The Gold Is Inside You – Promise! By Marilyn Barr

 

When I say “dowsing,” what image comes to mind? Is it an older cowboy holding two bent sticks while wandering the prairie? Is he looking for gold, water, or an ancient artifact? If so, you are not alone. Dowsing was in its heyday in the late 1880s but is making a comeback. However, dowsers aren’t searching for treasures under the ground, they are using the technique to read their intuition. Some dowsers still use the rods (made of hazel, willow, or metal) but the pendulum has passed it in popularity.

How old is this “new age” technique? According to the American Society of Dowsers, dowsing rods and pendulum setups have been found in gravesites on the island of Crete dating back before 400 AD. Pendulum use has been depicted in older Chinese and Egyptian art. The use of dowsing was banned by the Catholic church and reinforced by Martin Luther during the Reformation as the use of false idols. This made dowsing a taboo, paranormal, and forgotten art. Nevermind, that Moses’ son Aaron uses dowsing rods to find water in the Old Testament. Are you speaking to Satan when you swing a pendulum, or does he cross the rods when you are looking for water? Why would the dark lord of cruelty help someone find water in the desert?

(Dowsing pictographs from Atlas Mtn of North Africa from dowsers dot org)

 Where there isn’t understanding superstition and magical supposition reign so we can’t blame the churches of the 1500s for not understanding magnetic fields or background radiation. Gauss didn’t invent the magnetometer for another 300 years and Geiger didn’t invent the Geiger Count to measure radiation for another 400 years. There’s no way they could explain the movement of physical items without a visible force without the inclusion of spirits. Even today, people deem dowsing as an occultist pseudoscience because they doubt the sensitivity of the rods and pendula ability to detect these forces.

Thanks to science we can measure forces with instruments more sensitive than our human eyes and explain the relationship between the rods and water or precious metals. Large changes in the composition under the earth will cause a minute change in background radiation or magnetic field from the surrounding area. This is because every substance on earth (and beyond) has a unique chemical composition of protons, electrons, and empty space. This composition gives off a signature in radiation, electronic charge, and magnetic field. All these signatures are related to one another. With my advanced degree in particle physics, I could bore you to tears with the beautiful force diagrams, calculus, and energetic interactions…but I will spare you.

(Mr. Gold dowsing on Discovery Channel's "Bering Sea Gold")

When looking for water, the dowsing instrument will move with the change in signature because of the change in environment. But what about using the pendulum or rods to make choices? Modern dowsers aren’t looking for water (we can see facets) or gold (we are bombarded with jeweler’s commercials every December and February.) They are using dowsing to reach inside themselves and measure their intuition. While water under the ground has a chemical signature, so does the water within us.

 How paranormal is that? We give off magnetic, electrical, and radiation energies with our thoughts. Skeptical? Get an EEG (electroencephalogram) which measures our electrical impulses in brain waves. Evidence of alpha, beta, and gamma waves’ correlation to different mental states is well documented. What we truly want can be hidden by the societal norms rooted in our conscious, but our chemical signatures can’t lie. Dowsing rods and pendula are just cheaper instruments for measuring these signatures. I, for one, can’t afford to set up an EEG in my living room.

(Types of brain waves from the neurofeedbackalliance.org)

For dowsing, I prefer a pendulum without a mat. I have purchased a pendulum through a crystals dealer because I like the bling. Any object suspended from a cord, string, or chain, can be a pendulum. I use a necklace in a pinch but have witnessed the bobbin at the end of a window blind’s cord work for someone else (while still attached to the window). The key is not to change instruments mid-session because substances all act differently based on their composition’s electrical charge. Commercial mats are available for interpreting the pendulum’s movement with ‘yes’. ‘no’, numbers, and letters written on them. This is the same principle behind Ouija boards. Sorry for the spoiler!

(My pendulum from Energetically in Harmony https://eih111.com/collections/pendulums)

Since I don’t use a mat, I ask my pendulum questions to learn its reactions to my impulses. Think of it as calibrating an instrument. I ask my pendulum to “show me yes,” “show me no.” and “show me I don’t know yet.” The pendulum will swing horizontally, vertically, spin clockwise, or spin counterclockwise. My next step is to test my interpretation by asking about a truth and a lie. If I ask, “am I asking in Kentucky,” I should get a “yes” response. I follow this with “am I asking in Siberia” to get the “no” response. If I get these questions wrong, I meditate to reacquaint myself with my intuition or grab another cup of coffee.

Where most new dowsers get tripped up is firing questions at their instrument like a fuselage. Just like dumping five blood samples into a hematology analyzer will give you mixed results that light up the panel like a Christmas tree, your impulses will bleed over one another. Be sure to wave your hand between the instrument and your body between questions to clear it. By disrupting the flow of electromagnetic waves, you can influence the pattern as it reorganizes. Also, it is best to dowse in a quiet place, I can’t tell you the number of times I was dowsing and my son asking for a snack registered with my pendulum because my thoughts wandered.

(Me with my pendulum)

Dowsing takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if you get the “I don’t know yet” response or no response at all. I recently asked if I should restart my retailer ads for Walk the Plank. My pendulum vibrated at me while my frustration boiled over. In a follow-up meditation, I remembered seeing an ad for a challenge in creating this same type of ad. That’s why my pendulum was confused by my response! I do want to restart them but only after learning from this 5-day course…a conditional yes. The problem wasn’t my intuition or dowsing, but my question. I find wording the questions the most difficult part of dowsing.

What’s old is now new with our increased understanding of science and what was deemed occultist magic is easily explained. Could spirits, aliens, or ghosts influence our chemical signatures too? I’ll let you be the judge, but I find the physical evidence of my mental acuity on physical objects empowering. If you could reach into the chemical basis of your deepest desires, what would you ask? Talk about getting to know yourself!

Do I have dowsing in my paranormal romance books or just my paranormal life? Chevelle the Hoodoo Priestess in Walk the Night: A Vampire, Pirate Romance dowses over her herbs to create her spells. Meet Chevelle here - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TYJ49Q9

Here's the back of the Book Blurb:

Magda’s second chance at marriage promises to be a dream come true—if she survives her mysterious nightmare illness. She has been married for a week and is desperate for a much longer happily ever after.

Branko would trade places with Magda in a heartbeat, but the sickness plaguing Nassau prefers European hosts and spares the natives of the Caribbean. While he believes Mother Nature is punishing those who destroy her beautiful islands, he refuses to accept that Magda deserves to be on the list for retaliation

The civilized world hasn’t a cure for Magda, but Branko will try anything to save her—including reuniting with a ghost from his past. He requests the help of a Hoodoo priestess but magic always comes with a price… She’s asking for Leaf, the young wildcrafter and ship’s cook, in exchange. Will Captain Branko repeat the betrayal of Blackbeard and sell a deckhand for treatment, or say goodbye to the love of his life?