An ancient skill now meets the computer age.
The Oxford dictionary gives a definition of Douse as being the
use of the divining-rod in search of water or mineral veins and Dowser as the
one who uses the divining rod or
twig.
This does not help to explain what dowsing is or how it works,
that it is an ancient skill is not in doubt as there are documents dating back
to the sixteenth century reporting on miners dowsing for metals in Germany and
being successful in finding copper, lead, iron and gold. Dowsing is documented
in England during the reign of Elizabeth 1st and there is no doubt that the
use of these techniques in the search for minerals and water were in use long
before this time.
The counties of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in England have
been associated with dowsing and mineral extraction since before recorded
history. A report on dowsing written by an early industrialist ,William
Cooksworthy, was included in a book called Mineralogia Cornubiensis which was
written by William Price , an authority on Cornish mining, this report stated
that 'local miners made their dowsing rods from a single forked hazel twig and
sometimes of other woods' and many local successes were recorded. The open use
of dowsing was curtailed around the end of the 17th century, this was probably
due the fact that as no reliable theory had been put forward as to how dowsing
worked it was feared that dowsing and dowsers were instruments of the devil
and that witchcraft was being practiced and being accused of being a witch
could risk execution.
How does it work?, That is a very good question and to this day
there is no accepted 'scientific' theory on its working, but work it does as
anyone who takes the time and trouble can prove to his or her satisfaction,
however, the rod or pendulum does not have the ability to move of its own
accord so therefore its actions must somehow be generated by the operator, and
at some time, someone watching a dowser at work will say 'but I saw your hand
move' to which the answer should be 'yes' , but why did it move at that time
and create that reaction in the pendulum or rod ? that is still an unsolved
mystery to this day! It is probably a muscular reaction brought about by the
subconscious mind and before you dismiss this idea think long and hard about
dreams, these speak to us not in words but in actions and pictures. 20th
century scientific research has proved that all matter is in some form of
sub-atomic movement, is this producing a field of energy or magnetism that is
too small to be measured by even the most sophisticated of modern instruments
but can still be picked up by the human subconscious and transferred into a
muscular reaction?.
Several eminent people have carried out experiments in the area
of electro/magnetic fields produced by living things, A professor at Yale
University in the USA, Harold Burr is perhaps the best known in this area and
wrote,' Electro-Dynamic fields are invisible and intangible and it is
difficult to visualize them' he also used the term 'L fields' to describe
them, I prefer the term Aura as it seems to offer a description that most
people can understand and more importantly as far as dowsing is concerted can
visualize in what is termed 'The minds eye'.
Burr conducted many experiments with living things both Flora
and Fauna and discovered that all produced a measurable electrical reading
which varied with the growth rate and the health of the subject and also in
direct relation to the lunar cycle. When dowsing in the field of auras is it
just the field of the subject that is causing a reaction or is it the
interaction between the aura of the dowser and the subject?
Another active pioneer was Tom Lethbridge who has published
several books on the subject which make very interesting reading, he was
trained originally as an archeologist and I suspect that it was this work that
lead him enter the field of dowsing and to carry out experiments with the
pendulum and also to associate various substances directly to the length of
the pendulum.
It is quite clear that the ability to concentrate your mind
and thus develop your mental powers will greatly assist in developing your
dowsing activities, those who concentrate their mind on being a skeptic will
rarely be able to develop any dowsing skills, it has been said that the dowser
will only find what he is looking for, now this may at first seem a strange
thing to say but given a few moments thought, A dowser has to know what he is
looking for before he starts work so that he may concentrate his mind on that
subject, thus he can only find what he is looking for.
TOOLS. I use three tools in the work that I have done.
1. The Hazel twig. This is probably the oldest and the original
tool in the dowsers armory and can be obtained for no cost, being cut from a
local hedgerow, it does not have to be hazel, many other twigs have been tried
with success. you should be looking for a 'Y' shape of equal thickness on each
branch and springy enough not to break under tension when in use, and in the
words of an old shaving soap advert 'not too thick and not too thin, but just
right'. This should be held under tension with the Y pointing horizontally
away from you and the arms held in gently clenched fists with the palms up and
thumbs out, be careful that you hold it far enough away from you as some
reactions can be quite dramatic and you don't want to end up receiving a wack
on the chin.
