Dowsing or Water Dowsing Exposed

“Dowsing is a practice employing divinatory implements and methods in order to search out information, such as lost objects, a site of water or oil, treasure, the nature, or location of disease, or missing persons. From ancient times, dowsing has been considered an occult practice and often defined as a form of witchcraft. The common descriptive terms “witching” and “water witching” reveal how closely the taint of witchcraft has remained. Instruments used are tree or shrub branches, pencils, welding rods, feathers, etc. The common explanation for how it works is that the dowser possesses a natural sensitivity to earth magnetism, water “radiations”, or some other geophysical phenomena. What is the true source of the dowser’s power? Most dowsers are unconcerned about this, they only care that their practice “works.” Most dowsers enter an altered state of consciousness or a trance when dowsing. As dowsers progress in the practice, many of them discover that they gradually develop psychic abilities, such as telepathy and clairvoyance. The fact that dowsing can develop psychic abilities associates dowsing with the world of the occult and spiritism, not science. Many indications exist that a personal entity operates through the dowsing implement. The dowser must ask specific questions about his rod or pendulum, which strikes similarity to Ouija boards or the “Charlie-Charlie” game. The fact that conversion to Christ or prayer may hinder dowsing powers is more evidence the enemy is the power behind it. Moreover, Hosea 4:12 and Deuteronomy 18:9-12 condemns the practice.”

Scriptures that condemn such practice:

“My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.” Hosea 4:12

“9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.” Deut. 18:9-12

The following is from the book Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs by John Ankerberg and John Weldon (pp. 180-192) [emphasis mine]:

OCCULT ASPECTS

From ancient times, dowsing has been considered an occult practice and often defined as a form of witchcraft. The common descriptive terms “witching” and “water witching” reveal how closely the taint of witchcraft has remained. Occultist and dowser Christopher Bird, the author of a number of standard New Age texts on dowsing, such as The Divining Hand, calls it “one of the world’s oldest occult arts.” Referring to the ancient mystery traditions, dowser Erwin states, in A History of Dowsing and Energy Relationship, “The teaching of mysteries, or psychic functions, which predates the dawn of Christianity, is significant in that it taught dowsing as a psychic technique. The dowser was regarded as a highly intuitive or illuminated being, who achieved this level of awareness through dedicated study and practice of the mysteries.” Historically, the connection of dowsing to the occult is one reason the church has labeled dowsing as a work of the devil, as even many dowsers will concede.

Presidents of dowsing societies, and other dowsing practitioners, freely confess that dowsing is a psychic or occult ability, not a scientific practice. Not surprisingly, book reviews in dowsing magazines, and booktables at dowsing conventions, are replete with occult topics. In Dowsing: The Psi Connection, Hitching provides an extended discussion about their “natural kinship” that dowsers claim “with their ancient predecessors,” such as shamans or witch doctors—those who contact the spirit world and are taken over by them to secure supernatural information and power. A number of illustrations are given from pagan tribal life, noting the connections to dowsing.

Dowsers also have certain characteristics in common with mediums. For example, they may suffer something similar to the exhaustion that mediums experience from their seances. Other dowsers have stated that “the first two stages of yoga training [sensory withdrawal, absence of consciousness] . . . could equally as well have been taken from any dowsing manual.”

Because the issue of the true nature of dowsing is so important for the church, we will supply 11 reasons why we are convinced dowsing should be classified as an occult, spiritistic power, and not as a normal human ability. First, the following common characteristics of dowsing practice reveal its true nature.

Altered Consciousness

Most dowsers enter an altered state of consciousness or a trance when dowsing. Dowsers admit that a particular “mood” is vital in order for dowsing to work. As in occult practice generally, the trance state does not need to be deep; a light altered state of consciousness is usually all that is necessary. The purpose of these states is always the same: to remove the “hindrance” of the conscious mind. As one dowser points out, “Dowsers, like psychics, must get the conscious [mind] out of the way.” Because this aspect of dowsing is often not recognized by those outside the practice, we will cite several descriptions as illustrations:

Any person can be trained to program himself or herself into an altered state of consciousness. In other words, any person can achieve the level of consciousness needed to use a dowsing instrument—and to use it successfully! . . . The sensitivity of the dowser, whether a field dowser or a psychic dowser, seems to be achieved by the trance state of the induction process used by dowsers, that is, the dowser must focus his or her mind on one thought only, which automatically cuts off contact with all other sensory input.

When he starts to dowse, he goes through a marked change in his state of consciousness. A detached air of concentration comes over him.

The secret of good dowsing . . . is a curious state of mind. . . . Dowsing has been compared to a mild state of hypnosis, or trance, or meditation.

It [the altered state] can become the most critical part of the dowsing process. . . . How does one know that he is “in the mood”? There is no simple way to describe this condition. As the dowser grasps his device he wipes everything out of his mind but the dowsing question. He gives himself over to the mystery of dowsing with confidence. He comes to recognize this state of mind, this attitude toward dowsing. While an experienced dowser cannot always bring himself into this condition, he can recognize when he cannot. If he cannot get “in the mood” he should not start to dowse.

