In our fast modern world of the world-wide-web, global markets, computer chips and junk food, we can forget we live on an exquisite, multi-dimensional world we call “Mother Earth.”

So many of us have turned our backs on the beauty and the magnificence of this planet whilst we sit in front of an LCD screen looking at pictures on the other side of the world, or the other side of the galaxy. Yet, ironically, the answer to many of the mysteries we “google” may actually lie at our feet.

The ancients knew this wisdom, and they have left markers for us to follow, if we have the will and the inclination to unravel the puzzle that is planet Earth.

Philip Heselton is the founder editor of the Ley Hunter Journal, and continues to research numinous sites in the landscape.

In his book, Earth Mysteries, Heselton takes us on a breathtaking exploration of the unseen mysteries of the world around us.

Some of you may already be familiar with the concept of “ley lines” or energy lines that run through and around the Earth. These lines were discovered and named by Alfred Watkins, a British photographer, magistrate and county councillor with a keen appreciation of the British countryside.

Whilst studying the hills and vales of rural Britain in 1921, Watkins made a discovery that he described as “scales falling from his eyes.”

He saw that over many years of prehistory, all track-ways were in straight lines marked out by mounds, earthworks or clumps of special trees deliberately planted or placed to form a guiding notch on the skyline. These tracks marked the ancient power lines or ley lines of earth energy that criss-cross all parts of the planet.

This discovery was controversial, particularly when Watkins included churches as mark points. These churches were built on pagan sites, such as Cascob, Radnorshire and Fimber in East Yorkshire. Even more controversial was the discovery of an altar dedicated to the pagan god Cernunnas found below the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris which some have claimed was the focus for ancient alignments.

However, Heselton’s research took him to other parts of the world, and the discovery or what is often referred to as “earth lights.” These are light phenomena produced from the body of the Earth, particularly in areas of faulted geology on mountain peaks and ridges, bodies of water and areas of mineral deposits. Heselton believes that many of these natural occurrences could explain phenomena such as UFOs, ghosts, will-o-the-wisps and apparitions of various kinds.

One such place that has a high record of this phenomenon is Marfa in southwest Texas. There are written accounts of these manifestations going back to 1883. In the 1970s research was conducted to see if there were any correlation between these various phenomena, geological features and ancient sites. Researchers discovered a high degree of positive relationship between these incidents, and a later, expanded study, covering the whole of Britain, showed a close correlation between UFO sightings and areas of tectonic activity.

Heselton asserts that the energy which creates earth lights has a sensitising effect on people allowing them to see “psychically” to the point that there may be “outbreaks of psychic effects, such as poltergeist activity.”

He poses the question, could these “earth light” phenomena point to the existence of a fundamental “life energy” that the mystics refer to as prana, or chi and is this force within the planet itself? Mystics and spiritual healers would have no doubt this phenomena points to this conclusion.

Heselton takes us on a wild and riveting journey around our fair blue planet and includes many other researchers such as Wilhelm Reich, Baron Karl von Reichenback who have investigated psychic phenomena. He covers psychometry, psychic archaeology, psychic quest work and dowsing, allowing the reader to form his own opinions on these methods.

Earth Mysteries is filled with photographs and illustrations, but perhaps more importantly, there are diagrams and explanations that encourage and allow the reader to create their own labyrinths or to try dowsing and geomancy.

This book is very much an introduction to this art, but it does contain strong, well-researched information that is invaluable to the serious student.

Perhaps more importantly, Heselton’s clear love for the mysteries of the Earth, and his belief we are all intrinsically interconnected, shines brightly throughout this colourful book.

– Reviewed by Lesley Crossingham in New Dawn No. 98