What to do When your Pendulum isn’t Working (When your Pendulum won’t Move)

Ahh! I just got an awesome pendulum but it won’t move! Or it won’t answer me! What do I do? Or the pendulum you’ve been using for a while has jammed up. It’s not responding, or it’s acting funny. What next? This is a step by step guide to follow for when your pendulum won’t move.

First: Take a deep breath. It’ll be okay! By the end of reading this guide, your pendulum should be happily answering you.

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This will go in various steps of what to try first, and if that doesn’t work then go to the next one. If it’s a problem of just one question not being answered, check out this post instead: How to ask your pendulum questions– it goes through troubleshooting if your pendulum is answering oddly. You might have a bias in how you’re asking the questions that’s causing the issues!

Before going any further, ask yourself this with using your pendulum: “are my intentions pure?” If the answer is no, there’s why your pendulum isn’t answering!

This article is primarily for if your pendulum is not answering any question or there’s no movement whatsoever. This means it’s time to connect with and energize the pendulum.

3 Quick Checks

1 Crossed Limbs

Someone recently mentioned on Pinterest, and I had forgotten to mention it but it is definitely a possibility! Pay attention to how you’re sitting/standing. Some pendulums do not work, or actually will move the opposite direction if your legs are crossed while sitting down.

So before trying the steps below, stand up with your feet firmly on the ground, about shoulder width apart. Try using your pendulum here, and see if it works! You can also try and sit with both feet firmly planted on the ground and see how that goes too.

2 Wrong Pendulum

This only really works if you have multiple pendulums, but if your pendulum won’t move, it might be because it’s the wrong pendulum for your questions!

I recently had this when working with Lenormand cards, where my rose quartz pendulum wouldn’t move. It was only by asking “is this the optimal pendulum to use” that I was able to get a distinct “No” answer.

If this is the case for you but don’t have another pendulum, you can easily make your own to check and see! How to Make a Pendulum

3 Bad Timing

This is mentioned in meeting your spiritual guide with a pendulum, as well as learning about your past lives, but one other reason your pendulum might be not answering you or giving weird results is because it’s the wrong time to ask the question. Sometimes it’s not the right time for you to ask your pendulum about something, especially if it is a bigger idea.

It might not be optimal for you to know about something right now. Especially if it’s about spiritual guides, past lives, or past trauma. Maybe now isn’t the right time to ask about it and that’s why your pendulum is not giving you any answers!

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I’ve made a pendulum chart you can get that has 5 most common reasons your pendulum might not be responding, that your pendulum may or may not answer to, but could give you an idea at least of what’s going wrong.

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There are some other simple reasons why your pendulum might not be working that you can find on how to ask your pendulum questions. Phrasing/wording is important! It’s also important to make sure you’re working with white light, and it’s right for you to know about this right now. If none of the ideas above or on that page are working, and your pendulum has just stopped, continue down to read more about how to get rid of a blockage. Sometimes the energy can just seem stuck and you need to work through it!

Now we’ve gone through some of these easier fixes, let’s get into other ideas for if your pendulum won’t move!

Step 1: Breathe and Energy Check

If your pendulum won’t move whatsoever, regardless of the questions you ask, stop. Take a minute to hold your pendulum in your hand. Close your eyes, and just focus on the energy in the pendulum. Try and see if you can feel the pendulum’s energy. Do a mini-meditation with it. This is to connect with your pendulum. To become one, as a pendulum is an extension of your intuition. It’s not possible to have your pendulum work separately from yourself.

Then, open your eyes. Hold the pendulum with your dominant hand over your other hand, and ask for the pendulum to show you it’s potential energy. This should get the pendulum to connect with you again. Hold it for about a minute, or until it stops swinging. Some pendulums may be very gentle, or others may be strong.

Hopefully now your pendulum is moving again! If your pendulum did move with the energy check, while holding the pendulum over your hand, ask for the pendulum to show you “yes” and “no,” same as described in How to Choose a Pendulum. Try asking basic yes/no questions to see if it’s answering correctly.

Try to not use a pendulum board/chart during this. You can read here why I don’t recommend using one at this stage.

Is your pendulum still not moving? Move onto step 2. If it is moving, yay! Have fun and be safe with your pendulum.

Step 2: Cleansing your Pendulum

If your pendulum still isn’t responding, it’s time to cleanse your pendulum (and maybe yourself too)!

This doesn’t mean cleansing of dirt, but of the energy associated/around the pendulum. Sometimes you might have too many energies surrounding that are having a sort of battle. Or primarily negative energies. Cleansing the pendulum will hopefully return it to a calm place.

I have a few favorite ways to cleanse my pendulums depending on how much time I have, the crystal type, where I’m at, and where the moon is in it’s cycle. After trying any of the following suggestions, see if your pendulum is connecting with you. Go back to step 1. Ask for it to show you it’s energy again. If there’s no result, try the next one. One of these cleansing methods should hopefully work on your pendulum.

The methods you can cleanse your pendulum with are: sage, water, moonlight, or selenite. If you want to read more about these, you can find them here: How to Cleanse Crystals.

Step 3: Stepping Away or Moving Closer

If your pendulum still won’t move, you might be really frustrated! And that’s okay! In this case, there are 2 options to try. This depends on how much energy you’ve felt from your pendulum. And how frustrated you are with the pendulum.

Option 1 is to step away from your pendulum for a few days. Take a few days break, and try again. This is if you feel the energy is too strong in the pendulum to tame at the moment. If you’re really frustrated, then choose this option. Choose to take a short break from trying to work with your pendulum.

Option 2 is to get even closer to your pendulum. Try and carry it with you, as close to physical contact as you can for a few days. Except for night! Have it away from you at night. Carry the pendulum in your pants pocket or somewhere similarly close where it won’t fall out for a few days. This is to connect your energies. To work on being on the same page.

After a few days time, try asking your pendulum to show you it’s energy. Go back to step 1. Ask to see “yes” and “no” as well.

Hopefully by all of this one of these will have worked and your pendulum is assisting you with questions. Is it still not working?

Step 4: Ask for Help if Your Pendulum Still Won’t Move

This is the last option, if your pendulum still won’t move. It’s to ask another person with a pendulum to try and cleanse the energy around you and the pendulum. By using a pendulum. This is a detailed post about how to cleanse with a pendulum. Ask them to focus the energy on you and the pendulum, to try and clear it.

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If you’ve made it to the end of this article, I hope your pendulum is back to working as an extension to your intuition! Let me know on Instagram @moonofgemini if you have any other ways to assist your pendulum if it’s not answering. Or if you’re still struggling, feel free to DM me there!