No doubt GPS systems are useful for navigating some places and up mountains, but sometimes it’s good to get back to nature! Tristan Gooley is your expert in charge here. He’s one of the world’s top experts in using nature to find your way (like England’s version of Crocodile Dundee!) His site The Natural Navigator is superb, and you can even sign up for quizzes to learn how to find your way using a puddle, tree or the clouds! He is also the author of several books including The Natural Navigator on how to find yourself out of a hole by using the simple question ‘Which way am I looking?’ With Tristan’s help, you can find your way – from the feel of a rock to the look of the moon! Also read about making maps more interesting.
Tristan has visited five continents, climbed mountains the world over, sailed small boats across the ocean, and walked with and studied with the methods of the Tuareg, Bedouin and Dayak, in earth’s remote places. He is also a Fellow the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Geographic Society.
I’d like to show you how to make a compass, by looking at the size of tree leaves. Sun leaves are more common on the southern side and on the outermost twigs in the northern hemisphere. Shade leaves are more common on the northern side and inner branches. The two leaves were taken in late July from the same black popular tree, only a few metres apart. They are found near water, so when I found this one in Sweden, I knew I would find a stream nearby. Tristan’s Wisdom!
What is a Compass?
A compass is simply a tool to find your way, that was invented to make use of the fact that Earth is like a giant magnet, and the needle always points north to find directions. Using lines of magnetic force, the metal always arrange themselves along these lines. The magnetic poles are not the same as the North and South poles, as the compass always points to the magnetic North Pole, so has to adjust to find ‘true north’ (unless it’s a gyrocompass which big ships use to find their way).
Compasses were first invented to navigate at sea, but today they are extensively used by practitioners of feng shui. This is a very complicated ‘earth science’ (that does not require poor goldfish to be stuck in bowls). Like most things, this ancient practice has been hijacked to sell pretty expensive trinkets. Expert Kartar Diamond is not a fan of practitioners that don’t use compasses, and says that to paint your door red or install a water fountain when you don’t know what you’re doing, could make things worse. She says telling people to ‘balance their homes’ by adding a little of each element is like ‘taking everything in the medicine cabinet, when you don’t know what’s wrong with you’. The growth of ‘fake feng shui’ has caused many fish to be exploded out of their homes with dynamite, to be imported into homes where self-absorbed people employ expensive feng shui practitioners, with no proper training. If you need running water, use a fountain.
The unseen magnetic field can be calculated with the timing of construction, and what is captured inside (once the ceiling and roof are complete) has enormous influence on the occupants. The ancient masters who understood this could have received a Nobel prize for such a discovery, I find it amazing that a group of geniuses figured this out so long ago. The ancient compass can tell if somthing is buried underground, if there are undeground metals, bones, water, underground steams or even the presence of a ghost! Kartar Diamond