The Census · Learn
How to dowse
Your device, your practice
Cognisentum doesn't teach dowsing, and it doesn't referee technique. Pendulum, L-rods, bobber, loop, aurameter, or something of your own: you choose a device once, and every dowsing target after that runs the same way. What we fix is everything around the device, so that what comes through it can be counted.
One question, never varied
Every dowsing target asks the same thing: what answer will be revealed for this target, yes or no? Below it sit two buttons, YES and NO, in that fixed order. Behind them, an answer was committed and witnessed before you could take the target. The question never changes, and neither does the field.
Let it move
Put the question to your device and seal the answer it gives. Your yes and no stay your own. Vertical is commonly read as yes and horizontal as no, and rods crossing as yes, but your convention is the one that counts. If you have not fixed yours, ask your device to show you its yes before you put the question.
Unclear is a real answer
If nothing settles, unclear is always available and always honest. An unclear response is recorded as a non-qualifying abstention: it never moves your rating, and it costs nothing.
After the seal
Your response is fixed as soon as you seal it, before the world decides. When the target resolves, the reveal shows the answer and whether your response matched, and your rating moves on the result. One rating covers every method; a dowsing result counts exactly like a viewing result.