The PSI-Field and the Potential of Dowsing

by Dudley Wheeler

Introduction
Recently, Terry Ross1 wrote that “The real thrust of our work, part factual and part theoretical, must be toward an acceptable definition of dowsing and its potential”. It is with the potential of dowsing in mind that the following comments and speculations have been written, with the hope that others will see the errors of my ways and contribute their own thoughts and experience.
The Psi-Field
In his book ‘The Whispering Pond’ (1996), Ervin Laszlo proposed the existence of a fifth field of physics (in addition to electromagnetism, gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces), which he called the ‘Psi-Field’. In current scientific terminology, the field is described as a vacuum-based zeropoint holofield. He used this field as a way of accounting for existing scientific anomalies, besides the unexplained para-normal effects such as dowsing. Rather than invent some new field of my own or use those proposed by others e.g. Universal Mind, Creative Light or Cosmic Consciousness, I will use the Psi-Field as my term of reference, and infer the field’s nature, as required by dowsing.

Everything is considered to produce its own Psi-Field, which interacts with all the other Psi-Fields in the Universe. This cosmic Psi-Field has been in existence since the beginning of time and is a natural phenomenon rather than something that is derived from outside the Universe. But for those more comfortable with spiritual beliefs (of which I am one), the field can be viewed as being divinely inspired or imprinted with fundamental truths relevant for living beings, for example, the existence of a supreme creator of the Universe.
Tuning into the Psi-Field

Dowsers use their minds to help ‘tune in’ to the mini Psi-Fields of objects and/or the information encoded with them. Dowsers are not concerned with ‘high energy’ effects like levitation or moving objects without touching them, although the forceful reactions of Y-rods2 at times appear to have considerable ‘independent’ energy associated with them. A dowser interprets the gentler reactions of the angle-rods and pendulums as providing ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers to their questions. By acquiring more experience or developing an innate skill, a dowser can perform accurately without the use of rods, simply by using other muscular movements such as blinking3,4, nodding the head4, crossing fingers5 or just through visualisations within the mind6.

A Psi-Field created by thought in the mind is far stronger than most ‘physical’ inputs (e.g. a water stream) and can over-ride them. This can obviously lead to doubts and errors whilst dowsing. An example of a beneficial mental application replacing a physical effect is the diversion of detrimental energy lines harbouring geopathic stress by a mental request or prayer instead of using steel bars or crystals. A different type of mind effect is the clearing of 90 years worth of detrimental thoughts and emotions around a sacred site7. In this latter case, it is interesting that a single person’s, strong mental intent overcame the unconscious thoughts and emotions of many other people built up over such a long period of time.

Computation, or some form of processing capability, appears to be accessible in the Psi-Field. A typical example is the finding of errors in an accounts ledger by dowsing for them5. Not only does the written language have to be understood by the Psi-Field, but also the arithmetic logic which gives rise to the error. Such examples can be more readily understood if it is assumed that the dowsing accountant has in fact observed the error in the past, but failed to recognise it consciously. It becomes more difficult to use this type of explanation when dealing with facts unknown to the dowser e.g. the quality and volume of an underground stream of water, which he could not estimate even if he saw it.

Some dowsing results are constrained by the ability of the dowser to keep asking appropriate questions. Each question can only contain certain criteria, but the responses are very selective and specific e.g. Gordon Wright8 (WMD) in Rhodesia only found the specific water quantity he asked for; but kept finding more later when he asked for different quantities.

[What does computation or selectivity infer about the Psi-Field ?]
Health Considerations

Much has been written about dowsers’ ability to improve the health not only of other humans, but plants, trees and other features of the earth. Healing consists of two parts. The removal of the cause and the act of providing some remedy to overcome the harmful effects. Eliminating the cause may involve such things as the removal of lines of geopathic stress by steel posts, standing stones or thoughts/prayers. To overcome the residual effects, the thought transmission of colours has been used with success9,10. Such healing is considered to operate through the mind. The mind does not do it alone, but through the medium of the Psi-Field. The well known healer Matthew Manning has stated very positively that he is personally not contributing to the healing, but believes that he is simply acting as a channel to some outside agency.

