Pendulums and Dowsing

Dowsing has existed in various forms for thousands of years. The original may have been for divination purposes - to divine the will of the gods, to foretell the future and divine guilt in trials.

Dowsing, sometimes called divining or water witching, is a generic term for practices which proponents claim empower them to find water, metals, gem stones and hidden objects over a piece of land or a map, usually through fluctuations of apparatus including a Y-shaped twig, rods or Pendulum). Some claim to need no apparatus at all but to 'feel' reactions.

Skeptics of dowsing and many supporters of it believe dowsing apparatus has no special powers but simply amplifies small but otherwise imperceptible movements of the hands, which has long been established to be the ideomotor effect. Most investigators believe the small movements arise from the expectations of the dowser. Supporters say the dowser has a subliminal sensitivity to the environment, perhaps via electroception, magnetoception, or telluric currents.

Pendulums can be used in divination and dowsing. In one approach the user will first determine which direction (left-right, up-down) determines "yes" and which "no," before proceeding to ask the pendulum specific questions. In another form of divination, the pendulum is used with a pad or cloth that may have yes and no, but also other words written in a circle.