Divining rods, oy vey!

[Larry Edgerton]

Just imagine the tadoo if he had brought up mental telepathy......

[John M Wilson]

All the true telepaths would claim that they saw it coming!

[Jerome Stanek]

I have found water lines and electric lines by divining. When the plumber was here to install my water line from the road to the house I had both marked and when the UPS came out to spot the lines I was right on the money. The plumber couldn't believe it. I also installed casework for CVS amd Revco pharmacy's that I would spot the electric lines for the electrician.

[anthony wall]

my son is a plumbing contractor in the u k and often uses this method with a couple of bent welding rods to locate water feed pipes and it works well for him and some of the men who work for him though it does not work for others.i watched him do it on a housing development one lunchtime when he and maybe a dozen or so men all tried it out,the ratio was about 50/50 between those that could and those that could not they were trying to find buried services that they all knew the position of,i also tried and the rods crossed over the exact position of the pipes and i have used it a few times since sucessfully,i have absolutely no idea why it works for some people and not for others but it does work

[Jeff Nicol]

This is one of those things that can create some of the disgust and lack of respect that has been discussed in another thread. I have owned and used metal detectors for 27 years and have used them to find things that I would have never thought I would find, from tiny pieces of lead shot to whole cars buried in the ground. The fact that they work still baffles my mind, but it is science and years of perfection of a machine that gives us the ability to believe and trust these machines. But along the way we all come face to face with something that makes no sense and we can't wrap our brains around it, but it happens right there in front of us and there is no good or logical explanation for it. So those who have open minds and the willingness to accept the unbelievable no matter how absurd or "Mystical" it may be, will reap the rewards of the event. But those who are always in the naysayer crowd and must have some sort of scientific settling of the issue will miss out on some things that could be truly amazing, there should be no fear of the unknown but a healthy curiosity. We can never know it all no matter how we try, and in many "Scientific" truths that are proven, many times have information that is entered into the equation that is skewed, or incomplete, thus making it "Junk" science. But if you can get enough to believe in the junk science it soon becomes the gospel, but is still wrong.

So with all that being said, in the years of my treasure hunting I have run into a few old timers who were dowsers and of course I was a non-believer until I watched them find buried cannon balls, old rifles, and other civil war artifacts in Georgia while I was stationed at Ft. Stewart. I became a believer, and not just because it was cool, but because it was real, but still baffling just the same. So this leads me to the fact that I read as much as I could find on it at the time (Early 1980's) and I made a few different sets of rods to see if I could get it to work. I did the standard tests with chunks of metal right on the surface of the ground and the rods would move as they passed over it. Then I had friends place items in the yard, like nails, coins, etc. I was able to find all but one nail that was pushed into the ground with just the head up, I also found an old beer can, a railroad spike and an old ax head! So any and all who feel that it can never work, have some faith in the weird and wild may be what will help you experience the unbelievable!

As God as my witness, fear not what you don't know,

Jeff

[John Coloccia]

As for magnets.. It is recommended that pregnant women NOT use electric blankets, even if they do not plug them in because the generated magnetic field may affect fetus growth. Not so problematic in adults, however; at least not at the levels obtained from an electric blanket. With a large enough magnet, I can kill a full sized grizzly bear; if I can convince him to hold still and I can figure out how to lift it and drop it on him.

I believe there is some POTENTIAL concern for electromagnetic fields, although I believe the concern is greater for potentially elevated temperatures. Still, these are different than just magnetic fields. Of course, magnetic fields and electric fields are really the same thing in one sense, but for these purposes it's not really the same. To explain why would be very long winded, but suffice it to say that a magnet can't power a cordless toothbrush. The kinds of electromagnetic fields they're talking about have significant E fields that extend beyond the device. A permanent magnet doesn't. They may also have changing electromagnetic fields, which is a whole new ballgame as well. This is probably not a satisfying answer, but without invoking even less satisfying math, I can't do any better (I know I can't because I've tried!) It's like trying to explain why you can't arrange a bunch of permanent magnets to create stable levitation. I can't explain it intuitively, but it's actually relatively obvious and direct consequence of Gauss's law.

I don't know of any consequences of static magnetic fields on the living tissue.

Now there ARE changing electromagnetic fields in power lines, and they certainly CAN be detected. There are devices out there that can detect the fields that extend out from power lines. You can get cheap versions of these things at Home Depot in the form of those touchless electrical detectors that are supposed to tell you if an outlet is live or not (I've had them and they don't work for me half the time so I don't trust them). You can also grab a flourescent lamp and go stand under some high tension power lines....watch the lamp light up...whoo hoo! The question is does any of this have enough of the right kind of energy to actually move metal rods, and the answer's no.

