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THIS BOOK IS FACT
About the Author 1983
and
Experiences of Mental Dowsing
I don’t care for the terminology ‘Divining” as there is no religious significance whatsoever attached to this little known art, and I will only use the term ‘Dowsing’ which from my experiences is purely Mental Radar.
‘DownUnder’ and in the ‘UK’ they call it ‘Divining’ and in the United States it is known as ‘Dowsing’ which is the nearest I can come up with to describe the following.
Dowsing as I know it is simply thinking towards a mental picture of a target, and receiving back a mental yes or no.
Being thrown out of my depth into the mysteries, half- truths, raised eyebrows and sceptism I encountered after turning to this ancient art in the search for water, was mind- boggling.
Ash Wednesday 1983
Vividly, I recall a day in 1983 when gale force winds swept across Victoria, stripping topsoil from farming areas many miles to the north, thus blotting out the sun, and with my daughter assisting, we ringed our newly acquired farmhouse with pitiful buckets of water from our small rainwater tank as the wind increased its fury. Broken branches, anything loose and a small mob of sheep were pressed hard up against the fences as we peered out from behind a shed as a huge bush-fire raced towards us. Fortunately the wind changed towards evening and we were saved. Looking back on that day of death and destruction, I now realize how foolish I had been risking our lives by even being there.
Months later we were in debt to the tune of thousands of dollars to a water drilling Company that had claimed that there was water everywhere, which is not completely true. We obtained 100 gallons per hour of salty water at 210 feet (60 odd metres) in depth, which quickly rotted out the bore pump I had installed.
My psychic and rural loving sister suggested I hire a dowser to find water, however I hesitated at the thought. When I was a curious 10-year-old youngster I had experimented in our back yard looking for water, clenching a v shaped twig in my hands I had thought downwards for water. That experiment had sent me running from the yard in fright, as the v shaped rod had twisted violently downwards in my clenched hands.
Forty five years later, my youthful experience with a dowsing rod came flooding back, sending shivers up my spine.
Quite frankly, I was not skeptical, just curious to see how an expert dowsed for water, and I neither believed, nor disbelieved in water dowsing. Contacting a dowser eventually led to an ancient car rocking up my winding driveway some weeks later. An elderly mate helped out the ancient driver who claimed to be a dowser, who turned out to be a fraud. My hired dowser’s method of dowsing is known as a bobbing. An 18-inch (half metre) length of light supple wire is held between forefinger and thumb. A small weight is attached to the free end of the wire, which will bob up and down when the operator walks over a desired target, or when the dowser wants it to obtain a bobbing affect without making a mental connection with a target. I have since used this dowsing system myself, and it works just fine if the atmospheric conditions for dowsing are OK, and you are not seeking a distant target, as it is only a ‘look down’ tool of limited value.
The old boy hobbled over several acres of paddocks explaining I had water everywhere. The bobbing wire bobbed at all times as though the Sydney Harbor lay beneath our paddocks, bridge and all.
Giving the old fraud petrol money and watching them chug down the driveway, I awoke to the sudden realization that he had not given me a site to drill. Sitting down in the farm house kitchen having a cuppa and brooding over being had, I was interrupted by a car pulling up outside on the driveway. It was old Bert, a friend from a nearby property. He was aware of my water-dowsing appointment, and was curious as to its outcome. After listening to my woes, he offered in his strong Irish brogue to teach me how to dowse. He was a man who had been everywhere and done just about anything, and would be worthy of a chapter or two on his own exploits.
Bert explained that Dowsers were common in Ireland, and were often used in rural areas by local councils to find old water mains. Although he did not have the talent and was unable to dowse, he knew as much as I would need to get started, and offered to teach me.
Firstly Bert fashioned a pair of bronzing welding rods into an l shape with hand-grips, then showed me how to hold them outwards and level in clenched hands plus stance, meaning fully erect with elbows well back and tucked into my sides. Whilst holding the rods as taught, he looked at me quizzically and asked if I was receiving any input as the wires were still. ‘Bert what do I do now?’
Bert split his sides laughing, and explained that this was as far as he had ever gotten and I would have to think of the next move myself. My mind flashed back to over 4 decades to my last attempt, and thought, ‘here goes’ and thought downward for iron. Being close to power, I used to engage in a lot of light engineering outside the kitchen door and knew there were hidden scraps of metal everywhere. An asset for me was that during the great depression, as an eight year-old, I gained experience sorting out scrap metals, as my dad was a scrap metal and bag merchant. I was given the task of sorting different metals, and it soon became second nature to me. When visiting a farm to purchase whatever was lying around, as I looked so innocent, the farmer and dad used to yarn away and let me count the bags we were buying. My count could make the difference between eating for the next week, and going hungry. We lived by our wits during the great depression.
Have you ever picked up a telephone and it was alive and open? My first attempt shocked me, however not enough to let go the wires like my previous attempt. I thought downwards and mentally picked up a piece of metal immediately just below the surface of the driveway, another, and then another. I armed Bert with my metal detector, and requested him to check me out.
Wherever I scrubbed a mark in the driveway with the side of my boot, Bert obtained a 4- way beep from the detector. Running a metal detector 4-ways over a target eliminates false targets and ghosting.( I was to discover at a later date that the same 4 way system is used for mental dowsing with the same efficiency) If I do not receive a full 4 way solid mental signal whilst dowsing, I can guarantee that there is nothing down below. My metal detector used to give off a harsh sound for iron and a soft sound for lead or gold. Reception via dowsing has an identical harsh and soft mental feel.
Depth Finding
I was elated, as I was on my way, and if only I could have foreseen the next 20 years. Before Old Bert departed, I was taught how to find the depth of a target. A tip I could not to do without in the years to come. Having read this far, I think it would be only fair to explain depth finding before I leave techniques of dowsing for those who want to try parlor tricks or something more serious.
Put a marker or mark the ground directly over the hidden target with your boot. Twin wires are used for depth finding. (A single wire is all you will ever use for normal target finding once you acquire the necessary experience). Walk away from the hidden target and approach the target slowly with both wires in a horizontal position and thinking down for a target at all times. Do not at any time look at your wires, look and think down. You will start to mentally pick up the target as you get closer. Plus keep your fist holding the dowsing rod inside your bodies magnetic aura or your efforts will be useless.
Your wires may vibrate slightly, plus they will commence to pull in towards each other. Walking even slower and being very alert, when the ends or points of the wires JUST touch each other, the distance from the marker over the underground target to where your twin wires just touched is your depth to the target.
With a single dowsing wire when the wire commences to vibrate and commences to turn inwards it is time. . Do not let your wires swing outwards, or you have failed as a dowser. I have been within 2 feet on a gold mining job. Depth was 105 feet, I estimated 103 feet using the system just described, so you may have to stand well back, before starting your depth finding.
That day that I first clenched a pair of wires, it was mid-summer and hot. So naturally I had used my wires in the shade of a large shed and close to the kitchen door.
That evening I buried a piece of iron in a heap of sand nearby out in the open. I tried for months without success to locate that piece of steel, until eventually the sand was cleared away, however I never forgot that enigma.
It took me 15 years to learn that I cannot dowse in the full sun without taking the precaution of having protective headgear which must also cover the ears from dowsing destroying UV rays.
The suns UV rays completely destroy dowsing ability and must be avoided at all cost. Pulling a thick beret or wide brimmed hat down over my ears whilst holding a rod in my right hand is effective. If I had experimented in the full sun that day, I also would have said ‘not for me’ Heavy clouds, early morning, late afternoon or moonlit nights are ideal. Picture (left) shows the section of the brain, which activates the human mind to be able to mentally dowse.
It is known as the Cerebellum Cortex, which scientists have discovered Co-ordinates most muscles, learned skills movement and timing.
This can be verified by holding a powerful magnet above one ear and a dowsing wire in your other hand, if you have discovered you can dowse. Mentally try to turn the dowsing wire inwards and you will feel a difference via magnetic flux assistance.
There is insufficient power to dowse accurately with this trial, only proof of the power source used for dowsing. THere is definitely an unknown to science wavelength of magnetic flux bathing the nearest parts of earth during solar storms which enable humans the ability to dowse.
A recent article in a Melbourne newspaper published a scientific article from the USA re medical research findings in regards to the harmful effects of mobile phones held to the ear. The article carried the information that the micro-waves or EMF from mobile phones excited the parts of the brain just above the ears, increasing brain activity. Sound familiar?
When to dowse
Under ideal dowsing conditions, your body is bathed in Solar emanated Geo- Magnetic flux, which if supplied in sufficient strength will activate the Cerebellum to the degree where it is activated as mental radar, giving back ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers to your mental underground probing. I have marked the Cerebellum with a cross on the photo, just above the ear lobe. Oddly, I have never encountered any period of dowsing when the moon was not overhead.
There is not enough geomagnetic flux coming directly from the sun on a moonless day to power my dowsing needs.
I can obtain a sort of a mental tremble with my new 16 wired dowsing rod by straining hard, but not with any where near enough power to dowse.
The moon and dowsing
Apparently the average human being does not possess sufficient magnetic flux to power a dowsing rod, without a boost from solar flares via the sun and reflected off the moon.
Since I commenced a few years go making notes and experimenting, I have discovered that I need an overhead moon to reflect the geomagnetic flux supplied by the Sun during periods of Solar flares. One week before a full moon and one week after, gives me 2 weeks of dowsing time in the month, and if there is some solar flare activity it is a bonus, plus the closer to a full moon with greater reflective ability we dowse, the stronger your mental radar will work for you. No solar flairs whatsoever means no dowsing whatsoever.
One out of the main points of dowsing with my Dowsing rod is that is a look down wire.
Dowsing ahead will give you a positive mental tingle, which is all you need until you close the gap to your target, although if it is a good dowsing time I would still rely on the single l shaped dowsing rod for afar targets.
When you think you are near enough to your target, switch over to the multi wired look down rod, as it can only detect within half a pace from the target, and when it does, you can be sure it will be there. The l shaped rod can be inaccurate 9 out of 10 times re finding the exact position of the target.
When you are over the target is when the multi wired rod will come into play and hang onto your target eliminating false signals.
When moving the rod over the target on a good dowsing day is like pushing your rod forwards in thick treacle. It is an incredible experience. On a very good day, it can be difficult to push past the underground target, and it will not shrink or expand, and you will mentally be seeing accurately what is below. I had no hope of finding post hole deposits with a single l shaped rod. All I would get was a suspicion that there was something somewhere in the vicinity.
