Earth Mysteries

The term Earth mysteries describes an interest in a wide range of spiritual, quasi-religious and pseudo-scientific ideas focusing on cultural and religious beliefs about the Earth, generally with regard to particular geographical locations of historical significance.

Earth Mysteries and Ley Lines
The study of ley lines originates in the 1920s with Alfred Watkins. The term "Earth mysteries" for this field of interest was coined about 1970 in The Ley Hunter journal and the associated concepts have been embraced and reinvented by movements such as the New Age Movement and modern paganism during the 1970s to 1980s.

Sacred Locations
Believers in Earth mysteries generally consider certain locations to be "sacred", or that certain spiritual "energies" may be active at those locations. The term "alternative archaeology" has also been used to describe the study of Earth mystery beliefs. Some New Age believers engage in travel to locations they consider important according to their beliefs; for example, Stonehenge is a popular destination among New Age seekers.

The concept of earth mysteries can be traced back to two antiquarians during the 17th century John Aubrey and William Stukeley who both believed that Stonehenge was associated with the druids. Stukeley mixed together ancient monuments and mythology towards an "idealized vision" of nature.

Archaeology and Astronomy
The New Age boom of the 1980s expanded the scope of the Earth mysteries field beyond British landscape and Earth mysteries as a "New Age invented tradition" by the 1990s could include the study of ancient sites and landscapes (including archaeology, archaeoastronomy, and ley lines), Chinese geomancy or feng shui, western magical concepts of gematria, and dowsing. An important writer combining these fields during the 1970s to 2000s was John Michell. Michell's book The View over Atlantis mixed ley lines with folklore and archeology these ideas became known as "earth mysteries".

Proponents consider the Earth mysteries to be "sacred" and "mythopoeic" rather than scientific. The ley lines idea has been generally ignored by the academic establishment in the field of archaeology. The work of researchers who support the paranormal aspects of Earth mysteries have been extensively criticized by "professional debunkers" such as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).

The Earth mysteries movement in Great Britain embraced the term "ritual landscapes" that was used in British archaeology starting in the 1980s, with regards to "sacred" locations apparently used for mainly ceremonial purposes in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age; this concept has been both adopted and criticized in the field of academic archaeology. Tourism associated with the Earth mysteries movement in this regard is known as the "landscape heritage" segment of the market.