The Hedge Druid

Posts Tagged ‘questions’

After our death defying attempt to access the cave we returned to main ruins of Delphi. I recall that as we had left the hotel in the morning the manager had warned us that a rain front was heading our way. I had laughed of course. “Didn’t he know that we were Sun bringers” I quipped to Gwas. As I had predicted at that time, the sun was above the horizon and promising to be a day long companion. The ruins that the pictures show are about a quarter of a mile from the town of Delphi. They begin near the bottom of a hill and as the paths wind up it, you come across many signed monuments until at almost the top you come across the Temple of Apollo. I took out my dowsing rods, right from the get go and asked to be taken by the most beneficial route to a place where I could commune with the Oracle of Delphi.

Journey

What a journey! The rods were truly on form today as I was led from beautiful vantage point to awesome site view. As I left Gwas behind and on his own personal quests, I was joined by a dog who scampered occasionally behind me and often in-front. The dog seemed aware of where the rods would take me or so it seemed. So much so that after a few minutes I wondered as to whether I was being guided by the dog. Well, not the dog, but a spirit inhabiting the dog.

I took a moment from following the path and asked a few questions…was the dog possessed of a spirit? Yes. Was this spirit guiding me? Yes. I pondered as to what or who the spirit was. Being in the majestic place, there were many possibilities. I began with the obvious. Was it Apollo? No, Was it Athena? No, What about the spirit of the place? No. A thought came to me, Was it Pan? This got a resounding Yes. Curious. Why Pan? I thought as I laughed at the dogs antics and continued my Pan guided, rods led tour.

The tour that I was led upon was truly beyond expression. Mere words cannot describe those few hours. I was describing it to a friend a few days ago and I recalled that “I have never felt so guided”. It’s true too. The rods took me to every vantage point. They would take me to a spot and twirl. I would stop, look around, have my sense of awe about the place increase and then off to the next spot (power centre). As time passed I felt that I was coming closer to the place of commune. The sun was just perfect, not too hot as to get clammy. Honestly, it was perfect.

I was outside of the main ruins and the dog led me through (or was randomly leaping around and I believed he led me through) some external ruins. I was following the rods, which seemed to be following the dog. At one point I was about to jump onto a waist level wall but the dog put its paw on the ledge and the rocks wobbled. “Saved by Pan” I thought as I took another route. My journey continued. Some parts of the ruins were roped of. It wasn’t a big barrier to cross and I wasn’t averse to some guerilla dowsing and crossing these boundaries however a ‘message’ from Pan came through as I was about to cross a roped area.

• Have respect for the current caretakers.

I was surprised by the message but wasn’t going to go against the local Gods. Strangely though, the rods often took me on a convoluted path that brought me to places beyond the rope without directly crossing it. Another delightful surprise. About an hour or two so into our visit I crossed Gwas’s path just below the Temple. He was on his way up and asked if I was on the same route. I had no idea but presumed so, my path was pure intuition. Where ever it took me was acceptable.

Temple

Offerings at Delphi

There is what looks like the front of the temple of Apollo and as I had looked on Gwas heading that way I presumed that eventually I would be heading that way too. That was not my fate though. Going around the sides and back of the temple stones I was led a-leaping across the large temple stones from the back zigzag to the front (and another rope). I saw Gwas within an enclave in silent commune and thought that perhaps that would be my final destination. The rods seemed respectful of Gwas’s quest and took me of to explore some nooks and crannies whilst he finished up. Rather synchronistically they did an about turn just around the time Gwas left the alcove and I was heading straight for the vacant space. Was this going to be the place I would meet the Oracle?

Offerings

The rods took me into the alcove and to my surprise did a gentle spiral and led me back out again and along a path to the side. What was going on? This was the Temple. It looked liked the right place. I even felt like it should be the right place and yet there I was being led away. I was taken some 30 metres away from the alcove and up onto a raised platform. The rods spiralled and I halted to take a look and to rest. I had a feeling that I had to do something here. Perhaps this was a place to prepare and ground? The rods replied, No. After a moment the notion of lighting some incense hit me and the rods agreed, so I lit three sticks and placed them upon the raised platform. As I finished up Gwas passed by and spotted me upon the platform.

“Very appropriate,” he said.

