Rhabdomancy and Belomancy, or Divination by the Rod and by the Arrow Author(s): A. W. Buckland Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 5 (1876), pp. 436-450 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2841115 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 04:45 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.79.223 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:45:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 436 A. W. BUCKLAND.-Rhabdomancyand Belomnancy, would meet the case withoutinterfering with those givenin MNr. Evans's paper,viz.: abv grun Prehistoricclwelling P halfunderground, or pits... or chamber undergroundchamber or artificial cave ... ... B Then, again, althoughthere was a radicalfor a defensivework, therewas none forearthworks of a non-defensivecharacter, which were commonin all parts 'of the world. He thoughtthat the annexedsymbol might be employedin conjunctionwith any other symbolto denotethat a workwas defensiveS4; whilst the symbolemployed in the paper for " campor defensivework " might be used merelyto designate" earthwork."If the code obligedus to markall earthworksas defensiveit wouldlead to error. Mr. EVANS,in reply,observed that one of the featuresof the proposedsystem of symbolswas, that it gave a seriesof radical signswhich were susceptibleof modificationto meet any special cases. No doubt any map on whichthe symbolswere adopted wouldhave someindex appended, in whichany special modifications wouldbe explained. In the shortpaper whichhe had read he had not enteredso fullyinto detail as did the originalreport in French, a copyof whichhe beggedleave to presentto the Institute. RHABDOMANCY and BELOMANCY, or DIvINATIoN bythe ROD and by theARROW. By A. W. BUCKLAND, M.A.I. IT cannot, I think,be denied that divinationin some form has been practised by everynation, civilised and uncivilised, with which we are acquainted. It doubtless had its originin the world'sinfancy, when men began to see in natural objects thingsincomprehensible, and were led by dreamsand visionsto a belief in the supernatural,and by a furtherstep in the same direction,to associate the spirits of the departedwith things animate and inanimate. Hence arose an elaborate system, divided into numerous branches requiring as its exponents trained men skilled in the deep mysteriesof nature, and admittedto a knowledgeof those dexterousjuoggleries whereby naturalphenomena were made to assume awful and threatening aspectsin the eyes of the ignorantand superstitiousmultitude, in order the more securelyto maintainthat authorityobtained by a reputationfor supernaturalpower. Thus the magicians of Egypt, the astrologersof Chaldea, the magi of Persia, the augurs of Etruria,Greece, and Rome, the Druids of Gaul and Britain, all diviners,exercised probablymore real power than the kings and chiefsof their respeotivecountries, who were This content downloaded from 195.34.79.223 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:45:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions or Divinationby the Rod and bythe Arrowv. 437 commonlyonly the ministersof the will of the gods as inter- pretedby theirpriests. To treatof divinationas a whole in a single paper would be obviouslyimpossible; forit will be observed that almostevery nation adopted some special mode of divinationas peculiarly sacred, not,however, to the entire exclusion of others,which may have representedthe superstitionsof an earlieraboriginal population. I have, therefore,selected for investigationtwo branchesof this wide subject,believing that in theirextensive range and singular affinitieswill be foundinteresting matter foranthropological inquiry, whilst the survivalof one of them in our own countryto the presentday is a curious instanceof the durabilityof superstitions,notwithstanding the advance of education and civilisation; nor will the portionof our land in whichthis relic of the bygonefaith of ancientdays yet lingers be deemedwholly devoid of significanceby ethnologists. Among the Mendip Hills, in the old mining districtsof Cornwall,and, I believe,also in Derbyshire,Rhabdomancy pure and simple still exists and flourishes. About two years ago I witnessedthe performanceof an expertwho had been summoned fromthe Mendips, at considerableexpense, to finda spring of water in a garden, about three miles fromBath, by means of the divining-rod. Cutting a forkedbranch from a green tree, and holding one end of the