http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog_extracts\/BSD_No25_1939_p15.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn those days dowsers often held a sample of the\nobject sought while searching. She refers to the effect of the sample as having\nan amplifying effect. Some dowsers attributed the dowsing ability to supposed\n“emanations”, or “radiations” given off by the object, and the\nsample somehow helped attract these to the dowser. In fact, she makes a reference\nto a current dowsing theory attributed\nto a M. Lakhovsky (M. Georges Lakhovsky, who wrote much about the effect of\nunknown energies, on the human body and proposed devices to mitigate their\neffects), in which he suggested the dowsing response is in the ear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite this however, she observed that when searching\nfor the lost property of others, it was not possible to use a sample, but since\nthe ability remained, she concluded that \u201c\u2026 all foundational dowsing ability must\nbe psychic.” In which case, one presumes that the effect of the sample was\nthat it helped focus the mind of the dowser. She also remarks that dowsing\nsuccess was due to “… mentally excluding other radiations without at the\nsame time undue concentration on the objective.” This seems to imply a\nmental action, in which it is important to free the unconscious mind of conscious\nideas. It is a technique often referred to in other articles, (see previous postings).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finding of other’s lost property, she compares\nwith map dowsing (ability to remotely locate an object on a map and a\nrelatively novel technique at that time), there having been no contact between\nherself and the object sought. (She also refers to a written description of the\nobject sought, but this has subsequently been verified by many other dowsers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She recounts some incidents when searching for her own\nand other’s lost items. She used a pendulum for her searches. The method she\nused would have been to ask the pendulum to indicate the direction in which the\nobject now lay. The line of to and fro oscillation of the pendulum, would then change\nuntil it swung along a line, the direction of which pointed to the object. Of\ncourse, the line indicates two directions, but by moving to another position\nand repeating the exercise, the pendulum would indicate another line directed towards\nthe object. Therefore, the point of intersection of the two lines should\ncoincide with the position of the object. In the accounts she gives, this\nindeed happens, but it was not always as easy as it sounds and shows how\nimportant faith<\/em> is when interpreting dowsing results.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe problem of locating one’s own lost items, is that\none might have preconceived ideas about where they are, and this can confound\nthe dowsing response. So, searching for the items of others is perhaps easier,\nif one can maintain the belief that this is indeed possible. Her account of\nchildren dowsing is interesting here, in which we might presume that they\nexperienced less inhibitions than adults might. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, she notes that when items were\ndeliberately hidden as a means of testing her dowsing abilities, her success\nwas not so good. This she attributed either to her (conscious) need to succeed,\nwhich presumably interfered with the working of her unconscious mind, or to the\nspectator’s consciousness. In the latter case, we might speculate that she is\nfinding the position of the item through ESP from the person who hid the item,\nor perhaps the intention of any spectators somehow interfered with her\nabilities. Similar action might account for the reported failure of dowsers\nwhen tested in experimental setups. A good example is “A controlled Test\nof Dowsing Abilities”, by the skeptic James Randi, available in the Articles<\/em>\nsection of dowsing-research.net<\/em>. And indeed, dowsers profess that their\nresults are better when working on “real-life” problems, rather than\ncontrived ones. I might then argue that demonstrating thar dowsing works is not\na particularly constructive enterprise and that it is better to examine their accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is a short article about a simple, but still profound, application of dowsing \u2013 that of finding lost objects. It was entitled “Lost Property” and describes the experiences of an experienced dowser named Mrs G. Barraclough. It was published in one of the early journals of the British Society of Dowsers and makes an […]<\/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\/301"}],"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=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dowsing-research.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}