{"id":210,"date":"2020-05-27T23:23:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T22:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/?p=210"},"modified":"2020-06-16T23:02:55","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T22:02:55","slug":"27-05-2020-a-sketched-history-of-the-pendulum-part-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/27\/27-05-2020-a-sketched-history-of-the-pendulum-part-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A sketched history of the pendulum \u2013 Part 2\/2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There appears to have been a lively dowsing fraternity\nin France at the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> Century. The dowsing society\n\u201csociety of friends of radiesthesie\u201d was established early on, by the Abb\u00e9\nBouly, one of a line of priest dowsers, who had made significant advances in\nthe application of the dowsing pendulum. In effect, there was a French school\nof dowsing, which was to influence dowsing practice for a goof part of the\ncentury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the Abb\u00e9 Mermet, the son of a dowser,\nalso worked as a dowser for more than 40 years, and was active in the first half\nof the 20th Century. He developed an exceptional degree of skill in the use of\nthe pendulum. He made a number of “discoveries”, including dowsing at\na distance (T\u00e9l\u00e9radiesth\u00e9sie), the use of “samples” and the presence\nof certain “rays”. A record of his methods and experiences is contained\nin his book “Comment j’op\u00e8re “. \nHe also wrote “Principles & Practice of Radiesthesia. A\nTextbook for Practitioners and Students”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He may have been the first to use “serial\nnumbers” in dowsing. A given object has a kind of signature, involving the\nmovement of a pendulum. The dowser holds the pendulum in one hand, between thumb\nand index finger, and then holds his other hand near or above the object. When\nthis is done, the pendulum performs a certain number of oscillations (swings\nbackwards and forwards), followed by the same number of rotations (also known a\ngyrations), together these movements form the first “series”. This\nseries then ends mand the pendulum hesitates for a moment, then repeats the\nsame number in a new direction (perhaps also in the same direction), and continues\nto do so indefinitely, as long as the operator holds his hand near or above the\nbody under observation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of oscillations, or rotations, in a series\nis the “serial number” of the object. He gives the example of silver,\nfor which he observed six oscillations, followed by six rotations. Then it\nstarts again. The figure six is the characteristic “serial number” of\nsilver. He considered the serial numbers to be an objective measure, citing the\nfact that some experienced dowsers, if they had learned to hold the pendulum\ncorrectly, had obtained the same numbers. But he admits that some sensitive beginners\ntended to get higher numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important method in his dowsing work was the\nuse of various “rays”. While reading the following explanation, it\nmight help to refer to the diagram in :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog_extracts\/rays.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important of his ray discoveries was the\n“fundamental ray”. He claimed that every body has a fundamental ray,\nemanating from it, directed at a fixed angle with respect to the  North-South direction. It may also be inclined\nwith a constant angle to the horizontal. The direction of the fundamental ray\nis always away from the object. The ray has a length which is proportional to\nthe mass of the body, and given the same weight of various bodies, to their\npower of “radiation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gives an example of a silver coin, of weight 10\ngrams. The direction of fundamental ray is towards the East and has a length of\n10 cm. Contrast this with a copper coin of weight 10 grams. The direction of fundamental\nray is 45\u00b0 South-West and has a length of 5 cm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an example of its use see the following article\nfrom the BSD journal. Here the fundamental ray is used in the tanning of\nleather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog_extracts\/BSD_No55_1947_p144.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second ray which Mermet discovered was the\n“mental ray”. This links an object to the dowser and to any other\nperson. It appears to come directly from the object to the brain of the\nobserver. He considered it to be the second most important ray, after that of\nthe fundamental ray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third ray he discovered was the “witness\nray”. He claimed that every type of body sends out a ray towards another\nfragment of the same kind as itself. For example, if there are two silver coins\nand two copper coins in a room, a ray will link up the silver coins together,\nand another ray will do the same with the copper coins, but no ray will go from\nsilver to copper. He considered this to be extraordinarily useful. For example,\nconsider the case of a gold coin hidden, or lost, in a room. Another gold coin\n(the witness) can be placed on a table and the dowser then walks round the\ntable. As soon as they pass between it and the searched for coin, the witness\nray will be intercepted, and the pendulum, held in the right hand, will give\nthe serial number for gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there is another ray, which was first\ndiscovered by another eminent dowser, named Abb\u00e9 Bouly, who named it the\n“solar ray”. However, Mermet discovered that it had more properties than\nBouly had ascribed to it and renamed it the “luminous ray”. It seemed\nto Mermet that the ray constantly linked an object either to the sun (even when\nmasked by clouds), or to any artificial light source. (Bouly had thought this\nray was only associated with the sun and that it only existed during daylight.