Q&A-Pendulum
(Last revised 12-4-05)
Q: What is the value of Chevreual pendulum?
A: The value of the
pendulum is at least three-fold:
First, it can be used to
get information from the subconscious of a person who has not been hypnotized,
and may not want to be hypnotized. An example is a person who has lost
something, and the pendulum is used to help find the item.
Second, it can be used to
convince a person who is considering hypnosis, but has doubts that it works or
that he/she can be hypnotized. Observing an unexpected response to the pendulum
can be very convincing, yet is not typically threatening in any way in that the
person is very clear that he/she is not out of control or being manipulated by
someone else.
Third, it can be very
useful even for a fully conditioned person who is interested in getting
information from a forgotten event that the subconscious feels threatened to
reveal. In hypnosis the normal state of age regression is pseudorevivication,
where the subject talks like an adult but re-experiences the event with all the
emotions.[1]
The pendulum typically provides complete dissociation, i.e. the person gets the
information without experiencing any of the original emotions. Thus, for example, the pendulum makes a good
method for discovering the origin of blocked traumatic memory, which is
necessary to cure such things as phobias, migraine headaches, asthma, and
stuttering. However, ultimately, age
regression through hypnosis still is almost always required to uncover the
explicit details of the blocked traumatic memory that are necessary for the
cure of the malady.
Q: What are the steps involved in teaching a client the pendulum?
A: Here are the steps:
(1.) You first draw the
figure below on a piece of paper and put it on the floor or on a table. (I prefer the former because the pendulum
swings more slowly.)
A reasonably thick piece
of string is typically better than one that is thin, and a symmetric weight,
such as a 3/16 oz lead fishing sinker, that does not twist and turn a lot on
the string, are best, though a key works okay as long as it doesn’t twist and
turn excessively.
(2) Show the client how
to calibrate the pendulum by demonstrating it yourself. Hold the pendulum comfortably with either
one hand or two hands, with the bob over the yes-no intersection, looking at
the top yes, and say “yes”. Then look down at the bottom yes and say
“yes”. Go back and forth saying
“yes-yes-…” until the pendulum starts to swing between the two yeses on its
own. Then synchronize your yeses with
the swing of the pendulum so you look at the yes that the pendulum is pointing
to at the instant you say “yes”.
Continue the process until the swings are as large as they are likely to
get, and in any case very definitive of the yes answer (at least 12-15 seconds
after the swings begin). Repeat the
procedure with no.
(3) Now demonstrate how
it works by using something very mundane to ask about, like your favorite
color. Say repeatedly as you hold the
bob over the intersection of the arrows, “Is red my favorite color, is red my
favorite color?” After a short delay,
possibly involving a wandering of the pendulum, it will begin to answer. Start with a color that is not your
favorite, and go through several colors before asking about your favorite. Occasionally, a person’s favorite color to
the subconscious is not the same as to the conscious, and if that is your case,
use some other example.
(3) Have the client do
the calibration him/herself, explaining that the string should be held
comfortably so that there will be no motion associated with a subconscious
attempt to make it more comfortable.
(4) Ask the client if
he/she has a favorite color, but not to tell you. Assuming an affirmative response, have him/her go through the
process you demonstrated earlier, with you choosing the colors. If you don’t get a positive response after
several colors, it may be necessary to ask them if their favorite color is some
more subtle variety than a standard color, and have them ask if that is their
favorite color. Occasionally the
pendulum will give them a response that they do not expect. Explain that it is possible, though
uncommon, that the subconscious has a different favorite than their conscious.
(5) The client might ask
how they might know that the responses are really coming from the
subconscious. Explain that at the
moment they might not be convinced, but when they get a firm answer that is
strongly different than they expect, they will then be convinced.
(6) You are now ready to
start exploring real subconscious answers.
You tell the client what to ask, and the client repeats the question
over and over, holding the bob over the intersection of the arrows. The bob should begin to swing in the
direction of the answer. Go from more
mundane things to more explicit things, using the language rules of hypnotic
suggestions to phrase your questions.
If in doubt about the response of a question, particularly a critical
one, repeat the question using different wording so that a consistent answer
will be the opposite of the original.
(7) There are two
responses that you typically do not suggest as possibilities in the calibration
process, but you explain them if and when they first occur. The first is that the bob either goes at a
45 degree angle between the yes and the no, or it goes around in a circle. That typically means that the subconscious
is unsure of the answer, probably because it does not understand the wording,
or the wording or answer is ambiguous.
Reword the question. The second
is that the bob simply refuses to move, remaining dead still. That occurs when the subconscious is
typically cooperating, but refuses to answer that particular question. That typically means the question is highly
significant, of course.
(8) If you want the client
to continue to use the pendulum on his/her own, you typically give them the
pendulum (unless, of course, you used your own key). Some therapists provide their clients with a pendulum that is
special, like having a beautiful crystal bob, in order to make it more
emotionally significant to them.
Q: Does the pendulum work with all people?
A: No, like all aspects
of hypnosis, and for that matter, psychology and medicine, there are always
some people who either cannot get the bob to swing on its own, or for which the
pendulum gives incorrect or even random answers.
Q: If a pendulum does not work with someone, does that mean that person will not be a good hypnotic subject?
A: Other than possibly
getting discouraged if the pendulum doesn’t work, I have found no correlation
between the inability to use the pendulum, and the inability to be hypnotized.
Q: Is it particularly useful to have a client use the pendulum on his/her own?
A: Though I recommend
that they do use it on their own, just to give themselves the practice in
communicating with their own subconscious, the process is not particularly
likely to yield important answers. The
subconscious is probably “stuck” when it comes to a particular problem, and it
is useful to have a therapist, or even a friend with some knowledge of the use
of the pendulum, to help them phrase questions. As in the case of hypnotic suggestions, the wording of questions
is critical.
Q: What happens after a therapist gets basic information that he/she considers to be relevant to deal with the particular problem?
A: At that stage if the
client has not already been conditioned in hypnosis, that is the time to
proceed with that. After that, you tell
the client that they will know when they are ready to deal with the issue, and to
come to you when that happens. They
will, possibly with great anxiety and in the middle of the night. You need to deal with it then – not
later! Timing is extremely critical in
hypnosis.
Q: Suppose you have a person who has a significant emotional problem, possibly due to something like a blocked traumatic memory. What kind of questions do you typically have them ask the pendulum?
A: Begin with some simple
easy-to-answer questions about their childhood. Then go on to ask the following:
·
Does the problem have
anything to do with anything that occurred in my childhood?
·
Does the problem have
anything to do with my mother?
·
Does the problem have
anything to do with my father?
·
Does the problem have
anything to do with my brothers or sisters?
·
Does the problem have
anything to do with someone at school?
After that you play it by
ear. Most blocked traumatic memory
cases, incidentally, deal with something that someone said, and most are not at
all traumatic to the subject as an adult.
See Q&A-Age Regression for additional information.