Pendulums 101 – cleansing, programming, and caring for your pendulum


In the previous post, I covered some basics on how to go about choosing a pendulum to buy.  In this post, we'll 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 others 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 energetic influences before you start working with it. 

Here are a few options for cleansing a pendulum (which also apply to any crystal). 

1.  Place your pendulum on a bed of sea salt (not regular salt!) 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. ;-) 

2.  Run hot water on your pendulum for a few seconds, then cold water, repeat (hot then cold) 3 times.  IMPORTANT: if you choose this method, do 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 OK, and I would do so with the intention of washing away all negative energy, or would imagine white light running through the pendulum together with the water. 

3.  If you do Reiki, you can run energy through the stone for a few minutes with the intention of clearing it of all negative energy.  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) to program it, and (optionally) to attune it to the Angelic vibration.  Whether you want to include programming/attuning depends on how you plan to be using the pendulum: I only do this for the pendulum that I use strictly for healing work i.e. measuring chakra state, but not the one used for psychic readings (more on that 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'd set an intention for how I'll be using my pendulum, whether it's for healing or dowsing/divination.  Some say crystals are living beings that interact with us.  I don't know that for a fact, but I believe in setting intention, especially for highly programmable stones such as Clear Quartz.  Clear Quartz can both amplify energy and absorb it, therefore I “told” my Clear Quartz pendulum and healing crystals that I didn't want them to take on any energy from my patients, only to detect it and direct it. 

So here's how you can program your pendulum (it will sound somewhat similar to how we would test it at the store): 

Hold the pendulum by the end of the string, trying not to move your arm too much.  Ask your Higher Self (you can imagine 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, etc.  Finally, ask, “Show me an UNDECIDED answer”.  The pendulum should swing in a manner different from the first two, 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 through this pendulum.

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 thus “get used to” your energy, be charged with your energy, and become your trusty little tool.

Caring for your pendulum

If you're going to be using your pendulum while working on patients, such as during Reiki sessions, it's probably a good idea to cleanse it regularly.  You can use one of the cleansing methods given above.

For a pendulum used strictly for dowsing/divination while you're on your own, there's probably no need for regular cleansings, however I have experienced cases where a cleansing was needed.  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 a pendulum may simply need some “maintenance”.  I ran cold water over it and cleansed it with Reiki, and voilà – now I was getting straight answers. 

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, at least I've never heard of such a possibility.

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 on the window sill 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 a bit more “powerful” afterwards.

What's next?

In the next post, I will be talking about the FUN STUFF, that is about all the different things you can DO with your pendulum, including how to talk to your Spirit Guides with its help and how to measure the state of your chakras (energy centers) with it for healing purposes.  If you haven't subscribed to my blog yet, you can do so right here on this webpage (look for the Subscribe form) and you'll be notified of new posts.