Last week I got my first pendulum – a selenite one, and I’m loving it. I love watching the more excited, definite answers and the feel of it moving in my hand. I’ve only used it for binary questions so far but I do want to explore how far it can go. As a skill or art, pendulum dowsing has existed for thousands of years and is sometimes referred to as divining. It offers a way to connect with the energy around me and my intuition rather like an antenna.

There are so many out there in all different shapes and sizes, and part of me would love to have them in all sorts of crystals for different purposes. I keep thinking back to a labradorite one that I saw when I was searching so, knowing myself as well as I do, I know that will “accidentally” end up in my Amazon basket at some point. But that said, the selenite one that I ultimately chose feels really connected to me, and if it gives accurate answers, do I need any others? I love selenite because I can feel it tingle as I hold it and right from the first time I asked my pendulum a question it has moved clearly and – as far as it is possible to tell – accurately. Selenite is actually a pretty amazing crystal that helps to open your highest chakras – the crown and the third eye, and so it raises your intuition and brings psychic awareness. It is also blessed by the moon – which came to me several times in meditation until I bought the selenite sphere, and so it helps to guide us on our path. Finally, it is self-cleansing so I don’t need to worry about old energies being stored in it and can even be used to cleanse other stones.

Before I use my pendulum, I like to do my protection prayers and invocations to activate my third eye, and then meditate quietly for a few minutes whilst holding the pendulum. Once I’m ready, I hold it at the bead end between two fingers to allow it to swing freely. I rest my elbow on my knee to keep my arm steady and minimise vibrations and then I ask my questions. I start by asking the pendulum to show me yes – always a circle, and to show me no – always a straight swinging motion. I am aware that I could probably assign different angles of swing to different meanings, and clockwise/anti clockwise too. But I’m a beginner and it feels right to stick to two possible meanings for now. Once I’ve checked yes and no, I ask it some questions that I know the answers to in order to check that I’m properly open and reading correctly. When I’ve been over tired, the pendulum just doesn’t swing, but after a nap it is like we’re both revitalised and ready to ask it the things that I want to know the answer to.

I’ve used it in readings for several other people but time will tell whether the answers it gave are right. When I used it to connect with the spirit of a friend’s gran it drew me to very accurate cards for her reading, and it gave her the answer to a question she wanted answers. Only she can tell you the accuracy, but she seemed really pleased. I’ve also used it to help find the right deck to use for a reading, and even the right deck to use for each question within a spread and found that it gave really unexpected but accurate results. And then last night, I tried having a conversation with my friend and it was lovely. It may just be me moving it subconsciously the way my gut tells me, but it brought real peace so I’ll go with that. No one can prove me right or wrong either way and this is what feels right to me.

I know there is so much more scope to using a pendulum, but baby steps are working for me right now. I have no doubt that the time to push it further will come and that I’ll enjoy that exploration when it does. How do you use your pendulum? What tips or advice do you have for someone just starting out?