Email Interview with "Orb Dowsing Specialists" - John and Jan Young
 

By The Night Watchman

"PART ONE - LEARNING TO DOWSE"

Night Watchman: Many of us have heard about the ancient practice of dowsing. My first recollection of dowsing was an episode of "Gilligan's Island" when the Skipper dowsed for fresh water with a "Y" shaped branch. As kids, we wanted to see if it worked... (it didn't work as well as it did on t.v.), but to this day, I am still mystified by the practice. Before we get to your practice of dowsing for orbs, could you explain the general practice of dowsing and if it is a learned skill or art?

Youngs:  The Skipper was a control freak and Jan and I have never been able to do anything as well as Gilligan so we are not very high on the food chain. Gilligan's spontaneous serendipitous qualities of taking life as it comes is an inspiration to this day. He truly is a role model for the new millennium. Skippers come and Skippers go, and they don't share their forked branches. Gilligan is forever.

Dowsing is mostly known as using a forked branch to find underground water. Using focused intent on what you want, your body becomes the instrument and your tool (pendulum, Y-Rod, etc.) becomes the indicator. Tools can range anywhere from a simple bolt nut on a string for a pendulum, L-rods made of coat hangers or the fancier ball bearing types, Y-rods made of branches or plastic rod material, bobbers on springs and even what is called body dowsing that uses only your own muscular reaction.

First a certain movement of the instrument to indicate a Yes or No, or some other meaning, must be mentally programmed. Then, the instrument reaction is activated by a neural muscular response to the question you ask. You are the one who chooses what the different response actions will be and what they mean according to the instrument you are using. Things like Yes, No, Maybe, Neutral, any directional indications, etc.

As for dowsing being a learned skill, someone could be told the very basics and dowse quite successfully without going through years of study. There are basic things that have to be established first. The meaning to the movements you mentally program regarding whatever instrument you are using for the task at hand, forming proper questions, and the use of focused intent are main components. An example would be like the following:

1 - MAKE A ROD     Make a Y-rod by cutting a thin whip of a forked branch about 20 inches in length. Trim so the two ends of the fork are even. You can also purchase three feet of 1/4" OD white polyethylene tubing from a home improvement store. Don't get the clear vinyl tubing, which would be too soft - look for the harder, more opaque white

tubing. Bend the tubing in half so the two ends are together and even. Wrap a rubber band, string or a lot of thread about two inches down from the bent end to hold the Y together.

2 - HOW TO HOLD THE ROD   Wrap your hands around the ends of the Y-rod, palms up and thumbs pointing outwards. Rotate the rod upwards in your hands until the pointed end is a few inches above perpendicular to your body. Exert a small amount of pressure on the two ends by pushing your hands towards each other. This will create a tension to the rod where it will be easier to find a balance point where you can maintain the Y-rod tip slightly pointed upwards.

3 - RESPONSE INDICATIONS AND SCANNING   Place your feet about two to three feet apart. Your Y-rod will be in the position described above in how to hold the rod. You will be scanning for the object by twisting your body from the ankles (don't move your feet or your arms), rotating your body to the right 45 degrees, left 45 degrees, and back again. Do this several times, moving in a smooth motion. When the tip of the Y-rod lines up with the direction of the object it will dip down slightly. By doing the scanning movement several times from right to left you will be able to pinpoint where it dips. That small dip is the directional indication which you should walk towards.

The last indication to know is that when you are directly in front of the object, the pointed end of the Y-rod will be pointing straight down. For many cases, this will happen no matter how hard you try to keep the rod up.

4 - DOING IT!   You've got the Y-rod, you know how to hold it and do a scan, and you also know what the indications of the movements of the Y-rod mean. Now, let's put it into action!

Put a bowl of water on the ground about 20 feet away from where you will be scanning. Go to your scanning location, face the bowl of water, hold your Y-rod in one hand while you pause and take a few deep breaths to energize yourself. Picture the bowl of water in your mind while repeating, "Find the bowl of water" several times to get a good focused intent on it.

- Hold your Y-rod in the proper two-hand position and start your right/left scan. Keep your eyes on the tip of the Y-rod. When you have pinpointed the directional location by the small dip in

the tip, think, "Lock to the bowl of water."

-Slowly walk towards the bowl of water. Keep your eyes on the tip of the Y-rod. As you get closer to the bowl of water the tip of the Y-rod will slowly start to descend. You may notice that your eyes, the tip, and the bowl of water are all lined up in a straight line. When you get directly in front of the bowl of water, with the bowl at your feet, the tip of the Y-rod will be straight down, locked to the bowl of water. Check out what happens when you backup a few steps and also what the Y-rod does if you take one step over the bowl of water, and then walk a few steps beyond.

There really is a lot to know about dowsing because so many factors are going on that are on the unseen level. There are all kinds of influences that are going on that can affect your dowsing. Things like neutral vibrations from your environment, vibrations of people, animals, the earth, light, and all living things. A person may find that their results are not consistent because of influences they haven't considered.

Instrument Indications  Regardless of what instrument you choose to use, you will have to mentally program meanings to individual movements of your instrument. Take your time and be satisfied with the movement choices that best reflect what you want them to represent. If you want to change the meaning of a movement, like a computer, it is best to delete the previous meaning and then replace it with a new one. Then practice with your different dowsing instruments so you become used to the various movements in different situations and they become second nature to you. Like a musical instrument, you learn the chords, practice them until you can fluidly play the tune. Dowsing instrument responses, like musical chords, are a physical reflexive response to the tune you are playing as it flows through you.

Go To PAGE TWO of "Learning to Dowse.