Ley line

Ley lines, attributed to ancient dodmen, allegedly join geographical points resonating special psychic energy. They may relate to traditional religious sites (such as Stonehenge and other megalith structures), and/or to recognised landscape features such as high or prominent mountains.

Leylines were discovered by Alfred Watkins, who first made his theories public at a meeting of the Woolhope Club of Hereford in September 1921. His actually discovery took place on June 30, 1921 when he visited Blackwardine, Herefordshire. He was looking at map when he noticed key places were aligned. "The whole thing came to me in a flash" he explained to his son afterwards.

His ideas were taken up by the occultist Dion Fortune who featured them in her 1936 novel The Goat-footed God.

Mapping ley lines, according to New Age geomancers, can foster harmony with the "planet" or reveal pre-historic trade routes.

Claims of magnetic interactions appear unproven to date, leading to suspicions that leys belong in the realms of pseudoscience.

However, others claim that the patterns of shrines and monuments in the Aymara territory of Bolivia, as shown in the photographs of Tony Morrison in his 1978 book Pathways of the Gods offer convincing evidence.