It is often referred to as a 'like cures like' treatment. Dowsing (which is the same as dowsing for water) is where divining rods (or in this case it may be a pendulum) are waved over a person's body to try and identify an illness.

Proponents claim that diagnosis can also be effected by dowsing a small blood sample with the aid of a pendulum to ascertain deficiencies or imbalances affecting the body's vitality, and treatment is by the administration of homeopathic remedies and restore the vital balance.