Feedback after reading John Harding's book?

[Beeline]

Did post on the original thread but as it was under books and very old I thought it may get overlooked. So started a link here.

Original thread below
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8579

Did any of you who read John Harding's book - "An Holistic Way in saving the HoneyBee", earlier this year (RAB, Storm, HiveMaker, MrB and others) actually implement what he recommended e.g. siting your hive along the earths leylines etc? Has the varroa count been lower in those hives than those maybe 30m away. Better yield?

I'm hoping that having read it someone would have put his 'theories' to the test this year and be able to provide some feedback thus far.
BL

 

[Headnavigator]

Well, yes, I bought the book and read it, and sited my first hive according to the principles suggested. The colony in it is fine, and the max varroa count I have had over a 48 hour period is 3. It's often 1 or 0.
My other colony is on a line but not crossed lines as the first, and the results are similar.
This doesn't test or prove anything unfortunately - and as a new beekeeper I need to get to grips with the basics of beekeeping before I get carried away with the complexities of experimental design and execution. However, what I can say is that so far my experience doesn't refute his theories!

 

[justme]

Hi.
I've since tested where my 3 colonies that I started the year on were as far as 'lines' are concerned. The 1 that died over winter (lost queen and tried too late to produce a new one) was not on said lines. The other 2 which are fine and very low varroa counts were. I am now upto 10 colonies/swarms. All, bar possibly 1 which is elsewhere for mating, are now on lines. All seem fine, again very low varroa counts. I've also dowsed all sites of swarms that I've collected (2 actually moved into boxes at home), all again on lines. 1 bait hive I put out though did not attract the swarm that it was there to try and attract. Having said that I collected them from a digger bucket, not, I think their final home.
Still dowsing as I go along though, early days?

 

[Steve Dyer]

Hi.
I've since tested where my 3 colonies that I started the year on were as far as 'lines' are concerned. snip Still dowsing as I go along though, early days?

Here at Angmering we are well South of the potent Michael Line as it runs from Lands End to Essex, and just West of the ley line from Stump Cross to Beachy Head.

However I have come across an amazing photograph illustrating the Lunar influence of ley lines and standing stones: http://www.hedgedruid.com/tag/map-of-ley-lines/
Look at the first photograph showing the alignment of the moon and the two great stones, it's not just uncanny, as he remarks later "it's impossible".
I was stopped in my tracks by the lyrical and unquestionable accuracy of his observation "I couldn’t settle, however and mooched around dowsing occasionally as thoughts come into my vacuous mind space."

Should anyone doubt the relevance of this to beekeeping the clear synergy between the observers "hoody" and an early druidic skep proves beyond peradventure that we are here on a new horizon of insight into the mystical roots of Apiarism.

 

[Beeline]

I was slightly disappointed by the lack of more concrete evidence in John's book regarding those hives on ley lines and those not. Being open minded I still think his theories are worth a punt and given the recent feedback from some Forum members, it would seem to indicate there may be something in it.
Very interesting in Justme's discovery that all swarms he/she captured were on ley lines, as John said. I'm going to try out this dowsing method on a swarm I recently caught nearby and for the hell of it, see if my hives are above them as well.

It would be good to get the views and results of other forum members like Hivemaker, RAB etc. who also read his book

For those newbies interested in John Harding's holistic view on beekeeping see the thread below:
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8579

If anyone is interested in reading the book after I have re-read it (it's a short read), please PM me and I'll happily post it on.

BL

 

[Brosville]

John gave a talk and demonstration at the Natural Beekeeping Conference over the weekend, and he was referring to "geopathic stress lines" as well as ley lines - (video in preparation)

The impression I got from a lot of people was "yes, it looks like it works, but as to quite how or why we haven't a clue...." John himself is keen to have research done into the subject, as he puts it " to bring dowsing into the 21st century"

 

[drstitson]

"Look at the first photograph showing the alignment of the moon and the two great stones, it's not just uncanny, as he remarks later "it's impossible"."

