A clear definition of Dowsing?

[John Irwin]

Meeting some of our dowsing colleagues from France recently made me realise how important it is, and yet how difficult it is, to define what dowsing is! We know what we do (?!) but for the general public, and for many foreigners, it must be quite confusing.

Look at just some of the words, Dowsing, Divining, Geomancy, Radiesthesia, Map-dowsing, Remote viewing, Radionics; the list continues....

Is a clear definition of dowsing possible? Here are a few:

Dowsing is a way of using your body's own reflexes to help you interpret the world around you; to find things, to make sense of things, to develop new ways of looking and seeing

Tom Graves

Dowsing is the practice of finding things, whether above or below ground, whose location is not known.

Rodney Davies

Dowsing is a way of knowing

Sig Lonegren (he also said he preferred the word "gnowing"!)

Can anyone come up with a better definition? It raises many questions!


John

[Ian Pegler]

Can anyone come up with a better definition? It raises many questions!

It certainly does. The problem with any definition of dowsing is that all the definitions we know of either:

a) relate to some specific theory of the mechanism of dowsing, or
b) exclude the possibility of other competing theories, or
c) are too general to be of any use.

An example of each type:

a) "Radiesthesia" (French term) - specific to the theory of radiation from objects
b) "divining" - excludes the possibility of radiesthesia-type theories
c) "A means of finding out" (BSD definition) - too broad

At this point it occurs to me that all type a) theories are also type b) theories. True by definition.

There is also the problem of whether or not one should be politically correct. If your own personal preference excludes some other form of dowsing then the end result could be factionalism, with everyone huddled together in opposite corners of the room according to which "gang" you prefer to be with.

Personally I think dowsers should stick together and try to be broad-minded or at least tolerant of the views of other dowsers. We should not fall prey to any propaganda that divides the BSD into sects like "elves and fairies" vs. "pragmatists/scientists".

Anything which could divide the BSD is bad in my view. Therefore I prefer a definition like "a means of finding out", even if it's a bit too broad in practice.

Ian

[Sig]

John Irwin quoted me as saying:

Quote:
Dowsing is a way of knowing
Sig Lonegren (he also said he preferred the word "gnowing"!)

"Gnowing" is key here as it speaks of using both sides of the brain and valuing the rational/intuitive results equally, something that is essential in any good dowsing exercise. You must ask the correct question (a left-brain/rational activity) to get the correct answer (a right-brain/intuitive activity).

We are trained for the first twenty years of our life to use our left brain to get answers. (How much is 7 + 5?) Dowsing also uses our intuition to gain answers to questions that are not immediately obvious to our rational minds. (Where is the closest source of good potable water to this home that is less than twenty feet down {I only have a JCB}, that will yield over five gallons a minute and runs year round?)

The most simple definition of dowsing that I gnow is "Intuition on demand."

};-)

Sig

[Kevin]

Sig,
I was really glad to meet you and shake your hand, your all right, but able to use your left as well, to find a well.
Thats something else that this dowsing does, I keep writing poetry?
I feel you are bang on Sig, and I wish I had been taught dowsing from very early in my life, I know more about this wonderfull planet and nature from my dowsing than anything I was forced to learn parrot fashion?
Kevin

[Patrick]

Dear all

impressed by both the question and thoughtful responses

language very challenging generally and especially so when words and phrases of description and definition are considered by some pejorative or wrapped in ignorance, fear and prejudice,

taking a few steps back and seeing the dowsing art in an honest context, I would suggest:

Divination is the practice of aquiring and discerning information of either a qualitative or quantitative nature, which exists in the moment beyond the reach of our tangible senses.

There is a vast and broad spectrum of divinatory practices, each offering different advantages and disadvantages.

They include deep and light trance mediumship, shamanic journeying, astral projection, remote viewing, augury of all kinds, use of Tarot cards, use of Runes, use of systems such as the I Ching and astrology, through to the simple practice of holding our attention simulataneously in the rational and intuitive realms during ordinary alert time, and discerning and navigating appropriately.

Dowsing, as the word has come to be applied, refers to a binary system of specific enquiry generally but not necessarily using tools.

The defining element of dowsing within the broad context of divinatory disciplines is that it is specific to a yes / no informationally or a here / not-here locationally.

Unlike systems of divination that offer information or make suggestion or reflection regarding the concern or search, dowsing will only give a binary response to a posed question, thus limiting its usefulness to the knowledge and questioning skill of the practitioner.

Dowsing is thus, by its nature, the most limited of all the divinatory practices. This defines its advantages and disadvantages.

It is perhaps the most specific, concrete and definitive of practices, giving a clearly definitive binary response.

It is one of the safest of practices, holding the practitioners mind in an alert and rationally present mode, not requiring trance or energetic projection.

It is limited to the ability of the practitioner to ask approprate questions.

In practice, I find and observe that most practitioners of dowsing are not using dowsing alone, but use dowsing in combination with one or more other divinatory techniques, sometimes quite unconsciously or including those also within their own frame of reference as also being dowsing.

Dowsing is basic to the diviners art, offers itself as a doorway for the beginner into the divinatory world, and continues to serve as an invaluable life-long tool for the experienced and the professional practitioner.

....and makes for a very interesting and diverse Society !

hope to see you all at the conference and explore this all much more

Patrick MacManaway

[Romaine]

Dowsing, getting answers by using (mostly) a tool to determine what someone's intuition says about the subject some is focussing on. Using a tool based on the muslces en unconscious of a person to get information..

With the paranormal I litteral followed where the information/energy came from. Every person has a conscious and an unconscious. In the unconscious is everything you aren't aware of, like where your dreams are based on, but also intuition. While everyone has intuition, not everyone is able to use it because there are people who have blocked it. On this intuition divination and dowsing are based.
Additional, there are people who have an extra ability on the normal abilities: the paranormal.

Friendly greetings,
Romaine

[Paul Collett]

Hi Everyone,
I looked at my Concise Oxford Dictionary , Eighth edition, reprinted 1991.
I found the definition lacking by being confined to searching for underground water or minerals and using a Y shaped rod.
I am reminded of a parallel.When I was beginning to learn calculus, my maths teacher said that ' until you do it you won't know what it's about'
That is certainly true of my dowsing experience!
Sig's 'gnowing' expression is most apt.
All the very best to all, I shall follow the debate