Radiesthesia

It is often said that the use of radiesthesia would allow the search for water or oil with the aid of a rod, whose movement is interpreted as a sign of the presence of said fluid. The movement of the rod is generally attributed to the ideomotor effect, which in a nutshell consists of a psychological interpretation of small involuntary movements by the user.

Etymology
“Radiesthesia” is a neologism built from two terms: from the Latin radium: ‘radiation’, and from the Greek aesthesia: ‘perception by the senses’ or ‘capacity to feel’ (from aesthesis: ‘perception’).
The word “radiesthesia” comes from the Greek rhabdos: ‘rod’ and manteia: ‘divination’.

Dowsers
A dowser, sometimes called a rhabdos or rhabdomancer, is someone who claims they can detect changes in electromagnetism through the spontaneous movement of simple devices held in their hands, usually a wooden or metal rod in the shape of a “Y” or “L” . Radiestesists claim to be able to detect the existence of magnetic flows or ley lines, water currents, mineral veins, underground lakes, etc. at any depth, and support the effectiveness of the technique for psychological reasons, and the movements of the instruments for ideomotor effect.

Background
Radiesthesia in its traditional variant of searching for underground water has been a practice for at least 4,500 years. It has been widely practiced since ancient times in the absence of geological knowledge or scientific instruments, although today it is still widely used in rural areas.

Y-shaped rod
The radiestesist uses a metal plant or rod, or a pendulum, which apparently serves as a stimulus to perceive the indicated location. However, some radiestesists use other types of equipment, or none at all.

Those who make use of the tree fork, preferably hazelnut or common willow, hold it with both hands and in a certain posture (see illustration) while the subject walks through the terrain to be explored, until its movement indicates the sought-after presence.

Use
Pendulum radiesthesia is an alternative medicine technique intended for diagnosis and is closely related to the fields described by acupuncture. A well-known use of radiesthesia, perhaps the one with the longest tradition, is that performed by so-called rabdomantes, who claim to be able to find the most favorable places to dig wells, where the water table is most accessible, by means of these techniques.

The supposed uses of radiesthesia are many. With it you try to:
– diagnose diseases;
– obtain exact measurements;
– find water;
– find minerals;
– inventory natural resources;
– predicting current or future states of living matter;
– finding lost items;
– locating energy radiation points;
– finding people, etc;
– guess numbers and combinations.

Source: Wikipedia