Explanation of dowsing........?

[GMD52]

After reading numerous threads, and the back and forth about this art, I would like to open my mind and understand the principles of how this works. Being a forest biologist, and having been scientifically trained and indoctrinated, sometimes it's hard to grasp these arts. I would appreciate an explanation of the science behind this. I have witness water witching, and seen that work, but still maintain a skeptical outlook. Thank you in advance.

 

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[CoilyGirl]

Curious as well.

 

[rbhammer]

My father introduced me to water witching when I was almost a teenager. I was repeatedly able to experience a positive response with a forked willow branch which indicated a vein of water about a foot across (size 9 at that time). That site was not suitable for a well due to other uses so we did not dig there. Farther down the pasture we found another larger vein that has produced water for the house since 1960.
Folks using objects swinging over maps or pictures is a different ball of wax. I felt that water witching involved the individual's body electric interacting with the fields in the environment through the green branch. I know I could not keep it from dropping over the vein in the front yard.
I understand metal detecting better than I do dowsing, but I sometimes think I could find more coins with a willow than with my machine.

 

[GMD52]

Thanks for the reply, I see that it was your first post, so let me be the first to welcome you to Tnet, and hope your stay is enjoyable and profitable.

 

[Tnmountains]

After reading numerous threads, and the back and forth about this art, I would like to open my mind and understand the principles of how this works. Being a forest biologist, and having been scientifically trained and indoctrinated, sometimes it's hard to grasp these arts. I would appreciate an explanation of the science behind this. I have witness water witching, and seen that work, but still maintain a skeptical outlook. Thank you in advance.

I really do not know though we dowse water and underground power lines all the time to either miss or dig them up. I work with Wildlife Biologist and a Forrester in land management and we all dowse. Education is not a requisite You should try it on your water lines for fun. I do not know about treasure as I have not tried that. I spent to much on my detectors, haha. I did hit 5 out of 6 water wells we had drilled. The 6th had sulphur.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

After reading numerous threads, and the back and forth about this art, I would like to open my mind and understand the principles of how this works. Being a forest biologist, and having been scientifically trained and indoctrinated, sometimes it's hard to grasp these arts. I would appreciate an explanation of the science behind this. I have witness water witching, and seen that work, but still maintain a skeptical outlook. Thank you in advance.

Not sure if you see the inherent contradictions in your own question. It's either an "art" (and a thing of the "mind", as you say), or a "science". Take your pick. Yet you go back and forth using the terms of both.

To answer your question, no, it's not a science. So your scientific know-how will be of no use in "explaining" any of it. OH SURE, the advocates will SAY it's "scientific". And even attempt to scientifically explain it. But at the end of the day, none of their attempts holds water, can be tested, etc... So what do they do? They'll change gears and say it's as-yet "un-discovered science". In the same way people once said that heavier-than-air flight was once impossible, so too is dowsing simply "science as yet to be explained/discovered. Isn't that convenient? They do this so as to distance themselves from it being lumped into superstitious mumbo jumbo. You know: to add credibility so that they're not just lumped into stuff like ouji boards, crystal balls, and so forth.

But hey, sure, it works: Simply wave it around at likely looking ruins you already researched. Pull out your metal detector to "pinpoint", and presto, you'll find metal. Hey, perhaps even a goodie when you dig enough holes around those likely spots. And once you pull up the goodie, it was the dowsing rod that did it, right?

 

[Frankn]

Well, I like to look at things from both sides, so here goes. There have been many theories about what tbe brain is capable of doing. A lot of times these rare capabilities surface when some other function is inhibited. Like in that movie Rain Man. He could remember all 52 cards, and there exact order. I know that was a movie, but such people exist. To me this means that there is the potential that in some yet unknown way the brain just might have the capabilities to do this.
The other side of the coin. I had a dowser look for a water site for a well. He picked the spot for the drilling. It did not produce enough water to qualify at 300'. The drilling rig was moved over 12 feet to where I thought the fault that fed my spring was. It hit water at 18'
so I wound up paying an extra $3K because of this dowser.
There is another question in my mine. If dowsing for gold works, why aren't all the dowsers rich and only working for themselves?
Just my thoughts. Frank...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

If dowsing for gold works, why aren't all the dowsers rich and only working for themselves?

Durned those solar flares and sun spots anyhow, eh?

 

[goldkey]

For a better explanation of dowsing....google it and see all the people that are doing it. They will be glad to explain it to you. I am experimenting with it and have learned that there is something to it. Metals can be easily located with 2 metal rods. Discriminating the metals is the secret everyone wants to know about. As far as water goes....if it were as valuable as gold then maybe I would go get me a twig off an apple tree. I have talked to others on here about dowsing and a lot of them immediately refer to some voodoo mind trips....that's not what dowsing is about....it's has more to do with the electromagnetic properties of all things....metals...plants....humans too. We live on a giant magnet....the earth. These energies effect us all....the metals too.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

For a better explanation of dowsing....google it and see all the people that are doing it. They will be glad to explain it to you. I am experimenting with it and have learned that there is something to it. Metals can be easily located with 2 metal rods. Discriminating the metals is the secret everyone wants to know about. As far as water goes....if it were as valuable as gold then maybe I would go get me a twig off an apple tree. I have talked to others on here about dowsing and a lot of them immediately refer to some voodoo mind trips....that's not what dowsing is about....it's has more to do with the electromagnetic properties of all things....metals...plants....humans too. We live on a giant magnet....the earth. These energies effect us all....the metals too.

