Water Dowsing
"Water dowsing" refers in general to the practice of using a forked stick, rod, pendulum, or similar device to locate water or liquids. Dowsers are called diviners or water witches and us the traditional forked stick, which may come from a variety of trees, including the willow, peach, and witch-hazel. Modern day dowsers may use keys, wire coat-hangers, pliers, wire rods, pendulums, or elaborate boxes and even electrical instruments.
In the classic method of using a forked stick, one fork is held in each hand with the palms upward. The butt end of the "Y" is pointed skyward at an angle of about 45 degrees. The dowser then walks back and forth over the area to be tested. When she/he passes over a source of water, the butt end of the stick is supposed to rotate downward.
Water dowsers use to practice mainly in rural communities where residents were uncertain as to how to locate the best and cheapest supply of groundwater. Because the drilling and development of a well often costs more than a thousand dollars, homeowners at that time were understandably reluctant to gamble on a dry hole and turned to the water dowser for advice.
I remember as a young girl of four watching the local diviner use his forked stick to locate my grandparents’ well. After seeing him locate our well, I got my own forked tree branch and divining for water became a favorite game of mine for the next couple of years. You could always find me and the dog outside the house, in the pasture, in the chicken yard, in the garden or in the nearby creek with my divining rod looking for water.
My favorite cup was a small red tin cup. I think at first it was my favorite because it was small like me. But thinking back on it, the water from that tin cup had a nice taste that was unlike any I have every experienced. It had an entirely different taste than water from the glass. One of the reasons, (which I did not know at that time) was because metal ions alter the ph of the water. The little cup had low levels of UV but moderate levels of CO2. Permeation of both UV light and carbon dioxide had slowly altered the ph level of my water. The glass cups that I use now have low levels of CO2 but high levels of UV. The plastic water bottles that I had gotten really accustomed to in the last twenty years (because they are so convenient) change the taste of the water because there are left over monomers and short oligomers that slowly leach into the water.
In the classic method of using a forked stick, one fork is held in each hand with the palms upward. The butt end of the "Y" is pointed skyward at an angle of about 45 degrees. The dowser then walks back and forth over the area to be tested. When she/he passes over a source of water, the butt end of the stick is supposed to rotate downward.
Water dowsers use to practice mainly in rural communities where residents were uncertain as to how to locate the best and cheapest supply of groundwater. Because the drilling and development of a well often costs more than a thousand dollars, homeowners at that time were understandably reluctant to gamble on a dry hole and turned to the water dowser for advice.
I remember as a young girl of four watching the local diviner use his forked stick to locate my grandparents’ well. After seeing him locate our well, I got my own forked tree branch and divining for water became a favorite game of mine for the next couple of years. You could always find me and the dog outside the house, in the pasture, in the chicken yard, in the garden or in the nearby creek with my divining rod looking for water.
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