patrickg
Veteran Member
Water witching... I remain so skeptical that I almost squeek when I walk. If it wasn't for all the documented success stories I'd write it off completely.
About making a holding fixture to elliminate subconscious manipulation of the rods/sticks/forked stick/whatever. Waste of time. As you take the human out of the loop you are basically making a machine for finding water or whatever and all your engineering and science won't make an automated dowser (approximating the rig used by dowsing witches) with no man-in-the-loop. Another thing to consider is that although the dowser may have a strong opinion regarding the "way it works" there is probably no scientific connection between the dowser's belief and reality, with the exception that some reliably find water. It is not important that the dowser understand what is really happening and could be counterproductive.
I was for a time associated with a research group made up of mostly scientists, engineers, psychologists, etc. who were researching paranormal activities and phenomena. In general, the "sensitive" or research subject, or in this instance water dowser, does not really know how they do what they do, even though often extremely sure they do. One of the "prime directives" is to NOT tell them they are wrong or suggest an alternative explanation is possible or any such similar exchange. The task at hand was two fold: 1. go along with them and maintain a neutral to supportive atmosphere and 2. Pay close atention to accurate observation and instrumentation so as to be able to factor out any mumbo jumbo and cut to the chase. Was something going on and if so what and could it be explained by normal means.
Of course you get several fakes who want to have you "certify" their mystic powers so you have to be vigilant and luckily we had some fairly astute magicians among our ranks who saw us through those situations. I have no research notes or papers to offer but will make a claim that can be acccepted or rejected. The dowsing aparatus serves the role of Ouija board and acts as a feedback mechanism to allow the person's subconscious to communicate with the external world. It is not unlike automatic writing where in a trance state a subject's hand will write perfectly readable text but the guy writing it doesn't (consciously) know what he wrote until he reads it. Similarly the aparatus (dowsing rods/sticks/whatever) serve as an external indicator of a subconscious process. Of course the dowser is manipulating the indicator and he is actually feeling NOTHING from the environment through the aparatus B U T he doesn't know that and his perception is that the aparatus "just moved on its own".
Think about it. Dowsers use whatever they think works, brass rods, forked sticks of whatever species. Surely no one thinks brass rods and cherry branches would react to any physical phenomena (short of gravity) in a similar manner. Willow is quite popular with some because as everyone knows, Willow trees always seek water and are found where there is water. This is the mumbo jumbo part and it is counterproductive to discuss this line of thought with the dowser. Just remain neutral to supportive and take any help you can get. As far as the mechanism by which some folks can get remote subconscious impressions, telesensory abilities, that is NOT my specialty. I have seen lots of "stuff", interesting stuff that couldn't be debunked so I believe there are things going on that we just don't understand yet. Not understanding them doesn't stop them from happening.
So, good luck to all water witches everywhere and best of luck to all those who rely on them.
Patrick
You can read up on some of the remote sensing that the CIA was researching. KGB was into it as well. Same basic phenomena, just being developed for different reasons than finding water.
About making a holding fixture to elliminate subconscious manipulation of the rods/sticks/forked stick/whatever. Waste of time. As you take the human out of the loop you are basically making a machine for finding water or whatever and all your engineering and science won't make an automated dowser (approximating the rig used by dowsing witches) with no man-in-the-loop. Another thing to consider is that although the dowser may have a strong opinion regarding the "way it works" there is probably no scientific connection between the dowser's belief and reality, with the exception that some reliably find water. It is not important that the dowser understand what is really happening and could be counterproductive.
I was for a time associated with a research group made up of mostly scientists, engineers, psychologists, etc. who were researching paranormal activities and phenomena. In general, the "sensitive" or research subject, or in this instance water dowser, does not really know how they do what they do, even though often extremely sure they do. One of the "prime directives" is to NOT tell them they are wrong or suggest an alternative explanation is possible or any such similar exchange. The task at hand was two fold: 1. go along with them and maintain a neutral to supportive atmosphere and 2. Pay close atention to accurate observation and instrumentation so as to be able to factor out any mumbo jumbo and cut to the chase. Was something going on and if so what and could it be explained by normal means.
Of course you get several fakes who want to have you "certify" their mystic powers so you have to be vigilant and luckily we had some fairly astute magicians among our ranks who saw us through those situations. I have no research notes or papers to offer but will make a claim that can be acccepted or rejected. The dowsing aparatus serves the role of Ouija board and acts as a feedback mechanism to allow the person's subconscious to communicate with the external world. It is not unlike automatic writing where in a trance state a subject's hand will write perfectly readable text but the guy writing it doesn't (consciously) know what he wrote until he reads it. Similarly the aparatus (dowsing rods/sticks/whatever) serve as an external indicator of a subconscious process. Of course the dowser is manipulating the indicator and he is actually feeling NOTHING from the environment through the aparatus B U T he doesn't know that and his perception is that the aparatus "just moved on its own".
Think about it. Dowsers use whatever they think works, brass rods, forked sticks of whatever species. Surely no one thinks brass rods and cherry branches would react to any physical phenomena (short of gravity) in a similar manner. Willow is quite popular with some because as everyone knows, Willow trees always seek water and are found where there is water. This is the mumbo jumbo part and it is counterproductive to discuss this line of thought with the dowser. Just remain neutral to supportive and take any help you can get. As far as the mechanism by which some folks can get remote subconscious impressions, telesensory abilities, that is NOT my specialty. I have seen lots of "stuff", interesting stuff that couldn't be debunked so I believe there are things going on that we just don't understand yet. Not understanding them doesn't stop them from happening.
So, good luck to all water witches everywhere and best of luck to all those who rely on them.
Patrick
You can read up on some of the remote sensing that the CIA was researching. KGB was into it as well. Same basic phenomena, just being developed for different reasons than finding water.
