Pablo Amirá- The Pendulum Guide for Beginners

Introduction Welcome to the fabulous world of pendulums. It’s a world that unleashes the power of the subconscious and opens you to amazing new experiences. Pendulums have been employed for centuries in dowsing and divining “secret” information, for hypnosis, learning the gender of a baby andother uses. Entertainers have used them for nearly as long. This document provides an introduction to how to use a pendulum, along with the basics in how the pendulum works, and how you can apply it to your life…and your performances. Pendulums areconstructed in 3 basic parts. Holder, Chord and Bob. You typically employ it holding the “holder.” (Some pendulums don’t use holders, but they greatly enhance the beauty and functionality of a pendulum.)

How Does a Pendulum Work?

A pendulum is basically an amplifier. It’s a tool that helps you to access the subconscious mind, the part of your mind that keeps all of your memories, and feeds imagination and creativity. Many users believe that a pendulum opens up new levels in imagination and mental development. When you let your conscious mind (the rational and logical part of your mind) relax, your subconscious mind can go to work and that’s what literally allows the pendulum to move. If someone can focus, they can use a pendulum. The pendulum experience needs conscious attention to create a subconscious response.

Give this little exercise a try and see for yourself. Rest your elbow on the table to keep your hand and arm steady. Keeping your arm and hand steady, think of your pendulum moving back and forth, back and forth, up and down, along a straight vertical line. If you think in this in a focused way, your subconscious will make it happen.

It is as close to real magic as you can get, it’s amazing how this works. You’ll completely “get” what we mean, when we say the pendulum is an amplifier for your subconscious. It’s proof positive, showing how powerful simple thoughts can be. The principal for the magic that is happening in your hand is called is called “Ideomotor Response”. Simply put: your mind thinks it and your body makes it happen without any conscious effort. If doesn’t happen the first time, relax. Try again, and allow your conscious mind to just do nothing and let your subconscious to create response. In order to understand how to use a pendulum in your performances, you need to understand how it is used by those who use their pendulums every day in their “real” lives. What follows is a basic primer in what they will do to connect with their subconscious through the conduit of their pendulums.

The YES-NO Exercise

Pendulum owners believe each pendulum has its own “personality.” And it’s true: each pendulum as its own, balance, quirks and construction.

YES

NO

NO

YES For this exercise you can use a pendulum chart or just create a conscious binary decision of YES and NO like the graphic on the right. Normally YES are vertical movements and NO are horizontal movements, but each pendulum is different. Find a comfortable place. Take your pendulum in your dominant hand and just think the following question.  Am I a woman?

Let the pendulum answer your question. Does it move up or down? Side to side? Clockwise? Counterclockwise? This is how you tell a “yes” response from a “no” response. Try other questions that are clearly right or wrong:  Am I over 100 years old? Do I live in (name your city)?

You will find that within a few moments, you “know” the responses you will get from the pendulum. You will know which is YES and which is NO. Take it a step further…and ask questions to which the answer will me “maybe” or “Not yet” – an d you may find that there’s a whole new set of responses that come consistently to you through the movement of the pendulum.. The nice thing about working with pendulums is that you can even ask question in where apparently you don’t know the answer. (Did I leave my car keys in the kitchen?) If your subconscious knows the answer, it can communicate it to you through the pendulum.

We don’t know a lot about the subconscious. An interesting point to mention: sometimes the pendulum doesn’t respond at all. If the pendulum stays motionless, is may be a signal that your subconscious mind either doesn’t know the answer or isn’t feeling cooperative at that moment. That’s what pendulum users believe. Next, let’s talk about using the pendulum in your performance.

Using the Pendulum in Performances

Every performer asks this question: “What happens if the pendulum doesn’t move when I am performing?” Let me be completely honest. In all my performances less than 2% of the time I get no movement at all from my pendulum. Maybe my suggestion wasn’t good enough; maybe my performance was weak that day or the participant´s conscious mind was too critical and their resistance too high. The movement of the pendulum comes from a lot of factors: 1. “Physics” (the weight of the bob, length of the cord, material of the cord, etc.) 2. Hand position of the participant. 3. Openness from the participant. 4. Your suggestions (verbal and non-verbal)

There are other factors as well, but simply put: your instructions have to be clear.

Your work has to be polished and well-constructed. But what happens if the pendulum still doesn’t move even when you are trying with your whole mind and heart to create the experience? You have to be creative, flexible and open to other possibilities. As Milton Erickson said:

“If something doesn’t work, TRY SOMETHING ELSE.”