forkin each hand, he walked over the ground, holding the stick before him, the ends pointing towardsthe earth; but when he arrivedat a spot where, as he said, watermight be found,the stickraised itself and turned over in his hand with such forceas sometimesto break itself. A well was dug on the spot wherethese indicationswere the mostmarked, and I need not say thatwater was found,although not in the abundancewhich the violent behaviourof the rod would seem to have promised. The diviner,or dowser,assured me that not one in a thousand had the powerof thus using the rod, and I certainlytried it myselfin vain; but whetherthere is in reality some mysteriousforce in certain personscommu- nicated through the hands to that which is held in them,or whetherthe effectis produced by dexterousmanipulation, I must leave others to judge. Reportshave fromtime to time been given of certain persons who have performedwonders by this mysteriouspower. Lady Milbanke is said to have convinceda Dr. Hulton, who had writtena pamphletagainst the superstitiouspractice, by discoveringa springof waterin his own garden by the rod. There can be no doubt of the beliefof the Cornishand Mendip minersin its power. Mention is made in Migne's Dictionary(" SciencesOccultes") of a young man who found gold hiddenin the earth by a violentemotion This content downloaded from 195.34.79.223 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:45:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 438 A. W. BUCKLAND.-Ehahdomincyand Belomancy, whichhe experiencedwhen walking over it; and Dr. Carpenter mentionedto me the case of a youthwho seemedto be similarly endowed,but who failed to discover a mass of plate hidden in a fieldwith great precautions,as a test. The conclusions, therefore,of this astute observerare, that whereevery kind of suggestionhas been rigidlyexcluded, the failurehas been com- plete; and that the instancesof successare to be accountedfor (where no fraudwas practised) by guesseson the part of the performersthemselves, or by the unintentionalpromptings they have received fromthe bystanderswho are in the secret. And he'seemsto inclineto the belief of the French .savans, that the movementin the rod is due to the tensionof the musclesheld long in one position,resulting in involuntarymotion.* But in the -instanceI have recorded,the stickhad certainlynot been cut fromthe tree fiveminutes, nor held in the hand one, when the movementwas produced, either by some act of jugglery, or by some mysteriousforce at present unexplained. The "expectant attention of the performer"was recognisedby MIMI.C. Nevreuil and Biot as the cause of the movement. Some pretendersto the art, as the notoriousJacques Aylmar (1692) have been proved to have been impostors,but forpar- ticularsof theseI must'refer the curiousto the pages of Niotes and Quteries,to the works of Pierre Lebrun, Baring Gould, and others, my object in this paper being not so much to analyse the possibilityof the alleged power as to trace the origin of a wide-spreadbelief. All writerswho have treated of rhabdomancy,or divination by the rod, are united in assignmg to it a veryhigh antiquity; theygenerally trace its originto the Scythians,and say that fromthem it passed into Assyria,Palestine, Greece, Etruria, Rome, and, by anotherroute, throughRussia and Germanyto England. They identifythe divining-rodwith the miracle-workingrod of Moses and Aaron, the Caduceus of Mercury,the wand of Circe,and othermagi- cians; and the lituus of Romulus and Numa Pompilius, and in all the wondersrelated of it may be tracedsome conection with one or other of these famous miracle-workingwands; for the divining-rodwas employednot only to discoverwater- springsand metals,but also to mark out boundaries,to discover corpses,and to bring to justice murderersand thieves. In the discoveryof water,its anity was withthe rod of Moses, who, by strikingthe rock with the rod, causedmwaterto gush forth. But the remainingqualities assigned to it seem to have more especial referenceto the Caduceus of Mercury,whidh was the golden rod of wealth,and was used to conduct souls to Hades, * See Article " What to Beliere," by Dr. Carpenter,Quarterly Review, Tol. xciii. p. 601. 1863, This content downloaded from 195.34.79.223 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:45:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions or Diviinationby theRod an?db1? the Arrow. 4r39 whilst Mvercury,in his characterof Hermes,was