Yup, see, just as I said. They/someone will come on and say it has scientific explanation. In this case, ... here it is ..... it's the "electromagnetic properties of all things". That's the ticket!

If a rod is going to swing toward gold, d/t the "electromagnetic properties" in each, then that should and can be double-blind tested in controlled scientific testig. But no. It can never be tested or measured, as such scientific sounding explanations SHOULD easily avail themselves of. So the advocates will re-adjust, and say: .... "well ... only in the hands of the experienced user who knows the art". And then presto, you're now NOT in science, but back into supersition, metaphysical, etc... and thus non-scientific. Why don't they just admit that? Because as I say, to do so puts them in an uncomfortable position of being something "faith" or "belief" related, akin to any other sort of mystical supersitions, etc... And we can't have that now can we?

The earth's gravitational pull will FAR outpull ANY "attraction" between your rods, and gold in the vicinity. Therefore the ideomoter effect (the tendency of the rods to follow where you tilt, rather than in the direction of gold) will be a zillion times stronger than the attraction between two objects on the face of the earth. To test this, try this "electromagnetic test" goldkey: Drop a bowling ball from waist height while barefoot. See if the bowling ball goes out towards a bar of gold you have set 3 ft. away from you. Now ......... once your toes/feet have healed, come back and tell us how that electromagnetic attraction works again.

 

[Tnmountains]

So you do not think you can dowse water lines and and buried electrical lines? People will instantly assume you are dowsing for treasure. Did not see that in your question. But like it when long winded posters pose hypothetical scenarios and then answer themselves for justification. Simply brilliant.
@ Frankn. I was putting in wells at the bottom of a mountain. We also looked for the fault lines and known springs above off of topographical maps and then sunk the wells at the strongest signals at the bottom. Could we have missed water by 12' in the location? Maybe but we did not. I never considered myself a dowser but it is an easy fast way to locate water and electrical lines if you do not have a metal detector handy or the water line is pvc.

 

[aarthrj3811]

~Tnmountains~
So you do not think you can dowse water lines and and buried electrical lines? People will instantly assume you are dowsing for treasure. Did not see that in your question. But like it when long winded posters pose hypothetical scenarios and then answer themselves for justification. Simply brilliant.
@ Frankn. I was putting in wells at the bottom of a mountain. We also looked for the fault lines and known springs above off of topographical maps and then sunk the wells at the strongest signals at the bottom. Could we have missed water by 12' in the location? Maybe but we did not. I never considered myself a dowser but it is an easy fast way to locate water and electrical lines if you do not have a metal detector handy or the water line is pvc.

Dowsing rods can save you money...I used to live in a house where someone had planted a Fruitless Mulberry tree on top of the sewer line..About every two years the roots would plug up the sewer...I would call up and have someone cut the roots out...One year the guy ran one 75 foot basket though the line then told me it would cost me $75 to run a second basket though my line as he had not got to the clog....I knew it was only 60 foot to the main sewer line...So I paid him and told him to get out...Art

 

[Tnmountains]

Dowsing rods can save you money...I used to live in a house where someone had planted a Fruitless Mulberry tree on top of the sewer line..About every two years the roots would plug up the sewer...I would call up and have someone cut the roots out...One year the guy ran one 75 foot basket though the line then told me it would cost me $75 to run a second basket though my line as he had not got to the clog....I knew it was only 60 foot to the main sewer line...So I paid him and told him to get out...Art

i usually just get a coat hanger or cut a branch when I need to dowse something quick. Works great. If I am relic/treasure hunting I use a metal detector.
HH

 

[aarthrj3811]

~Tnmountains~

i usually just get a coat hanger or cut a branch when I need to dowse something quick. Works great. If I am relic/treasure hunting I use a metal detector.

That is a good way to do things...I use any and all tools...Art

 

[goldkey]

Yup, see, just as I said. They/someone will come on and say it has scientific explanation. In this case, ... here it is ..... it's the "electromagnetic properties of all things". That's the ticket!

If a rod is going to swing toward gold, d/t the "electromagnetic properties" in each, then that should and can be double-blind tested in controlled scientific testig. But no. It can never be tested or measured, as such scientific sounding explanations SHOULD easily avail themselves of. So the advocates will re-adjust, and say: .... "well ... only in the hands of the experienced user who knows the art". And then presto, you're now NOT in science, but back into supersition, metaphysical, etc... and thus non-scientific. Why don't they just admit that? Because as I say, to do so puts them in an uncomfortable position of being something "faith" or "belief" related, akin to any other sort of mystical supersitions, etc... And we can't have that now can we?

