Introduction to Dowsing: Finding Answers With Your Intuition

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Beyond the Forked Stick

Dowsing certainly has a reputation problem. Picture those classic movies featuring less-than-eloquent rural folks being led by split sticks through meadows, colliding with trees, and tripping into ditches, only to declare, "God directed me to dig RIGHT HERE!" While this depiction is quite entertaining, it doesn't alter the reality that dowsing works—and has been doing so for ages.

Medieval illustrations show men using sticks to locate mineral deposits. The art predates those

images considerably. Before modern technology, dowsing was the only way to know what lay

beneath the ground worth excavating. Otherwise, prospectors were like old-timers finding a nice

patch of desert with water for the mule and just digging blindly, hoping for gold.

I'm not discussing traditional stick dowsing here. For one thing, I never mastered the classic forked

stick. This chapter focuses on pendulum dowsing—easy, fun, and surprisingly effective.

Why Pendulum Dowsing Works

Years ago, mentioning pendulum dowsing raised eyebrows. People wondered if you'd be carrying

grandfather clocks around or dowsing swimming pools. Today, numerous books and various

pendulum types exist. I'll cover basics here, but understand that despite lacking fancy dials or

moving parts, the pendulum remains essential to psionics.

The mechanism is straightforward. Psychic information rarely reaches conscious awareness

directly. Your conscious mind stays busy with daily concerns—strange feelings about Aunt

Mathilda's latest medical procedure don't make the cut. Too many distractions exist unless the

message is exceptionally powerful.

Instead, psychic messages get shunted to the subconscious, where they languish like legislation

stuck in committee, waiting for opportunity—usually at night, assisted by pepperoni pizza. The subconscious rarely releases such information without natural tendency (which can prove

embarrassing) or extensive practice.

What the subconscious can do is cause minute movements in involuntary arm and hand muscles.

These micro-movements make the pendulum swing.

Making Your Pendulum

You don't need special crystals purchased during specific moon phases, drilled with bits blessed by

religious authorities. You need a weight and string. I prefer pointed pendulums—they clearly indicate direction when used with charts. Completely round pendulums create confusion in such applications. Beyond that, anything works. An old key functions perfectly. Heavy enough for firm swings, flat enough for pocket carry without

creating suspicious bulges. Another favorite: children's wooden tops, still available at toy stores.

Craft store wooden knobs work well too. Tops offer another advantage—they come with their own

string.

Simply screw a small eyelet (available at hardware stores) into the top's flat center, attach string,

measure to comfortable length (typically 12-18 inches), cut, and knot the end to prevent unraveling.

Understanding Pendulum Movements

Your pendulum will demonstrate four basic movements: back-and-forth, side-to-side, clockwise

circles, counterclockwise circles. Sometimes it swings diagonally or creates elliptical patterns.

Occasionally it just jiggles without clear movement. The trick is learning what these movements

signify.

The pendulum answers simple questions three ways: yes, no, and "I haven't the slightest idea."

With proper charts, it can provide complex answers, but start with basics first.

Establishing Your Yes/No Responses

Begin with yes. Hold the pendulum before you and ask if two plus two equals four. Note the swing

direction. Now ask if two plus two equals five. The answer should be no, with the pendulum

swinging opposite to your yes response.

Initially, swings may be minimal or nonexistent. Don't worry—you're unaccustomed to it. With

practice, it will swing merrily.

Essential Rules for Accurate Dowsing

Before serious work, remember these principles:

1. Phrase Questions for Yes/No Answers

Structure every question to elicit simple yes or no responses. Practice this—your readings become

significantly more accurate. The pendulum cannot speak (unless using alphabet charts, described

later).

2. Information Availability

The pendulum provides accurate answers only when information exists. If your subconscious lacks

data, it won't answer—or will give wrong answers to satisfy your conscious mind so you'll eat

pepperoni pizza before bed, allowing the subconscious to emerge.3. Conscious Interference

Your conscious mind can control the pendulum. If you ask questions with emotional investment,

you'll receive answers you want to hear rather than answers you need to hear.

Practical Applications

Telling Time

One of pendulum dowsing's most entertaining applications is time-telling. Before illuminated clock

dials and automatic winding, people relied on this. Lazy maids forgetting to wind clocks created

problems—pendulum time-telling provided solutions.

Hold the pendulum near a wall or furniture, within striking distance but requiring some swing. Ask

what hour it is. The pendulum strikes the wall the appropriate number of times.

