on 5 May 2017
International Dowsing Day is held on 5 May (the birthday of late English dowser Hamish Miller). An initiative of the British Society of Dowsers, on this day dowsing societies and groups all over the world hold events and get together to celebrate and promote the ancient art of dowsing. As well as addressing the practicalities and how tos, the purpose is to offer those who are new to dowsing an insight into the amazing wealth of information that can be tapped into, the wide range of applications and the pure enjoyment of dowsing!
In celebration of International Dowsing Day, we felt it was a great opportunity to share some thoughts about one of a geomancer’s most important tools: dowsing.
Dowsing is a method of divination that uses a tool (such as a pendulum or rod) to amplify your body’s reaction to certain stimuli (often thought to be reactions from the subconscious mind but it can also be a reaction to external stimuli such as geopathic stress). It works to amplify and provide access to your natural or innate abilities, intuition and senses. Dowsing can be used for almost anything, from answering questions, solving problems or finding things.
Most people associate dowsing or divining with pendulums, which since the early 1980s have had a revival of sorts as a ‘new age’ device, used to talk with spirit guides and the like, conjuring images of new-age stores shrouded in mystique and overpowered by pungent aromas of incense and dream catchers. While pendulums are probably the best-known dowsing device – and are often the tool most people first learn with – they are only one instrument used to dowse. A range of other tools can also be used, such as L-rods (or dowsing rods), V-rods, bobbers and aurameters.
L-rods are the tool of choice for most geomancers when working. They are often widely recognised in an agricultural context – in the country, someone always knows an old farmer who can tell you where to dig for water using a couple of bits of old fencing wire. And although dowsing is a successful way to locate healthy drinking water for land impacted by drought, this is only one of its uses. We can also to gain insight into how and why plant life and animals behave and grow in certain ways, based on the earth emanations that surround them, as well how to detect geopathic stress – and that’s just the beginning.
Like many other ancient skills, throughout the ages dowsing has been misunderstood by many, especially religious institutions, who felt that to dowse was to be working in kahoots with the devil or to gain access to the ‘Divine’ – a channel that should only be open to those in certain positions. Dowsers were able to gain profound insight into unknown matters or ‘the mysteries’ that people in positions of power an authority wanted ownership of.
Thankfully we have come a long way since those days, and science is even finally catching up to the consideration that dowsing, like other energetic practices, is based upon the theories of quantum mechanics. (Even CSIRO chief executive, physicist Dr Larry Marshall, has respect for water diviners and is recorded as saying: ‘I’ve seen people do this with close to 80 per cent accuracy and I’ve no idea how they do it.’)
We are all energetically connected to everything within our reality. As this understanding deepens, we see the signs of this in mainstream culture emerging in choice of language. As such, ‘energy speak’ is used more widely in the greater collective of society: ‘I didn’t like their vibe’, ‘the energy at that place feels all kind of wrong’ etc. As people seek more depth to their reality, skills such as dowsing are understood to reconnect with a deeper perception within us that has been lying dormant, waiting to emerge.
Dowsing has evolved. Through the work of geomancy both of its long-associated uses (for spiritual and practical application) are merged, offering us the ability to engage with and understand the subtle energies that surround us. Our ancestors knew all too well the benefits of dowsing, and would site homes, towns, churches and sacred locations according to what was intuited from geomantic interaction via divination using various tools, from forked branches of trees to bent metal ‘rods’, to receive physical responses to questions posed.
Dowsing is a truly profound skill that anyone can learn. It allows an individual to obtain a physical response to the presence of the unseen realms that surround us. We are proud to say we are riding the global wave of the revival of dowsing, demystifying a skill that deserves to be accessed by all.
Try dowsing for yourself: pick up a pendulum or rods on International Dowsing Day!
Join with dowsers from all over the world and pick up a pendulum or rods this Friday 5 May. Even if you’ve never dowsed before, this is a great day to give it a try. It’s nowhere near as daunting as it may at first seem, and the beauty of it is that anyone can do it!
The British Society of Dowsers have a really useful, free download that outlines how to get started with dowsing, get your copy here.
If you don’t have a pendulum, you can easily make one using a thread or cord with a weight of any kind tied to the end – try a length of cotton with a button, rock or key. Or try making your own L-rods by cutting a coat hanger to length.
Image from: http://encounterghosts.com/tag/homemade-tools/
Starting by dowsing for answers to some simple yes/no questions. Or if you’re starting with rods, get someone to hide something of yours (ideally something you wear or have a connection with, such as jewellery) and try to find it. Or try dowsing for underground pipes or cables. Try it in the garden to communicate with your plants, or to determine the best position for a plant, whether the soil needs attention etc. Or when deciding what food to eat (ask what will most benefit you at that time). Or try finding lost or missing items. What you can dowse for and how you use this tool it is only limited by your imagination!
There are many explanations and insights into to how dowsing works but that’s another blog …
Come and join us on 14–17 September at CERES in Melbourne and learn how to dowse at our geomancy workshop All About Earth
And visit our new Facebook page Geomancy Australia – Adventures and stay tuned for our dowsing day trips around Melbourne and regional Victoria.