An article from the Esoteric School of Magic and Shamanism

How to Dowse or Water Witch

by Stephanie Yeh

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"Water Witching." The term sounds so delightful, mystical, and wonderful, doesn't it? Water witching is the art of using a magical tool, such as a pendulum or dowsing rods, or psychic abilities to find underground sources of water. People, including some plumbers, have been practicing water witching and dowsing for centuries.

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

According to Polly Cady, a master dowser of 14 years, one of the easiest ways to get started with water witching or dowsing is to start with a pendulum. You can make a pendulum from almost any lightweight object suspended on a chain, string or thread. Lightweight objects you can use include paper clips, small rocks, earrings, hairpins, pendants, small medallions, crystals and talismans. If you choose to use a crystal, use an amethyst because other kinds of crystals become too easily contaminated.

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

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

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

About the author: Stephanie Yeh, co-founder of the Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic (http://www.shamanschool.com), helps clients learn magical and shamanic techniques. Her current project, a free teleconference series on a variety of magickal and shamanic topics with guest speakers, is designed to share information and promote interaction between people of varying spiritual practices.