What are Ley Lines?

Many people have heard at least something about Ley Lines without realising exactly what they are. So just what are Ley Lines?

While a full answer would be stretching the extent of current knowledge the mysterious complexity of Ley Lines is somewhat easier to convey. Simply put it concerns sites of ceremonial and cultural interest aligned along straight lines that stretch for dozens some say even hundreds of miles.

These straight line networks can be found throughout the world and in some cases incorporate elaborate spoked circles that include line systems within line systems.

English name origin.

Although straight lined alignments go back thousands of years the actual name Ley Lines was first introduced in England. It was noticed that many sites and villages and other places of interest whose names all ended in ley were to be found along the same straight lines. Literally hundreds of separate line systems have been uncovered and prove there was nothing accidental about the way ancient peoples sited their monuments which were often in astonishing harmony to one another, even over distances of hundreds of miles.

The Wembley Stadium connection.

In England Ley Lines also incorporate modern cities and sites of interest including, towns, villages, Cathedrals, churches and even major centres of civic activity - all of them linked by the ubiquitous “ley” name ending. Perhaps the most famous example was Wembley Stadium in North London.

For many years before it was ingloriously demolished this “Cathedral of World Football”, captivated the imagination of football fans the world over. Yet not so well known was that Wembley with its “ley” name ending was itself a focus of numerous lines that included this great centre of global soccer.

The French Line Network

In France investigators, have uncovered many line networks involving the main Cathedrals and places of interest. Some have even placed their shapes in harmony to several of the main constellations with sites separated over hundreds of miles. Yet perhaps the most astonishing of the French line networks is one centered on the tiny village of Alaise nestled in the foothills of the Jura mountains of eastern France.

After devoted study by Xavier Guichard this tiny French village was found to be at the centre of a line system that radiated out to include dozens of  sites, villages and towns of a similar name through many neighbouring countries over distances that spanned an area of many thousands of square miles. Yet perhaps the most astonishing thing of all was the realisation that this line system must have been initiated and planned thousands of years ago.

Changed view of the ancients.

For many the geometric perfection of ley lines, the distances involved, in addition to the very remote period of their inception hints at a totally different view of the ancient world. In particular it shows the ancients were capable of a masterful degree of geodetic knowledge enabling them to accurately build sites in full alignment, even over hundreds of miles.

Ancient Greek Alignments.

In his book “Signs of the Gods” best-selling author Erich Von Daniken mentions the existence of an intricate network of ancient Greek sites, connected not just through straight alignment, but also in the relationship of the ratio of their distances to one another involving the famous Golden Section. Here are a few examples:

The distance between Delphi and Thebes corresponds to the longer segment of the golden section of the distance between Delphi and Athens namely 62 per cent !

Delfi - Home of the famous Oracle.

The distance from Sparta to Olympia corresponds to the longer segment of the Golden section of the distance from Sparta to Athens namely 62 per cent!

The distance from Epidaurus to Sparta corresponds to the longer segment of the golden section of the distance from Epidaurus to Olympia namely 62 per cent!

Clearly astonished Von Daniken summarised his feelings in the following manner:

“So how can we explain the mathematical perfectionism? How can we reconcile it with the standard of mathematical knowledge we attribute to prehistoric peoples? How did they know at what precise point they had to build? As the complicated relationships are only recognisable from a great height we must ask whether 'someone' worked  out a geometrical network of sites all over Hellas, sticking flags in the ground saying: This is where you must  build a temple”

The Nasca lines.

In a great many cases the evidence of ley lines is only apparent when charting them on a map. However full visual evidence for ancient line networks is nowhere more obvious than the desert markings of Nasca in Peru. Here in the arid dry desert hundreds of line networks have baffled all attempts to successfully explain them.

The markings which are scratched on the desert surface are said to be thousands of years old. They stretch in perfectly straight lines, traversing desert ravines and gullies for distances of up to 60 miles. At first they were explained as calendrical markers, or vast astronomical directories. However no satisfactory explanation has yet accounted for this mystery. Other line systems were found to radiate on the Inca capital Cusco with a focus on the Temple of the Sun. This was discovered through the use of infra red photography that revealed the true extent of this incredible enigma.

An aerial mystery.

An obvious conclusion to be drawn from the Nasca lines is that they were meant to be viewed from the air. This was how they originally came to be discovered, and the whole mystery deepens when we consider that this huge effort of labour that must have taken dozens of years to complete was intended to be viewed from an aerial perspective. But why? So far as we know (see this link) aerial travel was unknown in those days.

So what is the purpose of the lines? Inevitably there is no shortage of speculation. For instance the writer Von Daniken saw them in terms of messages to alien visitors with directions towards suitable landing sites. Others saw them as spirit markers along which the astral body could more easily be directed. Then there is the theory that this is a directory of lines that catalogues all other lines.

Maria Reiche.

One investigator was so captivated by the Nasca lines that she devoted her whole life to understanding and cataloguing their outline. This was Maria Reiche a mathematician who saw in the lines something of a life calling event. With monastic determination and living under very basic conditions she surveyed and catalogued the lines, often clearing away the debris from them with a sweeping brush. Yet although her research unlocked the full extent of the lines a successful explanation was always beyond her.

Larger implications.

The extent of invisible or visible lines and harmonies connecting ancient sites and cities have always focused on their connection with areas of increased Earth energy. It is thought that the lines facilitated some aspect of ancient life so that cities and sites built along the same lines shared some mutual benefit. But what was that benefit? Here again there are many theories but no certain answer.

Perhaps the most adventurous explanation is that they involve energy that is now explainable by the String Theory. This relatively new mathematical concept allows for the existence of extra dimensions as well as the idea of passage from one to the other. Perhaps then this energy was not just of some as yet indefinable Earthly advantage but concerned the passage of material on an inter dimensional level.

No limits

If this all sounds too far fetched then please turn to our section on the String Theory. It shows that science is now beginning to unlock a key to what may well prove to be the portal to not just one dimension but thousands of separate universes so much stranger than our own.

As it is, the one thing we know for sure is that ley lines exist. As such they challenge our appreciation of ancient people and show that the level of their knowledge was considerably more advanced than we have ever supposed. Knowledge that even now takes us to the very boundaries of the world we know and take for granted.