Linking to the patient’s Psi-Field by the dowser/tuner is required for healing. Good health can be likened to a pleasant tune; with illness affecting the tune and playing some wrong notes. Thought remedies or homeopathic remedies need not act on the physical body, but resonate with or imprint themselves on the person’s aura (Psi-Field ) to emphasise the correct notes and diminish the bad ones. Such remedies may well be more successful when the recipient is aware of the donor’s participation, so that their (donor’s) thoughts are present to assist in directing the healing flow into their Psi-Field, rather than the patient being totally unaware of any healing intent.
Can dowsing foretell the future?

To be honest, I don’t want dowsing to be able to foretell the future. This would seem to remove our element of free will and condemn us to be no more than robots dancing to someone else’s tune. The Psi-Field is a natural phenomenon and from this standpoint foretelling the future ought not to be possible. I will accept that certain events are already underway and when they finally arrive, people claim to have foretold the future. For example, someone may have declared an intent to phone me tomorrow. In the meantime I dowse that this person is going to contact me, and then it happens.

In the odd world of quantum physics, it could be that when dowsing for the future, we are dowsing all the possibilities and alighting on the statistically most likely outcome, although it is not certain. At any time, some new factor could come along and upset the balance of probabilities, thus changing the dowsed outcome.
Potential of Dowsing

All Psi-Fields interact with one another. The potential of dowsing is limited primarily by how big a channel can be opened up between the human mind and the Psi-Field. The stronger the connection, the more able the person is to ‘surf the Psi-Field’ and gain different experiences or information, and change things e.g. the course of a water stream, even at a remote distance. Dowsers interact with the Psi-Field in one way, whilst other para-normal effects may arise from another type of interaction. There are no strict demarcations of a dowsers ability, except those put forward by the dowsers themselves. There is a continuum of improved ability rather than a step-wise progression. So, where is this continuum leading us dowsers?

The results of dowsing all seem to relate to aspects of physical objects, the health of living things and the wave thoughts/emotions of human beings, together with all their encoded information. In other words, the results relate to natural events in the past or present, involving physical matter (including the projection of thought waves). There is not much evidence that dowsers initiate Newtonian type forces to act on physical objects to move them, although possible contenders are changing the course of underground water streams and the movement of Y- or L- shaped rods and pendulums. I do not expect dowsers to be able to perform miracles like changing water into wine or iron into gold. If they are involving their minds and the Psi-Field, then they are staying within the realms of natural science, wherever this may go.

The potential of dowsing lies in improving our contact with the Psi-Field, which will lead to :

social and economic benefits
getting closer to nature

The social and economic benefits can come from such things as new information from the past, mineral discoveries and improving people’s health. These results continue the current pattern of achievements, but apart from a few, the skill level of dowsers still seems a long way off their being regarded as professional, except for those finding supplies of water. This raises the question of what can be done to raise standards of performance and what will persuade the ‘Establishment’ to treat dowsing seriously. These are important issues, but will have to be discussed at another time.

As we get more attuned to the Psi-Field, we will become more aware of all the contributors to the Psi-Field, which includes nature itself. This improved sensitivity and understanding should bring about a better sense of working together. Unfortunately, this may be more a hope than reality, as man’s greed and record of exploitation of nature does not augur well for the future.
Moral Issues

For some, it would be considered very beneficial if dowsing could lead to an improvement in the moral aspects of life like justice, caring, charity and love. Quite how this could come about is not clear. It is easy enough to ask the Psi-Field what moral action should be taken in certain situations and answers will be provided. But I feel that these answers can only be a reflection of yourself, and you are both morally and spiritually stronger if you can take morally correct actions without the need of some ‘mirror’ to produce the answers.

Is there a Universal wisdom out there in the Psi-Field?

All history is recorded in the Psi-Field, so it contains a hotchpotch of good and bad wisdom. But, if you had the opportunity, what questions would you like to be answered? Rupert Sheldrake11 has put forward evidence supporting the view that the more knowledge or habit is used, the more readily others learn it or find it out for themselves. This supports the view that the more evil thoughts there are around, the more people will be led into evil ways, and vice-versa. Just as in dowsing, it becomes a self fulfilling system. What is not obvious is whether such thoughts in the major Psi-Field can be cleared out, just as the detrimental thoughts and emotions were cleared from a sacred site7. Now that would be really beneficial dowsing! Whether it can be done or not is an intriguing thought.
Influencing Minds : Forces for Good and Evil

A potential danger is that the more skilful people become in being able to interact with the Psi-Field, the more they will be able to influence one another’s minds. This could be used for both good or bad influences. Minor examples of it happening already are in the ‘miraculous’ appearance of car parking spaces. These can be rationalised by the desire for such a space being projected by the driver/dowser en-route, and it registers on someone’s mind that now is the time to go back to the car and drive home.
What do we want to do with dowsing?
Passing on from what dowsing is able to do, it is but a small step to consider what we would like dowsing to do for us. But, I will leave this question for the reader to think about for themselves and reflect on how they might be able to achieve it. If they would like to exchange their views with others, then that is almost like taking a positive step towards the wish fulfilling the deed. Happy thinking!

