Pendulums and chakras

The words “Divining” or “Dowsing” call up lots of different images for different people: anything from looking into a crystal ball to a psychic holding a crystal on a string over a map, trying to locate treasure, to someone using a forked stick to locate water.

There are lots of methods. Using a weight on a string is popular, as is two rods bent at right angles so it looks like you’re holding a capital L in each hand. Dowsing for the purpose of divination - fortune telling, answering difficult questions, etc - is also popular.  Results regarding questions not directly related to the life of the person operating the tools are at best hit and miss.

For this reason (and the fact that dowsing has yet to prove itself in laboratory conditions) I’ve always chalked up the results to the same thing behind moving the planchette on Ouija/oracle boards and automatic writing: The ideomotor effect. Minor muscle movements, unnoticed by the user, directly affect the movements of the tools. As a result, the subconscious speaks out. It’s my belief that you will pretty much never get an absolutely accurate answer out of dowsing unless some part of you already knows the answer to the question being asked.

As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve used pendulums - typically a ring or similar weight on a string - before, to get absolutely honest answers out of myself regarding tough questions where I thought I might try to lie to myself. But given the dream I had, specifically the symbolism around changing my views on dowsing, I’ve decided to do some more digging. What I found led me to look into chakras.

The idea of the chakras - points of energy corresponding to specific traits and abilities - within the human body - is something I’d come across before regarding Tibetan Buddhism, but it is also a Hindu concept. There are seven chakras, each one corresponding to a different location along the vertical human form, and each corresponding to a different color in the visible spectrum. In other words, each color of the rainbow is also represented by a chakra within the human body.

While the exact location and correspondences differ from practice to practice, to make things simpler for myself, I stick with the basic colors (Red through violet) and place them along the spine at the major points (base of the spine, the reproductive organs, the naval, the heart, the throat, the forehead - or third eye - and the crown).

 Having ordered some colored beads to recreate the pendulum from my dream (and assembled them - now I’m just waiting for the weight I’ve ordered for it to arrive), I took some time the other night to sit down and meditate on the chakras in my own body.

This was not something I’d ever done before. I did not know any of the chants associated with the chakras, or the specific meditations, but having done meditative breathing in the past, I kept an open mind and concentrated solely on the colors and locations of the chakras.

Starting from the base of my spine, I waiting until I felt a sort of warmth in each center. Upon reaching the crown, the top of my skull, I felt a strange dizziness. It was a little scary, but peaceful. Relaxing, I dimmed each color in my mind from top to bottom, then worked my way back up. The second pass, I felt each color glowing brightly within me, until the dizziness I reached at the top was almost vertigo. I pressed forward, and was surprised by what happened on the third pass. Starting from the bottom and working upwards, I concentrated on the root chakra and felt as though I were sitting first on a glowing red disc extending several feet around me. As I worked up to the sacral chakra, I felt as though I were sitting in a pool of orange light with red below. With every color, I felt a sort of warmth and light rising around me, until I was submerged, and upon reaching the crown chakra for the last time, I felt a strange sort of opening: it was like the top of my head were blossoming, unfolding like a flower, and behind my closed eyelids, I saw a dancing series of colors, like prism colored koi swimming in a pond.

When I opened my eyes, I felt incredible. Calm, rested, and at ease. The annoyance I’d felt throughout the day because of a pain in my hips was gone. In fact, said pain seemed lessened as well. I was excited by this - this was a new experience, and I feel it was a step forward in the right direction. But did it mean?

The colors that seemed the brightest to me did seem connected to the parts of myself I consider the strongest, but all glowed well and had their own light. There is definitely room for improvement in some areas - for instance, the root chakra, which has to do with physical abilities and being grounded to the earth, was not one of my strongest points.

As a result of the wonderful experience I had just examining these points within myself, I looked more into the meanings and seed syllable chants for each. Taken from chakraenergy.com and electricenergies.com :

The Root Chakra :  Survival–The right to exist. Deals with tasks related to the material and physical world. Ability to stand up for oneself and security issues. Color: Red. Seed Syllable: Lam

The Sacral Chakra : Feelings—The right to feel. Connected to our sensing abilities and issues related to feelings. Ability to be social and intimacy issues. Color: Orange. Seed Syllable: Vam

The Naval Chakra : Personal power–The right to think. Balance of intellect, self-confidence and ego power. Ability to have self-control and humor. Color: Yellow. Seed Syllable: Ram

 The Heart Chakra : Relationships–The right to love. Love, forgiveness, compassion. Ability to have self-control. Acceptance of oneself. Color: Green. Seed Syllable: Yam

The Throat Chakra : Relationships–The right to speak. Learning to express oneself and one’s beliefs (truthful expression). Ability to trust. Loyalty. Organization and planning. Color: Blue. Seed Syllable: Ham

The Third Eye Chakra : Intuition–The right to “see.” Trusting one’s intuition and insights. Developing one’s psychic abilities. Self-realization. Releasing hidden and repressed negative thoughts. Color: Indigo (or purple). Seed Syllable: Om or Aum

The Crown Chakra : Knowingness (sic)–The right to aspire. Dedication to the divine consciousness and trusting the universe. Learning about one’s spirituality. Our connection to the concept of “God” or a higher intelligence. Integrating one’s consciousness and subconsciousness into the superconsciousness (sic). Color: Violet (or white). Seed Syllable: Ng

Because of the experience I've had with just feeling each chakra within myself - real or otherwise - I'm going to attempt to set aside time every day to meditate on them, and take this a hint to improve myself and my connection with my inner faculties: not just the world around me, which most of my searching has been about so far.

As for divining and dowsing for the purpose of spiritual growth (and not just finding out how I REALLY feel about some of the people in my life) I’ll be sure to report in as I learn more.

So far, I have to admit - I am constantly surprised and glad that for every step I take in my search for spirituality, every pause seems met by a push forward into something new.