2.The Pendulum. This is a very popular dowsing instrument as it
is easily carried in a pocket or handbag, it is possible to use almost any
material as the weight on the end of the string, for that is all that a
pendulum is, materials that are frequently used are :- A piece of hazel wood
sharpened at one end, A finger ring, A crystal, Small brass plumb-bob or you
could one of the commercially available specialist pendulums. I usually use a
piece of hazel wood when working indoors and a small brass plumb-bob outside
where wind could be a problem, They are both strung with a fine cord about 18"
long, this gives you the opportunity to experiment with the length of the cord
in use.
3. The "L" rod. I find this is the most useful of the three
tools, mine are 6" x 15" and are made from a welding rod 1/8" in diameter,
these can also can be made from one of those wire coat hangers that always
seem to be around, in fact it may be a better material than a welding rod as
they are usually rustproof. These should be held lightly (so as to permit
movement) by the short arm with the longer section acting as the pointer, the
most comfortable position appears to be archived by tucking your elbows into
your sides keeping your forearms level in front of you with the pointer of the
rods just below the horizontal, this works for me, so I reckon it would be a
good position with which to start looking for your own comfortable stance.
Several different responses can be archived, they can both swing in the same
direction to left or to right or away from each other, or point together.
I think that every dowser has at sometime or other constructed a
tool of his or her own design, perhaps with a particular project or subject in
mind, what must not be forgotten is that they remain inanimate tools, you are
the dowser.
If you are a newcomer to dowsing I would at this stage carry out
some practical exercises using a pendulum. First draw a circle as large as
possible on an A4 sheet of paper, freehand will do, we're not trying to be a
draughtsman, now, mark out a clock face around the circle and lay the paper on
a flat surface and hold your pendulum cord (about 9" long) between your thumb
and forefinger, wrapping any excess cord around your hand to keep it from
getting in the way, now hold the pendulum over the center of the paper with
your hand about 18" above it. Now comes the tricky bit, concentrate your mind
on the fact that you want the pendulum to swing from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock
and in your minds eye visualize this movement, when you have set up a steady
oscillation stop the pendulum and try to set up an oscillation from 9 o'clock
to 3 o'clock. When you have succeeded achieving these movements, stop the
pendulum and try to set up a clockwise gyration, try repeating these exercises
until you are quite happy that you can create these movements to order as it
were. If this does not work don't worry try again and while you are
concentrating your thought try to visualize the movement in your mind, it is
your subconscious that you are calling upon to assist you and turn your
thought into a muscular reaction to produce the desired movement. The dowsing
enigma does not live in the tools, these are merely the instruments of
indication, but in the wealth of untapped information lying deep in the
subconscious mind. The next step is to discover how this knowledge can be
brought into a conscious and recognizable state.
The first step is to develop a question and answer technique,
the pendulum cannot answer in word form, only by its action, therefore you
must be able to understand what the actions of the pendulum mean, this is
somewhat simplified by asking the right kind of question and this must be one
that has only two possible answers i.e., positive or negative. The first
question that you must ask is one to which you know the answer egg, am I right
handed?, note the response and ask another question, am I left handed?, again
note the response, you should have now received two different reactions,
possible a clockwise gyration to one question and an anticlockwise gyration to
the other. Keep up with this type of question until you are positive what
reaction you obtain for a negative answer and what reaction you obtain for a
positive one. You now know how your pendulum is giving you a yes or no
answer.
My first experience with dowsing occurred many years ago when I
was working for an oil company in their heating and agricultural markets, I
was visiting a farm and on that day a new water main was being laid around to
serve cattle troughs, the farmer was getting most concerned about one field
where in recent years he had land drains installed, there was now no
indication where these lay, only their general direction was known. The digger
driver was trying to allay the fears the farmer had about damage to his
drainage system and proceeded to walk across the line of the drains holding a
pair of metal L rods, at regular intervals the rods reacted by pointing
towards each other and he put a marker on each spot. When he came to dig the
trench he stopped short of the marker and started again on the other side and
sure enough when he came to hand dig the bridges that he had left, a land
drain was found in each one. I expressed some astonishment at this achievement
and was invited to try it for myself and was somewhat dumbfounded when it
worked for me
It is probable that the first dowsing was done in pre-history to
locate hidden water supplies and today, apart from recreational work, it is
still probably the most widely form of dowsing in common use today and has
been known to produce some amazing results in arid areas of the world.
