I'm not sure myself. I know that dowsing has been used to explore mines and
search for veins for hundreds of years. I have a strong regard for our
ancestors, they were NOT stupid, and if a technique worked it would be used,
if not it would be dropped. We rarely, for example accept divine inspiration
as a reason to dig a mine, but from old accounts I have read, dowsing did
seem to hold much credit. There is a danger, with modern science, for it to
become as much a religion to some as the worship of a god, and many
scientists seem extremely zealous about disproving that which cannot be
proven by science (with today's technology). To my mind we should be open to
the ideas behind dowsing. I know of several surveyors who use dowsing in
advance of geophysics to identify target areas. they often end up surveying
the whole area but tend to say they should have stuck to the areas
identified by dowsing.
I find it refreshing the number of people who have come forward in favour of
dowsing, I see no reason to think any less of a person who tries to use
every tool at there disposal in the furtherance of their research, dowsing
does after all use another other poorly understood but "known to work"
object - the brain.
My general thoughts about dowsing, which I have not tried myself is that
there is every reason to suppose that some people are able to detect some
features with dowsing. But when one looks at the efforts of an individual,
it would be unwise to stake ones reputation or spend a great deal of effort
on dowsing evidence alone. But then, that's the case with Geophysics also.
I found a book which shows a dowsed outline of a Roman fort at Hexham, I'm
not sure if anyone has taken that one any further.
George Chaplin
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