I repeat that there is always a danger of a normal single dowsing rod pulling in a target from afar, which it will do unfailingly unless you are fortunate to be dowsing when there is an exceptional strong burst of solar flares. With a multi wired rod when it is hugging vertically your thigh inside the magnetic aura of your body, its purpose as an antenna is increased up to a hundred fold.
Luck and persistence has played a great part in much of my dowsing activities over the years. Commencing my dowsing experiments in the paddocks closest to the old farm house, I was soon bored with collecting old horse shoes, nails, keys, pieces of metal, including a rifle barrel of 19th century vintage and sundry other items.
Checking out in the hallway leading out to the back entrance of the house, I pulled up the floorboards which disclosed a 20 foot deep mine shaft. I quickly closed the shaft up again before my wife could see the mess.
On one particular weekend, with my wife and daughter sharing a cuppa with me in the kitchen, I decided to check out under the old farm-house.
Dowsing under tin roofs.
What was important about the following is that I did not know at that time that I was quite able to dowse under the galvanized roof of the century old colonial house, however it is impossible to dowse under the roof of a cement tiled house, as the cement blankets out the geomagnetic flux, whereon iron is a good conductor. I cannot dowse underground for the same reason.
Another advantage of dowsing under a tin roof is that you have complete protection from UV rays which completely destroy your dowsing potential.
1984
Who knows what abandoned century old treasures I would find under the floor of our ancient farm house. ‘Not again’ the women folk moaned. They were heartily sick of my wires after a few weeks of me playing with my newly found toys.
Still seated, I mentally browsed around under the house and was greeted by a single small strong non ferrous target under the flooring in the adjacent lounge room.
Upon entering the lounge room, I again picked up the signal under the floor and close to a wall.
To play it safe I had mentally dowsed for a non-ferrous target (non iron) which gave me more leeway re type of targets to discover, plus disregarding horse shoes nails etc. Pulling back the carpet I was surprised to see patterned linoleum of my early childhood memories. Laying back a section of the linoleum, I marked a cross over the small hidden target on the flooring directly above, then jimmied up a length of flooring panel next to the cross.
Peeping down into the cavity I spotted many skeletons of rabbits, with netting visible around the outside edging of the flooring. The rabbits must have been at plague proportions at times in the past one hundred and twenty years. Groping down in the gloom directly below the cross, I felt a small object lying on the smooth dirt, and retrieved a blackened 1929 sixpenny piece. In triumph I walked into the kitchen and displayed the trophy to my women folk.
‘What do you do for your next trick’ commented my better half, with a straight face. I think my wife was fair dinkum, I had just pulled off a hat trick that any magician would give his right arm for and could never duplicate, and my missus was completely unimpressed. She did not realize the implications of my find. If I could find a small coin hidden under floorboards, the future could be very interesting.
The whisky episode
My wife only visited me on weekends, as she was very much a city type. When seated in her car after kissing me goodbye, my better half commented that she had left my weekly ration of a bottle of whisky in a safe place and it would be good practice for me to find it. I had no idea that I could only dowse under certain atmospheric conditions, and the first two nights were unsuccessful and my mind remained blank. The kitchen had only so many cupboards, which I hunted through many times. On the phone each night to my wife, I was assured it was definitely in the kitchen.
Night 3 I repeated the same dowsing procedure, and picked up mentally the bottle of whiskey immediately behind a kitchen drawer in the framework of the cupboard, tucked up high. The bottle was very cleverly hidden. The sun and geo -magnetic flux reflect off an overhead moon, and if there are sunspots of sufficient strength, the geo -magnetic flux I can receive will power up my wires at night with the magnetic flux passing through the tin roof of a single story building. On night 3 the moon had just risen and the right conditions for dowsing had arrived. I will never know exactly what had gone right as I am assuming as to what occurred.
A few weeks later a farmer and his teen aged son arrived at the farm to inspect a tractor I had put up for sale. The lad was not going to be a farmer, judging by his bored expression. I let dad go over the tractor alone, as it is usually not a good idea for me to hang around, as most farmers knew more than I did at that time about tractors, and the less I knew the easier the sale.
Talking small talk with the lad, he asked what the funny
shaped wire was that was lying on the kitchen table near his
Wrist. I explained that it was a dowsing wire. I quickly
realized that I had met my first died in the wool skeptic, only
the first of many I was to encounter in the future, and on a
regular basis including many of you readers.
Following a friendly argument, he bet me a dollar that I could not prove my exaggerated claims about what I could do with that funny looking wire. My kitchen table overlooked what was the only modern addition since the 19th century, a large picture window which gave me a scenic view of the surrounding paddocks.
I still was not aware that I could make a fool of myself if there was no power for dowsing. Again luck came to my assistance. Dowsing out through the window and mentally chasing any non ferrous object, my attention was drawn to a spot about 18 inches (half metre) to the left of an ancient English plum tree. The target was sited approximately 6-8 yards (roughly) 7 metres) outside my kitchen door.
Rising suddenly to his feet and very skeptical of where the target was supposed to be hidden, I was asked to stay seated. His dollar was laid on the table and he intended to dig down to my proposed target without my assistance, and without any chance of my cheating. Picking up a nearby shovel, he proceeded to dig at the spot indicated.
Watching the lad through the kitchen window, he bent down as though retrieving an object and returned silently to the kitchen, sat down and pushed the dollar coin across to my side of the table whilst laying down an ancient badly corroded bronze bolt.
I offered him his dollar back, which he declined, commenting it was worth a dollar for the experience, and he would keep the find to show to his kids one day. To cap it all off nicely, his father purchased the tractor at my asking price.
My dowsing wire was really powered up that day, plus I was sitting down in the house out of the dowsing destroying UV rays of the sun, of which I was still not aware. There must have been one almighty solar storm on that particular day to power me up, as I later discovered through trial and error that sitting, reduces dowsing ability considerably, kneeling down more so and in a prone laying down position wipes out any ability to dowse whatsoever.
Target Discrimination
My next adventure was at an almost extinct mining town, where only a few decrepit mining cottages still drunkenly stood. I partnered up with a so-called friend who owned a metal detector, and we decided to explore an old abandoned house using both techniques. In the hallway I dived down through the broken flooring and retrieved an ancient large ancient bronze key. I could not try out the key on the front door, as there was no door.
We then exited out the back doorway, and as my partners detector was affected by nearby power lines I dowsed where the back step would have been. My so called partner was able to use his detector where I mentally picked up 3 small non ferrous targets which I marked with the side of my boot, and he retrieved several 19th cents trading tokens. My companion calmly pocketed the coins as though he had done nothing wrong. I cooled off him immediately. If I had located any more coins, I would have quietly left them there.
I was about to have the 2nd most important lesson on dowsing to this date a few minutes later, which made me forget my companion. My first lesson was no more partners. Guessing where the outside toilet used to be further down the yard, I commenced hunting for non ferrous targets again, this time on my own.
Countless dropping of pants to heed nature’s call could leave coins in the area. I did not locate the old toilet site. However, receiving a strong non- ferrous signal about cup size and digging down it was hard for me to not feel disappointment as I uncovered a large sheet of tin, about the size of the back of a washing machine. Flipping it over to shake off the dirt clinging to it, I was surprised to discover a small electric winding bolted to the center of the back of the sheet of iron and the outside aluminum casing had partly broken away, leaving the still shining copper winding exposed.
It was the back of an old washing machine, and I had dowsed through the steel to the non-ferrous copper coil of an ancient electric motor situated on the rear side. I realized instantly that I was far more advanced with mentally discriminating targets, than I believed was humanly possible.
Old Bert had taught me to suck a .22 caliber cartridge, which is a common method for those needing a reminder or mental crutch of what they are seeking. On my second outing in the paddocks, I had forgotten to use the cartridge and it had made no difference whatsoever. From that point on, I could only dowse for what I was seeking mentally. If I dowsed for gold, I would not receive a signal for any other target. There was only one way out of this possible dilemma.
Think down for ‘Anything of Interest’ and then have a mental dissection of what you have found. I found this second method even more successful for treasure trove hunting as the targets can be a mixture of different metals or gems. I may be hunting for gold and walk over oodles of treasures of a non-gold variety if I am not careful.
Gold
Some time later, after several years in gold mining areas in the bush chasing long leads and quartz reefs of which the gold dust laden long leads and nuggetty bearing quartz reefs are still hidden there in abundance, I gave that exercise away as every inch of likely areas are under existing mining leases.
It wasn’t pleasant when I was chased off a private property in Castlemain Victoria by a so called friend when I informed the owner that they had an immensely rich huge quartz reef with only a short pipe lead rising to within a hand-span of the surface. The oval shaped pipe lead was 3 to 4 paces in width, with blackish gold dust content increasing as the vertical pipe got deeper; the grey pipe judging by the clanging of my shovel was about 6 inches or 15 centimeters thick. It is a huge pipe lead, and the area for hundreds of acres surrounding this property has been stripped of all gold dust bearing top soil which was fed by this quartz reef eroding gold dust over millions of years. A dozen paces south was a quartz reef deep lead at a depth of about 15 feet and the reef still had plenty of nuggety gold and layers angling down as far as I could dowse. The 19th century miners had stopped stripping the top-soil when they reached bedrock clay.
They had only 3 inches to go down to this particular pipe-lead and stopped short, or they possibly did not know what a pipe lead was. There are several layers of gold in the inclining quartz reef, and they each feel many inches thick. There is no evidence of underground or open mining in the area, so if any other rich reefs are in the vicinity, they have not been found. I must drop in one day and see if the property has changed hands.
When I told the owners of their good fortune they couldn’t get rid of me quick enough
Goldfields
Gold appears to bring out the worst in some folks and it would be easy for me to write a book on my discoveries in the golden triangle of central Victoria. However my most vivid memories are of the heat, mosquitoes, snakes of sometimes enormous length and girth of the black and tiger variety, and the sheer inhospitality of the gold fields. I take my hat off to the diggers in the 19th century, who persisted under such appalling conditions. Other lasting memories are of dowsing in the bush early in the mornings with perfect clarity underground, only to discover by mid morning my wires were dead, and discovering late in the afternoon that my wires were again alive.
I experienced these anomalies on many outings and never discovered that the sun and the scrub were wiping out the magnetic flux that powers my wires, incorrect headgear and that the moon had just risen or just gone below the horizon.
Dowsing clues
These discoveries were to take many years, as there are definitely no books on the subject. Whilst dowsing with my right hand I should have taken great care to pull my floppy bush hat down firmly over my left ear to prevent the suns UV rays from wiping out my dowsing, plus dowsing with my left ear away from the sun. If I was fortunate enough to be dowsing with an overhead moon and receiving ample dowsing power, and as most of the golden triangle which was the source of huge gold recoveries in the 19th century is heavily treed, I was still no better off, as a good percentage of the time I did not realize until I developed my latest dowsing rod that DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT with an overhead moon is absolutely essential.
