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

Episoder(425)

Folklore and Church Names: Preserving Local History

Folklore and Church Names: Preserving Local History

I started out with the intention of looking at unusual church names. The problem was, this offered the potential to accidentally poke fun at their congregations. It also didn't help that most churches...

29 Mar 202520min

Origins of Sports Team Names: Preserving Folklore and History

Origins of Sports Team Names: Preserving Folklore and History

Looking at the origins of sports team names might seem antithetical to folklore. Yet sport forms part of the ritual calendar for many people, whether on a personal or a mass scale. Look at the good lu...

22 Mar 202523min

Cader Idris Lore and Writing Folklore with Victoria Male

Cader Idris Lore and Writing Folklore with Victoria Male

Victoria Male is an internationally recognized screenwriter, earning accolades from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, film festivals, and major industry lists. Her prose has been publishe...

18 Mar 20251h

The Folklore of British Pub Names Linked to Local History

The Folklore of British Pub Names Linked to Local History

There is no shortage of bizarre pub names in the UK. Some of them appear to be a combination of random objects, like the Frog and Nightgown. Others have a local story behind their odd name. I've cover...

15 Mar 202519min

Strange Street Names: From The Philog to Dog Leap Stairs

Strange Street Names: From The Philog to Dog Leap Stairs

Unlike place names, which often give us information who once lived somewhere, street names can be a different case entirely. Sometimes they bear the names of notable (and often now infamous) people.  ...

8 Mar 202519min

From Coven to Hot Coffee: The Folklore of Place Names Part 2

From Coven to Hot Coffee: The Folklore of Place Names Part 2

Place names are important and pass on a lot of valuable information, even if we no longer understand how to interpret it. Within them, they tell us who used to live in an area, or what natural feature...

1 Mar 202521min

Goats in Folklore: From the Farmyard Doctor to the Devil

Goats in Folklore: From the Farmyard Doctor to the Devil

When I decided to write about goats in folklore, I thought I would find plenty of content. After all, they appear in mythology. Look at Amalthea, the goat reputed to have raised Zeus in Greek myth. Or...

22 Feb 202521min

Race and the European Fairy Tale with Prof Kimberly Lau

Race and the European Fairy Tale with Prof Kimberly Lau

Kimberly J. Lau is a professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of Erotic Infidelities: Love and Enchantment in Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" (Wayne ...

20 Feb 202551min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
aftenpodden-usa
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
alt-fortalt
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
synnve-og-vanessa
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-dannet-uten-piano
fladseth
min-barneoppdragelse
den-politiske-situasjonen
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen