Dowsing

[Woody girl]

Rods are easy to make. I use some old coat hangers, and they work fine. If you are worried that you might grip too tightly and stop them working, empty out two biros and use them as handles, just pop the rods into the biros, wider end uppermost and that helps them to swing easily without too tight a grip on the rods.

 

[Woody girl]

I think this is perhaps a bit of a sticking point for me. If we completely put aside the question of how it works, I'm still left wondering why it can't stand up to a controlled test? Surely, if it works, it works, regardless of how, and would be easily established by a simple controlled test. If you see what I mean.


I know the feeling.

I have a suspicion that it's electro magnetism. That might be worth exploring.

 

[Pattree]

What do you think that the electromagnetism is affecting/doing?

There is no bias to this question, just a genuine interest.

Does it work for you with non-metallic rods?

 

[Pattree]

This article was (Mostly) written by my 13 year old son

Scouting magazine August 1992

 

[Toddy]

I hollow out a couple of lengths of elder using a bit of fencing wire, and then use the wire as the rods.

I've used the copper coated welding wire things before too.

The Y shaped hazel bit was kind of a :YIKES: sort of thing. Totally did not expect the thing to twist like that.

 

[Woody girl]

What do you think that the electromagnetism is affecting/doing?

There is no bias to this question, just a genuine interest.

Does it work for you with non-metallic rods?

No idea realy, I have a basic minimal understanding but realy couldn't put forward a cohesive argument for it. Just an intuition if you like.
The fact that for hundreds of years people used a hazel y stick is perhaps an argument against my theory, but then trees are wiser creatures in comparison to humans.
This is just a wonderful enigma, that I can't explain, and I don't want to. I prefer to just be in awe of the phenomenon.
Most of the human race has lost it's total resonance with nature, and use only a fraction of our capabilities. Preferring the warmth and comfort of our modern way of life, that prevents total immersion and connection to the earth.
I know I was far more tuned in when I lived in a bender in the woods than I am now, but I still have a far, far stronger connection that most of the general public around me, who only notice their shoe tips when walking along, and drown out the natural world around them with earbud noise. Never stop to listen in wonder to a thrush or robin, and make eye contact with squirrels or rabbits in the fields they walk past.

 

[TeeDee]

That’s disappointing @TeeDee .

Of course if anyone is finding Feng-Shui useful that’s great and worth a different thread.

Someone who has never dowsed before attempting it now is:

Pertinent to the OP

Demonstrating (or not demonstrating) an immediate effect which would be apparent and could be reported here in a very short time scale.

Edited to add:
There is absolutely nothing to be frightened of.

(I’ve seen dowsers drop the rods as they swung for the first time)

Disappointing in terms of me bringing it up?

or that you've tried moving your coffee table and Chaise Longue in parallel alignment and couldn't discern any positive benefits.??


Lets have a quick look at Feng Shui and see if it overlaps with any of the topics here. I appreciate its more of an Eastern based belief but Dowsing seems to be more westernised.

Feng shui - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Feng shui (/ˈfʌŋˌʃuːi/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a> or /ˌfʌŋˈʃweɪ/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui#cite_note-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a>), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e., fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures


But if you feel I am in someway trolling or going off topic - I shall happily bow out.


One mans Faith structure is another mans unproven concept

 

[Glow_worm]

I think this is perhaps a bit of a sticking point for me. If we completely put aside the question of how it works, I'm still left wondering why it can't stand up to a controlled test? Surely, if it works, it works, regardless of how, and would be easily established by a simple controlled test. If you see what I mean.

A lot of dowsers will ask permission before they dowse. I haven't met one who knows who or what they are asking, but they do all the same. They either get the feeling it's appropriate to dowse, or it isn't.

Perhaps this is partly why applying black and white scientific practices doesn't work.

There are times when I've wanted to dowse but haven't been able to, wrong headspace perhaps. I'm not going to rule anything out, it might be that whatever energy or forces involved in dowsing had some sort of consciousness and knew best.

Try and plot a scatter graph for that!

 

[Woody girl]

I don't get the need to scientifically explain the phenomenon in detail. It works,and has done so for hundreds of years, no denying it. Where to dig a well was probably its main use in the past. If it didn't work, it would have fallen out of favour, long long ago, as it has now largely done since victorian times when water piped into houses and taps started to become the norm, negating the need to dig wells.

 

[Glow_worm]

I don't get the need to scientifically explain the phenomenon in detail

Different mindsets, the results of different upbringings and life experiences.

Like you, I'm happy for it to remain unknown. Also lucky in that I can often connect to the energy/spirit of a place, whatever you want to call it. As it happens I'm an engineer and surveyor, but managed never to get too blinkered and retained the ability to step back and look at things from outside.

This planet would be frightfully dull if there were no mysteries left, despite constant probings by science to explain everything.

 

[Pattree]

The fact that the rods swing at certain geographical points even if those points are only a few metres apart isn’t debated. It can be demonstrated by anyone at any time.

