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 is the symbol associated with the image that will be revealed for this target? Below it sit two ovals, one vertical, one horizontal. Behind them, a hidden image pair was bound 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 let it answer. Mark the oval where it settles. The response is a single tap; nothing asks you to explain it, and the device does not need to argue its case.
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 the moment you seal it, before the world decides. When the target resolves, the reveal shows the image and whether your response pointed at it, and your rating moves on the result. The same rating covers both methods; a dowsing result counts exactly like a viewing result.