How to Use a Pendulum for Dowsing and Divination: Answer Questions, Find Lost Objects, Heal Body and Mind, and More!, by Dr Ronald L. Bonewitz and Lilian Verner-Bonds
Weiser Books, 9781578635894, 160 pp., 2016
Pendulums are very common tools of divination, but knowing how to use them for reading isn’t always readily apparent. How To Use A Pendulum for Dowsing and Divination by Ronald L. Bonewitz and Lilian Verner-Bonds is a thorough and comprehensive guide to teach readers how to begin to master the tools of divination.
This book is actually a kit. It comes with the guide, but it also includes a metal pendulum for you to get started with, and a full colour chart for divination purposes. However, from the very beginning of the book the authors are clear that you do not have to use these tools if you are not comfortable with them, and offers early suggestions on alternative pendulums, and what to consider when shopping for them.
I found this to be endearing as a new user because, to me, it seemed the author was open to the reality that every person is different and responds differently to different tools. Providing the information upfront on how to choose your own tools was a great way to help new users become more comfortable with the subject. It also made me more comfortable with altering some of the rituals as I progressed to align better with my own practice.
The book dives right into using the pendulum. Within the first few pages it teaches you how to hold your pendulum and how to do very simple readings. Each chapter of the book builds on these basic pendulum techniques while adding more complexity to how you read with it.
Before diving into this kit, I didn’t know much about how to use a pendulum. I came in knowing that reading with a pendulum had to do with movement and assumed (wrongfully) that this tool was only good for simple insights. I learned that pendulums can be used for very specific readings, depending on how you ask questions, and that it works well with colour to provide more in-depth guidance. In fact, a good deal of the book is dedicated to understanding the various colours and their meanings.
With so much of this practice being based in colour, it seems like there may be some accessibility issues if someone is colourblind or has some difficulty seeing and interpreting colours. In truth, although the colour chart provided was well done and fairly easy to read, it is also easy to see where someone who has issues with seeing subtle colours may have difficulty in using it.
Colour work is pretty essential to how the book is set up, and learning to utilize that aspect seems to be part of mastering the tool for these authors; however, you can use the pendulum without relying on those techniques. Even if unused, the sections dealing with the meanings of colour are very well written and interesting on their own as studies on symbology.
This book provides ample instruction for how to not only handle a pendulum, but also how to ask and address the tool directly. It also covers how to use the pendulum for both personal work and clients, so whether you plan to only read for yourself or to work for others, this book offers instruction.
Overall the text, though dry at times, is informative. It is very dense with a lot of information packed into a small book. It is illustrated with black and white drawings throughout, which goes a long way in helping to demonstrate the text’s point. It is particularly helpful in the pages dealing with how to hold the pendulum itself.
Overall, this a thorough guide and a well put together kit for people who are coming into this particular practice with little-to-no knowledge of it. In short, How to Use a Pendulum for Dowsing and Divination by Ronald Bonewitz and Lilian Verner-Bonds is a solid beginner’s kit.
