Saint Michael's line

The Saint Michael's Line, also known as the Sword of Saint Michael, is a postulated ley line connecting seven monasteries and in Europe and the Holy Land, six of which are dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

History
Like many places dedicated to St. Michael, the aligned sites are almost all located on prominent hilltops or other hard to reach places, and include Skellig Michael, St Michael's Mount, Mont Saint-Michel, the Sacra di San Michele, San Michele Arcangelo, the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo, the Panormitis Monastery of the Archangel Michael, and Stella Maris Monastery. Although the latter is not explicitly dedicated to St Michael, the mountain on which it sits, Mount Carmel, is associated with the archangel by the biblical story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). A Ukrainian folk legend says that St. Michael gave thunder to the Prophet Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel, so that he could fight the prophets of Baal.

Some of these locations may have had a prior connection to pagan sites of worship. There are claims that the line perfectly aligns with the sunset on the day of the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice. Like Mont Saint-Michel, Sacra di San Michele and the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo are reported to have been constructed at the behest of St. Michael himself.

According to legend, the Sacred Line of Saint Michael represents the blow the Saint inflicted upon the Devil when he cast him into Hell, as per the story of the Fall of Satan.

Interpretation
As with other ley lines, no scientific evidence indicates that the alignment was planned and meaningful, making the claim pseudoscientific, but commonly reported at these sites. Physicist Luca Amendola noted that the deviation of these sites from the loxodrome that allegedly connects them ranges between 14 km and 42 km.

Mary & Michael Pilgrims' Way
The term St Michael's Line is also used to refer to a similar alignment of hilltop sites connecting significant Pre-Christian and Christian sites following a line across England that is drawn from two parallel lines – the Mary and Michael lines. The route starts at St Michael's Mount on the southwest coast and travels east-by-northeast to St Mary's on the opposite coast; Cornwall to Norfolk. Sites along the way include the Boscawen-Un stone circle and the holy well at St Neot.

This shorter alignment was first postulated in 1969 by John Mitchell and subsequently claimed to be supported by dowsing. Sites linked to the archangel within southwest England, include St Michael's Mount, St Michael's Church (Brentor), Creech St Michael, Burrow Mump (also known as St Michael's Borough) and Glastonbury Tor.