What do you mean I asked and he pointed to a sign that I could not see. What does it say I asked. “Don’t you know?” No, I replied. He called up to me that this was the place of offerings. I was stunned. I made my way back down from the platform to look at the sign that he had been pointing at.

• Offering of Crateros

What a confirmation of direction! I beamed over at Gwas. Life is fabulous. Onwards.

Place of Commune

Navel of the World

Following the rods, I continued my journey up past the Temple of Apollo (still can’t believe that that wasn’t the place). I didn’t know how much of the path was left. But I trusted the rods. This was such a awe inspiring day and as I said, such a led path, I had no fears. Complete certainty. I was approaching a truly magnificent (amongst magnificent) vantage point when the rods stopped and clicked together. I sighed. Arrival. The place was perfect. The rods had pointed me over to the little two foot high wall that marked the edge of the path and beyond was a shallow indentation. A message again entered into my mind.

• The centre point

I confirmed it with the rods. For me, at that time and place, this was the navel of the Earth. The shining upon me. I lay down on the wall and was transported.

Kal Malik

Stream of Thoughts

Wisdom is a gift that one accrues through the passage of time and the deluge of experience. Given that, as one travels back into ones own history one will find the lack of this ambrosia. I am of course such a one and have spent much time healing and balancing past lacks of wisdom. This has been no mean feat in and of itself and I have completed that task to my own satisfaction.

Still, there is one person whom I would like to, in-person, deliver a message. The last I heard, this person had moved to Athens, Greece. Thus I was curious as to whether my upcoming quest to Delphi in Greece could include a search for this person. Since my journey is an energetic one, it only seems fair that I should determine an energetic answer to my question,

• “Should I seek out this person”?

This question inspired a journey to the nearby wizards wood, Alderley Edge. I arrived in the late hours of the afternoon and was not surprised to find that it was raining heavily and the paths were muddy. Nothing unusual for a mud walker. Dowsing rods in hand I determined a path to a place where my question could be answered. About fifteen minutes later I was standing on a shelf overlooking the valley of Cheshire. The rods had twirled into a spiral indicating the questioning spot.

I wondered whether I should literally dowse the question above. Or should I seek an answer through meditation. Perhaps a mixture of both? So I decided to do a meditation first. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift with the spatter of rain. Like sitting by the side of a gentle flowing stream and examining the leafs (thoughts) as they float by. I saw an image of the person’s face float by several times and in several guises (memories). The images were faded and old, some were black and white, like old pictures. Was I being told not to dig up the past?

It was time to get more defined answers. So I broke from my seclusion and brought the dowsing rods to bear. Should I dig up the past? Was the first question that I asked of them and got a soft yes. This surprised me as I was expecting a no. Well, in that case the above question was answered by default right and just to confirm I asked the question, “Should I seek this person on my trip to Greece?” To my surprise the answer was No. What was going on?

I should dig up the past, and yet not? What kind of duality was this? Then my thoughts went back to the images in the river, what else was being shown? Time, that was what came to mind and I asked, “Should I seek this person at another time?” The answer was Yes.

Curious. I came here to find an answer and what I’ve found is another puzzle. At least my task for the moment is clear. Delphi is my destination and nothing should interrupt it.

Kal Malik on a path to 2013

I have been compiling a list of questions to ask at sites where the dowsing researcher may wish to explore. To assist in this process I offer you my latest list of questions which has been compiled from the fragments of various lists that were hanging around from years ago. Here is my current 2012 list of dowsing question which you may find useful in your own work.

If you spot any logical flaws, or things that I have missed (of which I’m sure there are many) then feel free to add a comment and I will try to keep the list up to date this year with everyone’s contributions. Most of the terminology used can be found in the Glossary page if they don’t make sense to you straight away.

Enjoy your dowsing year,

Gwas.

Gwas and I have often discussed and experimented with what kind of questions that it is feasible to ask of the dowsing rods.

Toss of a coin

Of course one can ask any kind of question and indeed if memory serves I even read of someone dowsing to ask who the next president of the United States was going to be – I think they got it right.

Gwas and I have discovered there is no rule to this – nothing “literally” slaps you if you ask an inappropriate question. and you do get yes and no answers too. For example the lottery numbers where dowsed and 6 numbers where got and a ticket duly bought. Thus we are writing these blog posts from our yacht, Not!

