To find his dowser, Martial, a farmer from Ardèche, appealed for help on Facebook: “In my area, I thought we couldn’t find one easily. By broadcasting my call, I realized that a former colleague of my father was!” A few days later, the dowser came to inspect his 12 hectares of land. “I already have an old well that dates back to the 17th century, but I wanted to make sure I was drawing water from the spring at the highest rate.” On the spot, the man launches into a strange ballet for those who are not accustomed to what is called “sourcellerie”. He pulls out two wooden chopsticks and meticulously surveys the surface, looking for underground water sources. If the rods vibrate, or cross, – independently, in principle, of the will of the one who holds them -, it means that the dowser has just flushed out one. Verdict: “He found six other springs on my land! But he assured me that their flow was less than that of my well. I gave up, but I’m happy to know that they are there, especially these time”.
While a third episode of heat wave has threatened France since the beginning of the summer, individuals and professionals – farmers, nurserymen, breeders – are turning to dowsers. Dimitri, who is going to acquire “two hectares of agricultural land” in the Dordogne, is in active search: “I will have the land in September, and I absolutely need a source of water for market gardening and a little livestock. I’ve already started looking at who can find me one.” For that, he turned to Facebook. On the social network, three groups bringing together between 1,000 and 5,000 members each (Group of Chronicles of a Dowser, Dowser and magnetic fields, Geobiological Dowsers of Europe) offer practitioners and their future clients the opportunity to get in touch. This “2.0” use is far from unique. A new generation seems about to emerge, of which “sourcellerie” is only one facet: bonesetters, fire helmsmen, magnetizers… So many practices that have no scientific basis.
Kits to practice sourcing
Nowadays, you can easily buy “kits” on Amazon to practice sourcery, combining rods, pendulums, and even learning booklets for a cost ranging between 12 and 45 euros. Several books for sale on the platform offer to become a dowser through an “illustrated practical method”. The Google trends of the last five years do not deny the rise in power of research on the subject: up and down until the beginning of this summer, they experienced a sudden rise in power. Practitioners of sourcery were not mistaken. Forget the figure of the old man with the look of Professor Calculus walking his branch of a fig tree in a V: dowsers 2.0 have invaded the Internet in many regions, with the association of dowsers of Languedoc-Roussillonor even Sourcier in Ile-de-France.
“Last year, at this same period, I only had four to six calls per month. This summer, it’s three to four calls per day, and I carry out three to four surveys per week”, assures Karim. On his site, this resident of the Toulouse conurbation asserts his “passion as a competent and serious water researcher”. His clients ? “Individuals, farmers, nurseries,” he explains. Christian, dowser in Alsace, assures for his part that he even had “a town hall, for a subdivision”. Philippe, also a dowser in the Lot, near Cahors, confirms this enthusiasm: “Before, I had one request per week, now I have eight or nine”. Many individuals, he explains, but also breeders, desperate to see the pastures of their sheep scorched by the sun and the streams dried up.
“The wand vibrated”
Faced with this great thirst, dowsers deploy their proclaimed expertise, not without cashing in on it. On average, a visit will range between 100 and 250 euros depending on the size of the land. “I also change my prices depending on the number of kilometers I do to go and inspect a surface. At two euros per liter of diesel, I can’t do otherwise”, slips Philippe. Trucker by profession “from 5 a.m. to noon”, the 50-year-old exercises his talents as a dowser in the afternoon. A gift he discovered late, after a work accident. “I’ve always been very skeptical of anything paranormal,” he says. Not enough, however, not to have a dowser come and inspect his garden three years ago. “He told me that I had the gift, and passed me his wand. I found the source myself, the wand vibrated!”, marvels the driver. Since then, the man has offered his services by going on site, but also remotely. “I take a cadastral plan, I place my pendulum above the plot, and if the crystal turns counter-clockwise, there is water”, details- he. In three years of practice, he assures that he has never been wrong. “Charlatans, it is known quickly, in the trade”.
Misadventures too. Isabelle, in the Oise, had however taken her precautions, choosing a dowser on the recommendations of the drilling company she had requested. “The person made a mistake: I had my land drilled 30 meters, and I did not find any water. According to another dowser, I should have gone deeper, 44 or 70 meters”. But Isabelle refuses to dig further, while the company claims 5000 euros for this drilling. “It’s way too expensive,” she says in despair. There is no question, however, according to her, of calling into question the gifts of dowsers, which she considers to be quite tangible. “I just came across someone inexperienced,” she sweeps.
“Bad Energies”
Because Isabelle believes in their competence, and in their ability to capture the different vibrations coming from underground. “Dowsers often say they are dowsing, that is to say they are sensitive to certain radiation coming from underground”, explains Henri Broch, professor of theoretical biophysics at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis. This sensitivity would allow them to find what they call “veins” of water underground and to have an increased perception of the “radiations” emitted by the planet.
Often, those who claim to be dowsers thus lend themselves to other popular beliefs: their gift would allow them to find water, but also to cure illnesses or burns. Since he took on his new vocation, Philippe has also discovered skills as a magnetizer – he uses “magnetism” to heal his patients – or even as a “fire helmsman” – a gift that would relieve burns. Some even lend themselves powers bordering on exorcism. “The Earth is criss-crossed with telluric networks, energies which cross it and which have an influence on all living things, says Linda, a dowser in Loire-Atlantique. Sometimes, I discover that a house is placed on a dry vein, filled with bad energies. I come to chase them away”.
No scientific basis
This esoteric discourse obviously has no scientific basis. And this, regardless of the “type” of dowser who comes knocking at your door. To date, no evidence has come to confirm the reality of the “gift” or the validity of learning sourcery. The reverse, even: scientific data has shown that dowsers can often do no more than designate a place at random. “In reality, someone who calls himself a dowser has as much chance, or sometimes less, than an average person of finding water”. Founder of the zetetics laboratory – a discipline that intends to rationally study so-called ‘paranormal’ phenomena -, Henri Broch has conducted experiments with dowsers, without ever succeeding in proving the validity of their gift. “One day, at the University of Nice, a dowser had to demonstrate his abilities by finding, out of ten pipes, the one in which water was circulating, he recalls. When the valves were visible, he managed to do it , because he saw which one was open. Once the valves and pipes were covered, he was wrong every time”.
This anecdote is not just the work of an incompetent dowser. Experiments carried out in Germany in the 1990s with a similar experimental protocol were also inconclusive, as were those carried out in Australia in the 1980s. But if it has been repeatedly shown that the gifts of dowsers are not worth no more than a popular tale, some cling to it hard as iron. “I don’t have to prove that I can find water to science. It’s up to science to explain why I find it,” says Christian. In the meantime, he will continue to search for water.