By that I don’t mean you should take the pendulum from the participant´s hands and do a card trick. You need to use other techniques and approaches to get your goal. Focused attention  is very important in properly using a

pendulum. You have to center the attention of your participant to a specific point on the pendulum. What follows is an interesting technique called a “double bind”.

“Focus your attention in one point of the pendulum. It can be a point on the bob (point to the bob) or any point on the cord (point other

one), anywhere.  And as you are looking there, your unconscious mind starts to go to work.”

The “double bind” is a powerful technique. Don’t underestimate it. You not only focus your participant’s attention on the pendulum, but you’ve also used IMPLICATIONS to create an ambiguous message to reduce resistance and to create internalization of the meanings of your words.

I promise you: using the double bind, 98% of the times the pendulum DOES move and that itself is a magical, amazing, and powerful experience for anyone.

Here are some great tips to ensure the pendulum responds to your spectator: 1. You want to create mild hand and arm fatigue for the participant. If I feel that the participant to be a little resistant, ask for an arm position that creates fatigue in his part. Have him

hold his arm straight out in front of him, instead of comfortably resting his elbow on the table. This way, there will be a natural shake to the hand which, in turn, will create subtle movement which you can use to create the Ideomotor Response you’re after.

2. Take a LOT of attention in your verbal finesses. You’re your script carefully so your participant knows what is expected to happen. Use embedded commands, presuppositions, pacing and leading, etc. Here is a classic line I use when introducing the pendulum to a spectator:

“Put your hand like this, and watch the pendulum work. (Moving the hand and arm in a specific location).Great”

There’s a lot going on in this line. You are saying in an embedded way “IF you put the hand like this, the pendulum will work. Because I’m moving your hand you are obeying me, the pendulum will work.”

Other tip is clearly direct the idea that the pendulum movement and experience comes from the unconscious/subconscious mind and NOT from the conscious mind. You can even ask to the participant:

“Move the pendulum with your conscious mind now. By that I mean move your hand and allow the pendulum to move. That’s right. Now with your mind, not your conscious mind rather your unconscious mind tell the pendulum to STOP…”

After that the participant will start to believe that the pendulum CAN be commanded to stop, to start, to move in straight lines – or back and forth. They will believe these things, and the instant they do, your job is done because the pendulum WILL stop, start, circle upon their command. It’s not just an Ideomotor Response; it’s now for natural physics. Before your participant thinks too hard upon this, you need to add:

“Now, as you see, the pendulum slowly stops upon your command. It is the simple power of your thought, blended with your subconscious that is doing that.”

Is this a truth…or a lie? Does it matter? The bottom line is that this statement creates a belief that the pendulum will move, so it will. From that point on, your participant will “close” his conscious mind.

3. Experiment with pendulums a LOT yourself. This is how you will learn to direct the movement more quickly and easily. You will discover a lot of different ideas that you can use for performances. One of the most important things ultimately for pendulum work is your CONFIDENCE.

Even before the performance you have to communicate that you are a competent performer (regardless of what you think that about yourself).

You have to believe the experience will have a successful finale and all will work. Watch your participant. The following thought comes from Milton Erickson and Carl Roger´s psychotherapy work: If you participant is smiling nervously, use that. If your participant is skeptical about your spiel about the mind, use that. Use anything that your participant brings to your performance to help you reach your goal. YOU NEED to believe that your participant already has the

ability to let the unconscious mind take control of the moment and use his Ideomotor Response to move the pendulum. One of the great things about pendulums is that, because this experience isn’t just an illusion of a phenomenon, it is a REAL phenomenon. It’s quite literally real magic!

When you see the impact pendulum routines create in the eyes of your audience, the power credibility that they give your performance you’ll see why we believe the pendulum is probably the most under-used device available to magicians and mentalists today. Enjoy Pablo Amirá

Effects with Pendulums

Visual Mindreading One of my preferences in casual demonstrations uses the pendulum. It is an effect any competent performer can do anywhere.

Participant and Audience perception After a mindreading routine, the performer offers a visual metaphor on how to read thoughts in a simpler way, through a pendulum! The participant takes a pendulum and, under the guidance of the mentalist, begins to realize he can control the pendulum with his mind. (We covered this in an earlier section.) Essentially, the performer offers some ideas about the pendulum movements.

Now, the -prime- participant will think of a number between 1 and 5 and is told to mentally command the pendulum to make a circular motion when his number is said to the audience. Watch as it happens. Watch your audience as they watch it happen…then take your bow.

