The Folklore of Dowsing, aka Water Witching

The Folklore of Dowsing, aka Water Witching

Dowsing is a fascinating form of divination since it is often used to find water, minerals, or even lost items. While other forms of divination like tarot or botanomancy seek to provide information, here the information is often of a tangible sort. Rather than telling a fortune, or providing a prophetic dream that must be interpreted, dowsing appears to relate information about the presence of something the dowser is looking for.

Given dowsing can be used to find a whole range of things, this article will focus on the use of dowsing to locate water. After all, this comprises much of the discussion about dowsing within folklore. This form of dowsing also enjoyed other names, including water witching, well witching, water divining, or rhabdomancy.

While dowsing can also be performed using a pendulum, sometimes held over a map when dowsing for water, this article will also focus on the use of rods, since this appears more frequently in folklore. Let's find out more about dowsing in this week’s episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/folklore-of-dowsing/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

Jaksot(424)

A Portmanteau Ghost Story for Christmas

A Portmanteau Ghost Story for Christmas

For this third episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm adding my own tale to the noble tradition of the Christmas ghost story! And it arrives right ahead of the winter solstice.....

20 Joulu 20251h 5min

Festive Folklore and Traditions with The Faerie Folk and Celtic Myths & Legends

Festive Folklore and Traditions with The Faerie Folk and Celtic Myths & Legends

For this second episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, The Faerie Folk podcast and Sian Powell from Celtic Myths & Legends. We discuss some plant-bas...

13 Joulu 202547min

Myths of the Stars and Planets with Suki Ferguson

Myths of the Stars and Planets with Suki Ferguson

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat to writer Suki Ferguson about some of the myths associated with the celestial bodies, how you approach myths when you don't just want to focus on ...

9 Joulu 202541min

Festive Folklore & Christmas Carols with Loremen

Festive Folklore & Christmas Carols with Loremen

For this first episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King, better known as the Loremen. We discuss some obscur...

6 Joulu 202546min

Legends of New York's Islands: Buried Treasure and Typhoid Mary

Legends of New York's Islands: Buried Treasure and Typhoid Mary

New York City conjures up images of a neon-drenched Times Square, skyscrapers gleaming in the sun, and the labyrinthine subway system.  Yet the city also boasts three main rivers; the Hudson to the w...

29 Marras 202524min

Menorca Legends: Lost Cities, Giants, and the Cyclops

Menorca Legends: Lost Cities, Giants, and the Cyclops

Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Well-known for a huge collection of megaliths, Menorca has seen human activity since the prehistoric era. This period was the Talayotic...

22 Marras 202518min

Anglesey Folklore: Witches, Ghosts, and Ancient Druids

Anglesey Folklore: Witches, Ghosts, and Ancient Druids

Perhaps most famous as the home of the druids, Ynys Môn, also known as Anglesey, occupies 275 square miles just off the north Wales coast. It is an ancient place. Archaeologists found Neolithic settl...

15 Marras 202524min

Legends of Drake's Island: Tunnels, Ghosts, and a White Lady

Legends of Drake's Island: Tunnels, Ghosts, and a White Lady

Drake's Island sits in Plymouth Sound, around 500 m from the mainland. The island is just 6.5 acres, and around 250 yards wide at its broadest point. You can reach the island by boat in 10 minutes. I...

8 Marras 202522min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
i-dont-like-mondays
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
kolme-kaannekohtaa
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
sita
aikalisa
kaksi-aitia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-nikotellen
terapeuttiville-qa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
loukussa