Amanda Higgins sat in the car for a few seconds to gather her wits about her. She had so many questions to ask the dowser man. Here was someone who not only knew about soil tests and right-of-ways, but who had a spiritual connection to the universe so that he could get information seemingly "out of thin air." She closed her eyes, sighed, and then turned on the ignition.
"Good, the wheel is O.K.," she thought to herself as she drove over the river flowing with little ripples almost imperceptibly between wide sandy banks. The pick-up honked as it sped over the high point on the bridge and the white car fell in behind and fairly flew past more fields with well-maintained rights-of-way on either side and homesites scattered at intervals with trees shading the wide-veranded houses that dotted the landscape. They became denser as the vehicles neared the village. The cafe was old and picturesque with large windows in front, like one she had seen in the volcanic hills of eastern Oregon. Some men were talking on the street and others were having lunch at tables in the cafe. She was the only woman in the joint. Charles Rogers liked his coffee black and didn't waste any time asking, "Well, did I lose you along the way with my lecture?" "No, I'm very familiar with using intuition to make decisions and to prompt me to do things. What I have trouble with is numbers. I have four soil tests that were done by a laboratory on grant money. Your method of getting the numbers could make it possible for me to check what is happening in the soil much more often. Soil tests are expensive. I haven't seen enough soil tests and varied soil situations to be able to really get the picture of the situation from the numbers. I think that 10 on your chart is a symbol for 100, but what does 100 mean in the measurement system that's used in soil tests? Also I don't readily have the ideal ratios for good soil in this old noggin'. I know they're based on the cation exchange capacity, that the soil has electrical conductivity, but how this works and why, I have no idea. Charles patted his foot and looked stern for an instant, "Is that all? he asked. "Well, what is an energy change and what are ley lines? A fellow I know sells a contraption called a field broadcaster and it broadcasts vibrations over a person's land that make things grow and stop things from growing, and also cause it to rain. You have to situate it in the ground where ley lines cross. Why? How are ley lines formed anyway? Is that enough?" "You have more questions? Charles asked with a good humored indulgent look. "O.K., Your rods indicate amounts of energy. How do you interpret the indications? The ground outside the patch of lovegrass didn't have any aluminum in it. How do you figure out the significance of the information? I understand that I was the 'witness' for your analysis of the soil on my road, but how do I learn how to do that? How do I get rid of the six 'noxious' weeds we have and make the roadside environment productive? We've tried flame weeding, burning with urea, changing the pH with 10% vinegar, and adding missing soil elements and microorganisms. I'd use BD preps and peppers if I could, but they aren't registered as soil amendments in Idaho. Are you telling me that you simply seed or transplant herbs like oregano or native grasses and broadleaf ground covers or clover and wildflowers that you dowse just by asking 'Will such and such a plant boost the nutrients that are lacking on Rapid Lightning Road?' and then you wait and see if the plants can stand the freezing in winter and the drought in summer? How long does it take to get a good balance of plants? And then you spoke of an invisible aspect that you feed through the plants' energyprints. How do you understand all that? By intuition or experience? How do you know I'm ready for all this? How do you get the Weed Committee to let go of their chemical dependence? They've never had any understanding of the processes of the natural world in their lives. How do you catch their imaginations and get them to take the risk of a new paradigm? Amanda fell back in her chair, exhausted by the effort it had taken to get it all out. She looked up... Roger Pye wrote: > Merla Barberie wrote: > > >"The soil has a pH from 6.5 to 5.9 and the CEC for the 6.5 bare soil is 4.0. A > >hawkweed patch has a CEC of 8.7. Putting missing elements back into the soil > >is a good strategy for a farm, how about for a whole 8-mile road or a county > >weed program? Now I've gone and said too much. I've gotten a lot of help from >Australians on > >the Net and this trip is my last hurrah at trying to do anything. I'm ready to > >retreat to my own land and just do Bio-dynamics. People in my neighborhood > >don't want the spray, but aren't