My Dowsing Mind
People have asked me to describe what dowsing feels like. Here’s a brief account of a recent dowsing experience I had in central Arizona in late 2019.
We drove up the packed-earth road to the brow of the hill, turned a tight corner, and headed down to the Verde River valley below. The subtle sensation of energetic pressure I had been feeling for the last quarter mile increased steadily as we made our way to Eileen Nauman´s former property. Eileen was bringing me there to dowse the property. She knew that the area around a small structure she had built was special, and she wanted to know what I would discover. I was curious myself.
Eileen, who is part Native American, is an expert on walking the land (see her book Walking the Land). She had invited my wife, Elyn Aviva, and me to visit this area because she was intrigued by our Powerful Places guidebooks, which describe sacred sites in a number of European countries. Eileen´s expertise is different: she explores the land itself as a powerful place. We had agreed to exchange our knowledge and expertise, and we were going to begin at her former property.
For me, the subtle sensation that I had picked up was very familiar. I felt a gentle energetic breeze coming from the site. If I engaged in conversation, I would lose the sensation very quickly, so I had to put my thinking, analytic, “left brain” on pause and stay very quiet. If you have done any meditation practices, you are familiar with this mental state of alert stillness.
Places of power are like radio stations that broadcast a signal that we can pick up if we tune our intuitive senses to their frequency. The more powerful the place, the stronger the signal. When I sensed the signal from Eileen´s hogan, I experienced the familiar subtle pressure on my energetic field (my “aura” if you will). I tuned in (adjusted the “dial” of my internal radio) and sensed it increase in strength as we approached the property.
We pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Across a flat lawn, I could see the Hogan, (a Navajo-style eight-sided hut) that Eileen had built. On my right were a house, a mobile home, and the river. Behind and to the left of the hogan were various outbuildings, a chicken yard, and piles of boulders. First, I asked permission from the spirits of the land to dowse their land. I began an exploration of the grassed area, simply walking and being aware of what I was feeling. I began to sense that there was some sort of energetic enclosure around the hogan, and I took out my L-shaped dowsing rods to find what was there. Then I put my rods in “search” position and began a slow walk on the grassed area. I identified a curving energetic “wall,” approximately 2 feet high by 1.5 feet wide, which extended at least halfway around the building. I could sense the top of the “wall” with my outstretched palm, and my dowsing rods swung apart whenever I crossed the width of the “wall.” The “wall” on one side of the hogan was interrupted by a rather large underground fault (a natural crack in the bedrock). Again, my dowsing rods swung open when I crossed the fault.
The area behind the hogan was cut off by fences and piles of boulders, and I didn´t venture into that area because it was difficult to traverse. If I had made more of an effort to climb among the boulders and negotiate the fences, I probably would have found that the energetic “wall” completely surrounded the hogan. Instead, I concentrated on the invisible, underground fault I had located, and I asked my dowsing rods to follow it. My rods pointed the way as it continued across the property in the direction of the Verde river. When I had followed it for several yards, I realized that it probably extended all the way to the river.
I concluded that the energetic “wall” had been somehow generated by the hogan itself by the way it was constructed and through the use of sacred geometric principals, and that the fault that crossed the enclosure had been there all along and also contributed to creating the energetic space around the hogan. My dowsing teachers believe that such enclosures provide energetic protection for spaces that are used for spiritual purposes, sort of like an invisible electric fence. I´ve found similar enclosures at ancient megalithic sites in Europe, and I´ve dowsed other invisible energy enclosures and crossings inside medieval churches.
Unlike our distant ancestors, who had to locate unseen underground water (for example) to survive, we can get along just fine without dowsing. So, why dowse? For one thing, I feel it gives me a more complete picture of the world around me. I can sense things like faults and other energy lines that may have an impact on me if I choose to spend time in their presence. I have been taught, for example, that sleeping over an underground water line is not a good idea. We were recently looking for a house to rent or buy in the Cottonwood, Arizona, area. I located places in some of the houses we looked at that might cause us problems, either in terms of restful sleep or health, and eliminated them from our search. We now live in a house that feels quite comfortable and healthy.
Dowsing includes far more than using dowsing rods. I use pendulums to dowse maps and charts to gain information. I use “body-dowsing” techniques (muscle-testing or applied kinesiology) to choose the products and nutritional supplements I purchase. All of these techniques give me access to my intuitive senses, and I use my intuitive senses to navigate my life.
I have distilled my knowledge of dowsing into an instructional manual called The Dowsing Mind—Into the Multi-Dimensional Realms and Back. If you are intrigued and want to learn more about what the world looks like from this perspective, buy my book. I´ve tried to make the process of learning as enjoyable as possible. You may be surprised to learn that you have a dowsing mind that can be of benefit to you in your daily life.
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