Lessons from dowsing’s first cousin

Two other wonderful books by Bird ~ both written jointly with Peter Tomkins ~ are ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ and ‘Secrets of the Soil’.

In these books Bird and Tomkins provide us with a comprehensive overview of dowsing, and subtle interactions between people and the natural world.

The books point out that dowsing is not only used to detect and diagnose objects, problems, etc, but can also be used as a form of intervention, especially the improvement of people’s health.

Running parallel to the history of dowsing in the twentieth century is the practice of radionics. In its early days radionics could almost be described as ‘medical dowsing’ ~ tapping a patient’s stomach and listening carefully to the results.

The book provides a remarkable overview of the history and current practice of Radionics. It also includes an article by Tony which is the best and most comprehensive I have yet read on the subject of Geopathic Stress and Health. The article provides a host of references, sources, and hence suggestions for future reading. Tony is also the author of a very interesting article on ‘Shamanism, Healing and the Dowsing Tradition’ at www.radionic.co.uk/shamanism.htm

Tony is therefore probably the best person to provide a beginner’s guide to the subject of Radionics, and its links with dowsing.

Many different types of instruments evolved from Abrams’ work even during his lifetime, and the term ‘radionics’ was coined by the operators of one of the most popular ~ the Calbro-Magnowave ~ towards the end of the 1920s, after Abrams’ death in 1924.

Abrams’ work inspired Ruth Drown to develop her own method and she was probably the most influential American practising what we would now see as radionics until the 1950s, but she refused to call it by that name as she felt her method was distinctly different. With time we have realised that it most probably wasn’t, having the same basis as all the other methods. Although Drown had the most significant early influence on radionics development, the term ‘radionics’ ~ rather than her own description ~ has prevailed as the name of the technique we use today.

Radionics has continued to evolve and is now much more sophisticated than it was some 80 years ago, having, for example, introduced concepts from eastern mysticism through the writings of Alice Bailey.

CJ : Would you like to describe the links between radionics and dowsing, and where you think the two go their separate ways

TS : No, we use the pendulum for dowsing just like many other dowsers. The role of the ‘box’ has been debated ever since radionics began. There are some who believe the box actually transmits a corrective vibration to the patient or to a remedy which the patient will take (this is called radionic potentisation). I don’t believe this at all but suggest the box is merely a tool to focus the consciousness of the practitioner while they do their work. I have discussed this at two conferences this year and will publish the paper in the Radionic Journal. I have to say this view is by no means accepted by all although it is essentially that proposed by David Tansley, a most influential practitioner, nearly 25 years ago.

I believe healing is done by the harnessing the power of the right brain, which acts at a subconscious level, but in order to be effective the logical left brain has to be kept occupied with something else! Perhaps using the instrument achieves this aim! Perhaps the instrument along with the rates we set up on it acts like a charm or talisman and, after the practitioner has set it up using the right brain energies, continues the work when the practitioner has finished. William Tiller has done a lot of work recently on Intention Imprinted devices and shown that an intention imprinted into an object can achieve its effect when transported to another laboratory. What the energies involved are is anybody’s guess! We do not know but we do know that something is happening and I believe it involves human consciousness. That’s all I can really say at the moment.

This would always be in the practitioner’s work space, indeed usually on an instrument or diagram. The first step would then be to decide whether radionics was the most appropriate therapy. If not they may dowse for the most appropriate therapy. If radionics was appropriate they would determine if they were the most appropriate practitioner and it was appropriate for them to treat at that time. If not then they would dowse for alternatives.

The next step in dowsing would be to determine what systems and organs were out of balance and what was causing this. This is all done from a comprehensive series of charts developed over many years. Once an analysis sheet has been completed the practitioner would decide which organs or systems needed optimising first and set up the corrective rates or patterns on the radionic instrument or perhaps prepare a potentised remedy using the instrument. The rates are obtained from the sheets or rate book. The period of treatment would be determined and, if lengthy, the practitioner would dowse regularly to check that all was proceeding well or if a new intervention was required.

TS : I think it would be fair to say that radionics is the natural step for dowsers who wish to improve their healing ability.

Radionics certainly illustrates the importance of discipline in forming unambiguous questions, which is often more difficult than most dowsers may think. It also illustrates the value of having a well-organised protocol for obtaining the information necessary to understand the problem of the patient and determining a suitable treatment. The analytical technique that radionics has evolved over the years provides a powerful tool in understanding what is at the root of a patient’s problems and I am sure many dowsers interested in medical aspects would find it extremely useful in their work.

The role of subtle bodies in health has been developed in radionics and may well be of interest to medical dowsers.

Dowsing has provided the opportunity for radionic practitioners to consider new possible stressors that may affect their patients. The best example would be geopathic stress which is related to dowsable reaction or energy lines. This invaluable concept came directly from the dowsers and is now included in the radionic practitioners’ analysis. Techniques such as determining the vitality of food by dowsing on a scale is also used by many practitioners in assessing suitability of diets for their patients. I think that, rather than dowsing techniques themselves, it is some of the uses that dowsers put their skills to that have been, and will be, taken up by radionic practitioners where they see that they could be of help. Radionics is always evolving and open to new ideas.

CJ : If a dowser wanted to explore radionics, what are the first steps ?

TS : Without doubt the best way is to attend the Radionic Association’s weekend Foundation Course which is held twice a year in April and October. In a series of talks and practical sessions you will be introduced to all aspects of radionics by a number of experienced practitioners. The weekends also have students attending at various stages of their training so there is a good opportunity to find out what the full three-year part-time training course involves. The Foundation Course is a necessary first step for those who wish to start professional training. Details of the courses can be obtained from the office and the web site (www.radionic.co.uk).

CJ : On the last but one page of ‘Horizons in Radionics’, you quote someone as saying that radionics is a form of ‘instrumented prayer’, and someone else as describing the radionic transmitter as ‘a type of "instrumented prayer" system with an amplification mechanism embedded in it’. I was fascinated by this description as I use the ‘prayer/request’ system of Joey Korn, which has the benefit of being capable of being precisely targeted (instrumented?) on an issue by carefully choosing the words used. Could you say a little more on ‘instrumented prayer’

TS : In prayer we are appealing to a higher authority for help, essentially through a ritual. The use of the term ‘prayer’ in the context of radionics really highlights that ultimately we don’t know what we are dealing with. The more we look into healing the more mysterious it appears and I have always felt that if anyone claims they understand what is happening then they are almost certainly wrong! But something does happen and hence there must be some sort of energy exchange. But we have no idea of the mechanisms involved.

Those people who have used the term ‘instrumented prayer’ acknowledge the mysteriousness of radionics and that there is something behind it that we cannot comprehend. The procedure for analysis and treatment is certainly a well-organised ritual akin to those used throughout cultures in what might broadly be described as ‘prayer’. And as, for many radionic practitioners, an instrument is part of their ritual then the term ‘instrumented prayer’ would appear appropriate; it doesn’t have to have a religious context, just that something beyond our ken is involved, although many practitioners acknowledge that there is some higher authority at work in the universe, but most are quite laid back about what it is!

Rather like your prayer/request system the analysis does provide a very precise desired outcome which the practitioner then tries to achieve using the ritual of treatment. One thing you and other healers may like to consider is recent work that has shown that prayer tends to be more effective when the outcome is left to a higher authority rather than specifically described! This would certainly make the procedure simpler but the ritual would still be necessary, I think, in order to harness the relevant energy, whatever that may be.