I used to live on the eastern side of WA state, and when I was 13ish my mother bought some property near my grandparents. The ends of the forked branch are held one in each hand, with your wrists and palms facing upward, and the stem of the Y pointing straight ahead and slightly upward.. My cousin showed me how. Trees grow 3 to 4 feet per year to 50 or 60 feet, and have a spread as wide. The wire always goes across my body when it turns to the side. I think it has to do with magnetics.when I worked in an IBM machine room I hacd to wear an antimagnetic watch to keep time. Seen it work but have also seen spectacular failures. Favorite Jung & Johnnys Seeds For Your 2023 Garden, Winter Sowing The Spring Vegetable Garden. True Story. She specializes in home, garden, environmental, and green living topics. Second well a mille away on a different piece of strata was less stron and pulled 30 gpm at 150 foot depth. It he was never wrong and the water was always good. Fill a jar half full with branches and pour boiling water over the branches to fill the jar. Well driller use divining willow branch to locate the spot to drill for water during the long drought in Western USA. The dip of the rock units and the topography of the area can be studied to identify the direction of groundwater flow, potential water recharge areas, springs, and discharge points. Thank you! Using a willow branch, dowsers would locate ground water without the . Check out our water witching selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our altars, shrines & tools shops. Date: October 17, 2021 Author: Bishop Bill 22 Comments. Systems. That well driller didnt believe in water dowsing originally but now calls me whenever someone wants him to drill a well.. Remove and compost all of the leaves and cut the branches into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Havent been successful at it myself but Ive seen it done and it does work. He saved people thousands of dollars, not having dry holes, and so started charging a fee. Love this kind of folklore. When he walks over a location that has the potential of yielding water, the dowsing rod will rotate in his hands and point toward the ground. I am now retired but I still work 2 to 3 days a week Water-witching for clients. Any type of tree branch can be used for dowsing (water). Most frustrating thing Ive ever tried to locate with brass rods. I think I can do this. I live in Western N.C.Haywood Co. My address is Clyde, which is between Waynesville and Asheville . He was right every time. When I backed up, they crossed in reverse. If its just a small pull, there probably isnt much. Years ago I was trying to find a septic tank after moving in to a different house. Some call it the gift. Others refer to it as dowsing, doodlebugging, or water witchingthe practice of locating water underground using a forked stick. If you're ever near an old wagon train road try them out. Yes, I can witch water. Thank you, Clarence Inman of Bonny Doon . Yes, water witching has been in existence for a long time. "Dowsing," "water witching," "divining," and "doodlebugging" are all names for the practice of locating groundwater by walking the surface of a property while holding a forked stick, a pair of L-shaped rods, a pendulum, or another tool that responds when the person moves above a location that will yield an adequate flow of water to a drilled well (see Figure 1). Use a length of 1 inch (2.5 cm) dowel rod, with a hole through the center. They just KNOW it works. Im about half of them the wire will start going down on them when they approach the vein. The tip drops when she is over water. Looks like a lot of potential millionaires amongst us *****I think he has passed on now but there was a guy named James Randy, who used to appear on the Johnny Carson Show. Id walk and as my stick started going down I would place a flag. The rod is usually a Y-shaped forked branch, the forks making a sort . Old Man Joneswas THE guy you wanted to drill for water well when I was a kid. I have witched successfully for water lines with 2 coat hangers spot on every time. When I was 7 we had a neighbor locate the buried water lines on a new farm. I would appreciate that information. . My Dad found the location for our well with a willow stick. My father in law, Lowell, was held in high esteem within our county as a master dowser. Using a green willow branch Babs Ballard looks for the flow of water near a well she previously discovered on Swauk Prairie Wednesday . I seem to find them occasionally with the backhoe ?? I told him I didnt believe that a stick could find water, he said well come with me he cut a stick and showed me how to hold it and told me to hold tight and start walking , I really didnt know what to say when that stick turn in my hands and I was holding so tight the bark peeled of in my hands it went down then next step it came back up and it did that in the same place every time, So I believe he passed the ability to witch to me when he handed the stick to me that day. The guy told him the water is 160ft below us. Yes he dosed and found and also claimed underground rivers! Willow twigs are long and slim. Mar 22, 2015 #4. I've an uncle that can do it. He would then hang the pliers from his finger and they would spin around and tell him the depth of the water. One of the most comical things Ive ever witnessed, him shuffling around my yard and whenever his wires got crossed, stomping one foot on the ground and with absolute confidence Dig HERE!10 minutes later with a probeno luck. my dad