Written by Ginette Lucas

So dowsers, readers, fans, and students of all ages (including kids), where do I start to keep you interested in the field of Dowsing? I am going to share with you, and quickly educate you on how incredible dowsing really is for everyone searching for anything, including fun. When I say fun, I am not kidding. Do you play the lottery? Do you lose things, and cannot find them? Do you bet the horses at the track? Do you hunt for buried treasures? Read on and you will truly be astounded, learning from one expert dowser, a kid dowser (whom I might mention), and the daughter of internationally famous Louis Matacia, one of the forefathers and oldest living members of the American Society of Dowsers.

Well, I should start with the history of dowsing… OK, let’s not, and say I did. The American Society of Dowsers has a good article on the history of dowsing you can find on the website at www.dowsers.org. If you feel so inclined and are a history buff, and an avid reader, the Januray 1996 issue of Smithsonian Magazine (the front picture of the article has a Vietnamese girl riding a bike on it) has an article defining dowsing, it’s uses, a history of dowsing, and it even mentions several of the American Society of Dowsers’ members and the ways they use dowsing. A little note: the article was written by a non-believer Jack Hope, author of the article. And he’s now a dowser, too.

I hesitate to start just anywhere, so that all readers can enjoy the topic of dowsing, although I will mention that this article will cover three missing person cases that I worked on with volunteers, supporters, authorities, and people who just care about their community. Let me remind you … do not kill the messengers who deliver the answers that dowsing provides.

So, let’s start with the actual work or projects that I receive regularly. I receive calls for the standard consulting (others might call them readings). I get called frequently for missing persons by family members, sometimes police, FBI, or volunteers. Calls even come in from buried treasure hunters, and of course that can also include ships, gold, mines, missing objects on a large scale, treasure locations, and so on. And kids. Yes, I get the fun calls, too. I also receive calls for ghost hunting or validating whether a house is haunted, or even if a loved one who has died is still in the house, or in the area causing unusual circumstances. Of course Ghost Hunting, or the death of a loved one’s presence, is an entire article on it’s own. And yes, I can communicate with the deceased.

I want to mention before I continue, you can call the American Society of Dowsers or any of its chapters, and there are staff, helpers, and volunteers who have time to walk you through your adventure or even your training on dowsing, so you are not left out in the cold. Don’t forget, you can become a member of the ASD at any age. You will come to know and love some great people with some odd ideas, ideals, and even some wacky approaches to life … but it is all in fun.

So, let me tell you about my work. I use a pendulum to dowse. And I use a pendulum to work on projects that involve something called ‘map dowsing’. Yep, we map dowsers are everywhere. I will tell you how it is done by telling you a nice ‘feel good bedtime story’ that will impress the boys in particular. This story is about General Patton. Did your ears perk up? Well, General Patton, a very famous General during the Second World War, was very interested in astrology, the paranormal, and even dowsing. He was probably as eccentric as my father. But that is what makes up the fabric of America. Some people take huge risks to explore an option or an opportunity that could pan out. So, back to the story. When General Patton finally landed in Germany he realized he was out of potable water. Patton was not out of supplies, but they were short on acquiring or even stealing WATER – yep, the other gold. He immediately remembered about water dowsers, sometimes also called Water Witchers. Remember this is a true story, this is not a made up true story … it really happened.

So, Patton, took a risk, then he informed his staff about the water problem during a meeting with his staff, and they analyzed their position and came up with a solution: map dowsing. Patton took immediate action and put a trusted Colonel on a plane to Virginia. When the Colonel landed, Patton had prearranged a meeting with a dowser who used a map directly handed from the Colonial showing where the American encampments were and a general area where they needed the water to be pinpointed. Keep in mind that the dowser probably had a large map and had to be very precise. A topographical map, also known as a topo map, is typically essential for water or pinpointing the location of missing persons. So coordination and communication with the dowser was crucial for the thousands of troops needing water for the war effort.

Once the task was completed the Colonel took the information and flew back to Germany – that same day. Patton had the well drilled the next day, and eureka! Thousands of gallons of water came out of the drill hole for all of his men. More water than they needed. I would guesstimate and say probably enough water for a small city. This was an impressive move on Patton’s part, with great risks of humiliation, but it panned out.

