Dowsing, The Paranormal Witching

My exploration to western books is continuing. Recently I started a book on Dowsing, the psychic ability to find water, gemstones, metals or other objects. This is nothing new in Indology and Indology has well developed process for this. The difference from Western dowsing and Indian dowsing is the reliance on the psychic abilities and intuitions. Indology has defined it in more detail and supported it with some other branches of Indology. Also all such topics converge to each other. Whereas in western world all such psychic branches are independent to each other. Also normally we have some detailed process involved to develop these psychic abilities, but in Western world, they have just-do-it kind of approach. Around ten years back, unknowingly, I tried few of dowsing methods and found that the objects were responding to my queries. I remember how the crystal was moving just by the directions of my mind. Though I believe, at that initial level, these were my more my bodily response to my queries rather than any divine response.

Anyways, here is how wikipedia defines dowsing -

Dowsing, sometimes called divining or water witching, refers to practices in which people claim to detect hidden water, metals, gemstones or other objects, usually obstructed by land or sometimes located on a map. Most commonly, the movement or vibrations of apparatus, such as a Y-shaped twig, an L-shaped rod or a pendulum, is used. Some practitioners use no apparatus at all.

Dowsing is considered pseudoscience by the scientific community while Practitioners say their powers are paranormal. Research intended to prove its efficacy has failed to do so, but some people believe that it works, and it is widely practiced in its various forms.
The detailed wikipedia article can be found here.

Learning Wicca & Witchcraft

Last few months, being in America, given me the opportunity to exlore various new subjects. I am a person with deep interest in spirituality and mysticism. Being in US, I got opportunity to study about the subjects that are not very common in India e.g. Wicca, Paganism, Neopaganism, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Tai Chi, I Ching, Buddhism, Tibetan Tantra & Yoga. One reason that I was able to study these subject is sufficient availability of time and great network of libraries that makes books on variuos subjects esily accessible.

So coming to the Wicca, what is Wicca? Wikipedia tells us that Wicca is a nature-based religion found in various countries throughout the world. It was first popularised in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. He claimed that the religion, of which he was an initiate, was a modern survival of an old witchcraft religion, which had existed in secret for hundreds of years, originating in the pre-Christian Paganism of Europe. Wicca is thus sometimes referred to as the Old Religion. The veracity of Gardner's claims cannot be independently proven, and it is thought that Wiccan theology began to be compiled no earlier than the 1920s.
Various related Wiccan traditions have since evolved or been adapted from the form established by Gardner, which came to be called Gardnerian Wicca. These other traditions of Wicca each have distinctive beliefs, rituals, and practices. Many traditions of Wicca remain secretive and require that members be initiated.

Book of Shadows is the book that is regarded as the Bible for Wicca. However, several proposed versions of the Book have been published. If you are interested in learning Wicca, there is an Internet version available of this book called Internet Book of Shadows. You can check that version out here. So if you are interested in learning Wicca, I would suggest that this is the best place to start on Internet. I would appreciate your experience with this book here.