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Dowsing
My personal experiences, a new journey.
I first began my journey to discover secrets of dowsing in December of 2001. I had seen this woman dowser profiled on our local television station, since there is a degree of drought in the area her ability to locate and even redirect water is valued by farmers.
Another reason my interest had been piqued lately is because certain skeptical web sites constantly poke holes at the theories behind dowsing, that the ability to locate something by using a divining tool was hogwash. Skeptics dismissed water located as nothing more than coincidence. So I decided to make up my own mind as to whether such powers existed within myself.
Luckily for me I live less than an hour away from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where the bookstore for the American Society of Dowsers is located. That Saturday I got myself an early Christmas present and went to the bookshop and picked up a few books on the subject. They also have a large display case full of divining rods and devices. I picked up a pair of copper rods that looked good, and they moved in my hands right there in the store. It was eerie, but very powerful experience. Later when I returned home I took a trip around the yard and found every pipe buried underneath the ground. However soon the snow began to fall and get deep, impeding my practice with the rods. However now spring is here once again, and soon the ground will be bare once more.
While waiting for the garden to thaw during these past cold, deep winter months, and while perusing these dowsing books I have, another aspect of dowsing, pendulum dowsing, has captured my interest too. While at the dowsing store I picked up a set consisting of a book / pendulum by Sig Lonegren. Though I first didnt attempt pendulum dowsing seriously, it didnt take long and I was seriously practicing with results better than *I* expected. Its amazing what the power of the mind can do when focused.
Something thats very distracting to me at this time of my life however, when I try to do the exercises and meditations, is my daughter who is three. Not much time alone, and my husband is away from home with work quite often – so early morning is when I find the most undisturbed time to devote to developing my dowsing abilities. So while Im new to this activity, I like to think I make up for in enthusiasm what I lack for in experience. Ive done a lot of reading on the subject and will share with you the books Ive read before writing this introduction in the references section of this document. Surfing the net is also a hobby of mine, so you will find lots of internet references too peppered throughout my posts.
Ive also had the great fortune to know personally several very experienced dowsers who are neighbors to me here in Vermont and also in the Adirondacks where I am from originally. Incorporated into my own observations are their words of wisdom and stories shared about their experiences over the years. One of the best dowsers I know is about 84 years old now (2002), and he dowsed several wells for relatives of mine. When I found I had the ability to dowse I called him immediately. Later, I retraced his steps on the property he had dowsed years prior. My relatives indicated that my rods indicated unseen energy lines of some type at the same places his V shaped twig had.
Later that day I went to my friend, Mr. Signor and we talked about the several hundred wells he had successfully dowsed. His most recent success meant more to him than any accomplishment prior in his life. His daughter and son-in-law had very nice property in Connecticut, however her well had run dry. The well driller had drilled three other locations on the property with no success. Finally she drove 6 hours north and picked up her father, he then dowsed the location where the well driller should be drilling on the property. She drove her father home the next day and within a week she had called with the good news. They had found water at about 350 feet down, but it was running several gallons per minute and was clear and potable. A true miracle to her, with no water their fine home was worthless. That story was told to me by a very content dowser with tears in his eyes – just happy to be able to give the greatest gift to someone he loves the most. An interesting twist was the answer to my question of why she hadnt contacted her wise Dad the dowser in the first place? Well, the well driller didnt put much faith in them. Its surprising to most people when they find that well drilling companies do NOT like dowsers counseling their clients. The reason? Because the dowser usually saves the customer a lot of money. Instead of just blindly plodding on and drilling deeper and deeper, the dowser specifically indicates where water will be found and possibly the depth also.
So my interests and experiences with divination and dowsing are ranked first with water dowsing, secondly with pendulum dowsing and lastly with tarot. As I begin to share this journey with you, Im about 4 months into the trip, so its all new to me. Theres much I dont know, so if you want to enlighten me go right ahead. Also, as is restated throughout so many instructional guides pertaining to those things metaphysical – what works for me might not work for you, and everyone has their individual quirks. My purpose here is to just share with you what I find interesting about the subject of Dowsing, and maybe we can all learn something from each other along the way.
What is DOWSING?
The short answer is that dowsing is the skill of seeking answers and interpreting them using metal or wooden rods, or a pendulum. People also dowse with wands or using no tools and just rely on their body for signals, such as quivering hands. The best answers to this question, What is Dowsing? can be found on the web:
Letter to Robin, http://members.fortunecity.com/mardimail/robin/. This Mini-Course in Pendulum Dowsing is designed as a learning tool for beginners. It can also be used for a class or for discussion by experienced dowsers for it contains bits of information that even the most skilled dowsers may appreciate. In my opinion, this is the best link overall that accurately answers most of the questions related to dowsing, and is provided by the American Society of Dowsers.