If you, as a trainee or student of dowsing, go out in the field (meaning searching for water or looking for missing persons in an area), or take a class in dowsing, you are now a dowser. If you use map dowsing, you have now extended your dowsing talents into various fields on the missing, not only missing objects, but also missing persons, buried treasures, ghost hunting, even finding important paperwork for legal cases, and so on. When dowsing for issues of well-being, for which I can absolutely say that I amaze myself with my abilities, you are furthering your dowsing pursuits. Let me make it clear that as with anything in life you must follow legal guidelines when working as a dowser. You don’t have to get a license unless you are consistently acting as a consultant. A consulting license in Virginia is $15.00; and you only need it if you plan on making a lot of money. There are no licenses in the United States for dowsing. Germany is the only foreign country where you better not play with the big boys without their permission. In their country it is a profession and the German government will put you in jail if you practice without a license. It is taken very seriously.

Now let me tell you if you are going to dowse for issues relating to well-being, you can actually get arrested. No joke, this is a serious matter. The following is an acceptable statement to help you move ahead, a legal statement from my lawyer that I actually use and put on tape for clients. I am not a doctor or physician, I cannot give diagnosis, nor treatment, but if it were me I would check with physicians on the following issues, or in the following physical areas. After you have educated your clients or friends, you can move forward safely and legally.

Author Ginette Matacia Lucas and her twin growing up

At home growing up, I was in second grade when the Marines landed in my back yard. General McMasters brought a few Marines and a camera to take pictures, and filmed the process of dowsing for training purposes for the Armed Forces. Yep, I was 7. Let me mention some sideline sibling issues for the girls. When General McMasters and his Marines were trying diligently to find water in my backyard in Falls Church Virginia (15 minutes from the Pentagon), they became confused and just couldn’t understand the process. So, my determined father called my older brother Tom out of the house. He was in 5th grade.

Tom, well, everybody loved my brother. He was an only boy with four – yes four – sisters. He was the major competition in the family, which leads me to the next part of the story. My father showed my brother how to dowse at age nine right then and there in front of the Marines (Officers and Enlisted). Tom used sliced coat hangers (also known as L-Rods), and another tool, one of my favorites, called a bobber, also known as the Cameron aurameter (and invented by Mr. Cameron – this one is a must have – it’s expensive but you can do a great deal with this tool). I stood there overlooked by my father, saw the process of dowsing and feeling the sensation of the pull from the rods, and thought to myself (competing with my big brother Tom), I can do a better job than he can any day, any day of the week! He’s only a boy. Well, Tom pinpointed a location in the yard, the Marines dug a small hole, and they found water. Oh my gosh, they were impressed because the visual element of the process was completed by someone else right in front of them. The Marines accepted the process and from there they excelled on their own.

Well again I thought to myself, they were a bunch of big boys, and who cares if the General is here or not. I thought, why are we looking for just a stupid bit of water? So, I jumped in to find out where the water is coming from, which direction it was coming from, and which direction it was going towards. Well, I did it and marked the spots and showed up my brother, just enough. Yep, it turned out little sister knew something. I was right with my information, and we followed the path of the water directly to a small underground stream, that my family didn’t even know existed in our backyard. Put that in your pipe and smoke it big brother Tom, as they say! Well, I never forgot that moment in time. And it came back to haunt me later in life.

All right, let’s move on to understanding how I find missing objects and persons. Early in my career, I worked on my first crime case when I was about eleven or twelve. I had already completed some good dowsing work, but I realized that just like going to elementary school to learn, I had to take courses to be a better dowser. My father Louis was known for lecturing and training people at colleges and businesses, and he invited me to one of his classes at a community college in Maryland. When he was speaking, I noticed how charismatic he was, and that he actually had something of value to say and offer the students. My father is a college graduate with enough college courses behind him for two Masters degrees. He is well cultured, because his parents (his father is Italy, and his mother is of Scottish and French origins) knew how important education was in all areas to ensure success. I was determined to take it all on.

Dowser and military man Louis Matacia with his infant child

When I was in Louis’s class, one of his students approached me and asked me if I would like to take classes from her. She explained that her background was in psychic work and astrology. I thought, why not, it’s an extension into the paranormal field. So, I learned about using my dreams, psychic development, and astrology, all at a young age. I was even lucky enough to work on my first criminal case, or missing persons case, when I was in 7th grade – yep, little ole’ me, working with Marlene Troxel of Frederick, Maryland, and the Frederick County Police Department. Who knew. Again, that story is another article…but the point here is that dowsing leans into all areas of the paranormal. Do not think it stands alone. Think BIG. Dowsing has arms and legs, it can point you in many directions, and it can push or pull you in various directions.