What is uncertain is why they swing and if one is content not to explore any further then the phenomenon is still useful and as WG says - it works!

 

[Stew]

Is there any link between the ability to dowse and a person’s neurological make-up?

 

[Pattree]

Is there any link between the ability to dowse and a person’s neurological make-up?

That would be interesting both ways around. A particular make up offering an enhanced detective ability and the rods indicating a particular make up.

Defining a specific neurological make up might be more difficult than defining the dowsing effect!

 

[Laurentius]

I am of the opinion that the tool you use does not matter, be it coat hangers, or a hazel twig, the power comes not from the tool but from within you. I believe it is an animal sense to detect water.

 

[Woody girl]

The earth has a resonance. (See schuman resonance)
All creatures resonate at particular frequencies.
It's obvious that these frequencies interact. Usualy harmonically. So perhaps dowsing is part of that.
I follow a chap on yt called stephan burns who is a geo physicist, and though I am not, and some of his stuff goes over my head, he makes things quite understandable. I think dowsing is something to do with tapping into the energy of whatever you are seeking, reacting with a person's own energy. The rods work as an amplification of the energy.
I know a reiki practitioner, who I go to now and then, who after running her hands over me, without touching, can tell exactly what I'm there for. I think it's a similar energy detection method.

 

[William_Montgomery]

A few questions to help me gain a better understanding of the process:

What is the general success rate of dowsing? If you're in the field looking for water, do you get false 'hits' or are you pretty confident once the rods cross you're in the right spot?

Can anybody dowse successfully? (I.e., would somebody who doesn't 'believe' in dowsing, like myself, be less successful in an attempt?)

I've looked into a few local dowsers to try to understand it a bit more. Map dowsing seems to be as common as regular boots on the ground type dowsing. Is map dowsing considered to be as effective?

Besides water, what else can dowsing detect?

Could be worth adding (though hopefully not necessary), I have a lot of respect for the folk on this forum, and though I am viewing this through a lens of scepticism, my questions come from a place of genuine interest to see where/how it fits in with my own way of thinking.

 

[Pattree]

Can anybody dowse successfully? (I.e., would somebody who doesn't 'believe' in dowsing, like myself, be less successful in an attempt?)

Yes indeed anyone can make the rods swing at certain locations as they walk through a field or even down their own drive and along a pavement. Neither belief nor faith come into it. If it doesn’t work for you then it is probably the way you tense your muscles as you hold out your arms. The “tea tray” tension works best for me.

I’m prepared to say that almost anyone here who tried it would see the rods move. Interpreting anything from that movement is the difficult bit but there are dowsers who earn or supplement their living by finding wells and water sources in many agricultural communities.

I only have useful experience of land (boots on the ground) dowsing.
I am wary of map dowsing and similar but others here have positive experience.

 

[Glow_worm]

My thoughts, others will vary:

Success rate- hard to quantify but usually very good for something fairly obvious. There are some places/days when it just doesn't work for me, but success is much more common. One thing common to all dowsers I have spoken to is that it is very apparent/unmistakable when you do have a result, either positive or negative.

Anybody? I've met a few who have had no luck, but it's possible they were too hyped up, nervous or with the wrong people in the wrong situation. I do know of plenty of sceptics who had discovered they can dowse, there are a good few examples in this thread.

Not done any map dowsing, but I have a feeling the general consensus is it's something to try once you have a bit of experience on the ground. As dowsing is generally a 'yes' or 'no' repsonse, you need to be able to ask the question in that format if that makes sense? A bit like muscle testing (kinesiology).

Other things detectable: Mineral seams, areas of higher or lower resistivity like buried walls/foundations/backfilled ditches, electricity, earth energies/currents/leylines. Probably much, much more, some of which is far too wacky for me.

 

[Chris]

Neither belief nor faith come into it.

I think this (and Woody girl's post) is the sort of assertion I struggle with. Lots of statements being made that are implied to be true, for which there doesn't appear to be supporting evidence beyond anecdote.

there are dowsers who earn or supplement their living by finding wells and water sources in many agricultural communities.

How can we be sure this isn't down to chance? It's quite hard to dig down and NOT find water in a lot of places, after all. How many water sources did they pass over without ever knowing? How do we know this happens more often than random chance, given we are unlikely to hear many anecdotes from people about the times it didn't work? The experiments that have been conducted on it have shown that it is no more effective than random chance, so what are we to make of those?

A couple of people have said that proof isn't required, but I beg to differ. There are examples of where claims have been made on this topic which have led to deaths and therefore I do think it's important to exhibit scientific rigour when examining the claims. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651

Similar to what William_Montgomery said, I have a lot of respect for people on this forum, but at the same time I just cannot accept claims as true without measurable evidence which has been gathered in a controlled manner.

 

[Glow_worm]

but at the same time I just cannot accept claims as true without measurable evidence which has been gathered in a controlled manner.

Could you produce measurable evidence gathered in a controlled manner that igniting pyrotechnics immediately before dining on them with coleslaw is harmful to health?