Ley lines 4/11

Back at her own home that night, Jennifer Jane had just finished the preparation for next day’s lesson at the village school, when there was a knock at the kitchen door.

Mary went out to answer and was soon back, closely followed by Eve, the Bell’s next door neighbour.

“Our little group of witches is going to attend a ceremony tomorrow night at the full moon. If the weather is suitable, I wonder if Jennifer Jane would like to come in her capacity as an honorary member of ‘M.A.G.I.C’. We’re going to be gathering at the seven standing stones found when the ground was cleared for the local bypass.”

“I didn’t know they’d found any stones,” said Dave.

“There aren’t any actually there now,” Eve replied, “but the archaeologists who looked at the site after it was cleared, found evidence that there were seven holes dug in a circle that had probably once held sarsen stones.”

Eve explained that one of the group’s member’s was quite keen on tracing Ley lines and was positive that a line joined the site to the local church, going on through Telegraph Hill to the remains of the stone age village up on the common.

Jennifer Jane looked at her parents. “I’d love to go if I may. We’ve just done Ley lines at school and it sounds as if it might be very interesting.”

It was agreed that she might join Eve and her group if the weather was fine and Eve left, reminding her to wear her ceremonial robes and ‘magic’ badge.

“I didn’t think they taught you about things like Ley lines at school?” said dad, once the family was alone.

“They haven’t done so far, but the lesson I’m talking about was at the Witches’ Home. The witches say that the lines are the source of all the magic in their world, so it should be interesting to see if the same rules apply in this one. But I don’t understand what Eve means about the lines joining up various places on the map?”

“Well I don’t know about any magic properties,” replied dad, “but in this world at any rate, some people spend their spare time drawing straight lines on maps, trying to join up old stone circles, burial mounds, ancient churches and the like. If several of these places can be joined, they’re said to be on a Ley line and the idea is that ancient people deliberately built their sites on these lines following some sort of force from Mother Earth. One of the most famous leys runs through Stonehenge, rather as you’d expect.”

He looked at Jennifer Jane again with a bit of a frown. “H’m, I wonder if your theory might not be right after all. If the witches think there’s a reason, then ancient man might well have thought so too. After all they were nearer the primitive than we are and may well have been more sensitive to these things. On the other hand, most people think it’s all a coincidence and there’s really no more in it than there is in believing in little green men and U.F.O’s.”