A History of Dowsing

There is some indication that dowsing was practiced in the timeless past. This can be inferred from various wall paintings, stelae, manuscripts, and from ancient sites themselves. It was apparently well accepted in Europe when this country was being discovered. Sixteenth and seventeenth century treatises, as well as old coins, depict the dowser at work.

In the Bergbau Museum at Bochum, West Germany, there is an eighteenth century Meissen figurine of a dowser in the uniform of a miner, holding a forked stick. It can be assumed that the dowsing skills came with the colonists to the new world and were the means of locating the dug wells over which, for safety sake, as well as convenience, many of the early houses were built.

Today, the dowser stands at the edge of a field and determines, from a distance, exactly where the water vein is, how deep it is flowing, and at what rate. If he or she is particularly skilled, he zeroes in on his target with equal accuracy from a map. He can dowse across the street or across the ocean with some facility, and some even operate without a device.

Kay Degner teaches dowsing and would love to discuss it with you.