As requested by @birdsofthestrangestfeather, hereâs my own little pendulums 101! đâ¨
In short, it can really be anything, as long as something is hanging from a chain or string and is able to swing. It can be a fancy crystal pendulum from Etsy or a local witchy shop, a necklace you already own, a pocket watch, or even something as minimalist as a string and bead/needle! Get creative; it doesnât have to be fancy, any particular material, or bought, just as long as it works as a pendulum.
What do you do before you use a pendulum?
Cleanse, cleanse and cleanse! Unless you made it yourself (which if you did, you donât have to keep reading unless you want to!) your pendulum has probably been through a lot! Iâd recommend leaving it out in the full moonlight for some hours or overnight, running your pendulum a few times through sage or incense or even visualizing a white, cleansing light around your pendulum! Other options include letting your pendulum cleanse in sunlight, dirt and water.Â
Do a little research if you have a crystal pendulum to see what would suit that crystal best and otherwise trust your intuition on what would be the best way to cleanse your new pendulum!
How to program your pendulum?
Just like people, pendulums have different ways of working. My pendulum swings back and forth for yes while yours may circle around! To figure out or establish how your pendulum says yes, no, maybe and unknown/I donât know, you have to program your pendulum.Â
If you want your pendulum to show you, ask it basic, obvious to answer questions. Iâll ask, âAm I six foot tall?â and my pendulum swings no so hard it nearly breaks! But when I ask, âAm I five foot three?â it goes straight to yes. Repeat this sort of thing until you figure out how your pendulum works so youâll know when asking questions how your pendulum is answering!
If youâre more comfortable telling your pendulum how itâs going to answer, then go right ahead! Tell your pendulum to swing a certain way for maybe and another way for no, etc, etc. Make sure to test out the way you programmed your pendulum afterwards with basic questions!
Also, thereâs always the option of using a pendulum board, which is a visual yes/no/maybe/unknown guide for your pendulum, to help program. You can also use these boards later on, if itâs your preference. Even when using one, though, donât forget to test your pendulum and make sure itâs answering correctly with obvious questions.
How do you use a pendulum?
Itâs quite simple and easy to use a pendulum! You simply hold the top of the pendulum between your fingers (I usually hold with my pointer finger and thumb) and keep a very steady hand. You donât want to be shaky or moving it because this will obviously interfere with the actual answer. Once your hand and the pendulum is steady, keep it suspended above any surfaces and away from anything it would knock into. Then, go ahead and ask your question and wait to see!
Back to the programming of a pendulum, it depends on how you did that. Just be sure to give your pendulum plenty of time to settle into the answer and make sure itâs truly swinging or circling in the direction you think it is. If youâre not sure, you can always ask again!
Extra tips & uses for your pendulumÂ
Congrats!! If youâve reached this point, you know a lot about pendulums! Buuut, I do have a few more points to makeâŚ
đ Start off with harmless questions. Itâll take some time for the pendulum to really be in sync with your energy, so gradually build up from things like, âshould I eat this for breakfast?â or âwould purple be a good color to wear today?â to the stuff that actually impacts your life.
đ Once you get in tune with your pendulum, you can expand your uses for it. You can ask for advice on things youâre indecisive about, talk to your spirit companions or guides, do readings for people and even talk to your gods. Theyâre very useful all the way around!
đ Again, always make sure to let your pendulum have enough time to answer you!
đ Whenever your pendulum is acting up, not answering like it usually would or the like, give it a good cleanse. Just like other witchy tools, pendulums like to be cleansed often, especially if you do readings with it!
Thank you for sticking around and reading this super long post. I hope you enjoyed and found this information useful!Â
I absolutely adore my pendulum and use it often, so I definitely recommend that every witch give it a go!Â
Also, thank you to @birdsofthestrangestfeather for asking me to put together this post! đâ¨