Navigating without a compass

Apr
23
2010
by
Lynne McTaggart
/
27
Comments

One of the thorniest problems in all of biology is how exactly a bird finds its way home. Most animals migrating over great distances appear to find their way by detecting tiny signals from the earth itself. Birds, butterflies, whales and even bacteria all respond to the  earth’s geomagnetic field.
This begs the question of whether humans possess an innate ability to navigate, much in the way that animals do. 
Native aborigines were said to have a perfect ‘compass sense’—that is, they could navigate and return home over vast distances.
European explorers wrote home about the seemingly fantastic ability of native guides to negotiate through apparently featureless expanses of woods, jungles, oceans and fields of ice.
But are they using a sophisticated means of environmental cues or reading something deeper—an invisible energetic signal from the earth?
Blindfolded children
The most in-depth investigation into this subject was carried out by a zoologist called Dr R. Robin Baker, a reader in physiology at the University of Manchester. Baker carried out a series of experiments, testing his hypothesis that humans, like animals, have a sixth sense about direction. In his initial experiments, he simply blindfolded his student participants and drove them, following winding and circuitous roads, away from the university and dropped them off at locations as far as 50 km away.
These students were able to give relatively accurate descriptions of the direction of the university while remaining blindfolded; only when the blindfolds were removed did they lose a sense of the direction of home.
Convinced that he was witnessing some weak form of what is called ‘magnetoreception’, Baker then recruited a large group of schoolchildren, divided them into two groups and blindfolded them, too.
Scrambled frequencies
He then attached a bar magnet to the foreheads of the children in one group; in the others, he attached a considerably weaker magnetized piece of metal, but which was similar in shape and size to the magnets. After bussing them to a spot some distance from home, he set them loose.
As he suspected, the children with the magnetized metal were far less able to find their way home. As with similar studies where magnets interfered with the ability of homing pigeons to return home, the bar magnets were scrambling the earth’s magnetic cues.
Other studies by Baker show that humans automatically point north in the absence of other clues.
Baker’s studies have been strongly criticized for their design, their conclusions and their failure to be adequately replicated.
Nevertheless, although some studies have failed to obtain the same results, a number of them have supported Baker’s findings – so much so, that Baker himself put together all the evidence and discovered robust evidence that humans have a non-visual ability to orient and navigate based, at least in part, on magnetoreception.
One such study was carried out by University of Keele researcher Mary Campion. But her results showed that the sixth sense was variable — more developed in some than in others.
Teenaged girls tune in
Indeed, it may even differ between the sexes. At a special conference on animal navigation, one researcher named Gai Murphy presented a paper describing her own fascinating experiments with children and teenagers.
Her studies tested the ‘homing’ instinct in children as young as four. She discovered that this sixth sense was weak in children aged between four and 11, and was only marginally developed in boys. However, in girls, this facility suddenly blossomed at age nine and continued growing in acuity until it reached a peak at 18. 
Murphy concluded that humans, and especially girls, are able to tune in to the earth’s magnetic field. 
Murphy’s study throws up many tantalizing possibilities. Are there true biological differences in our ability to ‘read’ the earth’s energies? Or could it be that women, who are encouraged to listen to their intuition more than boys are, simply have more practice in tuning in to these infinitesimally tiny cues?
But if humans are indeed magnetoreceptive, what is the exact mechanism that enables us to tune in?
Much of the recent research suggests that, in addition to an actual magnetic particles in the brain, the human pineal gland is also magnetoreceptive and able to ‘feel’ any changes in the earth’s magnetic field. The brain hormone melatonin is produced at night according to geomagnetic fluctuations. This could mean that this highly misunderstood (and very likely underutilized) gland could assist in establishing direction.
Rhythmic light
Besides the pineal gland, we may also be tuning in on a more subtle level. German physicist Fritz-Albert Popp who discovered that all living things constantly emit biophotons — tiny packets of light —recently demonstrated that the biophoton emissions of humans follow daily and weekly patterns that mirror the rhythms of the sun. They have even recorded measurable differences between the emissions during the day and at night.
It appears that the frequencies of our body work in tandem with the body’s reaction to light and possibly to geomagnetic fields. Their work also shows that a constant exchange of energy occurs between living organisms and quantum electromagnetic fields.
According to Popp: “There is no doubt also about the correlation be-tween [biophoton emissions] . . . and day–night rhythm. We know also from this work that the [biophoton emissions] of all points of the body follow the same rhythms.”
The biophotons would solve the difficult question of how we can tune into weak magnetic fields, such as those of the earth, rather than the noisier fields we are bombarded with during everyday living. In this case, the quantum frequencies of our bodies could be carrying on a constant dialogue with the electromagnetic waves of the earth. Rather than using one centralized processor, we may be listening the music of the heavens through every pore of our bodies.
The big task before us in the developed world is to learn once more how to actually hear it.
Click here for more information about our teleseminar on Brain Training:
http://www.tieteleseminars.com/

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Lynne McTaggart

Lynne McTaggart is an award-winning journalist and the author of seven books, including the worldwide international bestsellers The Power of Eight, The Field, The Intention Experiment and The Bond, all considered seminal books of the New Science and now translated into some 30 languages.

