Dowsing – the word perhaps conjures up lone people with funny rods in bleak fields, searching for water; or perhaps it sounds a bit medieval and the sort of activity which might have led to the ducking stool or the stake if practised! However dowsing is nothing magical or weird, we all do it all the time, and if we could interpret these signals, which normally go unnoticed, there would be a mine of priceless, personal, general, specific and practical information we could use for all sorts of purposes.

How? Well if you think of everything as energy, then nothing can be fixed or static. For us as individuals our energy responds constantly to our inner and outer environments: noise, radiation, thoughts, self-image, food, the people around us etc., some of these factors strengthening and some weakening us. Our own inner physiological mechanisms always attemps to achieve a state of balance at all levels. Most people can easily relate to the example of being with lively, positive people and feeling great, however late it gets; alternatively, enduring another minute with someone who moans and complains sometimes seems just too difficult! So these changes relate to what we would think of as positive and negative input – if someone tells you 'you look great!' you get a noticeable lift in energy; if they tell you 'you look terrible!' you begin to feel bad, even if you hadn't before they said it.

So how can we translate these everyday experiences into a useful tool for getting information? These energy changes could be amplified using a simple device called a pendulum. This can be any small weight, a bead, needle, or a button on a piece of thread. Held between the thumb and index finger on a fairly short thread, it is said to indicate energy changes between positive (energetically strengthening) and negative (weakening) stimuli. There are 3 main pendulum responses which need to be established at the beginning:

- Yes, often a clockwise movement or backwards/forwards swing.

- No, often an anti-clockwise rotation or side to side swing.

- Neutral, just something that's indicates a different response from yes or no ( this usually means ask a different question, ask the question in a different way, come at it from a different angle).

To get the most information and benefit from dowsing it can be combined with the Question and Answer technique. This is a simple yes/no language by which changes in our energy respond to direct questions. 

What are the basics then for using Q&A with Dowsing?

1) Establish a clear goal for what you want to know and asking if it's appropriate for you to find this information, in this way, at this time.

2) Learn to ask simple clear questions to which only a yes/no response is possible.

Finally there are two things which are suggested to use with the technique. These are:

Having a relaxed, open, approach to the whole process: wanting to know, rather than wanting to be right or have the outcome the way you want it.

Never using it for invasive purposes, or to gain anything at someone else's expense. This is a unitive technique in that it supports the whole as well as the individual.

As a tool for personal development it is second to none. There is information for us everywhere, all the time, in every situation, (i.e. relationship, apparent disaster or triumph) and to access this life curriculum which runs, usually without us being the slightest bit aware of it, just under the surface of our daily lives, we have only to ask!