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Dowsing for Lost Stuff

fishbait

Raggin' the Blues
fishbait
Joined
Jun 3, 2003
Messages
1,026
During a discussion about dowsing, a friend brought up an interesting point. He says he has used dowsing rods to find objects that he has misplaced: keys, glasses, wallet, etc. According to him, even if it is due to the ideomotor effect, it still is an effective way to find lost stuff.

Well, maybe.

As dowsing is more than likely due to the ideomotor effect, I started thinking about using it to tap into one's memory to retrieve forgotten information.

Let's say I put my keys someplace out of the ordinary and later could not recall where. Is the location of the keys stored somewhere in the brain? Could the ideomotor effect be useful in retrieving this information with the use of dowsing? Kinda like "jogging" one's memory with a coat hanger?

Anyone know of experiments/studies on this?

What kind of test protocol would be valid? Is it worth testing or would it be the same as wandering around the house saying to myself, "If I were a set of keys, where would I be"? I'm interested in trying some tests to see what happens.

Any suggestions?
 
One could job their brain much better by being lashed with a coat hanger than walking around pointing it at random places.
 
fishbait said:
During a discussion about dowsing, a friend brought up an interesting point. He says he has used dowsing rods to find objects that he has misplaced: keys, glasses, wallet, etc. According to him, even if it is due to the ideomotor effect, it still is an effective way to find lost stuff.

Well, maybe.

As dowsing is more than likely due to the ideomotor effect, I started thinking about using it to tap into one's memory to retrieve forgotten information.

Let's say I put my keys someplace out of the ordinary and later could not recall where. Is the location of the keys stored somewhere in the brain? Could the ideomotor effect be useful in retrieving this information with the use of dowsing? Kinda like "jogging" one's memory with a coat hanger?

Anyone know of experiments/studies on this?

What kind of test protocol would be valid? Is it worth testing or would it be the same as wandering around the house saying to myself, "If I were a set of keys, where would I be"? I'm interested in trying some tests to see what happens.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...


I think it may explain the dowsing for an item you personally lost, like you said, as a jog to memory. It may work simply by the person spending a moment without distractions thinking about where you may have left it. But you couldn't dowse for something someone else lost.

I can only dowse for planets, as it says in my sig line.
 
I've found that making cutting movements with my fingers is a great help when looking for scissors: I always find them in the end.
 
Starthinker said:
IBut you couldn't dowse for something someone else lost.
Click to expand...

Of course not. I assumed that was obvious.

I'm not talking about anything paranormal here. Just a test to see if the ideomotor effect can be useful in finding stuff one loses personally.
 
My favorite way for finding missplaced keys, etc. could possibly be aided by the ideomotor effect. I've found that if intensly searching for an item fails I'll step back mentally and "survey the neighborhood", slowly looking through the room and carfully observe the entire space without specifically targeting any object. This has worked many times. Maybe "dowsing" can help distract the mind from focusing on red herrings.
 
I had someone who was interested in my web site (which apparently no one actually reads before commenting on it, as it is a debunking web site, and I even have an article on dowsing) write to me and tell me about their dowsing rod effects in searching for their keys. They said it doesn't work unless you completely focus on your keys. I'm pretty sure that just standing there with the same thought process would yield the same result. So yes, I would think it is possible that the ideomotor effect can jog your memory. Or concentration on a specific thing can. Either way, this is why there is so much faith in dowsing rods. Really, it boggles the mind.
 
I don't believe this is properly testable, because I can't think of a reliable way to ensure that a subject has forgotten the location of something; nor to establish a control group with lost items just as forgotten.

This could serve as an excellent puzzle in itself--am I wrong? Can someone come up with a reliable test of this?
 
gnome said:
I
This could serve as an excellent puzzle in itself--am I wrong? Can someone come up with a reliable test of this?
Click to expand...
This is the point of my OP.

I could demonstrate theprocess to myself, if there is anything to demonstrate, the next time I lose something. But, how could I test it if it appears to work?

Just for giggles, I'm going to try one of those games where there is a bunch of pictures on a grid. The grid is then covered and you have to recall where the pictures are on the grid. I'll try it first just using memory then try it again with differnt pictures using a pendulum dowsing set-up.
 
Or the next time you lose your keys you could just point your finger instead of a dowsing rod. Unless fingers are dowsing rods too.
 
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