Flat-out writing

Been working flat-out on yet another book-project, a collaboration with archaeographer Liz Poraj-Wilczynska, with a working title of Disciplines of Dowsing. Reason for the rush is that we want it ready in time for the next annual conference of the British Society of Dowsers, in late September – which is something like five to six weeks away, and we still have a lot to do…

We describe it as being about dowsing, but in fact it applies right across the board to pretty much every type of subjective discipline – anything from dowsing to healing to archaeology to art and a heck of a lot more besides.

Main aim is to challenge the current frequently-abysmal standard of quality in dowsing and the various related disciplines. For example, my old field of earth-energies research is still not far off crippled by mangled misinterpretations of the supposed ‘Michael & Mary’ lines (Miller and Broadhurst – the original researchers – can’t be very pleased about that mangling, either), and perhaps even more by the dire influence of newage-laden nonsense such as ‘spiritual dowsing’ and the like.

P’raps more to the point, not so much to challenge the abysmal quality, but to make some concrete suggestions as to what to do about it, by providing a consistent framework within which something resembling disciplined quality might be possible to achieve… (Yeah, I admit I’m being a bit cynical, but I’m feeling more than a bit jaded about the whole field, to be frank… :wrygrin: )

In the meantime, Liz and I have been coming up with some new ideas and radically new techniques to link between dowsing, archaeography and archaeology. More details on that when the book’s out and done, though.

Quick summary of contents, if you’re interested:

• Introduction: Background; Dowsing in ten minutes; A question of quality
• Disciplines: The disciplined dowser; The dowser as artist; The dowser as mystic; The dowser as scientist; The dowser as magician; The integrated dowser
• Seven ‘sins’ of dubious discipline: The hype hubris; The Golden-Age game; The newage nuisance; The meaning mistake; The possession problem; The reality risk; Lost in the learning labyrinth; Cleansing the sins
• Practice: Fieldworker’s senses; Setup and fieldwork; Some worked examples

More later when we’re closer to publication, anyways.