Knowledge of the mysterious underground energies and the ability to dowse their precise location is as integral to the Chinese Feng Shui tradition as it is to other geomantic traditions of the world. The personification of the telluric currents as the consciousness of the subterranean Dragon, Serpent, or Crocodile spirit is a global image. Whether named Lung, Naga, Wyvern or Wonambi, these beings are variously respected, feared, appeased, tamed and  honoured the world over.  The aim of Feng Shui is to seek the healthy Qi (Sheng Qi) and avoid the unhealthy Qi (Sha Qi). As the Ming Dynasty text “Shui Peng Ba Zhen Fa” or “The Eight Needles of The Water Compass Method” reveals, classical Chinese understanding of the nature of the unhealthy Qi that rises from within the earth accords very closely with the modern western dowsing  tradition’s knowledge of the dangers of geopathic stress.

The wet by compass the dry needle compass method  superceded by the dry needle which was invented in the and Ming trembling Dynasty.  Since that time the dipping and trembling movements, as balanced opposed to needle the in rotation, of the delicately balanced needle in the central Heaven pool of the Luo Pan have been used to divine the nature of the underground Qi a site. The vertical movements of the Heaven Pool needle thus used in the  same way as are divining rods and the pendulum in the Western geomantic  traditions. 

GEOPATHIC STRESS

Modern understanding of geopathic stress recognises a number of different sources. Generally the most dangerous are the harmful underground water veins known to European dowsers as black streams, and to the Chinese as channels of underground Sha Qi. Also important are geological faults, randon gas, mineral deosits, ley line crossings, and global geomagnetic grid crossings. 

Latterly, the entire spectrum of AC pulsed electromagnetic fields, and industrial and medical ionising radiation sources have to also be considered, as well as DC field distruptions caused by metal objects. 

SHA STREAMS

Sha streams can be defined as underground water veins that give off noxious radiations which can be harmful to life above them. They can be seen as earth meridians (Mai) whose flow has become stagnant or polluted, giving rise to Sha Qi. This Sha Qi includes radon gas as well as subtler elements. 

Harmful radiation rises in a vertical plane from the underground stream to the earth’s surface and above. The stream may be anything from I ft -900ft deep and from 1 ft -300ft wide (the widest corresponding to a major fey line). The two edge Lines and the centre Line dowse as the strongest, sharpest Qi and are potentially the most dangerous places on the stream for habitual exposure. Where the underground water vein is rising the edge lines arc the more dangerous, while on the descending veins it is the centre line that is the strongest (and over which standing stones are sited in ancient British geomancy).

The steams may display tributaries and convergences and dowsable echoes parallel to the main stream. They may display course changes, especially after earthquakes and droughts. They are known to be stronger at midday, mid summer, full moon and during periods of heightened solar flare, (sunspot) activity. They are also known to be associated with higher levels of ionising radiation, and with lightning strikes and other atmospheric phenomena. 

SHA STREAMS: CAUSES

A Sha stream is a sick lung mai or earth meridian. There is a well – established link between Sha streams and traumas to the earths etheric web that have caused the flow of Qi to stagnate in the channels. Typical examples of such traumas include the building of railway and motorway cuttings, tunnels and embankments, quarries and mines and building foundations, especially those with steels footings. 

Also implicatcd are heavy industry sites, power stations and electricity sub-stations, military bases. steel pilings, poles and road signs. Old battle grounds and historical sites of trauma such as witch­burnings and executions can also retain much Sha Qi, as can sometimes natural topography. 

On a subtler level, a modern housing estate developed without any traditional foundation­stone laying ceremony, without offerings made in good faith to the nature spirits whose land has been taken for development, will display signs of stagnant Qi in the channels and a traumatised elemental life.

SHA STREAMS: SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS 

There are many well-documented medical effects of prolonged exposure to Sha streams, arising principally as a result of the position of the bed. Chinese and Western experience is identical in this respect. Most notorious of these medical effects is cancer. 

The German dowser, Baron von Pohl. was asked to dowse the small town of Vilsbiburg in 1929. having then the highest per capita cancer death rate in Bavaria. He discovered a I00 per cent correlation between the beds of cancer victims and the paths of Sha streams passing through the tO\vn. He repeated the procedure in Grafenau in 1930, with the lowest cancer incidence in the province, and again found a JOO per cent correlation. He developed a scale to rate geopathic stress of 1 to 16, where a combined tally of 9 or above from streams crossing gives rise to cancer.

Modem experience is that cancers of all types can grow where geopathic stress is lower than this, as we have many more opportunities for exposure to ionising radiation (for example through modem medicine), and other assaults on the immune system. 