willing to put time and energy into the road > >themselves. If I don't make it back to Idaho, there's no one to take my > >place..." > > > "I think you're complicating the issue." Charles Rogers scuffed the soil > with a foot. "Maybe the answer is here and that's why you stopped - for > it surely was not to ask the way to Bombala." > > "It wasn't?" > > "No, er, ma'am, sorry, I don't know your name, I guess I should have > introduced myself: I'm Charles Rogers. How are you? Oh, Amanda is it? > OK. The road is higher than we are, I can't see your car from here; that > means you could not have seen into this paddock when you were driving or > from where it is now. Intuition brought you to a stop here, not logic. > Intuition - and energy, perhaps. I'm a great believer in the power of > energy to achieve things. By the way, you're a singer as well as a > herbalist, aren't you? Serious, I mean, choir or chorale, not just > around the family piano on a Sunday night?" > > "Yes, I am! But how did you know?" > > "Certain characteristics - the way you talk, breathe, move, hold > yourself. There will be others, hidden; an ear for pitch or tone, an > ability to read music, an ambition to be good at what you do for as long > as possible and so on. Probably the most common characteristic is the > drive for survival. All living things have it; people, animals, insects, > plants, soil and the millions of creatures that live within it and make > the medium itself into a living organism. If we were to take one of each > of these categories and break them down, analyse and compare their > contents, we would find similar living processes, nutrients and > elements. That the atoms which power our multi-purpose cells are the > same in every way as that which energises the single-celled amoeba." > > Charles smiled at his visitor. "Sorry, I don't mean to lecture but I > have a difficult point to get across which I think may be a solution to > your roadside problem. Also I'd appreciate it if you would help me with > a job I want to do just now." > > He rummaged in his backpack, produced a small clipboard and pen which he > handed to her. "All right, Amanda, what I'm going to do is call out some > figures which I'd like you to write in the second column on the top > sheet, one on each line starting at the top. I imagine you recognise > what's written in the first column?" > > Unsmiling, Amanda nodded. "Soil analysis terms - Al (uminium), Ca, Mg, > K, Na, P etc, and the 3rd column has the ideal for this area. But I > don't understand, you don't have any samples or chemicals or anything, > how would you have any figures?" > > Charles smiled and hefted the pendulum. "Let's take the first one, Al. > In fact, aluminium or bauxite ore." He glanced at the plumb bob. "Is > there any bauxite in the soil beneath my feet?" > > The bob began to move in a circular clockwise motion at a steady speed, > finally settling on a back and forward swing. > > "On a scale of zero to fifty where zero is none at all, is there more > than 5?" The pendulum kept swinging at the same even pace. "More than 7? > More than 9? More than 10?" The bob circled clockwise until it reached a > side-to-side motion. "OK, ten, that's 100 Amanda. Fine. Right, I'm not > going to do it aloud, takes too long. Next one is Calcium." > > The woman watched fascinated as the pendulum went through its gyrations > for each of the nutrients, minerals and elements on the sheet, writing > down the numbers as Charles called them out until he reached the end of > the list. "Electrical conductivity - OK, seventeen, that's 170. Hold on > a minute." > > He flicked open a long pouch which hung from his belt, extracted two > long dowsing rods and held them one in each hand pointing in front away > from his body. "OK, I want you to show me an energy change." He paced > forward slowly, counting aloud. As he reached 'Five', both rods swung > inwards to lie next to each other against his chest. He moved them back > into position. "Is this a ley line?" The left hand rod swung outwards. > "No. Is it water? No. Is it in the soil? Yes. Right." He moved forward > another pace, turned to face his writer. > > "Will you flip the sheet, please? I'll just do the first four and EC. Al > - zero . . . . . . Ca - 35, Mg - 10, K - 10, EC 30. That's zero, 350, > 100, 100, 300. Got that? Good. That's a lot better, much better, no Al, > no lovegrass." He repositioned the rods. "Show me an energy change." He > moved forward a pace, the rods swung inwards and he pushed them out > again. "Right, show me the far edge of the bauxite stream." The pace > count went to 25 before the rods moved and he whistled softly. "The rods > are calibrated in my paces so that's about 22 metres," he explained. > > "Now where was I? Right, I