Dorset Earth Mysteries Group - Talks on Everything from Archaeology to Dowsing

Talks in Detail 2018

January 4th
Dave Shead
Dowding - Saviour and Spiritualist
Air Chief Marshall Dowding masterminded the plan which prevented the invasion of Britain in the Second World War. Dowding, who was given a peerage in 1943 in recognition of his wartime services, became increasingly occupied with spiritual matters and with Spiritualism in particular.

February 1st
Alison Todd
Kinesiology - An Evening of Alternative Healing
Kinesiology is a natural health therapy used to balance posture, increase energy levels, relieve stress, alleviate aches and pains and helps the body feel and function better which enables people to be more effective in daily life, it can help clarify and achieve goals and lead people into happier, healthier ways of being.

March 1st
BAD WEATHER
We will reschedule
CANCELED SORRY
Louise Hodgson Secret Places of Dorset Louise Hodgson, founder of Secret Landscape Tours, writer and artist, has spent most of her life in areas of natural beauty. She was inspired from an early age to explore what she considered to be the roots of her spirituality, hidden and revealed in Nature. With a pack-pony and greyhound, she has travelled some of the ancient track-ways of England. Louise has appeared on television twice, discussing sacred landscape related issues.

April 5th
Nicholas Cope
The Neolithic site of Knap of Howar, Orkney
His extensively illustrated presentation is based on many years of research for his book, 'The Knap of Howar and The Origins of Geometry'. The Knap of Howar is a remarkably well-preserved Neolithic 'dwelling' constructed about 3,500 BC on the remote Scottish island of Papa Westray, Orkney. Nicholas demonstrates that geometry informs the design of this 'crude' building and describes this within a symbolic context. His talk of just over one hour encompasses wide-ranging ideas from Indian philosophical concepts to Renaissance paintings, always referring back to the inherent geometric symbolism seen at this exquisitely preserved site. The Knap of Howar is by consequence considered from a non-Darwinian perspective.

May 3rd
Malcolm Angel
Mysteries of Wimborne
Wimborne Minster is steeped in the most surprising history. Both ancient and modern ' it seeps from the very fabric of the place ' it is a town rightly described as a jewel in Dorset's crown and likened to a near perfect cathedral city in miniature. I won't argue with these analogies - the words form a fine frame encompassing a complex bustling market town, built around its fine minster church - a place of kings, queens, saints and miracles - a key town in the ancient kingdom of Wessex- dripping with history and extraordinary people who have shaped the modern world.

June 7th
Various Speakers
Various Speakers Short Talks Evening and AGM
Members will be presenting a variety of short talks. This evening is open to all, and proved a great success in 2017. If you wish to provide a 20 minute talk, please contact Steve. Details will be added as the slots are filled. Full Technical help will be given.

July 5th
Jonathan Harwood
Hidden Patterns in the Dorset Landscape
The positions of churches in the South Dorset landscape, when connected together by drawn lines (church symbol to church symbol on the 1:25,000 scale map of South Dorset) reveal deliberate meaningful patterns. Jonathon will be describing and analysing these patterns. The hypothesis is explored that these patterns were created in the late Roman period and that, where parish churches now stand, there were once early Christian sacred sites. These probably functioned rather like Pagan temples, in which the rites and mysteries of the birth, 'sacred marriage', death and resurrection of the fertility gods were performed. These rites may have 'activated' the lines of the geometry, thus 'conducting' the ensuing fertility to the land, its people and their livestock. That is one possibility. It is also possible that these patterns were created in order to preserve secrets that might otherwise have been lost.

August 2nd
Stephen Tonkin
Time and Calendars: Reconciling the Unreconcilable
Change of Speaker
The measurement of time has always been a facet of Astronomy. The phases in the development of the Gregorian calendar most (but not all!) of us use today make a fascinating story which blends science, history, sociology, religion and psychology.

September 6th
Ananda Sirisena
The Face on Mars - Four Decades Later
Change of Speaker
In 1976 the Viking Orbiters photographed what looked like a face-like feature on Mars, which many suggested was evidence of an ancient civilisation in the region known as Cydonia. However in 1998, NASA released a picture of the massif which seemingly disproved the notion of a facial type carving. In 2008, NASA quietly placed on its website a new image of the Face on Mars which shows features commensurate with the 1976 photos. What has been going on? And what is on the Moon's darkside? Ananda is the President of SPSR - The Society For Planetary SETI Research. (SETI as everyone knows is the Search For Extraterrestrial Life.)

October 4th
Louise Hodgson
Secret Places of Dorset
Louise Hodgson, founder of Secret Landscape Tours, writer and artist, has spent most of her life in areas of natural beauty. She was inspired from an early age to explore what she considered to be the roots of her spirituality, hidden and revealed in Nature. With a pack-pony and greyhound, she has travelled some of the ancient track-ways of England. Louise has appeared on television twice, discussing sacred landscape related issues.

November 1st
Dr Michael Arnheim
Angel Tongue the Evolution of English and Euro languages and the Oral Tradition
Dr Michael Arnheim (or

December 6th
Gary Biltcliffe
Occult Centres of Power in the British Landscape and Dorset Sites
After visiting many Celtic sites around Europe, Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare discovered that these ancient tribes marked their territory by locating and honouring its geographical centre or