On a lovely Spring day in mid–March 2010 a group from the Dowsing Society decided to visit Maunganui Bluff on the West Coast at Aranga in Northland. Our objective was to visit an enigmatic group of stones perched above the sea cliffs. The site consists of some 600 stones scattered over a small area and which appear to have once been standing in circular configurations. These stones have been studied extensively by Martin Doutré and are discussed in great detail in his book ‘Ancient Celtic New Zealand’. Martin concluded that the stones at Maunganui Bluff are the remnants of an ancient (pre-Maori) astronomical observatory which he called the ‘Waitapu Observatory’. The site is now unfortunately in a state of disrepair and has been largely destroyed, but sufficient stones remain to indicate that it must have once been a place of considerable significance and according to Martin Doutré contained codes for astronomical and geodetic observation. However, as dowsers it was not this aspect of the site that we were primarily interested in, but rather to explore any interesting energies that might be associated with the site.

As a little geological background, the high cliffs at Maunganui Bluff are composed of basalt lava flows and pyroclastic rocks which are the onshore remnants of an enormous submarine shield volcano which was active in the Early Miocene some 16 to 18 million years ago. These volcanic rocks extend over a very large area including the whole of the nearby Waipoua Forest. All the rocks found at the Waitapu Observatory are therefore composed of basalt lava.

The day before our visit I carried out a quick map dowsing of the area using a map from ‘Google Earth’, which indicated that there appeared to be a strong energy vortex at the Maunganui Bluff site, coinciding with the intersection of three energy Leys. As we approached the site from the end of the of Waitapu Road I soon found one of these energy lines with my rods, which was 14m wide and contained 12 alternating bands of positive/negative energy. The energy Ley headed off up the hill where I could see a group of dowsers who had already reached the Observatory site. With enthusiasm I ‘bush crashed’ my way up hill through head height scrub, determined to follow the energy line. I eventually emerged somewhat scarred and breathless in the middle of the other dowsers in our party, who were happily swinging their pendulums and rotating their rods amongst the scattered recumbent stones.

The next hour or two were spent dowsing the area and it soon became apparent that there was indeed a powerful energy vortex at the site which was centred on the northern grouping of fallen stones. A number of us measured the extent of the vortex using our rods and discovered that it had a radius of at least 32m. We counted 19 positive/negative anticlockwise energy spirals radiating outwards from the centre, before the energy became too weak to dowse. As shown in Figure 1, the vortex was centered on the intersection of three Energy Leys, two of which were dominantly positive (yang) energy and the other was dominantly negative (yin) energy.

For some reason, everyone thought that the centre of the vortex was a good place to have lunch and it seemed to have a beneficial effect on us all. In fact, when some of us later dowsed each others auric energy fields, we found that they expanded by about 1m when standing at the vortex centre.

As this vortex was very large it was ideal to investigate the more detailed energy manifestation emanating from its centre. I have dowsed vortex energy patterns at a number of other sites previously and have found that there are various energies which radiate from a vortex in a series of energy ‘petals’. The number and size of the petals varies from site to site, but they are invariably symmetrical and even in number. I have also found that the energy flow around adjoining petals alternates in direction. The vortex manifestations seem to demonstrate a symmetrical balanced harmony of positive and negative energy flows. These patterns are rather like vibration nodes or the energy patterns which arise when sand scattered on a glass plate is vibrated by a musical instrument.

At the Maunganui Bluff site, using my fellow dowsers as ‘markers’, I was able to dowse and measure the radial energy pattern in some detail using compass bearings. The resulting manifestation is shown in figure 2. At the centre of the vortex there were two alternating petals forming a figure much like an ‘infinity’ symbol, the axis of which was aligned to Magnetic North. With increasing distance from the centre there were then 4, 6 and 12 energy petals with the energy loops becoming successively narrower. The lengths of the ’12 petal’ loops were about 16m from the vortex centre. It is possible that additional petals may have been present extending even further out from the centre, but which were beyond my sensitivity to detect.

One can never cease to be amazed by the wonderful patterns in nature from the exquisite geometry of a flower petal to the spiral forms present in seashells to cosmic galaxies. It is little wonder that beautiful patterns also emerge in the study of the Earths subtle energy fields.

An intriguing question that remains is the relationship between the stones found at the Waitapu Observatory and the presence of the strong energy vortex. Were the stones positioned to harmonise or interact with the natural earth energy centre? This adds another fascinating dimension when trying to understand the original purpose of the Maunganui Bluff site and suggests that the ancient peoples of the land possessed a sophisticated knowledge of the seen and unseen natural world which we are only now slowly beginning to rediscover
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