Utter B*ll*cks!!!!

almost as pointless as saying stone X and stone Y align perfectly with each other.

Yes the elongated chamber does demarcate a line running to horizon. Yes the moon was crossing that line on the date in question.

However - the moon would also cross that line on many dates either side.

likewise - a linear arrangement (at minimum 2 stones) will always align with the point of moon rising or setting on a particular date (2 dates in fact except the solstices).

the only time a man made alignment can be proven to be "special" is when it corresponds to an astronomical fixed point (eg sunrise/sunset on solstice) eg stonehenge (summer), newgrange (winter).

any other alignment MAY have been significant to the builders - eg sunset on the date a leader died - BUT we'll never know why.

DOI: OH has worked and studied with prof clive ruggles - UK's only prof of archaeoastronomy.

 

[BKF Admin]

Ley lines and Dowsing
All complete b*ll*cks in my opinion....

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Ley lines and Dowsing
All complete b*ll*cks in my opinion....

Is that the two great stones referred to earlier?

 

[Winker]

Ley lines and Dowsing
All complete b*ll*cks in my opinion....

If you believe that twattle, you may believe my theory about Stonehenge being an ancient apiary

 

[drstitson]

Mons Ab - i think your situation supports the JH approach - i reckon that the back corner of your garage corresponds to the intersection of two lines (the walls).

 

[Beeline]

"Don't knock it if you haven't tried it".

If you have and got some beef about it having a negative impact or no impact, state your case, we're all ears.



BL

 

[Ed Woods]

If you believe that twattle, you may believe my theory about Stonehenge being an ancient apiary

That's just rubbish - everyone knows Stonehenge is a docking station for the spaceships belonging to the aliens that live in Atlantis

 

[Skyhook]

Look at the first photograph showing the alignment of the moon and the two great stones, it's not just uncanny, as he remarks later "it's impossible".
I was stopped in my tracks by the lyrical and unquestionable accuracy of his observation "I couldn’t settle, however and mooched around dowsing occasionally as thoughts come into my vacuous mind space."

Should anyone doubt the relevance of this to beekeeping the clear synergy between the observers "hoody" and an early druidic skep proves beyond peradventure that we are here on a new horizon of insight into the mystical roots of Apiarism.

I wonder if it's possible to place 2 stones so that they DON'T align with the moon in some way at some point?

Has anyone noticed how Farnham, Guildford and Walton-on-the-hill are in perfect alignment?

 

[Brosville]

I like to keep an open mind about things - John reckons that if he dowses for a good spot, and places his hives accordingly, then he has good honey harvests, and no disease problems - I've got no problems with him doing that.
I also reckon that it's an area worth investigating - he himself says he wants research done to find out the "whys and wherefores", and to "bring it into the 21st century"

My personal view is that IF it works that it may be mistaken to assign explanations as to the mechanism whereby it does so without more investigation.

We may subconsciously "know" a good spot for bees, and the divining rods may allow that knowledge to be shown in a visible way. There is no doubt that major companies use the services of dowsers to save themselves a fortune.

 

[Steve Dyer]

If you believe that twattle, you may believe my theory about Stonehenge being an ancient apiary

It must have looked fantastic when the supers were on those stone broods.

Incidentally in relation to the ley line and dowsing rubbish, there is a prize of $1,000,000 on offer by the James Randi Foundation for anyone who can demonstrate that he can dowse.

There is a pipe underground, and the dowser is shown exactly where it is.
He has a go when he knows there is water running in it, then has to do a series of tests when there may, or may not be water in it. 100% of dowsers are spot-on accurate when they know the water is there, and they are all 50% accurate when they don't know if the water is flowing or not.
Dowsing is rubbish... - and there's $1m still there that says so.

(This is not to say that there aren't people who are good at spotting where there may be water underground from topographical clues, but the actual wobbly stick thing just doesn't ever work.)