This book takes the reader on an extraordinary journey. Using his skills as a dowser, the author explores the realm of Earth mysteries – megaliths, ley-lines, barrows, beacon hills, and other ancient features – and puts forward some startling, but nonetheless highly plausible ideas.

He reveals a view of our world that links past and present; a world that hints at a magical technology linking people and place; a world whose energies could perhaps have been harnessed in the past to improve the quality of life.

It is also a plea for us to rediscover the profound connection with place that our ancestors knew, and to begin to heal a relationship with land that has been badly ravaged by the values and assumptions of the modern world.

Needles of Stone has long and rightly been considered a classic. With the addition of new chapters, this 30^th anniversary edition allows the author to bring the work up to date and gives him an opportunity to reflect on what has happened since the book was first written.

The cover art on this book is ‘Callanish’ © Liz Poraj-Wilczynska, 2007

Oil on canvas; 35.5cm x 25.5cm.

The painting blends traditional 18^th century illustrative view with contemporary vertical and horizontal line. The stones of Callanish are portrayed as rooted in the land, bridging the gap between elemental earth and etherial air and sky, a meeting or merging of worlds.

'Callanish' is part of a collection of work exploring the artist’s personal experience of the energetic atmosphere at prehistoric sites. These paintings explore the quality of this balance between dark and light, and our sensory experience within it.