I would
make a start now to begin searching for water, the first thing to do is to
decide what tool you are going to use and for outside work the choice is
really only between a natural rod or L rods, having made your tool decision
then you can then decide the area you are going to search, its a good idea to
obtain something to use as markers, I use red tent pegs as they show up well
in the green grass of a field.
Walk across the field holding your L rods and when you get a
reaction, mark the spot. Move to another part of the field and walk a parallel
path to your first and mark the reaction point, you can do this many times and
it will then give you the path of the underground water course. Having found
your underground water there are other things you will need to know.
1. What is the direction of flow?. 2. How deep is it?. 3.What is
the flow rate?. 4. What is the quality?.
Q 1. If you stand over the spot you have marked and hold your L
rods and ask the question "Which way is the water flowing" you should find
that your rods will turn and point in the direction of flow.
Q2. Again standing in the same spot and holding your rods as
before, start counting up in whatever units of measurement you choose, I still
prefer the good old imperial system, you can count up a foot at a time or go
up in 5' steps or whatever unit you fancy, stop counting when your rods have
reached a parallel position. This will be the depth of the water.
Q3. Take the same stance as before and this time start counting
up in Gallons per minute, (GPM) or Litres per min if you prefer, When your
rods give you a reaction, this will be the flow rate.
Q4. You will need to know if the water is of a quality suited to
the proposed usage. Take the same stance again only this time count slowly
from 0 to 10. At some point you should get a reaction and if it occurs below 7
the water is below drinking quality without additional treatment, if at 7 or
above it will be of drinkable quality, (potable).
One dowsing experiment that is easily carried out in the home is
concerned with electricity. Take your L rods and walk over an electric cable,
say, one that leads to a standard lamp, and try asking the following
questions, Q1. Is this cable connected to a power source and live? i.e.,
plugged in to a socket and switched on but the lamp not yet switched on. Q2.Is
current flowing through this cable? i.e. the lamp or other appliance now
switched on. Q3. Is this cable dead? i.e. unplugged. As you have already
checked what response you receive for a 'yes' and a 'no' , it should provide
some interesting answers.
Are there any gardeners amongst you?, here is something that you
can try which could help your plants to grow and thrive. It has long been
thought that the pentagon has been possessed of mysterious powers, so why not
create your own around your favorite flower bed or vegetable patch. First of
all mark out your pentagon making the sides as near the same length as is
practical and place pegs or some form of marker at each point. Take your "L"
rods and touch the first marker with them, proceed to each point in turn
touching it as you go and finishing up back where you started , touching
marker No 1 for the second time, you have now created your pentagon. While you
are in the process of creating the pentagon you should be asking such
questions as 'can you please make this area a warm and thriving protected
environment in which plants may grow well'
When you have finished you will find that you have created a
dowsable line around the pentagon which you will be able to find with your
rods, you can now remove the markers that you used in this exercise, the
dowsable effect will remain until you choose to remove it. This you can do by
reversing the creation procedure. Now go and get growing..............
I hope that I have aroused your interest in dowsing, if so, I
would suggest that you can extend your knowledge by reading some of the many
published works on this subject, some of which I have listed below, or you can
join news groups and make contact with dowsers in all parts of the world.
A new group has recently formed in this area called The
Tamer Dowsers, this covers West Devon and East Cornwall, why not pay them
a visit? Happy
dowsing.......
"Water Divining" by Ralph Whitlock and published by Robert
Hale 1992.
" The Dowsers Workbook" by Tom Graves and published by The
Aquarian Press 1989.
"Dowsing : New light on a Ancient Art" by Tom Williamson
published by Robert Hale 1993.
"A beginners guide to
Dowsing" By Naomi Ozaniec published by
Hodder & Stoughton 1994.
"ESP Beyond time & Distance" by TC,Lethbridge published by
Sidgwick & Jackson 1965.
A further range of reading matter can be obtained from The British Society of
Dowsers at Sycamore Barn Tamley Lane Hastingleigh Ashford Kent.TN25
5HW Tel & Fax +44(0)1233 750253. Membership of the society is open to all
who are interested in the furtherance of its objects.
back to index
Any constructive comments or queries please
E-mail me
