TESTING THE WAND - Anecdotal Accounts

Joan and I brought it to the 1999 Labyrinth Society conference held in Denver in November. We put it out for people to experience and got some very positive responses. Here's one:

"I do Body Talk a new health enhancing system based on meridian therapy, applied kinesiology and hatha yoga. When I entered the room, my friend was laying on the floor on top of your purple meander wand. She reported feeling, 'pretty bad and drained'. I was feeling tired so I lay down on the rainbow colored meander wand with my head on the purple and my feet on the red. We both had our heads to the south and feet to the north. I planned to lie there for two minutes. I checked my watch after what seemed like 1 minute. Three had passed. I was surprised because my time sense is relatively accurate. I also noticed that I was feeling strong and rested.

During a typical treatment I am aware of the movement of energy between our physical systems and also sense movement of energy in the client's system. During this treatment my sense of the movements was heightened. Energy flow was amplified and at the same time smoothed or modulated in a very gentle way. Weird that such strong flow would be so gentle. I've experienced strong twitches in myself and the client in less energetic situations.

Hmm. It's as though there was an influence which was administrating the energy. I probably shouldn't have read any of your literature because I've allowed it to color the way I view the treatment. I begin to think that there was an Angel present. Any way...

The energy exchange between my system and hers during the treatment was enhanced and kept very coherent. Very nice treatment. I'll be in touch with her so I'll hear about any lasting effects she may experience. Thanks for the pattern by CH."

Testing the wand - AC's Personal Experience. I had not used the canvass wand much since Joan made it. One reason, I was attached to walking earthworks ouside. But after the favorable response at the conference I started thinking about it. I saw, also, that this was a real test for my dowsing. From all my studies, I found more indicator experiences when I had dowsed the most energy was present. However the new energy, power Yod, was a level higher than anything I had made before, hence I was curious what kind of experiences I might have. I realized, finally, that I was still leary of it from the experiences I had with the chalk maze. I was worried that the experiences might be very intense and draining, so I had shied away from it. The possibility occurred to me that I might have some profound experiences, which are relatively rare (3). I finally decided to give the canvass a test. In early 2,000, I lay on it 17 times during a period of 39 days, recording what happened each time. Here are my notes:

21 Jan 2000, late afternoon: I lay on it 30 minutes. I fell asleep, and left feeling very relaxed, no anxiety or agitation present. I felt that way for the rest of the evening.

That night I had two very vivid dreams. In the first dream, many people were being killed by a deadly germ. I sort of knew that I was going to make it, but still had great fear in meeting other people. It was a fear-of-germs dream. I did some releasing after the dream, early in the morning.

I fell asleep again and had the following dream. With several friends, we were planing a trip abroad, to go to exotic places, I remember thinking about Turkey or the mid-Asian countries below Russia, that were part of the old Soviet Union. I think David Howie, a friend, was there. We hadn't done much planning beforehand, it was a spur of the moment thing. I didn't have the money to do this, without going into my savings, which I didn't want to do. So when the tickets are being paid for, I let David do it with his credit card, with the goal in mind of not paying him back, hoping he will forget or just let it go. Some where I have inside of me there is a desire that someone take care of me, like I deserve it.

24 Jan 2000. I dowsed I should lie on canvass for 20 to 30 minutes in the 1/2 hour before noon. The canvass was oriented SE/NW with my head facing NW. When I first lay down I felt some sensations in my lower back and did some releasing from the front side in that area. I was awake the whole time. I felt sensations in my shoulder area and neck, as if the energy of the wand was hitting some blocks in those areas. Most of the time I felt sensations there, and I did a little releasing just before I got off.

30 Jan 2000. Starting around 1:30 PM, I lay on canvass for 25 minutes, after a 1.5 hour nap. I was agitated, it was hard for me to lie still. I felt sensations in the upper part of my shoulders. Later that evening I released three to four times. I dowsed it was due to my session on canvass.