Shade from overhead trees, foliage and buildings must be avoided at all times. Knee and waist high bushes or grass will greedily suck out all your dowsing ability and make you feel mentally as weak as a non dowser.
I vividly recall recently on a dark moonless night that my dowsing rod was silent in a hilly paddock. I was waiting for a full moon to come up over the horizon. There was a huge tree on the brow of the hill, and as the moon rose up behind the foliage of the tree and a glow of moonlight trickled though the branches, my rod gave a mental tickle until the moon was clear of the tree when I suddenly had dowsing power. If you ignore the above rules you are wasting your time reading on.
1985
Having learnt the basics of dowsing, I commenced prospecting on our own 40 acre farm and soon found a series of long leads, heavily piped with limestone- like outer layers. When broken open, the black river grit contents were too poor in flour gold to process, and the quartz reefs located further south which supplied the gold dust and possibly nuggets had long since eroded away. On one dowsing site on the farm, I felt I had a gold deposit worth looking at and paid a gravedigger $100.00 for a days digging.
Down he went through the rock hard clay mix to 7 feet. From 7 feet (2 metres) to 10 feet (3 metres) there was gold dust everywhere. It glistened in the hole, on our clothes, on the shovels, in the debris on the edges of the shaft, and in our hair. Then it petered out suddenly at 10 feet. It was only an isolated pocket. After much study I discovered the farm was nearly entirely composed of rollover volcanic action and we were located in the centre of the ancient volcano.
Only a few paces away, high quality builders yellow sand went down to at least 200feet ( app.65metres) and was verified at a later date by drilling. The next important experiment was when I eventually drilled for water on our farm and struck quality water at 60 feet (app.18 metres) at the rate of 600gallons (2,700litres) per hour. Soon after, I acquired an old but serviceable backhoe-front loader and the farm was eventually to look like a battlefield with my prying under-ground. My first experiment with the back-hoe was nearly my last.
Up till now my dowsing had been only a game and I accepted it as such. Being curious as to how accurate I was on deep underground targets I dowsed a barren quartz field at the top of the farm where in one isolated site, lay a football sized lump of quartz at 12 feet (app.3.5metres) in depth and impregnated with ferrous (iron) dust.
The back hoe which had a reach of exactly 12 feet went down to its maximum and scraped up against something hard. Backing off, I lowered the area for the back-hoes tires to go deeper. Scooping deeper, I managed to obtain sufficient depth to hook up the lump of quartz. The size of the quartz was spot on, and when cracked open with a large spanner from the backhoes toolbox, it was streaked with ferrous (iron) as predicted.
Mental acceptance
Gazing at the lump of quartz, I suddenly went woozy in my stomach, sweat poured down my face and my heart commenced pounding at double the normal rate, and my knees gave way. I had gone into shock. Picking myself up, I reeled downhill to the farmhouse and onto my bed.
Several Valium tablets and 4 hours later, I felt well enough to stagger up the hill in the dark and switch off my quietly chuckling Mark-3 Chamberlain Backhoe. I had not accepted that I had mentally gazed through nearly 4 metres of rock hard clay to identify a target, and had proven it.
I had to accept what I had seen with my own eyes or possibly incur a mental breakdown. I won by accepting the fact that although dowsing is a barely known and scientifically unproven function of the mind, it is just another sense we all possess to a greater or lesser degree.
Water Dowsing
Months later I was water dowsing for farmers in areas throughout the state. My main lasting memories are of the sheer undulating beauty of the rural areas of South Western Victoria, and my astonishing experience of discovering underground thermal (hot) springs many miles from known areas. Northern Victoria was a contrast of large flat tracts of salt permeated top soils in many areas. Several farms I visited in that area were in such poor condition that I did not waste my time looking for water, as there was salt bush everywhere. Why more landowners were not attempting to plant salt tolerant native trees I’ll never know, although in the past few years some farmers are having success in lowering the salt water levels by replanting what should never had been logged in the first place.
Many trips resulted in not finding water, and driving homewards in a drugged like trance from sheer mental strain which lasted for days, from dowsing with no geo-magnetic assistance. On good days which were conductive to dowsing, I often knew roughly where the water lay underground, even before I had opened the farmer’s front gate, and if I was discussing over the phone with the farmer, dates, price and his location, I even tried dowsing locations of good water on the farm over the phone.
If given enough information, which happened twice, I was spot on within a few paces. I feel that under the right conditions there is empathy between humans as there is amongst animals, birds and insects.
Several incidents occurred which convinced me of this, including one farmer who hired me, just to show off that if he walked within a few paces of me he could mentally block out my dowsing ability. It worked too. Nowadays, no way known will I let anyone approach me whilst I am dowsing
The Sergeant York Incident November 2003
Soon after I watched a rerun of an old favorite film of mine on late night television of the movie of WW1 hero ‘Sergeant York’ I was intrigued by Sergeant York’s amazement upon flicking a light on and off in a large hotel in New York, having never seen electricity before, and I came up with an idea.
My latest brainwave for testing geo-magnetic power from the sun was forthcoming; however I would have to wait.
A short time later there was a solar flair eruption which lasted for a few hours. Grasping a dowsing wire out in the direct sun I attempted to dowse. My dowsing wire was dead, so holding the wire in my right fist I pulled my beret down hard over my left ear, and thought downwards. I instantly received full dowsing power, so I proceeded to go through the ritual of pulling the beret up then down. Up and down, up and down over my ear, and receiving power on, power off, power on and power off. It was uncanny. Two hours later nothing would help, as the rotation of the earth had passed the small window of opportunity over the horizon and was benefiting any one in the west if they were dowsing at that particular moment, or whether the sun-spot had subsided is a matter of speculation.
I did discover recently that at that time there was one of the strongest periods of sun spots in the history of recording these events. On a lighter note, there was an article in a Melbourne newspaper some time back about a water dowser in Victoria, operating in several farming areas who had gained a reputation because of his high success rate at finding water. He is a popular good natured guy, who is just happy if he can help out farmers in need, and doesn’t charge for his services. Reading on, I thought I knew all or most types of dowsing tools in use. They bob they circle as in a pendulum, swing in, swing down or twist around and down or just vibrate.
I am sorry I did not keep the article as a backup as stranger things happen in real life, than can be dreamed of. This water dowser shoves a piece of plastic pipe down the front of his pants and you will have to use your own imagination as to what he hooked it onto. The flexible plastic pipe hangs out several feet, and when he mentally feels he is walking over an underground water supply, the pipe bobs. Probably a show off, and in answer to your thoughts, I have never attempted to use this method, although I do not see why it wouldn’t work.
Bare footed dowser
There is one dowser I have heard of that dowses bare footed, and when he feels that the rod is over water, he paws the ground horse-like and counts the strokes of his foot, and at a mental signal he ceases his pawing, and the count at that point is the distant down to water in feet. The herb grower who recounted this tale was not game enough to drill on his pawing say so and called me in.
Checking out the site I could not confirm that there was any water below the dowser’s paw marker, however higher up the property I found a small underground stream, at least 70 metres in depth. (App.230 feet) When drilled, the results were that there was a flow of 700 gallons per hour of very slightly salty water, however when mixed with dam water, the grower had no problems during that particular drought. The driller claimed that it was the first successful bore in that locality in a century, as spot on drilling was necessary as the area consisted of granite.
Soon after, I failed on a dowsing job, and the following consequential series of events that I could not have dreamed up were to change my whole life. Upon a request by mail to find water on a small rural property, which was accompanied by payment, I mailed a receipt with a guarantee of ‘no water, no charge’ and was at the property within several weeks. I never ever met the owners, and I wandered around on my own after finding the property, located on a map, which had been posted to me.
It was a untidy rectangle block of land, being mostly the side of a hill, consisting of approximately 20 acres. Eventually I found an underground stream and checked it out thoroughly. I also marked out the underground river with stakes on the surface showing the course of the stream, and the most suitable point to drill at. The river was at 60 foot (18 metres) in depth, and had a very thick calcite lining, indicating it had been around for a very long time.
Contacting my favored driller, who also relied on his own water dowsing skills to gain clients, he eventually drilled on my marker. At 60 feet he struck calcite, and then traveled through river grit for some distance before passing through the bottom of the river pipe.
It was a dry as a bone bore, so he continued down to 230 feet looking for any trace of water, with no luck.
To shorten this tale, after mailing back my fee to the property owner, it took months of pondering until I had a brain storm. Whilst water dowsing, when picking up a signal of an underground river, I am receiving a collective cavity signal from the porous grit contents of the river or stream. In other words, I am locating cavities, not water.
I can only find what I am mentally familiar with. Therefore how am I going to probe mentally down looking for (H2O) being hydrogen and oxygen? I cannot see the two elements, and I doubt if any one else can either.
To check out water availability down below, I mentally switch over to water pressure. And if you are obtaining a pressure your bore will have water in ratio to the dowsing pressure. Very light water pressure indicates your water is probably salty, and very strong mental pressure means some lucky person has a good water flow of clean drinkable water.
Another example is pewter. I cannot dowse for pewter; however I can find it by looking for lead or tin which are the components. I am familiar with potassium nitrate as I used to make up my own formulas whilst growing hydroponics on the farm, therefore traces of gunpowder are very easy for me to find. I could still recall the bitter taste on my tongue 20 years later.
My final water dowsing job was on King Island in Bass Straight. A party wishing to find an abundance of quality water had me flown across to the island, as they intended to open up a cheese factory. I would have even water dowsed free, if I had known that I would be dowsing over the most unique picturesque landscape imaginable.
King Island
King Island has been fortunate that vermin such as foxes and rabbits had never been introduced, and protected semi tame turkeys wander leisurely over paddocks stocked with the healthiest cattle you will ever encounter. The grass which is unbelievably rich and green was planted accidentally by straw mattresses being washed ashore from the many tragic shipwrecks which occurred mainly in the 19th century, on the islands rocky shores.
The island is famed for its tourism, cheese and meat products, and gathering of kelp for export, which is an interesting although very manually orientated part time occupation for many of the islanders. I returned to the mainland with two of its residents in a Hessian bag. Two very much alive crayfish which are another contribution to the islands varied economy.
Back to water dowsing. My hospitable clients had me dowsing over several paddocks with no results worth drilling for, although I will never be certain, as from the time we opened the gate and entered the third paddock , my wires suddenly became alive as though they had a force of their own and I new exactly where to look.