Other diseases in which geopathic stress is almost always implicated include: Multiple Sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease and n1any other \vasting and paralysing diseases; endocrine disorders of all types; Crohn ·s disease; candidiasis; Do\vn’s syndrome and other congenital genetic disorders; schizophrenia and a host of mental disorders including obsessions, addictions, psycho-sexual disorders, suicides and location specific depressions and anxieties.

lt was believed  by the ancient Chinese that water flowed in subterranean 

courses called 

‘veins of the Dragon’ (Lung Mai). Passing to and fro out of sight, the hidden veins of water served like the bloodstream of animals, to remove impurtities from the body of the earth… and to depoisit curative minerals within it. The earth’s circulatory system was matched by an under ever-undulating network of currents in the atmosphere. The currents running through Mai or channels, carried the Qi or vapours.

Christopher Bird, THE DIVINING HAND, 1979: 

Disorders which very commonly have a geopathic stress component include insomnia and nightmares, sudden infant death syndrome, infertility, myalgic encephalomyelitis (post viral fatigue syndrome), myagic encephalomyelitis (post viral fatigue syndrome), migraine, asthma, eczema, arthritis and rheumatic disorders. and many other chronically depleted immune system conditions. Baron von Pohl even came to the conclusion that every single disease of humanity could be linked to black streams with the single exception of gout!

In the acupuncture tradition a point in hand just distal to  the fourth and fifth metacarpal junction (Triple Heater 3-I/3rd) is a prime Geopathic stress test point, for both diagnosis and treatment. 

In the animal realm, most mammals instinctively avoid spending time over Sha ,streams. gravitating instead to Sheng Qi streams. i.e. the healthy, free-flowing earth meridians. birds are reckoned to be most sensitive, and horses most resilient. Though many injury-prone horses are stabled on Sha steams. 

Cats. owls. snakes, slugs and snails are however attracted to Sha streams, and a cat’s favourite sleeping place (in the absence of an obvious source of warmth) is very often a sure clue to the location of a Sha steam crossing. Insecrts, parasites, bacteria and viruses also thrive on Sha streams, and ant and wasp nests invariably provide a similar clue: thus a Sha stream is the right location for a beehive.

Clues to the path of a Sha steam in the vegetable world include lightning -struck trees, dead or stunted gaps in hedges and avenues of trees, inferitile fruit trees, cankers, and strangely twisted trees (usually in the direction of the current flow) Fruit trees are the most sensitive, while oaks, redwoods and ashes are more resilient, and elders seem to be positively attracted.

Lawns will often betray bare patches, moss, silver weed and fungi, while vegetable gardens will reveal stunted or mutated growth, especially along the edge lines of the Sha streams. Ivy. bindweed, nettles, docks, thistles. foxgloves, ferns and nightshades are naturally attracted, and indeed the appropriate ,medicinal herbs for a sick person are usually to be found in the garden along the path of a Sha stream running though their bed. 

The path of a Sha stream can often be traced within the home by following die piles of chronically unresolved clutter across a house. Other clues include piles of rubbish, cracks in glass, brick and plasterwork, recurring mechanical and electrical breakdowns. derelict areas. and accident blackspots both within the home and outside. Fruit and vegetables, grain, ale, cheese, jam, wine and photographic film will al spoil quicky when stored in the wrong place.

Sick building syndrome (SBS)e is generally rooted in the presence of Sha streams under the property, Sha Qi can be spread from the path of the streams throughout building by the steel construction frame, wiring loom and pipework, just as it is spread along railway tracks. Thus a steel framed cattle shed with black streams running through it will usually feel much more unhappy than a brick and wood barn. 

Bad neighbour syndrome can frequently be traced to a Sha stream flowing from aggressor to victi1n. Hauntings of earth-bound human ghosts and other entities, including poltergeist activity are invariably tied to negative earth energies. Similarly nature spirits and landscape entities can hold trauma to the earth ·s etheric web within the landscape. 

OTHER GEOMAGNETIC 

DISTURBANCES 

Geological faults, underground caverns and natural mineral concentrations all exhibit 

effects si1nilar to Sha streams. They are all associated with geomagnetic anomalies and 

higher levels of radon gas. 

RADON GAS 

The earth’s natural background radioactivity is concentrated along certain geological faults, mineral veins, and water-bearing fissures. Radioactive radon gas rises to the surface and emits harmful alpha radiation ,which builds up to dangerous levels in poorly ventilated places such as buildings. The ultimate source of radioactivity on earth is uranium-238, created from lighter atoms inside supernovae billions of years ago. The uranium 238 atoms, with 146 neutrons, are constantly reverting to more subtle configurations with fewer neutrons by emmiting in alpha particle from the nucleus quickly followed by two electrons. Once they had started to devay uranium-238 atoms produce a chain of ‘daughters’, including radium 226, the ‘parent’ of randon-222.

