When reflecting on the options currently faced by BSD, it may be helpful to consider some aspects of the BSD’s history. As Nigel Twinn wrote in the last edition, it was founded by Col. Bell and run for many years on military lines.
It also has many attributes of the standard
British National Voluntary Organisation
:
Constitution, membership, journal, national headquarters, AGM, staff.
Where things get complicated is that it also has some of the attributes of a
Professional Body,
such as a Professional Register which identifies certain members as having certain abilities; rules for membership thereof; and the privilege of the members of the register to sell their services with the backing of the organisation.
Some of these attributes may pull in different directions. Nowadays there is an expectation that any national body will provide a wide range of services, whatever its size. These services might include :
- A national voice for the activity
- The possibility of membership
- A Journal
- A Forum for debate
- Legal set-up and compliance
- Communications
- Events
- Training
- Website
Recent Developments
As I understand it, the
Earth Energies Group
was created as some people felt that insufficient attention was being given to the subject.
The EEG became a model for other BSD
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
in the field of
Health;
Archaeology;
and
Water.
The
Professional Dowsers’ Register
was created to highlight
Water Divining
(and related issues).
The
Dowsing Research Group
was created to explore the art and science of dowsing, and links with the new physics and consciousness.
With the active assistance of the centre, geographically based
Local Dowsing Groups
expanded greatly in number. Practically all are affiliated to the BSD.
The Question of Quality
One of the issues facing dowsing is that an objective way of assessing the skill of a particular dowser has not yet been developed. To my knowledge high skill levels are not related to educational qualifications, class, race, gender or political orientation.
There is no Dowse-O-Meter which you can clamp onto somebody’s head and get a reading of their skill level.
A Proposal
Some folk are very successful at bringing people together. For example, one political party is absolutely brilliant in uniting everyone by bringing out new policy papers.
Unfortunately, the unity engendered takes the form of total opposition to the content of the policy papers, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
I would therefore like to put forward the following proposal, some aspects of which may bear a certain relation to what is written above, or in extreme cases, to reality.
What’s not a runner
Life is too short to embark on an attempt - certainly at this stage - to forge all the dowsing groups into one super-organisation covering every interest. However…
What might work…
… is a dowser-centred focus on enhancing information provision and skill delivery to dowsers in the field.
In others words, co-operation between the different players referred to above, leading to a
Unified Dowsing Magazine,
in conjunction with a
Single, Enhanced and Interactive website.
Such a magazine, and such a website, would not replace the various existing dowsing mags and websites, but be a common endeavour, presenting a single front to the world.
So what I envisage is…
- A print version of a magazine with the draft title of ‘Dowsing in Britain’, probably smaller than the current version of Dowsing Today, consisting of the sections listed below, in conjunction with …
- A ‘Dowsing in Britain’ website, containing the webpages listed below
‘Dowsing in Britain’ (Magazine)
Training Courses
Ads for forthcoming training courses, paid for by the promoter
.
Addresses
...
of all
Dowsing in Britain
website pages
Pages devoted to BSD issues:
T
ext supplied by the BSD, including…
National dowsing news
Articles on professional issues, insurance, etc
Catalogue pages of books & dowsing equipment
BSD pays share of costs proportionate to material in magazine
Pages devoted to Dowsing Research Group issues
Text supplied by the DRG, including…
National news
Written addresses of links to DRG pages
DRG pays share of costs proportionate to material
Pages devoted to Professional Dowsers Register issues
Text supplied by the PDR, including…
National news
Written addresses of links to PRD pages website
DRG pays share of costs proportionate to percentage of DRG material
Pages devoted to Local Dowsing Groups
Text supplied by Local Dowsing Groups
Map showing locations and addresses of LDGs
LDGs pay share of costs proportionate to material in magazine
Pages devoted to Dowsing Special Interest Groups
Text supplied by Dowsing Special Interest Groups
Details of forthcoming meetings
SIGs pays share of costs proportionate to percentage of SIG material
‘Dowsing in Britain’ (website) containing pages …
...s
imilar to the magazine pages, authored by the various organisations.
Where appropriate (as in the case of BSD and the PDR), more detailed information, such as lists of professional dowsers offering their services, and links to individual professional dowsers websites
Electronic Dowsers Forum. Organisations pay proportionate to webspace.
A journey of a thousand miles...
The BSD can regard the current problems as a temporary blip, or proceed in a direction similar to that set out above.
If the overall notion is too much, a simple first step would be agreement between the different groups on a simple, standard webpage, which went onto
all
the different dowsing groups' websites, briefly describing the different groups and what they do, providing links to their sites, and proclaiming that we are all united as
Dowsers in Britain
.
Ced Jackson
3 Ebrington Road
West Malvern
WR14 4NL
Tel : 01684 60265
Please note
You are also being sent a separate email, with a map of Local Dowsing Groups attached as a PDF. It should open in the usual way.
The names/numbers of the groups are those set out (in numerical order) on page 43 of Dowsing Today for April 2018, No 331. For example, Bristol Dowsers is No 1, and Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire is No 29.
It is sadly not possible to attach files to mailings delivered - such as this email - by Constant Contact.