Imagine my surprise when I grew up and found that people didn't know anything about dowsing and didn't even think it was real.  Dowsing wasn't anything special where I grew up in Iowa. It was simply the best way to find water and work with underground pipes and water lines. Grandpa dowsed and Mom taught me.  Mom bent a couple of old coat hangers and showed me how it worked.  It was no big deal.   

      As a teenager, my family hired an Amish company to dig our well. While a young man sat down with Mom and Dad, an older man started wandering all around the farmstead. I followed the older man and watched him dowse for the best place to dig a well.  He whispered something to the young man who then explained to my folks based 

“on geology and the lay of the land" this was  the best location for the well.  It was exactly the spot I had watched the older man dowse.   It turned out to be the best well in the entire township. How cool is that? 

      One day when my business partner and I were with a customer scouting a field, I lost my cell phone in an 80 acre field of shoulder high corn.  We called the phone, but couldn't hear it, so I started dowsing for it. They watched me use my pendulum to discover which direction to walk.  They were quietly laughing and I could see the smirks on their faces from 100 yards away. When I walked out of the field with my cell phone in hand, they quit laughing.  The customer looked at me as if he had seen a ghost.  I guess he had never seen a dowser before.  I wish he had asked me what dowsing was. 

     Then my business partner started to use dowsing to see which livestock barn he needed to go to first every morning.  Then he started dowsing the repair manuals for his equipment to see where potential problems were eminent.  How cool is that?

      Later in life, I learned that people were into a form of dowsing called  'applied kinesiology' or muscle testing.  They were able to discover all sorts of things about what made a person stronger or weaker, including foods, supplements, chemicals and drugs, and even ideas!  How cool is that? 

      Other friends tell me they dowse for which supplement they need to take every morning and how much.  Several have reported they now use fewer supplements and feel better than ever.  I tried it and found that it worked for me as well.  Others dowse to see  which route is the best one for them to take.  Still others dowse for the right motels and restaurants.  In fact, many 'dowse down' the menu to find the best meal for them at that time.  All of these things work and work well.  Dowsing is an extremely flexible tool that can be used in nearly every situation. How cool is that?     

 

       While I first learned to dowse using a couple of coat hangers, others start dowsing with pendulums, and still others work with 'bobbers.'  These are the three most common beginner tools and are fun to experiment for which one is best for you. They do the same work. They are tools for dowsing.  We are finding things we are looking for and getting answers to our questions.  How cool is that?

        The advances in quantum physics are trying to answer some of the questions about dowsing that eventually come into everyone's mind:  "Who" is answering my question?" and  "Why does it work?"  For me, however, my interest is more practical. 

"Does it make my life easier?" is my most important question and the answer is that it does. How cool is that?

     Of course, the tried and true method to find the best location for a well has always been dowsing. Traditional farmers, as well as agricultural engineers, use it to  locate underground lines and to help with sick animals. The U.S. Army used dowsers throughout Viet Nam to find underground tunnels and buried munitions.  In the Iraq war map dowsing was used to locate tunnels, (the dowser was in New England) and the coalition forces in Iraq also used dowsers to find IEDs and land mines. Dowsing is a most useful tool for alternative health care practitioners.   Many small communities have poor maps to indicate where utilities are buried.  Go into their maintenance shop and get to know the people who work there. Eventually someone will admit that they use dowsing to find the lines and leaks. 

     But the really cool thing about dowsing is that it is NOT magical or mystical.  It is simply a skill that can be learned, studied, and mastered.  Not being able to explain the science of why it works, doesn't take away from the fact that it works and can make your life easier.

     It worked for Grandpa.  It worked for Mom.  It works for me.  If you have not learned this skill,  you are missing out.  Once you learn the skill, maybe you will be one to find out "why" it works.  Or, like me, simply use the wonderful universal tool to make life easier. 

     NOW, how cool is this?  The American Society of Dowsers, Inc. will be holding their annual convention/expo from June 15-20, 2016 at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.  You can learn dowsing at the Basic and Water Dowsing Schools and learn about the many uses of dowsing in over 50 lectures and workshops.  Keynote speakers are Donna Eden, author of Energy Medicine, and David Feinstein, Ph. D., The Promise of Energy Psychology.  They will be speaking on Saturday evening  and leading workshops on Sunday with an all-day workshop with Donna Eden on Monday.   

      Call 802-684-3417 or go to www.dowsers.org/convention to learn more about what we can offer you. Find out how cool it is!