"Journey to Dowser Land! - A Dive Into the World of Master Dowsers and How They Plied Their Art”
Guest Speaker
Dowser, Teacher, and Counselor
Jennabeth Ward
Saturday, May 2, 2026
1:30 PM PDT
Jennabeth Ward chose Dowsing as the topic of her Dissertation to fulfill the requirements for her Doctorate in Humanities. This research is the only known dissertation written on dowsing.
This journey includes the history of dowsing, master dowsers throughout timeacross the world and controversies regarding the validity of dowsing and how it functions.
This journey is based on a series of interviews Jennabeth did with Master Dowsers and covers their dowsing process and preferred tools. The Master Dowsers interviewed shared personal stories, how they discovered Dowsing and restrictions they encountered and overcame.
The interviews also explore the Master Dowser’s worldview,how they came to know what they know. Demonstrating Michael Polanyi’s (1999) “tacit knowledge… a type of embodied know-how that is the foundation of all cognitive action” (Reason & Bradbury, 2006, p. 9). It reflects a worldview that allows a 10-year-old to locate water on his first attempt, or another to know a water site without the use of tools. This is the lineage to which contemporary dowsers belong.
Bio – Jennabeth Ward received a PhD in the Humanities with an emphasis in Transformative Learning and Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco in 2016. She interviewed 19 master dowsers about their process, preferred tools, and experiences. As a longtime student, she also has master’s degrees in Public Health, Education, and English (Composition emphasis). Jennabeth was introduced to dowsing by Karen Ashley when they trained as Bach Flower Remedy counselors in 1985-6. Jennabeth staffed the Children’s Program at the West Coast Dowser Conference, founded by Karen Ashley. Both Karen and Jennabeth envision dowsing as a means of training the intuition, which could be very beneficial to young people. Jennabeth is currently teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults and finalizing requirements for the Adult Ed Teaching credential.
Jennabeth is a Bach Flower Remedy counselor and has utilized the remedies for more than 40 years. In addition to mentoring by Karen Ashley, Jennabeth studied Jin Shin Jyutsu with founder Mary Burmeister and Chow Chow Immamoto. She is an astrology buff, has dabbled in numerology, and studied various healing modalities. She practices Wu Style Tai Chi and Pilates.
Download Jennabeth’s handout.