Powerful places have drawn people to them for thousands of years…and they still do.   The question is, “Why?”  Powerful places have natural elements that create a unique energetic frequency.   Nature loves to work in patterns.  Whether it is the seasons, cycles, planetary transits, fractals, or salmon spawning, nature is forever creating one pattern after another.

One of nature’s patterns that is especially relevant here is her grid of invisible energy currents.  Often experienced by their subtle electromagnetic fields, these energy streams create a web of power points, ley lines, and vortexes that surround the planet.  Let’s take a look at each of these separately to get a sense of what they are and how they impact us differently.

Power Points are areas where a concentrated amount of earth energy comes to the surface.  Hubs of electromagnetic energy are concentrated at these sites—often via Ley Lines that are crisscrossing the planet.  In these locations, everything seems to prosper.  Power points often have mounds, mountains, and enchanted grove of trees or healing natural springs.  Two of my favorite geographical formations on Power Points are:  The Tor in Glastonbury, England and Bugarch in the Languedoc Region of France.

Ley Lines are currents of energy that connect energy centers, or Power Points, on the earth.  These energy pathways have a magnetic quality and are often gently curving in shape, following the shape of the earth.  However, some Ley Lines run in a straight line.   It is interesting that these straight lines often connect standing stones or cathedrals.  A famous example of this lies in the center of one of the most famous Grail Mysteries of France (the Da Vinci Code)—it is the lines that connect Rennes le Chateau and Mt Canigou in the Languedoc Region of France to Girona, Spain (another Grail Legend Site established by Kabbalists in the 12th Century).  Another series of straight lines connect Iona in the Scottish Isles; Findhorn, Scotland; and Glastonbury, England—all places famous for pilgrimages.

And finally, Vortexes are swirling pillars of concentrated energy from the earth that are like chakras in the human energy system.  Vortexes can swirl clockwise or counter-clockwise.  When they swirl clockwise, they generate feminine, receptive energy.  When they swirl counter-clockwise, they bring up masculine, active energy.  Where Power Points tend to be horizontal in nature, connecting Ley Lines, Vortixes are verticle, similar to stationary tornados in the earth.  Although I haven’t read this anywhere, I believe the powerful mountain in Bugarach, France has both a masculine and feminine vortex that consistently and rhythmically switches back and forth like a metronome.

Alison McLean at Stonehenge, England

Ancients all around the world were aware of these energy patterns.  Many made pilgrimages to these powerful energy sites, and often, megalithic monuments were erected to strengthen our connection to these places.  Examples of these sites are: Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and the Pyramids in Egypt.  And a couple places in the United States are Sedona, Arizona and Ojai, California.

There is actually a term for the study of this phenomenon.  It is called Geomancy.  I find it fascinating.  According to Richard Feather Anderson, “Geomancy operates within a worldview that regards the earth as a conscious living being…the earth’s body is perceived of more than a hunk of inanimate matter—it is interlaced with flowing veins of bio-magnetic energy.”

Similar to electricity, although we can’t see the subtle energy of the earth’s grid, we do respond to the effects of it.  Current research in the science of geomancy is revealing the physical, emotional, creative, and productive effects power spots have on us.

Is There a Difference Between a Powerful Place and a Sacred Place?

I think so.  Nature’s patterns make a place powerful but it is humanity’s veneration of an ideal associated with these places that creates the place as sacred.  And when it is created sacred in this way, a powerful symbiotic relationship between the person and the place occurs.  For more information on creating the sacred, visit my blog post How the Sacred Is Created.

Rosslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, Scotland

Many great buildings and cathedrals are built upon these powerful places for this very reason.  Chartres Cathedral outside of Paris was built on two very strong earth energy streams.  Rosslin Chapel outside of Edinburgh, Scotland was built on important ley lines.  Many Knights Templar castles throughout Europe were built on power points.  I find it interesting that Thomas Jefferson was a geomancer and spent time around Rennes le Chateau in the Languedoc Region of France and!  He was quoted to say, “I am going to build my secrets into the geometry of these buildings because I know books can be burned but buildings not so easily.”

Today, there is an increased desire to return to these powerful and sacred sites in order to experience the deep sense of peace, inspiration, healing, and insight available there.

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