Apparently I had attempted to dowse without the right conditions, and eventually late in the afternoon dowsing conditions were good.
After dowsing for hours without geo-magnetic power, the difference in probing mentally underground, with the radar type reception I was receiving was indescribable. It was not difficult to find what I feel is the strongest underground river I have ever encountered.
As all water travels in a northerly direction and King Island is virtually flat, could that particular water flow have risen from a deep basin of water fed from the mountains of Tasmania?
It was confirmed firstly by pressure testing, which I had taught myself after the embarrassment of the fiasco of the previous attempt, of which I had assumed that ancient under ground streams always contained water.
There was a large pool of water nearby in the centre of the paddock which was not there by chance.
It was being pushed to the surface from an underground stream commonly known as a spring. On the south side of this surface water I waded mentally back to where the underground pipe- like feeder suddenly dipped down leading to its subterranean source, over which I placed a marker.
Wading mentally along an underground stream was by now a normal practice for me for finding the source of a water supply. When I mentally walk across an under-ground stream, I will turn south and follow the underground Calcite lined stream, whilst mentally wading with the water mentally pushing against my legs. If I mentally feel a slight drag, I am walking back to the source of the water supply which is essential, as much water is lost in water breaking off into frequent smaller Westerly streams after rising from subterranean levels. Drilling at the closest point to the source of the water rising from its underground basin is only commonsense. Owing to the rotation of the earth, it is not normal to find offshoots running for any distance in an easterly direction.
I have proven the above by marking with flagged posts at intervals over a long lead, over a kilometer in length on our farm, and eying up from the end marker, could see the bulge in the centre of the river, again to the West, again indicating the pull of gravity from the rotation of the earth. The backhoe was handy in proving that all the offshoots were running west, with none running to the east.
These streams all run approximately in a NNE direction which was the magnetic north pole in the distant past when these streams were created. Amazing what you can learn from a scientifically unproven human talent.
King Island is serviced by small twin engine passenger planes, which have the dual service of carrying passengers, plus luggage and freight in the rear of the plane. Relaxing in a seat next to a window as the plane readied to take off to return me to Melbourne; I was pleased to spy a Melbourne newspaper lying on an empty seat. It is a relatively short flight and I was soon occupied with catching up with the current news. An article caught my eye on the treasures of Queenscliff. It was a large half page advertisement praising the isolated beauty of the coastal township at the heads, which is the narrow passage giving access from Bass -Straight into the bay.
To make the contents of the article more interesting, a section was given over to a pirate named “Benito” and his undiscovered treasure cache.
Hmm treasure trove? It was a concept I had never dreamed of, and the thought of caves stuffed with treasures laying in piles and strings of jewels dripping out of overfilled treasure chests as depicted on our recent visit to Disneyland, was a fascinating novelty which appeared to open a new field of investigation.
I was becoming bored and needed new outlets for my hobby, and I was becoming intensely interested in archeology; an important factor was that I had unknowingly been training myself the basics of dowsing for treasures and cavities. I had not been able to foresee anything exciting in the direction of archaeology, especially in a young country with a documented history of only two hundred years.
How wrong did I prove to be in regards to the past of this country Australia. We were still far enough from the heads to organize myself to mentally scan the bay.
I asked a cute young lady if she did not mind crawling over the stacked boxes of crayfish in the rear of the cabin, and could she please find a pair of wires protruding out of my traveling bag, as she was much lighter and would not damage any of the containers of crayfish, plus I was having hassles at that moment with a large lively crayfish which had popped its head out of the Hessian bag jammed beneath my knees, as it was determined to see what was going on around it.
With the wires recovered and the crayfish secured, I asked the pilot if he would not mind dipping the nose of the plane for a brief period, as the heads and Port Phillip Bay were fast approaching at 7,000 feet. The pilot obliged and I long ranged via the dowsing rods towards Queenscliff on my left. I could barely make it out in the distance, so I went long range for anything of interest.
The wires vibrated strongly, confirming the presence of targets of interest to be investigated at a later date. By now we were directly over the ‘Heads’ which is the narrow entrance into the bay. Immediately from Portsea to Frankston I mentally noted one long line of targets.
There were so many targets I decided to select just one. The cave I selected had a nearby pathway for easy access and was directly behind a boatshed. I was picking up sundry items plus a solitary target at the rear of the boatshed, and in front of the sandstone cliff face, which was virtually a beep on a mental radar screen.
This is a ancient photo of an Australian aboriginal possibly looking for Bardi grubs or just demonstrating for the camera. The v shaped twig will pull down sometimes with much force when over a likely site. I have found grubs and worms easy to locate although I have never been famished enough to experiment with making a Bardi grub entrée.
Back to the aerial dowsing. There was no time to be selective for iron, gold silver etc; however the cave would not be so well hidden if it was empty. After I thanked the pilot, an aboriginal sitting nearby queried as to whether I had found anything. What I liked about the aboriginals request was that he did not ask if I was a nutcase waving a pair of coat hanger wires in the air, which encouraged me to insert an appropriate picture at this stage of writing.
I now had my first specific target and had a lot of work ahead of me. My base of activities in those days was at our farm, a good 3 hours drive in the quiet off -peak traffic hours.
My forays were usually from dusk to dawn, and it was uncanny how quickly I homed in on my first cave. I walked down a path to the beach in the deathly still of the night, mentally probing to my right and left, and underneath a multi-million dollar beach home.
By angling downwards as well as to the left, and deep down below their lawn I was mentally gazing in my own fashion into a cave approximately 5-6 paces in length.
The cave felt very irregular and the contents appeared stacked at different heights and all over the place. I feel that there was cavity surrounding the contents, which I later learnt was of pirate pawn-shop type variety. There was gold, silver, gems and iron. At later sites I used to check for skeletons; however the calcium was a very weak signal after hundreds of years and not easily picked up mentally.
On an overseas tour some months later I was visiting a museum and was gazing down at a 5 thousand year old skull. Its teeth were in perfect condition which gave me an idea what to look for. I still shiver at the memory of the many hand sized calcium targets I mentally gazed at down at deep below. I can assure you that much murder was committed in hidden tunnels and caves that you may be casually be strolling over, or driving over along Nepean Highway, or in man made tunnels running inland from Portsea to Frankston and further on at Sandringham, Black Rock and Rickets Point, around at the port of Geelong and further on to Queenscliff.
Back to my first Archeological finds. Many hours were spent studying the contents in between trips down to the beach, which entailed 3 hours each way and only 3 hours to study the beach front, which entailed finding the hidden entrance and studying the whole area over many long arduous trips from the farm by 4 wheel drive, of which many times I was pulled up on my homeward journey in the wee hours of the morning by police for standard checkups.
I used to inform the constables that I was a treasure trove hunter, and after looking at my grubby countenance and digging tools in the rear of my vehicle always let me pass, almost as though they had now heard everything. It was safer telling the truth. In the past few years the police have been more noticeable by their absence.
Three times over 10 years I have disturbed would be housebreakers who decamped swiftly from the scene.
It was easy for me to mentally find the cave entrance after some trial and error. What gave me an edge was that I was growing via hydroponics on the farm, and I used to balance my growing medium by placing a small amount of each macro- element on my tongue and by the swing of the dowsing rod was able to accurately come up with a balanced and successful formula.
The taste of these chemicals was still in my memory and I was able to dowse down for potassium nitrate, which I had discovered was a major component of gunpowder as well as a growing medium, and received a solid signal from down below on the cliff face.
With my oxy and welding gear, I fashioned a crude however workable auger and back to the beach I drove. I managed to pull up several handfuls of sand and after safely depositing my sample in a plastic bag, checked the contents with the dowsing rod.
The plastic bag was no hindrance to dowsing as thought knows no boundaries. I was impressed, as the contents of the bag were very positive. It took some phone calls to find the right chemical analysis Company that would handle my assay, and eventually the report and my bill arrived. 200 parts per million was the essay which did not mean much to me at the time.
Contacting the department of Agriculture in Victoria, I managed to engage the ear of the most qualified expert there. He assured me that it was impossible to find on the beach fronts quantities of potassium nitrate, and only the odd dried up rural rivers would have a reading anything like my sample. To find beach sand with such a high reading of potassium nitrate meant someone would have had to put it there. You beauty, I was on my way, and the next step was to dig down and have a bo-peep.
It was not difficult to engage the interest of a barrister as a witness. I will never forget that day as I had driven down from the farm the previous night, as I had arranged to meet the barrister early the next morning.
It rained a solid sheet of water most of the night and sleep was impossible in the back of my 4-w-drive. Bleary eyed and soaked thru I accompanied my witness and his teenager son down to my site and commenced to dig. Before I could put my spade into the ground I was shocked to see that a large area of tropical type vegetation had died off. The drill hole had enabled gases to escape over a period of several months thus destroying all plants within a 3 metre (10ft) radius. Down I dug not knowing what to expect. At 2 feet I brought up a rubber car tube of early vintage. Another foot down it became more interesting. I exposed a heavy-weight glass drinking mug. It was discolored and appeared to have survived an explosion as it was badly cracked and missing its handle.
I then traveled through a barbecue area of the remains of shellfish and ashes. Just below, the gunpowder blackened face of the cliff-face appeared. I continued down, as at that time I did not have the experience necessary to recognize a blown up cave entrance. A little further down I must have come to below the floor of the cave entrance, as the sand was littered with thousands of minute scraps of painted wood which crumbled to dust when touched.
The paint was a weird shade of green which only historians probably have ever seen, and probably on painted powder kegs.
Looking at this photo 19 years later I see myself unknowingly digging down past the cave floor with no idea where I am.
The sandwiched layers behind my right shoulder are the floor of the cave entrance.. I don’t blame listeners having a glazed look in their eyes when I try to explain cave formation.
There were two plate shaped impressions on the shattered cave entrance floor which were the remains of gunpowder kegs, and on the left hand side of the hole were a large quantity of stalactites and stalagmites which had been removed from the cave entrance and stacked to one side. There could have been several hundred of which I carted some to a nearby boatshed and buried under the flooring cavity, and there is no reason why they should not still be there
They were difficult to recognize as stalactites as I have never seen one before, plus they were coated in beach sand which indicated they were formed near the entrance and not deep inside the cave complex. The stalactites and stalagmite scraps were approximately thumb sized in girth and one to two hand spans in length, although there were many different shapes and lengths. The accompanying photo pictures me unknowingly passing the sandwich layers which are the cave floor.
If I had turned right, and dug my way past the explosion point at the entrance it would have been of no avail, for further inland the long entrance had been blown up again.
