Use of the Divining Rod
In answer to “E. T. B.’s’’ inquiry for authenticated instances of successful Rliabdomancy, I can state the following:—
In the month of November last the source of water supplying my house here suddenly failed, and it became necessary to find out the cause, or to seek for a new supply. Having myself perfect confidence in the divining rod, I applied to a man well-known as a “Brunnen Schmecker,” or water finder, residing in the village of Kussmacht, a few miles from this place, and, by the way, a classical neighbourhood, being quite near the spot where, in the Tell legend, the tyrant Gessler was shot by the Swiss hero. I had more faith in my friend, the water finder, or, more literally, “water-taster,” than I had in the historical truth of the Tell legend, inasmuch as a similar story being common in other countries, points to its being perhaps the latest adaptation or survival of the endless mythological tales of sun heroes, all so celebrated for their unerring aim with the bow. It is also a curious fact, so far as I know as yet unnoticed in the Tell controversy, that in one of the Northern Asiatic languages, the word “Tell” signifies the sun.
The “magician,” as he is looked upon by many in the neighbourhood, and by others styled an impostor, and who is by profession a barber surgeon, paid me two visits. I found him a very intelligent man, without the slightest charlatanism, but perfectly persuaded of the genuineness of his power. He went over the ground with a hazel wand, I accompanying him, and he was enabled by the unmistakable dipping movement of the rod, not only to shew where there was water, but to follow the course of two subterranean streams or fountains, stating which was the larger supply, and also the probable depth I should have to dig before finding the water, from 11 to 14 feet. I had both places excavated. In one I came to very hard rock, and found some water, but not enough without going deeper; so I tried the second place, and there I found an ample supply, a little deeper than he said, but not much ; and this water I have now conducted in pipes to the house.
This man generally uses a hazel twig, but he told me that other wood had succeeded with him. but not so well as the hazel; hence no doubt the hazel is called “witch hazel.” He held the rod very tight in one hand, extended horizontally, and when the rod began to move up and down, which is the sign of the existence of water, he said lie felt a curious strong sensation in the hand and lower arm, as far as the elbow, which he described as if the arm was drawn suddenly by some outward force. I tried to obtain from him an account of the principle he acted on in calculating how deep the water was, but I failed in making it out, partly from a difficulty in understanding his dialect, the Lucerne German being a patois considerably different from classical German, and allied to Low German and old Saxon English. A boatman here once said to me, “I muss go,” which in classical German would be “Ich muss gehen.” The peculiar sensation in the hand and arm was evidently caused by a magnetic current, or some other imponderable and occult quality flowing from the water, and conducted by some affinity or attraction into the hazel wood, and thence to the man’s nerves. The wood appears to be a conductor—that is, a medium—between the occult qualities of the water and the sensitive, just as the sensitive human being is a medium or conductor of the spiritual forces or influences of the inhabitants of the invisible world. He also told me that he could find out metals in the same way.
Tho hazel tree has been celebrated for this quality from a remote antiquity, as it is alluded to by the ancients in their account of Rhabdomancy and other kinds of divination. Tho classical and other authorities on this curious subject arc collected in a note at p. 189, first volume of “Creuzer’s Symbolik,” Leipzig, 1819. The hazel had also a remarkable effect on the Seeress of Prevorst, one of the greatest sensitives of whom we have any account; the laurel also had a strong influence on her, as it had on the priestesses of Delphi, who waved its leaves above their heads before giving the oracle, and the tripod on which they sat was wreathed with laurel leaves. It was on account of this occult power of the laurel, and its use at Delphi, that it became sacred to Apollo, the God of Inspiration. Laurel was also used in the Æsclepian temples (the ancient hospitals), to cause sleep and dreams. Hazel caused the Seeress to lie awake; walnuts held in her hands made her feel pleasant and kindly disposed; marigold gave her headache; and the white lily made her feel cold, and excited dreams and fancies; the violet rays of the sun put her into a mesmeric sleep, and the red rays made her cataleptic; St. John’s Wort (Hypericum Perforatum) had a powerful effect on her, and Paracelsus also ascribed great virtue to it, and used it as an amulet against demoniac influences. The Seeress when in the somnambulic state directed certain amulets to be made of hypericum, quinine, chamomile, calamus, thyme, calendula, orange, and laurel.