I've no doubt, though, that people can find underground power lines and pipes by other means. I can usually find basic bugs in someone else's code because I've seen enough bugs and enough code to have a good idea of how people normally code and the kinds of bugs that can result. I can go right to it and I'm right most of the time. If I spent a career digging, I would probably get a really great feel for where power lines and pipes are normally buried...I would start to notice things like possibly a slight difference in terrain of a wire, maybe asphalt is more prone to cracking, maybe it's lined up in a straight line from the street to an outside electrical box, etc etc. Over time, I would be very good at picking stuff like this out...my subconscious would anyhow, and the divining rods would be a wonderful way to get at that information.

I don't doubt that they can work, but so far the evidence points to a far more refined ability of humans rather than some unknown physical law.

[Dan Friedrichs]

So for those of you who believe in dowsing - what do you say to the scientists, who are trained in statistical analysis and experimental design, who have concluded that it's nothing but chance? Do you believe that your personal experiences with dowsing are somehow better experimental examples than those designed by experts?

I know that sounds snarky, but I'm quite serious.

What if it were, say, drugs, instead. You and all your friends are taking "magic pill #3" and experiencing great results (I dunno...weight loss or something....). Then a group of expert scientists designs a double-blind clinical trial to test the effectiveness of "magic pill #3" and their results conclusively demonstrate that "magic pill #3" does nothing at all. Wouldn't you feel silly to continue to advocate the wonders of "magic pill #3"?

How is it any different with dowsing?

[Bill Huber]

I don't know but after reading all of these post I am still not sure if I should or shouldn't de-tension my dowsing rods.

[Greg Peterson]

So this is the thread that is going to derail the "Should I buy a Mac" thread, huh?

We're moving on to divining rods. Okay.

Can I make my own dowsing rods or should I buy some Monster Dowsing Rods?

[Leigh Betsch]

I'd get te Japanese white steel rods. Both harder and easier to sharpen.

[Jim Koepke]

Can I make my own dowsing rods or should I buy some Monster Dowsing Rods?

I have made my own out of heavy iron wire. Not sure if one metal is supposed to work better than the other.

I do know from electronics classes that a stream running east and west can produce a measurable current by moving across the north and south magnetic fields of the earth.

For the longest time, Man could not explain how flight worked, that did not deter the animals and insects that could fly.

For a little longer, science could not explain how the bumble bee flew. That one almost deserves folk lore status as a mistake was made in calculations and one person decided it was not possible by the laws of aerodynamics for a bumble bee to fly. Since then, we have learned a lot about flight and most engineers will agree that no laws are in danger of being broken during the flight of the bumble bee.

Besides two great woodworking tool makers being in Fort Bragg, CA, there is a man with some different ideas on how electrical fields work. I do not recall his name nor do I know that he is still alive, but he had an idea of rotating electrons producing electric fields or something. Not sure if that could explain dowsing or not.

Just because we do not have full understanding of how something works, does not mean there isn't some energy or force guiding us.

jtk

[Dan Friedrichs]

Just because we do not have full understanding of how something works, does not mean there isn't some energy or force guiding us.

Sure. But in the case of dowsing, we KNOW that it doesn't work because repeated, blinded, well-designed experiments have shown that it is no more likely to work than chance.

[Jerome Stanek]

Well If the people setting up the experiment are blind then how do they know it doesn't work?

[Larry Edgerton]

[QUOTE=Jim Koepke;1725817Just because we do not have full understanding of how something works, does not mean there isn't some energy or force guiding us.

jtk[/QUOTE]

Exactly. It is an arrogance that is often in time proven wrong, that being that the current understanding of science is the final word. From the time of the world being flat people have scoffed at ideas that they do not understand and can not explain with what they know to be fact. But facts change don't they?

I prefer to not get all worked up about it and leave such things as a possibility that we may not fully be able to qualify at this time. Takes way less energy and makes absolutely no difference in my life.

[Bill Clark De]

wait ---there isn't any invisible men in space ????... by extension the world ain't going to end in Nov.???? (recalculating the date as i write)!!!!
Could it all be so simple then??? Perhaps Bumpuck . is actually the center of the universe and that would explain the magnetic pull... or not... Danger Will Robinson!!! The cynics of the world have awoke again....Oh yea of little faith !!!!