About the Author 1983
and
Experiences of Mental Dowsing
I don’t care for the terminology ‘Divining” as there is no religious significance whatsoever attached to this little known art, and I will only use the term ‘Dowsing’ which from my experiences is purely Mental Radar.
‘DownUnder’ and in the ‘UK’ they call it ‘Divining’ and in the United States it is known as ‘Dowsing’ which is the nearest I can come up with to describe the following.
Dowsing as I know it is simply thinking towards a mental picture of a target, and receiving back a mental yes or no.
Being thrown out of my depth into the mysteries, half- truths, raised eyebrows and sceptism I encountered after turning to this ancient art in the search for water, was mind- boggling.
Ash Wednesday 1983
Vividly, I recall a day in 1983 when gale force winds swept across Victoria, stripping topsoil from farming areas many miles to the north, thus blotting out the sun, and with my daughter assisting, we ringed our newly acquired farmhouse with pitiful buckets of water from our small rainwater tank as the wind increased its fury. Broken branches, anything loose and a small mob of sheep were pressed hard up against the fences as we peered out from behind a shed as a huge bush-fire raced towards us. Fortunately the wind changed towards evening and we were saved. Looking back on that day of death and destruction, I now realize how foolish I had been risking our lives by even being there.
Months later we were in debt to the tune of thousands of dollars to a water drilling Company that had claimed that there was water everywhere, which is not completely true. We obtained 100 gallons per hour of salty water at 210 feet (60 odd metres) in depth, which quickly rotted out the bore pump I had installed.
My psychic and rural loving sister suggested I hire a dowser to find water, however I hesitated at the thought. When I was a curious 10-year-old youngster I had experimented in our back yard looking for water, clenching a v shaped twig in my hands I had thought downwards for water. That experiment had sent me running from the yard in fright, as the v shaped rod had twisted violently downwards in my clenched hands.
Forty five years later, my youthful experience with a dowsing rod came flooding back, sending shivers up my spine.
Quite frankly, I was not skeptical, just curious to see how an expert dowsed for water, and I neither believed, nor disbelieved in water dowsing. Contacting a dowser eventually led to an ancient car rocking up my winding driveway some weeks later. An elderly mate helped out the ancient driver who claimed to be a dowser, who turned out to be a fraud. My hired dowser’s method of dowsing is known as a bobbing. An 18-inch (half metre) length of light supple wire is held between forefinger and thumb. A small weight is attached to the free end of the wire, which will bob up and down when the operator walks over a desired target, or when the dowser wants it to obtain a bobbing affect without making a mental connection with a target. I have since used this dowsing system myself, and it works just fine if the atmospheric conditions for dowsing are OK, and you are not seeking a distant target, as it is only a ‘look down’ tool of limited value.
The old boy hobbled over several acres of paddocks explaining I had water everywhere. The bobbing wire bobbed at all times as though the Sydney Harbor lay beneath our paddocks, bridge and all.
Giving the old fraud petrol money and watching them chug down the driveway, I awoke to the sudden realization that he had not given me a site to drill. Sitting down in the farm house kitchen having a cuppa and brooding over being had, I was interrupted by a car pulling up outside on the driveway. It was old Bert, a friend from a nearby property. He was aware of my water-dowsing appointment, and was curious as to its outcome. After listening to my woes, he offered in his strong Irish brogue to teach me how to dowse. He was a man who had been everywhere and done just about anything, and would be worthy of a chapter or two on his own exploits.
Bert explained that Dowsers were common in Ireland, and were often used in rural areas by local councils to find old water mains. Although he did not have the talent and was unable to dowse, he knew as much as I would need to get started, and offered to teach me.
Firstly Bert fashioned a pair of bronzing welding rods into an l shape with hand-grips, then showed me how to hold them outwards and level in clenched hands plus stance, meaning fully erect with elbows well back and tucked into my sides. Whilst holding the rods as taught, he looked at me quizzically and asked if I was receiving any input as the wires were still. ‘Bert what do I do now?’
Bert split his sides laughing, and explained that this was as far as he had ever gotten and I would have to think of the next move myself. My mind flashed back to over 4 decades to my last attempt, and thought, ‘here goes’ and thought downward for iron. Being close to power, I used to engage in a lot of light engineering outside the kitchen door and knew there were hidden scraps of metal everywhere. An asset for me was that during the great depression, as an eight year-old, I gained experience sorting out scrap metals, as my dad was a scrap metal and bag merchant. I was given the task of sorting different metals, and it soon became second nature to me. When visiting a farm to purchase whatever was lying around, as I looked so innocent, the farmer and dad used to yarn away and let me count the bags we were buying. My count could make the difference between eating for the next week, and going hungry. We lived by our wits during the great depression.
Have you ever picked up a telephone and it was alive and open? My first attempt shocked me, however not enough to let go the wires like my previous attempt. I thought downwards and mentally picked up a piece of metal immediately just below the surface of the driveway, another, and then another. I armed Bert with my metal detector, and requested him to check me out.
Wherever I scrubbed a mark in the driveway with the side of my boot, Bert obtained a 4- way beep from the detector. Running a metal detector 4-ways over a target eliminates false targets and ghosting.( I was to discover at a later date that the same 4 way system is used for mental dowsing with the same efficiency) If I do not receive a full 4 way solid mental signal whilst dowsing, I can guarantee that there is nothing down below. My metal detector used to give off a harsh sound for iron and a soft sound for lead or gold. Reception via dowsing has an identical harsh and soft mental feel.
Depth Finding
I was elated, as I was on my way, and if only I could have foreseen the next 20 years. Before Old Bert departed, I was taught how to find the depth of a target. A tip I could not to do without in the years to come. Having read this far, I think it would be only fair to explain depth finding before I leave techniques of dowsing for those who want to try parlor tricks or something more serious.
Put a marker or mark the ground directly over the hidden target with your boot. Twin wires are used for depth finding. (A single wire is all you will ever use for normal target finding once you acquire the necessary experience). Walk away from the hidden target and approach the target slowly with both wires in a horizontal position and thinking down for a target at all times. Do not at any time look at your wires, look and think down. You will start to mentally pick up the target as you get closer. Plus keep your fist holding the dowsing rod inside your bodies magnetic aura or your efforts will be useless.
Your wires may vibrate slightly, plus they will commence to pull in towards each other. Walking even slower and being very alert, when the ends or points of the wires JUST touch each other, the distance from the marker over the underground target to where your twin wires just touched is your depth to the target.
With a single dowsing wire when the wire commences to vibrate and commences to turn inwards it is time. . Do not let your wires swing outwards, or you have failed as a dowser. I have been within 2 feet on a gold mining job. Depth was 105 feet, I estimated 103 feet using the system just described, so you may have to stand well back, before starting your depth finding.
That day that I first clenched a pair of wires, it was mid-summer and hot. So naturally I had used my wires in the shade of a large shed and close to the kitchen door.
That evening I buried a piece of iron in a heap of sand nearby out in the open. I tried for months without success to locate that piece of steel, until eventually the sand was cleared away, however I never forgot that enigma.
It took me 15 years to learn that I cannot dowse in the full sun without taking the precaution of having protective headgear which must also cover the ears from dowsing destroying UV rays.
The suns UV rays completely destroy dowsing ability and must be avoided at all cost. Pulling a thick beret or wide brimmed hat down over my ears whilst holding a rod in my right hand is effective. If I had experimented in the full sun that day, I also would have said ‘not for me’ Heavy clouds, early morning, late afternoon or moonlit nights are ideal. Picture (left) shows the section of the brain, which activates the human mind to be able to mentally dowse.
It is known as the Cerebellum Cortex, which scientists have discovered Co-ordinates most muscles, learned skills movement and timing.
This can be verified by holding a powerful magnet above one ear and a dowsing wire in your other hand, if you have discovered you can dowse. Mentally try to turn the dowsing wire inwards and you will feel a difference via magnetic flux assistance.
There is insufficient power to dowse accurately with this trial, only proof of the power source used for dowsing. THere is definitely an unknown to science wavelength of magnetic flux bathing the nearest parts of earth during solar storms which enable humans the ability to dowse.
A recent article in a Melbourne newspaper published a scientific article from the USA re medical research findings in regards to the harmful effects of mobile phones held to the ear. The article carried the information that the micro-waves or EMF from mobile phones excited the parts of the brain just above the ears, increasing brain activity. Sound familiar?
When to dowse
Under ideal dowsing conditions, your body is bathed in Solar emanated Geo- Magnetic flux, which if supplied in sufficient strength will activate the Cerebellum to the degree where it is activated as mental radar, giving back ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers to your mental underground probing. I have marked the Cerebellum with a cross on the photo, just above the ear lobe. Oddly, I have never encountered any period of dowsing when the moon was not overhead.
There is not enough geomagnetic flux coming directly from the sun on a moonless day to power my dowsing needs.
I can obtain a sort of a mental tremble with my new 16 wired dowsing rod by straining hard, but not with any where near enough power to dowse.
The moon and dowsing
Apparently the average human being does not possess sufficient magnetic flux to power a dowsing rod, without a boost from solar flares via the sun and reflected off the moon.
Since I commenced a few years go making notes and experimenting, I have discovered that I need an overhead moon to reflect the geomagnetic flux supplied by the Sun during periods of Solar flares. One week before a full moon and one week after, gives me 2 weeks of dowsing time in the month, and if there is some solar flare activity it is a bonus, plus the closer to a full moon with greater reflective ability we dowse, the stronger your mental radar will work for you. No solar flairs whatsoever means no dowsing whatsoever.
One out of the main points of dowsing with my Dowsing rod is that is a look down wire.
Dowsing ahead will give you a positive mental tingle, which is all you need until you close the gap to your target, although if it is a good dowsing time I would still rely on the single l shaped dowsing rod for afar targets.
When you think you are near enough to your target, switch over to the multi wired look down rod, as it can only detect within half a pace from the target, and when it does, you can be sure it will be there. The l shaped rod can be inaccurate 9 out of 10 times re finding the exact position of the target.
When you are over the target is when the multi wired rod will come into play and hang onto your target eliminating false signals.
When moving the rod over the target on a good dowsing day is like pushing your rod forwards in thick treacle. It is an incredible experience. On a very good day, it can be difficult to push past the underground target, and it will not shrink or expand, and you will mentally be seeing accurately what is below. I had no hope of finding post hole deposits with a single l shaped rod. All I would get was a suspicion that there was something somewhere in the vicinity.
