Anyone here tried dowsing?

[PADemD]

[calikid]

1. Yes I have, and it works.

Back story, I was running a campground with almost 1,000 people in it, the local water district came to me and said, "You have a BIG leak, you have two hours to fix it." One of the campers saw me frantically running to and fro and asked me what the problem was, I told him and he told me to get a wire coat hanger and bring it to him, (said camper was a retired plumber). I did as instructed and he proceeded to cut the hanger in two pieces and shape them into an L. We went to where I thought the water lines were and walked back and forth perpendicular to the lines, every time we crossed the line the wires would cross in his hands. Finally we got to a point where they didn't cross, he told me to dig there and viola there was the break.
Back to the present, I have a farmer friend with many acres, and with our water problems here in Northern California he's had to dig some new wells. Most people would put the well in a corner of a field close to power, but he has brought out his dowsing sticks and moved the wells, sometimes just a few feet, sometimes a long ways, but each time the output was a great improvement over previous holes or nearby ones.

[PADemD]

4. Dowsing for Beginners

I just finished reading Dowsing for Beginners, by Richard Webster. He describes many methods of dowsing and uses, like finding water and lost objects. He even goes into the extensive history of dowsing and famous dowsers. The book was very interesting.

[SheilaT]

2. I know that conventional wisdom is that dowsing doesn't work.

But about 60 years ago, my parents bought 6 acres of land in the country so they could get out of the city, build a house, and raise their kids there. I know that they hired a dowser to locate a well, and that one was located. We no longer have the land, but I suspect the well is still bringing in water.

I have certainly read lots of stuff about why dowsing is simple superstition and doesn't work, and then I read story after story of water being found that way.

I am not about to offer an explanation of why it apparently works, but it certainly seems to.

[PADemD]

3. Dowsing for Water

A former co-worker used a dowser to find the right place to place a well on his property when he built his new home. The Dowser let him try using the rods, and he did notice a reaction.

[PinkTiger]

5. I haven't done dowsing with rods, but I have used a pendulum to dowse

nt

[southerncrone]

6. I have found water using a forked peach tree branch, too.

Here in The South, those of us who can dowse are called "water witches".
When I was teaching at the local HS, I was returning from a mtg off campus one morning. The maintenance men were standing in the lawn in front of the school. As I walked by, one of them hollered at me if I was a "water witch", they were surprised when I admitted that I was. They gave me rods & I pinpointed the leaking pipe in the ground. I think they are still amazed I could locate the exact leak spot so quickly.

[arikara]

7. I belong to a dowsing group

called the Questers. I don't practice as much as I could, but I use the pendulum occasionally. I also have some of the other toys, a bobber, a Y rod, some homemade L rods out of coat hangers. Dowsing is so much more than looking for water although that's what its mostly associated with. I've seen the water workers dowsing around here, they do it discretely and if you didn't know what they were doing you wouldn't pay attention to it. There are dowser groups in many places, and I've found that the experienced dowsers love to share their expertise.

Lots of links to more info here:

http://www.questers.ca/links.html

[PADemD]

8. Thank you so much for the link!

[arikara]

9. Your welcome

If you want a good basic manual, download the Letter to Robin.

[NBachers]

10. Here's an interesting experiment - I don't know if it's dowsing or not, but it's an interesting

thing for you to try.

Get a wire coat hanger and cut it in half. Straighten each half out, and then bend it into an L shape, so that one leg of the L is about the length of your fist. Stand on the floor with both hanger rods loose in your hands, and pointed out and away from you. Walk towards a person, and when you get a certain distance from that person, the hangers will cross. Supposedly, this is when the hangers encounter the person's energy field. This is a reproducible experiment that you can do over and over again. I was doing it one time, and when my dog saw me approaching the person, she started barking and barking. She either thought that I was attacking the person, or there were some kind of energy issues going on that she received. Try it yourself, and see what happens.

[PADemD]

11. Thanks, I will.

We did something similar in Tai chi class, only with our hands. Our teacher had each student stand 5 feet away from another student, each with our palms facing the other student. From 5 feet away, we could feel the energy.

[Olive Birch]

12. Another interesting experiment

Last edited Tue Apr 26, 2016, 11:03 AM - Edit history (1)

involving personal energy fields is to walk toward someone with your eyes closed, hands in front of you with palms facing your subject. Trying not to use any of your other senses (smell, hearing), you should be able to feel a change in your hands. Some report a tingling, some report warmth. Dogs are also very good at picking up on energy fields - I have tried sneaking up on mine and they always sense I am there (hopefully it's not a personal hygiene issue, although I have tried being downwind).

