An Introduction to the Geodetic System
Ian Pegler
Second draft 23.09.04
Introduction
This paper serves as a brief introduction to the Geodetic System of
the late Guy Underwood (1883-1964), who was one of the early pioneers in the
field of what has since evolved into "Earth-energy dowsing". Briefly the
Geodetic System is a series of naturally occurring patterns and "lines of
influence" in the landscape which may be discovered by dowsing especially at
(but not limited to) ancient tracks and holy sites. Some of these lines and
patterns are associated with underground water-courses and others are not.
According to Underwood, ancient sites and trackways were deliberately
positioned to coincide with these phenomena (hence the title of his book
"The Pattern of the Past").
The Geodetic System should be considered as a sincere attempt by an intelligent,
level-headed individual to understand the nature of the "pull" of the divining
rod, and to relate the force-of-nature which is its cause to the behaviour
of plants, animals and humans.
We will look at the history behind Underwood's discoveries and discuss the
nature of these patterns. We will also discuss the means of detecting these
lines and the geodetic sensitive rod used by Underwood. We will examine
the main patterns in the Geodetic System (but not all of them) and finally
discuss whether or not they really are "patterns of the past". Before we go
any further, however, we need to clear up some common misconceptions.
Myth-busting time
- Geodetic lines are not ley-lines. Ley-lines are dead-straight
alignments of four or more ancient sites. Underwood's patterns are usually
anything but straight.
- Geodetic lines are not "energy-lines". Underwood's "Earth-force"
was conceived as being everywhere. The geodetic lines do not carry energy,
nor are they composed of energy. They are distortions of an unknown field
that was conceived of as being everywhere on the Earth.
- Geodetic lines are not "overgrounds" or "undergrounds". Underwood
never used these terms at all. That does not mean that these terms are
irrelevant, however.
I have written this new section because of some inaccurate information I
have seen on the web. I realise that I am at risk of repeating myself, but
I believe that it is time to un-pick this confused entanglement of ideas that
has come about because of accidents of history. The confabulation with
ley-lines came about because Underwood's book was published at roughly the
same time as John Michell's "View over Atlantis", and both books came out in
the "psychedelic" era. The notion that ley-lines are lines of energy was due
to more confabulation with English, French and German ideas that had nothing
to do with the original concept. The idea that UFOs follow ley-lines came from
a French book "Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery" by Aime Michel.
None of these later ideas has anything to do with Guy Underwood's geodetic system.
History
Long before the so-called "counter-culture" of the '60s and '70s, water-diviners
had already made the connection between ancient sites and the presence of
underground water. This was not some New-Age whimsy. French dowsers including
MM. Louis Merle and Charles Diot were making such observations as early as
the 1930s. British dowsers such as Reginald Allender Smith and Captain
Robert Boothby came to similar conclusions at around the same time.
The work of these dowsers influenced Guy Underwood who was a member of the
British Society of Dowsers. Guy Underwood was a barrister, a competent
draughtsman and amateur archaeologist. He took a keen interest in dowsing and
came up with many new designs for dowsing rods. He surveyed many ancient
sites in Britain and abroad, and expanded greatly on the discoveries made
by Merle and others.
He gave the name Geodetic System to the lines and patterns he perceived
with his dowsing rod and published his findings in a series of articles in the
journal of the British Society of Dowsers between 1947 and 1951. Eventually he
wrote up his results in a book called "The Pattern of the Past" which was
published in 1969, five years after his death.
The book was published posthumously because Underwood feared the reaction of
professional archaeologists. More recently, previously unpublished material of
Underwood's was published by Dennis Wheatley, the President of the Wyvern
Society of Dowsers in the U.K., who had inherited some of Underwood's papers[1].
There are still papers by Underwood which have never been published.
If you pick up any book on dowsing or ley-lines from a bookstore shelf the
chances are better than even that it will at least mention Guy Underwood's
work. Such is its importance, even today.
What are geodetic lines?
Underwood theorised that the Earth is covered by a field which he called the
"Earth Force". He used this term simply because its true nature was not yet
known to science. He did not intend this idea to be any more mysterious than
necessary, in fact he thought that it might be "an unrecognised effect of some
already established force, such as magnetism or gravity"[2]. If the fields or
forces perceived by the dowser were due to phenomena recognised by science
then it follows that in time science should be able to verify his claims.
This was Underwood's belief, however mainstream scientists have neglected
dowsing, for the most part, as a topic for serious research.
The "Earth force" suggestion reveals the pragmatic attitude of Underwood. He
seems to have been sceptical of the more outlandish claims made for dowsing by
people who we would now call "New Age". For Underwood dowsing was a skill that
anyone could learn, and was not the preserve of an elite claiming some
mysterious special gift.
Geodetic lines, according to Underwood, are discontinuities in this
Earth force. They were not "energy lines" or "ley-lines" according to
Underwood's way of thinking. However Dennis Wheatley[3], who inherited some of
Guy Underwood's research papers believes that they are lines of energy
within the Earth. What seems certain is that these lines and patterns can be
detected by dowsing.