A page with the most links is called The Digital Dowser located here: http://reid_j.tripod.com/index.html .
The shortest and sweetest explanation of what is dowsing? can be found here: http://dowsers.new-hampshire.net/preamble.htm.” This is the preamble to every meeting of the American Society of Dowsers.
Basically, dowsing is asking a basic question that has a yes or no answer and asking a higher power for the answer. A water witch as they have been called is a dowser who asks his rod to show him where the best water is on a plot of land.
Some topics I found that have themes similar to dowsing include: remote viewing, feng shui, earth rays and energies, ley lines, intuition, subconscious, superconscious, geopathic stress. There is also an entire list of different types of divination by use of different tools and mechanisms, such as reading tea leaves (tasseomancy) and other things like Ouija.
Illustration from Page 271, The Divining Hand by Chris Bird
“Various effects of underground water veins as illustrated by Dr. Joseph Kopp. In addition to disease in humans, animals, and plants, it has been observed that auto accidents repeatedly occur at points where veins run under roads and highways…” (1974, American Society of Dowsers, Danville, VT, “Effects of Harmful Radiations and Noxious Rays,”)
I have found a lot of good information on the internet regarding feng shui, but it seems most search engine results forces one to have to wade through a lot of professionals offering their services. A good internet resource is http://www.168fengshui.com/Articles.htm
The common link between feng shui and dowsing for water is the physical element of water as related to the movements of qi (energy), and qi moves through the cyclic changes of yin and yang. We are all objects in motion, and everything is in motion around us, energy is unseen. Some of us are more tuned into the motions of the earth and other dimensions besides this two dimensional plane our eyes see. There are also a couple books on feng shui listed in the references.
A short history of DOWSING.
Now the title of this chapter is deceiving. You see, there is no SHORT history of dowsing because its been around forever. Dowsing (or divining) has been used for many centuries and by many different civilizations, mostly by people searching for water or minerals.
The most complete history Ive found is in Christopher Birds The Divining Hand. A picture of a silver coin from 936 AD depicting a witching rod, mining activities, and a spot indicated by the dowser where the hole is being dug is shown in the book. Much of this book is also devoted to leaders in the field and their success stories over the years. Dowsing always has been and most likely always will be part of mining activity.
Divining rods are also mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Book of Numbers, Moses is said to have struck a rock twice with his rod, and the rock produced enough water to satisfy Moses people and their cattle. (Dowsing for Beginners by Webster.) This book also has a good relatively short history of Dowsing, including why the Catholic Church frowned upon dowsing. Webster also mentions that the first person to write about dowsing in English was Robert Boyle, often called the Father of Chemistry. Although he had been unsuccessful in his own attempts to dowse, he remained open minded on the subject.
A short list of important people in the field:
One of the more recent people involved in dowsing is Bill Cox. He has his own webpage here:
http://www.dowsing.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/dowsing/billscorner.cgi
Cox also edited the book Aquavideo, about Verne L. Cameron, who was a master dowser.
Jack Livingston also was a master dowser who had a long career and brought in over 2,000 wells, according to Bird. Some of the significant happenings related to dowsing came about as the result of press reports during wartimes that marines located hidden mines and tunnels by using dowsing skills. Skeptics also have a hard time refuting wise businesses who use a combination of dowsing and feng shui to increase sales and overall prosperity. Many pharmaceutical companies and mining companies are reported to have used dowsing services before developing new properties, also reported in The Divining Hand.
Sig Lonegren is mentioned quite frequently in publications as an authority in the field of dowsing and pendulums.
How to practice DOWSING:
Instead of giving explicit directions about what works for me, Ill refer you back to the Letter to Robin mentioned above. For me to attempt to do so would be to try to reinvent the wheel, and I would only end up plagiarizing someone else. You can use rods or pendulum to begin.
Now, I will give you some tips that work for me so far, that really help in being successful during exercises.
The first tip is PREPARATION and Programming.
May I, Can I, Should I? have to be asked of your tool and your thoughts need to be focused and programmed, as they are for meditation. This is not to be taken lightly, for if you dont tune into the tool and it doesnt tune into you then none of it will work. Again, this is explained in depth in the Letter to Robin. Another very important question is to make sure you have permissions if you are dowsing another persons space or property so you dont intrude.
Another tip I have that works for me is remember to keep an open mind to all results and dont wish or impose the desired result when the opposite is true. Think Whats the answer going to be? Instead of I hope the answer is no (or yes).