Effect Telepathy. The whole audience reads the mind of a participant onstage.

You Need Pendulum

Memory “The whole audience reads the thought of the person onstage”

How? This idea came to me one day after one of my daydreaming moments. I was trying to come up with some new ideas for pendulums. (As you know, one of my favorite things from our

art is the pendulum. They are so simple to understand, and so powerful!) Pendulums have a lot of factors that are very important to a mental experience:

1. Believability: People have heard of them since they are rooted in psychic and “paranormal” history. 2. They use real mind phenomena: William James, the father of classic psychology was fascinated with the ideomotor response and the use of suggestion to plant ideas. So are mentalists and magicians. 3. There is no need for a logical disconnection: Unlike other mind experiences, a pendulum doesn’t need a logical disconnection from the method because the performance doesn’t need one. The phenomena of Ideomotor Response is real…and completely fills the goal of entertainment and mystery. The method of this experience for your participant is relatively simple. If you don’t use pendulums regularly, you need to know a few simple ideas. First, in order to initiate the right ideomotor

responses, you NEED to guide, pace and lead the thoughts and beliefs of your participant in what you want them to do and the unconscious movement you want them to manifest. The amazing thing is that the movement is really unconscious. The participant is even more amazed than the audience! The audience may be thinking that the participant is faking it. The participant knows that he is only focusing on the idea of movement, but not moving the pendulum consciously. So you need to directly say that in your performance. In that way, the audience will know that the participant is having a genuine phenomenon and isn’t acting as your confederate.

This piece is naturally placed after any telepathy effect (Drawing duplication, direct mind reading with a personal thought, etc.), so after your applause from that effect you say:

“I don’t consider this ability as a gift, because I wasn’t born with this. I’ve practiced this psychological skill for a long time. Some people tell me that I’m a psychic, others a psychology expert.

I know that you don’t have the proper training, but I will invite you all to have a mindreading experience. Whether you believe it or not, YOU are about to read the mind of our participant”.

(This line is congruent with my character as a mentalist. Adapt this line to your character.)

Start your normal pendulum sequence. I will share mine just for the sake of completeness. I start with building compliance to create the scenario that I want. The participant is cooperating and obeying my instructions. If I feel it’s necessary, I say this directly:

“I can suggest ideas in your mind, but if you don’t cooperate and you aren’t open to the experience, this will not work. So just trust in me, be open and enjoy”.

This puts a good amount of responsibility on the participant. I rarely need to use this line because the participant is usually already conditioned. I read her mind minutes before, so she will believe nearly anything I tell her.

After that I hand her the pendulum. You can see the position of the hand and the arm in the photo.

Before any movement from the participant, let me tell you about a very good idea from my friend Mauricio Jaramillo. Just take the bob of the pendulum (ring in this case) and move it with your hand. “And as this pendulums moves, just synchronize with that movement. That’s right.  And in a moment in your mind just say “STOP, STOP”, and you will see what happens”.

Try to read in between the lines. If someone said “STOP “to something, they will expect that something to stop, right?

So the expectation created with this action will stop the swinging from the pendulum. Even if the participant doesn’t create unconscious movement in this phase, the pendulum will stop  just by pure physics, so this part also serves you as a “ritual”.  Just say: “And as you can see, it isn’t only the natural loss of energy from the  pendulum; you are actually stopping the pendulum with your mind”.

Nobody can question that bold statement.

After that, use this growing concentration and belief to start to move the pendulum with your suggestions:

“Now you know how powerful your mind is. Now the pendulum will move in a straight line. A line that will connect us in a metaphorical manner”.

In this phase, put yourself in front of your participant. While you are continuing to emphasize the suggestion, move your hand back and forth, recreating the desired movement.

Now, if you use that “metaphorical connection” idea, don’t suggest after this moment a horizontal position. If the vertical means connection, the horizontal at a subconscious level could mean separation, so when I use this metaphor, I next suggest a circular motion.

“Great, and as this linear movement is becoming stronger and stronger, simply will this pendulum in your mind to move in a circular motion. Clockwise or counter-clockwise, whatever you prefer. “

That last line becomes a double bind that will ensure that the movement will happen. After the movement, you can stop the first exercise with the pendulum and go straight to the “Visual Mindreading” idea, or suggest the opposite movement and after that go to the audience as a mindreading experience.

“Now that Valerie knows how pendulums work, let’s try a mindreading experiment where all of you (point to the audience) will be psychics  for a moment. It won’t be difficult, so don’t worry..