. . . The dowser enters into a light trance as he or she becomes more involved with the person, place or thing being sought, and less involved with his or her own thoughts. I was once startled by someone when I was map dowsing and was quite surprised to discover how deeply I had become involved in a state of trance. It was almost as though I had left the place where I was sitting and was at the location I was dowsing. Upon being drawn back abruptly to my regular conscious state I was visibly shaken. I was trembling inside.

Some of our best practitioners go into a state of high concentration when they dowse. . . . Others state the object, then blank out their minds and let the rods take over.

In other words, anyone can go through the motions, but to be successful at dowsing an altered state of consciousness is something “every dowser finds necessary.” This may be either a light trance or something very profound, depending on the individual dowser, his years of experience, and his submission to the process—common facts relevant to psychics and mediums as well. True dowsers, then, do not just dowse; they must be in a respectful and receptive state, they must request information, and they must be in a type of trance.

There are exceptions, of course, as there are in other psychic activities. The spirits, if they desire, can choose to operate outside a person’s altered state, as when they dictate words while the medium is in a normal state of consciousness. Nevertheless, the altered state is clearly a common method for receiving information.

Psychic Abilities

Dowsing develops psychic abilities. As dowsers progress in the practice, many of them discover that they are gradually developing psychic powers. That dowsing can develop psychic abilities, such as telepathy and clairvoyance, is mentioned both by critics and by many practicing dowsers. Some dowsers say that dowsing practice should be considered an actual program of psychic development. Thus, “recognition of dowsing as the easiest way for most people to discover and demonstrate ESP in themselves is gradually being accepted.” A member of the British and American Society of Dowsers comments:

Over many years I find the [dowsing] methods used by me have, in the course of their progress, transferred to Psychometry and now Astral projection, the latter two methods projecting me to all parts of the World, no matter how remote.

Hitching observes:

There is a shadowy, almost nonexistent barrier between the results of map dowsing as practiced by Bill Lewis and the kind of out-of-body experiences that occur so often in the literature of parapsychology. . . . [T]here is no doubt that many dowsers, consciously or unconsciously, make use of the experience, now generally known as an OBE. The Maine dowser Bob Ater, at the beginning of this book, imagined that he was “hovering like a bird” while he map-dowsed for the two reporters from The Saturday Evening Post. John Shelley, formerly president of the American Society of Dowsers, became so sensitive that he was able to discard his pendulum and pick up information directly from a site; he reached the point where he could answer telephone requests for help in finding water by visualizing the place to be dowsed and then giving a detailed description to the caller as to where the well should be sunk. There is a noteworthy account in a 1960 issue of the Journal of the British Society of Dowsers, in which map dowsing, an OBE and site dowsing all combine in one incident.

Dowsing today . . . is uniquely able to link us into this other dimension of energy to provide practical and personal proof of the existence of the paranormal. . . . Dowsing may also be important in helping to overcome the widespread nervous skepticism about the occult. . . . [I]n its own way, it is less dramatic a method of gaining access to another world and a new understanding of the mysteries of consciousness: The world of Psi, you might say, at your fingertips.

The fact that dowsing can develop psychic abilities associates dowsing with the world of the occult and spiritism, not science.

Faith, Respect, and Interaction

Dowsing requires faith, respect, and a personal interaction and response with the rod. Raymond Willey observes that “you must be prepared to treat this faculty of dowsing with respect.” Hester remarks:

Anything that causes the dowser to question the act, or to lose “faith” in it, immediately renders him incapable of performing. He can get no answers from his device, or method. We witnessed such a circumstance. An expert dowser was in great demand, and was doing an important job of water witching when we appeared on the scene to interview him. He was curious about our interest in dowsing and about the psychic aspects, of which he seemed to be entirely ignorant. He called us the next day to tell us he had become perturbed about the sorcery aspect of the act, and when he had returned to his day’s dowsing, he found that his ability had left him. We have found repeatedly that a mental “set” or faith is an absolute necessity to successful dowsing.

Many additional illustrations of the need for respect and reverence of the implements could be cited from those who use other forms of divination, such as Ouija boards, the I Ching, rune dice, tarot cards, ceremonial magic, and other forms of the occult. But if faith and respect are required in dowsing, some people may wonder how dowsing can work for skeptics. The truth is that many occult practices have worked for skeptics, and the result has often been their conversion to occultism. The spirits who operate behind these methods may seek to influence the skeptic. And after “conversion,” the spirits demand faith and respect in the implements they work through. If these implements are not given proper reverence, the practitioner may suffer the spirit’s discipline or wrath. Contemporary occult practice and the history of idolatry are replete with examples. At a national astrology convention that Weldon attended, a practitioner of crystal work told him the disturbing manner in which the “spirit of the crystal” reacted to his “disrespect” for the crystal. He claimed that the spirit attempted to choke the life from him and almost succeeded. Missiologist G. W. Peters states, “It has been experienced that the transportation of an idol has actually brought serious physical disturbances, destruction and death to the new locality and community.”

Nevertheless, many indications exist that a personal entity operates through the dowsing implement. For example, the dowser must ask specific questions of his rod or pendulum, which is why all the “how-to” books tell the dowser, “[T]alk to your stick.” In reading the accounts of dowsers’ personal communications with the supposedly impersonal “force” of dowsing, one is immediately struck by the similarity to Ouija boards and other forms of psychic oracles that require “yes” or “no” answers. The Ouija board itself, of course, is merely wood, just like the dowser’s stick. Yet there is often a living power behind it, an independent, personal entity that demands you to inquire of it if you wish success.

