What is the priciple behind dowsing (divine) rods, waterwitching,planchette and pendulums?
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As a person who's gone through a rigorous science education, and I think for the scientific community at large, when I say that I believe there is no principle behind rods or pendulums - In fact, I did read somewhere that diving rods were tested, diviners hired to try and find water tables that scientests had discovered with other means, and the success rate was very low, not much different then trying to find the water at random.\n\nI guess there's a perception that these things work if you make a prediction/guess as to where water is, and it turns out to be right, you'll believe there's something to it. \n\nYou can read the Wikipedia article on divination:\n\nand I just found the article I remember reading that disputes divining rods (second link):
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Canadian inventor John Hutchison is credited with the discovery of a highly-anomalous electromagnetic effect which causes the jellification of metals, spontaneous levitation of common substances, and other effects resulting from what is believed to be a very complex scalar-wave interaction between electromagnetic fields and matter
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sounds interesting. good luck!\n\nnot sure if you are already, but you may want to familiarize yourself with the contraversial works of William Reich  - who "discovered" a mysterious naturally occuring cosmic energy source called "Orgone". he therorized that you could construct a collector using alternaiting layers of reflective metal within organic shields and harness its incredible power to cure cancer among other things. Reich also developed a "cloudbuster" for seeding rain clouds (which was the basis of a Kate Bush video from several years back). \n\nA lot of skeptics have attemted to discredit Reich over the years. But a lot of people fervently believe in his work. With what you are working on his studies could be something you might find interesting.\n\nEDIT:\n\nps - as far as finding a zinc rod, they are used commonly for electroplating (ie chrome finishing) so check your yellow pages.
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Warlock\nwww.DoroPesch.com
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Ancient Irish folklore is full of stuff like that, here is a pretty good book on-line, and the Celtic knot, is a ritual, a form of spell-work, the second link is OK, I'm looking for a better one, all my books are still packed
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That's David Copperfield.  A lot of the stuff he does is more like movie special effects than magic.  Most of that is just wire work.  There are two wires attached to his waist at the sides.  Notice that when he rotates about his waist that he pulls his arms in to miss the wires.  Also, notice the background fabric.  It has vertical shiny stripes to disguise the wires.\n\nI don't know how they do the part with the rings and glass box, but I'm sure no laws of nature were violated!  That last part was very, very good.\n\nThis is a good one for alt.magic.secrets at Google Groups.\n\nGoogle groups does have a lot of info.  The mechanism is patented,  but the patent is disguised so that it is not recognizable as a magic trick.  The patent is either 4,905,848 or one similar.\n\nCopperfield is suspended by multiple kevlar cables attached at his waist at the sides.  The cables are arranged in fan shapes to prevent sway to the left and right from the perspective of the audience.  Sway toward and away from the audience is not noticable because of foreshortening.  The mechanism is controlled by a computer to account for stretching of the cables and to provide a smooth start and stop.  I still don't understand the glass box or the rings.\n\nWell, duh.\n\nI did a Google search on \n\ncopperfield flying patent\n\nand it turned up the patent number 5,354,238.  This is a very complicated device.  I still don't understand how the glass box and rings work.  \n\nAnd this comes from the alt.magic.secrets FAQ:\n\nHere some illusions that are patented:\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05354238__\nJohn Gaughan, possibly the "flying" patent\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=USD0345595__\nJim Steinmeyer's Origami, but only the ornamental design\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04244566__\nAn "S"-type levitation here, by Gale Molovinsky\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05392161__\nIllusion assembly creating a see through effect \n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05605508__\nMagicians' Guillotine apparatus \n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04023794__\nOptical illusion device for concealing an object, animal or the\nlike to be produced, and yes, it is done with a mirror :)\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04984782__\nMagic card\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05790013__\nColor changing light bulbs\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US03602498__\nIllusion using filmed and live action\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US03612516__\nIllusion of person appearing in an empty cabinet\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05528562__\nMimic watch\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05551921__\nCoin pierced with key\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US03822879__\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05549515__\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05558583__\nMore coin magic (yawn!)\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US03997156__\nMagic hat\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04570924__\nLevitation and animation of a miniature light source\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US03632108__\nBase that uses mirrors to conceal hidden person\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04273418__\nOptical illusion through rotating disc having alternating transparent\nand reflective areas according to a predetermined pattern\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04094501__\nillusion of "girl in fishbowl"\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04068841__\nIllusion apparatus that has everything plus a cup holder.\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05409420__\nSpectator failure trick involving suspension illusion with magnets\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05528425__\nOptical illusion through projection\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05685625__\nOptical illusion through projection\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05255452__\nAnti-gravity boots\n\nhttp://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05886956__\nIllusion of a le
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This is interesting...\n\nDIVINATION, MAGIC & OCCULTIC ACTIVITY IN THE BIBLE\nhttp://www.religioustolerance.org/divin_bibl.htm
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if you statically charge some sort of object, a glass rod works very well, by rubbing it on material in one direction only then hold it next to a stream of water the water should be repelled and bend away from it.
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Dowsing is a form of divination, if you can make a Quija board work you can learn to dowse. But unless you believe in it, it won't work. You either have it or you don't. The unbelievers don't have it that's why they don't believe in it and can't be made to accept it.
