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Rediscovering Ancient Pathways
But now I know people of all sorts and persuasions who, in an unencumbered way, have developed or discovered dowsing skills. Key to all these examples is people putting their ‘mind’ to the
task. This word ‘mind’ is the secret because, as I soon discovered at Dubbo, successful dowsing
is all about a concentrated focus of the human mind – or the use of what is termed mental ‘intent’.
Mental thought is a basic physiological manifestation – that is, a concentrated stream, focussing
and use of physical energy. As such, this different form of ‘energy’ focus may have physical and
chemical effects across distance and even time. In spiritual matters, this is a component of prayer.
The physical and/or chemical manifestation of the directed focus of human intention has also
been written about as ‘psycho-energetics’ (Krippner, 1979), a term developed by Czech physicist
František Kahuda (1911–1987). 6 Similar concepts have also been expounded by Lipton (2011). One
example is the remarkable quantifed and photographed effects of Japanese scientist Dr. Masaru
Emoto who, through powerful concentrated positive thought and even music, has shown that it is
possible to change the shape of water molecules and crystalline structures (Radin et al., 2006).
From a farmer’s perspective, a healthy water cycle is a key landscape function, and we all know
water is the lifeblood of the living (especially in my dry continent of Australia). People like Patrick
MacManaway hold water in the highest esteem. ‘It is the consciousness of the earth, planet and
soils’, he said in his course. ‘It is the matrix that holds the quality of consciousness, and beautiful,
patterned, bright water crystals are vital for human and landscape health’. Water can be divined
not just because its movement creates an electromagnetic force but also because even deep water
underground has an energetic effect on the surface. Moreover, other subtle energies in or below our
landscapes can also be divined.
So at Dubbo, I learnt to detect various underground streams by focussing clearly on fnding
water. When found, my divining rods suddenly and vigorously swung inwards and crossed on my
chest. My divining also included fnding a major health energy point where streams intersected. It is
no accident that such nodes were ancient sacred sites or the location of temples and then churches.
But once found, and again through mental focus and use of a binary ‘yes/no’ series of questions, I
could then determine the approximate depth of the water below the surface. Experienced diviners/
dowsers and experts in subtle energy can do this with considerable accuracy.
Patrick MacManaway makes an important distinction between ‘dowsing’ and other ‘divinatory
approaches’. Dowsing (or the art of divining for something that is desired), as I learnt with wire
rods, is straightforward. You clear your mind and focus thought ‘intent’ and use a simple and specifc binary approach of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Such dowsing is not new. Moses divined water in the desert
with a rod over 3,500 years ago, and indeed evidence of dowsing dates back to at least 8,000 years
(Webster, 2008).
All sorts of dowsing tools can be used, but predominantly bent wire rods or wooden forked sticks
and wands. A few people dowse with their hands, and some use a simple pendulum: usually a small
piece of pottery, wood, plastic, metal or a piece of jewellery. One calibrates the tool by determining
the response to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ via the way the pendulum moves, and then proceeds to ask a series of
binary questions. Such questions, as I found among leading regenerative farmers, can apply to any
feld of activity.
In that Dubbo park, I then switched from water and focussed on detecting positive energy fows
in the landscape and I was also able to fnd these, and in different places to the underground water
streams. Again, it was because I had focussed my mental ‘intent’. However, there are also negative energies that can cause illnesses, sleeplessness and such. Geopathic stress is caused by detrimental energy zones that can arise from underground sources. These can be due to geological
faults and fractures, or from water fowing through such fault-line cracks in the underlying rock
6 The term psycho-energetics also features in a draft proposal published by the CIA to investigate psycho-energetic phenomena, which defnes this term as ‘remote viewing/extra sensory perception’ (ESP), or psychokinesis. Draft Proposal:
DoD Psychoenergetics Program. Released 2008/08/08. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP9600789R002100230001-3.pdf.
Rediscovering Ancient Pathways
But now I know people of all sorts and persuasions who, in an unencumbered way, have developed or discovered dowsing skills. Key to all these examples is people putting their ‘mind’ to the
task. This word ‘mind’ is the secret because, as I soon discovered at Dubbo, successful dowsing
is all about a concentrated focus of the human mind – or the use of what is termed mental ‘intent’.
Mental thought is a basic physiological manifestation – that is, a concentrated stream, focussing
and use of physical energy. As such, this different form of ‘energy’ focus may have physical and
chemical effects across distance and even time. In spiritual matters, this is a component of prayer.
The physical and/or chemical manifestation of the directed focus of human intention has also
been written about as ‘psycho-energetics’ (Krippner, 1979), a term developed by Czech physicist
František Kahuda (1911–1987). 6 Similar concepts have also been expounded by Lipton (2011). One
example is the remarkable quantifed and photographed effects of Japanese scientist Dr. Masaru
Emoto who, through powerful concentrated positive thought and even music, has shown that it is
possible to change the shape of water molecules and crystalline structures (Radin et al., 2006).
From a farmer’s perspective, a healthy water cycle is a key landscape function, and we all know
water is the lifeblood of the living (especially in my dry continent of Australia). People like Patrick
MacManaway hold water in the highest esteem. ‘It is the consciousness of the earth, planet and
soils’, he said in his course. ‘It is the matrix that holds the quality of consciousness, and beautiful,
patterned, bright water crystals are vital for human and landscape health’. Water can be divined
not just because its movement creates an electromagnetic force but also because even deep water
underground has an energetic effect on the surface. Moreover, other subtle energies in or below our
landscapes can also be divined.
So at Dubbo, I learnt to detect various underground streams by focussing clearly on fnding
water. When found, my divining rods suddenly and vigorously swung inwards and crossed on my
chest. My divining also included fnding a major health energy point where streams intersected. It is
no accident that such nodes were ancient sacred sites or the location of temples and then churches.
But once found, and again through mental focus and use of a binary ‘yes/no’ series of questions, I
could then determine the approximate depth of the water below the surface. Experienced diviners/
dowsers and experts in subtle energy can do this with considerable accuracy.
Patrick MacManaway makes an important distinction between ‘dowsing’ and other ‘divinatory
approaches’. Dowsing (or the art of divining for something that is desired), as I learnt with wire
rods, is straightforward. You clear your mind and focus thought ‘intent’ and use a simple and specifc binary approach of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Such dowsing is not new. Moses divined water in the desert
with a rod over 3,500 years ago, and indeed evidence of dowsing dates back to at least 8,000 years
(Webster, 2008).
All sorts of dowsing tools can be used, but predominantly bent wire rods or wooden forked sticks
and wands. A few people dowse with their hands, and some use a simple pendulum: usually a small
piece of pottery, wood, plastic, metal or a piece of jewellery. One calibrates the tool by determining
the response to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ via the way the pendulum moves, and then proceeds to ask a series of
binary questions. Such questions, as I found among leading regenerative farmers, can apply to any
feld of activity.
In that Dubbo park, I then switched from water and focussed on detecting positive energy fows
in the landscape and I was also able to fnd these, and in different places to the underground water
streams. Again, it was because I had focussed my mental ‘intent’. However, there are also negative energies that can cause illnesses, sleeplessness and such. Geopathic stress is caused by detrimental energy zones that can arise from underground sources. These can be due to geological
faults and fractures, or from water fowing through such fault-line cracks in the underlying rock
6 The term psycho-energetics also features in a draft proposal published by the CIA to investigate psycho-energetic phenomena, which defnes this term as ‘remote viewing/extra sensory perception’ (ESP), or psychokinesis. Draft Proposal:
DoD Psychoenergetics Program. Released 2008/08/08. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP9600789R002100230001-3.pdf.