Posted by Jim Andrews on December 21, 2003 at 17:06:01 from 195.92.168.164 user JimA.
In Reply to: Dowsing posted by John Nichols on December 10, 2003 at 18:39:11:
From: Jim Andrews, Subject: Dowsing,
Just discovered how to get into Tarboard please forebear!
As a member of the British Dowsers Assoc., I've been dowsing for 25 years & conducted the (apparently memorable!) 'demo' at TARS Ambleside AGM, mentioned by Dave Thewlis.
Almost anyone can dowse - for anything; lost keys, foundations, post-holes, water, cables, drains etc., on the spot – but also (don't ask me how, though I repeatedly do it successfully,) 'map dowse' for water etc., using a pendulum over a detailed map. How weird can this get? Don't know, but it's fun - & not 'occult'.
So, dowsing cannot be a result of magnetic fields. It's a natural process, using the brain's tiny electrical field to subconsciously transmit & receive (like radar), most likely employing the astro-physics 'String Theory', where everything in the Universe (including here) is somehow connected to everything else. (Very wierd.)
So, John Nichols, that's why water can be found with forked wooden (whippy hazel's best) twigs – or even nylon ones, which don't hurt when they suddenly twist! Forget 'Hall Effect'.
Dowsing tools are merely devices that amplify what's going on in the dowser's body. A pendulum's best for indoor use.
The easiest, most versatile dowsing device is a pair of 'L-' or 'Angle Rods', made from cut-in-half wire coat-hangers (curly bits removed), straightened out, then sharply re-bent like an 'L'. Feed the short bits fed down old felt-pen tubes, so they swing freely & your hands can't interfere.
Stand holding them like pistols, so they can rotate horizontally, shoulders completely relaxed, forearms parallel to each other & to the ground. Tilt wrists the tiniest bit down, so the rods point forward, parallel to each other. Don't put your hands near each other! With mind cleared of all else, walk slowly forward thinking (the difficult bit!) really hard of, and only of, what you are seeking (water, pipes, disturbed ground etc.).
Most important: Concentrate on the ground you see between the instruments, not on the rods – or you lose concentration on what you seek. The rods should swing together (or apart) above the object. Angle rods, unlike forked twigs, can also be used to point (compass like) along the route of pipes, direction of water-flow, or whatever.
Ross Cossar describes using 'Y' or 'forked' twigs correctly, but doesn't mention the really important part (nor did AR!): in gripping them, palms upwards, they must be 'tensed' before they'll 'work', by bending the wrists, keeping fingers together, so your little fingers are brought slightly towards you, springing the widest extremities of the device outwards until the pointy end becomes unstable, and tends to jerk up and down. You now have them in dowsing mode. Otherwise, they remain inanimate 'twigs'. The above words on concentrating still apply.
Try it, when no one's embarrassing you by watching! Good luck!