I repeat that there is always a danger of a normal single dowsing rod pulling in a target from afar, which it will do unfailingly unless you are fortunate to be dowsing when there is an exceptional strong burst of solar flares. With a multi wired rod when it is hugging vertically your thigh inside the magnetic aura of your body, its purpose as an antenna is increased up to a hundred fold.
Luck and persistence has played a great part in much of my dowsing activities over the years. Commencing my dowsing experiments in the paddocks closest to the old farm house, I was soon bored with collecting old horse shoes, nails, keys, pieces of metal, including a rifle barrel of 19th century vintage and sundry other items.
Checking out in the hallway leading out to the back entrance of the house, I pulled up the floorboards which disclosed a 20 foot deep mine shaft. I quickly closed the shaft up again before my wife could see the mess.
On one particular weekend, with my wife and daughter sharing a cuppa with me in the kitchen, I decided to check out under the old farm-house.
Dowsing under tin roofs.
What was important about the following is that I did not know at that time that I was quite able to dowse under the galvanized roof of the century old colonial house, however it is impossible to dowse under the roof of a cement tiled house, as the cement blankets out the geomagnetic flux, whereon iron is a good conductor. I cannot dowse underground for the same reason.
Another advantage of dowsing under a tin roof is that you have complete protection from UV rays which completely destroy your dowsing potential.
1984
Who knows what abandoned century old treasures I would find under the floor of our ancient farm house. ‘Not again’ the women folk moaned. They were heartily sick of my wires after a few weeks of me playing with my newly found toys.
Still seated, I mentally browsed around under the house and was greeted by a single small strong non ferrous target under the flooring in the adjacent lounge room.
Upon entering the lounge room, I again picked up the signal under the floor and close to a wall.
To play it safe I had mentally dowsed for a non-ferrous target (non iron) which gave me more leeway re type of targets to discover, plus disregarding horse shoes nails etc. Pulling back the carpet I was surprised to see patterned linoleum of my early childhood memories. Laying back a section of the linoleum, I marked a cross over the small hidden target on the flooring directly above, then jimmied up a length of flooring panel next to the cross.
Peeping down into the cavity I spotted many skeletons of rabbits, with netting visible around the outside edging of the flooring. The rabbits must have been at plague proportions at times in the past one hundred and twenty years. Groping down in the gloom directly below the cross, I felt a small object lying on the smooth dirt, and retrieved a blackened 1929 sixpenny piece. In triumph I walked into the kitchen and displayed the trophy to my women folk.
‘What do you do for your next trick’ commented my better half, with a straight face. I think my wife was fair dinkum, I had just pulled off a hat trick that any magician would give his right arm for and could never duplicate, and my missus was completely unimpressed. She did not realize the implications of my find. If I could find a small coin hidden under floorboards, the future could be very interesting.
The whisky episode
My wife only visited me on weekends, as she was very much a city type. When seated in her car after kissing me goodbye, my better half commented that she had left my weekly ration of a bottle of whisky in a safe place and it would be good practice for me to find it. I had no idea that I could only dowse under certain atmospheric conditions, and the first two nights were unsuccessful and my mind remained blank. The kitchen had only so many cupboards, which I hunted through many times. On the phone each night to my wife, I was assured it was definitely in the kitchen.
Night 3 I repeated the same dowsing procedure, and picked up mentally the bottle of whiskey immediately behind a kitchen drawer in the framework of the cupboard, tucked up high. The bottle was very cleverly hidden. The sun and geo -magnetic flux reflect off an overhead moon, and if there are sunspots of sufficient strength, the geo -magnetic flux I can receive will power up my wires at night with the magnetic flux passing through the tin roof of a single story building. On night 3 the moon had just risen and the right conditions for dowsing had arrived. I will never know exactly what had gone right as I am assuming as to what occurred.
A few weeks later a farmer and his teen aged son arrived at the farm to inspect a tractor I had put up for sale. The lad was not going to be a farmer, judging by his bored expression. I let dad go over the tractor alone, as it is usually not a good idea for me to hang around, as most farmers knew more than I did at that time about tractors, and the less I knew the easier the sale.
Talking small talk with the lad, he asked what the funny
shaped wire was that was lying on the kitchen table near his
Wrist. I explained that it was a dowsing wire. I quickly
realized that I had met my first died in the wool skeptic, only
the first of many I was to encounter in the future, and on a
regular basis including many of you readers.
Following a friendly argument, he bet me a dollar that I could not prove my exaggerated claims about what I could do with that funny looking wire. My kitchen table overlooked what was the only modern addition since the 19th century, a large picture window which gave me a scenic view of the surrounding paddocks.
I still was not aware that I could make a fool of myself if there was no power for dowsing. Again luck came to my assistance. Dowsing out through the window and mentally chasing any non ferrous object, my attention was drawn to a spot about 18 inches (half metre) to the left of an ancient English plum tree. The target was sited approximately 6-8 yards (roughly) 7 metres) outside my kitchen door.
Rising suddenly to his feet and very skeptical of where the target was supposed to be hidden, I was asked to stay seated. His dollar was laid on the table and he intended to dig down to my proposed target without my assistance, and without any chance of my cheating. Picking up a nearby shovel, he proceeded to dig at the spot indicated.
Watching the lad through the kitchen window, he bent down as though retrieving an object and returned silently to the kitchen, sat down and pushed the dollar coin across to my side of the table whilst laying down an ancient badly corroded bronze bolt.
I offered him his dollar back, which he declined, commenting it was worth a dollar for the experience, and he would keep the find to show to his kids one day. To cap it all off nicely, his father purchased the tractor at my asking price.
My dowsing wire was really powered up that day, plus I was sitting down in the house out of the dowsing destroying UV rays of the sun, of which I was still not aware. There must have been one almighty solar storm on that particular day to power me up, as I later discovered through trial and error that sitting, reduces dowsing ability considerably, kneeling down more so and in a prone laying down position wipes out any ability to dowse whatsoever.
Target Discrimination
My next adventure was at an almost extinct mining town, where only a few decrepit mining cottages still drunkenly stood. I partnered up with a so-called friend who owned a metal detector, and we decided to explore an old abandoned house using both techniques. In the hallway I dived down through the broken flooring and retrieved an ancient large ancient bronze key. I could not try out the key on the front door, as there was no door.
We then exited out the back doorway, and as my partners detector was affected by nearby power lines I dowsed where the back step would have been. My so called partner was able to use his detector where I mentally picked up 3 small non ferrous targets which I marked with the side of my boot, and he retrieved several 19th cents trading tokens. My companion calmly pocketed the coins as though he had done nothing wrong. I cooled off him immediately. If I had located any more coins, I would have quietly left them there.
I was about to have the 2nd most important lesson on dowsing to this date a few minutes later, which made me forget my companion. My first lesson was no more partners. Guessing where the outside toilet used to be further down the yard, I commenced hunting for non ferrous targets again, this time on my own.
Countless dropping of pants to heed nature’s call could leave coins in the area. I did not locate the old toilet site. However, receiving a strong non- ferrous signal about cup size and digging down it was hard for me to not feel disappointment as I uncovered a large sheet of tin, about the size of the back of a washing machine. Flipping it over to shake off the dirt clinging to it, I was surprised to discover a small electric winding bolted to the center of the back of the sheet of iron and the outside aluminum casing had partly broken away, leaving the still shining copper winding exposed.
It was the back of an old washing machine, and I had dowsed through the steel to the non-ferrous copper coil of an ancient electric motor situated on the rear side. I realized instantly that I was far more advanced with mentally discriminating targets, than I believed was humanly possible.
Old Bert had taught me to suck a .22 caliber cartridge, which is a common method for those needing a reminder or mental crutch of what they are seeking. On my second outing in the paddocks, I had forgotten to use the cartridge and it had made no difference whatsoever. From that point on, I could only dowse for what I was seeking mentally. If I dowsed for gold, I would not receive a signal for any other target. There was only one way out of this possible dilemma.
Think down for ‘Anything of Interest’ and then have a mental dissection of what you have found. I found this second method even more successful for treasure trove hunting as the targets can be a mixture of different metals or gems. I may be hunting for gold and walk over oodles of treasures of a non-gold variety if I am not careful.
Gold
Some time later, after several years in gold mining areas in the bush chasing long leads and quartz reefs of which the gold dust laden long leads and nuggetty bearing quartz reefs are still hidden there in abundance, I gave that exercise away as every inch of likely areas are under existing mining leases.
It wasn’t pleasant when I was chased off a private property in Castlemain Victoria by a so called friend when I informed the owner that they had an immensely rich huge quartz reef with only a short pipe lead rising to within a hand-span of the surface. The oval shaped pipe lead was 3 to 4 paces in width, with blackish gold dust content increasing as the vertical pipe got deeper; the grey pipe judging by the clanging of my shovel was about 6 inches or 15 centimeters thick. It is a huge pipe lead, and the area for hundreds of acres surrounding this property has been stripped of all gold dust bearing top soil which was fed by this quartz reef eroding gold dust over millions of years. A dozen paces south was a quartz reef deep lead at a depth of about 15 feet and the reef still had plenty of nuggety gold and layers angling down as far as I could dowse. The 19th century miners had stopped stripping the top-soil when they reached bedrock clay.
They had only 3 inches to go down to this particular pipe-lead and stopped short, or they possibly did not know what a pipe lead was. There are several layers of gold in the inclining quartz reef, and they each feel many inches thick. There is no evidence of underground or open mining in the area, so if any other rich reefs are in the vicinity, they have not been found. I must drop in one day and see if the property has changed hands.
When I told the owners of their good fortune they couldn’t get rid of me quick enough
Goldfields
Gold appears to bring out the worst in some folks and it would be easy for me to write a book on my discoveries in the golden triangle of central Victoria. However my most vivid memories are of the heat, mosquitoes, snakes of sometimes enormous length and girth of the black and tiger variety, and the sheer inhospitality of the gold fields. I take my hat off to the diggers in the 19th century, who persisted under such appalling conditions. Other lasting memories are of dowsing in the bush early in the mornings with perfect clarity underground, only to discover by mid morning my wires were dead, and discovering late in the afternoon that my wires were again alive.
I experienced these anomalies on many outings and never discovered that the sun and the scrub were wiping out the magnetic flux that powers my wires, incorrect headgear and that the moon had just risen or just gone below the horizon.
Dowsing clues
These discoveries were to take many years, as there are definitely no books on the subject. Whilst dowsing with my right hand I should have taken great care to pull my floppy bush hat down firmly over my left ear to prevent the suns UV rays from wiping out my dowsing, plus dowsing with my left ear away from the sun. If I was fortunate enough to be dowsing with an overhead moon and receiving ample dowsing power, and as most of the golden triangle which was the source of huge gold recoveries in the 19th century is heavily treed, I was still no better off, as a good percentage of the time I did not realize until I developed my latest dowsing rod that DIRECT LINE OF SIGHT with an overhead moon is absolutely essential.
