Uncle Bill the
Dowser
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I was a
collectables antique dealer for almost 30 years
between London and Paris mainly but later
included New York. One of my many themes was
aviation and ballooning. I had a stand indoors
every Saturday morning in the Portobello Road
market for 30 years and met an Aviation collector
and sold him a few prints and pieces of ephemera
over the years.
One day I
received a phone call from Kent from the son in
law of this collector. He said it was going to be
his father in law's 60 birthday and did I have
something special as a gift? Unfortunately not as
he was a very advanced collector but as he
sounded friendly and as I was an inquisitive
person, I asked him what he did for a living.
Cheeky me!
He said he was
a quantity surveyor working with architects. At
the time I was into the subject of Feng Shui and
Geomancy. Wanting uto impress him, I asked
him if he knew about Geomancy as, in Germany
especially, Geomancy is THE key when building a
house.
'No, but my
Uncle Bill in London knows all about the subject
and used to dowse for Lord Kitchener in Africa
during the war'.
Interested and
curious, I asked where in London his Uncle Bill
resided. His real name being Bill Cooper who had
been involved in the wine trade. Why would I ask
as London has millions of people and is a
metropolis? I lived in Notting Hill at 164
Kensingon Park Road, London W11 having bought the
property from Barbara Hulanichi of Biba fame -
the fashion guru.
'Well if you
go to Notting Hill Gate underground, cross the
road towards Portobello Road, you will see Marsh
and Parsons on the apex of the road. Take the
left road and go on down Kensington Park Road and
he is just before the cross road with Westbourne
Road.'
I went
hysterical with the synchronicity explaining I
lived at 164 in the same road just a few houses
down from his block. So that made us neighbours!
I pleaded with him to organise a visit soon.
A few days
later Bill Cooper rang and arrived with Jill, his
lifelong assistant who also lived on the same
road. She had been his personal assistant in the
wine industry and was now his companion as his
wife was terminally ill. They arrived with rods
galore and apparatus in bags!!
They wandered
throughout the four floor Victorian house paying
special attention to the bedroom. Jill asked
where the cat slept but I refused to tell her. In
fact he slept on the left hand side at the bottom
close to Martin's side of the bed. Martin had
aching ankles and could always tell when it was
going to rain!
Then my
tropical garden which I personally has created
was dowsed after they had investigated the house
thoroughly. I left them alone to make their notes.
The result?
According to Bill we had black lay lines running
through the bedroom especially where Martin slept.
Black lines in the lounge immediately underneath
in the same position and also in the garden. What
to do? Well they put brass rods in the earth in
the garden towards the left hand side. What else
I don't recall. They mysteriously unearthed a
silver turquoise Navaho ring. Put there by
Barbara symbolically perhaps? I don't remember
being asked for a donation to the British Dowsing
Society.
Bill Cooper
was also a faith healer and returned another time
to visit Martin and give him a complimentary
healing session. I think he came for a good
conversation as Martin had an open mind into
other ways of thinking. After all he was a
magician himself. We were both into the world of
conjuring, illusion and the associated performing
arts.
I forgot all
about the world of dowsing until last week at a
Brahma Kumaris lecture in a windmill in Brighton.
After an interesting day, an Irish woman, who I
had not noticed, approached me out of the blue
and asked me if I would to join the Brighton
Dowsing Society who met every month locally!!!
Why me? Why do I attract nutty creative
Individuals? Could it be because I was wearing a
black israeli head dress and an orange Indian
flowing cotton tunic and looked, shall we say,
unusual and colourful?
Well I shall
certainly go along should I be in Brighton and
probably get my lovely Georgian flat checked out.
Personally I believe I have white lines there as
it is quiet and peaceful in a private park what
was once the Sussex cricket club long ago and far
away.
Written
in Athens, September 2015.
|
