Nuggets from Occult Invasion—A Common and Easily Evaluated Example

Logically, a belief in the occult could hardly have persisted for thousands of years unless enough people had convincing evidence that there was something to it. Of course, multitudes in primitive societies would vouch for that. They would sear that the curse of a witch doctor or an “evil eye” could bring not only “bad luck” but death. And we have reliable testimony about these powers, such as that of the Yanomamo shaman from Venezuela who tells his story in Spirit of the Rainforest.

In the prestigious Smithsonian journal in its January 1996 edition, the explosive growth of dowsing, a very common form of occultism, was documented. Dowsing involves a mysterious power for which there is no possible scientific explanation. Yet its results are verifiable and undeniable.

Dowsing for water with a forked green willow stick held in both hands as one walks back and forth across the ground is an ancient occult technique. Often called “water witching,” it is well known in all cultures throughout history. It has been used in the successful location of more than 500,00 producing water wells in the United States alone. How it works, however, is the question.

Dr. Peter Treadwell traveled the world for the multinational pharmaceutical firm Hoffman-La Roche “to dowse for water sources for newly planned factories before they were built.” Addressing a group of engineers in Basel, Switzerland, Treadwell declared, “I hope I shall not disappoint you when I say that I am in no position to offer any explanation for the phenomenon of dowsing…I have none.” In a magazine interview, in response to the question “How is it that Roche, a company based on science, uses a nonscientific method to find water?”, he replied:

“That problem has bothered me for a long time, but…we keep finding water for our company with a method that neither physics nor physiology nor psychology have even begun to explain…. The dowsing method…is 100 percent reliable.”

Dowsing may be “100 percent reliable” for Dr. Treadwell, but there is a varying margin of error for other dowsers, as in every area of the occult. Dowsers rationalize that the moisture in the green twig is magnetically attracted to the water in the ground, thus causing the twig to bend downward over a good supply of underground water.

However, there is no magnetic attraction of water to water of the magnitude exhibited in dowsing. If the dowser attempts to prevent the stick from turning downward, it will nevertheless do so with such force that the forked portion held firmly in both hands is twisted loose from the bark. Clearly, such force cannot be attributed to an attraction of moisture in the forked stick to water in the ground.