Detecting the geodetic lines
Underwood's system places less emphasis on the need for the dowser to mentally
focus on the target. Instead he thought that the geodetic lines affected
different sides of the body (or brain). "Negative" lines affect the left side
of the body, whereas "positive" lines affect the right (these terms have
nothing to do with electrical charge in this context). It is not clear from
his book whether the situation is reversed for left-handed dowsers, however
I am left-handed and for me there is no changeover.
Going by Underwood's scheme, the way the dowser discriminates between the
positive and negative lines is by altering his grip on the dowsing rod. For
negative lines he uses a stronger grip with his left hand and holds the right
side more lightly. The reverse is employed for detecting positive lines.
This is what is meant when he employs the term "left-handed grip" and
"right-handed grip" respectively.
The geodetic sensitive rod
The geodetic rod was one of Underwood's inventions and the one that he
favoured for doing his work on the Geodetic System. The rod consists of a
stiff handle, springy cable and a wire link connecting the two. The wire link
has loops at both ends so that the cable and the handle can rotate freely
around each other. The following illustration should make this easier
to understand:
Figure 1 - the geodetic rod
Even some experienced dowsers have had some difficulty in using this rod.
Tom Graves called it "one of the most awkward and cantankerous tools that
I've ever come across"[4].
Looking at the illustration in Grave's book Needles of Stone I think I
can see why he was having some difficulty. His rod looks like a very poor
implementation. Having said that I have tried using an original geodetic rod
(as marketed by Underwood in the 1950s) and I also found it awkward to use.
Part of the problem I believe to be the length of the connecting wire. If this
is too short it just won't work.
The rod in Figure 1 was constructed by myself and I much prefer it to
the original. I made the connecting wire longer and used blobs of solder
instead of Grave's "cable-clips". A tent-peg is used for the stiff handle
and the wire-loop sits in a groove made with a rat-tail file. Instead of
Graves' motor-bike brake-cable (!!!) I use a guitar-string (bottom E, made
of bronze) for the springy cable.
The result is a very sensitive rod and I think any dowser could use it with a
little practice. However, a pair of L-rods would probably do just as well.
In fact there may even be a case for saying that the geodetic rod is a
little too sensitive, although this may be due to implementation rather
than design.
Patterns
Lets look at the various patterns in the geodetic system. In each of the
following sections negative lines are coloured blue, positive lines are red.
Note that the individual lines are of negligible width. Note also that this
list is not comprehensive.
Water-line
The water-line consists of three negative "hair-line" bands. According to
Underwood's friend George Applegate[5] the central band is stronger than the
ones either side in terms of the reaction from the rod.
The water-line is the only pattern that may correspond to the location of
underground water streams, however for some of its related patterns this
cannot be the case. Each water-line has two parallels which are negative
triple-bands on either side of the water-line. The distance between a
water-line and one of its parallels is supposed to be approximately equal to
the depth of the underground stream. This method of finding the depth of the
stream is known as Bishop's Rule. According to Underwood, the
water-line must be found first, before the parallels can be perceived.
Track-line (or "Geostat")
A track line consists of a pair of positive triple-bands and commonly are
found along ancient tracks. According to Underwood animals seem to want to
walk along track-lines. This implies that animals can sense them.
In earlier papers Underwood says that track-lines consist of three
triple-bands, not two. However, by the time he wrote "Pattern of the Past"
he'd changed his mind. Tom Graves' book "Needles of Stone" states that a
track-line consists of three triple-bands. This is because Graves used
Underwood's earlier papers as his reference point.
Aquastat
An aquastat consists of twelve positive lines arranged in two pairs of
triple-bands. Note the larger gap in the middle. Aquastats are common and
can be found in churches and cathedrals, where they run along the length of
the nave. Thin aquastats may be perceived as four individual reactions of
the dowsing rod rather than twelve.
To confuse matters somewhat, in Underwood's earlier papers he describes
aquastats as having three bands, not four or twelve. Moreover he says that
the bands are both positive and negative. In "Pattern of the Past"
an aquastat has four or twelve lines, all of them positive.
So far we've seen the 3 basic patterns or primary lines. In the above
diagrams they are illustrated as being straight but this is a simplification.
In practice very few of the lines in the Geodetic system are straight. In
the diagrams that follow, lines in black may refer to any of the three
primary lines.
Winding lines
Reticulation
Reticulation is when the lines converge on a single point. This can happen
to individual triple-bands, or to all of the lines, as in the following
illustration:
A reticulating aquastat
Zig-zags
A sharp bend in a zig-zag line may be the location of a reticulation point,
called a node.
Loops
Undulating lines
Branch spirals
Branch spirals are small spirals which branch off the main line.
Frequently they are associated with nodes.
