This article was written at the time the forked Y-shaped rod was universally used in dowsing. Here the author lists some of the virtues or otherwise of this device, for instance noting that it is particularly valuable when dowsing in a car! But when dowsing for long periods of time, it seems the Y rod is tiring to use. Today L-rods have become the main device for field dowsing, but before their “discovery”, other methods were adopted. One such is introduced here as the “singe handed rod”.

Essentially this is a traditional walking stick with curved handle. The stick is held in a state of unstable equilibrium. When the dowsing reaction occurs, the stick rotates around its long axis, thereby providing two possible reactions, just as with a forked Y rod.

The author also describes briefly how he conducts his dowsing. To begin he often using a sample of the object sought, a method characteristic of this period.

He was obviously a dowser experienced in locating water and minerals and describes how he estimates the properties of what he seeks.  For the flow rate of underground water, he asks whether the stream is the width of something familiar to him, eg the width of a finger or arm. And for coal seams he counts upwards in some unit of length, until a reaction occurs, yielding an estimate of the seam thickness.

For estimating the depth of water, he uses two methods. One is counting, imaging increasing depth, until a reaction occurs. For the other, he uses the “Bishop’s rule”, but with a difference. First, he finds centre of stream, then walks out to the “first parallel” reaction. (see blog post 03-04-2020). For most dowsers the distance between the two is a direct estimate of the stream depth, but for the author it represents only half the depth. This is a small but very interesting observation. In my reading of the BSD journals I have only encountered one other dowser who has reported this, Dr Arthur Bailey, writing 50 years later. But the implication of this exception to the rule, seems to be that the dowsing is not reacting to a something physical at the parallels, but to something else, more like an unconscious presumption about the significance of the parallel reaction.

This is just another example of how the dowsing reaction to what is sought can be “programmed”, by with respect to its meaning. This filtering may be attuned either consciously, or unconsciously, with the dowser being unaware they are influencing the results.

The article is: “The single-handed rod” by Hans Falkinger

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No7_1935_p13.pdf

This short article was written by an Australian dowser and describes a few dowsing practices he has observed in use there over his 30 years as a dowser. It seems that the L shaped dowsing rod, made by bending a length of wire through ninety degrees, seems to have been in common use there, although sometimes of unusual shape. It was common at that time to use samples while dowsing and the dowser might suspend a sample form the end of the rod, but as he points out, it does not matter where the sample is located. It is simply an aid to the unconscious mind. Interestingly he mentions the more common practice of asking a “direct question”. Thi is clearly a time of transition in dowsing practice.

He is inclined to think that the dowsing reaction has a physical basis but works through the unconscious and makes reference to William Barret’s conclusion in his book the Divining Rod. Note also that he describes the reaction lines that lie parallel to the course of the underground stream and he finds that the distance from the centre of the stream to the parallels is a direct estimate of the stream’s depth. (See the post on 22-09-2020).

He thinks that dowsing is a “latent” ability in most people and he himself only managed to get a dowsing reaction with the L rod only through practice. But then not in all cases, since he finds that he can never obtain a reaction with a Y shaped rod. Is this an example of a subconscious mental block perhaps?

The article is by H. Busby, entitled “Some dowsing methods”:

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No8_1935_p13.pdf

Mr Benjamin Tompkins, a water diviner, gives an account of his 30 years of practice. In it, he tells us that he assisted Sir William Barrett who wrote one of the first in-depth studies of dowsing the results of which were published as “The Divining Rod”. In this book, there is a short biography of Tompkins, in which he is described as one of the successful professional English dowsers of the early 20^th century. He came to dowsing purely by chance, having observed the work of another famous dowser named Mullins, and without any tuition, it seems that he had instant success. This led him to advertise his services and he received many engagements in most parts of the country, and as far afield as South Africa. His list of patrons is very long and impressive.

He appears to be firmly of the opinion that water radiates some signal, relating to its presence, which enters his body through his feet. Perhaps this was because he felt the dowsing effect like a “current” passing through his body. He must also have thought that this signal was electromagnetic in nature, since he asserts that insulation between the feet and ground stopped the dowsing action in him.

When attempting to locate the best position for a borehole, he utilised his observation  that several underground water courses, each of which he “felt” with the movement of his rod, would converge on to a point, that he termed the “head of the spring”. Interestingly, he notes that when he stood at this spot,  his (Y shaped) dowsing rod would continue to revolve in his hands (this is an effect noted by many dowsers in the literature). There must have been quite a force at play in the rod, since he seems to have a difficult time in preventing it from revolving. To me, this suggests the possibility of a psychokinetic effect on the rod.

He is a little vague on how he measures depth, it appears to rely on a feeling, rather than using any “rule”. Perhaps this is professional concealment? Regarding quantity, he seemed to estimate it by measuring the number and size of flows into the spring head.

Finally, he says that water diviners are born and not made, and asserts that his own family have better talent than most and indeed the effect on one of his sons seems truly overwhelming, suggesting a well-developed dowsing sensitivity.

His article is “The theory and practice of water divining by the divining rod”:

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No4_1934_p77.pdf

This is a short, rather amusing account about the kind of practical dowsing that was common in the early journals of the BSD. (It contrasts sharply with the more “spiritual” accounts that one finds in more recent publications).

In the account, the author (a military man, many of the members of the early BSD were from the military) wanted to locate through dowsing, additional water supplies for the city of Aden in Yemen.

However, he was a self-confessed amateur, having dowsed for just one well in his own garden in England. But despite holding the rather singular theory, that the dowsing effect was aided by uric acid in the blood, and therefore believing that success would be enhanced by imbibing a considerable amount of whisky, he also held to the idea that: “The tyro who has induced self-confidence is more likely to succeed than he who is dubious of his abilities.”

Despite a struggle with the disbelief shown by his superiors, his amateur findings finally proved successful.

The article is “Dowsing in Arabia”, by Commander C. Craufurd

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No5_1934_p105.pdf

It has been several weeks since my last post, but I intend to return to regular posting.

To begin with, I will take as my subject several articles which were published ini the very earliest of the BSD journals, back in the 1930s.

At that time, several members of the British Society of Dowsers lived and worked abroad, or example the Indian sub-continent and Arica. They wrote of their experiences for the BSD journal. Some of these accounts were of the actions of local dowsers, which gives an interesting perspective on non-European dowsing methods.

Here is an account of a water divining practice in Nigeria, by a member of the Yoruba people. Of particular interest is that the dowser does not use any dowsing device, but was able to give position and depth of the underground water. . After this, the dowser was seen to “’re-collect’ himself”, which hints at a sort of trance like state, during the dowsing practice. We cannot be sure, but perhaps the dowser could “see” the subterranean water. There are other instances of such ability mentioned in the BSD journals.

The article, can be found here:

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No2_1933_p35.pdf