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The works of Mermet and Bouly proved influential in\nthe use of the pendulum, and its use was further promoted by another dowser\nnamed, the Vicomte Henry de France. He wrote an influential book entitled \u201cThe\nModern Dowser\u201d, published in 1930. As with the Abb\u00e9 Mermet, his method of\npendulum dowsing was to identify an object through its \u201cseries\u201d, which was the\nunique manner in which the pendulum gyrated over a sample of that object. His pendulum\ncomprised a hemp string pone metre long, rolled on a little stick with notches\nat the end. The pendulum was suspended over the sample and the string unwound\nuntil a length is reached at which gyration begins; this could be either\nclockwise or anti-clockwise. The string length was fixed using the notches on\nthe stick. Over different objects the pendulum would exhibit a number of\nperiods of gyrations, taking place one after the other. For example, the\npendulum gyrates in a certain direction. The dowser then stops the pendulum.\nNext the pendulum is set oscillating and it starts gyrating again in the same\ndirection.  Then it is stopped and\nrestarted and again starts to gyrate. After N such periods, the pendulum stops\ngyrating and simply oscillates, or it gyrates in the opposite direction. The\nvalue of N is said to be the \u201cserial number\u201d of the object. For example, he\ngives some examples of serial number: Chalk,3; diamond, 6; coal, 18=3×6. A\nrefinement of the system was to make to make the pendulum bob a sample of the\nobject sought, or the sample was held in the hand that held the pendulum.  Each dowser had to work out their own list of\nseries <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another contribution to pendulum dowsing was made by\nan English dowser, T.C. Lethbridge, an archaeologist and Anglo-Saxon expert. Lethbridge\ndevised his own method of pendulum dowsing, although it shared some\nsimilarities to those methods mentioned previously. By adjusting the length of\nstring, his oscillating pendulum, would gyrate in a circular motion, indicating\nthat the object, was detected. This process aided by holding a sample, or a\npicture, or simply imaging the object\/thought. Every object had a detection\nlength, which could result in a pendulum length exceeding well over a metre.  Through his experiments, he was able to compile\na table of string lengths corresponding to various objects, eg 22 inches for\nlead, 17 inches for truffles.  Objects\nhaving the same pendulum length, could be distinguished by counting the number\nof oscillations that occurred over an object, before returning to oscillation,\nsometimes referred to as the \u201cseries\u201d. For example, the metal silver and colour\ngrey both caused gyrations for length 22inches, but silver caused 22 oscillations\nand grey caused only seven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He even discovered that the pendulum could respond to\nabstract ideas, thoughts and emotions, eg death was 40 inches. In summary everything\nthat he could detect could be done so with a pendulum length between zero and\n40 inches. If the length of the string was increased then  the sequence was repeated with 40 inches\nadded, for example silver would be detected at 62 inches and the sequence repeated\nagain after 80 inches.  Lethbridge\nconcluded, that the pendulum was not only reacting to the properties of the\nobject sought, but was also acting as an extension of the dowser\u2019s own mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, this system has some fundamental problems.\nFor many dowses, the length and series numbers they experience for a given item\ndo not match with any other dowser\u2019s. Furthermore, some items have identical\nlength and series vales. These are apart from the facts that such a system\ntakes time to calibrate and, given the length of the pendulum, can prove very\nunwieldly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideas from the French school pervaded the early and mid-part\nof 20th<\/sup> Century dowsing practice. Ideas in general were pretty fixed,\nthere was a bigger emphasis on the physical side of dowsing, including the type\nand composition of the dowsing instrument.  By the 1960s, practice was becoming more\npersonal, with a recognition that dowsers should find their own way of\npracticing. There was also a growing recognition, that there was a mental\nunderpinning to dowsing and this caused much tension between the mentalists and\nthe physicalists, as to what indeed caused the dowsing reaction. In effect though,\ndowsing practice is perhaps best understood as a kind of ritual, which the dowser\nfollows to get the results they seek.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is a nice example of a lady who takes up\ndowsing. Se is initially bewildered by the methods she reads about, but finally\ndiscovers her own way and goes on to apply her new skills as a healer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See \u201cLet\u2019s keep it simple\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog_extracts\/BSD_No199_1993_p13.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is merely a brief sketch of the recent historical\ndevelopment of the dowsing pendulum. Much has been omitted, but hopefully this\nmissing practice will be covered by future postings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There appears to have been a lively dowsing fraternity in France at the beginning of the 20th Century. The dowsing society \u201csociety of friends of radiesthesie\u201d was established early on, by the Abb\u00e9 Bouly, one of a line of priest dowsers, who had made significant advances in the application of the dowsing pendulum. In effect, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}