53

THE DOWSER

Once round the meadow. Brother, does the hazel twig dip?

Twice round the orchard. Brother, does the hazel twig dip?

Thrice round the paddock. Highly, lowly, wily, holy, dip dip, dip!

Then neighed the horse in the paddock -- and lo! its wings.

For whoso findeth the SPRING beneath the earth maketh the treaders-of-earth to course the heavens.

This SPRING is threefold; of water, but also of steel, and of the seasons.

Also this PADDOCK is the Toad that hath the jewel between his eyes -- Aum Mani Padmen Hum! (Keep us from Evil!)

COMMENTARY (ΝΓ)

A dowser is one who practises divination, usually with the object of finding water or minerals, by means of the vibrations of a hazel twig.

The meadow represents the flower of life; the orchard its fruit.

The paddock, being reserved for animals, represents life itself. That is to say, the secret spring of life is found in the place of life, with the result that the horse, who represents ordinary animal life, becomes the divine horse Pegasus.

In paragraph 6 we see this spring identified with the phallus, for it is not only a source of water, but highly elastic, while the reference to the seasons alludes to the well-known lines of the late Lord Tennyson:

"In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove,
 In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."

-- Locksley Hall

In paragraph 7 the place of life, the universe of animal souls, is identified with the toad which

"Ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head"

-- Romeo and Juliet --

this jewel being the divine spark in man, and indeed in all that "lives and moves and has its being". Note this phrase which is highly significant; the word "lives" excluding the mineral kingdom, the word "moves" the vegetable kingdom, and the phrase "has its being" the lower animals, including woman.

This "toad" and "jewel" are further identified with the Lotus and jewel of the well-known Buddhist phrase, and this seems to suggest that this "toad" is the Yoni; the suggestion is further strengthened by the concluding phrase in brackets, "Keep us from evil", since, although it is the place of life, the means of grace, it may be ruinous.