For the magickal person, dowsing is an excellent way to learn to sense energy fields. Those involved in the study of psychic phenomenon believe that dowsing (for water) predates the art of writing, claiming that cave paintings in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and depictions of Egyptian art show the inhabitants of both cultures practicing the art of dowsing. The divining rod, cut and used in a highly ritual manner to find ore, came from Germany in the mid-sixteenth century, gaining popularity a hundred years or more later.34 During the Vietnam War, US Marines acting without official sanction dowsed for boobytraps, mines, and enemy fox holes.35 As you can see, whether you are seeking water, energy, or objects of war, the art of dowsing is far from defunct. Although dowsing is often done with a forked stick (which bends downward when the object is found) or metal rods (one rod held in each hand; metal hangers with the hooks cut off work well) that swing from an outward position inward when the object is found, the crystal or metal pendulum that dangles from a string or cord is considered a form of dowsing as well. This type of dowsing has been used by some psychics to find missing persons or objects when the pendulum is held over a map or self-made diagram.
As with psychometry, Wicca 101 students often enjoy at least one group lesson that revolves around the various types of dowsing. The practice is as follows:
1. Determine what you will be dowsing for: water, energy, or an object in the ground.
2. Firmly state in your mind the name of the person or thing.
3. Follow the directions that come with the tool. Rods and some pendulums can be purchased in kit form.
4. Keep accurate records.
If you can’t afford a pendulum kit, you can tie a twenty-four-inch string to an inch-long crystal that has been cleansed under running water. Keep your fingers together and loop the other end of the string over your first two fingers. Hold the pendulum so that the crystal dangles straight down. Before you begin, you need to determine which movement means what. For example, first you would say, “Show me Yes.” Try to keep your hand still and not move the pendulum by physical reaction. After a while, the pendulum will begin to swing. It may go back and forth or in a circle. Stop the pendulum, and say, “Show me No,” and again watch the movement and make note of it. Stop the pendulum. Finally, say, “Show me I Don’t Know” and write down how the pendulum moves. You are now ready to ask your first question.
Some individuals have great success with the pendulum and others find it unreliable. There are a few rules for pendulum dowsing:
• Formulate your questions before you pick up the pendulum.
• Breathe easy and view the process as something relaxing, rather than tensing all your muscles in anticipation of an answer.
• Try to keep your hand still so that the pendulum does its own work.
In a group training format, the rods are used to measure how well a student is raising energy, and can detect the energy of a cast circle. Actually seeing the movement of the rods during energy work is a great way to understand the dynamics of energy movement.
Dowsing Experiment 1:
Checking Your Circle
You will need two metal coat hangers. Cut off the hooks, but leave the hangers in their triangular shape. Hold the hangers by the long straight ends, one in each hand. The twisted area of the hanger becomes the “pointer.” Don’t hold them so loose that they swing as you walk, yet don’t grip them so tight that they cannot move. When you begin, the pointers should be out to the left (of the left hand) and out to the right (of the right hand). Once you’ve practiced this, put them down and cast a magick circle. Cut a door. Walk outside of the circle. Close the door. With the hangers, walk several feet away. In your mind, think about divining for circle energy. Adjust the hangers in your hands and then walk forward. What happens to the hangers? The closer you get to the circle, they should swing and point toward the circle. How close did you get? Now try this inside the circle. What happens? Check the door you cut. What happens there? If energy is seeping out, you need to work on your visualization. Take the circle down. Try again. What happens? If you didn’t get it down (which sometimes new students have difficulty doing), then you need to work on that visualization technique as well.
In experiments with first-year students, I’ve learned that most will cast a circle approximately three feet from all sides of the body, where the more experienced students are able to cast approximately twelve feet from the body in all directions. Even the first-time student can usually get the circle up without difficulty, though taking it down is another matter entirely. My best advice is to take your time. Too often new students are patient in casting the circle (especially if they are walking the circle three times), but spend little time in taking it down (going just once around in a counterclockwise direction) and are looking ahead to what they will do next (running an errand, calling a friend, etc.). In your experiments with the rods, as the circle comes down, the rods will swing open.
I have also discovered that if you walk through a circle without taking it down, the energy fizzes in all directions and the time spent casting the circle, calling the quarters, etc., was spent in vain. Cutting the door is another problem. The circle of a beginning student begins to disintegrate in approximately twenty seconds if the door is left wide open. If the student does not take his or her time in closing the portal, or does not visualize the closure, the energy will seep away and the circle will come down. A flick of the wrist and telling the others in the circle that the door is closed is not enough. In your experiments, the rods should swing open as the door is cut, and swing closed as the door is shut.
Dowsing Experiment 2:
Magickal Hide and Seek
This works just like the children’s game Hide and Seek, though this time only one friend will hide and you will dowse with the rods for that person. You can also dowse for your pet. Just remember to formulate in your mind “what” or “whom” you are dowsing for. Once you have this technique down, your mother will never again lose her car keys. You can dowse for them!
Dowsing Experiment 3:
Chakra Exercise
This exercise requires a partner and is used to check the ability of an individual to open and close the various chakra points on the body. When the participant mentally opens a chakra point, the rods should swing closed toward the chakra point. When the individual mentally closes the chakra vortex, then the rods should swing open over that part of the body. How quickly they open and close gives you an idea of the meditational focus the individual has. Although we’ve tried several ways to do this exercise, it appears it is best done if the individual lays faceup on a table. He or she should close the eyes, then ground and center. The standing partner now gives the command, “Open the crown chakra.” When the rods have swung to a point over the chakra, the standing partner should say, “It’s completely open. Now, close the chakra.” If the rods do not open or close right away, the standing partner should inform the meditating one, and give encouragement, perhaps helping with the visualization process. Practice monitoring all the chakra points, as well as extending and compressing your energy field. Once the exercise is completed, switch places.
Dowsing Experiment 4:
Checking Energy Levels
Use to check energy levels of magickal tools, your altar, or other empowered items. Ground and center. Stand six feet from the item, with rods pointing outward. As you walk toward the item make note of where the rods begin to swing shut, then at what point the rods swing to completely touch each other. When you finish any working, you can always double-check the amount of energy contained in an object in this way. If you work with your altar daily, the rods should swing shut (and touch each other) approximately three feet from the altar surface. If the altar surface remains dormant for any period of time, the rods will probably not touch until you are directly over the surface. During a ritual, an activated altar could throw energy as far as six feet from the edge of the altar.
Dowsing Experiment 5:
Drawing Down
This exercise requires two individuals. Following the instructions on page 298, one partner performs the DDM (Drawing Down the Moon) while the other partner monitors the energy fluctuations with the rod. Switch places. Record your results.