DOWSING

Method of finding things, often hidden or underground, with a simple device such as forked stick or a pendulum. The dowser holds the tool and watches or feels for movement that indicates the sought material or obiect. Perhaps most commonly known as a way to find underground water sources, dowsing has also been used to find petroleum, gas, and other minerals; lost obiects; locations of secret treasures or mines; and even missing people-although most dowsing is performed for nonliving things. The common image of a dowser is that of a man holding out before him, by its forks with stem pointing ahead, a Y-shaped stick or “divining rod” and walking around until the stick quivers and points downward. The place pointed to is where the water or other object of the search may be found. Good dowers are said to be able to tell how deep the water is and to gain a general impression of quantity from the way in which their stick moves.

Not all dowers use forked sticks. Some use a pendulum suspended from a thread or chain. The pendulum is allowed to hang straight down and is often held over a map. When the pendulum begins to move, it leads the dower to his or her object. Other things may also be used as dowsing tools; it is thought that the power of the technique rests not so much in the tool as in the user. Some dowsers use no tool at all.

Dowsing has been done for centuries. Recorded descriptions of it go back at least as far as ancient Egypt, and it was commonly used as a way to find water and other things until the 20th century, when scientific skepticism dismissed it. Most scientifically minded people consider it more of a superstition than a true detecting technique. Even so, some petroleum companies, govern-ments, and water-well drillers still use professional dowers today to help them in their work. It is extremely expensive to dig oil and water wells, so employing a dower may be considered adding to the probability of the accuracy of the geological reports. Some claim that dowsers are more accurate than geological reports.

One explanation for dowsing is that the dowser, more sensitive or more perceptive than others to subtle energies emanating from different elements, is able somehow I° tune in to the energies from the sought object; the dows ing tool may enhance and focus this energy for the dowser. One problem is the apparent subjectivity of the craft: Different dowers use radically different methods and often arrive at different conclusions. This inconsistency, along with the inability of science to verify the supposed subtle energies, calls dowsing into question. Skeptics suggest that dowers who do find water, oil, or treasure have merely been lucky.

Another term for a dowser is “water witch,” reflecting the historical view that dowsing is a paranormal ability akin to witchcraft and occult divining.

For further reading: Christopher Bird, The Divining Hand (E. P. Dutton, 1979).