Dowsing Science And History : Finding Water With Sticks
Ancient Rome and Egypt have given us representations of divining rods. By the vibration of their wand, the dowsers are able to perceive the presence of water, gold, coal, ores, oil and even hidden treasures. This wand can be likened, in the idea, to a magic wand, because the events take a magic turn when the ores or gold are at its end.
Esoteric radiation detection
A divining rod is a piece of wood, usually hazel or willow, in the shape of a fork. Recent models are even made of plastic or metal. The dowser must loosely hold his wand at both ends of the fork. The base of the fork is directed in the opposite direction to the body, because this part reacts to telluric radiation and starts to move. According to the dowsers, the rays perceived are of an esoteric nature and not a physical one. They describe their action as a mental process and not a perception. During their research, they are able to focus on any type of material, they calibrate at will. To do this, they start from the principle that each substance emits its own vibration, which penetrates everything and which the dowser can perceive. They even detect the tolerance of patients vis-a-vis certain drugs. Critics, however, relegate these activities to the realm of the occult.
History of dowsers
The existence of dowsers dates back to the 16th century. The fundamental principle resides in the belief in the existence of forces in certain tree species, particularly in mistletoe. This belief stems from the belief that magic wands are made of a particular wood or from the ancient practice of oracles of throwing sticks. Moses struck the rocks with a stick to find water and the Greek god Hermes was equipped with a wand with which he opened the door to the other world.
Evidence dating from the Middle Ages describes dowsers using branches to find ore. However, the method was already challenged. Hazelnut branches being cut during Saint-John night, they were considered the most suitable for water witching. Until the middle of the 19th century, the wand found wide application, particularly among geologists and physicists. In the 17th century, the French dowser Jacques Aymar even claimed to be able to track down criminals. Credited with supernatural powers, he was also the subject of very sharp criticism at the time.
Dowsing is based on the conviction that there are particular electrometric fields, capable of taking shape physically, via veins of minerals or water, and perceived by sensitive subjects. The scientific world has undertaken a number of experiments aimed either at proving the real effectiveness of the divining rod, or at unmasking this practice as a vast deception. Critics consider it unreliable and attribute the vibrations to the Carpenter effect.
The Carpenter effect
Named after the English physiologist Walter Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), the Carpenter effect describes an ideomotor phenomenon: the mere mental representation of a movement can be enough to provoke it. The behavior of spectators during sporting events is a good illustration of this: they undergo an impulse in empathy with the movement seen or expected. This event falls within the realm of suggestion. Critics of parapsychology attribute to the Carpenter effect phenomena such as moving glasses or dowsing.