Shade from overhead trees, foliage and buildings must be avoided at all times. Knee and waist high bushes or grass will greedily suck out all your dowsing ability and make you feel mentally as weak as a non dowser.
I vividly recall recently on a dark moonless night that my dowsing rod was silent in a hilly paddock. I was waiting for a full moon to come up over the horizon. There was a huge tree on the brow of the hill, and as the moon rose up behind the foliage of the tree and a glow of moonlight trickled though the branches, my rod gave a mental tickle until the moon was clear of the tree when I suddenly had dowsing power. If you ignore the above rules you are wasting your time reading on.
1985
Having learnt the basics of dowsing, I commenced prospecting on our own 40 acre farm and soon found a series of long leads, heavily piped with limestone- like outer layers. When broken open, the black river grit contents were too poor in flour gold to process, and the quartz reefs located further south which supplied the gold dust and possibly nuggets had long since eroded away. On one dowsing site on the farm, I felt I had a gold deposit worth looking at and paid a gravedigger $100.00 for a days digging.
Down he went through the rock hard clay mix to 7 feet. From 7 feet (2 metres) to 10 feet (3 metres) there was gold dust everywhere. It glistened in the hole, on our clothes, on the shovels, in the debris on the edges of the shaft, and in our hair. Then it petered out suddenly at 10 feet. It was only an isolated pocket. After much study I discovered the farm was nearly entirely composed of rollover volcanic action and we were located in the centre of the ancient volcano.
Only a few paces away, high quality builders yellow sand went down to at least 200feet ( app.65metres) and was verified at a later date by drilling. The next important experiment was when I eventually drilled for water on our farm and struck quality water at 60 feet (app.18 metres) at the rate of 600gallons (2,700litres) per hour. Soon after, I acquired an old but serviceable backhoe-front loader and the farm was eventually to look like a battlefield with my prying under-ground. My first experiment with the back-hoe was nearly my last.
Up till now my dowsing had been only a game and I accepted it as such. Being curious as to how accurate I was on deep underground targets I dowsed a barren quartz field at the top of the farm where in one isolated site, lay a football sized lump of quartz at 12 feet (app.3.5metres) in depth and impregnated with ferrous (iron) dust.
The back hoe which had a reach of exactly 12 feet went down to its maximum and scraped up against something hard. Backing off, I lowered the area for the back-hoes tires to go deeper. Scooping deeper, I managed to obtain sufficient depth to hook up the lump of quartz. The size of the quartz was spot on, and when cracked open with a large spanner from the backhoes toolbox, it was streaked with ferrous (iron) as predicted.
Mental acceptance
Gazing at the lump of quartz, I suddenly went woozy in my stomach, sweat poured down my face and my heart commenced pounding at double the normal rate, and my knees gave way. I had gone into shock. Picking myself up, I reeled downhill to the farmhouse and onto my bed.
Several Valium tablets and 4 hours later, I felt well enough to stagger up the hill in the dark and switch off my quietly chuckling Mark-3 Chamberlain Backhoe. I had not accepted that I had mentally gazed through nearly 4 metres of rock hard clay to identify a target, and had proven it.
I had to accept what I had seen with my own eyes or possibly incur a mental breakdown. I won by accepting the fact that although dowsing is a barely known and scientifically unproven function of the mind, it is just another sense we all possess to a greater or lesser degree.
Water Dowsing
Months later I was water dowsing for farmers in areas throughout the state. My main lasting memories are of the sheer undulating beauty of the rural areas of South Western Victoria, and my astonishing experience of discovering underground thermal (hot) springs many miles from known areas. Northern Victoria was a contrast of large flat tracts of salt permeated top soils in many areas. Several farms I visited in that area were in such poor condition that I did not waste my time looking for water, as there was salt bush everywhere. Why more landowners were not attempting to plant salt tolerant native trees I’ll never know, although in the past few years some farmers are having success in lowering the salt water levels by replanting what should never had been logged in the first place.
Many trips resulted in not finding water, and driving homewards in a drugged like trance from sheer mental strain which lasted for days, from dowsing with no geo-magnetic assistance. On good days which were conductive to dowsing, I often knew roughly where the water lay underground, even before I had opened the farmer’s front gate, and if I was discussing over the phone with the farmer, dates, price and his location, I even tried dowsing locations of good water on the farm over the phone.
If given enough information, which happened twice, I was spot on within a few paces. I feel that under the right conditions there is empathy between humans as there is amongst animals, birds and insects.
Several incidents occurred which convinced me of this, including one farmer who hired me, just to show off that if he walked within a few paces of me he could mentally block out my dowsing ability. It worked too. Nowadays, no way known will I let anyone approach me whilst I am dowsing
The Sergeant York Incident November 2003
Soon after I watched a rerun of an old favorite film of mine on late night television of the movie of WW1 hero ‘Sergeant York’ I was intrigued by Sergeant York’s amazement upon flicking a light on and off in a large hotel in New York, having never seen electricity before, and I came up with an idea.
My latest brainwave for testing geo-magnetic power from the sun was forthcoming; however I would have to wait.
A short time later there was a solar flair eruption which lasted for a few hours. Grasping a dowsing wire out in the direct sun I attempted to dowse. My dowsing wire was dead, so holding the wire in my right fist I pulled my beret down hard over my left ear, and thought downwards. I instantly received full dowsing power, so I proceeded to go through the ritual of pulling the beret up then down. Up and down, up and down over my ear, and receiving power on, power off, power on and power off. It was uncanny. Two hours later nothing would help, as the rotation of the earth had passed the small window of opportunity over the horizon and was benefiting any one in the west if they were dowsing at that particular moment, or whether the sun-spot had subsided is a matter of speculation.
I did discover recently that at that time there was one of the strongest periods of sun spots in the history of recording these events. On a lighter note, there was an article in a Melbourne newspaper some time back about a water dowser in Victoria, operating in several farming areas who had gained a reputation because of his high success rate at finding water. He is a popular good natured guy, who is just happy if he can help out farmers in need, and doesn’t charge for his services. Reading on, I thought I knew all or most types of dowsing tools in use. They bob they circle as in a pendulum, swing in, swing down or twist around and down or just vibrate.
I am sorry I did not keep the article as a backup as stranger things happen in real life, than can be dreamed of. This water dowser shoves a piece of plastic pipe down the front of his pants and you will have to use your own imagination as to what he hooked it onto. The flexible plastic pipe hangs out several feet, and when he mentally feels he is walking over an underground water supply, the pipe bobs. Probably a show off, and in answer to your thoughts, I have never attempted to use this method, although I do not see why it wouldn’t work.
Bare footed dowser
There is one dowser I have heard of that dowses bare footed, and when he feels that the rod is over water, he paws the ground horse-like and counts the strokes of his foot, and at a mental signal he ceases his pawing, and the count at that point is the distant down to water in feet. The herb grower who recounted this tale was not game enough to drill on his pawing say so and called me in.
Checking out the site I could not confirm that there was any water below the dowser’s paw marker, however higher up the property I found a small underground stream, at least 70 metres in depth. (App.230 feet) When drilled, the results were that there was a flow of 700 gallons per hour of very slightly salty water, however when mixed with dam water, the grower had no problems during that particular drought. The driller claimed that it was the first successful bore in that locality in a century, as spot on drilling was necessary as the area consisted of granite.
Soon after, I failed on a dowsing job, and the following consequential series of events that I could not have dreamed up were to change my whole life. Upon a request by mail to find water on a small rural property, which was accompanied by payment, I mailed a receipt with a guarantee of ‘no water, no charge’ and was at the property within several weeks. I never ever met the owners, and I wandered around on my own after finding the property, located on a map, which had been posted to me.
It was a untidy rectangle block of land, being mostly the side of a hill, consisting of approximately 20 acres. Eventually I found an underground stream and checked it out thoroughly. I also marked out the underground river with stakes on the surface showing the course of the stream, and the most suitable point to drill at. The river was at 60 foot (18 metres) in depth, and had a very thick calcite lining, indicating it had been around for a very long time.
Contacting my favored driller, who also relied on his own water dowsing skills to gain clients, he eventually drilled on my marker. At 60 feet he struck calcite, and then traveled through river grit for some distance before passing through the bottom of the river pipe.
It was a dry as a bone bore, so he continued down to 230 feet looking for any trace of water, with no luck.
To shorten this tale, after mailing back my fee to the property owner, it took months of pondering until I had a brain storm. Whilst water dowsing, when picking up a signal of an underground river, I am receiving a collective cavity signal from the porous grit contents of the river or stream. In other words, I am locating cavities, not water.
I can only find what I am mentally familiar with. Therefore how am I going to probe mentally down looking for (H2O) being hydrogen and oxygen? I cannot see the two elements, and I doubt if any one else can either.
To check out water availability down below, I mentally switch over to water pressure. And if you are obtaining a pressure your bore will have water in ratio to the dowsing pressure. Very light water pressure indicates your water is probably salty, and very strong mental pressure means some lucky person has a good water flow of clean drinkable water.
Another example is pewter. I cannot dowse for pewter; however I can find it by looking for lead or tin which are the components. I am familiar with potassium nitrate as I used to make up my own formulas whilst growing hydroponics on the farm, therefore traces of gunpowder are very easy for me to find. I could still recall the bitter taste on my tongue 20 years later.
My final water dowsing job was on King Island in Bass Straight. A party wishing to find an abundance of quality water had me flown across to the island, as they intended to open up a cheese factory. I would have even water dowsed free, if I had known that I would be dowsing over the most unique picturesque landscape imaginable.
King Island
King Island has been fortunate that vermin such as foxes and rabbits had never been introduced, and protected semi tame turkeys wander leisurely over paddocks stocked with the healthiest cattle you will ever encounter. The grass which is unbelievably rich and green was planted accidentally by straw mattresses being washed ashore from the many tragic shipwrecks which occurred mainly in the 19th century, on the islands rocky shores.
The island is famed for its tourism, cheese and meat products, and gathering of kelp for export, which is an interesting although very manually orientated part time occupation for many of the islanders. I returned to the mainland with two of its residents in a Hessian bag. Two very much alive crayfish which are another contribution to the islands varied economy.
Back to water dowsing. My hospitable clients had me dowsing over several paddocks with no results worth drilling for, although I will never be certain, as from the time we opened the gate and entered the third paddock , my wires suddenly became alive as though they had a force of their own and I new exactly where to look.