Geopathic stress theory is centrally concerned with radon-222 which has 86 protons, 136 neutrons, a half life of 3.8days, and decays to plonium-218 by shooting off an alpha particle. 

process which may occur within our lungs. The newly formed polonium atoms quickly decay to other ‘daughters’: as these decay each atom first ejects another alpha particle. and then a series of high -speed electrons, high-energy gamma rays and fast neutrons.

The alpha particles bombard cells directly; most gamma rays and fast neutrons pass right through our bodies though some score bull’s­eye hits on atomic nuclei within us. Since the mid 1980’s the US Environmental Protection Agency and the UK National Radiological Protection Board have conducted new national surveys of radon levels in houses. Before the survey most specialists thought the problem was confined to small areas of uranium rocks, such as granite.

The new surveys suggested that 10 one in eight American homes, people. were breathing air dangerously contaminated by radon; in the UK, 90,000 homes contained are contaminated to a level of 200 therefore becqerels per cubic metre or more and were therefore receiving yearly radiation doses of atleast 10 millisieverts. The current BNFL maximum permitted dose is 15 millisieverts per year’. The NRPB’s work suggests that atleast 100,000 British people receive more than this.

The accumulation of Radon gas is accentuated by inadequate ventilation in modern houses; the more so with underfloor service conduits, central heating, draught proofing and double-glazing, causing the air pressure within the house to be slightly lower than outside. The provision of the adequate ventilation within a building is one to the problem. This can be achieved by positive ventilation fans blowing air from the loft or outside into the house, to raise internal air pressure; by sealing floor boards and installing under floor airbricks or by installing a randon sump system to draw air from the soil beneath the house and redirect it outside.

The natural background radioactivity of the earth need not be feared perse for it is the very stuff for evolution. The question is more one of appropriate dosage and personal adaptability, in conjuction with sensible sitting of buildings.

LEY LINES 

Ley lines are properly defined as straight over ground energy lines that echo the sinuous paths of ground energy lines that echo the sinuous paths of larger underground rivers. They carry Yang Qi relative to the Yin Qi of underground water, and are associated with heavenly 

Consciousness and human spiritual ceremonial sites. These straight  (at least over dozens of miles) spirit paths are found equally in China as elsewhere in the world, and frequently define the professional routes to major palaces, temples and cathedrals, appropriate for sacred sites, these energy pathways are less comfortable for secular living, and houses built on them are generally a thoroughfare of all manner of spirits. 

CURES

There is much that can be done to ameliorate or remove geopathic stress, and protocols can be divided into two types: shielding and curative of a Sha stream, traditional Chinese devices include the building of a Dragon wall (a screen wall with an underulating ridge), the digging of a ditch or the burying of a protective talisman at an appropriate point on the path of the stream Modern Western methods include the careful placing of crystals, copper rods, coils, and ankhs or the installation of devices the Raditech, Helios1 or Geomack. 

To cure a Sha steam the Sha Qi has to be transformed into Sheng Qi by the practice of Earth Acupuncture. This can be performed using wood, metal stone or crustal needles applied to the appropriate earth acupuncture points (Xue) for a variable time. This could be a few seconds or a few hours, or could be a permanent placement according to the size and nature of the underground stream. The Sha streams are thus transformed into Sheng Qi streams. With larger meridians, or with geological faults, a needle may need to be left in place permanently

Fire, in the form of candles, incense, moxa, sage or a ‘bon’- fire may also be employed- the old beacon hills of Britain are moxibustoon points in the landscape for the purification of the land. They are fired at the appropriate moments in the cycle of the seasons- the fire festivals. 

Permanent needles may take the form of moving water features, sculptures and statues, standing stones, or a specially planted tree. A grave stone may be seen as a style of earth acupuncture needle. Balancing the Yin Qi of the Heaven and Earth, On a larger scale, pagodas, temples, churches, cathedrals all function as earth acupuncture needles to the same effect.

Traditional earth acupuncture techniques to promote the flow of Qi in a blocked meridian under a house will generally have a instaneous effect in dispelling an accumlation of radon. Where the radon concentrating derives from Sha steams the effect is usually permanent as long as the streams remain healthy and free flowing. Where radon derives from a geological fault it will generally build up again, and more permanent physical remedial action (i.e. building work) is necessary. 

What are these cures have in common is a therapeutic intention, often in a sacred ceremonial context. Usually the spirt world will need to be addressed directly, in Heaven as well as Underground.