References

Terry Ross [Rod & Pendulum Newsletter January 1998]
Gordon Wright [Private communication]
Dan Wilson, Billy Gawn [Private communication]
Billy Gawn [Private communication]
Ralph Clark [Private communication]
Terry Ross [Private communication to Billy Gawn]
John Harvey [EE Newsletter – Dec 1997]
Gordon Wright [Lecture at BSD Congress 1997]
Terry Ross [Rod & Pendulum Newsletter January 1998]
Janet Bradley [Rod & Pendulum Newsletter January 1998]
Rupert Sheldrake [A New Science of Life. Flamingo 1995]

The PSI-Field and the Potential of Dowsing – A response by Terry E. Ross
to Dudley Wheeler’s article published in the previous Newsletter Issue 10,
Jun 1998
————————————————————————————————-
Dear Dudley,

Thanks so much for your nice, interesting letter of the 20th here in 4 days, not bad!

To begin, I don’t see any error in your ways, as you so modestly commence your analysis, which I certainly welcome; and there can be nothing to knock down or discard or replaced, because the fact is we are all seeking the heart of the labyrinth that is dowsing, with the good news being that at least we are inside it, the bad news being that none of us — so far as I know — has found the center.

Taking up your nine headings in the order you present them, I’ll try and respond to them as best I can. The Psi-Field is a nice catch-all metaphor for what goes in our avocation, and I have no difficulty in agreeing with what you say in the second paragraph of that section, including the suggestion it can be viewed in a spiritual context.

Under “Tuning into the Psi-Field”, I might push the envelope a bit and say that no controlled movements are needed to engage a field anywhere in space-time. This concept would render the potential of dowsing as limitless! But I believe it is. In the second paragraph I concur with your statement that a beneficial mental application can at once alter a physical effect, albeit my inclination is to believe that the field generated by mental effort overrides or entrains that of the cherished target, which in turn results in a change in the physical effect. I hope I’m not being too captious, and only seek to preserve the concept of the interaction of separate fields. It also seems possible to explain the “dowsing accountant” discussed in the third paragraph with the suggestion that immaterial targets have their own type of rarified field. The variety of fields seems to support Gordon’s response to his specific requests, whereas all others brought him no response.

Health Considerations is a most interesting discussion. I agree the mind doesn’t do it alone, but its focus generates the field that resonates or entrains with the field that is to be made whole, i.e. brought into balance with the field of its archetype. To the second paragraph I would add the thought that hearings can be brought about despite the total lack of awareness of the patient. Repeated hearings of those in Intensive Care Units, and comatose, bear witness to this fact.

Can dowsing foretell the future? must, alas, stimulate in my view a “Yes” answer. I reason that if the universe is a thought, then past, present, future must all have been pre-figured by the thinker. It does not worry me that this might be so, because in the daily round I have choice after choice, and that the results might be “known” does not weigh heavily on me. In fact, when excellent dowsers like Billy and Gordon tell their clients “…and this flow will be everlasting,”, or conversely that it will be seasonal in nature, they are exercising prophetic power. Many dowsers have pushed this power to more mundane heights, in which case I recommend May I? Can I? Should I? as a safety net.

Potential of Dowsing seems nicely covered by your opening sentence “All Psi-Fields interact with one another”. I like to simplify what we do by calling it Far-Seeing, and Far-Doing, and theoretically I can see no limit. The only constraint is one’s inability to bestir what we call mind to focus on the psi-field of choice. The potential, thus, would ultimately be cooperation and even co-creation with nature. As you point out, dowsers have been doing this for years. No diversion of rock-based water veins can be accomplished without a completely new channel formed, and this translates to atomic alteration. In healing it is quite possible we have been doing gene therapy, also for years. (At $300 for laser verification of a single gene, and there are many involved at a given cancer site, for example, it will be a long, hot summer before this can be proven; in the meantime the absence of cancer cells and recovery of a patient are enough).