Primary Spirals and Blind Springs
Primary spirals are patterns which occur at blind springs. A blind
spring or dome is where geothermal or primary water rising up at high
temperature and pressure through the earth hits an impermeable layer of rock
and splays out in all directions, finding its way up through any available
gaps. The effect of the blind spring is to cause the energy to spiral,
rather than follow the underground water-courses. The number of coils in
one of these spirals is normally a multiple of seven, except for track-line
spirals which have multiples of 3½. Spirals may be left-handed
(spiralling clockwise going outwards, as in the diagram) or right-handed
(spiralling anti-clockwise). They may also be distorted in shape.
Ancient and holy sites are very often centred on blind springs. Many churches
have their altars over blind springs. According to Underwood certain trees
and plants growing near blind springs will grow in such a way that they
seem to lean towards them. He also comments that cows and pigs prefer to
have their young over blind springs, and that geese and hens make their
nests over them. Gnats congregate over blind springs and nodes.
Geospirals
Geospirals exist separately from the primary lines and are always situated
over blind springs. They usually have seven coils and always terminate in a
smaller spiral turning the opposite way. There are two geospirals for every
blind spring but only one is easily detectable at any given time. Which one
seems to depend on the phase of the moon.
Chicken or egg?
Guy Underwood believed that ancient sites, mediaeval churches and cathedrals
were sited over the energy-centres or blind springs. In other words, he
believed that the people who built these structures were aware of the
geodetic lines, and marked their presence with stone circles, barrows and
so on. Even some dowsers find this idea hard to believe. Some dowsers,
such as Tom Graves suggest that some geodetic patterns such as spirals
were effects caused by the presence of the stone structures[6]. However
Underwood found spirals at locations such as Dragon Hill in Uffington
and the Cerne Abbas Giant, where there are no stone structures to interfere
with the patterns. Even so it is hard to believe that these flowing
patterns are completely rigid and immutable. Perhaps the presence of
the structures influences the lines in some way.
Conclusion
Guy Underwood's book was published during a time when there was an increase
of interest in all things "paranormal", such as UFOs, ley-lines and so on.
I doubt very much that Underwood would want his ideas put in this bracket
and to do so is technically incorrect. The Geodetic System is
natural, not supernatural. It has nothing to do with ley-lines
or UFOs.
It should be noted that Underwood could have published his ideas nearly
twenty years earlier. Had he done so it would not have been possible to
associate his work with the 70's "counter-culture". That he felt compelled
to wait because of the inevitable backslash of the scientific world is a
matter of some regret (and no little shame) not least because of the
confusion that exists in people's minds.
In spite of its continuing importance to the field, Underwood's book is long
out of print. I hope this paper has interested you enough to want to try and
get hold of a copy of "The Pattern of the Past" or one of Dennis Wheatley's
books, details of which are given in the references below. There are many
booksellers who will be able to help you find a second-hand copy of
Underwood's book, and thankfully you can now do your searching on the Internet.
Obviously there is far more to the Geodetic System than can be covered in a
short paper like this but if it helps revive an interest in this fascinating
topic then my task is done.
Postscript
The July 2004 edition of the science journal Focus featured an article
by the noted science-author and astrophysicist John Gribbin[7]. In it he
describes the work of Vincent Reddish, former Astronomer Royal for Scotland,
and one time director of the Edinburgh Observatory. According to Reddish,
the "dowsing field" is created by the rotation of the Earth. This field
reflects off some material objects (such as aluminium, tin, silver and
rubber) and is re-transmitted by others (e.g. copper, iron, wood, earth
and most liquids). Water responds strongly to this field, and the dowser
is able to detect the field because of the water in the dowser's own body.
When this field reflects off objects it can produce interference bands,
for example Reddish found dowsing patterns at "the edges of buried old
roads and field drains". In my view all this talk of a field generated by
the Earth and patterns of bands sounds very familiar.
For more information on dowsing see my
dowsing web-pages
or contact the British Society of Dowsers, at the following address:
The British Society of Dowsers
2 St. Anne's Road
Malvern
Worcestershire
WR14 4RG
U.K.
tel/fax: 01684 576969
e-mail: secretary@britishdowsers.org
web: www.britishdowsers.org
Good luck, and happy dowsing! :-)
Ian Pegler.
©Copyright Ian Pegler 2003-2004
Contact details:
22 Erw Goch
Waun Fawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 3AZ
U.K.
[1] See, for example A New view of Stonehenge, Dennis Wheatley, Braden press.
[2] The Pattern of the Past, Guy Underwood, published by Abacus and Museum
press. Various imprints.
[3] Dennis Wheatley is the President of the Wyvern Dowsers Society in the
U.K. His book Principles of Dowsing (published by Thorsons) is well worth
reading.
[4] Needles of Stone, Tom Graves, published originally by Gothic Image
1986. This can now be downloaded for free as an e-book from the Glastonbury
Archive. See www.isleofavalon.co.uk/archive
[5] See George Applegate's excellent The Complete Guide to Dowsing published
by Element 1997.
[6] Needles of Stone, op cit.
[7]
Focus, July 2004, edition #140. Article: What lies beneath, by John Gribbin.