Gardner Rosette

The Gardner Rosette

Review by Ian Pegler.

Gardner Rosette

Back in the 1920s a French dowser developed a system of dowsing based on colour. Writing in Water Diviners and their Methods (translated by Colonel A. H. Bell), Henri Mager tells us:

“During my studies on the vibrations of colours, I ascertained experimentally the fact that a simple mineral body when placed over different colours stops vibratory manifestations, but that the same mineral body placed over one colour does not disturb the vibrations of that colour.”

In other words a particular mineral has a particular colour signature which can be useful in helping to identify it and the same principle can be extended to other materials, ideas or energies. Colonel Bell wrote that Mager was “amongst the foremost exponents of the art of location, and probably the greatest living expert” and added that “his use of colour in various devices designed by him has enabled him to achieve results hitherto unattainable”.

The original Mager rosette was a massive affair but it has become miniaturised to pocket size. It is a disc divided into eight sectors of different colours: violet, blue, green, yellow, red, grey, black, white. The method of use involves selecting one coloured sector by holding it between forefinger and thumb in order to tune in to the characteristic vibration of that colour and which may or may not be in sympathy with the object of the search. Then if one colour fails to elicit a reaction one moves on to the next colour along, until a colour is selected which causes the pendulum or other device to react. A certain amount of idiosyncrasy is permissible so you can happily experiment and develop ways of working which suit your individual needs. It has been used, for example, to discern the drinkability of underground water. Alternatively, each colour could be used in the manner of a “witness”.

Colour dowsing or Chromoradiesthésie has increased in popularity over the years and different colour schemes have been suggested. For example the Belgian dowser Victor Mertens (featured in my article Tintin’s Dowser, Dowsing Today April 2015) devoted an entire chapter of his book to the subject. He illustrated a disc with a colour-scheme based on the colours of the rainbow plus infra-red, ultra-violet and black, grey and white. Mertens makes it clear that this is just one scheme and that other practitioners of radiesthésie did things differently.

Now we come to the latest innovation, the Gardner Rosette, created by former BSD president Grahame Gardner. This disc is about 10 cm in diameter and is divided into fourteen equal sectors. In addition to the eight colours used by Henri Mager there are now an additional six that may help with Earth Energy dowsing. However, as it says in the leaflet, the rosette is an incredibly versatile tool which could be used for virtually any sphere of dowsing:- water, minerals, earth energies, healing etc. It is especially useful when you require a qualitative or graded response, rather than a straight yes or no. Gardner’s disc goes further as there is an inner circle on the disc with a yes/no chart and a numerical dial which could have many uses; the leaflet suggests swinging the pendulum back and forth over the zero-line and then asking the pendulum to angle towards the number which reflects the answer. This could then be used, for example, to modify a colour response.

I decided to try out this new rosette by locating a water vein in my back garden. I first tested the purity of the water using my old Mager disc, and got a green signature. I then tested it using the Gardner rosette and got the same colour. Using the number dial I qualified this, getting a +3. So this represents a refinement on what the old Mager disc can do.

In summary, then, this new rosette is a useful tool, not over-complex but offering greater versatility. It builds on what the pioneers of the past have done, following in the best traditions of experimental dowsing science.

Ian Pegler

Grahame Gardner
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