The French priest who, in 1927, gave dowsing the scientific sounding name “radiesthesia” (which means to sense with a rod) claimed he could identify specific microbes in a test tube as accurately as a microbiologist using a microscope. Basically, move over Saint Anthony: we have ourselves a new patron saint for lost objects. Its services are offered to find oil, buried objects, lost vessels at sea, missing persons, archaeological artefacts, buried pipes, and food impurities. The reader will be left with the impression that if they are ever thirsty for a new source of water on their land, calling upon a dowser would make perfect sense.īut divination is not limited to finding water. The article sandwiches scientific facts in between anecdotal reports of the “I don’t know how it works but it did” variety. In a typical write-up, the Boston Globe last fall reported on the increased use of water witching in Massachusetts amid historic droughts. It consists in finding objects, traditionally water, that cannot be detected by our five senses. ![]() It's been called water witching, radiesthesia, divination or, simply, dowsing. An ancient pseudoscience is poised to make a resurgence in these desperate times. Climate change is making droughts worse, which will increase the value of water moving forward. Although we live in a world driven by technology, we are always one cataclysm away from retreating to magical notions. ![]() Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.
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