Dowsing is subjective by nature. Its success depends on the qualities developed by the dowsers themselves, who sense, via a mind-body link, the presence of underground structures.

Scientists have tried to understand the physical basis of dowsing; what factors link the movement of the rod in the dowser's hand to underground structures. No one has yet successfully explained the dowsing signal.

 April 2000 - Dowsing with a Friend;

My friend Bill came by to do a bit of dowsing in my apartment to determine the points of highest electromagnetic energy.

As all things within our creational program are electromagnetic - it is a useful way to measure the currents that surround us.

Bill made is dowsing rods by cutting two all-wire coat hangers into two equal size pieces. Each rod was bent at a 90 degree angle.

On the handle side of each rod Bill put a white plastic handle. The metal rods were able to spin 360 degrees within the plastic handles.

Bill held the rods in front of him be sure to hold the rods properly - holding the plastic handles not the metal. The rods should be parallel to the ground - and not held too tightly.

As with use of the pendulum - you ask this question, "Show me YES". Bill's rods crossed in front of each other forming an 'X'.

He ask about NO. Bill's rods moved outwards to express a negative response. In areas of my apartment - where the electromagnetic energies are strongest - the rods would form the 'X'. Where there was little electromagnectic disturbance - they would remain just in front of him. Of course I know the 'hot spots' in my home - as I see the spirits coming in and out.

This was only Bill's second trip to visit me - so he had no idea what was what. He walked around the apartment and immediate was drawn to the portal in my livingroom. It was interesting that the rods picked up all of the 'hot spots'.

I found this the most interesting. As you know Z (Spirit Guide) comes into my bed each night to talk and work with me. Naturally he has an energy signature and leaves an electromagnetic residue. Bill thought it odd that I asked him to dowse the energies on both sides of my bed.

When he placed the rods over the area where I sleep - which he didn't know - they moved slightly. When he placed them over Z's side (laugh) - they went crazy! They spun around doing all sorts of patterns. The 'X' faced inward towards him rather than outward. Bill was not sure what was going on - as I didn't say that was Z's place!

We next used the dowsing rods to answer YES and NO questions. When you use the rods near the body - you are actually working with electromagnetic energies called the 'aura'.

Bill is a traveling salesman. He told me that when he is on the road - and he gets lost - he takes out the rods - asks them what is the correct direction - and they point the way! Very cool! He also uses them to help people locate ley lines and water in and around their homes.

DOWSING IN THE NEWS:

Dowsing persists, despite widespread skepticism

June 19, 2000 - AP - NY

There is water somewhere below Tommy Hanson's feet. He walks across a grassy hillside looking for it, waiting for a profound interaction between man and coat hanger.  In Hanson's fists are two L-shaped lengths of hanger pointing straight ahead. He takes a step, holding the hangers like two guns at belly level. The metal pieces swivel inward to form an X, clinking softly.

Eureka! The water is directly below, some 300 feet down.

Hanson knows this because he already had drilled a well here - a gusher - on his father's land based on faith in his hangers. A professional well-driller, Hanson says he found water this way maybe 200 times over 33 years, with a 90 percent success rate.  Hanson is a dowser, a finder of subterranean water or other treasures. In the hands of dowsers, metal rods turn, forked sticks pull downward and pendulums swing, seemingly on their own accord.

There are some theories: perception of energy fields, clairvoyance, dumb luck, self-delusion. Scientists in search of an answer have analyzed brain waves and run field tests. But evidence of dowsing's validity remains mostly anecdotal. Hanson cheerfully admits he doesn't know how it works. He just accepts it. He dowses for some customers; if they don't want him that's fine.

Dowsing, sometimes called 'water witching', is ages old. Proponents spot evidence of dowsing in ancient drawings and in an Old Testament passage describing water gushing after Moses struck a rock with his staff. There are accounts of dowsers working in German and English mines a few centuries ago.

A common dowsing instrument is a Y-shaped branch, one fork in each hand, a tip tilting down as a dowser passes over water. Many modern dowsers say wood loses its effectiveness when it dries out, so they've switched to plastic. Hanson, 39, sticks with wire, or sometimes fresh branches.  Even veterans, like 56-year-old Leroy Bull of Doylestown, Pa., concede that amateurs can succeed. About 496 out of 500 people can get at least a little dowsing reaction, he says. After all, there's not much to it: Hold your instrument, walk straight, keep your mind on the task.

The search is usually for water. But dowsing also has been used to search for minerals, people, treasure, missing car keys.  Some practitioners claim the related ability to "map dowse" - that is, find water or other hidden objects by studying a map. Elliott recalls how his father would invite customers at his general store to sketch out street maps on scraps of butcher paper; he would then draw where streams or creeks were.

Elliott, 47, and Hanson are traditional dowsers: They look for water. Like old-schoolers practicing a skill handed across generations, Elliott, learned dowsing from his father. Hanson learned it from a traveling salesman. Other dowsers may be more contemporary, attuned to the New Age. To them, dowsing is more than a way to find water. They take pendulum in hand for answers to all sorts of questions: Is my child in school? Are these vegetables fresh? Will I like this book?

Bull, for instance, keeps a pendulum by his phone in case someone calls in search of answers. Clockwise means yes. Counterclockwise, no. He likens a dowser to an antenna picking up natural vibrations. He notes with satisfaction that some physicists now theorize that infinitesimal vibrating strings are the building blocks of the universe.

Old schoolers offer a more basic explanation: that they sense changes in electromagnetic fields as they step above aquifers. In fact, traditionalists will sometimes look askance at the pendulum-swingers. Robert Park, a physics professor who directs the Washington office of the American Physical Society, suggests that some water dowsers may have a talent for picking up clues from the landscape. He knows of no widely accepted study demonstrating dowsing ability.

One large-scale German study in the late '80s involved dowsers trying to divine the location of water pipes beneath the floorboards of a barn. The success rate for most dowsers was nearly equal to chance, though researchers did find a few dowsers with a high success rate. Skeptics claim the German researchers overstated the success rate of those few dowsers by only including their most successful runs. Some dowsers disparage all such field tests, saying their talent cannot be tested under artificial conditions. However, in Danville, Vt., sponsored a study indicating that dowsers' brainwaves show measurable changes during dowsing.