It's fascinating to watch. The pendulum swings slowly initially, measuring distance, then strikes the wall. It repeats strikes somewhat faster until completing the hour count. On the half-hour, it counts

the hour then strikes softer for the half.

This isn't useless—it demonstrates predictive capability. Remember waiting hours for a repairman

who arrived late? With pendulum dowsing, you could avoid that frustration. When expecting someone, ask what time they'll arrive. The pendulum indicates the hour, allowing relaxation until then. However, the pendulum only provides information available at that moment. If you ask at 8 AM when the dishwasher repairman will arrive and it says 10 AM, but he gets a flat tire at 9:30 AM, he won't appear at 10. Don't blame the pendulum—ask again because new information emerged. Best practice: recheck hourly.

Finding Lost Objects

The most common pendulum use is locating lost items. Let's say you've lost your engagement ring.

Your fiancé mortgaged his grandmother's grave to purchase it (getting mortgages on graves is

another story). It contains a real diamond, making DeBeers happy. You need to find it quickly before

dinner—losing relationships is bad enough, but losing free meals is worse.

One problem: you have no idea where to look, and you suspect the neighbor's child may have

eaten it while you were babysitting. Don't despair. Stand holding the pendulum away from you, visualize the ring, and observe. The pendulum swings away from you in the lost object's direction. Follow this swing until it stops

back-and-forth motion and begins circling. The lost item sits in that circle's center.

One complication: pendulums swing back and forth due to inconvenient physics. You might follow

the swing opposite the correct direction, which proves annoying and confidence-destroying.

Fortunately, there's a solution. Let's say you've lost your favorite golf ball—your grandfather's from

when he played against Sam Snead in the 1950s. The field's too large for simple following, though

you know the general direction.

Take two readings. Hold the pendulum, note the swing direction, then walk to the side some

distance and take another reading. Where the two reading lines cross, there's your ball, waiting to

be hit again.

Map Dowsing

Map dowsing uses a pendulum over maps to locate items—water, minerals, oil, ideal houses. It's

simple but can be time-consuming depending on search detail.

Suppose you own large land and want to drill a new well. The tract's large enough to have a

detailed map. Hold the pendulum at one edge, asking it to find the best well location. Note the

swing direction, then hold the pendulum at a different edge and repeat. Draw lines along both

swings—where they cross, you'll find water.

For larger searches, like finding where to move, you can pinpoint exact locations. Start with the

most comprehensive map—country or state level. Hold the pendulum over vertical coordinates, let

it swing, mark it. Repeat over horizontal coordinates. Where they cross indicates your ideal

location—perhaps over a specific town.

Next, obtain that town's street map and repeat the procedure. This yields the exact block for house

hunting.

This method has proven highly beneficial over years. Lost people can be located readily when

conventional methods would take so long they'd only find remains.

Truth Detection

We all encounter dishonest people—not just publishers and editors, but politicians too. When you

realize no one can be trusted, you need methods to determine truthfulness. Trial and error proves

expensive, yet occasionally something too good to be true actually is true. People do win state

lotteries, though rational people don't bet farms on it.

The pendulum helps determine truthfulness. This works best over phone calls—holding a pendulum

while someone watches you face-to-face creates awkward situations.

Suppose Uncle Tom calls, wanting to borrow money again, claiming Aunt Sarah needs goldfish

food. You know they actually have goldfish (one point in their favor), and they've never managed

their Social Security money well—most goes to golf expenses. He might genuinely need a loan.

As he rambles, somewhat embarrassed, take your pendulum and hold it. When he finally asks for

money, notice the pendulum swinging "NO!!!" so vigorously it nearly leaves your hand.

You know the money won't feed fish. Given that swing intensity, you wonder if Uncle Tom's

considering politics. But you get a positive reading that they do need money—guess they overspent

at the golf course again. You groan, give them a few dollars for cat food, and hope they repay you this

time.

Now suppose you need to identify an office thief. I'm assuming you don't work in law or real estate,

where the answer's obvious.

Years ago, a friend had camera film stolen. She knew it was a co-worker but lacked evidence.

Being too emotionally involved for accurate readings, I volunteered to dowse. We listed all suspects, likely and unlikely. I ran the pendulum down the list with my finger, pausing at each name, commanding the pendulum to identify the thief until getting a strong response at one name.

We continued checking each name to confirm—no other responses appeared, so we felt confident identifying the suspect. However, pendulum swings don't constitute sufficient evidence for accusations (unless you work for

tabloid television). My friend couldn't say anything, but she watched that person carefully thereafter.