Significantly, Willey states of dowsing: “One of its most dramatic features is its ‘selectivity.’ This means dowsing supplies an answer to a specific question. . . . (You have learned how a yes and no answer is obtained from dowsing devices, often obtaining answers to questions which cannot be answered from other sources).” Another dowser makes the following a universal necessity: “Always decide precisely what you seek and ask for it in unmistakable terms.”

Here is an illustration showing just how dependent people can become on communicating with the stick:

A world wide method of getting answers from the forked stick is to choose a pattern of nods. Holding the stick firmly as possible, questions are asked that can be answered in “yes,” “no,” “how far,” “how deep,” etc. [questions], as long as questions can be made this simple. The stick nods in answer. Worldwide witness to this phenomenon is that the stick moves so strongly it cannot be controlled. The historic dowser, Aymar traced four criminals from Lyon to Toulon and to the quay from which three of them had escaped by ship—all by answers from his stick. We watched a water witcher who located a spot over an underground stream. Then by habit he stood quietly over the spot while his stick began to nod. It stopped at 85 and he announced that we would find the stream at that depth (he was right). . . .

Twenty years later when we decided we must drill for a water well, we hired another witcher, not telling him about the earlier witching. He spent some time going over our acreage hunting, finally zeroing in on the exact spot located so long before. We knew because we had marked that original spot with a large rock. This dowser used a heavy curved stick he held firmly at the ends. Over the water it twisted downward in his hands which did not move. He then stood quietly, his eyes closed and holding the stick out over the spot. After several seconds he turned and told us we would find a large stream at 85 feet. The two dowsers could not have known each other. Our man was an official of the Southern California Gas Company, while the old man, now dead many years, was a well driller. Both of them were right. We hit a large stream (40 gallons per minute) at exactly 85 feet in a country where no water was available except as found in a stream.

Dowsers are thus taught to talk to the power, but one can only ask why, and wonder to whom are they talking. Why would a truly impersonal force need to be conversed with? Why does it require reverence? How can it “demand” this? Unless, of course, one is really dealing with something personal like a spirit entity. Note the following statement by a dowser who attempts to give the practice Jesus’ endorsement:

“ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.” Be very specific about what you ask for. Include names and times in your questions if you know them. . . .

Whom do you ask? No one knows that for sure. Ask God if you wish. Ask your hand or your dowsing instrument or your map. The classic statement of Jesus concerning asking and receiving, with which we are all familiar simply says “ASK.”

No dowser living knows who or what they are really asking help from. One would think this might make the average dowser, especially the Christian dowser, rather cautious.

So far we have seen indications that the force behind this practice is personal, intelligent, and desirous of human interaction. Perhaps this is one reason Martin Luther referred to dowsing as a form of idolatry. If men were only dealing with an impersonal force, it would never require respect, or faith, or personal communication. But aren’t these responses exactly what spirit guides require and demand of their human mediums? In the remaining eight items, we will show even more clearly how dowsing is linked to the world of spiritism and the occult.

Linkage to Occult Practices

Dowsing is often linked with other forms of occult practice. For example, dowsers frequently employ occult pendulums and radionic devices. This is why dowsing societies routinely sell a wide variety of pendulums and other occult implements, such as “aura indicators.” In addition, dowsers have made connections between dowsing and many other occult practices, such as astral projection, remote viewing, and, as noted earlier, shamanism and yoga.

Below we will document the dowser’s dependence on one particular occult instrument, the pendulum. In fact, rod dowsing is so often linked to pendulum work that the term “rod and pendulum” is standard dowsing nomenclature.

For the American Society of Dowsers (ASD) and other dowsing societies, the rod and pendulum are joined like bread and butter. Occult pendulums are routinely sold by the ASD. The standard “supply list” cites: “pendulum power kits,” the “Alden Titanium Pendulum,” a bullet-shaped chrome pendulum, a “Puget Magnetic Pendulum,” a chrome pendulum with a radionic “witness” chamber, as well as marbleized, clear, and black ball pendulums. The ASD also sells “PSI spenders,” “energy wheels,” and the “Alden Super Sensitive Diviner,” which combines the L-Rod pendulum and an “aura indicator.” All such implements, however, are useless radionics devices: The psychic power comes from the spirit who works through the operator, not through the device. This explains why the device can eventually be dispensed with.

Dowsing also makes use of “the witness.” A “witness” is a piece of hair, clothing, blood, or other personal belonging or object from which psychic information is desired. The American Dowser states:

Dowsers use witnesses and samples mostly when looking for things in nature, water, ore, oil or gas. A dowser may have a number of small glass tubes or vials that he fastens on the tip of his fork. Others hold such a tube in one of the hands that grasps the fork or holds the pendulum. . . . Pendulums are sometimes made hollow, so samples may be placed inside them. . . . A sample is a small amount of the material, liquid or solid, for which the dowser is searching. A witness can be the same article used by a person who is missing. . . . Witnesses and samples can be used with any dowsing method, Field Dowsing, Remote Dowsing, Map Dowsing and Information Dowsing.

