Some Random Thoughts On Pendulums

"I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time."

- Albert Einstein

For years, pendulums just told me what I wanted to hear. What finally solved that issue for me was getting a heavier one that I can't subconsciously "push."

While I do have a couple of pendulum charts, I seldom if ever use them. A pendulum is a very simple, direct instrument and I find it best not to impose unnecessary complications. I like to keep it to answers like "yes," "no," "maybe," and "rephrase."

I don't buy into new age/wellness schools of thought with "programming", Ascended Masters and their ilk, elaborate cleansings, or rituals. I just ask questions and wait for it to move. I do keep a camphor tablet in the box with it, it seems to keep it honest. Andy once said that impressions of past card readings seem to (at times) cast a shadow over a later reading. He called it "shades." I've noticed that I do have to swap decks out from time to time, as do most readers I've talked to, so it makes sense. He noticed the same thing with the crystal sphere. There's no reason that the pendulum would be an exception. The camphor tablet works, the pendulum works, and that's good enough.

Mine seems to work best for questions that directly affect me. I seldom use it for client readings.

The best bit of advice I've seen was posted by Cat Yronwode on her Lucky Mojo forum: "What a pendulum can do very well, and better than many other forms of divination, is to determine things in the present at a distance, to locate hidden or lost things and people, and to uncover hidden emotions."

It's good for cross-checking card readings. If the cards seem to be saying that grandma's ring is in a low, shadowy spot in a room on the east side of the house, and you think it may have fallen behind the dresser, the quickest, easiest way to verify that is to consult the pendulum. Much easier than moving furniture only to find out that the ring is somewhere else.

I got mine from Stan Slater in Austin, Texas. He does excellent work. He makes some lovely pens, too!

https://www.pendulumandpenink.com/shop2.htm

Miss Cat has compiled a list of publications on dowsing here. Enjoy!

https://yronwode.org/dowsing-divining-rod-water-witching-pendulum-divination-bibliography.html

 

Dogs Behaving Badly: Stopping Fights & Attacks

 

There's something I've used to break up dog fights, a guy told me about it in the 90's and it works. You really need two people though, if it's a fight between two dogs. If you just need to get a dog off of someone, you can do it yourself. You pick up their hind legs like a wheelbarrow and they'll let go - it's like magic.

And spraying an attacking dog in the face with a fire extinguisher works if you have one handy. A school bus driver got a pair of pits off a lady and her small dog she was holding doing that. That's what he had, so that's what he used and it worked.

 

https://winknews.com/2022/03/08/collier-county-school-bus-driver-saves-woman-during-dog-attack/ 

 

Everybody has pits these days and a lot of idiots let them run at large, so I have to be ready. I have Shelties. A couple of shakes and it would be over for them. I don't care what the pitmommies say about "pibble nannydog cuddlebugs" - they might be fine at home but once they start, they don't want to stop. It's the "gameness" that's bred into them, they'll keep fighting with their guts hanging out. Look at this carriage horse attack - the dog only stopped when the horse stomped it to near-death. It died soon after. One well-meaning soul tried to help by hitting the dog with a spatula. (Didn't work, lol.)

And sometimes they go after people. Statistically, it's rare (if they were as psycho as some people would have you think, we'd all be dead) and yes, other breeds can be aggressive too sometimes. In the interest of fairness, here's a non-pit and a crazy no-good owner. Dog parks are stupid - would you get on a subway and start trying to interact with everybody? Your dog isn't much different. 

 

But it's mostly the pits and the pit mixes. I don't think the breed is inherently human-aggressive (animal aggression is another story) but there's so MANY of them. No-good owners get them cheap or free and let them run at large.

People need to know what to do instead of standing around being ineffective.

 

ETA: The guy at the end of this video uses the Wheelbarrow Method. The dog doesn't redirect on him, it's safe. It worked beautifully when nothing else was working at all. 

