I am proposing a new phrase or name for a movement that often attracted derision and a mixture of reactions, as it still does today, and that name was coined as 'Earth Mysteries'. This movement really began to gain interest with the investigations of Alfred Watkins in England in the 1920's, into what he perceived as alignments of historic importance across the English landscape, which he called a Ley. He took many photographs along with his researches into his findings.

​

This interest in unexplained phenomena in the landscape grew into the Earth Mysteries movement that really came into public prominence in the 1970's. From here it gathered pace into the 1980's and 1990's, being reinvented as more information was shared. The New Age Movement was then born, which included all sorts of themes and topics, and some you might never have thought of.

​

The discipline of Archaeology at the time acknowledged some aspects of this new movement eventually with the term "The Phenomenology of Landscape" where we have the philosophical study of reality, that is; the evidence uncovered before you, but as subjectively lived and experienced. In other words, when an archaeological site yielded unexplained ritual objects or buildings for example, it was put forward that perhaps the landscape could be better described in terms of how they lived their lives and interacted with each other, which might provide more insights into the evidence, rather than when they just lived in that time-frame of history.

​

Enter then our modern age of technology and the computer chip as we move forwards from the present to the future. Information passes around faster but the connections with the earth that we once had with our planet seems to have got less. What was once Earth Mysteries has been replaced by concerns for the climate and our resources, which are becoming fewer, leading to different sorts of 'land grab' behaviours and desperations as these resources become tighter.

​

Our concerns for our planet need to be focused in another direction, where we rediscover and understand our relationship with the planet that we live on; after all, we rely on our planet to live, to provide for us, as ancient man began to discover and realise how important it was to cultivate this relationship with the earth. To thrive on this planet humanity needs to live in harmony with it, and to keep our demands at a sustainable level. This is not out of reach with the shared knowledge of science that has become possible with our technology. All that is needed is the willingness to do this, to confer and pool our knowledge and resources.

​

Those areas that have become sacred to us within our different cultures must at all costs be preserved. It is this that binds communities together, honouring shared memories, events, losses, death, love, birth and renewal in celebrations and remembrance that make us who we are. A closer, more intimate relationship with our landscape would not only foster a more caring community, it would also provide a sense of well-being, that you belong to the area that you call home and would therefore have more of a wish to protect it.

​

The land responds to this care, and we respond to it in turn. This "Land Sense" becomes heightened as you let the land enfold you, and it becomes a way of understanding yourself, providing a restoration of balance to your own body and soul. Deeper connections are forged as man regains harmony with the rhythms of the land and the seasons. This Land Sense has always been there, within us and in the landscape itself, waiting for us to communicate with it, like we once did, but in a lot of respects in these so called modern times, we have lost our way. But walking familiar paths brings back a sense of well-being, of wholeness, and we will remember.

​

I hope the works below will encourage you to listen to the land and let it speak to you again. I never know quite what is going to happen when I am out with my camera in the landscape, but I am always willing to listen to the messages the land is trying to tell me, even if it is a difficult conversation, but often, it is one of joy.

​

​