did this for years using a fork from a chokecherry tree , nothing else worked for him . Nothing to be ashamed of, but its better to ask around and find credible folks if possible. Instructions. The well hit at 75 foot dept at 6 GPM. He said it was the dangest thing he's ever seen. I am a Practicing Water-witch with over 30 years of Hands on Experience in NE Pa. Many of us may have fond remembrances of watching someone perform this noble and ' respectable ' form of divination when we were young, or at . Had well digger out there and only found 6 dry holes I knew the area was hard place to find water in. He smokes a lot of dope, that maybe helps. Just had a new well drilled today. Hazel twigs in Europe and witch-hazel in the United States are traditionally commonly chosen, as are branches from willow or peach trees. I also can use a pendulum to find water on a map. But I think he was good at finding anything ? He said, I have just as good a chance as they do. Use a pen. Although she passed away in 1989..Ive grown up on this well as Ive lived here since and its where I grew upknock on wood, I hope it holds up for the rest of my life! Its a simple tool nothing more than a forked branch cut from a live tree. 1,200 feet below ground, lay a huge seam of the Judith River Sands formation. He was correct. I use a steel wire as my tool. Most expertsother than dowsing experts, that isclassify this art to the realm of pseudoscience. The depth is what I need for wells. Other words and phrases that refer to this process include: doodlebugging, divining and water witching, willow witching. . In frustration, he asked Lynn to locate water. It works for some people and some people cant do it. People that have never seen it or watched closely think the dowser is turning the stick down intentionally. Weeping willow trees have stout trunks with a broad, rounded crown. Since then, I have used it multiple times to find old water lines with good results. It has the ability to flow laterally through these pore spaces and establish a "water table" that is generally horizontal or slightly sloping (see Figure 2). My mother's uncle could do it. Thank you, Michael, Hi, I am a 3rd Generation Water-Witch. I usually also check the state register of wells in area to get an approximate depth and well capacity in area. Some types of rocks are known to be good producers of water, whereas others will not hold or yield useful water. I had coffee from the well my 100% Cherokee grandmother found in 1962. Cut the smaller tubing to 30-inch lengths. Thats where Im going to drill "Divining" is referenced in the south, adding a magical aspect. As a young teen,my neighbor friend showed me how to do it with a forked apple branch.I was a doubter.We would hide a cup of water behind or under objects in his house.Then we would do a contest on who could find the water.One particular couch we could hide it beneath on ends or middle.I was astounded and we trained ourselves and we were nearly I would say 95 % accurate.Once we had an issue with the branch dragging the tip down in the middle of the living room floor.WTF was wrong? He was a professional magician who billed himself as, "The Amazing Randy". He would bend ends of the welding rods down at a 90 degree angle. Also known as divining, water witching, doodlebugging, and other names, dowsing is an ancient practice whose origins are lost in long-forgotten history. The fence guy got out a pair of marker flags and walked around and found it and built the fence. No water after 4-5 days of drilling. His next hole, he did get 50 gal/min at 60ft. If I can teach 9 yr old to do it anyone can do it following this simple technique. Ive never charged the locals. It was the same driller who saw my success locating water just a few feet from a dry hole. Would be curious if life expectancy or health issues differ from those who can and can't. Water witching for graves. They drilled 100 feet and got 3 gallons per minute and went down another 100 feet and got 9 more gallons per minute. Do you think any one of them could agree on a location???? I am the only one of six kids that can do it too. I have pretty good luck at it, Ive even used a pick axe with leather gloves if no wires or branches were handy Dennis. During this studys 10-year research period, researchers paired up experienced geologists and dowsers, sending them to dry regions like Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Yemen. Lynn likes to use a green willow, but even a relatively dry one will work . This article originally appeared in the July/August 2020 issue of Hobby Farms magazine. English/Irish, now living in Limerick Ireland. Locating and drilling into a good water supply can be difficult in areas underlain by igneous rocks such as granite and basalt. I would not drill a well without the advice of a witcher. Even found well water for our church in the last year. He said when you first felt the willow stick move you counted from there to when it went straight down. Cant find any. Water Witches book. People who practice dowsing believe that groundwater moves in subsurface seams, veins, or streams that must be intersected by the drill to produce an adequate flow of water. One had me hold his stick, fresh off the tree with bark on it, and had me try to locate areas to no avail. 100% of wolf cubs could do it after 30minutes training. 4) turn water or electricity on and repeat. In these areas, wells that do not intersect a fracture or a cavern might not yield abundant water. 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