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