Cassie shook the noise out of her head. Frowning, she retraced her steps and crossed over to rejoin her companions.
“At least you didn’t faint,” Griffin observed dryly.
“What?” Daniel sounded aghast.
“Occupational hazard.” Cassie shrugged matter-of-factly. “It happens sometimes. More often than I’d like.”
“Did you sense anything?” Ken prompted.
Focusing her attention on the trove keeper, the pythia said, “It wasn’t what I expected. I thought I’d see people performing rituals, making sacrifices, but it was none of that. It was all about energy.” She peered at Ken. “Do you understand?”
He treated her to a perplexed stare. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Cassie glanced back at the circle. “I could sense a line of energy, like an electrical current, running right below the middle of the circle. It extends off in either direction, but I’m not sure how far. Anyway, the stones are positioned in such a way that they pull that energy inside the circle and focus it in the center. I think the Jomon shamans must have been able to sense that force, and they built a circle so they could use it.” She paused, stamping her foot in irritation. “I’m not saying this right! I can’t find the words to describe what this is. I only know what I saw and what I heard. It was light, or sound, or electricity, or maybe all three at once.”
“I think you might have sensed a telluric current here,” Griffin offered. “The earth itself generates an electrical current which emanates from the core and runs upward to the surface—an invisible power grid that covers the globe. These lines of electrical energy have been referred to as telluric current or ley lines and ancient peoples everywhere built sacred sites over them.”
Cassie brightened. “That’s it!”
“So, they chose to mark this place because their shamans felt a spike in energy?” Daniel asked. “I assume it was to hold rituals here. Like a shrine or church.”
“We already figured as much,” Ken demurred.
“It was more than that,” the pythia countered. “The rocks they chose for the circle were special. If this is a giant electrical circuit, then the stones had special properties that boosted the current of the place even more. It made the center of the circle act like some kind of giant tuning fork. It had the power to raise the energy field of the human body.”
“Forgive me, but an invisible energy field that has the power to affect the human body sounds like pure fantasy,” Daniel objected.
“All life, no matter how solid it seems, consists of spinning atoms that vibrate,” the scrivener retorted. “All the tissues, organs, and cells of the human body resonate at specific vibrational frequencies. And those frequencies can be affected by external transmissions which cause the body to entrain with incoming frequencies. Energy, vibration, and frequency define the entire universe. That’s not fantasy. It’s physics.”
“And before we all got our brains scrambled by tech frequencies, it was probably a lot easier for the average person to sense the frequencies in nature,” Cassie said. “To sense them and be influenced by them. This circle didn’t just ramp up physical health. Shamans could use it to boost their psychic abilities too.”
Griffin studied the outer ring of stones. “I would imagine these rocks contain not only lodestone which possesses magnetic properties that could affect the path of the telluric current, but also quartz which can be made to resonate at different frequencies simply by reshaping its surface.”
“There was a sound too,” the pythia added. “Not a chant or a song. More like the sound people make when they say the word ‘Om.’ It changed in pitch, and the rocks bounced the sound back to the inner ring.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” Griffin said. “Quartz in known to have acoustic properties. The Jomon may have vocalized specific tones to augment the vibrations of the rocks. The concept is similar to Gregorian chants intoned in acoustically-perfect medieval cathedrals. Sound can have a powerful effect on human brain wave patterns.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Cassie gave Daniel a wink and a nudge in the ribs. “I guess my tuning fork analogy is sounding pretty good right now, isn’t it?”
The trove keeper shook his head in wonderment at the pythia’s findings. “In all my years in the field, it never occurred to me to consider the physical properties of a site used for spiritual purposes.”
“And I don’t think Washinoki is a special case either,” Cassie hastened to inform him. “Any stone circle would function like this one. Anywhere on the planet.”
“I’ve read that geomagnetic anomalies have been recorded at several well-known henges,” Griffin said. “The stones at those sites also possess specific resonant qualities. Both those facts would imply that the builders of these sites were aiming to construct something more useful than elaborate rock gardens.”
The pythia paused to consider a new thought. “I have a hunch that even traditional cultures nowadays have forgotten what these sites were for. They still use them for rituals, but the reason why got lost along the way.”
“Thank you, Cassie.” Ken abruptly took her hand and shook it. “Your insights have opened a whole new line of inquiry for me. I owe you a huge favor. Whatever I can do to repay you, just name it.”
“You might start by helping us with our Minoan riddle,” the scrivener suggested delicately.
“Oh, yes, of course!” The trove keeper looked slightly embarrassed. “I forgot to tell you in all the excitement.”
“Tell us what?” Cassie asked.
“I reviewed the data you sent, and I don’t think you need to search Sakhalin Island at all for clues.”
“Really?” Daniel stepped