Nevertheless, observe how easily the dowsing rod and pendulum are joined together. The American Dowser states: “You can talk to your friends about dowsing and our Society now with the confidence that every one that you discover that has the dowsing faculty will be able to get his dowsing rods and pendulums quickly and get instruction books to tell him or her more about using them.”

The Society also maintains contact with other organizations that specialize in radionics and psychometry, e.g., the ASD is the American sister organization of the German Society of Dowsers and Pendulum Practitioners.

Finally, almost all water dowsers are “sensitive” to the pendulum, which is why a majority of dowsers actually use them. “About ten years ago, an enthusiastic friend got me interested in dowsing and, many times since then, my pendulum has helped me make up an undecided mind. Sometimes I have gone contrary to the pendulum’s advice and have been sorry.”

Hereditary Transfer

Dowsing abilities may be hereditarily transmitted. Psychic abilities are received either by a process of training and instruction (i.e., by psychic development), by direct transfer from a person with occult powers, or inherited from their forebears, apparently as part of God’s judgment on the practice of sorcery.

During his life, Dr. Kurt Koch had counseled over ten thousand people involved in the occult.

He reports: “In the field of heredity, a coherence persisting into the third and fourth generations is seen in the case of active occultists. These effects are thus no less persistent in their hold on succeeding generations than those of alcoholism, syphilis, and psychoses.”

Koch also reveals:

Psychic powers are mostly found in proximity to sins of sorcery. If the forefathers up to the third or even fourth generation were spiritists or if they practiced magic and other forms of occult activity, the descendants are usually psychic. . . . Sensitivity to the rod and ability to make a pendulum react are psychic powers. I have investigated the family histories of many people who have a psychic disposition. The gift of using the rod or discovering secret things by means of the pendulum can be acquired in three ways: by heredity, by transference from a powerful worker with the occult or by experimenting with magic formulas as described in occult books. . . . The idea of some theologians that psychic powers can be purified and then used in the service of God’s kingdom is unscriptural. This is shown by the story of the fortune-teller of Philippi in Acts 16:16-18. If a Christian uses psychic powers, he is committing sin and is in need of forgiveness.

In other words, the dowsing ability is received in the same three ways that psychic powers in general are received: 1) by months and even years of instruction and practice; 2) by direct transfer; 3) by inheritance. The first way of receiving dowsing power—by instruction and practice—is widely acknowledged by dowsers. Raymond Willey states concerning the second way—inheritance: “Those of you who have the faculty may be able to learn that you have inherited it. It is known to often pass from grandfather to grandson, from mother to son, from father to daughter.” Another dowser mentions his belief that “one has to be born” a dowser: “Either one can dowse or one cannot.” The third manner of receiving dowsing powers is from direct transference from teacher to student. This may occur in a similar manner to which Eastern gurus and spiritistic channelers can transmit “psychic energies” into their students, making them psychic (see Yoga, Eastern Gurus, Meditation).

All of this continues to reveal that dowsing is an occult ability, not a natural one, let alone a scientific practice.

Christian Hindrances to Dowsing

Christian responses to dowsing, such as conversion and prayer, hinder dowsing powers. Conversion to Christ may mean loss of the dowsing ability altogether, and prayer may interrupt or prevent the dowsing process. Hester refers to “case histories of where prayer stopped the dowsing rod cold.” Hester and Koch both refer to cases where conversion to Christ or prayer ended or hindered the ability to dowse:

Another case of loss of ability seemed to be traced to an acceptance of Christian belief. We wrote to a doctor whom we had known here as an accomplished dowser. He had moved out of state and we had not heard from him for about three years. He seemed surprised at our inquiry, and he stated that he had lost his ability to dowse when he had been converted to Christianity and had become a “born-again-Christian.” This puzzled him until one day as he was reading his Bible, he ran across the biblical proscription against divination.

Of course, conversion to Christ may not always remove the ability. As is true with other psychic powers, sometimes they are removed totally, sometimes they linger. A number of variables seem responsible for the outcome, including extent of involvement, family history in the occult, sincerity of conversion, the degree of repudiation of the dowsing art, the extent of informed discipleship, and prayer for the person after conversion. And all of this reveals an additional link to spiritism. Regeneration (John 3:3-8; 6:63; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and answers to prayer (Proverbs 15:8,29; 1 John 5:14) deal with the activity of God; when these activities counteract certain practices, then these other practices cannot be activities of God, or else God would be working against Himself.

We would expect the activity of demons to be hindered by conversion or prayer. Jesus, after all, came “to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). Christian actions may hinder other psychic activity as well, but to think a neutral or natural power would operate so selectively is simply not credible.

Christian dowsers often reply that they have “prayed” about using the device and so feel that it is okay. But does one ever pray about committing the sin of divination? If dowsing is condemned in Scripture (Hosea 4:12; Deuteronomy 18:9-12), there is no need to pray about using the practice. If one is ignorant of the biblical prohibition, that is one thing. But if a person knows that God has warned against divination and then prays about whether it is permissible, this reflects doubt about God’s Word and is an insult to Him (James 1:5-8). This is the real problem of much Christian dowsing: unbelief or rebellion. One rationalizes or rejects God’s Word and engages in the practice anyway. Is it surprising that Christians can be led astray when they do not believe and trust what God has said in the Bible?

