Ley Lines of now

 

"Imagine a fairy chain stretched from mountain peak to mountain peak, as far as the eye could reach, and paid out until it reached the 'high places' of the earth at a number of ridges, banks, and knows. 

Then visualise a mound, circular earthwork, or clump of trees, planted on these high points, and in low points in the valley other mounds ringed around with water to be seen from a distance. 

Then great standing stones brought to mark the way at intervals, and on a bank leading up to a mountain ridge or down to a ford the track cut deep so as to form a guiding notch on the skyline as you come up.... 

Here and there, at two ends of the way, a beacon fire used to lay out the track. With ponds dug on the line, or streams banked up into 'flashes' to form reflecting points on the beacon track so that it might be checked when at least once a year the beacon was fired on the traditional day. 

All these works exactly on the sighting line."

(Alfred Watkins; "The Old Straight Track", 1925)

In this excerpt from Alfred Watkins' book, we find the synthesis of the author's thoughts on ley lines.

 

He does not see but imagines seeing a landscape, not "hic et nunc" but as it was thousands of years before, based on the prehistoric remains of trade routes, and referring to handed down stories, beliefs and popular cultures that recall ancestral figures and divinities.

The theme of the ley lines, of which traces can be found up to the second half of the 1800s, has been addressed by many thinkers and writers, in a time span that reaches up to the present day. 

Furthermore, the definitions of their origins and the interpretations that have come from them are the most varied, and range, as already mentioned, from the search for ancient archaeological traces of roads, borders, and sacred places, to the identification of imaginary lines that cross the earth to create cosmic links with the universe. 

John Michell, in his 1969 book "The View Over Atlantis", associated the theme of ley lines with the theme of "geomancy", but other authors also promoted esoteric interpretations as energetic links between prehistoric sites or cosmic power lines. 

We also recall that, with the observation from above, geometric designs on earth have been identified such as those of Nazca, in Perù, which can be associated more than with the identification of imaginary lines, with the interpretation of the meaning of these designs.

Nazca designs, Perù

Critical Reflection

The theme of the ley lines, which Watkins had associated with particular archaeological and historical research, has been, over time, increasingly associated with beliefs, mysterious popular traditions and esoteric theories.

.......So with the Old Track. It is quite useless looking for existing fragments, however old, of roads which may remain from the first track, although, as we shall see, some bits may form useful indications of its site. The changes from early days have been so many in the matter of roads. We must, therefore, clear our minds, not only of what we think we know of roads, even Roman ones, but of our surmises, and begin again........

(Watkins, Alfred. The Ley Hunter's Manual: A Guide to Early Tracks . Heritage Hunter. Kindle Edition) 

As for my project, the first sub-theme I have selected to be used in my drifting practice is precisely that of the ley lines.

I am aware of the complex history linked to Giudecca, of the origin of its name, and of the historical events that have shaped it up to the present day. However, mine is not a historical documentation project and, even if I will not fail to pay attention to the signs of the past, I will focus on recognizing the signs of the "real- present".

I also consider this my creative response to a concept with which I intend to maintain a bond. The method illustrated by Watkins, in my opinion, can be applied not only to the past but also to the present. 

I will therefore give a particular name to this drift:

 

"Ley Lines of now" 

I am reminded of an Italian author, Luigi Ghirri, who said that photography is an adventure of the gaze but also of thought.   

"The paradox of the real is that if it is a surprise, it obviously cannot be planned in advance."

(Luigi Ghirri, Interview of 1982, reported in "The surprise of the world" by Luigi Cimatti, 13 June 2021, accessed on 31/08/2022)

Ghirri had not adopted psychogeographic schemes and even less the search for ley lines, but his practice unconsciously traced, through the countryside and urban areas of central Italy in the 70s and 80s, the disenchanted wandering of the flaneur. 

".... In fact, Ghirri's is a photograph of distracted attention, we could say, so attentive to the thing as to lose sight of it: only in this way, in fact, will the thing not be overwhelmed by what we already know or believe we have. know about it .....

(Luigi Cimatti "The surprise of the world" , 13 June 2021, accessed on 31/08/2022)

For my drift practice, the first step is mapping the chosen environment as it is now, and perceiving its current characteristics, so that I can represent them photographically.

I mapped Giudecca island. This work is described in Drift -------- Ley Lines of now.

I focused on the association between psychogeography as a perception of the surrounding environment, and the identification of ley lines that manifest themselves in the face of this perception. 

Ley lines are the outcome of an emotional/perceptional process that must be recognized as such and is not linked to any phenomenon extraneous to our psyche.

They are very useful for "mapping" the surrounding environment and helping me to build a visual composition that is consistent with what I perceive and want to represent. 

They are therefore functional to my drifting practices.