How to Dowse or Water Witch

"Water Witching." The term sounds so delightful, mystical, andnwonderful, doesn't it? Water witching is the art of using anmagical tool, such as a pendulum or dowsing rods, or psychicnabilities to find underground sources of water. People, includingnsome plumbers, have been practicing water witching and dowsingnfor centuries.

Dowsing is actually a specific form of divination, which is thenart of accessing information not available to the five senses.
Other forms of divination include the tarot, water bowls, scryingnin chalices, and Rune stones.

According to Polly Cady, a master dowser of 14 years, one of theneasiest ways to get started with water witching or dowsing is tonstart with a pendulum. You can make a pendulum from almost anynlightweight object suspended on a chain, string or thread.
Lightweight objects you can use include paper clips, small rocks,nearrings, hairpins, pendants, small medallions, crystals andntalismans. If you choose to use a crystal, use an amethystnbecause other kinds of crystals become too easily contaminated.

To find underground water with a pendulum, here's a quick lessonnfrom the American Society of Dowsers.

"The dowser usually seeks flowing underground veins suitable forndrilling and pumping. The veins can be large and deep or smallnand shallow. You can discriminate by focusing on a need, real ornimaginary . Ask mentally, either successively or all at once, forna 'vein of good drinking water, less than twenty feet in depth,nwhich will flow uninterrupted at the rate of 5 gallons a minutenor more.' Thus when you receive a reaction, you will know that itnis not a pipe, a polluted vein or a source that might otherwisenbe too deep or seasonally unreliable for the purpose at hand.
When the dowsing reaction takes place, mark the spot and approachnit from the opposite direction. If the two points do notncoincide, the mid-point between them should be the center of thenvein."

According to Polly, a left-to-right pendulum swing indicates an"no" while a back-and-forth swing (to and away from you)nindicates a "yes." As with all magical techniques, practice makesnperfect. n n