Dowsing Around the Block

I was elated with having dowsed the water in my basement. More or less. 

It’s true that the water was in plain view, but the fact that my rods had signaled “yes” when my foot touched the water meant something.

But deep down I wondered: “Was I cheating? Does this count?” 

Then I ran across some comforting words Hamish Miller wrote in his book Dowsing: A Journey Beyond Our Five Senses. In the chapter “First Trials,” he writes:

Cheat a little to start with. Place a rope, cable or pipe on the grass or carpet and approach it with your eyes open, asking the tool to show you where it is. Now do it with eyes shut and preferably alone to avoid distractions. Get a friend to hide a bottle of your favorite wine in the garden, or a playing card under the carpet, and see if you can find it. Repeat, repeat, and repeat the exercise until your confidence grows.

Finding a Pipeline

The evening was peaceful, most people were in their homes, and traffic had subsided with the setting sun. I took my L-rods to the sidewalk in front of our house and began walking south, thinking about water pipes that must be running beneath the sidewalk.

About 20 feet along the sidewalk, my rods slowly crossed. Keeping my eyes focused on the sidewalk in front of me, I back up a few steps and the rods uncrossed. Forward again, and again the rods crossed. Then I allowed myself to look at the right-of-way area alongside the sidewalk and saw the metal cover to the water meter. The main water line to my house was several feet beneath where I stood.

Again, it – whatever the mysterious ‘it’ was – had worked. I was dowsing and was very pleased, to say the least.