Years ago I stumbled onto the idea
of using a pendulum to track the energy of a place. My first attempt was here in San Diego’s Balboa Park - a 1,200 acre urban park replete with eighteen museums and the world-famous zoo. Back then, I thought the most energetically active area within the park would be the zoo, but after pendulum mapping, turns out it was the Rose Garden.
Fast forward twenty years to today when I re-mapped the park. Although there are plenty of places along the energy lines, like the Rose Garden and zoo, the most energy-filled area was the World Beat Center. This is a multi-cultural arts center that promotes and celebrates the African Diaspora & Indigenous cultures of the world. If you read about their EthnoBotany Peace Garden, you may understand why the energy is so high here.
The cool thing about this pendulum-mapping technique is that it works anywhere. In Ancestral Grimoire (April), I wrote about the energy of my old neighborhood. There, I didn’t use a map to find energy lines; in fact I just walked around the long blocks, letting the pendulum do the talking.
But I think my favorite exploration was on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Port Townsend is a Victorian-era seaport, situated west of Seattle and south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. While there visiting my friend, Jessica Macbeth, we used a pendulum, ruler, and a town map from the tourist office to find the energetic center. Port Townsend used to have an army base, was the setting for the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, and is renowned for its wooden boat facilities. So you’d think one of those sites, or the ferry landing, would win the energy prize.
Nope. The lines merged exactly through an old cemetery. Does this mean the spirits are active there? Probably.
If you’re asking yourself if what
I’m really writing about is ley lines, I don’t have an answer. First, I’m not a ley line expert, so there’s that. As I understand them, they are lines that connect sacred or historic places. I once saw a graphic of ley lines and they reminded me of longitude lines on a globe.
In more practical ley line terms, think the Rose Line in The Da Vinci Code, or St. Michael’s Line in England. I suspect there’s something similar here in California, connecting all twenty-one of the Missions, all of which are located fairly close to El Camino Real (The Royal Road).
Image: Mission San Luis Rey
But if you’re asking if ley lines are the same as ‘my’ energy lines, I don’t think so. That’s because ley lines connect specific places, and my lines don’t. Energy lines, for me, indicate concentrations of energy that have become embedded, almost like Place DNA.
So what do you say about creating
an energy line map of your own? Here’s what you’ll need:
pendulum
map
ruler (or straight edge)
marker
If you want to track the most energetic places in your neighborhood or even around your block, just hand-sketch a map. One of mine was a simple rectangle to represent a square block, with the alley marked as well as houses on the corners.
If you want to check out a public place, look for a map on Google. The one I used here is of San Diego’s Balboa Park. If there’s not a map of a town or a village, or an historic place, hopefully you know the site well enough to sketch the basic outline. Just be sure to X the buildings or water features and any distinctive spots.
Here’s the map I downloaded from Google. You’ll also see four lines crossing it. Those were created using my pendulum and a ruler.
More on that in a minute. By the way, it’s okay if you can’t read the legend or numbers.
Here’s my process: I printed a map of the park, then (with the print-out flat on my desk) let the pendulum hang over each of the four cardinal points. You might think that the pendulum would swing in a straight line, but after setting my intention of tracking energy lines, none of the swings from the four directions went straight - except the one coming in from the north (top).
After letting the pendulum swing until it’s ‘settled down’, I used a ruler and marker to note the swing direction.
Although you can’t see it well from this image, one of the lines does go quite close to the Rose Garden. But what caught my eye was the triangle shaped area (see below) that’s enclosed by three of the energy lines. That’s the location of the World Beat Center.
And yes, I also pay attention to any space where lines intersect. Here, it’s the zoo and the Japanese Friendship Garden.
Now it’s time for you to pendulum-map
an area that interests you. If you don’t own a pendulum, create a makeshift one with a necklace chain or string, attached to something with enough weight to give it some heft. Think heavy pendant or a large metal nut.
Once the pendulum begins swinging give it a half-minute or so to settle into its swing pattern. Mine often begin by swinging in a straight line, but given a bit of time it will change direction.
I’m fascinated at what you’ll learn - so thanks in advance for your comment and analysis of what you’ve found. Don’t you just love this stuff?
Nancy
Using a Pendulum to Track the Energy