About Christian dowsers, Hester writes:

We know of Christian dowsers who have used it as a tool for their own use and to help others for almost a lifetime. It is impossible to accuse them of being occultists, yet they have been using an occult method in ignorance and innocence. . . .

Then there are Christian dowsers who do know, but they find the desire, or necessity, great enough to take the chance. They may never experience any inkling of occult involvement unless they become conscience stricken and desire to stop. They often confess to having prayed for protection, or they tell themselves that this must be a gift from God, suspecting all the while that it just may be something else. Not once have we ever heard one of them admit to having tested the spirits, or that they prayed for enlightenment. We have heard the dowser’s smiling prayer, “If this is not from You, do not let it happen!” to show us how wrong we were in our opinion. The rod always worked perfectly after such a prayer. . . .

It is pure presumption to suspect or know and yet to try to pray for protection.

Uncontrollable and Supernatural

Dowsing power is uncontrollable and supernatural. If dowsing were really a learned human ability, then it could be controlled at will, just like any other learned human ability, from bike riding to typing. What proves dowsing is not a human ability is its uncontrollable nature, independent will, and supernatural power. We will look at these important issues in some detail, beginning with a personal illustration.

John Weldon has a friend “Sam,” who owns a farm in California. Needing more water, Sam called a local drilling company, only to discover that they employed a dowser to locate water.

Although a committed skeptic, Sam agreed to let the dowser try to find the best spot to drill. The dowser cut a forked branch from a tree and walked the property. Everyone present noticed the forceful thrust of the stick downward. When Sam became more skeptical than ever, the dowser offered to prove the power was real. He challenged Sam to use the stick himself. When Sam walked the property and got to the same spot as before, the stick was powerfully thrust downward as if by an invisible hand. Sam was shaken; he couldn’t believe it. He knew he had done nothing to move the stick, but it had still reacted powerfully to the same location. When the rest of Sam’s family tried, it worked for two others, but not for three additional members who also tried it.

The next day, Sam explained this incident to Dr. Weldon, who was visiting him at his farm. Weldon told him that it was a spiritistic ability and something to be avoided. Sam, unbelieving of such things, challenged Weldon: “Look, I’ll show you it works.” As he cut a branch from a tree, Weldon told him that there would be no power manifested. Try as he would, Sam could not get the stick to react, and he kept cutting branches from different trees and bushes, thinking the power resided in the “proper” kind of branch.

Dr. Weldon explained that no power was evident this time because: 1) the dowser was not there, therefore his spirit guide was probably not present, and 2) even if it were present, Weldon explained that he had prayed that God would prohibit any spiritistic activity from being encountered. Yet Sam still did not understand why the power wasn’t there. It was obviously present on one day and entirely absent the next day. In the end, Sam employed the dowser, who successfully located water at the spot indicated by the dowsing rod. Today Sam believes in dowsing.

This incident illustrates that dowsing cannot work on the basis of a natural sensitivity to water “radiations,” which many dowsers claim. If the theory were true, the experiment should have worked the second time because the water was still there and it had powerfully worked for both Sam and the dowser the day before. And if dowsing were a natural human ability, why did it only work for certain members of Sam’s family? The fact that it worked for some but not for others indicates selectivity and shows that some other explanation is necessary.

A former ASD editor reveals a conclusion arrived at by many practitioners: that the dowsing power operates independently of the dowser:

There is easily demonstrated evidence that the force which moves the dowsing device is independent of the searching-out ability of the dowser. I won’t go into any discussion of theories, but will take time to briefly acquaint you with some facts about the behavior of dowsing devices, facts which are not well known to the casual dowser or to the public. These facts, so far as I have been able to find out, have been given little weight by most students of dowsing. . . .

I was also told that many who could create this movement were reluctant to do so in public because there were supernatural implications in the demonstration. . . .

I feel the behavior of dowsing devices under these two conditions calls for serious consideration of the idea there is an unknown force acting as part of the dowsing phenomenon.

Another leader in dowsing reports: “Students of dowsing know that the force can be activated to move devices when no dowsing search is involved, demonstrating that this unknown force has an independent existence, that it is not tied to the information gathering process.” Clearly, the power of dowsing is too great to be explained by anything natural or human.

An examination of dowsing phenomena itself reveals that a supernatural power is at work. Following are some illustrations:

One day he demonstrated his ability to me and then suggested I try. I was no skeptic; even so, amazement was total as I felt the rough bark twist in my hands. Hard as I gripped, I couldn’t keep that rod vertical, although I persisted until my hands were on the verge of blisters.

Shafica Karagulla, a neuropsychiatrist and member of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, states that “. . . the rod began to bend downward with such force that although I have strong wrists, I could not prevent it.” Ben Hester cites the book by Dr. Bruce Copen of Sussex, England, Dowsing For You:

Strong men have tried all kinds of gadgets to retard the movement of the dowsing rod without avail—the best one can describe the movement of the rod is that the movement, being very sudden, is like a mysterious hand which grasps the end of the rod and either moves it up or down, even at times when one is practicing on something that is known to be present, the shock of the movement is so sudden that one wonders where the power comes from.

