DIVINING ROD AND THE DOWSER

DIVINING ROD AND THE DOWSER

(These words are penned in memory of my father who would have turned 115 years old on August 25th).

Much of what I heard and experienced growing up as the last child born to older farming parents in rural Georgia was both mythical and mysterious. Some of it I accepted as truth, some of it as “if you say so” and some I simply didn’t believe but was smart enough to leave my unbelief unspoken. The divining rod fits all three categories. I am a logical person and my limited knowledge of science, nor personal experience supported this practice.

So, what is a divining rod? In this case, it is the use of a fresh cut green forked branch (“Y” shaped) to locate a water source below the ground for the purpose of digging a well. When walking with the branch stretched out over the surface of proposed digging area, the branch supposedly will jerk downward indicating the presence of water. The carrier of the branch is called a dowser and not everyone could perform this “magic.” FULL DISCLOSURE- I never saw this happen, but the practice was an integral part of my agrarian community.

Divining rods may or may not work but the concept of knowing where water can be accessed is one that I am willing to explore. My search is not for water that quenches physical thirst but water that quenches and sustains my creative and spiritual life.

I see myself as the dowser walking with the forked stick and the two branches of the “Y” as the creative and spiritual me.

Remembering this practice caused me to think of my father, who was an avid reader of two things…the Bible and the newspaper. The newspaper was delivered by the mailman every day except Sunday which meant that the news was never current by today’s standards. At the end of the workday, he would read it from front to back - everything. My father also wore shoes only when necessary — conducting business, attending church, and doing a farm chore with a high potential risk of injury. The soles of his feet were leather-like. He practiced grounding (earthing)https://health.clevelandclinic.org/earthing before it was a thing.

These two examples provided a source of generational water that has helped me understand my love of reading and a disdain for shoes. You see, reading any and everything is foundational to the written words shared with you each Monday. Grounding helps me spend time in nature with my feet as close to the earth as possible without being buried. Grounding helps me to work through stuff and fuels my creative thinking.

As I drew to the end of this writing, I began to see myself as the “Y” shaped branch, one leg as the creative me and one as the spiritual me. I was no longer a stand along dowser. The dowser part of me is personal motivation and discipline. The other parts of the dowser are others that support and encourage me. Both are critical in the search for ways to nourish, sustain and grow that which is already on deposit within. I need others to help me continually find water for the creative and spiritual me.

Psalm 32:8

PONDER THIS THOUGHT — Proverb: “A mill cannot grind without water.”