Dream: I am walking in campus like environment. Not wearing a shirt and underpants. All of a sudden everyone is going into a lecture hall for a concert. I am a little leery of going in without a shirt, so I make the long walk back to the place where my clothes are, although I am somewhat confused about that is. It is either at a place on campus or at my house in Albany. It doesn't make any sense that I am not wearing underwear as I always do. At some point I ask directions and get them for the short route to where I am going. Eventually I get what I want, and return to the concert; but there seems to be something in between, a break in the continuity of the dream, which I don't remember. It was not an especially vivid dream.

31 Jan 2000. After a one hour nap, at around 2 PM, I lay on canvass for 25 minutes. I felt that I had been exposed to some energy, and had been worked on, but nothing special besides.

6 Feb 2000. I lay on canvass for 20 to 30 minutes in the morning at BR's house. I immediately felt a humming in my lower back. Then I felt aches and pains in upper back, in the lung region. That continued the whole time I was laying there. It felt as if my lungs were worked on.

7 Feb 2000. I lay on the canvass a little over 20 minutes. After 5 minutes I felt very relaxed. I tried to be still, but was only partially successful. I felt sensations around my neck, and I released some there. When I got up, I felt a little groggy, again, like I had been worked on. I note that I was excessively angry during most of the PM, inventing situations in which I could point out to people how wrong they were. This was an example of a delayed reaction to a session.

A night filled with dreams followed. First dream, I was to water a lawn of some sort, and will do a section across the road. I thought about acheiving this with sprinklers instead of by hand. It was a funny dream, with no anxiety associated with it. I woke up at 3 AM, and moved to guest bedroom, where I had many more dreams. One was a sex dream, the other about a movie review. Some friends didn't like a movie I did, and I wanted to find out why, as I am surprised by that. I woke up filling tired.

9 Feb 2000. Lay on canvass for 50 minutes before noon. I was tired from working ~ five hours on computer, and not getting eight hours of sleep. I fell asleep on the canvass, and woke 50 minutes later feeling OK, and only very slightly tired.

13 Feb 2000. I lay on it, and within 5 minutes my body started pulsing, a general body pulse. My lower back has been hurting for a week or so, so I turned over on my stomach. Then I got the urge to do some stretching, so I did a series of stretches designed specifically to help the lower back. They take close to 20 minutes, so by the time I finished, it was time to get off the canvass. My lower back was no longer hurting when I got up. Usually when it is hurting like that, it is takes a couple days of stretching before it returns to normal.

15 Feb 2000. I have not done any physical labor in months. My wife left for class and returned shortly to say that an oak tree had fallen across the road, and could I help her move it. It wasn't just any oak tree but a giant old oak (2 foot diameter trunks), with three trunks coming from the base. Two of the trunks had fallen on the road. So I called up my neighbor, V, who could use the firewood, and was an expert in chain saw use. I told him I would help him take loads of firewood to his place on the ridge to the west of us, if he would help me clean up the mess.

He agreed, and we ended up working there for eight hours, and moved about a cord and a half of wood. He did all the chain sawing and I tended the fire. It has been raining for most of the year, every thing was very wet, so starting a fire was a big deal. I started a small fire under the edge of the pile with a bunch of newspaper and small pieces of wood, and then added small pieces of branches with leaves to the fire for about an hour, before the fire was hot enough to not worry about. Then I dragged branches for the rest of the time, along with loading and unloading firewood. In the end I was so exhausted I could barely move. The last few hours I really paced myself. My whole body was tired, especially the lower back, my hands, arms and shoulders. I had minor pain elsewhere. I took a shower, but I was too tired to shave. I got a depressing thought when I realized that my glasses were in the truck and I had to walk up 50 feet to get them.

Joan suggested I lie on the wand; I dowsed in my head if I should, and immediately got a yes. So I set my aching body on the wand for 25 to 30 minutes. Afterwards, essentially all pain in my body had subsided to barely noticeable levels. I was especially impressed that my back didn't hurt. I know my back well and it has given me much trouble especially when making earthworks. With the way my back felt, it usually takes a few days for it to get back to normal. I was still very tired, exhausted really, but I was not in pain. The next day I awoke feeling pretty good; in fact I went over and worked at the site for about an hour.