My first SUCCESSFUL case finding a missing person goes like this: I got a call from my dowsing friends in New York. They had a Polish background, they were dowsers, and they were superman and superwoman when it came to dowsing. They invited me to New York to learn and experience dowsing with an international flair in many areas. Additionally, they introduced me to a family who had a missing loved one. I was very sensitive to the case because it was a religious leader in the NewYork Community, a Rabbi. Fortunately for me, I “cheated”. I had had a dream the night before the family called, and the Rabbi literally came to me in the dream and told me who killed him, how he was killed, how he was transported, why he was killed, and the Rabbi even told me many details about his murder. I wasn’t shaken because the Rabbi was a loving person. He showed me the information in the form of a movie. He did explain to me that I would get a phone call and I would have to tell his loved ones that he was deceased. I wasn’t comfortable with following through on this part of his communication, especially because it was rather “out there” or etheric. He also told me to help his family find me. So when the family called I accepted the job.

I was flown to New York and worked with the family, as well as a Private Investigator on the case. After the interviews with the family I left and spent the evening with my dowsing friends. I sat on my information, and made sure I had all my details in place, before I gave the family the news and map dowsing location. I was lucky enough to deal with a church member too, and I gave her all the details. She was wonderful. I felt badly for the family, but I was the messenger bearing bad news … dowser or no dowser, the job had to be done.

The case with the missing Rabbi impressed many thing upon my brain. I was in my 20s and I knew at that time that my education was incomplete. I had not finished my undergraduate work, so to speak, and I had to be very sensitive in many areas. What I want to convey about this case is that I knew the Rabbi was deceased. I told the family that when I was dowsing with my foreign friends, I had selected an area on the map where the Rabbi felt like he was in a container. It was green and lit, and he was moving. You may ask, how did I know this? Well, when you dowse for missing persons or objects, if their location is different each time then you have to accept that they are being moved or SOMETHING is moving them… but what? So, I dowsed again, pinpointed an area by using many questions with the use of a pendulum, and I selected an area next to the beach. What was next to the beach? WATER. Where was the water? Well, wake up Ginette, I told myself, he’s in the water, he’s in a container, and he is probably bobbing up and down with the movement and flow of the water. So, I asked the next and very IMPORTANT question to the pendulum, where will this victim land when he is found/located. I then pinpointed on the map the exact area.

When I selected the area I saw a vision of two men, both in uniform. The uniforms felt like Marines or Navy, but I was sure of my perception…Marines. I felt and saw an industrial type building with a very high fence approximately 10′ tall that resembled a school. I literally saw the two Marines with officer insignias walk from the container from which the body was thrown out by force of water pressure, then the men were walking to inform someone that they had found the missing Rabbi. Bingo. A call came from the church member and she said I was right on the money, or you can say “Spot On”. This case gave me enough confidence to continue listening to my father, to continue working with the often difficult police, FBI, and any other individuals who wanted me to dowse out where a missing person would be located. I was determined to make a difference. I even thought, if I could bring home a few missing people, it would impact America or the world to utilize dowsing and escalate the opportunity for police departments to use dowsing. What a dreamer I was.

When I realized that I could do dowsing work, to find missing persons, I was exhilarated. I knew there was no stopping me. The article came out about the missing Rabbi and the girl who helped his family. Well, she was an afterthought and not mentioned at all (but the case wasn’t really about me or dowsing … it was about Rabbi Friedlander). Two years went by and then I started receiving calls from New York when the air cleared about the Rabbi’s story. The members told me that 24 psychics had been used to help locate the Rabbi and I was the only one correct. But remember, I have added tools: DOWSING. Hmm, idealistic approaches to life aren’t always a payoff. So, I wasn’t mentioned in the media, but I was given a verbal “we are pleased and good for you pat on the back”. So I moved forward with the realization that I had an uphill battle to prove that dowsing was outstanding.

Over the years I have found many missing persons, and I started losing count, but I never forgot the people or their personal stories or tragedies. So, now I have to tell you how I helped locate a missing man who was an executive, a former Georgian (Russian) diplomat, who went missing. He actually wrote a book about his terrible adventure. His name: Anton Tomazac, yep, old Anton, a highly educated executive, knew about dowsing. His book is Nevis, my second place of Birth. Nevis is in the Caribbean. It’s a good read. The basic background about this story unfolds in a familar direction. The family goes on vacation in the beautiful Caribbean. Hiking is one of the many tourist pleasures. They love the beauty of the land, the plants and flowers, the sky, the animals. But in this case the timing wasn’t too good.