I want to leave the premise crystal clear and also clarify that this isn’t hard like my actual “mentalism.” Our art really (in a presentational or real way) needs to look hard. That’s why I love Contact Mind Reading… because Contact Mind Reading is the “real deal.” When we read secret info before any direct mindreading experience (with Center Tear, etc.) we need to remember to communicate that we don’t know the information yet in our subtext , so what we are about to do looks more credible and extremely difficult. These lines also suggest that no one can do the things that I do. I do this experience with the pendulums just because I want the participants to experience what mind reading feels like.. So this piece works for you you in a lot of levels, not just as an entertaining routine.

“Valerie, in your mind just think of a number between 1 and 5. Got one? Ok.”

As you know, “between” cancels 1 and 5. So you have 2,3, and 4. If that finesse doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter in this case. This piece isn’t entertaining because you are showing what you can

do, you’ve already shown it. This piece is all about the participant and the audience (which is what all performances should be about). “Now. We will all name the numbers from 1 to 5. When you hear the number you are thinking of, I want you to command the  pendulum with your mind, to move in a circular motion.”

So, now you understand the idea. The participant will move her hand in an unconscious way when she hears his thought of number, and with that, the audience will react and say the participant’s precise thought. Rely in your “between” finesse, and pay attention to the 2, 3 and 4. Suddenly you will notice a movement. Suggest the movement in an indirect manner: “(the whole audience) THREE

(You see movement) And if you hear your thought of number, just think in a circular movement. Big circles in your mind. “,

and let the audience say which number the participant is thinking of. The participant will confirm it.

Possible Dialogue

Intr oduction (Premise) Now that Valerie knows how pendulums work, let’s try a mindreading experiment where all of you (points to the audience) will be psychics  for a moment. It will not be hard like my mindreading experiments, so don’t worry.

(Conditions) Valerie, in your mind just think of a number between 1 and 5. Got one? Ok.

Middle Now. We will all name the numbers from 1 to 5. When you hear your thought of number, just like before, think of a circular motion.

(Now just jazz it along a bit with precise suggestion at the correct moment) …And if you hear your thought of number, just think of circular movement. Big circles in your mind.

Conclusion Isn’t that amazing? And now you know a little bit more about how to read thoughts.  A big round of applause for Valerie and for all of you! (end)

Ideas

1. Some impromptu pendulums can be: Long hair and a ring, keychain, bracelet, a watch, shoelaces with anything as a weight, chained paperclips and a binder clip (great pendulum for offices) and headphones. Just be aware of your possibilities in performance.

2. Obviously, you can use other targets as a premise. ESP symbols, more numbers, etc.

3. You can invite other members of the audience to the stage (or impromptu stage) and let them read the first participant’s thought. In an indirect way, the audience will also see that movement.

Credits and Inspiration Credit goes to a lot of guys for giving me the passion to use pendulums. Dr Bill, Mauricio Jaramillo, Rich Hennessey and Kenton Knepper. Inspiration comes, as I say, in expanding the use of pendulums.

Envelope Pendulum This idea came from Kenton`s Sealed Pendulum I changed a little bit the effect, and now is a staple in my repertoire.

Audience and Participant Perception A participant is invited to participate in an experiment that tests his intuition. He starts to experience strange things with a pendulum that looks like an envelope. In the middle of the process, the participant thinks of an important person in his life. After the suggestion effect with the pendulum the envelope is open and a paper is taken out. The paper has the initials of the thought-of person.

Effect Suggestion and Precognition. After a pendulum effect, the person the participant thought of is inside the envelope he was holding the entire time

You need Envelope with a hole with a cord (Pendulum) Post it glued inside the envelope, Post it pad with a little pencil inside your pocket.

Memory “I move the pendulum with my mind and the initials of the person that I thought appeared inside of the envelope”

How? You can infer that this effect use the famous mentalist technique called Pocket Writing. If you don’t know anything about Pocket Writing, just find good material and start to practice. Banachek, Mark Strivings and John Riggs are good sources. I use a very simple preparation for the PW work. I just keep the post it pad in my right pant pocket with the pencil. The first page in the post it is pre-folded in quarters.

The envelope on the cord acts as a pendulum. Inside of the envelope is a firmly glued folded post it.

You are ready to perform this piece.

Ask for a participant in an experiment in “intuition connection.” You can explain a little bit about pendulums, but the important factor that your participant needs to be in an open mind state. Pass the envelope and start to suggest different movements. In some point, just put your hands casually in your pockets.