18 Feb 2000. I lay on the canvass for about 20 minutes, and I starting pulsating almost immediately. I felt some interesting sensations in my head, like I was developing a headache, but it never happened. I did a few releases.

20 Feb 2000. I lay on the canvass for about 30 minutes at about 5:30 am. I felt some pain in my neck; I thought I might need a pillow or towel. Then strong sensations and aching pains appeared in my shoulder and neck. Then it moved internally with aches in upper back and the top of my lungs and bronchial tubes. Occasionally, I got a sharp pain. The pain became strong and unpleasant, so I started dowsing if I could leave, finally getting a yes after 30 minutes. It was very intense, not very enjoyable experience. It felt as if the energy was trying to break through blocks in upper lungs, shoulders and neck. I did a little releasing.

Afterwards, I went back to sleep and had a most unusual dream that seemed to indicate that I had left some of my energy at the vesica 7 petal design in Denver, the previous November.

21 Feb 2000. I got a 1.5 hours massage while lying on the canvass wand. I first noticed was that it was hard for me to keep awake. I was tired anyway when I lay down, so that may not be significant. Also my body was vibrating more than usual. The masseuse said that, while working on the wand, things tended to speed up for her. She could see earlier and easily where she needed to work. She had to restrain herself from going to the next spot. It was also fun for her rather than work, and she felt full of energy after the massage. Usually after a massage by her, I lie there for 10 to 15 minutes as I am very relaxed and feeling good. After this one was over, I immediately felt that I should get off. Instead of feeling tired, I felt full of energy and the tired feeling that I had when I lay down was gone. I had expected to take a nap after the massage, but didn't. I also felt ravenous, and immediately went to the kitchen and made and ate two pieces of toast and a piece of chicken. I also devoured a couple of cookies and drank a glass of orange juice. I felt more connected to the masseuse, also.

24 Feb 2000. Lay on canvass for about 30 minutes. Fell asleep a little, and left feeling very relaxed. On canvass, placed my hands on my chest and felt a number of interesting sensations in them, especially the left hand. Also felt a few sensations in my neck. After 25 minutes, very relaxed, didn't want to leave. Left a few minutes later.

25 Feb 2000. About 10 people lay on wand canvass anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes. All results were positive. Everyone felt something. One person felt light headed. Another felt energy moving back and forth. DB felt blissful, had a smile on his face the whole time. T felt like she was lying on a calm body of water. Another man, after sorting through everyone else's energy on the wand, heard a very low frequency hum, lower than 40 hertz!? Arrived at KA's place tired and stressed. Lay on canvass. Felt a general buzzing in the body and totally relaxed after 30 minutes. I went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

26 Feb 2000. Lay on wand for 30 minutes and felt a general tingling in my body. Eventually felt strong sensations in shoulders and especially neck.

27 Feb 2000. 10:30 am. On the wand for 30 minutes. Beforehand I felt anxiety or low level stress. I felt energy in a general sense throughout body, but then strong sensations in my upper arm (both but left mostly) just below shoulders. Also some sensations in neck and shoulders. The kind of sensations that indicate that the energy of the wand is hitting some blocks. I think I fell asleep or my consciousness was not in my body. Afterwards I took a nap for an hour. Later on in the evening, as I relaxed while sitting down, I could feel all sensations that I had while on the wand.

28 Feb 2000. Lay on the wand about 8:20 pm, right after I had been on the wand for 15 minutes. On for 30 minutes. I first felt some general sensations, tinglings in upper part of body and arms and neck. Then the sensations settled in on the left arm. They were the strongest on the upper part near shoulder blade. There were also some sensations on the elbow.My first reaction, there were no powerful experiences, yet I did have some notable experiences. I was a little disappointed, and my interest turned to other projects.