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http://www.winterrowd.com/illusions/\n\nthis is one of my favourites
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It all began with a simple puzzle box created by Toymaker Phillipe Lemarchand in the 18th century. Called the "Lament Configuration," the toymaker intended that the puzzle box serve as a gift that would bring enchantment to all who possessed it.\nTruly, this box would be visually appealing as it would be entertaining. Lemarchand painstakingly carved the wood puzzle pieces, covered it with black lacquer and decorated it with thin gold ornamental designs. From every interlocking twist and crevice in the Lament Configuration, however, lay more than a simple puzzle. \n\nThe Lament Configuration, with all its amazing powers, was the door to hell. \n\n The Lament Configuration and Pinhead, the Black Prince of Hell, has already unleashed its horror upon an unwitting world. Now in the 22nd Century, scientist Paul Marchand strives to banish the evil which his ancestor (Phillipe Lemarchand) had allowed enter the world through the Lament Configuration. Unlocking the secret to the simple puzzle box, Marchand must use his knowledge to trap Pinhead in order to save the world.
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Henry Abraham invented the Astable multivibrator1918. Thats the earliest i can find. Its a monostable multivibrator with capacitor couplings at both ends rather than one. It alows the caircuit to be unstable at both states so it can oscillate from one to the other without stopping. \n\nIts an easier way for implemation of two stae systems
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hmm but they all relate to people who practise different forms of Magick for example necromany deals only with manipultion of the energies of the dead, vodoo, shamanism , alchemy and druidism,  are actually systems of belief , fortune teller tells someone fortune usually are full of crap a diviiner predicts their own future , and astrolger reads planetray signs , a witch or warlock is used to refer to someone who practises wicca/pagan beliefs, an illusionist  or conjurer is an entertainer no reall magick here I could go on but don't have the time although there are many titles when it comes to apractise as diverse and varied as magick there must be terms to differentaite , I sure if you look into christainity you can come up with just as many different names describing members who have different practises with in that system
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I am an eclectic witch.  I have a yahoo group that basically shares spells and information pertaining to all forms of witchcraft.\nI've included the link if anyone wants to join.
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I found a couple of sites listed below maybe one of these will help you out.\n\nhttp://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/hv/classic/classic.html\n\nhttp://spazioinwind.libero.it/gabinetto_di_fisica/elmag/elmaginduction.htm#modrocchetto\n\nhttp://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Electricity/Induction_Coil/Induction_Coil.html
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Principally yes, lightning will split water, but not through electrolysis but because of the heat.\n\nAssuming your array of lightning rods will attract a lightning, you will need to transform that high voltage into the millivolt region you need for electrolysis, and keep it coming for quite some time since electrolysis is an equilibrium process. In short, you need to store electrical lightning energy, which is so difficult nobody (except Frankenstein :) has produced a workable solution.\n\nHarnessing the thermal energy of the lightning on the other end of the lightning rod would be tricky, too - if the resistance is too high, the lightning rod wouldn't attract the lightning, if it is too low, the thermal energy won't be released where you want it.\n\nStatic electricity discharges generally are unsuitable when you want a current, otherwise someone would have built generators using piezo elements long ago.
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In the middle ages and renaissance in Europe, originally in their own clock towers with pendulums and wooden gears.\n\nFrom Wikipedia:  \n\n"Early mechanical clocks\nThere is a record that in 1176 Sens Cathedral installed a ‘horologe’—the word still used in French for large clocks. (from Greek hora, hour, and legein, to tell). This word has led scholars to believe that these tower clocks did not employ hands or dials, but “told” the time with audible signals such as bells.\n\nBetween 1280 and 1320 there is a sudden increase in references to clocks and horologes in church records, and this probably indicates that a new type of clock mechanism had been devised. Existing clock mechanisms that used water power were being adapted to take the driving power from falling weights. This power was controlled by some form of oscillating mechanism, probably derived from existing bell-ringing or alarm devices. This controlled release of power - the escapement - marks the beginning of the true mechanical clock.\n\nThese mechanical clocks were intended for two main purposes: for signalling and notification (e.g. the timing of services and public events), and for modelling the solar system. The former purpose is administrative, the latter arises naturally given the scholarly interest in astronomy, science, astrology, and how these subjects integrated with the religious philosopy of the time. The astrolabe was used both by astronomers and astrologers, and it was natural to apply a clockwork drive to the rotating plate to produce a working model of the solar system.\n\nSimple clocks intended mainly for notification were installed in towers, and did not always require dials or hands. They would have announced the canonical hours or intervals between set times of prayer. Canonical hours differ in length, and varied as the times of sunrise and sunset shifted. The more sophisticated astronomical clocks would have had dials and hands, and would have used various time systems, including Italian hours, canonical hours, and time as measured by astronomers at the time. Both styles of clock quickly started acquiring extravagant features such as automata.\n\nBy 1280 mechanical clock-making began in England, Italy, and France. In 1283 a large clock was installed at Dunstable Priory; its location above the rood screen suggests that it was not a water clock. In 1292, Canterbury Cathedral installs a 'great horloge'. Over the next 30 years there are brief mentions of clocks at a number of ecclesiastical institutions in England, Italy, and France. In 1322 a new clock was installed in Norwich, an expensive replacement for an earlier clock installed in 1273. This had a large 2 metre astronomical dial with automata and bells. The costs of the installation included the full-time employment of two technicians for two years.\n\nThe clocks constructed by Richard of Wallingford in St Albans by 1336, and by Giovanni da Dondi in Padua from 1348 to 1364, no longer exist but detailed descriptions of their design and construction survive, and modern reproductions have been made. They illustrate how quickly the theory of the mechanical clock had developed. It is not known how accurate or reliable these clocks would have been."