The practice and the people who do it
These terms name the practice of looking for answers or hidden things with a pendulum or rod, and the people who do it. Some of the words are centuries old and some are quite recent:
- Dowsing: the practice of using a pendulum or rods to look for water, objects or answers to questions.
- Radiesthesia: another name for dowsing, especially pendulum dowsing; the word was coined in France by Abbé Alexis Bouly in the late 1920s.
- Dowser: a person who practices dowsing, with a pendulum, with rods or with both.
- Water witching: a traditional American name for dowsing for underground water with a forked stick or rods.
- Map dowsing: using a pendulum over a map, a photo or a witness to ask about something that isn't physically present; also called remote dowsing.
Pendulums and tools
Dowsing tools range from a ring on a thread to a pair of metal rods. These are the names you'll run into most often:
- Pendulum: a small, symmetrical weight that hangs from a chain or cord and swings freely; it can be crystal, metal, wood or stone.
- Crystal pendulum: a pendulum cut from quartz or another stone; many traditions assign it qualities based on the mineral, which is symbolic and unproven.
- Chamber pendulum: a hollow pendulum that opens so you can place a witness inside, such as a strand of hair, a drop of water or a slip of paper with a word on it.
- Hebrew pendulum: a pendulum, usually wooden, used with labels or ribbons bearing words written in Hebrew; a modern practice that is especially popular in Latin America.
- L-rods: two metal rods bent at a right angle, held loosely one in each hand, that cross or swing apart as you walk.
- Y-rod: a forked stick or rod shaped like a Y that the dowser holds under tension with both hands; its tip dips or rises during the search.
- Chain: the thread, cord or small chain of the pendulum; its length changes the rhythm of the swing, and many people hold about 4 to 8 inches.
Boards and charts
Boards and charts are surfaces with options drawn on them, held under the pendulum so it can point to one. On Paths we call them boards:
- Board: a surface with two or more options around a center; the pendulum swings toward one of them.
- Yes or no board: the simplest kind, with two swing directions, one for yes and one for no, sometimes with a circle for "unclear".
- Fan chart: a half-moon board with options spread across a semicircle, handy for three to twelve answers.
- Wheel: a full circular board for many options, such as months, signs or letters.
- Scale: a board with ordered values, like percentages or 1 to 10, for "how much" questions.
- Witness: an object that stands for what you're asking about, such as a photo, a sample or a written name, placed beside the board or inside the pendulum.
Before you ask
Before asking, many people follow steps that prepare both the tool and the mind. These are the words for that preparation:
- Calibration: checking with the pendulum what your yes, no and "unclear" movements look like before you begin.
- Mental convention: an agreement you set in advance about which movement means which answer; in dowsing, the pendulum is said to follow it.
- Neutral position: the pendulum hanging still, or swinging gently, before you ask the question.
- Cleansing: a symbolic ritual for a fresh start with a pendulum, such as passing it through smoke, water or moonlight; it has no proven physical effect.
- Programming: an intention you dedicate the pendulum to before using it, for example for one kind of question; also a symbolic gesture.
- Grounding: a short pause to feel your body and your feet on the floor before a reading.
- Closed question: a question answered with yes, no or one specific option, the kind that works best with a pendulum.
How a pendulum moves
A pendulum's movements have simple names, and each person gives them their own meaning when calibrating. The most common are:
- Swing: the pendulum moving back and forth in a straight line.
- Vertical swing: a front-to-back swing, which many people use for yes.
- Horizontal swing: a side-to-side swing, which many people use for no.
- Gyration: a circular movement, clockwise or counterclockwise; depending on your convention it can mean yes, no or unclear.
- Ellipse: a stretched-out circle, halfway between a line and a loop; it's often read as an answer that hasn't settled yet.
Science and the mind
The science terms explain what really moves a hand-held pendulum and how its answers can be tested. They're key to using one honestly:
- Ideomotor effect: tiny, involuntary muscle movements triggered by an idea or an expectation; physiologist William B. Carpenter described it in 1852, and it's what moves a hand-held pendulum.
- Michel-Eugène Chevreul: a French chemist who studied the pendulum in the 19th century and showed it moved less when he couldn't see it.
- Confirmation bias: the tendency to remember the hits and forget the misses, which makes any method look more accurate than it is.
- Blind test: a test in which the person holding the pendulum doesn't know the correct answer; if they don't know it, the ideomotor effect can't steer the pendulum toward it.
- Isochronism: the physical property by which a pendulum takes almost the same time for each small swing, described by Galileo.
- Period: the time a pendulum takes for one full round trip; it depends mainly on the length of the string.
Words you'll see on Paths
The words specific to Paths describe how the online pendulum picks an answer. You'll come across them as you set up each reading:
- Engine: the source that decides where the on-screen pendulum goes.
- Secure randomness: the default engine, which uses your device's cryptographic randomness.
- Visible seed: a reproducible engine; the same seed gives the same result.
- Your hand: an engine in which your own micro-movements, with your phone in your hand or with your mouse, move the pendulum.
Frequently asked questions
What is radiesthesia?
It's another name for dowsing, especially with a pendulum: using a pendulum or rods to look for water, objects or answers. The word was coined in France in the late 1920s. Science explains the movements through the ideomotor effect, which is why Paths treats it as a tool for reflection.
What is a witness in dowsing?
It's an object that stands for what you're asking about: a photo, a written name, a sample. You place it beside the board or inside a chamber pendulum. It works as an anchor for your attention, helping you keep the question clear in your mind.
What's the difference between calibration and a mental convention?
A mental convention is what you decide each movement means. Calibration is checking it: you ask the pendulum to show you your yes, your no and your unclear, and watch how it moves. On Paths you can calibrate in My pendulums.
Sources
- William B. Carpenter, On the influence of suggestion in modifying and directing muscular movement, independently of volition (1852)
- Michel-Eugène Chevreul, De la baguette divinatoire, du pendule dit explorateur et des tables tournantes (1854)