I was also bothered by another aspect. How do I evaluate any new design? My normal procedure is that every time I came up with a new design I would try to make it somewhere to find out what it was about. The results with all my designs have been a range of experiences from nothing happening to having profound experiences, with everything in between. All experiences were unique, unexpected and unpredictable. If that being the case how would I be able to evaluate a new design, when I have never been able to predict what would happen?

In addition, the difference between this design and all the rest is that it dowsed at a new higher level of energy. I had no idea what to expect with this difference? Indeed, how do I get an objective assessment of what I make? In fact what is a labyrinth quality experience, especially since they are all unique and unpredictable? This line of thought led eventually to the paper on labyrinth indicator experiences (3).

An increase in the frequency of labyrinth indicator experiences. When I had developed my list of indicator experiences, I went back and looked at my 17 sessions, and saw that my frequency of indicator experiences was 100%! To summarize my notes, I lay on it from 20 to 30 minutes to several hours. All experiences were different. Twelve times I felt energy as a general tingling or sensation in the body. Seven times, I felt the sensations (from mild to very intense and slightly painful) in specific areas of the body: the shoulders and neck- five times, the lower back, lungs, and upper left arm two times each. Twice, I felt energy as a general pulsing in my whole body. Five times I released either while on the canvass or several hours later. Four times I left feeling very relaxed; four times I fell asleep, and four times, that night, I had vivid dreams, ranging from one to two to many. Three times I felt rejuvenated in that I felt less tired (two times) and had less pain (two times). Two times I left feeling groggy as if my energy fields had been worked on.

How does this compare to what normally happens? I looked at my daily diary for the period of time when the double spiral, 3-ring Cretan and hillside meander were made. During the 14 day period that I worked on the double spiral, I had twice the rate of indicator experiences (sobbing release and vivid dreams) than for a period of 36 days before and after construction. I also had indicator experiences on 13 of the 14 days on the job.

I worked on the 3 ring Cretan earthwork for 15 days, taking eight days to make the earthwork, and seven days to finish the job (final shaping of the mounds and path, installing a drainage system, seeding the mounds and covering them with compost, and finishing the path). Since I knew from future studies that the full complement of energy was present as soon as the earthwork is finished, I was working in a full dose of energy for about half the job. I had five releases and three dreams while working on the earthwork compared to one release and two dreams during the making of the earthwork. I also felt energy one time while sitting in the center, and felt dizzy and strange the last day of the job. I had indicator experiences on eight of 15 days.

I made the hillside meander over a 68 day period, working on it for 40 days. I had an average of 11 releases per day while working and five per day while not working in the design. Indicator experiences were recorded on 75% of days while on the job.

For the 69 days to make three earthworks, I had indicator experiences on 51 days or 74% of the time. On the meander wand I had more than 17 indicator experiences for the 17 times that I lay on it. Most were of the same type experienced while making earthworks where I am in its energy for six to eight hours a day. It seemed that the wand was increasing the rate of occurence of indicator experiences.

I continued to lie on it, and something happened each time. Then, very suddenly, for two times in a row nothing happened. I made the assumption that I had fully acclimatized to the energy field of the wand. I had used it passively for most of the times I lay on it, allowing my energy fields to be resonantly entrained by the fields of the wand.

Now that I was acclimatized, I started setting an intent each time I used it. My usual intent is to bring my body into balance and to continue to attune my energy fields, transforming or kicking out "unnecessary energy". Again, something always happens. Lately, when I first lie on it, I feel sensations in different parts of my body. Then I fall asleep for up to an hour. I awake feeling refreshed and balanced and centered. I always feel better. Back to Top

Experiences from Others. Some people were sleeping on the wand all night, so I became very interested in their experiences. Would this be too long of an exposure to the energy for the user? I have done seven surveys on seven different designs, and recorded 829 comments from 274 people. Although most experiences were enjoyable, there were always some unpleasant experiences, most commonly manifesting as dizziness or a nauseous feeling. I have interpreted these reactions as an overexposure to the energy of the symbol, or an excessively rapid changes of one's energy fields in an attempt to resonate with the symbol's energy fields.

