Decisions, decisions! Do you have a hard time, sometimes,
choosing between one thing and another? Do you ever use a pendulum to make the
choice?
I learned about pendulums way back in what (in the old days)
was called Junior High School. Our science teacher explained the way farmers
divided a bunch of chicks into hens and roosters.
The farmer would make a pendulum by threading a needle so it
could hang down about a foot. He would hold it over each chick. It would either
go around in a circle or swing back and forth. Now I can't remember which way
was which for male/female, but that's the way it was done. I learned it doesn't
have to be a needle, it can be anything you can hang, like a button or key.
Yes, I know you are going to say that you influence what it
does and can make it swing any direction you want it to. You're just going to
have to take my word that I don't do that. I hung it over my belly each time I
was pregnant, and it came out right all four times. Test it out over your
friends or pets. You'll see.
One of my friends uses this method to choose what she is
going to order off a menu. She points to an item with her left hand and holds
her keys dangling from her right. Of course to me that's no test, since
anything would be right, IMO, but I tried something similar today.
I've decided to try to find a literary agent for my novel,
BROUSSARD COURT. This takes a lot of research, as all writers know, to find an
agent who (1) is accepting new clients and (2) likes the genre you are
pitching. One of my first choices is a firm that represents one of my favorite
authors. This author writes women's lit with an edge of mysticism—sort of like
what I do. In researching this firm I found a couple of agents who are taking
new clients. I couldn't decide which one to pitch to.
So I made a pendulum—out of a paper clip, of all things. It
swung forward and back for one agent and side to side for the other. I'm taking
forward and back as nodding 'yes' and side to side as shaking my head 'no'.
And in that way, I chose which agent is for me. Now it may
not work out. She might not like my work. I'll let you know what happens.
Nothing fast, I'm quite sure. The publishing business is a slow process.
I have a beautiful agate pendulum that I bought at a bead
and stone shop some years back, but I don't know what I did with it. It
probably wouldn't work any better than a paper clip, though, or a needle.
Have you ever worked with a pendulum? Let us know how it
worked.