Based on years of study and conversations with leading dowsers, Hester supplies his own conclusion and then offers a personal anecdote which underscores the power of the force operating behind dowsing:

It can be stated no more clearly, it is an outside force that moves the rod, not the slight muscle twitch of the dowser’s arms.

We watched and interviewed an internationally known dowser who, at our request used two pairs of pliers to hold his forked stick. The pull downward by some external force was so great it stripped the bark off the stick held in the pliers. We tried to pull the stick up from its downward position and found it necessary to exert what we estimated to be more than a ten pound pull. How could a physicist ignore such a fact?

Even dowsers confess that the dowsing power has an independent will of its own:

The first time you get a dowsing reaction, it is likely to be a very odd feeling. The rod or the pendulum seems to take off spontaneously, moved by some force which you can’t understand or control, and like anything supposedly inanimate which seems to have a will of its own, it can be unnerving.

It may even be best to pretend that the pendulum or the rod has an independent existence, its movements willed from outside in spite of your rational brain saying that this is impossible. The British dowsing instructor, Tom Graves puts it this way: “Treat the instrument as if it has a life and mind of its own, which in most senses it hasn’t but that’s beside the point. I sometimes think of instruments as being like cantankerous children: they won’t work unless you ask them to, and certainly won’t work if you try and force them to; they occasionally lie and sometimes sulk and refuse to work at all; so you have to use a little guile, a little ingenuity, and a little wit to get the results you need.” . . .

I like the way Steve Bosback, the Arizona dowser, puts himself in the right frame of mind for dowsing. He settles himself with his rod comfortably poised in the neutral position and asks quietly: “Please indicate when I am ready to receive positive answers to dowsing questions. . . .”

Then he waits, contemplating.

After maybe ten or twenty seconds, the rod stirs faintly to life and then flicks quickly up into his chest. Now, he is ready to work.

And, just as clearly, the dowsing power is not subject to human control:

Looking at the history of tests of dowsing ability held under controlled experimental conditions, it is clear that none of them have unambiguously proved dowsing to be a repeatable faculty to be summoned at will.

. . . . Dowsers have always been aware of a physical force they could not control.

This completely ignored the force of the dowsing rod, forked stick, or whatever, that once started in its movement cannot be controlled or stopped by the dowser. This is the witness of every experienced dowser. They describe it in such terms as “almost frightening,” “challenging,” “exciting,” and “my greatest experience.” Dr. Bruce Copen of Sussex, England, in the introduction to his book Dowsing For You describes this vividly. . . . “One thing is very certain, that once the rod decides to move—it moves and nothing can stop it!”

It is evident, as it is true for the spirits themselves, that dowsing lends access to supernatural information—information a person could not possibly know. The impersonal dowsing rod is supposedly able:

(1) to have total recall of past events, (2) to foretell future events, (3) to project itself through anything, (4) to project itself anywhere instantaneously, (5) to contain infinitely more information than it had ever been taught or heard of, and (6) to advise its present possessor on all things in a manner that can be classed as no less than superhuman. Some dowsers attribute these six characteristics to “the God within you.”

And because dowsing is practiced worldwide, the dowsing power can respond to literally hundreds of languages. The dowser must ask the specific questions to receive specific answers. But how did an impersonal force learn every language under the sun? Actually, how did it learn any language at all?

Amoral, Yet Personal Energy

Dowsing utilizes an amoral yet “personal” spiritual energy. This amoral yet personal nature of the power behind dowsing provides another important key for determining its source. Significantly, a demon can also be described as an intelligent, amoral, personal energy residing in the spiritual realm. It too can interact with the physical world, particularly in the realm of “energy” manifestations. And, as we are noting throughout this book, demons are capable of deliberate deception. Sooner or later demons will deceive their contacts.

This same kind of deception is found in dowsing. One dowser confessed what many others have experienced: “All of us were mystified. The dowsing reaction was strong—but also wrong.” Another acknowledged, “In seeking to locate reported hidden treasure, I have dowsed and received ‘yes’ answers with regard to as many as four different places at a single time. Is it any wonder that there is so much confusion about the value and performance of a dowser?”

Hester, too, mentions this deceptive characteristic of dowsing and discusses the extent of the problem. Once again, we can see why Luther classified dowsing as a form of idolatry: Dowsing subordinates a person to another power, a power to whom he pledges his allegiance, his trust, his loyalty, yet a power of the most dangerous type—an amoral power:

If dowsing were no more than a physical reaction of the device or the human body, as some modern investigators claim, there would be no particular need to discuss the problem of right and wrong. However, since the device will answer questions . . . the question of right and wrong becomes a critical issue. In using the information, . . . the most frightening conclusion one can draw from this is its danger in the hands of an evil man, and much worse, that this intelligent power source will lend itself to do evil.

Dangers of Dowsing Practice

It is the amoral nature of the dowsing power that brings up the subject of the dangers of dowsing practice.

We have documented elsewhere that numerous psychological, spiritual, and physical ailments may be associated with psychic and occult activities. If dowsing is truly an occult activity, we could expect to encounter similar types of hazards.

