3 rd August 2005
Just Divine by Keith Harmon
Keith started his presentation by asking member to indicate if they had heard of "dowsing" as an old time way to seek the location of underground water, most had, a few had even tried the technique. Dowsing gets the name perhaps from tools made from witch hazel branches and crisscrossing movements across the landscape while searching for water.
Keith then demonstrated a wide variety of dowsing methods using forked sticks, bent rods and a wide variety of implements some professionally manufactured and other rather crude devices to find water under the lecture room! He indicated it had a much wider application in practical uses include finding moving underground water and mineral ores, hidden pipes and wiring, and the layout of drainage systems.
The next instrument to be shown was the V-rod which consists of two nylon rods held together at one end with some tubing. This, we were told, was the modern version of the hazel rods. The reason why some people choose this version instead of the hazel rod was that the hazel rods tend to dry out and break if a violent reaction occurs over the thing to be found. Keith also told us it was also a bit rough on the hands which brought out a few aahs from the membership.
After telling us how one finds underground streams, marks them out, finds out the depth it is under the ground, the purity of the water, the rate of flow and the direction the water is flowing, he also demonstrated some distant dowsing.
He indicated the key to successful dowsing is to create and focus attention on a clearly worded question from the conscious mind and for the subconscious mind/body to answer using a simple tool to indicate a yes or no answer to the specific question. The subconscious mind is programmed to move a tool up or down or right or left to answer yes/no or to point to the source of a mental target.
Keith then equipped each member with a pair of L rods and following his instructions noted the movements, we are not sure but one member fell of his chair whether this was the effect of reaction we shall never know. Keith then illustrated how to make a set of simple L rods as follows, basically take a normal metal coat hanger and then cut to form into two parts each with a short, 100-150 mm handle and 250 -375 mm long pointer bent into a right angle and hold the short end lightly in the hand to allow the longer rods above to move more easily. Please note Keith used imperial units so these conversions of dimensions are not critical!
Dowsing is a skill that becomes an art form with repeated practice in the case of Keith. It is assumed that physical material, flowing water, etc. has a characteristic resonance or frequency that the body can learn to recognize.
Keith said in the Bible, Moses apparently used a staff to find hidden water springs, striking the sun baked ground to release water from the apparent dry sands of the desert, an early application of dowsing, he also mentioned a few other historic applications.
Dowsing tools and techniques are as diverse as the diviners. The tools are generally inter-changeable but like most tools, some are best for specific uses. The classic tools are all simple ones that can be moved by slight muscular movements, often unrealised by the practitioner or observers. Dowsers search by walking across properties with the extended tool, which dips when the dowser's muscles are temporarily weakened by strong electromagnetic fields above metal ores or flowing water.
Keith then moved onto the pendulum, but then he went onto to say one can use virtually anything as long as it can swing freely. To demonstrate this, he showed and demonstrated a pendulum he had made out of a wine bottle cork and a needle and thread. As an humorous afterthought he added that if we were to make such a pendulum it is advisable to thread the needle before extracting the wine bottle cork and drinking the wine. He then went on to relate the many ways he had used the pendulum e.g. finding his way, selecting champagne for his friends in a wine shop and the correct butter for his wife in Tesco.
Keith took a wide variety of questions, such as, is the system dependant on the dowser? It is clear that successful dowsing involves a simple form of two-way communication between the conscious mind and subconscious mind, which is normally "aware" of changes in background electric and magnetic fields.
Can it be used to say yes or no to sex?, amid much hilarity, Keith stated with a wry smile that, men and women have been using their "sixth" sense for basic survival throughout history; now we have simple techniques to regain our connections with our natural intuition, but the real answer was NO.
Is the technique limited to specific folk? Keith said one learns to perceive or locate changes in weak energy fields. Once one learns to dialog with the subconscious awareness of weak electromagnetic fields, it is easy to realize that one can ask any question of the subconscious and get a practical answer.
This was an interesting topic, well presented and demonstrated without trying to convince the club with scientific theory, but with real life applications, thanks Keith.
John Mills concluded the proceeding with thanks to Keith, he amusingly found Keith by using his L rods and warmly thanked Keith and the membership supported this with genuine applause.