Pendulum Time

fun decision making

Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash

The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. Carl Jung

Dowsing has been used for a very long time. There are cave drawings of dowsers in action and evidence that the Egyptians were skilled in the art thousands of years ago. Known also as divining or water witching, drilling and mining companies use it to locate their booty. Builders often get out their rods or bob to check for pipes or wires before drilling or they might also dowse for a water source. 

One day, in the next village to me, the road needed digging up. The diggers and plant were poised ready for action patiently waiting for the dowser to tell them where to start digging. Despite the huge amounts of technology it is still often best to just call the diviner. 

More recently, dowsing has become associated with health, as it can indicate changes or holes in our natural energy field (our aura), and can then show us when healing has occurred.

For our intention, we will use pendulums, but of course you are welcome to use hazel twigs or even bent coat hangers, as they will all do the job. 

Pendulums can be as elaborate or as simple as you prefer. You can buy stones or crystals already attached to a chain or cord; you may use a necklace with a ring, or even a small stone attached to a piece of string. 

The pendulum itself is not a healing tool – you are. It amplifies the subtle movements in your body’s energy to give a visual expression of what is occurring. If you send out the intention to heal, it is that that the pendulum detects and shows.

When you first get or make your pendulum, sit in a quiet meditative state for a few minutes and take calm breaths while holding it comfortably in your hands. There is no need to rush this; take your time to begin the tuning and bonding process. Often, in my workshops, attendants name theirs or get an impression of what the pendulum wishes to be called. It is a personal choice but you may find yourself very attached to it.

Chevreul’s Pendulum

In 1833, the chemist, Michel-Eugene Chevreul, investigated the properties of pendulums and believed it possible to explain the responses in a scientific way. In so doing, he removed the occult theories that had previously prevailed. His belief was that the pendulum’s reaction was a very technical term known as ‘as if’. Excuse my quip, but we know that if we think or act ‘as if’ then that is what tends to happen. He realised that was what was occurring. If you act confident and self-assured your mind cannot tell if it is real or imagined and so you become that person. If you think of something scary, before you know it you will feel frightened. Think of some delicious food – maybe your favourite meal – and I guarantee that within a short amount of time you’ll feel hungry.

You might like to try out the following experiment:

Draw a circle with two crossed lines going through it.

Hold your pendulum in your dominant hand at the point of the cross and imagine it swinging along the up-down line. If nothing happens draw your eyes back and forth along the line. After a while the pendulum will begin to swing along the line.

Make it still again by gently resting it on the cross in the centre and repeat going across the other line. As before, if it is slow to respond, draw your eyes along the line.

Repeat the procedure now imagining it swinging around the circle first one way and then the other.

Do this a few times until you feel in tune with your pendulum. It reacts to you, your thoughts, desires and your personal subtle subconscious movements. If it doesn’t move at all, gently start it off a few times and you will find it begins to do it itself. Keep it as yours, try not to share, but if you really must it is important to cleanse it by holding it under running water. Actually, cleanse it frequently regardless, especially if you carry out healing or clearing procedures.

The next step is to ask the pendulum to show you which way is yes and which is no. For some people it might hang still for one of the answers or it might vibrate, bounce or jiggle. I can’t think of a better word to describe this and if yours does so you will understand exactly what I mean. I have just remembered in one class when someone’s bounced straight up and down for a yes; it was a sif it was nodding.

To discover your pendulum’s movements, either out loud or in your head, say, ‘Please show me the yes motion’. Then repeat with, ‘Please show me the no motion’. If it doesn’t happen immediately, be patient and repeat the earlier exercise. 

Try asking a question that you know the answer to and see if it responds correctly. If it doesn’t, check you have your yes and no the right way round. If it is still incorrect, give it a rinse and start again.

All the while you do this, you can hold it over your piece of paper or hover it over your other hand, your lap or just in the air. It is important to find the ways that work best for you. In my salons we’ve had so many variations that show there really isn’t a right or wrong. I’ve seen pendulums daintily wiggle like an embarrassed schoolgirl and I’ve seen others swing so violently they could have an eye out.

You might be surprised, as you may well not get the answer you were expecting. Of course, you don’t need to blindly follow the pendulum response, but you might open yourself up for discussion.

Before moving on let’s discover how you tick. I’m not asking what makes you tick; this is about the how. I want you to know how you operate on a subconscious level and what is going on in your imaginative right brain.

Think about someone you know well, maybe even love. Focus your mind and thoughts on this person and be aware of how they look and what they might be doing. Imagine a conversation you’ve had or might have.

Did you see pictures in your head, feelings in your body or were you just thinking?

This is important because if I ask how it looks it might be that you ‘see’ with your mind’s eye rather than seeing an actual image. If you are using your imagination, you are imaging (in your mind) but how we do that varies. However, whatever and however you do it, it is right for you. 

A few years ago I did a whole course of therapy with a woman who only operated with her sense of smell. Yes, it was a challenge, but we like that.

I have worked with people who don’t see auras with their eyes but they sense colours and ‘know’ how a person is feeling. Others, me included, can tune into someone’s chakras without being physically present and be aware of their condition without ever seeing the person. It is an inner knowing or awareness. 

It is fun to play games while you develop your dowsing skills. If you have someone with you, you can practise truth games. Have them pick a word from the dictionary and give you two meanings (one that is real and one that isn’t), then have your pendulum decide. Or put a substance under one of a row of cups or bowls and try to discover which one it is under.

If you’re feeling in the mood to begin testing your psychic abilities, ask someone to write down a number between one and twenty and write it down and then fold the paper. Hold your pendulum over it and silently count until it swings the opposite way or until you get an affirmation of the number. One more is to have someone imagine a substance is under a bowl and you try to get it correct.

How can this be possible? Because, often, nothing is as it seems. Nothing is solid as everything is made up of atoms vibrating at different rates. Dense things appear more solid but they are still full of gaps and space. Thoughts can become reality in the way that if you think about someone or something it or they will appear or contact you. Therefore, whatever the substance, you can tune into the vibrating energy that it emits and, as it will be different to the surrounding energy field, you will sense the change.

Light, in particular, is a definite trickster: is it a wave, is it a particle? It can be either/or depending on the observer. It is pure witchcraft. If something as clear as light can change (ha ha get it?) its form, think of all the other possibilities. 

The important thing is to get playing, have fun and then, of you wish, develop your skills.

Yes?

No?

Unsure?

Let me know.