrider representing the family business. He was also a respected photographer making some cameras himself and manufacturing the Watkins exposure meter ...

Including:

• Alfred Watkins - Books by Alfred Watkins:

Read more here: » Alfred Watkins: Encyclopedia - Alfred Watkins

Ley Lines:

Lines as a way Alignments of ancient sites, these are considered to be earth's natural energy lines and also that spirit may use these of traveling quickly from one place to another. It has also been suggested that where two Ley Lines cross there is a possible chance of a portal opening to other dimensions.

(See also: Ley Lines, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

The existence of the observed alignments is not controversial. Both believers in magical and ancient theories of ley lines and skeptics of these theories agree that these alignments exist between megaliths and ancient sites. Most skeptics believe that their null hypothesis of ley-line-like alignments being due to random chance is consistent with all known evidence. They believe that this removes the need to explain these alignments in any other way. Some Chaos Magicians have views consistent with this, and claim this is in accord with ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?

According to data obtained by investigators of ley line theories, some ley lines points possess higher magnetic energy than the average geomagnetic intensity. This has been investigated and published about in sources such as "Places of power" (Paul Devereux; Blandford Press, 1990) and "Lodestone Compass: Chinese or Olmec Primacy?" (John B. Carlson; Science, 1975) among other sources. Theories of magnetic interaction at ley line points suggest to some observers that these points were used to induct energy. Some geomantic researc ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Scientific investigation

Watkins' theories have been adapted by later writers. Some of his ideas were taken up by the occultist Dion Fortune who featured them in her 1936 novel The Goat-footed God. Since then, ley lines have become the subject of many magical and mystical theories. The two British dowsers, Captain Robert Boothby and Reginald Smith of the British Museum have linked the appearance of ley-lines with underground streams, and magnetic currents. Ley-spotter / Dowser Underwood conducted various investigations and claimed that crossings of 'ne ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines

Some skeptics have suggested that ley lines are a product of human fancy. Watkins' discovery happened at a time when Ordnance Survey maps were being marketed for the leisure market, making them reasonably easy and cheap to obtain; this may have been a contributing factor to the popularity of ley line theories. One suggestion is that thanks to the high density of historic and prehistoric sites in Britain and other parts of Europe, that finding straight lines that "connect" sites (usually selected to make them "fit") is trivial, and may ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments

The concept of ley lines was first propounded by Alfred Watkins. On June 30, 1921, Watkins visited Blackwardine in Herefordshire, and went riding around near some hills in the vicinity of Bredwardine when he noted many of the footpaths therein seemed to connect one hilltop to another in a straight line. He was studying a map when he noticed that a number of significant places were in alignment. "The whole thing came to me in a flash," he would later explain to his son. Some people have portrayed this as being some sort of mystical experience ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track

Appendix A is entitled "Ley Hunting" and begins with a quote from Henry VI. All the country is lay'd for me and then continues: Both indoor map and outdoor field exploration are necessary. Field work is essential. It is surprising how many mounds, ancient stones, and earthworks are to be found which are not marked, even on the large scale maps. I often feel sure from small indications - such as the knowl marked by a tuft of trees, the two or three Scotch firs in straggling line, the conformation of a road with a ...

See also:

The Old Straight Track, The Old Straight Track - Preface to the Original Edition, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 1 Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 2 Aligment of Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 3 Leys in Radnor Vale, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 11 Ley-Men, The Old Straight Track - Appendix A Ley Hunting

Read more here: » The Old Straight Track: Encyclopedia II - The Old Straight Track - Appendix A Ley Hunting

The preface ends with this statement. What really matters in this book is whether it is a humanly designed fact, an accidental coincidence, or a "mare's nest," that mounds, moats, beacons, and mark stones fall into straight lines throughout Britain, with fragmentary evidence of trackways on the alignments. A.W. HEREFORD August 1925 ...

See also:

The Old Straight Track, The Old Straight Track - Preface to the Original Edition, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 1 Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 2 Aligment of Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 3 Leys in Radnor Vale, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 11 Ley-Men, The Old Straight Track - Appendix A Ley Hunting

Read more here: » The Old Straight Track: Encyclopedia II - The Old Straight Track - Preface to the Original Edition

Computer simulations show that points on a plane tend to form alignments similar to those found by ley hunters in numbers consistent with the order-of-magnitude estimates above, suggesting that ley lines may also be generated by chance. This phenomenon occurs regardless of whether the points are generated pseudo-randomly by computer, or from data sets of mundane features such as pizza restaurants. It is easy to find alignments of 4 to 8 points in reasonably small data sets with w = 50m. Choosing large areas or ...

See also:

Alignments of random points, Alignments of random points - An estimate of the probability of alignments existing by chance, Alignments of random points - Computer simulation of alignments

Read more here: » Alignments of random points: Encyclopedia II - Alignments of random points - Computer simulation of alignments

Chapter 1 begins... Unlike tracks, mounds remain unaltered in site down the ages; in many cases practically unchanged on form. Their antiquity is undoubted, as for the past half-century a concentration of archæological energy devoted to exploring their burial contents has proved most of them to be pre-Roman. It continues.... Lasting through scores of centuries of unwritten and written language, it is natural that many different names have become attached to each structure, and they are accordingly known by the ...

See also:

The Old Straight Track, The Old Straight Track - Preface to the Original Edition, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 1 Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 2 Aligment of Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 3 Leys in Radnor Vale, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 11 Ley-Men, The Old Straight Track - Appendix A Ley Hunting

Read more here: » The Old Straight Track: Encyclopedia II - The Old Straight Track - Chapter 1 Mounds

The first paragraph is: In the district under investigation the mounds, or "tumps" as they are called on the Welsh border, are, as a rule, few and far between. But they do align with each other and their fellow-structures - moats - and also with other sites of antiquity. Later: Two alignments, chiefly of earthworks, cross on a ring mound at an acute angle... ...

See also:

The Old Straight Track, The Old Straight Track - Preface to the Original Edition, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 1 Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 2 Aligment of Mounds, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 3 Leys in Radnor Vale, The Old Straight Track - Chapter 11 Ley-Men, The Old Straight Track - Appendix A Ley Hunting

Read more here: » The Old Straight Track: Encyclopedia II - The Old Straight Track - Chapter 2 Aligment of Mounds