The familiar method of dowsing employs a pendulum or other tool such as an L-rod, Y-rod, or bobber. Yet simpler, tool-free ways to dowse are effective and easy to learn.

Dowsing, a common method of divining for water, is also the term used to describe a type of energy work done with a pendulum or other dowsing tools (such as L-rods, a Y-rod, or a bobber). Contemporary healers often use simple dowsing tools to detect earth energies or diagnose the energy levels of chakras, organs, and mental programs. Alternative techniques may be more versatile and just as reliable as pendulum dowsing.

What is Dowsing? How does it work?

Why Use Alternative Methods of Dowsing?

You misplaced your pendulum, or forgot your favorite dowsing tool at home, and there’s something you really want to check by dowsing. What to do?

The advantage of many of the following techniques is that they don’t require any physical tools - only the mind and body. Even if a pendulum has been forgotten at home, you still have the ability to dowse.

A person having trouble learning to pendulum dowse might find some of these approaches more accessible. Everyone is unique. Whatever approach works and is most intuitive for an individual is usually the best and the most reliable.

ALTERNATIVE DOWSING TECHNIQUES:

Finger Dowsing 1

The most familiar of the following to experienced dowsers, finger dowsing techniques are forms of self-testing with manual muscle testing (MMT) from Touch for Health Applied Kinesiology. The same techniques are discussed in Donna Eden’s Energy Medicine.

Making a circle with thumb and forefinger, or thumb and middle finger, place the same fingers of the other hand through the circle. Attempt to force the loop open by gentle pressure with the other hand. A strong circle means ‘yes’; if the fingers open, the answer is ‘no’.

Finger Dowsing 2

Another method of finger dowsing is done with the first and middle fingers. Keeping the fingers straight, lay the middle finger along the back of the forefinger with the pad of the middle finger atop the forefinger’s nail. Now apply pressure, one finger against the other. If your fingers bend (the top finger “wins”) the answer is ‘yes’; straight means ‘no’.

Hand, Wrist or Arm Dowsing

Some dowsers use their hand to dowse by holding the arm relaxed and allowing their wrist to become floppy and lax. The hand becomes like a very sensitive pendulum.

Others use the entire arm from the shoulder (requiring some flexibility). This form of dowsing is trickier to use without biasing the results, and is rarely practical because it is so conspicuous.

Body Dowsing

Standing upright with arms relaxed at your sides, lean forward ever so slightly and ask a question. Does your body move further forward (‘yes’) or rock slightly back (‘no’)?

Some dowsers can feel sensations in their body that represent a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Body dowsing is one way to develop the intuition and can replace a pendulum for many exercises. The innate sense of what is right or wrong, true or false in the moment is, for many people, the ultimate goal of dowsing, and can be cultivated with this kind of approach.

Sticker Dowsing

A shiny round sticker is often used in a basic form of dowsing. Sliding your thumb or a finger across the surface, a smooth glide represents a ‘yes’ and a slower, sticky glide means ‘no.’ This is a popular form of pendulum-free dowsing, and can actually be surprisingly accurate. Any smooth surface can be used: a desk, a textbook cover, a coin...

Calibration of these Techniques

Any dowsing tool or technique requires calibration for it to be effective. Remember to be persistent, patient, and practise!

See also: Dowsing to Transform Energies to learn more about energy work and pendulum dowsing.