Pendulums 101: how to cleanse, program, and care for your pendulum
In the previous post, we covered some basics on how to go about choosing a pendulum to buy. In this post, let’s talk about what to do next once that pretty little rock on a string is finally in your hands.
Cleansing a pendulum
This is not about hygiene! 🙂 This is about energetic hygiene. You don't always know in whose hands your new pendulum had been before it got to you. Crystals and other materials are able to absorb energy, positive and negative, from people and places. They can also be programmed by other folks in a way that won't work for your intended purpose.
Your pendulum is to be your trusted dowsing tool, so you want to make sure it's clear of any unintended energetic influences before you start working with it.
Here are a few options for cleansing a pendulum (which also apply to any crystal, by the way).
Place your pendulum on a bed of sea salt (not regular salt!) in a bowl for at least a few hours, better yet overnight.
Sea salt is known to draw negative energy out of objects. Obviously, not a good idea to put that salt in your salt shaker afterwards — just discard it. 😉
Run hot water through your pendulum for a few seconds, then cold water. Repeat (hot then cold) three times.
IMPORTANT: if you choose this method, be sure to find out beforehand whether it's safe to expose your particular crystal material to water, especially hot water. Some crystals can be damaged by this! A good place to check is the GIA website: search for “[stone type] care”, e.g. “Amethyst care”.
If hot water is not safe, running only cold water is also okay, and I would do so with the intention of washing away all negative energy, or would even imagine white light running through the pendulum together with the water.
If you work with Reiki or other type of healing energy, you can run energy through the stone for a few minutes with the intention of clearing it of all negativity and programming.
In Angelic Reiki, we would invite an Angel as we normally do for healing, and ask the Angel to clear the object in our hand of negative energy, then (optionally) program it, and (optionally) attune it to the Angelic vibration.
Whether you want to include programming/attunement depends on how you plan to use the pendulum. I only do this for the pendulum dedicated solely to healing work, i.e. measuring chakra state, but not the one I use for intuitive readings (more on those uses later).
If you search online for how to cleanse crystals, there's a number of other options, such as smudging with white sage, leaving the stone out in the sunlight or moonlight, etc. Above are just the methods I personally use.
Programming a pendulum
This should be done AFTER you've cleansed the pendulum.
First of all, I would set an intention for how I'll be using my pendulum, e.g., for this one is for healing or for dowsing/divination.
Some say, crystals are living beings that interact with us, and we can ask them to work with us and help in a specific way. I don’t know that for a fact, but I believe in setting an intention, especially for highly programmable stones such as Clear Quartz. Clear Quartz can both amplify and absorb energy, so I “told” my Clear Quartz pendulum and healing crystals that I didn't want them to take on any energy from my Reiki clients — only to detect and direct it.
So here's how you can program your pendulum:
Hold the pendulum by the string, trying not to move your arm and hand too much.
I like to gently press my elbow to the side of my body to make it easier to hold my hand steady. You could also rest your elbow on a desk. The arm doesn’t have to be perfectly still though — this is very hard to achieve and, frankly, unnecessary. Once you start asking questions, the pendulum will get into a proper movement pattern.
While you can hold the very end of the string, I find that it’s easier to operate a pendulum when I hold the string at a length of about 2-3 inches (5-8 cm), or about a palm’s width. (For clarity: that’s the distance between the crystal and where I hold the string.)
Ask your Higher Self or your Subconscious Mind (though you can imagine that you're asking the pendulum, if that's easier), "Show me a YES answer".
The pendulum should swing in a certain direction — usually either up-and-down or clockwise.
Next, ask, "Show me a NO answer".
It should now swing in the opposite direction — side-to-side or counterclockwise.
Finally, ask, “Show me an UNDECIDED answer”.
”Undecided” can mean different things: the question cannot be answered with certainty at the time — perhaps it’s about a future event; the question is ambiguous and needs to be restated; we’re not allowed to know the answer; an accurate answer is more complex than a yes or no… Basically, “Undecided” means there is no clear yes or no answer to the question as stated.
The pendulum should swing in a manner different from the first two patterns, for instance diagonally if your YES/NO were clockwise/counterclockwise, or clockwise if your YES/NO were up-down/side-to-side.
Remember, or even write down the three answers you got. This is now part of your “protocol” for communicating with Spirit.
Your pendulum is now programmed and ready to use! 🎉
It's a good idea to carry it around for the first few days, keeping it close to your body, e.g. in a pocket. The pendulum will get attuned to your energy, get charged with your energy, and become your trusty little helper.
Caring for your pendulum
If you're going to be using your pendulum while working with a client’s energy field, such as during Reiki sessions, it's probably a good idea to cleanse it regularly. You can use one of the cleansing methods mentioned above.
For a pendulum used strictly for dowsing/divination while by yourself, there's probably no need for regular cleansings. However, I have experienced cases where a cleansing was called for. Just recently, I started getting funky inconsistent answers when trying to talk to my Spirit Guides, which was very frustrating. Eventually a thought came that perhaps the pendulum simply needed some “maintenance”. I ran cold water over it and cleansed it with Reiki, and voilà — I was getting clear answers again.
You definitely don't need to program your dowsing pendulum again after cleansing it: your Higher Self's signs for YES and NO are not going to suddenly become different (unless there’s some monumental shift in you.)
I'm not convinced that you have to charge your pendulum with energy regularly, especially since it's within your energy field a lot. However, when I charge my other crystals, I do include my pendulums with them. One method for charging crystals is to put them out by the window overnight during Full Moon, even if it's cloudy — apparently moonlight charges them. It sounded wacky to me at first, but I tried, and the crystals did feel quite a bit more “powerful” afterwards.
What's next?
In the next post, I’ll be talking about the FUN STUFF — about all the different things you can DO with your pendulum, including how to talk to your Higher Self and Guides with its help, and how to measure the state of your chakras (energy centers) for healing purposes.
© 2017-2024 Julia Nord | All rights reserved | Copying, adapting, imitating, or creating derivative works of this content in any format is prohibited.Would you like to receive other in-depth educational articles? Subscribe here!
Or follow on Instagram for more frequent posts!