There was a race of people mentioned by Kerner in his Life of the Seeress—quoting from Del Rio, who wrote on magic— called Zahuris (I fancy this word is a corruption of “Zingaris” or Gipsies), who can see (or feel) things hidden under the earth, as water, metals, and dead bodies. Gamasche, a Portuguese who lived in the beginning of the eighteenth century, had the same power. Zschokke mentions a young girl celebrated fur her power of Rhabdomancy, and Ritter made numerous experiments on this subject with a peasant called Campetti, and I think I have somewhere read an account of an English noblewoman, who in the early part of this century possessed this power in a remarkable degree. The experiments tried by Kerner as to the effects of numerous natural objects on the Seeress, such as different plants, flowers, stones, gems, and metals, are exceedingly curious, as disclosing the occult qualities both of natural objects and of the human soul. But for these, the reader must refer to Kerner’s Life of the Seeress in the original German, as these experiments are barely alluded to in Mrs. Crowe’s very much abridged translation. This subject is also discussed in that valuable work by Professor Perty—“Die Mystiche Erscheinungen der Menschlichen Natur.”
I brought a professor of geology to examine my land to see if he could give me any assistance in finding water, but although he treated me to much scientific talk with technical terminologies, he totally failed to give any information of practical utility; and for his discourse 1 paid him a considerable fee. But the magician, who at once found or “tasted” the water for me, scarcely spoke at all, and only charged me five francs. I had no doubt that this water finder was a medium, and I asked him to have a seance with us at a table, but he made excuses, evidently knowing something of table turning, but being for some reason afraid of being in any way mixed up with such heterodox practices; probably owing to the influence of the clergy, who are here very bigoted and object to any knowledge being imparted to their sheep, except what is given by themselves, and that is of a kind to keep their souls and purses in strict and unreasoning subjection to their own power.
In an old work in my possessi on by Pietro Matthioli, a learned Italian doctor of the fifteenth century, founded on Dioscorides, he states, as part of the description of the plant “Hypericum,” by the latter, as follows Some alledge that this plant is so detested by devils that if you burn it, and let it give off smoke, any devils which happen to be in the house will at once fly; whence it has been named ‘Chase the devils,’ (caccia diavoli) and ‘put to flight the demons’ (fuga demoni).— Sec “Discorsi di Pielro Matthioli,” Venetia, 1622, p, 612.
It would be very interesting if experiments were made with this plant at seances where undeveloped Spirits, elementaries, elcmcntals, devils, or demons, or whatever they may be, or be called, sometimes present themselves, and cause disturbances. Mr. Varley gives a mineral recipe against such beings; why not try this vegetable one? It is evidently from Dioscorides that Paracelsus states this property of the hypericum. I have not been able to find out here, where there are no good libraries, why it is called “St. John’s Wort” or “Root.” Perhaps St. John may assist in expelling the demons.
Lucerne.
Another correspondent writes:—
I am not at liberty to give names, but I know a gentleman in the South-West of England who recently employed, with perfect success, an old man, inmate of a workhouse, to find water on his property. This man, like the one mentioned by “P.W. also detected the presence of a hidden spring in the house. The power, I imagine, is in the operator, not in the instrument, as only certain individuals succeed in the experiment. In the case I mention, a watch spring was used, not a rod. On coming over hidden water, the spring coiled up so tightly that the man could hardly hold it. As a hazel rod is frequently used, “P. W.’s” suggestion that there may be special attraction towards water in the willow rod, will not explain the phenomenon.
It would be interesting to ascertain if persons possessing the gift are also “mediums.”
January 21st, 1881.
Editor's notes
- ↑ Use of the Divining Rod by A.J.C., Light, v. 2, No. 56, January 28, 1882, p. 44
Sources
-
Light, v. 2, No. 56, January 28, 1882, p. 44