In the middle of your patter, simply say:

“If I asked you to name an important person in your life, who would it be.NAME AND LAST NAME. Who would do you name, QUICKLY”

It is important to say “Name and Last Name”, and also “quickly” because you don’t want to that your participant to have time to think about what you’ve just said.

As an example, let’s say your participant responded with:

“Peter Johnson” (P. J.)

Instantly, you start to write the initials, “P J “in your post it pad as you smile (act as if you understand that your prediction is

correct) and continue with your routine. As you finish, ask for applause for your participant and say:

“You know, you did it VERY WELL. Let me show you why. You can see that, in this instance, our pendulum is an envelope, and inside the envelope is a little present for you.”

As you said that line, you fold the post it in your pocket and take it in finger palm in your hand. As finish your line, take your hands from your pockets and take the envelope from your participant

“You can see that inside is a little piece of yellow paper ”

You open the envelope, and show the paper inside with your left hand (in your right hand is your folded piece of paper)

“ And you remember that a moment ago, I asked you THINK of an important person in your life, right?”

The participant WILL said yes, because the second statement is true. The first one is NOT true…because he said the name out

loud, but with his answer, apparently he is agreeing with both statements. Now comes the “actor” moment. Just pretend to take the palmed piece of paper from the envelope. Don’t put much effort in it, just do it in a casual way. Remember that what you’re doing isn’t so much about your performance as it is about the final revelation.

“I want to tell you something. Yesterday I wrote 2 letters in this  paper. Can you say out loud for the FIRST TIME the initials of this  person in your mind?”

This subtlety is lovely. In reality for the first time the participant will said the initials of the person. The participant will say: “P. J ”

Your open the paper, show it to him, await his reaction, and show the paper to your audience. Give that piece of paper to your participant, and believe me, he will keep it!

Possible Dialogue

Introduction

(Premise and Conditions) I need someone with a creative and open mind. You(point to someone

that you sense that will be cooperative). Please give her a big round of applause (Applauses) Your name is …..Lisa Lisa, you are about to experience something unique, so try to completely relax, ok? OK Let me give you this. This, as you can see is an envelope, but it is also is a pendulum Pendulums allow us to connect with our intuition, that part of our mind that hides things that you cannot know. I know that you will PERFECT for this (ego boost) so just take this cord and let the pendulum to stay still.

Middle

(Suggestion)

In a moment, believe it or not, this pendulum will start to move. The way it moves is up to you: fast or slow. Your choice. But as you listen to me, you will start to feel that the pendulum will start to move in a line.  A straight line that connects you and the audience (move your hand

in that direction) and as you are aware of that movement, just imagine the pendulum move faster and faster. That’s right….. (Keep the

suggestions until you can see excitement and a good quantity of movement)

In a moment the movement will be start to slow down and slow down, and suddenly STOP. That’s right, because in a moment the pendulum will start to move AGAIN, but this time in line from your RIGHT to your LEFT. (Put your hands in your pocket)  MORE and MORE you can imagine that movement, and MORE and  MORE will be real, that’s right. Very good Now, if I said to you that named an important person in your life. NAME AND LAST NAME, Which person do you name, QUICKLY Peter Johnson.

(Smile and act confident) Ok

(Let’s move on to another movement such as circle movement) You are brilliant; please a round of applause to Lisa

Conclusion

(Revelation) You know, you did VERY WELL.  As you can see the pendulum is an envelope, and inside the envelope is a little present for you. You can see that inside is a little piece of yellow paper.  And you remember a moment ago, I asked you to THINK of an important person in your life, right? (You can nod your head at this

moment) Yes Yesterday I wrote 2 letters in this paper. Can you say out loud for the FIRST TIME what are the initials of this person in your mind?”

P.J.

(Open the paper dramatically and show it first to the participant and then to your audience) You did it perfectly, Lisa. You are amazing.  Another round of applause

(end)

Ideas

1. This effect can play also as an influenced clairvoyance. You apparently wrote a 2 digit number in the paper, and the participant via his intuition can guess the number in the paper.

2. You can use a more direct methodology for this. Just create a “Billet Pendulum” and use the Sankey´s Full View Switch or Bresler´s E.B. Clip Switch or even just an “Ostin Clip”.

Credits and Inspiration

Inspiration comes from Kenton Knepper`s Sealed Pendulum and my own ideas Credits to Banachek, John Riggs, Mark Strivings and Kenton Knepper