remember. Do you have anything with you that > has been in contact with that roadside draw?" > > Amanda nodded, felt in a pocket and held out a handful of pebbles. "I > like rocks," she said throatily, "pick them up all the time." > > "Me, too." Taking the stones, he placed them on the 'clean' ground in a > small heap. "I want you to sit opposite me, legs crossed if that's > okay," Charles said, settling himself down so the pebbles were between > the two of them, on his lap he placed the clipboard with a fresh sheet > on top. From where she was sitting, the American could see the page had > abbreviations across the top and a line of empty boxes below each marked > one to fifty. "Right. Would you hold a hand out, palm upwards, please?" > > As the pendulum bobbed, weaved and circled above her palm, the dowser > made marks on the sheet using a pen held in his left hand; when he had > finished the sequence, he put the plumb bob down, drew something on the > page using his other hand and turned the clipboard around; she saw he > had joined all the marks together with a single line. > > "This is your energy profile or imprint," he explained. "The first > column - Vi - is Vitality, the second - Ak - is similar to pH, the > others are mostly the same as for soils and plants. Like fingerprints, > your energyprint is unique to you; whilst there will be minor variations > in some columns from time to time, values have also been recorded which > will not change. As a person in tune with the earth as you are, can you > see a different sort of value in that?" > > "I can be identified anywhere I go?" she guessed. "No, wait, I . . my > energy can be used anywhere I go! That's right, isn't it, and you're > going to use it next, aren't you?" > > Charles grinned at the sound of growing knowledge and triumph in her > lilting accented voice. "That's exactly right. Hold your hand out again." > > Spreading the pile of pebbles out, he chose two which had fragments of > soil adhering to them, placed them on her palm and repeated his previous > actions down to drawing the line on the sheet. > > been "What I've done is calculated the energyprint of the soil on the > pebbles against the standard set by your own. The reason is both you and > they 'live' in the same Idaho environment and therefore have an existing > relationship with each other and the soil and plants which are also part > of it. You can see the line parallels your own in places, in others, > specifically Ak which in this case is acidity versus alkalinity, it dips > below. You remember what I said earlier about characteristics and the > drive for survival? The living organism that is the soil is as keen on > staying alive as everything else. In your region the soil is acidic and > has been ever since conifers first grew there. Over time it has adapted > by 'generating' living conditions which attract plant species that > absorb sufficient acidity to enable the soil to stay alive. Now, > however, it is fighting a losing battle against council-applied > weedkillers which kill the plants and also cause more acidity. Unless > you can stop that happening, you don't have a hope in rehabilitating the > roadside." > > "So how do I do that?" Amanda asked. > > "Two prong approach. First, the council, next, the land. From council's > perspective, controlling the roadside environment is only one of many > things it has to do; weedkillers might be expensive but on the face of > it they are the easiest option and they are a budgeted item in council's > secure income base so no problem. Furthermore, council expenditure is > good for the local - or county - economy, whether it's spent on weeds or > bitumen. Every dollar expended has a multiplying 'trickle down' effect > of about four point five so a thousand is effectively worth five > thousand, one hundred thousand means half a million and so on. > Essentially, for any alternative weed control project to get a look in, > it is going to have to produce a similar effect. I doubt you could do it > on Rapid Lightning Road on its own, you would need a bigger zone. > > "What you would do in that zone is your next step. Quite simply, to make > the roadside environment productive. Intersperse existing weeds with > competitive plants beneficial to humans which grow well in the same > conditions. Intercrop with plants ditto which boost those nutrients > shown as lacking in the energyprint. Irrigate with runoff. That's the > visible aspect; the invisible is the power we can feed in through the > energyprints. I've about finished for a time, would you like to have a > coffee with me? Goodo! There's a little cafe in the village down the > road the way you're heading, how about I meet you at the bridge over the > river in five minutes?" > > roger
