Earth mysteries are a wide range of spiritual, quasi-religious and

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

ideas focusing on cultural and religious beliefs about the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

, generally with regard to particular geographical locations of historical significance. Believers in Earth mysteries generally consider certain locations to be sacred, or that certain spiritual energies may be active at those locations. The term " alternative archaeology" has also been used to describe the study of Earth mystery beliefs. The study of

ley line Ley lines () are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures and prominent landmarks. The idea was developed in early 20th-century Europe, with ley line believers arguing that these alignments were recognised by ancient soci ...

s originates in the 1920s with

Alfred Watkins Alfred Watkins (27 January 1855 – 15 April 1935) was an English author, self-taught amateur archaeologist, antiquarian and businessman who, while standing on a hillside in Herefordshire, England, in 1921 experienced a revelation. He noticed ...

. The term "Earth mysteries" for this field of interest was coined about 1970 in ''The Ley Hunter'' journal, and the associated concepts have been embraced and reinvented by movements such as the

New Age Movement New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consid ...

and

modern paganism Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

during the 1970s to 1980s. Some New Age believers engage in travel to locations they consider important according to their beliefs; for example,

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connec ...

is a popular destination amongst New Age seekers.

History

The concept of Earth mysteries can be traced back to two 17th-century

antiquarians An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...

and

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

, who both believed that

was associated with the

druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

. Stukeley mixed together ancient monuments and

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

towards an "idealized vision" of nature. "

Ley lines Ley lines () are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures and prominent landmarks. The idea was developed in early 20th-century Europe, with ley line believers arguing that these alignments were recognised by ancient socie ...

" were postulated by

in 1921 at a presentation at the

Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club (or simply the Woolhope Club) is a society devoted to the natural history, geology, archaeology, and history of Herefordshire, England. Founded in 1851, it has had many notable members and played an important ...

, later published in ''Early British Trackways'' (1922) and ''The Old Straight Track'' (1925). Watkins formed the ''Old Straight Track Club'' in 1927, which was active until 1935 but became defunct during the World War II period. A revival of interest in the topic began in the 1960s, now associated with

neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

currents like

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

, and with

ufology Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and ...

. Watkins' Straight Track Club was revived in 1962 by

Philip Heselton Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British conservation officer, a Wiccan initiate, and a writer on the subjects of Wicca, Paganism, and Earth mysteries. He is best known for two books, ''Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchc ...

and others as the Ley Hunters' Club. The new club's journal ''The Ley Hunter'' was issued from 1965 to 1970, subtitled "the Magazine of Earth Mysteries". British writer John Ivimy wrote a book in 1975 called ''The Sphinx and the Megaliths'' in which he linked the Egyptian

Sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

to the British

and other megalithic structures claiming they were all built by a group of "elite trained" people. The New Age boom of the 1980s expanded the scope of the "Earth mysteries" field beyond the British landscape, and Earth mysteries as a "New Age invented tradition" by the 1990s could include the study of ancient sites and landscapes (including

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cu ...

, and

ley lines Ley lines () are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures and prominent landmarks. The idea was developed in early 20th-century Europe, with ley line believers arguing that these alignments were recognised by ancient socie ...

), Chinese

geomancy Geomancy ( Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy in ...

or feng shui, western magical concepts of

gematria Gematria (; he, גמטריא or gimatria , plural or , ''gimatriot'') is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher ...

, and

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations ( radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in ...

. An important writer combining these fields during the 1970s to 2000s was

John Michell John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation. Considered ...

. Michell's book ''The View Over Atlantis'' mixed

with

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

and

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

; these ideas became popularised as "earth mysteries". Other 1980s authors on the subject of Earth mysteries include

Paul Devereux Paul Devereux (born 1945) is a British author, researcher, lecturer, broadcaster, artist and photographer based in the UK. Devereux is a co-founder and the managing editor of the academic publication ''Time & Mind – the Journal of Archaeology, C ...

and

Nigel Pennick Nigel Campbell Pennick (born 1946 in Guildford, Surrey, England) is a marine biologist, who has also published on occultism, magic, natural magic, divination, subterranea, rural folk customs, traditional performance and Celtic art as well as r ...

. Related ideas include the "

landscape archaeology Landscape archaeology, a sub-discipline of archaeology and archaeological theory, is the study of the ways in which people in the past constructed and used the environment around them. It is also known as archaeogeography (from the Greek "ancient ...

" advocated by German author Kurt Derungs from about 1990, and the wider field of "

Forteana Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...

", a term taken to include

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

phenomena more generally.

Publication history

Books on Earth mysteries first appeared in the 1970s, discussing topics such as

, earth energies, astro-archaeology, sacred landscapes,

megalithic monuments A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

and

.Daren Kemp, James R. Lewis, Handbook of New Age, 2007, p. 265 Timeline of publications: * 1973 – ''The View Over Atlantis'',

* 1975 – ''Atlantean traditions in ancient Britain'', Anthony Roberts * 1977 – ''The Ancient Wisdom'',

Geoffrey Ashe Geoffrey Thomas Leslie Ashe (29 March 1923 – 30 January 2022) was a British cultural historian and lecturer, known for his focus on King Arthur. Early life Born in London, Ashe was an only child who excelled all his classmates in academics ...

* 1977 – ''Quicksilver Heritage'', Paul Screeto * 1978 – ''Earth Magic'', Francis Hitching * 1986 – ''Planetary Mysteries'', Richard Grossinge * 1990 – ''Atlas of Earth Mysteries'', Philip Whitfield * 1995 – ''Earth Mysteries'',

* 2000 – ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Earth Mysteries'',

* 2003 – ''The New Encyclopedia of the Occult'', John Michael Greer * 2003 – ''Ley Lines and Earth Energies'', David R. Cowan and Chris Arnold * 2005 – ''Ley Lines'', Danny Sullivan

Reception

Proponents consider the Earth mysteries to be "

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

" and " mythopoeic" rather than scientific. The ley lines idea has been generally ignored by the academic establishment in the field of archaeology. The work of researchers who support the paranormal aspects of Earth mysteries have been extensively criticized by "professional debunkers" such as

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...

, and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ( CSICOP). The Earth mysteries movement in Great Britain embraced the term "ritual landscapes" that was used in British archaeology starting in the 1980s, with regards to "sacred" locations apparently used for mainly ceremonial purposes in the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

and the early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

; the concept has been both adopted and criticized in the field of academic archaeology. Tourism associated with the Earth mysteries movement in this regard is known as the "landscape heritage" segment of the market.

References

External links

Earth Mysteries
at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive

by Chris Whitcombe

at

Encyclopædia Britannica Online An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

Top 10 Earth Mysteries
at Paranormal.about.com {{Stonehenge Stonehenge

History

Publication history

Reception

See also

References

External links