T. E. Coalson refers to the characteristic minor ailments, the “large number of the physical discomforts in dowsing: malaise, headaches, tension, and irritability.” Hester observes: “That it is detrimental to the health of the dowser is matter of record,” and he supplies a number of illustrations.

Dr. Kurt Koch warns of more serious spiritual consequences when he reveals, “I have several hundred examples concerning pendulum and rod dowsers, and all are negative in character. I cannot understand those theologians and Christian workers who regard dowsing as harmless.” Thus, dowsers not infrequently have mental and physical problems, as well as psychic and spiritual disturbances, related to their practice. T. C. Lethbridge’s wife, Mina, said of her husband, “Excessive work with the pendulum depleted his vitality and contributed to his death of a heart attack.”

Other hazards are more obvious, such as being deceived by the device (e.g., leading to financial loss) or receiving incorrect medical diagnosis with a serious illness, leading to further complications or death. “We found many well drillers reluctant to discuss dowsing, but after friendly conversation their reluctance changed to bitter denunciation of the dowsers and the financial havoc they create by their failures.” Hitching quotes research chemist P.A. Orgley: “The nuisance value and the menace of dowsing is not sufficiently realized. A water or mineral witcher can cause an awful waste of private and public money. The medical witcher can cause a waste of public life.”

Not unexpectedly the potential danger in dowsing has been recognized in other ages, as Coalson reports: “Georgius Agricola, in his medieval work De Re Metallica, exercised great caution when speaking of dowsers. Claiming that they were led by evil forces, he advised that all those interested in the subject drop it before it became fatal.” In the fifteenth century no less an occult authority than Paracelsus warned, “Therefore care is to be sedulously taken that ye suffer not yourselves to be seduced by the divination of uncertain arts. For they are vain and frivolous, especially the Divinatory Rods, which have deceived many miners. For if they show anything rightly, they on the contrary deceive ten times.”

As a final warning, Hester discusses his response to a Christian dowser who claimed the technique was harmless:

. . . The record is there for the reading. . . . nausea, dizziness, convulsive pains, muscle spasms, loss of memory, fainting and headaches during and after the simplest type of dowsing—water witching. Some dowsers do not recover their sense of well being for hours or many days after witching. This does not include the physical discomfort of some types of dowsing: bleeding hands, burning feet, the rod flying back to slap the dowser in the face as the water is located (we know of one dowser who wears a crash helmet to take the force of the blow). Even the metal or wood rod forced into an arc at waist level, slaps back against the belly of the witcher with a stinging and resounding whack.

Dr. Kurt Koch has told us of dowsers who, although apparently suffering none of the above effects, have fallen prey to severe psychic disturbances at a later date. Dr. Koch has also recorded case histories of severe psychological and psychic trauma by recipients of medical dowsing. We have written of the harm a dowser can cause a “victim” at will, but it is obvious that if this occult power is used to cause harm, it will seldom, if ever, be confessed.

Conversion to the Occult

Dowsing can precipitate psychic involvement or conversion to the occult. This should be obvious by now; however, we will cite one striking illustration of how this “innocent” practice can lead people into occultism. Indeed, part of the problem is just that: its innocent reputation. After all, how could walking around with a shrub branch be dangerous?

We believe it is as dangerous as a child playing with a Ouija board. The American Dowser reports on Werner Nobel, M.D., who had an international reputation in orthopedics and neurology. The following is from his obituary column:

Werner became interested in dowsing about 8 years ago, when a local dowser showed him how to use a forked stick, and he experienced for the first time the powerful mysterious force pulling the stick down against the determined resistance of his tightly clenched fists. His scientific mind, intrigued by this experience, at once opened itself to the possibility that other esoteric phenomena, pooh-poohed by the scientific establishment, might also be real, though wrapped still in mystery. So, with customary initiative and energy, Werner began to collect and master a large library of esoterica, communicated with and travelled widely to meet with leading practitioners of and researchers into the phenomena of dowsing, energy fields, etc., and began research projects in Kirlian photography, animal acupuncture, and psychic healing at the University. He and his wife took a course in psychic healing and both became healers, singly and as a team, Werner especially displaying unusual gifts in this area. He also learned from a Swiss healer-dowser, Frau Felicitas Ruder, an interesting method of psychic diagnosis by automatic drawing in a meditative state, which he supplemented with information dowsing with the pendulum. His accuracy was very high. And in 1975 he was made a Trustee of the American Society of Dowsers, a role that was one of his greatest pleasures and interest in his last years.

In his description of the logical steps following a first encounter with a form of divination, Hester goes into more detail:

The certainty of it is that the next step will be presented sooner or later. . . . Generally there is a logical order, one building on the last. At least these are the steps that have actually been experienced:

Dowsing, using a Ouija board, going to a “reader,” etc.

An opportunity that can be seized only through further occult means. For instance, if one happens to be in need of further information that cannot be gotten in the yes and no answers of the dowsing device, it may be suggested that a visit to a medium will provide an answer. By this time, that extra bit of information has become so necessary, this step is almost impossible to refuse.

After having experienced steps one and two, this important and most attractive new possibility to get information and advice is almost impossible to turn away from. This results in more active participation in mediumism, psychometry, or other exciting psi activities.

