Phil Parker On Wikipedia trying top get SMILE added

[BurnA]

I wasn't going to read this thread, so glad I did now, far more interesting that the name suggests.

 

[Wonko]

I could readily believe that mucky water (which electric currents can therefore flow through) moving through pipes and therefore creating lots of static electricity, could generate magnetic fields that move around a bit, possibly within the mucky water itself. Put copper in those electric fields (though lack of a completed electrical circuit baffles me I confess), and they could experience a force on them, which is the essence of how electric motors work. I can feel an experiment coming on - my son usually has various bits of scrap metal.

Commonly accepted wisdom says that electricity can "flow" through even clean water Experiments involving toasters and baths seem to suggest this is the case.

 

[Wonko]

Can we do it with lead I know a bloke who pinches it off roofs.

I thought they stopped putting it on roofs in the 70s, because people kept nicking it

 

[Large Donner]

I thought they stopped putting it on roofs in the 70s, because people kept nicking it

Ye but most of my jokes are from the 70s.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I thought they stopped putting it on roofs in the 70s, because people kept nicking it

They are still nicking the stuff from 1667 in London.

 

[Large Donner]

Anyway the bloke I know who pinches it off roofs sells it in the local pub and that involves drinking so that could skew the experiment. Unless of course eveyone is forced to drink cuppa soup which I am about to do right now in the bath. Should I take some dowsing sticks to find my way to the bathroom and do I need to get someone to run the bath first.

 

[Hip]

I am just dipping into a book I read around 20 years ago, called Dowsing: New Light on an Ancient Art by Tom Williamson. It has a few chapters on possible physical explanations for dowsing.

One chapter talks about the magnetic sense possesses by mammals, and how one study by Margaret Klinowska on the appearance of groups of beached whales and dolphins found that the beachings always happened in parts of the coast of Britain where the Earth's magnetic field lines ran perpendicular to the coast, suggesting that the whales had been following the magnetic contours of the Earth's field when they ran aground.

This suggests whales have built-in magnetometers sensitive enough to detect minute changes in the intensity of the Earth's field, such that they can follow these magnetic lines. That's not the whole story of Klinowska's theory why they beach themselves; it also involves the way solar space weather incidents sometimes temporarily perturb the Earth's magnetic field: she found that beachings tended to occur just after days when the Earth's magnetosphere had been perturbed by a space weather event.

Then two subsequent chapters in the book go into detail about various ideas of how dowsers may use an in-built mammalian magnetic sense to detect water and metal (too complex to type up here).

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

If Countrygirl and I are right the movement of the rods has nothing to do with the dowser. The rods have a life of their own. That may not suit authors who would like to speculate on sixth senses and so on. The compass needle on my boat does not need me to tell it to point north.

 

[wdb]

Okay well these are the Dowsing studies so far, if it does work it's obviously damn hard to measure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing#Studies

I'm still unsure if we're being serious or not.

 

[wdb]

I think the Dawkins experiment is like asking people to detect stationary cars behind a wall with a speed camera.

But the interesting thing is that none of them had any objections before the trial, they were all satisfied with the setup and 100% confident it would work.

 

[AndyPandy]

My dad was able to find water by dowsing.

He was a practical, technically minded man.

If he was still alive he would be outraged at the suggestion that my ME could be cured by chanting and standing on a circle.

 

[Large Donner]

I'm still unsure if we're being serious or not.

I'm not.

 

[alex3619]

What is most fascinating about this thread is that we find dowsing to be more credible than SMILE.

For the record I am a serious sceptic about dowsing, but I don't consider it important enough to investigate further. My time is much better spent elsewhere.

So where does that put the LP on my sceptometer? Guess.

 

[Large Donner]

But the interesting thing is that none of them had any objections before the trial, they were all satisfied with the setup and 100% confident it would work.

That may be true but who selected the cohort? Remember that old chestnut. Its really down to the investigator to set up the experiment based on the strongest claim not a straw man using potentially weak participants.

 

[Wonko]

I'm still unsure if we're being serious or not.

The question is....is this the right question?

I don't know, I ceased caring 43 years ago, dowsing isn't a massive factor in my life, I suspect it would break the known laws of nature if it did work, but I didn't write them, why should I care

Apart from the whole breaking the laws of physics thingamabob, the major red flag to me is that the rod carriers aren't insulated, therefore the rods would be "grounded" and unable to pick up fields, any fields, or any electrical whatsits.

Buts that's just me, I currently have no brain.

 

[Dx Revision Watch]

The "dousing" referred to in the archived ECMH Healing Course is this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070615014926/http://www.healinghawk.com/prospectushealing.htm

(...)

8 Using Divination.

This module looks at the use of divination medicine cards and tarot as a way of making predictions. From a healing perspective, divination is useful in creating a strong connection with healing/spirit guides. It can also help you to understand the spiritual background of a client, which may be essential in helping with a problem. If a client comes to you feeling they have been cursed, you may need additional information about their past lives in order to help them and this is where the use of tarot/medicine cards is beneficial.

Healing can also be a time of change and new beginnings- recognition of strengths, talents and a time to let go of the past. Divination can help with all these important areas.

In this module the anatomic section focuses on the digestion and urinary systems.

In the practical session for this module, the students are required to make predictions about their client, using tarot/medicine cards and then discuss the relevance of the cards they have picked and/or treat that client accordingly.

9 Meditation Dowsing.

Module 9 concentrates on dowsing (making predictions based on the spinning of a pendulum). Using a pendulum in healing can focus your attention on the area of a client’s body that needs healing, as its usage relies on energy and changes in energy fields.


In this module the anatomy section will be looking at the body’s muscular system.

The practical section of this module combines the use of tarot/medicine cards and the use of dowsing to practically analyse the needs of a client.

 

[Wonko]

But that's just silly.

 

[Wonko]

They are still nicking the stuff from 1667 in London.

Was there any? Surely it disappeared down whatever sewerage systems were in place at the time?

 

[Forbin]

I had trouble finding this old video, so I got out my old dowsing rods and waved them over my keyboard with 100% success. I remember seeing this film when it first aired on PBS, about 37 years ago.

"James Randi in Australia" (1980)

James Randi visits Australia in 1980 and offers a $40,000 prize to the country's top dowsers in a tightly controlled trial of their abilities to detect in which of 10 underground in plastic pipes water is flowing. Randi involves the dowsers in the design of the trial to ensure that there will be no objections to the results. The trial seems quite rigorous, not to mention quite costly set up. A co-investigation features an attempt by the dowsers to identify in which of 10 closed boxes there lies a gold ingot (a test for brass was also done). Prior to the test, most of the dowsers asserted that they would be 100% accurate in their identifications.

The whole thing is pretty engaging, but you can jump to the results here:

Randi's thorough write up of the experiment can be found here.

 

[Dx Revision Watch]

But that's just silly.

BTW, for those not aware, Vicci Hands

"As a child, Vicci Hands was extremely scared by hearing voices that no one else could; the fact that what these spirit voices said came true just made things worse. She was fortunate enough to come across a number of positive influences and mentors who helped understand how to harness her abilities for healing. As a result of her own experiences, she has a very down to earth approach to the subject. This, combined with her background in education, makes her a very powerful and approachable teacher."

is a former Company Secretary on the board of PHIL PARKER TRAINING LIMITED:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04692773/officers

PARKER, Victoria Jane
Role Resigned
Secretary
Appointed on
11 March 2005
Resigned on
2 December 2010

Previous company names

EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE LIMITED 11 Mar 2003 - 04 Jun 2008