So if we are obviously getting “wrong” results from certain questions, what is going on?And, not to let ourselves of the hook, how do we know that the “other questions” have right answers?

Let me illustrate…Finding the lottery numbers gave an incorrect result. Finding a power center? How do we know that that was a right result?

There are a couple of ways in which we can persue this rabbit. The first is to look at it from the perspective of “who” is answering the questions and what knowledge can we attribute to “the answerer”. The second way is to look at the question and ask whether such a question is indeed answerable. For instance the “lottery” question assumes that the future is readable.

Exploring this rather convoluted topic leads to, what is essentially, a matter of belief. With that in mind I can give you “my beliefs” on it. Gwas may add his at a later date.

In the specific case of dowsing (and not communing) I feel that I am getting an answer from a deeper (higher, whatever) part of me. My understanding is that the consciousness that is me is just the tip of the iceberg and (taking this analogy further) below the water there is a tremendous amount of “stuff”. For me dowsing provides a conduit through which I have access to a deeper me.

Lotto

For sure, that “deeper” me isn’t omniscient or indeed prescient. Thus it can only provide from what it has in store. But here is the strangeness of it. I feel that there is a rule, and that rule simply states that “all questions must be answered.”

However the “bind” with this rule is that the questions do not have to be “truthfully” answered. Thus, asking if some one is in love with you, or the lottery, or the winning horse will be answered – as per the rule. But they may not be the correct answer since the “deeper” part of you may not know it.

Both Gwas and I have used dowsing for finding our path when lost, when looking for things and when seeking energies. I (we) have enough experience in such matters to trust that what we are shown is the truth of it. We have also had enough “slaps” (credit is often given to The Trickster for these – but with a tongue in cheek acknowledgement that we ourselves may very well be the Trickster!) to acknowledge that our deeper self has no knowledge of certain matters.

trickster

Of course all of this is only true for me (and again I stress this applies to dowsing only NOT communing) – Gwas’s notion may differ.

Ok, fair dues! But why the ‘eck are you writing about this? Well, quite recently I started up a sister site to do with wand making. However this was causing me to wonder how many blogs can I post on!! So I was considering consolidating that blog and putting it on here as a ever-growing page. And in fact I did start doing that. But then I decided to dowse to see what the rods (my deeper self, remember) would think on the matter.

In the real world there are advantages and disadvantages to either way, I may as well toss a coin and decide right? And this is where the nub of the matter comes in.

One of the most beneficial features of dowsing is that it “creates meaning” where before there were only cold hard “advantages and disadvantages”. At one time, it was evenly balanced as to what to do, leave it as a blog or not. A toss of a coin would have added more “meaninglessness” to the decision. However with the rods I added more “meaning” to the choice.

The only thing that remains, is to ask ourselves whether the response came because “all questions must be answered” or because “my deeper self knew something”? This, my dear friends, is where wisdom is born.

Fin,

Kal

Ps – please note the lack of a Wand Making page – courtesy of my deeper self

Caitlin Matthews has the kind of voice that imparts a majestic aura. Her lecture on the ways of druidic learning and wisdom that appears on the latest OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids) Druidcast MP3 (Number 24) is a clear and carefully researched lecture.

We have a link to it in the right-hand links panel, and I can highly recommend it for those who wish to obtain a ‘sound’ background in the concepts of the use of sonics and linguistics as methods of passing oral traditions down the ages. Also, Caitlin delivers and interprets some catechistic poetry – question and answer done as only the old bards could do. The rap music of its day!

Check out the sneeze at 23:23! Ha ha. I’m sure I heard a zippo lighter too.

Gwas

Following delightful diction.

Introduction

I was talking to Kal last week about an experiment I had seen hosted by James Randi, the infamous debunker of new-age and paranormal phenomena. An introduction to the video states:

“In controlled tests, dowsing fails every time. Dowsing is actually nothing more than an example of the ‘ideomotor effect’ – a known psychological phenomenon in which the dowser moves/tips the dowsing apparatus entirely unconsciously, giving the powerful illusion that the device moves of its own accord.
This is also the explanation behind the ouija board and automatic writing.“

Now, there are some things to say about this. Firstly, that both Kal and I would agree that the movement of dowsing rods is probably contributed to by minutely small movements of the hand, wrist or arm in order to facilitate the movement of the rods. That is a strong possibility, and in some bad dowsers this is more than a minute movement – it becomes a gross movement that the dowser claims to be unaware of, despite the fact that everyone observing can see it! The idea that these movements are mostly unconscious to the participant seems to be true as well – or perhaps they’re just not very aware of their proprioceptive capabilities.

