Learn how to make and use a pendulum, forked stick or divining rods to find almost anything you can imagine from buried treasure to allergies.
Most people can dowse, it's simply a question of learning how. Dowsing is a way of accessing the senses linked to the right brain. We are constantly taking in information from our surroundings and this is processed in the "unconscious" before it arrives in our conscious mind so that we are not overloaded with irrelevant data. Sometimes the information filtered out can give fascinating insights into the world around us. Dowsing allows us to access some of this hidden knowledge.
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Excerpt
It's funny how the most valuable knowledge can arrive in seemingly irrelevant dribs and drabs that don't actually come together in any meaningful way for many years.
The first time I heard the term dowsing, I thought it had to do with putting out a flame, or throwing a bucket of water over somebody. This was not quite correct. Dowsing is actually another word for divining - picking up information that is hidden from view.
When I was ten I became a regular viewer of a daily current affairs programme on the television. My favourite part of the show was a section devoted to people with weird and wacky hobbies. There was a man who could blow up hot water bottles as if they were balloons, another who claimed to be so psychic that he could drive a car blindfold (he crashed and was arrested by a passing policeman). This was also the programme that first introduced me to the existence of Wicca when two people came on explaining their belief in the Goddess, who could be identified with Mother Earth. They were treated with the usual courtesy (nobody was ever mocked on this programme, no matter how outlandish their interest) and put across their point of view very well. That in itself was transformational for me - to know I wasn't the only one who instinctively revered the great Mother was wonderful, though it was to be many years before I found anyone else with whom I could share this faith.
One day, they invited on a fellow who claimed to be able to find water by using bent wires. The test consisted of half a dozen identical containers, all covered. Five were empty, the sixth had water in, and it was his job to locate it. He picked up his wires, bent into 'L' shapes and held them out in front of him over each container in turn. The rods remained parallel over the first two containers, but when he moved on to the third, they crossed over as if by magic. Here, he said, was the water. He was right. The buckets were shuffled round and the test done several times more, with the same success. The man announced that he had no special powers. The wires were simply welding rods and would work for anyone. The interviewer tried, and succeeded, so I hurried out to try the experiment for myself. The dowser holds one in each hand loosely in a way reminiscent of a gunfighter with both guns drawn. When water or any other substance being dowsed for is located, the rods cross over. One might say 'X' marks the spot with this method.
My father had a welding machine, so welding rods were easy to come by, and bending them took only seconds. The rest of the family joined in the new game enthusiastically. We were as successful as the man on the TV had predicted. I could do magic - my whole family could do magic!
Wow!
Since that day I have learned to dowse using many different tools, including pendulums and forked sticks, but still have the most fun with my bent wire rods.
If you would like to try rod dowsing for yourself, you can make a pair of dowsing rods very easily by bending a couple of old steel knitting needles into L shapes (make sure they are spare - they'll be very difficult to knit with afterwards!). Don't bend them exactly in the middle, but towards one end. I like to do it so the knob is at the handle end and the point becomes literally the pointer.
Get some obliging soul to fill a container with water stand it among a few similar empty ones while you look away, or make a pot of tea. These should all be covered so that you cannot tell which is which. Hold the rods over each container in turn and try to determine which one has water in. The easy way to do this is to say out loud: 'Is there any water in this one?' If you feel silly, just think the question. It should still work.
Now look away again and ask them to put the dishes in a different order. Dowse again as before. Keep this up as long as your assistant's patience lasts. It helps if they want to learn to dowse as well, you can take it in turns. You may be surprised how many times you are right. If you find the rods react to an empty dish, move the dish to another spot and dowse it again. It may be that you have unwittingly divined an underground watercourse.
Perhaps you might like to try letting the rods lead you to the water. Stand a few feet away from the containers and walk slowly towards them. If the rods swivel towards one or other of the containers, walk towards that one and keep follow their lead until they cross over, when you should have found what you are looking for.
Try with various other things, foods, personal possessions. Avoid stones at this early stage, the rods tend to react slightly differently to crystalline forms. To begin with you might like to hold a sample of the hidden material tucked into your palm, so that your brain has something to go on. Make sure it is the same and not just of a similar kind or you might end up with a little confusion.
You will now be ready to try asking questions that do not have a clear-cut answer. For example, when dowsing your containers, have your 'assistant' fill one and then empty it. Then when you hold your rods over that container and ask 'does this contain water?' you may find that they move in a different way. You will then have to ask further questions: 'Has this recently contained water;' or 'is this wet?' I'm sure you can think up other variables on the same theme.
When you are confident with your dowsing, take your dowsing rods outside and see if you can find the water pipes that lead to your home. Have a clear picture of what it is you want to find and let the rods lead you to it. Do be careful, though, if you are tempted to dig down to find out if you are right - damaged pipes cost money to repair and can play havoc with the lawn!
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Reviews for "The Book of Dowsing and Divining"
Reviewed by Claywoman
11/3/2003
How absolutely cool! I've never tried dowsing but I've often wondered how it worked! I have a friend who dowses and makes a fortune at it. He's a natural and only works with natural limbs freshly cut from his tree.
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