Dystopia & Wellness

 

The image above might be a best case scenario. There's still wildlife, and the people don't look ravaged. If enough people wise up, maybe we can have that. Otherwise, things might look more like this:

Something I saw at a forum set off this whole train of thought:

"I've been reading longer than most of them have been alive."

It was in response to an article somebody linked to. Another of those "tArOt dOeSn'T pReDiCt tHe fUtUrE iT's a tOoL fOr SeLf rEfLeCtIon! " dribble pieces. (NPR, you really should know better.)

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1077397838/how-to-get-into-reading-tarot-cards-with-michelle-tea

There's a lot of garbage like that going around. I posted about it here:
https://fatekeepson.blogspot.com/2021/12/media-misrepresentation.html

And yes, that's one of the things that's maddening about these wellness readers. We had already been reading professionally for years when these little snotnoses were still shitting yellow, and they have the unmitigated gall and stupidity to tell us we're doing it all wrong.

It makes me wonder if it's a generational thing. And I loathe the whole "Gen X vs. Millennials vs. Boomers etc." thing. It's stupid. No generation is a monolith. But it might have some relevance here. I know the younger people don't have much of a future to look forward to. Of course ours was no great shakes either, but at that age we didn't KNOW. We thought the pollution was going to get cleaned up, race relations were improving, grievances would be addressed, etc. They're probably expecting a Max Max dystopia with gangs roving through the ruins killing people for potable water. And I can agree that's a very distinct possibility.

But they need to blame corporations, oligarchs, political lobbying, fascism, "replacement theory", etc. and stop attempting to use fortunetellers as punching bags to get their frustrations out. And even with what's coming down the pike, they can still ask the cards the same things people have always asked: "Will he ask me out?" "Will I get the job?" etc.

Not wanting to ponder the future is no reason to gut cartomancy or insult us.

No need to update

 

Just a reminder:
When working with old decks like Lenormand, Kipperkarten, Sibilla, etc. there is no need to add cards in order to "update" them. Don't innovate, don't modernize, don't tamper. You can put the meanings in a modern context - the Rider can be your car rather than a horse - but leave the image alone. Everything is already built into the system. What goes on now went on then, albeit sometimes less openly. People are people.

They even said "fuck."

 

What Makes A Reader?

 

There's a thought provoking post on Hugh's blog that prompted me to elaborate a bit. https://thefortunetellerssociety.com/2023/08/21/how-do-i-read-lenormand/

What I'm seeing online is people who want to learn the cards making the same mistakes over and over. The big problem is a lack of discernment. You need to learn from people who can actually read cards. Just a few reliable sources. Less is more! I'm not trying to discredit the "competition" here. I do not sell courses, workshops, or any of that. I don't make videos. I just read cards, and I'm telling you what the problem is: bad signal.

You won't learn Lenormand from sub-par books. The ones Hugh mentions are more than adequate, especially Andy's. Get that one and work through it. Then work through it again. Stay with it until you've absorbed it.

You won't learn from youtube. With the exception of Hexe Claire, everything there is crap. Hexe Claire's videos are good, but they're an introduction. They'll get you started, that's all. If you want to progress, again, get Andy's book.

You won't learn on forums. Those are full of bad readings, it's all guesswork. Bad information is seldom corrected, since forums are focused on getting and keeping lots of board traffic, not trying to make sure people learn properly. (BTW, being a forum mod does not confer knowledge of the cards!)

Facebook groups are, if anything, worse.

And you won't learn by focusing on spreads, or learning to design your own spreads, or any of that. Good old fashioned lines, boxes, and tableaus work the best, and will answer any question. You don't need dedicated spreads for various subjects like love, money, etc. Stop wasting your time on spreads and practice reading the cards.