The earth's gravitational pull will FAR outpull ANY "attraction" between your rods, and gold in the vicinity. Therefore the ideomoter effect (the tendency of the rods to follow where you tilt, rather than in the direction of gold) will be a zillion times stronger than the attraction between two objects on the face of the earth. To test this, try this "electromagnetic test" goldkey: Drop a bowling ball from waist height while barefoot. See if the bowling ball goes out towards a bar of gold you have set 3 ft. away from you. Now ......... once your toes/feet have healed, come back and tell us how that electromagnetic attraction works again.

I suppose when I pull my compass out of my buttocks and look for due North....the earth will outpull the needle on the compass and send me in an unknown direction!
When the electromagnetic field of your coil on your metal detector crosses over a metal object....the disturbance of this field by the metal makes your MD go beep beep.
Why is that Tom? Because the metal has a field too....a frequency that is different from that of the coil. Why do different metals give different sounds on your MD.....because they have different frequencies. Elementary Watson.......bowling balls are dead objects.....no electromagnetic field there......or have you found one with your MD?
P.S. The Egyptians knew that running water can produce electricity.....look that one up on google.

 

[Tnmountains]

~Tnmountains~

That is a good way to do things...I use any and all tools...Art

This may sound strange but for a while we were partial to a fork of a young dogwood tree. It will rise up not down. I had my brother try it and he thought I was playing some kinda trick on him. I can not explain it nor do I feel the need to.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Yes there are many strange things that happen that do not need to be explained or be an expert on....What works for you is all you need to know..Heck...a simple flat head screw driver is used for many jobs that does not involve a screw..Art

 

[Red_desert]

Well, it was only several weeks after I'd started marking dowsed maps in the dowsing board here. There was a GE map posted from another country where guerilla fighter caches had been once made. Some nasty comments were made on the thread because that treasure hunter said he was going to check out all the marked spots. A huge treasure was recovered, a guerilla cache of coins. Excuses were given for not telling about it in the dowsing board......skeptics, skeptics, and skeptics. I was supposed to get a video of the recovery, but somehow he never got it to me.

 

[lesjcbs]

Here is what Einstein had to say about dowsing and he was a scientist:"I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is,however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time."

His explanation points to the human nervous system as the key to how dowsing works. What he is saying is since our nervous systems are electrical in design, it can pick up signals from object / targets that are outside our bodies, much like a radio receives signals from a transmitter off in the distance. After that, the rods are moved by the hands which are controlled by the mind.


As we come up in life, we are trained to be skeptical about things. However, skepticism is a two edged sword. On one side it protects us from danger and destruction. On the other edge if that skepticism is to a very high degree, it hinders our progression into new areas that are good or beneficial to us.


Therefore,starting out from the high skepticism side of the issue, only time and effort can erase the skepticism. If that is not done, nothing comes of it other than deeper skepticism.


Now,to help the mind and nervous system to relax and function more sensitively while dowsing, one can do things that seem weird to the onlooker who is unaware of what is going on, and especially to the scientists.


One such action is having the correct dowsing rod length to match the frequency emitted from a desired target. By doing so, your brain is not hindered by the nagging question: “Is my rod, being like an antenna of sorts, the right length to receive a certain frequency?” Another factor is the material the rod is made from. If you use brass, copper, stainless steel or aluminum rods, you KNOW your chances of magnetic interference are eliminated as these metals do not respond to magnetism. So in the vicinity of a strong magnetic force, your rods will not swing and give you a false signal like what a steel rod, from a steel coat hanger would do. Another thing that shows how dowsing is scientific is the maneuvers you walk and / or do in the field while dowsing. One such maneuver is triangulating with a compass to go to a target from a distance. If done correctly, you can determine the exact distance and direction to a target, be it in feet, yards, or miles from where you are at. My longest dowsing distance to a target to date is 90 feet. Another thing is being able to discriminate your target. That one I have not done much so I cannot and will not address it. All I can say about is it has to do with bating the rods. I do believe though that there are other more experienced dowsers in this forum who can talk about it in depth.


In all types and methods of treasure hunting, there is one cardinal rule that applies to everyone, and if broken, you will find nothing, no matter what method or instrument you use. The rule is this: “To find treasure, you must go where treasure is.” Go to where treasure is not and you will find no treasure, PERIOD.

In short, dowsing is both scientific and an art form.


Les.

 

[sparkydog]

Many thing get over-thought and to no avail. In the case of dowsing it is enough to accept it if it works for you and use it. With so many trying to prove/disprove it there are those of us who are content to just use it and accept that it works based on success. Emperical science while thought to be an absolute is still changing and evolving. Partical physics is a good example, gravity is yet another...although they taught us all about gravity in our science books 50 years ago, in light of current research it is clear they are still investigating it and trying to understand it.

My point is that while research continues into so many areas of science and physics, which may one day explain dowsing, the rest of us who use it will continue to do so quite successfully.