Moral issues in a slow but positive way are being limned by dowsing modality itself. There seems to be an element of fail-safety in it. One simply labors at the art if one carries a burden of an off-beat attitude. The more positive, altruistic, and truthful the dowse, the more efficient the psi-field, and the happier the results. There are exceptions to this, but they have no place in this letter.

Is there a Universal wisdom out there in the Psi-Field? is, for me, impossible to deny. To recognize the psi-field is the beginning of wisdom, to work with it is meet, right, and our bounden duty. Those who can do this in a wholesome way have their own reward, as do those who cannot. The important thing is to try, to take action, and persevere.

Influencing Minds: Forces for Good and Evil is to me a non-starter. Those who try it, using psi-fields, have sad and relatively rapid endings. By the way, I don’t see the parking spaces as the result of someone’s being influenced to leave the location vacant, as the ‘flow’ and inter-connection of psi-fields becoming personalized by the ‘lucky’ driver, a sort of brevet for good behavior and good action.

What do we want to do with dowsing? — it’s like discovering free energy; you put I unit in, and get 10 back! It’s an unfolding experience — I want everyone to know it who will.

Here’s hoping this isn’t too wordy, and is of some interest. I value your letter, and thank you for it.

My very best,
Terry

The PSI-Field and the Potential of Dowsing

A response by Sig Lonegren

to Dudley Wheeler’s article published in the previous Newsletter Issue 10,

Jun 1998

Dear Dudley,

I thank you for including me in your web of commentators concerning “The Potential of Dowsing.” I found it interesting and thought provoking, and on the whole, I agreed with most of what you have written here, and like the way you’ve said it. It is interesting that Terry Ross was your instigator on this. Terry was one of my Field Faculty for my Masters Degree in Sacred Space, and taught me most of what I know about the techniques of dowsing and geomancy.

Permission

Perhaps there is one thing that I am not hearing that I would put forth for your consideration here, and is permission. Just as we have laws here in Britain to keep people from barging in to our house, it is my perception that this is necessary (even more so, karmically) on, the levels that dowsers work on, to obtain permission as well. I am also aware that dowsing works without it, but I must say that my first reaction to the “clearing of 90 years worth of detrimental thoughts and emotions around a sacred site” is, I wonder where that dowser got permission to do that?

On the last page of your letter, you wonder if, “thoughts in the major Psi Field can be cleared out, . . .” Are you thinking in what I would call the Akashic record, or “AR history is recorded in the Psi-Field?” Now, where does one get permission to change that? The Church in Rome is just now opening their files about the Inquisition. Unfortunately they burned many of their files when they were no longer useful. Who gets to decide for everybody what are evil thoughts? How does one get permission to expunge what?

Permission, for me, is also the thread that I move in towards healing on. It is the connecting aka thread (to use a term from the Huna). You might put it that this is how I “link with the person’s Psi-Field.” Also, without permission, for me, it is an invasion of privacy. I am not clear from whom one gets permission to clean up a sacred site. I remember leading a tour of sacred sites in Ireland, and there was a woman from California who had a big quartz crystal that had been cut by Marcel Vogle to be four sided instead of six. (He knew better than Nature?) This woman went from site to Irish site “cleaning them up,” as if the peasants didn’t know enough to do it themselves. The White man’s burden – only this lady happened to be Chinese. Who gave her permission to do that in Ireland?

Gnowing

Having said that about permission, and invasion of privacy, I must also say that one direction where dowsing can take us one day will be that we will be able to know when someone else is lying. The more people who have that skill (and I do not claim it for myself at this time, but I can see it coming down the road in dowsing’s future), the more difficult it will be for a people to tell when their political leaders are lying to them (I think of President Clinton as I write this), when Business leaders are lying, when their neighbour is lying.

This ability to suss if someone is telling the truth is part of a process that I can see for dowsers that I call “gnowing.” It has the same root as “knowing,” but a bit more direct, as it comes from gnoscere in Latin, again, to know. But it also described a bunch of heretics called the Gnostics. They were heretics for several reasons, some of which are of little or no consequence to me here, but the one thing that I really relate to is their philosophy of, “Look, I’ll listen to you, and to you, and to others, but ultimately on things spiritual, because I have experienced the spiritual/Psi-Fields myself, I will I’ll make up my own mind.” (Needless to say, this didn’t play well in Rome.) This equal balance of rational and intuitive is what I call gnowing. It is a direction that I believe dowsers would benefit from moving towards.

