THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF DOWSERS

MAY '26 NEWSLETTER FEATURED ARTICLE

ASD DIGEST VOLUME 57 ISSUE NO.4 WINTER 2017-2018

ZEE'S FIRST CONFERENCE ADVENTURE

BY ZEE BERRY

I was first introduced to the ASD by Sandi Isgro. The more she talked about it the more it sounded like an organization that could help me learn more about dowsing. Before I got involved with Sandi and the ASD, I believed dowsing was only to find water with a forked stick from an apple tree, that a pendulum (needle on a piece of thread) was used to determine the sex of an unborn child and a crystal on the end of a chain was used to practice moving objects with your mind to develop telekinetic power. Little did I know what a variety of things I would learn and could do with dowsing.

I love to read and when Sandi told me that being a member of the ASD gave me access to all kinds of information and a discount at the bookstore, I knew that I was interested in becoming a member but I wasn't quite ready to make the commitment.

Unlike other organizations I have joined so I could get the stuffed animal or the tote bag, if I became a member of the ASD I wanted to become a part of it and actively help the organization. I was trying to figure out if I had the time and dedication when Sandi decided for me. She surprised me with a membership as a gift and so began my journey with the ASD.

I knew that Sandi went to the ASD Conference every year and as I became more involved with learning how to dowse, the Conference sounded liked like something I would really enjoy and learn a lot from - with the added bonus that I would get to spend more time with Sandi (my friend and mentor). All I needed to do was find the money to go and get the time off from my corporate job in accounting. The time off took some work to arrange, and as for the money, I applied for a scholarship and volunteered to be a room monitor and to help with whatever else needed to be done. I am fifty years old and have not had to apply for a scholarship since I was in high school and getting ready to go to college so I was really nervous. The Universe was smiling on me and I got the time off AND the scholarship.

Saratoga was beautiful and I was like a kid in a candy store. Everywhere I looked something attracted my attention. Two of my favorite things were in Saratoga, horses and dowsing, so I was in heaven. After spending some time walking around town and taking photos, we arrived at Skidmore College, where the real adventure was about to begin.

My scholarship paid for two classes: the Foundation Course (for beginning dowsers) and Beyond the Foundation Course. After a wonderful breakfast at the cafeteria Wednesday morning, I headed to the Foundation Course. Everyone in the room was friendly and it felt like a positive and safe environment for learn ing. I was not confident in my dowsing skills and wasn't sure what to expect from this course, but my worries were unfounded. Allof the instructors were friendly and helpful. It was nice to have a course book to use as a reference during class, too. After learning the basics of dowsing, we took on the first lesson," How to Find Your Yes and No with L-rods." I liked that my personal yes and no could be different than my teacher or neighbors. We practiced in the classroom until all the students got consistent yes and no answers to questions they knew the answers to.

Teachers or a fellow student were happy to help if needed. When everyone was comfortable with the process we broke into groups and practiced outside.

After each new lesson, a practice session reinforced what we had learned. I think this was a wonderful way to teach and learn. My fellow students and I felt confident in what we were learning and that we could re-create the results outside the classroom. In many classes I have attended, the teacher demonstrates a technique and you think you understand it - until you try it yourself at home and it doesn't work. Without the teacher there to ask what went wrong, I might have gotten frustrated and quit. This class empowered us to practice dowsing and feel more confident about doing it. Every breakout group gave us the opportunity to learn from a different teacher and their personal experiences with dowsing.

This class lived up to its name and gave us a firm base to begin our journey as dowsers. We received exercises that we could practice at home and contact information to get help in the future. Overall, I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in dowsing. I made many new discoveries and friends.

On the second day, I was nervous about the Beyond the Foundation Course, thinking it might be too advanced for my be-

ginning skill. I was relieved to see some of the same friendly faces I met the day before in the Foundation Course and all the same teachers. This class allowed us to see what could be done once we had a firm foundation and time practicing dowsing. In this course, we applied what we learned in the Foundation Course and refined our questions. For example, in the first day's lessons we learned how to find water and the direction of the

flow. In this class, we added four criteria: potable, on the property, year round flow and at least five gallons a minute. It reinforced the concept that the key to any dowsing is the art of the question.

Using the same framework as the Foundation Course, we talked about a topic and then had a breakout session to practice what we learned. In our only breakout session (because we got carried away with talking), we again practiced finding water, but this time in much greater detail. We were asked to find the size of the water source, where on the water vein we should place the drill and the depth to dig. After finding the width of our water source (five feet) and the direction of the flow, the next step was to find the drill point. We were shown how to mark the point of entry, and learned that when forming our questions, the type of well and the equipment being used are also important. Next we dowsed to find the depth to drill. In our case, we found four different veins of water. One was 75 feet, which I dowsed as 79 feet. Another was 512 feet and two other students got 10 feet and 13 feet. At the end of the flow was an energy vortex. We discussed how it was possible to get so many different depths and all be correct and what an energy vortex was.

Back in the classroom we discussed how to use dowsing for maps and charts. The instructor, Brad, did an excellent job explaining map dowsing. He showed us how to break the map into quadrants and dowse each quadrant to find what we were looking for, and then how to make a grid in each quadrant with a ruler to narrow down the search even further. Again, the teachers were available to help with map and chart dowsing and to answer questions.

Our next topic was using dowsing with earth energies. If I had to pick one topic that seemed more advanced, this would be the one. There was so much to learn about toxic and negative energy and EMFs that it was a bit overwhelming. I think it needed to be its own workshop, and I would do more studying before I

attended it. The last topic was health. We learned a bit about finding leaks in the aura and sealing them, but again there was no time for breakouts or to be comfortable trying what we learned with any type of confidence. I would like to see the Foundation Course as a two day course and have the health topic as part of it. Next year I plan to attend the Foundation Course again. I'm glad I attended the Beyond the Foundation Course, but I think that it might be worth restructuring as individual workshops since there is so much to learn from each one! Consider joining us at the 2018 Dowsing Conference and experience some of these amazing discoveries for yourself.

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