Chris Quartermaine (Dowsing Expert)

Dowsing has a reputation as something you either can or can’t do, a gift you’re born with. Chris Quartermaine treats it as a skill you can learn, and that is what he sets out to teach: how to pick up a pair of rods or a pendulum and start using them with a bit of confidence. He calls it “Googling the Universe”, which gives you a fair idea of how he approaches it, as a way of asking questions and paying attention to the answer.

He will be at the Guildhall across the weekend, running practical sessions that are built for beginners as much as for people who have dabbled before.

What dowsing actually is

At its simplest, dowsing is using a tool to make small, hard-to-notice responses visible. You hold rods or a pendulum, you hold a question in mind, and you watch how they move. Traditionally people have used it to look for water or lost objects, but plenty of people now use it as a way of checking in with themselves on everyday decisions.

Chris’s teaching focuses on the how rather than the mystique. Rather than telling you what dowsing can supposedly do, he shows you how to hold the tools, how to ask a clear question, and how to tell a genuine response from your own hand nudging the outcome. That last point matters, and he does not skip it: learning to dowse well is largely about learning where your own influence creeps in.

Rods and pendulums

The two tools do slightly different jobs. Rods, usually a pair held loosely in each hand, tend to swing or cross in response to a question, and many people find them the easier place to start because the movement is obvious. A pendulum is a weight on a cord that swings or circles, and it rewards a steadier hand and cleaner questions. Chris covers both, so you can find which one sits better with you before you commit to buying anything.

Dowsing at home

One strand of his work is applying dowsing around the house, sometimes called house dowsing. The idea is to walk your own space and use the tools to notice where you feel settled and where you don’t, then make small changes: moving a chair, clearing a corner, rethinking where you sit to work. Whether you read that energetically or simply as a structured excuse to pay proper attention to a room, it tends to leave people more aware of their surroundings than they were before.

None of this is presented as a guarantee. Dowsing is a practice, and like any practice it gets more useful the more honestly you do it.

Something to try this week

You can test the basic idea without any kit. Cut a length of string about a hand-span long and tie a ring or a small key to the end, and you have a rough pendulum. Rest your elbow on a table, let it hang still, and ask it to show you a “yes” by letting it swing. Do not push it. Then ask for a “no”. Once you have a sense of each, ask something you already know the answer to, like whether today is a weekday. The point is not to prove anything, it is to notice how small your own movements are and how easily they show up. That awareness is exactly what Chris builds a proper technique on top of.

Chris is one of over 70 readers, healers and stallholders at the Mind Body Spirit & Wellness Weekend, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026, at Stockport Masonic Guildhall. His sessions, like every session across the weekend, are included with entry.

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