I stopped counting at eight the number of people who have slept on it all night. Everyone's experience has been pleasant so far. One lady felt cradled, another had vivid dreams, and all slept better. Something always happened but nothing profound, and significantly, there were no disagreeable experiences. Several people use the wand by sleeping on it, and every thing seems OK. I slept on it once all night. I felt tingling and other sensations in my body at first, but then fell asleep and woke feeling good but not spectacular. My impression the extra time on it was unnecessary, that I could have gotten the same benefit if I had lain on it for the usual 30 minutes to an hour that I do now.

Prayers. Joan and I say prayers over all the wands we make. One of the prayers is that may people who use it be gently healed according to their needs. The word, gently, was added recently to reduce the chance of an unpleasant experience. It seems to have had the desired effect.

A Possible Tool for Health Workers? Two health workers use the meander wand canvass in their practice, three or so times a week. One is a masseuse and the other is an "energy" worker. Both claim that it helps in their practice, by calming people down which allows for better movement of energy through the body, and both have a better perception of subtle energy. The masseuse also says that it is easier for her to intuit where to work next.

What is the Average Experience? My main focus in using the wand is to attune my energy fields to enhance my spiritual growth. The most common experience with this intent has been to feel balanced. When I am tired and low in energy, I leave the wand feeling refreshed and invigorated. When I am anxious from a stressful situation, I leave feeling calm. I may also release while on the canvass or afterwards, sometime many hours later. I may also have some vivid dreams that night. The average effect for exposure to Yod energy is to feel calm, while power spot energy invigorates, so the feeling of the wand bringing one into balance is seen through the complementary actions of two complementary energies. A visual image of the balancing and centering came to me. A person is holding up two arms several feet apart at chest height, with the palms facing each other. The action of the wand is mirrored as the hands are brought together bringing back to the center any stray energy.

Discussion. The evidence I now have suggests that the meander wand allows the "labyrinth experience" to happen at a higher frequency. Thus, the wand continues the labyrinth effect that I saw in the results for the double spiral and 3-ring Cretan studies, where the chances for an indicator experience were twice as high during the creation of an earthwork as compared to normal everyday activity. The average of three studies reported above showed that while making an earthwork, one has a 74% chance of having an indicator experience. With the meander wand the chances are near 100%. I note that the 74% rate was obtained with a passive use, while the near 100% rate was obtained with both passive and active use.

To more accurately compare any design to the meander wand, one should use both many times for similar periods with similar intents. It may be some time before I do that for I am using almost exclusively the meander wand canvass for my personal energy work, and I have five labyrinths/symbols (a RH Cretan, the double spiral, the flower wand and a small Yod zone as earthworks, and a LH Cretan as a rock/earthwork hybrid) outside in my rather large front yard. It is a matter of convenience, and of belief from experience and dowsing that the wand is better.

I have been using the wand on a regular basis for about six months, at least every other day for 30 minutes to an hour or more. I plan to continue to use it indefinitely. As I have already stated something happens every time. The question is how long will this continue and what will be the end result? In general, I now see the meander wand as a tool for energy attunement and/or spiritual communion. What does this mean in practical terms? Since 1987 when I started this work, I am healthier, happier and more at peace than before. 

References

1. Champion, A. B. Essays on Labyrinths and other geometric symbols. Earth Mazes Publishing, Philo, CA. 2001. Essay 5: Dowsing studies during the construction of earthworks.

2. Champion, A. B. The Mystery of Labyrinths. Earth Mazes Publishing, Philo, CA. to be published.

3. Champion, A. B. Essays on Labyrinths and other geometric symbols. Earth Mazes Publishing, Philo, CA. 2001. Essay 5: Labyrinth Indicator Experiences.

Appendix

I have continued to record people's experiences, anecdotal accounts of people's experiences on the meander wand. I have recorded the testimonials, based on the date I received them. Click on the word Appendix.

Email direct questions to Alex at meanderwand@earthsymbols.com.