Dowsing
What is Dowsing or Water Divining?
 Dowsing, or divining as it is sometimes called, refers to the ability to detect energy vibrations from underground water, geopathic stress, metals and metal ores or other objects.
Most commonly, detection is made through the movement or vibrations of a Y-shaped twig, a pair of L-shaped rods, or sometimes a pendulum.
The traditional divining rod (dowsing rod) was made from a hazel bush, using two forks off its main stem shaped like the letter “Y”. The two forks were held in the fists with the fingers uppermost, with the tail pointing forwards and downward. The illustration from an old book, shows a rather thick twig. It is normal to use a much thinner and more flexible hazel fork.
 Perhaps the best source of information on Dowsing is in a book by Tom Graves.
Dowsing by Tom Graves was originally published in 1980 and copies are still available today. It is concise, easy to read and full of practitcal information.
Dowsing: Techniques and Applications was published back in 1976 as a mass-market paperback by Granada Publishing and has become one of the dowsing classics It certainly led a major dowsing revival when it was first published, as it was perhaps the first book to open up the field to anyone, in a highly practical, easily-understood way. It was the test-case for Tom's MA thesis on design for skills-education.
Both books are usually available through Amazon or on eBay. Search on the words "Tom Graves Dowsing" The books were translated and printed in many languages, including French and German - again try Amazon or eBay to find a copy.
Tom Graves' web site
There is also a fascinating page on the internet, complete with illustrations and practival advice on making and using copper rods for divining as well as how to use a pendulum. See: http://www.tomgraves.eu/oa_uc17
The site has a lot of contant and is currently being rebuilt, so you need to search around a bit to find what you want.
How to make a pair of L-rods
)
Hazel rods
Records show that the traditional method of dowsing uses a flexible green forked stick, often hazel or willow. The forked parts of the Y shaped stick are grasped, one in each hand, palms up, usually with the thumbs pointing away from the body in opposite directions and the elbows tightly against the body. The forked portions are spread apart, with the main stem pointing out from the dowser's body.
The dowser attempts to keep the stick parallel with the ground, and as he walks about, it is believed that subtle influences from water, metal, oil or any other substance will cause the stem of the stick to either rise or depress from the horizontal position. How does dowsing work?
One explanation put forward is that the dowsing rod may serve as a sort of "amplifer" of ESP or magnetic impulses. This is supported by the fact that Dutch psychic M. B. Dykshoorn often uses a divining rod to supplement his clairvoyance. Another theory is that different substances give off specific vibrations to which a dowser is physically sensitive, making his muscles twitch so that, unconsciously, he turns the rod. The study of the effects of different substances and their vibration is termed radiesthesia, and its proponents consider it a science that can be used in medical diagnosis.
Skeptics dismiss the whole subject as a sham. They say that a dowser's successes are due to an understanding of geology, a surveying of the lie of the land, vegetation, and so on. The record of the many dowsers who have repeatedly succeeded where geologists have failed suggests that this is not the whole story. (source)
Animals in arid areas can sense water underground. They dig for water and find it – this is a common occurence in the wild. We humans have lost this natural instinct – without help. The help we need to amplify the signals so that we can identify them, comes from dowsing rods or a pendulum. (source)
A more scientific explanation: The divining rods are charged with static electricity from the dowser's own body. This static electricity can be seen quite adequately with a simple millivolt meter. This voltage is measured between the hands of the dowser. The amount of voltage will vary depending on the person. A good dowser will have a high reading, "above 100 mv" while a poor dowser may read as low as,"0 mv.". For males the right hand is usually a negative polarity, and the left hand is positive in polarity. These polarities are usually reversed in females.
The divining rod charged positively will rotate in the dowsers hand to line up parallel to a negatively charged object being dowsed. A divining rod charged negatively will remain perpendicular to a negatively charged object being dowsed. This is because like charges repel, while unlike charges attract. Thus both bent divining rods are not required for dowsing. When two divining rods are used, and they are seen to cross, one of the rods is being moved to line up parallel with the charged object being dowsed. The other rod is moving to line up parallel to the first rod. A second reason for the two rods crossing is that of dowsing over an alternating current source, such as a pipeline or buried cable. these are usually buried shallow and are conducting ground currents as the path of least resistance.
Extract from: www.connect.ab.ca/~tylosky/
 Using a pendulum for dowsing and other purposes
There is an interesting article on the use of pendulums for dowsing on: http://mypage.direct.ca/j/jliving/pen01.htm
You can buy a range of pendulums in metal, crystal and other materials from the following site: www.pendulumwarehouse.com/pendulum.htm
There is a brief istory of pendulums in dowsing on: www.pendulums.com/history.htm
You can read more about pendulum dowsing on the BBC's web site at:
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A893414 
|
Dowsing : Evidence
In 1990 the United States Environmental Protection Agency stated "In conclusion, after an examination of the available data over the past 15 years, there is evidence of a positive association of exposure to magnetic fields with certain site-specific cancer, namely leukaemia, cancer of the central nervous system, and to a lesser extent, lymphomas. This is supported by many studies of children and adults across many different populations and sub-groups.
www.healthyandwise.co.uk/
geopathic.htm
Professor Hans Dieter Betz
(Professor of Physics, Munich University ) headed a team of scientists that investigated the ability of dowsers to find underground drinkable supplies, taking them to 10 different countries and, on the advice of dowsers, sank some 2,000 wells with a very high success rate. In Sri Lanka , where the geological conditions are said to be difficult, some 691 wells were drilled, based on the advice of dowsers, with a 96% success rate. Geohydrologists given the same task took two months to evaluate a site where a dowser would complete his survey in minutes. The geohydrologists had a 21% success rate, as a result of which the German government have sponsored 100 dowsers to work in the arid zones of Southern India to find drinkable water.
http://www.healthyandwise.co.uk/
geopathic.htm
Dowsing: Journal of Scientific Exploration
...In 1986, GTZ presented in its series of publications a special report number 183 on a project in the northern dry zone districts of Sri Lanka, where dowsing techniques have been implemented on a large scale for the identification of well sites [1]. The resulting success and the economic benefit turned out to be unexpectedly high, thus justifying this unconventional technique despite all initial doubts and reservations, put forward from various parties ...
web site 
US Government's attitude
The pendulum has also had its share of controversy throughout history.
During the Cold War in the 1960's, American pendulist Verne Cameron was invited by the government of South Africa to use his pendulum to help them locate their country's precious natural resources, but he was denied a passport by the U.S. government.
A few years earlier, he had demonstrated his special dowsing talent to the U.S. Navy, successfully map dowsing (locating on a map) every submarine in the Navy's fleet. He shocked Navy officials by not only locating every American submarine, but also every Russian submarine in the world.
Afterwards, the CIA determined that Cameron was a risk to national security, and he was forbidden to leave the United States.
The Journal of Scientific Exploration
Unconventional Water Detecting
This Journal published a paper by Hans-Dieter Betz summarising the results of work in ten countries in Asia and Africa, where dowsing was used to find water sources.
See results
|
There are hundreds of ways to dowse. The most popular way is using L-rods. These are simply bent wires, which can be pointed in the direction of the area of interest. You can make a simple set of L-rods by getting two metal coat hangers and cutting off the long wires at the bottoms. Bend one end of each at about four inches into a 90 degree L shape. 
(You can also use the empty barrel of a ballpoint pen) This will be the sleeve of the handle, which enables the L-rod to swivel freely without being affected by the muscles or electrical conductivity of the hand. Hold a L-rod in each hand, pointing toward the object to be measured. Be sure the L-rod is horizontal to the ground. 