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27 comments on “Navigating without a compass”

  1. I knew it, I always knew how to get home, I knew we didn't 'need' an external compass....

  2. I have the worst sense of direction ever, and my mother is the same, but there have been two specific, times, both under duress and time constraint, in a car full of people late for something urgent, I suddenly knew how to get to the destination. Both times we were headed to places we'd been but only once or twice, and it was like a moment of clarity. I could barely convince anyone to listen, since I'm known for always turning naturally in the wrong direction, but they did listen and we got there in time on both occasions. and then, like one of those patients you see in movies about mental homes, I lapsed back into my usual state of needing a map to find my feet. So I know that "it" is in my power somewhere, but I rarely tap into it.

  3. I did extensive research on this during the late eighties and worked with a physicist who had produced a 4D geometrical form of dynamic maths. The conclusion was the 'real' component of time (the forth dimension) 'is' a direction in space! As this is the real component of the forth dimension its not surprising that we have directional qualities built in. Going on the almost symmetric qualities of nature, the 'basic' building blocks of nature have directionality as to create patterns in space where there are no patterns, a guidance system is necessary. This study lead on to a study on our internal guidance systems and how they functioned. I have the geometry and over 20 years of research if anybody would like to discuss.

  4. We are all born into the Earth Magnetic Field , and it seems common sense to assume that it will have had and effect on life`s evolution over the millenia ,on our planet .
    One might also imagine the , as yet , undiscovered connection between life on our planet and the effects of our star ,the sun`s, magnetic field on it . Electromagnetic fields permeate the Universe and without doubt interact with organic life at the quantum level of reality . I believe that a myriad of discoveries will be unearthed in the future that will explain and show these " invisible " links at work .
    I also think that the man - made electromagnetic field we ourselves generate in our power stations does undoubtedly influence our health and behaviour . Let us hope that our own industrial , and powerful , artificial fields do not create detrimental conditions for our mental and physical states of health .

  5. I have always had an excellent sense of direction. I have attributed this to my bed, when I was a child, having "pointed" north. I could lie in bed and see the north star. Assumed this was why, for instance, after only one day in Rome, having taken the wrong bus, I was able to walk back to the international hostel using only my sense of direction -- no visual cues, no maps, no requests for help.
    The only time it didn't seem to work was during a full moon or during my menstruel period.

  6. I have been known to have the worst sense of direction, while my map loving hubby has the best. Recently, we visited Washington DC, parked in a garage far away from the museums and I asked him if we should write down the location of the garage but he said he'd remember it.
    After a long, very hot day we had to get the car and meet people for dinner but he had to admit that he did not remember where the car was parked! We thought the garage closed at 6pm and it was now 5:30. We got very focused(scared) and took off walking and every time he wanted to turn away from the garage, I told him we had to go the opposite way because I just felt he was wrong. I ended up guiding us back to the garage and I don't know how I did that and he was shocked as well.
    If I had not been focused and worried that they'd lock our car inside over night--I don't think I would have pulled that off. I was hyper focused and I believe that helped my brain locate our car's location. It was really nice to see that I have abilities whick I have never used before and thought were unavailable to me as well as, discovering my hubby is not the king of directions! Next time we will write down the location.

  7. Was anyone else here able to access the Brain Training on the 18th? I have received no response to my emails or an MP3 or a transcript. The phone call would not got through and I feel left holding the bag. Was it simply rescheduled for May 2nd? Help?

  8. Lynn,
    As creatures evolved on this magnetized rock in space, there is no doubt of our innate navigational ability. Again, it’s the requirements of modern science to ‘prove’ how it works, but suffice to say it does work.
    But this ability to “tune in” isn’t just directional. I recently read about some native tribes who avoided the tsunami destruction because they ‘felt’ something was coming.
    This is akin to a dog that is aware of an earthquake or tornado before it occurs, and saves their owner by getting them to change locations.
    We are constantly being bombarded by millions of electro-magnetic frequencies, and your book outlines the biophoton experiments quite in depth. I was amazed to learn about the two-way flow of these light photons!
    As you infer, alignment is the key. How do we train our mind to tune in to the vibrations of the planet?
    The first step is to be aware. The second is to focus. And lastly, learn to listen with your mind, not your ears...
    Write On!

  9. This is absolutely fascinating! I've been doing a lot of research lately on conciousness and quantum physics, and how they are interrelated. It seems that every day we are discovering more and more about what the human body and mind can do. I would like to hear more about the differences between males and females and their ability to navigate. We all have so much potential that is never utilized!