Just because a person has a youtube channel, moderates a forum, or even writes a book does not mean they know what they're talking about. As I commented on Hugh's blog, "I’d advise anyone who wants to learn to toss any books they have other than the ones mentioned. The vast majority of what’s out there is garbage. Approach the cards with logic.
Then, study and practice. Don’t try to learn silly spreads. Don’t seek instruction or advice on forums, facebook groups, etc. That’s the blind leading the blind. Just do readings every day, record them, and review them later to see if they were accurate. Keep doing that for at least five years and you’ll get there."

And yes, it does take at least five years to get fluent. You're learning a language. Don't underestimate the complexity of the method simply because there are only 36 cards!

RAIN

 

That glorious photo above is RAIN. It's been overcast all day, temperatures only got up in the mid 90's, and my air conditioner handled it effortlessly. It was a great day, as predicted here: https://fatekeepson.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-bohemian-fortune-telling-cards.html

Of course triple digits are forecast again for tomorrow, but I have a second air conditioner coming. If it takes two window units per room, I'll do that. Fuck Greg Abbott, and fuck ERCOT.

The heat dome is DYING. YAAAAAAAS. Another summer almost out of the way and we lived to tell the tale.

The Bohemian Fortune Telling Cards & Mercury's Fortune Telling Cards

 

Greetings from the Dome of Doom. Maybe you've heard about the heat dome? Triple digit temps with no end in sight. Not just "Wow, I'm really sticky and uncomfortable" hot, but "This shit will literally kill you" hot. It's an issue in much of the US, and I read that Italy is currently experiencing a heat dome too. Global warming is real, kids. Now is a good time to stick close to the AC and knock wood our raggedy power grid holds.

So pardon my not-great rumpled sheet photos. This is where the air conditioner blows best!
Go here and here for better images and a bit of historical background. These decks are gorgeous, my photos don't begin to do them justice. 

The Bohemian Fortune Telling Cards is a deck I've been anticipating for years. Karen and Alex have been working on it in between other projects, so it took awhile. It was announced in 2017 or thereabouts, and at that time it had already been in the works for four years. Along with that, they've cleaned up and recolored a 19th century deck originally published in what is now Lviv, Ukraine but was called Lemberg then, during the Habsburg Era. Borders in that part of the world seem to be in constant flux, even now. They named it for the Mercury image on the Message card: Mercury's Fortune Telling Cards.

These decks follow the same system as the Zigeuner Wahrsagekarten, Biedermeier Aufschlagkarten, the Konrad Jegel cards, and many others, too numerous to name here. I like that they've changed the G word - it's both an ethnic slur for Roma people and inaccurate - to "Bohemian."  The companion book covers both decks. It's substantial, well-researched, and gives you everything you need to read these cards, plus a fascinating history section with lots of images from old decks.

And as with all of Karen and Alex's decks, the cards are sumptuous, with lovely cold stamping, quality stock and printing, wooden boxes, and bags that appear to be some type of sturdy duck fabric, humble yet elegant in their simplicity.

But enough fangirling, lets lay some cards.

"Will the heat ease up this month?"

Thinking about going on a journey or visiting the cemetery isn't the same as going. And Widower is an older man, he doesn't get around like he used to. So there will be lots of staying in the rest of this month, with no unnecessary outings. The Dome of Doom stays put.

These cards are easy, just put them in context. You can adapt them to literally anything.

OK, July is hopeless. What about August?

Much better! It'll still be hot, of course, but not lethally hot. Happy kids, happy newlyweds, life resumes, people feel prosperous. (The bills do get lower when you're not running the AC full bore 24/7!) August will be better - not even cooler temps can hide from the cards. ;)

Bohemian Fortune Telling Cards and Mercury's Fortune Telling Cards by Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov, BabaBarock Ltd. https://baba-store.com/ All rights reserved, used by permission.

Purchase at these links:
https://baba-store.com/products/the-bohemian-fortune-telling-cards-with-wooden-box

https://baba-store.com/products/mercurys-fortune-telling-cards 

Companion book:
https://baba-store.com/products/the-bohemian-fortune-telling-cards-companion-book