When the call came in for the missing executive, I had just had a baby, my second child, and I was living in Northern Virginia recuperating. I was in my 40s. I received a call that was routed through New York through a psychic and dowsing group who were insistent to talk with my father Louis. I coordinate a few of his projects, but this time I had them explain their needs: a missing man. Ah ha, map dowsing. I was there, so I told them I was their go-to. They really wanted to talk with my father though, so I coordinated a call with my father, and had them ship all the documents to my house from the Caribbean. The hotel where Anton had been staying was kind enough to pay a small fee to take care of the babysitter and for gas. So, I did the work first and selected the dowsing sites that reacted. I then forced Louis to dowse the work and get the opportunity to visit with me (and my little munchkins). I was laughing to myself the entire time because I again used my psychic abilities to aid in defining more information to help in the location work.

While Louis was dowsing, I saw a chain link fence, very high – I mean very, very high – maybe 20 feet high with barbed wire and dogs inside the perimeter. I found that very odd. The dogs seemed to be German Shepherds and they were barking. I felt that they were trying to give “dog alerts” that we were in the right area. I used an unusual method for dowsing that only Louis and I are known to use. It’s called pathfinding. We follow the victim path, and then we land where the victim rests, DEAD OR ALIVE. Yep, it sounds very cold, but the reality factor in cases like these is very important. So, we both chose an area, but when we were dowsing we couldn’t feel the victim. That wasn’t good. I was worried that the hiker was dead. The signs and information I was perceiving were very specific that the victim had impacts all over his body. Impacts…well let me define impacts. Baseball players get impacts when they are hit by a pitch, football players get hit by players. That kind of impact. So what was the information that I was perceiving? Well, I pinpointed the reactions on my body and gave the information to the hotel to inform them that a hospital or doctor on call was needed. I told them the victim had a 10% chance of living because I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Again, I had to define what was given to me. Well, suddenly while we were dowsing again I saw a movie, a movie that showed me a man falling into a hole, a cave with bruising impacting his body. Ah ha.

There are important factors when dowsing that you, the dowser, can obtain. They are various signals, what I call clues, or even movie scenes or clips. Sometimes for me the information can come via a kind of post card format. Just an interesting note, after turning in the map containing the location of where I told the Hotel owners to search for Anton, I also told them about the high fence and the dogs barking. I just assumed that my hint or clue was a dog, a high fence with barbed wire, and I thought of authority figures. I selected an area and I defined the authority figure with something meaningful: a PRISON. And sure enough there was one near where Anton had probably fallen into a hole. Details about the prison were not included on the map that I was using. To my surprise the entire area was a volcanic environment, hence the holes in the ground, hence caves (which I didn’t know at the time). In addition, the hotel owner told me that there was a prison with dogs with a high fence, about 20 feet high. Great, we were on track.

Here’s how the story played out, and you can read about it from the victim’s book in his own words. Many people said they saw the executive in question bar hopping, or that they saw him out with women, drinking, and even police said that they knew they had seen him around. Wrong. Finally, a helicopter was hired to search the area that we had pinpointed. But by this time, Anton had been in temperatures in excess of l00 degrees for over 6 days. He had indeed fallen into a cave, and he heard the helicopter. The noise had inspired him to push forward and climb out. He had been initially paralyzed from the fall and survived by drinking his own urine. This is a true story of a man’s will to survive. Anton did not give up. He walked down the hill, he received assistance from people, and he was rushed to the hospital. The rest of the story is in his book in which I am mentioned. (Thank you Anton).

Want to read more? Follow the ASD Digest in August, and I will explore two high profile cases: the Chandra Levy case, the story of an ambitious intern in the DC area, as well as the case of Caylee Anthony, the missing toddler from Orlando Florida whom I also located. Keep going folks! There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Document everything you do with dowsing for your sake, sanity, and credit. And by all means become a member of the American Society of Dowsers if you are not already. It will be worth it. People from all walks of life are dowsers, and as you know dowsing is a skill that can be used in practically any occupation to help you and others around you.

New and aspiring dowsers, from left to right: Pamela, Shelly, and Lisa

I have recently encouraged three women who are taking training classes from me to become the newest addition to the American Society of Dowsers. Pamela Miltenberger from Texas, who is an incredible interior decorator and astrologer. Shelly, who wants to use dowsing to comb beaches for buried treasure. And Lisa Rapp, who is in the real estate field in Florida, was working a day job as a commercial leasing agent when she was laid off last December. Lisa is a dowsing student of mine and is learning how to use dowsing to help her find employment. Welcome aboard ladies! Additionally, I have recently worked with the Kentucky Moms Against Crime, and they are interested in dowsing and will become ASD members, too.

Ginette Matacia Lucas, www.paranormaladvisors.com in Virginia, USA. Oh, I’m a Lifetime Member of ASD folks. Thanks for reading!