  10. Dear Mrs. Mctaggart, last year I wrote to you to ask for your help with a matter. You answered and I believe I was the first single person recipient of a group intention. I am attaching the original letter I wrote you. I am writing now to let you know it worked! The modification on my mortgage I was asking the bank for, against every conceivable odd known was approved recently. Now this should not have happened in the rational world for far too many reasons to go into in this letter. I held on to the hope that the group intention you asked your followers to put out there for me found its mark. Even after the bank turned down the modification three different times for one reason or another and told me two months ago that if I did not produce fifty thousand dollars I would shortly have to move. One person in a branch of the bank I had never called got in touch with me, she called me! She said my paper work had wound up on her desk ( it should not have) and asked what the problem was and how could she help. That woman, her name is Emily put everything back together and saved a hopeless situation. There were too many things standing in the way for this to have been a case of dumb luck. I am writing this to thank you and everyone who participated my heart-felt thanks. Thank you seems small right now, for what you did for me.
    Sincerely yours,
    Patrick.

  11. More than a decade ago I heard anyone can find North. I simply tell my body to do so and it does, day/night, indoors or out. Not 100% though.
    Also, my wife and I love to travel. We never worry about getting lost. We simply follow our intuition to find our way. Perhaps women are better at finding North because, generally they trust their intuition more.

  12. Thank you Lynne for your research on this topic. Pat Price, a renowned remote viewer, in his capacity a police commissioner, was said to be able, while lying in bed, to look around his town and on finding a crime in progress, dispatch officers to the scene. Perhaps in addition to magnetic means of navigation, we have other abilities that few as yet have recognized and used as Pat did, even among remote viewers. Perhaps we can potentially dial up a location as we would on Google Earth and by intention entangle with and find our way to it.

  13. Hi Lynne,
    I paid for The Good Digestion Teleseminar this Sunday, April 25th. I had some trouble with the credit card processing but my 3rd attempt seemed to go through. My order # is 1192. I'm emailing because I didn't receive a confirmation email or the phone number to call on Sunday.
    Thank you for your time and attention to this matter!
    Regards,
    Jennifer Nielsen
    ja_nielsen@hotmail.com

  14. And I seem to have mistaken your blog comment area for a general contact form. My apologies! Please delete these both at your convenience. 🙂
    -Jennifer N.

  15. I read your article with interest because I have another theory why animals and some people can know how to navigate to a particular place.
    If you observe a flock of snowbirds, you see many hundred of them all turn in flight at precisely the same time. What they have in common is a group soul. We are all spiritual/physical people and we all have a soul or Life-energy (as I like to call it). This Life-energy is omniscient and omnipresent. It communicates by telepathy, its mode of travel is by thought, and it perceives by clairvoyance. Life-energy (soul) anticipates by precognition, manipulates by psychokinesis, stores all knowledge and can retrieve all knowledge when needed. It is infinite.
    It is this Life-energy that knows directions. It is the connection with flocks of birds. It is accessed by instinct in animals, and intuition in humans (basically the same thing anyway). We don't need theories of magnetic lines or light photons to explain it. We are soul and we are all connected. Like the tradition shamans, we know where home is, and where the buffalo are grazing.

  16. Enjoyed reading Lynne's interesting article.
    Enjoyed the comments of all the guys.
    I am reading "The Field" for the second time after four years. Fascinating. I recommend you all give it a second read. So much stuff in there.This is a truly brilliant piece of work.

  17. some years ago i had the pleasure of going on a walkabout with some indigenous women. We were in the mountains and in single fiile. The women sang or toned to the earth and picked up the <song of the earth< and seemed to be blending the tone of their voices with that. Tuned into it, they knew where to walk as their ancestors had done for long years past

  18. "The brain hormone melatonin is produced at night according to geomagnetic fluctuations."
    This could explain why geopathic stress (the effects of negative earth energies produced, commonly, by underground streams) can have such dire effects on health in general and sleep in particular. Having moved into a new house that was, unknown to me then, exposed to considerable geopathic stress, sleep became almost impossible until the cause was discovered and a device that neutralised the negative field was installed. But not everyone is susceptible to this influence. My wife was quite unaffected.

  19. I have a very bad sense of direction in finding places, and yet I drive my car intutively

  20. I found it amusing that the french translation of this blog lists my name as du projet de loi.

  21. It seems Google is consistent through the language translations offered with the blog. I'm referred to as a projected law in Italian, Russian, and French, etc. The function of translation whether done by a machine or a human parallels Lynne's question about navigation. Whether via subtle cues or invisible energy flows of rhythm and meaning a navigator of texts can be thrown off course and some are better readers than others. None the less, I love being able to move the cursor line by line on Lynne's blog and the comments in both the original(usually English) and the machine translation.

  22. Tu parles français Bill? ¿Y español Guillermo? и вы говорите по русски?

  23. Tu as de la chance,Pauline, en avoir tant de claviers. Soy un pobrecito Memo, sin esperanza de govarit pa russky. Sans blog ni sens clair de ton interesse, Bis bald, oder?

  24. dear lynn,
    In the ancient Hindu vedic tradition-- we have to break a coconut during puja rituals .
    it was the original quantum INTENTION EXPERIMENT to ripple THE FIELD..
    You must read about this in my blog --
    -- just type into google search--THE VEDIC QUANTUM INTENTION EXPERIMENT-- COCONUT BREAKING--CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL.
    regards
    capt ajit vadakayil
    ..

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