The last tip is that I find dowsing takes a considerable amount of energy and that I need to be rested and have no distractions. Distractions would include spectators, pets, and some music. I find that by listening to John Edward tapes and meditating it is easier for me to tune into dowsing.
How to connect with other Dowsing Resources:
Join the American Society of Dowsers. Their information and homepage is here: http://dowsers.new‑hampshire.net/schedule.htm
This page is also the events page for them, they have annual training sessions. Im hoping to attend my first this year, and Ive joined and become a member. Hopefully I can attend some meetings soon too.
There are also many chatrooms located on the internet and email newsgroups. A good start to find them is at the Digital Dowsers page: http://reid_j.tripod.com/index.html
Finally, know that you are always welcome to come back here and share your experiences here in our Spirit Discovery forums. Wed appreciate it very much if you shared your stories of discovering your spirit with us here.
Regarding skepticism and dowsing:
This is why I don’t deal with the skeptics anymore. The first reason is the because I believe what thoughts you think, either positive or negative, multiply and that energy comes back to you in the form it was sent out, positive or negative. Dwelling on what closed minded cynical people think is waste of time and produces nothing but bad energy. However, via positive thoughts, such as prayer, etc….. we can change their bad energy to good energy for ourselves so that we may stay balanced. I think of white light so hot it’s purifying, and think of future events instead of dwelling on negativity at this present moment.
I also remember the following when considering debating with skeptics on whether dowsing is effective or even exists:
“TC Lethbridge measured people’s psychic potentials with his pendulum and found vast differences with a cross-section of people. He also found that everyone’s potential varied depending on their health and emotional state. According to him, most pepole were in a range from zero to fifty, but a few people actually had negative psychic potential. He described these people as “vampires” drawing energy away from others. If you have ever been in the company of someone who left you feeling drained and exhausted, you will have met one of these “vampires”. Fortunately, there are not too many of them around.
I have found that skeptics often have the same draining effect. For many years, I did home psychic parties and it was always easy to tell if there was a skeptic in the room, as my results were never as good. Incidentally, after one of those parties, a skeptic came up to me and booked a party for her friends. she had been impressed with what I had done, even though I had not been very happy myself. At her party, my results were much better, and this must have been because she was no longer skeptical, or was at aleast willing to suspend disbelief. TC Lethbridge was one scientist who accepted the psychic world as being real……another was Solco tromp, a professor of geology. Tromp believed that parapsychologists, doctors, and psycists would have to work together in harmony to explain the reality of dowsing. He doubed that this would ever happen, as he considered most scientists to be lacking in courage and insight. Not much has changed since 1949 when Tromp made his observations.”
—-excerpted from “Dowsing for Beginners” by Richard Webster.
Dowsing is much like what John Edward does. A lot of people just don’t understand. Like John says, there’s no message for those cynics because there’s nobody there to hear. Most everyone has the ability to dowse, but not everyone wants to develop those powers or learn how to use them for the greater good of the community instead of selfish gain. Im finding this to be the most spiritual Ive been in years, and I went to a Catholic School for years!
I dont know where this road is leading, but it sure is interesting. Stay tuned and we hope to hear about your experiences too!
References:
Aquavideo – Locating Underground Water through the sensory – eye of Verne L. Cameron, Master Dowser, Edited and prepared by Bill Cox, 1970 El Cariso Publications, 1989 edition.
The American Dowser Quarterly Digest, Fall 2001, Danville, Vermont, The American Society of Dowsers, national organization headquarters.
The Divining Hand, by Christopher Bird 1993, Schiffer Publishing, Pennsylvania
The Divining Heart, by Patricia C. and Richard D. Wright, 1994, Destiny Publishing; Rochester Vt,
Dowsing by Shirley Wallis 1999, Element Books, Boston, Mass.
Dowsing for Beginners, by Richard Webster, 2001 St. Paul, Minnesota
Healing Sick Houses, by Roy and Ann Procter, 2000, Gill and Macmillan, Ltd. Doublin
The Pendulum Kit by Sig Lonegren, published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, 1990
Sleeping with a Sunflower, by Louise Riotte, 1987 Storey Communications, Pownal, VT
Storeys Basic Country Skills, by John and Martha Storey, 1999, Storey Communications, Pownal, VT
Feng Shui Resources:
Essential Feng Shui by Simon Brown, 1999, Carroll and Brown Company, Ltd. London.
How to Feng Shui Your Garden, by Gill Hale, 1999, Lorenz Books, New York, NY.
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