Computation and Selectivity

You ask, “[What does computation or selectivity infer about the Psi-Field?]” In magic, this is called intent, and in magic, it is sometimes said, “Intent is all.” A dowser becomes better because s/he can focus their intent more and more sharply. It’s like narrowing the bandwidth so the frequency is exactly right on the button. This is a left-brained process. It is the reason why asking the right question is so important in dowsing.

The Future

I agree with you about free will and the difficulty of looking in to the future, but dowsing/divining is divination, and certainly part of divination has to do with the future. The way I look at it is like a stock market trend. Taking all of these factors into consideration, this is where you are going. If a physicist were to be up to her waist in water on a perfectly calm day, and you were sitting in a canoe, and she were to give your craft a shove, if she knew how much the boat and you weighed, and the pounds of pressure she put on the stern, and the surface friction of the bottom of the boat on the water, etc., she could calculate quite closely where the boat will stop. This is future. Of course, anywhere along the way, another boat can come by and tip you over. Mother Nature can come in and blow you off course. And, perhaps most important, if you in your canoe don’t like where you’re going to stop, take some strokes. You can deflect this course – some.

So the function of divination into the future, for me, is to say, “If you like where it looks like your life is headed, go with the flow. If you don’t, take some strokes.” Forewarned is forearmed. I encourage to include the future as part of dowsing as well as the present and the past.

Nature

I am pleased to hear your talk about how tuning in to the Psi-Field will bring one back to Nature. I do not walk a specific spiritual path, but one of the ways I might describe myself is a techno-ruralist. I am very involved with the Internet, and I am very involved with Mother Nature. I feel opening up to Nature opens me up to my more intuitive side. It is as if a walk on a Glastonbury lane is a tarot reading. Nature speaks in so many ways. It is in this section where you say, “This improved sensitivity and understanding should bring about a better sense of working together.” The part about gnowing when someone is lying will also contribute to this goal we both desire.

Parking Spaces

What can I say about the parking spaces? Mea culpa! I remember one time when I was really late, I needed a specific spot on a busy downtown street. A car had pulled up to back in to the parking spot I had “seen” earlier. Another car, also wanting the spot, pulled right up behind the first car. And there they sat. I was next in line, and there was just enough room for me to sneak in frontwards! I just made it to the appointment. Thank you Great Psi-Field!

Science and Dowsing

I do not think the right track is to try to convince the scientists that dowsing is real. It ain’t gonna work. They don’t want it to. It never has’ before. (As far as I know every attempt at scientific verification of dowsing has failed. Dowsing works for need not for proof) As you talk about chaos, I think of Neils Bohr’s troubles when he introduced Quantum Physics to Newtonian Physicists. Brick walls. He ultimately said something like these guys have to get old and die off before my theories are accepted. You and I know Quantum is a better description of reality. Most of us – eighty years later -still live in a Newtonian world.

Given this brick wall reality, I believe our chance of convincing scientists that dowsing is real is nil. That can only happen one-at-a-time through direct experience. Then you gnow it’s real.

The Shark Tank

Oh yes, one last thing, Dudley. In your journey to whatever consensus/feedback you seek on this, I encourage you to create an environment other than what I would call the “Shark Tank Approach.” (“…it is only through putting forward views that can be knocked down and discarded, to be replaced by better ones, that we can make some progress.”) Archaeologists use this technique to answer the question like, “What was it like in King Tut’s day in Egypt?” The pottery expert throws in a leg, and the mummy experts put in a chunk of thigh, the radiologists an ear, the carbon daters a finger, and so on. Each says what they think it was like. Then there is a feeding frenzy. Sharks are everywhere tearing off flesh. When everyone has eaten off all they can, what’s left is what they can agree on about King Tut’s Egypt.

I suspect my major dowsing finding is what I call Sig’s Hypothesis Number One: Unless they were trained by the same teacher (and maybe not even then), it is quite probable that no two intangible target dowsers will agree on what they find at a sacred site.

I would encourage you to create an environment where consensus is the expected goal, and where people can take risks with what they know about this ancient art of ours. I suspect that new growth in the field of dowsing awareness doesn’t happen well in left-brained feeding frenzies.

The job for us dowsers is to live our lives full of dowsing so others can hear about it, see it happening, and then start using it in their own lives. For me, that’s the way forward.