DOWSING WITH EITHER a cleft stick or a pendulum can be used to sense the negative or positive energies in a house or piece of land. Geopathic stress – energy trapped due to old watercourses, drainage pipes, archaeological features, or other difficulties, such as ancient graves – can be pinpointed and steps are taken to neutralize or enhance the energy. The art of feng shui and the placement of crystals, wind chimes, mirrors, small shrines, and other statues can all be used to achieve this.
Dowsing using a divining rod is also called rhabdomancy, divining, water witching, or doodlebugging. By tradition a cleft stick of a living material, such as hazelwood, is used, However, most woods will suffice, and you can even make your rods from wire, such as an old coathanger. Almost anything can be searched for by this method, including water, underground caves, lost jewelry, and ley lines (energy lines within the earth).
The cleft stick, which is thought to have been the origin of the magician’s wand is held lightly in both hands and the ground (or map, if done at a distance) is quartered – divided into sections – until the stick dips into a recognizable way. With experience, the dowser will be able to pinpoint what he is looking for with astonishing accuracy.
The origin of the art of dowsing is not clear, but the earliest sign of its use is found in a grave inscription in Brittany dating from 4,500 to 5,000 years ago. Even today, although its efficacy has been proven many times, no one knows exactly how it works. However, bearing in mind that Brain activity is electrical, there may be some interaction between the electromagnetic fields of the dowser, the rod, and the object being dowsed for. Experiments have shown that ‘sensitives’ are more able to pick up these subtle vibrations from people if there is excitement, suggesting that dowsing and telepathy share basic principles.
Dowsing may also be performed with a pendulum, in which case the method is slightly different. Initially, until more experience is gained, the question put by the dowser has to be in a form answerable by a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. How the pendulum swings depends on the energy levels within the questioner. For some people, a clockwise swing denotes ‘yes’ and an anti-clockwise swing ‘no’. For others a circular motion is ‘yes’, and so forth. To test the pendulum a question is asked to which the answer is known, for example, ‘Am I a woman?’ or ‘Am I a man?’
Using the pendulum
It can take several attempts before a satisfactory movement is established and often the pendulum does not work if you are tired or under some stress. For this reason, it is often better to have someone else do the dowsing if you want an objective answer. Once the ‘yes’/‘no’ pattern has been decided, the actual question can then be asked. A neutral answer may sometimes be received if, for instance, the question is not answerable by a positive or negative, or the outcome is unclear. The best way to tackle this is to break the original question down into its parts and ask for an answer for each of these.
It is also possible to dowse for health matters, though this should be done as an adjunct to conventional medicine, not as a replacement.
The pendulum can also be used to help a client decide on the use of the correct medication, by questioning the pendulum, either over a sample of the medication, or even the words written on a piece of paper. This, however, requires an element of trust as much as intuition but can help in having the patient feel they are still in charge of making decisions. Magically, the spell for enhancing the use of medication in coming teaching might also be used at this point.
A pendulum can also indicate when to do things. So, in answer to the question ‘When would it be best to carry out a certain spell?’, think about each upcoming day of the week, or day in the month, and question the pendulum on each one in turn, until it reacts positively. Thus, if you were starting on a Sunday, using days of the week, and you received the following information: Monday – negative; Tuesday – negative; Wednesday – negative; Thursday – positive; Friday – positive; Saturday – negative/positive; Sunday – negative, the Thursday and Friday of that week would be best, while Saturday is less favorable. Or, you could use dates and begin with the day on which you were working (for example 1 March, positive, 2 March, positive, 3 March, negative, and so on), 1 March, and 2 March would give the most positive results.
Other ways of using correspondences are shown later in the teaching.
As the practitioner becomes more proficient in the use of either the rods or the pendulum, they can both be used to ascertain the direction of a problematic area or source of difficulty or, as seen later, lost objects. Here the pendulum or rods are allowed to be at rest and the question asked ‘From what direction is the problem coming?’ Usually, the pendulum or rods will swing towards the problem, and further readings can be taken to confirm this.
Opinions differ as to whether dowsing with a pendulum emanates from the spirit or spiritual energy. Mediums and channellers would claim the former, while other practitioners would prefer to think the latter.
When you use spells, your own beliefs will enhance your work and it would probably be wise to consecrate your pendulum before you begin work, as on coming teaching.
Blackheart Brotherhood 