Water witching, or dowsing, is something that I have actually witnessed and experienced in person in the location of our own well. My former father-in-law from Ontario was a dowser and he had a very high rate of accuracy in both locating and determining the depth of the water. His employers relied on him to site the water location for the many remote camps they set up. He used a forked willow branch which he selected on site and even had me take a tour with the branch as he thought that I might also be able to detect water given my affinity for nature.
So here is the interesting part. He placed the branch in my hand and demonstrated how to hold with it and to walk slowly with the branch extended. I walked in a different direction from the house so as not to be influenced by where he had sited the well for there are underground water streams throughout this property and region.
Not once but in two locations, that branch twisted down with a force that almost tore my skin for I had a death grip on that thing. I actually had bits of bark in both palms and you could see striations on the branch.
It was quite unnerving to me twenty years ago and I have not dabbled with dowsing since but it surely made me wonder for I am quite cynical of many things and there was no way that there was any intervention in what I experienced. Hence I found the following article of interest.
http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/blogs/...or-science
So here is the interesting part. He placed the branch in my hand and demonstrated how to hold with it and to walk slowly with the branch extended. I walked in a different direction from the house so as not to be influenced by where he had sited the well for there are underground water streams throughout this property and region.
Not once but in two locations, that branch twisted down with a force that almost tore my skin for I had a death grip on that thing. I actually had bits of bark in both palms and you could see striations on the branch.
It was quite unnerving to me twenty years ago and I have not dabbled with dowsing since but it surely made me wonder for I am quite cynical of many things and there was no way that there was any intervention in what I experienced. Hence I found the following article of interest.
Quote:Maybe science can't prove dowsing's validity, but farmers in California find Mondavi and others like him to be accurate enough to risk hundreds of thousands of dollars to drill where they suggest.
http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/blogs/...or-science