Epic clash: dowsers and doubters.

He was an old man – which wasn’t unusual considering – nor did he seem to find it unusual I was tagging along and filing every single word. It seemed to amuse him.

The three of us, the old man, my dad, and I struggled through the brush to locate it: a fine energetic El mmm tree (that’s how he said it: “El mmmm”) with roots deep into the soil by a stream.

Our old well had become unreliable with too much red mud in the bucket too often. Dad wanted a deeper one.

So of course we needed an expert: the local dowser.

Don’t judge a dowser by his overalls. He looked the part.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

Now Dad was scientific in thought. Mom, too.

Kids loved to visit our house to mess with the chemistry sets, real microscopes, and sometimes cow eyeballs in the freezer next to the ice cream (depending if what unit was being taught that week).

Dad had already figured that the new well would be along a hidden underground river’s path – most likely between our current shallow one and the dip in the ground where the old, old one that had been dug shortly after the civil war beside the giant oak tree, also of that era.

But he was always curious about the old ways.

All the old farmers said this dowser never failed to find good water and to tell exactly how far down it was.

The leaves had fallen, but ground not yet frozen when his schedule had time for us.

A quick examination of the tree’s branches, then the dowser selected 2 forks and quickly, cleanly, cut them with a sharp knife.

“‘precciate you lettin’ us have these branches” he thanked the tree. (Who seemed OK with it all. )

Back up by the house, we watched him pace back and forth among the existing wells with the fork’s branches in his hands: palms up, thumbs out.

“Do you think he’ll find it? Druther get my iron from vitamin pills than that well water.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

As predicted, he stopped halfway between the two old well sites and announced there was the spot.

What was not predicted was how that El mmm branch, held at the start straight out parallel to the ground, started bucking and jerked like a unbroke horse fighting a halter as he walked.

Then the stem of the branch lunged forward, slowly curved down pointing to a spot on the ground.

The dowser walked off and came back across at 3 different angles.

The El mmm would not be fooled. Always the same spot.

Then he would walk away, counting the steps until the branch rose back up horizontal to the ground and became still.

Mother chuckled and went inside. Brother smirked.

Dad and I were mesmerized.

The quivering stick seemed to have a mind of its’ own – a strong one.

To be continued Wednesday….(It’s just too long)

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

• American Society of Dowsers. “Dowsing is the exercise of a human faculty, which allows one to obtain information in a manner beyond the scope and power of the standard human physical senses of sight, sound, touch, etc.”(Willey, 1970) History and information.
• From across the pond. The British Society of Dowsers. They have classes and Special Interest groups (Archeology, Earth energies, Water and services, or Health and well-being) How about a series of Sikh chanting meditations for dowsers” featuring words and sounds carefully crafted over hundreds of years to resonate around the head and energize it”?

Can we keep him? We can tell the neighbors it’s a cat or a science project.(1959Nat. Lib of Wales. Geoff Charles/PD/Commons.wikimedia.org)