Secondly, we are also aware that the “source” of the movement is us. Consciously, semi-consciously, unconsciously, whatever – we feel that we are either an aware channel for the motivation for the rods to move, or we are interpreting the reaction and perhaps even responding to it at some level. Yes, it’s US folks – it’s not God, Nature, evil forces, electromagnetism, or any of the usual explanations. It’s US doing it. That is not the point in question – the question is HOW and WHY – in response to WHAT are those rods moving, because WE don’t know (yet)! We may never know. We may not even need to know.

Thirdly, the test that is always done is a test that I have tried myself, and failed in just the same way! Oh yes. I have done the test for finding a hidden object while bring scutinised, and with the aim of proving that dowsing really works. It didn’t. I got no better than chance. Just like the double-blind hidden object tests which are used to discredit dowsing. And yet I continued to dowse. WHY???

Well, because I know that when I am out in nature, dowsing for energies, I find patterns that I don’t believe I could create myself. My expectations are constantly overturned, and my arrogance or pride is ALWAYS overturned in the most embarrassing way. That much I can guarantee you! Try to impress with dowsing and you’ll come a cropper – I assure you of that much! Something, somewhere, somehow prevents its “abuse” for fun and crushes the ego when it gets involved in the activity. So, we need tests that both include and exclude the ego. We need tests of many varieties, in different conditions, for different aims.

Are the debunkers right?

Debunkers love to have their “controlled test” and to “prove” that activities such as dowsing are poppycock. It gives them a feeling of self-righteousness, I’m sure. “See – you’re far better off with just your plain old boring five senses. We were right all along – don’t be fooled again!”

Agreed. Don’t be fooled. And I have no intention of being a fool. I treat rational thought as a truly important development of the human consciousness. But it doesn’t have to end there. It doesn’t have to be the be-all-and-end-all of all thought, as some would have you believe. Mainly people who are very successful in that sphere of human intelligence – Mr Richard Dawkins, I’m talking to you. Dawkins did a programme for TV recently called “Root of all evil?” in which he countered organised religion, new-age thinking and all manner of ‘erroneous philosophy’. Honestly, I was with him 95% of the way, as inevitably the charlatans in the various fields were shown up as the cynical exploiters that they are. I have no argument with that.

So, why did the dowsing experiment from James Randi, and the one performed by Richard Dawkins, both fail so miserably? I have an idea why, but I don’t really know. So I have come up with what I believe is a much fairer, more comprehensive, and equally rigorous (if not more so) series of tests that will once and for all prove, if only to myself, whether there really is something in this dowsing lark.

The Testing

Here is what I propose:-

AIM: To test dowsing skills in a number of conditions to determine the accuracy and consistency of results.

PARAMETERS:

• All tests must be done on the same day and in the same place to exclude the influence of as many variable factors as possible.
• Any feelings of uncertainty, or more than one answer or outcome, should be vocalised by the dowser and recorded during the test as they occur, so that they can be reviewed afterwards.
• The degree of certainty in the result of the dowsing should be rated and recorded on a simple scale.
• The tests should be performed by someone who has never dowsed before as well as experienced dowsers to note any variance or similarity.
• All tests should also be done by someone without the use of dowsing rods – just picking an answer.
• The questions to be asked by the dowser should be explicitly stated before the test is attempted so that all dowsers ask the same question and agree the phrasing is suitable to produce results.
• Any feelings within the dowser should be vocalised and recorded so that the effect can be analysed later.

SKILLS TESTED:

• Finding an earth energy line at a sacred site never visited by the dowsers before
• Asking a question about the past, the present and the future
• Finding a hidden sample of water (holy well water/tap water), crystal (charged and uncharged), and an object treasured by someone (something someone has invested emotion into) in a double-blind test
• Finding a tree’s aura
• Dowsing a standing stone at a sacred site never visited by the dowsers before

CONDITIONS:

• Unpressured and alone
• Observed by a sympathetic observer who is willing the tests to work
• Observed by a cynical or hostile observer who is willing the tests to fail
• Watched by a crowd of random people whose sympathies are unknown
• Watched by a crowd of sympathetic people willing the tests to work

This is our starting point. From this other tests may suggest themselves, and we can take the experimentation further. However, if it turns out that none of these tests produce anything more than random chance, then we will have to consider our position! It’s make or break with this one! No excuses!