Apparently I had attempted to dowse without the right conditions, and eventually late in the afternoon dowsing conditions were good.
After dowsing for hours without geo-magnetic power, the difference in probing mentally underground, with the radar type reception I was receiving was indescribable. It was not difficult to find what I feel is the strongest underground river I have ever encountered.
As all water travels in a northerly direction and King Island is virtually flat, could that particular water flow have risen from a deep basin of water fed from the mountains of Tasmania?
It was confirmed firstly by pressure testing, which I had taught myself after the embarrassment of the fiasco of the previous attempt, of which I had assumed that ancient under ground streams always contained water.
There was a large pool of water nearby in the centre of the paddock which was not there by chance.
It was being pushed to the surface from an underground stream commonly known as a spring. On the south side of this surface water I waded mentally back to where the underground pipe- like feeder suddenly dipped down leading to its subterranean source, over which I placed a marker.
Wading mentally along an underground stream was by now a normal practice for me for finding the source of a water supply. When I mentally walk across an under-ground stream, I will turn south and follow the underground Calcite lined stream, whilst mentally wading with the water mentally pushing against my legs. If I mentally feel a slight drag, I am walking back to the source of the water supply which is essential, as much water is lost in water breaking off into frequent smaller Westerly streams after rising from subterranean levels. Drilling at the closest point to the source of the water rising from its underground basin is only commonsense. Owing to the rotation of the earth, it is not normal to find offshoots running for any distance in an easterly direction.
I have proven the above by marking with flagged posts at intervals over a long lead, over a kilometer in length on our farm, and eying up from the end marker, could see the bulge in the centre of the river, again to the West, again indicating the pull of gravity from the rotation of the earth. The backhoe was handy in proving that all the offshoots were running west, with none running to the east.
These streams all run approximately in a NNE direction which was the magnetic north pole in the distant past when these streams were created. Amazing what you can learn from a scientifically unproven human talent.
King Island is serviced by small twin engine passenger planes, which have the dual service of carrying passengers, plus luggage and freight in the rear of the plane. Relaxing in a seat next to a window as the plane readied to take off to return me to Melbourne; I was pleased to spy a Melbourne newspaper lying on an empty seat. It is a relatively short flight and I was soon occupied with catching up with the current news. An article caught my eye on the treasures of Queenscliff. It was a large half page advertisement praising the isolated beauty of the coastal township at the heads, which is the narrow passage giving access from Bass -Straight into the bay.
To make the contents of the article more interesting, a section was given over to a pirate named “Benito” and his undiscovered treasure cache.
Hmm treasure trove? It was a concept I had never dreamed of, and the thought of caves stuffed with treasures laying in piles and strings of jewels dripping out of overfilled treasure chests as depicted on our recent visit to Disneyland, was a fascinating novelty which appeared to open a new field of investigation.
I was becoming bored and needed new outlets for my hobby, and I was becoming intensely interested in archeology; an important factor was that I had unknowingly been training myself the basics of dowsing for treasures and cavities. I had not been able to foresee anything exciting in the direction of archaeology, especially in a young country with a documented history of only two hundred years.
How wrong did I prove to be in regards to the past of this country Australia. We were still far enough from the heads to organize myself to mentally scan the bay.
I asked a cute young lady if she did not mind crawling over the stacked boxes of crayfish in the rear of the cabin, and could she please find a pair of wires protruding out of my traveling bag, as she was much lighter and would not damage any of the containers of crayfish, plus I was having hassles at that moment with a large lively crayfish which had popped its head out of the Hessian bag jammed beneath my knees, as it was determined to see what was going on around it.
With the wires recovered and the crayfish secured, I asked the pilot if he would not mind dipping the nose of the plane for a brief period, as the heads and Port Phillip Bay were fast approaching at 7,000 feet. The pilot obliged and I long ranged via the dowsing rods towards Queenscliff on my left. I could barely make it out in the distance, so I went long range for anything of interest.
The wires vibrated strongly, confirming the presence of targets of interest to be investigated at a later date. By now we were directly over the ‘Heads’ which is the narrow entrance into the bay. Immediately from Portsea to Frankston I mentally noted one long line of targets.
There were so many targets I decided to select just one. The cave I selected had a nearby pathway for easy access and was directly behind a boatshed. I was picking up sundry items plus a solitary target at the rear of the boatshed, and in front of the sandstone cliff face, which was virtually a beep on a mental radar screen.
This is a ancient photo of an Australian aboriginal possibly looking for Bardi grubs or just demonstrating for the camera. The v shaped twig will pull down sometimes with much force when over a likely site. I have found grubs and worms easy to locate although I have never been famished enough to experiment with making a Bardi grub entrée.
Back to the aerial dowsing. There was no time to be selective for iron, gold silver etc; however the cave would not be so well hidden if it was empty. After I thanked the pilot, an aboriginal sitting nearby queried as to whether I had found anything. What I liked about the aboriginals request was that he did not ask if I was a nutcase waving a pair of coat hanger wires in the air, which encouraged me to insert an appropriate picture at this stage of writing.
I now had my first specific target and had a lot of work ahead of me. My base of activities in those days was at our farm, a good 3 hours drive in the quiet off -peak traffic hours.
My forays were usually from dusk to dawn, and it was uncanny how quickly I homed in on my first cave. I walked down a path to the beach in the deathly still of the night, mentally probing to my right and left, and underneath a multi-million dollar beach home.
By angling downwards as well as to the left, and deep down below their lawn I was mentally gazing in my own fashion into a cave approximately 5-6 paces in length.
The cave felt very irregular and the contents appeared stacked at different heights and all over the place. I feel that there was cavity surrounding the contents, which I later learnt was of pirate pawn-shop type variety. There was gold, silver, gems and iron. At later sites I used to check for skeletons; however the calcium was a very weak signal after hundreds of years and not easily picked up mentally.
On an overseas tour some months later I was visiting a museum and was gazing down at a 5 thousand year old skull. Its teeth were in perfect condition which gave me an idea what to look for. I still shiver at the memory of the many hand sized calcium targets I mentally gazed at down at deep below. I can assure you that much murder was committed in hidden tunnels and caves that you may be casually be strolling over, or driving over along Nepean Highway, or in man made tunnels running inland from Portsea to Frankston and further on at Sandringham, Black Rock and Rickets Point, around at the port of Geelong and further on to Queenscliff.
Back to my first Archeological finds. Many hours were spent studying the contents in between trips down to the beach, which entailed 3 hours each way and only 3 hours to study the beach front, which entailed finding the hidden entrance and studying the whole area over many long arduous trips from the farm by 4 wheel drive, of which many times I was pulled up on my homeward journey in the wee hours of the morning by police for standard checkups.
I used to inform the constables that I was a treasure trove hunter, and after looking at my grubby countenance and digging tools in the rear of my vehicle always let me pass, almost as though they had now heard everything. It was safer telling the truth. In the past few years the police have been more noticeable by their absence.
Three times over 10 years I have disturbed would be housebreakers who decamped swiftly from the scene.
It was easy for me to mentally find the cave entrance after some trial and error. What gave me an edge was that I was growing via hydroponics on the farm, and I used to balance my growing medium by placing a small amount of each macro- element on my tongue and by the swing of the dowsing rod was able to accurately come up with a balanced and successful formula.
The taste of these chemicals was still in my memory and I was able to dowse down for potassium nitrate, which I had discovered was a major component of gunpowder as well as a growing medium, and received a solid signal from down below on the cliff face.
With my oxy and welding gear, I fashioned a crude however workable auger and back to the beach I drove. I managed to pull up several handfuls of sand and after safely depositing my sample in a plastic bag, checked the contents with the dowsing rod.
The plastic bag was no hindrance to dowsing as thought knows no boundaries. I was impressed, as the contents of the bag were very positive. It took some phone calls to find the right chemical analysis Company that would handle my assay, and eventually the report and my bill arrived. 200 parts per million was the essay which did not mean much to me at the time.
Contacting the department of Agriculture in Victoria, I managed to engage the ear of the most qualified expert there. He assured me that it was impossible to find on the beach fronts quantities of potassium nitrate, and only the odd dried up rural rivers would have a reading anything like my sample. To find beach sand with such a high reading of potassium nitrate meant someone would have had to put it there. You beauty, I was on my way, and the next step was to dig down and have a bo-peep.
It was not difficult to engage the interest of a barrister as a witness. I will never forget that day as I had driven down from the farm the previous night, as I had arranged to meet the barrister early the next morning.
It rained a solid sheet of water most of the night and sleep was impossible in the back of my 4-w-drive. Bleary eyed and soaked thru I accompanied my witness and his teenager son down to my site and commenced to dig. Before I could put my spade into the ground I was shocked to see that a large area of tropical type vegetation had died off. The drill hole had enabled gases to escape over a period of several months thus destroying all plants within a 3 metre (10ft) radius. Down I dug not knowing what to expect. At 2 feet I brought up a rubber car tube of early vintage. Another foot down it became more interesting. I exposed a heavy-weight glass drinking mug. It was discolored and appeared to have survived an explosion as it was badly cracked and missing its handle.
I then traveled through a barbecue area of the remains of shellfish and ashes. Just below, the gunpowder blackened face of the cliff-face appeared. I continued down, as at that time I did not have the experience necessary to recognize a blown up cave entrance. A little further down I must have come to below the floor of the cave entrance, as the sand was littered with thousands of minute scraps of painted wood which crumbled to dust when touched.
The paint was a weird shade of green which only historians probably have ever seen, and probably on painted powder kegs.
Looking at this photo 19 years later I see myself unknowingly digging down past the cave floor with no idea where I am.
The sandwiched layers behind my right shoulder are the floor of the cave entrance.. I don’t blame listeners having a glazed look in their eyes when I try to explain cave formation.
There were two plate shaped impressions on the shattered cave entrance floor which were the remains of gunpowder kegs, and on the left hand side of the hole were a large quantity of stalactites and stalagmites which had been removed from the cave entrance and stacked to one side. There could have been several hundred of which I carted some to a nearby boatshed and buried under the flooring cavity, and there is no reason why they should not still be there
They were difficult to recognize as stalactites as I have never seen one before, plus they were coated in beach sand which indicated they were formed near the entrance and not deep inside the cave complex. The stalactites and stalagmite scraps were approximately thumb sized in girth and one to two hand spans in length, although there were many different shapes and lengths. The accompanying photo pictures me unknowingly passing the sandwich layers which are the cave floor.
If I had turned right, and dug my way past the explosion point at the entrance it would have been of no avail, for further inland the long entrance had been blown up again.