PRAGMATIC MAGIC

From Earth Magic: Francis Hitching, Penguin, first published in 1976

 

(p110) “dowsing is an absolutely natural activity which has been with man since the earliest times, which has been lost through inactivity or suppression, but which can usually be regained with practice by most people.”

 

The author likens the sensation of dowsing to the sensation of smell which he says is : “equally incapable of detailed scientific analysis.”

 

(p111) 17^th century writer William Cookworthy of Plymouth wrote:

 

“   The rod must be held with indifference, for if the mind is occupied by doubts, reasoning or any other operation that engages the animal spirits, it will divert their powers from being exerted in this process, in which their instrumentality is absolutely necessary: from whence it is that the rod constantly answers in the hands of peasants, women and children, who hold it simply without puzzling their minds with doubts and reasonings.”

 

(p111) “ the sensation of successful dowsing, while unmistakable, is entirely personal.”