Some occult ability will suddenly be received. It may be telepathy, retrocognition or precognition, and one is suddenly an active participant in occult manifestations.

The final step will be the preparation or indoctrination to receive a “control” or “guide” or “familiar spirit.” This may start through vivid and unusual dreams, unexpected and alien (important) ideas, a distinct mental impression (astonishingly different from the usual), and finally, the awareness of something or someone (a presence) nearby—generally at the right hand side. Eventually, after a time of introduction, the guide will establish an acceptable and recognizable method of communication.

Then, although the recipient is not only unaware of the danger, and will not turn back even if warned, the trouble starts. The guide starts giving advice. This advice is valuable, resulting in all sorts of advantages and good things. Then, if the advice is not taken, the guide pushes a little for compliance. Then the advice changes to demands—all for the “good” of the recipient. The demands become stronger and instructions are given as though they must be followed. . . . It ends by demanding control of every decision, action, thought and wish. The person who has had no brush with spiritism will find these details impossible to accept as reality. . . . The rest of the picture we have witnessed personally. The person so afflicted begins to lose his own personality, and the change is noticeable to the horror of his relatives and friends. The person withdraws more and more from old associations because he or she recognizes what is happening and cannot control it. A different personality emerges and fear lives with him day and night.

Dowsing and Spiritism

Evidence like the above leads Hester to observe that “the staff historically was a tool of witchcraft, magic and sorcery . . .,” and, “. . . everything we have presented here shows that the forked stick or any other dowsing device has nothing but occult associations.”

Because these associations are so prevalent, even dowsers will confess to the occult nature of the practice. The former president of the British Society of Dowsers, Major General Jedyll Scott Elliot, made the following comment to George Crite at an annual convention of the American Society of Dowsers. This was reported in the article, “Water Witching” by George Crite himself in New Times magazine: “What all of us are doing at this convention is witchcraft; in another age we could have been burned for it.”

But dowsers also admit direct connections to spiritism and the spirit world. A report on one dowsing seminar admitted “that dowsers, that is to say, any class of sensitives, are always surrounded by discarnate entities eager to express themselves. . . . They most easily accomplish this by breaking in and influencing the movement of whatever dowsing instruments are being used. . . .” Even well-seasoned practitioners agree:

Verne L. Cameron, the grand old man of dowsing, known all over the world for his ability, and completely generous in sharing his “know-how” tells in Aquavideo that his decision to dowse (he was primarily a water dowser) is nothing more than getting in touch with a spirit entity. He makes it sound like the most beneficial experience saying that the entity will tell you things you never dreamed of.

Dr. Reginald Allen, in The American Dowser, comments that “it is some invisible power that helps members of the American Society of Dowsers in their efforts.” And some dowsers claim that they contact the dead:

However, many dowsers are convinced that the power source is an entity, in fact a spirit of a dead person. One such case, of which we have personal knowledge, is that of a dowser-teacher who held a dowsing seminar in an adjoining city. He allowed us to tape record his classes, and we have those tapes. He stated flatly that several well known historical figures were his “spirit guides.” This man was a sincere, humble and able dowser. He expressed his surprise to the class that he should have been singled out for the attention of these spirits.

One former dowser who became a Christian concluded that dowsing was “nothing more than an instrument of divination. The spirit that takes over the mind of the passive dowser is a divining spirit as described in the Bible.” In fact, nearly every book written by world-famous expert dowsers either accepts the occult aspect of dowsing “or specifically identifies and promotes spirit contact as the means of success.”

Even Hitching, a dowser, confesses, “The use of the pendulum in dowsing seems to have grown naturally out of its ancient use, worldwide, among priests and seers to divine the future and receive messages from the world of the spirits.”

Perhaps this is why occultist P.M.H. Atwater can say, “Dowsing is the most constructive way I know to explore and expand intuitive/psychic abilities.”

After lengthy research, including discussions with leading American dowsers, Hester concludes:

We can be no more positive than to state that dowsing is making contact with the spirit world just as certainly as using the Ouija Board. The spirit world contacted is the world of evil spirits or angels under the leadership of Satan.

Indeed, as noted earlier, the similarity between dowsing and the Ouija board is obvious to anyone who is familiar with dowsing:

Every move, question or word in the dowsing act speaks of supernormal intelligence—greater intelligence than can be credited to any phenomenon of human intellect. The hallmark of every occult experience is undependability. This is the exact trait of dowsing, from simple witching to the claimed sophisticated radionics instrument, and it has been so since ancient times. Every book or pamphlet on dowsing instruction stresses the necessity to ask the device questions from the very first try. They urge the learner to keep trying until the thing suddenly does answer. . . . Is there any basic difference in this and the use of the Ouija Board?

Dowsing is neither a scientific technique nor a natural human ability. It is a spiritistic power used by dowsers who may think that they are using a natural or a divine gift. Unfortunately, they are practicing what is biblically forbidden.

Here is a testimony of the dangers of “ghost hunting” involving dowsing:

Reference: New Age Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.

If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself, and that is wrong. Please forgive me for all of my sins, just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in giving His life for me on the cross; I believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead, and I long to receive the forgiveness You have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”