With respect to water dowsers, I took a dowsing class from a friend (who is also a Reiki master) last summer. In addition to teaching traditional methods and the like, he spoke about areas where water lines cross and the necessity of 'clearing' them. Years before, his young son had succumbed to cancer. Not long after, this gentleman learned of the negativity that comes from crossed lines, so he dowsed his house only to find that his son's bed had been sitting right on top of two intersecting water lines. During his class, I took copious notes, which are now buried with the rest of my copious notes on other subjects, but could probably be excavated and shared if someone were interested in hearing more.

I believe that most people possess the ability to dowse, but those with a higher sensitivity to energy fields would obviously be more successful. In the class I participated in, the dowser had us meditate to quiet our minds prior to setting out across the subject area.

Interesting link - http://www.geo.org/dowse1.htm

[Citrus]

13. My two cents

Dowsing is like any other metaphysical ability. That is, some can do it, some can't. Some are really good at it, others are only modestly or occasionally good at it. Also, like other abilities, practicing (a lot) helps a great deal, as does having a personal meditation practice.

All abilities are individual. It's a myth that we're all psychic, although most of us have at least a modicum of psychic ability. It's like playing the piano: most of us can bang out "Chopsticks", but few can be concert pianists. Practice helps, and it can turn a modest ability into something grand, but it won't happen for everyone.

I'm not very good at dowsing, although I admit to not having tried with all methods (copper, wood, etc.). But I'm a very good interspecies communicator and "general" psychic. I wish I knew a good dowser because I find it a fascinating skill.

[PADemD]

14. You might try contacting a well driller.

One of my former co-workers had a dowser find a good well location when he built his new home.

There is an American Society of Dowsers online, and you can find a chapter near you.

Their 2016 convention is in Saratoga Springs, NY; but I don't know if it is open to non-members.

http://dowsers.org/

[bobnicewander]

15. Answer to "Anyone here tried dowsing?"

Yes. Years ago and using 2 different tools and for a number of different things.

[bobnicewander]

16. Response to original post by PADemD:

I am trying to get my 10 posts in so I can begin a discussion.

[bobnicewander]

17. Response to my post

The first time was about 1961 when I was working for a county surveyor. He kept his office in his home in the country. One day I mentioned dowsing and he said he could show me how to do it.

We went walking in the woods on his farm and he picked up a forked branch and told me to start walking and see if anything happened (Unbeknown to me he had positioned me to face in a certain direction).

I was approaching the edge of a drop off and was going to stop or turn when the branch pulled down hard. He said you are over water! He was walking to the side of the drop off and told me to follow him. The drop off was the edge of a cave over a natural spring that he knew of and he knew the dowsing would work.

[bobnicewander]

18. continuing

I did not use dowsing after that demo but another lesson came about 15 years later.

I was between construction jobs working for a friend who was a plasterer. One day we finished a job in the early afternoon. Cleaning out the truck at his place we somehow got to talking about dowsing and he said it was possible to dowse for anything.

He cut pieces from 2 coat hangers and bent them into L shapes. Then he set out a chunk of dried plaster, an iron chain, a hooked up garden hose, and a vial of gold chips (he loved to look for gold). Then he told me to hold the bent pieces of coat hangers loosely in my hands and think of which ever of those items I would walk across. I did that for each item in turn and they crossed for each item as I passed over it while thinking of it as I walked. His neighbor was curious and had come over while I was doing this and asked if he could try it. He did and it worked every time for him too.

My friend the plasterer (a master plasterer) was a for real psychic proven to me and others many times over.

[handmade34]

19. welcome to DU

nice way to get in 10 posts... non controversial in old post about dowsing.... I live in the town where the American Society of Dowsers has their headquarters... one of the best (Paul Sevigny) dowsed my spring years ago and it was pure delight watching him... at the time the land was overgrown...he took his rods and within minutes he was standing in an area and told us how far down the water was and the flow rate we could expect... the contractors dug the spring and he was spot on and in 20 years we have never had a problem .....I use a pendulum but have not used my dowsing rods much...

..."Mr. Sevigny, a native of Vermont and a retired Air Force officer, said he became a trustee of the society 14 years ago while he was still a skeptic.
He took up dowsing about six years ago, he continued, and has advised about 750 people in this area where to drill wells. He said 700 found water where he said it would be. Fees Given to Charity
His fees, amounting to thousands of dollars, have gone to charity, Mr. Sevigny said, He is commander of the American Legion post and founder and head of the ambulance squad.
''This town's lucky to have him around,'' said Harold Martin, a manager at the Danville General Store. The society held its first convention in 1958, attracting 50 people. Now it lists 2,700 members and has an annual budget of $60,000.
Mr. Sevigny said dowsing is an ability all people possess but have left behind."

-from a 1982 NYT article