RADIESTHESIA. — Name given to a particular clairvoyance (v.) in which knowledge of the event or entity sought is acquired through the relationship established directly between it and the perceiving subject, with the use of particular detecting instruments: the rod or forked twig and the pendulum.
The name, used on the assumption that the phenomena are attributable to hypothetical radiations or wave movements emitted indiscriminately by every body, could also apply to every phenomenon of clairvoyance; in practice, however, the term is used only to indicate the aforesaid form of disclosure of facts or things by means of the rod (dowsing: βάβδος = rod, μαντεία = divination) or the pendulum.
The object of dowsing or pendulum activity (the use of the pendulum for radiesthetic investigations is gradually replacing that of the rod, because of its greater convenience, variety, and precision of indications) is extremely varied and is represented by any occult entity, whatever realm of nature it may belong to, including qualities, quantities, or location. This applies also to human beings, in whose regard it is used as a means of diagnosing the location and nature of an ailment, determining the most suitable remedies, and even investigating internal psychic conditions and biological and social circumstances (feelings, relations of consanguinity, responsibility, etc.).
The subject of r. may be more or less any human being; various authors maintain that living beings of a lower order, animals or plants, are likewise capable of regulating their behavior in relation to the radiesthetic faculties with which they are supposedly endowed.
For a detailed study of the method of radiesthetic investigation, reference is made to specialized works, which should be studied in a critical spirit, since they are largely filled with empirical precepts, rules, and conclusions not substantiated by a rigorous scientific method, as well as with facts insufficiently documented or ambiguously interpreted. The instruments commonly used are the rod or wand: a hazel, elm, or Indian-cane branch (excluding resinous woods and olive wood), or whalebone strips, straight or bent into a V or Y shape, made from two elements joined together by a vegetal tie; or the pendulum, a small mass weighing from 30 to 70 grams, made of various materials (wood, bone, plastics, metal, and sometimes even a watch, etc.), suspended from a small chain or thread (silk, linen, or hemp) 30–80 centimeters long, according to the particular sensitivity of the experimenter and the object of the investigation. The movements of these instruments—the raising or lowering of the tip of the rod in the operator’s hands; pendular or circular oscillations, clockwise or counterclockwise, or elliptical movements of the pendulum—are said to indicate the presence, depth, nature, and particular characteristics of the object sought, according to an interpretative code often lacking rational justification, established empirically, and frequently very different, especially in more detailed responses, from one experimenter to another. The same numerous procedures and precautions prescribed as indispensable for the successful outcome of experiments appear, rather than scientifically reasoned rules, to be empirical and personal precepts.
As for the interpretation of the phenomena, one of the leading exponents of r., the Abbé Mermet (v. BIBLICA), sets forth as fundamental postulates that: a) all bodies, without exception, constantly emit waves or radiations; b) the human body, on entering these fields of influence, becomes the site of nervous reactions, in the form of currents that are channeled through the right hand; c) if one holds a suitable object, rod or pendulum, in the hand, the invisible flow manifests itself through the movements it imparts to this indicating needle. For students of r., these postulates are also intended to signify explanatory hypotheses of the phenomena. The immediate cause of the movement of the detecting instruments during investigations would be represented by involuntary muscular contractions in the operating subject, provoked by the discharge of the alleged radiations upon the nervous system, and not by automatic movements of the rod or pendulum resulting from direct stimulation by forces emanating from the object sought.
It is impossible to pass an absolute judgment on the value of r., given the subjectivity of its methods and the questionable certainty of the results obtained. A practice situated on the margins of the occult and the magical, often carried out by persons lacking solid doctrinal preparation and incapable of rigorous objective criticism, is frequently tainted by ignorance, fanaticism, frivolity, and falsification. Such a judgment applies particularly to the most extraordinary and impressive forms of the applications of r., such as the investigation of persons or their qualities through radiesthetic examination of handwriting or photography, or the search for persons or things through pendulum responses given over topographical maps, etc.; in such activities, in explanation of the results, one cannot even invoke the alleged direct radiant action of the object upon the operating subject. In these cases, if the facts are genuinely documentable, it would seem more probable to admit the intervention of preternatural factors, particularly when the revelation concerns future free events (v. METAPSICHICA). A more affirmative attitude may perhaps be adopted with regard to the lesser and more usual phenomena, such as the search for underground water or mineral deposits.
Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that there is an entire series of practical cases in which the reality of the alleged facts can be documented, and that skilled experimenters, whose complete good faith and scientific correctness cannot possibly be denied, genuinely succeed in the practical aims of their investigations, whether these concern deep veins of water, mineral deposits, the discovery of things or persons, or even the diagnosis of pathological conditions in the human organism. Since, however, these are particular and extraordinary extrasensory qualities not common to all human beings (extra sensory perception, or ESP effect, according to the designation adopted by Duke University of Durham, North Carolina, for the cognitive power generally associated with phenomena of clairvoyance), even if they are present in everyone in embryonic form and capable of development through practice, it is understandable that the verification and demonstration of the facts cannot proceed according to the pattern of ordinary scientific experiments, and leaves ample room for doubts and contradictory interpretations.
The history of r. is lost in the most ancient times, merging with Eastern magical rites and the divinatory practices of pagan antiquity. An orderly study of dowsing undertaken with serious intent probably cannot be traced back earlier than the sixteenth century, with the work of Abbé L. de Vallemont: La physique occulte ou traité de la baguette divinatoire, Paris 1693. In 1913 the pendulum officially reappeared on the scene of r. through the work of Mermet at the Radiesthetic Congress of Paris. At present, especially in Germany, France, and Switzerland, there are thousands of radiesthesists organized in national associations and gathering at periodic congresses.
Catholic discipline neither condemns nor prohibits the practice of r., unless, owing to the particular form in which it is practiced or the specific ends it seeks (e.g., divination of the future or the attainment of results that are humanly impossible), superstition (v.). For reasons of propriety or prestige, or to avoid occasions of scandal, the Church prohibits clerics and religious from practicing those forms of r. that concern circumstances and qualities of human persons (diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, investigations into intellectual and moral gifts, length of life, circumstances and time of death, etc.: decree of the Holy Office, 1 May 1942, AAS, 34 [1942], p. 148, and the comments of A. Willwoll and J. Creusen, in Periodica de re morali canonica et liturgica, 31 [1942], p. 280 ff.).
BIBLI: C. Klinckowstroem, Bibliogr. der Wünschlernte, Monaco 1911; H. Mager, Les moyens de découvrir les eaux souterraines et de les capter, Parigi 1912; F. Behme, Die Wünschlernte, Hannover 1914-16; M. Bendikt, Leitfaden der Rutenlehre, Berlino-Vienna 1916; id., Ruten- und Pendel-Lehre, there 1917; P. Landscape, Hydrologie et hydroscopie, Parigi 1920; H. Mager, Les baguettes des sourciers et les forces de la nature, there 1920; Th. Barret-Besterman, The divining rod, Londra 1926; E. Bosset, Essai de théorie du pendule, Parigi 1927; D. Castelli, La r., Firenze 1929; C. Klinckowstroem - R. Maltzann, Handb. der Wünschlernte, Berlino 1931; I Congres. ital. di rabd., Atti, Verona 1931; I Congres. georobdo di studi ed esperim., Atti, Rimini 1932; II Congresso internaz. di rabd. e geofisica, Atti, Verona 1932-33; L. Ghis, Ipotesi sulla rabd. e sulle bacchette selezionatrici colorate, Parma 1932; H. Mager, Les nouvelles méthodes de prospection, Parigi 1932; J. Mermet, Comment j'opère pour découvrir sources, métaux, corps cachés et maladies de près ou à distance, St. Prez 1932; M. La Stella, R., Milano 1933; G. Calligaris, Telepatia e radio. Onde cerebrali, there 1934; J. Chanterine-G. Savoire, Ombr. et radiations humaines, Strasburgo 1934; H. Mager, Une nouv. science; la radiophysique, Parigi 1934; C. Voillaume, Essai sur les rayonnements de l'homme et des êtres vivants, there 1934; H. Mellin, La radiesthésie domestique et agricole, Niort 1936; L. Chaumery - A. Belisal, Traité expérimentale de physique radiestésique, Parigi 1939; V. Peretti, La r. e le sue rivelazioni attraverso i colori e i fiori, Brescia 1942; S. Rosario, In difesa del pendolo, Viterbo 1945; M. Grazzi, R., Brescia 1946; R. Stiattesi, Ricerche nel sottosuolo. Manuale di r. e geofisica, there 1947; D. Castelli, L'uomo, la bacchetta, il pendolo, there 1948; A. Grandori, Prodigie del pendolo, 2nd ed., Milano 1948; P. Zampa, Le meraviglie d'una scienza nuova, Brescia 1949.
Giuseppe De Niano