A pendulum is a small weight on a chain or thread. Held still, it begins to swing, and the direction of the swing is read as an answer. It is the quickest form of divination to learn and the cheapest to try.
How it works
It is best to be straightforward about this. The pendulum moves because your hand moves it. The movements are tiny, involuntary, and outside your awareness, and they have been studied since the nineteenth century under the name of the ideomotor effect.
Practitioners do not dispute this. They see it as the point. The pendulum is an amplifier. It makes visible the small signals from the part of your mind that sits below conscious thought, the part that has often noticed more than you realize. Whether that part is also open to something beyond you is a matter of belief. Either way, the pendulum is best understood as a way of consulting your own intuition.
Making a pendulum
Any small, evenly balanced weight on about eight inches of thread or chain will work.
- A ring on a length of thread
- A necklace with a pendant
- A key on a piece of string
- A needle and thread
Store-bought pendulums, usually a pointed crystal or a metal weight on a chain, are pleasant to use, but they work no better.
Finding your signals
- Settle. Sit comfortably at a table. Ground and center.
- Hold the pendulum. Rest your elbow on the table. Hold the thread between your thumb and forefinger, about four inches above the weight. Let it come to rest.
- Ask for yes. Say: "Show me yes." Wait. The pendulum will begin to move, perhaps forward and back, perhaps in a circle. Note the movement.
- Ask for no. Stop the pendulum and say: "Show me no." Note the different movement.
- Ask for unsure. Repeat for "Show me that you cannot answer."
- Test it. Ask questions that you know the answers to, such as "Is my name Sam?" Check that the signals hold.
Your signals are your own, and they may differ from someone else's. Check them again at the start of each session.
Asking good questions
- Ask questions that have a yes or no answer. "Is this the right week to start?" is good. "What should I do?" is not.
- Ask one thing at a time. Avoid questions that contain "and" or "or."
- Ask about yourself and the present. The pendulum reads you. It has nothing reliable to say about other people's private thoughts.
- Be careful with questions that you care about deeply. When you badly want a particular answer, your hand will supply it. Come back when you are calmer.
Things to do with a pendulum
- Clarify a decision. Ask about each option in turn, and notice your own reaction to each answer. That reaction often tells you more than the swing.
- Choose materials. Hold the pendulum over each herb, candle, or card and ask whether it suits the working at hand.
- Use a chart. Draw a half circle on paper and divide it into segments marked with options, numbers, or letters. Hold the pendulum at the center, and see which segment it swings toward.
- Look for something lost. Stand in each room and ask, "Is it in here?" This works by jogging your own memory, and it works surprisingly often.
Troubleshooting
It does not move. Relax your arm and wait longer. Try a lighter or a heavier weight.
It swings wildly. You are tense or excited. Ground yourself and begin again.
The answers contradict each other. The question may be unclear, or you may be tired. Stop for the day.
Know its limits
A pendulum is a tool for reflection. Do not use it to make medical, legal, or financial decisions, to diagnose anything, or to choose whether food or medicine is safe. And do not hand your decisions over to it. Use it to find out what you think, and then decide for yourself.