Gwas

Taking it further

=======================

ADDENDUM: 13th November 2009

As you can see this original post was written over a year ago. Since that time we have discovered so much more about the concepts of dowsing. One of the important things we have learned is that IT CANNOT BE TESTED. Now, that seems so much like a cop-out that it just HAS to be explained. Here is my explanation of why this is the case, for me at least, and, judging by the dismal failure of all other dowsing tests, why it appears to be generally true.

Dowsing is NOT the interaction with an as-yet undiscovered energy force that is simply waiting for science to discover its particulars. It is about interacting with the life force of Nature itself – with “chi”, vouivre, newifre, awen, ki, od, and all the other names that have been given to it since the beginning of recorded history. Anyone who approaches dowsing with the expectation of unveiling this layer of existence using probes, measures and a set of guidelines is setting themselves up for a lifetime of frustration.

Dowsing IS the interaction of a human mind with the life force of Nature. As such it is subject to so many variables that are uncontrollable, especially in combination with each other, that predicting an outcome is as likely as winning the lottery. In this interaction there are such elements as: your emotional state, your skill in dowsing, your pre-conditioning to the response, how you programmed the response of the rods,  how intuitive you are on the day, your ability to achieve the state of “no-mind” without stress when under pressure, the quality of the question being asked (i.e. how binary is the answer), and so on.

And that’s just YOUR side of the equation. The other side is how you have developed your relationship with The Other that is producing the response, whatever you understand that to be. How will The Other respond? In my experience it will not be commanded. What is a “scientific test”, if not a requirement to produce a consistent response ON DEMAND? Nature, or The Other, will not yield to being asked to respond as YOU will it to be. You may only ASK graciously for her compliance with your request, and then trust to hope.

“It’s a cop out!” I hear some people cry. Good. Cry away. I now have the authority of experience, and I know this to be so. What is YOUR experiencial evidence in this field?

Needless to say – no test as described above will be being performed by us. You may take it and use it if you wish, but you will not succeed. Or rather, as is often the way, you will trial it by yourself, succeed, then try it again when other people are watching, and it will go hopelessly wrong. That I can guarantee!

Gwas.

When I say that ‘new patterns emerge’ I mean this in the sense of a new discovery, but also a hope that one of my current theorems may be correct. Let me explain this.

Bodfari welcomes careful Druids

1. New patterns may emerge – Dowsing intentioned emotions

After having relative success with making patterns emerge from energetic ‘power centres’ by placing a stone in the centre, charged with my good intentions and pure thoughts and emotions, I plan now to take this further.

I want to begin to understand more about the possibilities of these patterns. How do the patterns change with the type of emotion invested in the stones? Will I dowse different patterns for different emotions, and what does that mean – how does it add to our vocabulary and to our understanding of the nature of energies at sacred sites?

2. New patterns have emerged – Arbor Low

We started on our mission to define a list of questions for dowsing at a site this week. We had divided the list up into three sections: the first set helped us to determine the nature of the various lines or pools of energy - their polarity, if you like. Kal will post a site report soon, I suspect, with a description of the findings. They took us down another path in this quest, that much is certain!

The second set of questions tried to define the purpose of the site. It entailed asking about things like – is this site used for meditation, or communication, or perhaps healing? Asked in turn this yielded good results (better than could have been hoped for actually) but we ran out of time before we had got too far with this, as each question inevitably led us to ask supplementary questions along the same lines to home in on the specifics. Certainly a fruitful and worthwhile addition to the list.

We never got to the third section of questions. We can do that when we have more time. The third set was concerned with directing our attention to ask about working with the energies we had found at the site. We will get to that only if we have a clear understanding of the purpose and have drawn out the energy shapes of the area. That will take more time, or probably a re-visit.

Floating leaf

We intend to post our list when we have hammered out the weaknesses in the questioning, and firmed up on the wording, ironed out the intent, and solidifed the purpose of the enquiries. When we are sure we have a good list for anyone to use, we’ll put it on this blog in a readily printable format.

Gwas Myrddyn

Follow your true path