PENDULE DIAGNOSIS
in Theory and Practise
Perhaps the most eminent exponent of medical Radiesthy (radiesthesia) in this country is Dr. William Thomas Bidwell, of Greenville, South Carolina. We make the following summary and extracts from the six-page brochure addressed by him to the medical profession.
Theory and
requirements
Everything in the universe has its own emanation, or radioactive rate of vibration, including all organs and tissues of the human body. Any change from this normal vibratory rate is a change from a normal body condition. The Pendule is moved by force emanating from the specimen, acting on and thru the nervous system to produce cryptesthesia (hyper-sensitiveness). The emanations do not themselves register directly on consciousness, but do act on the subconsciousness, producing cognitions that the normal senses cannot give. These subconscious effects are translated into unconscious muscular action. The Pendule is an acting material agency thru which a state of concentration is attained, and which interprets the intensity of emanations which affect the subconsciousness, the nervous system, and produce involuntary muscular action.
The operator of the pendule clocks out by his concentration the operation of consciousness, and this allows the unconscious mind to flow through into conscious expression. This expression will be at the level which the operator has attained to thru development of the level of his understanding and capacity, and therefore different in each case. The diagnosis depends upon the quality of mind of the operator, on his fundamental knowledge (histology, anatomy, physiology, pathology), and his ability to form entity concepts and to ask intelligent questions regarding them - and in turn, to receive and interpret the impulses flowing in.
Every physician diagnoses and treats from his conscious level and from the extended fringe of his consciousness, his intuition. The level of consciousness, and its marginal area, must be steadily pushed forward and upward. The first state of the mind, in using the Pendule, is concentrative and meditative; the second is contemplative and receptive. The mind becomes like a sensitized film, the sympathetic nervous system senses the pictures which impinge upon it.
The obvious requirements include a proper mental, physical and spiritual posture - relaxed, free, and flexible. The specimen entity, the concept, and the question must fill the mind completely. There must be spiritual and mental poise, like a scale hanging at dead center. A receptive brain cell area has to be developed, with much time and work. This may take 10 or 15 years.
Practise with
the Pendule
Practise daily, with a chart of a circle marked in degrees. Hold the pendule lightly in the right hand, suspended about one half inch above the center of the chart. Command it aloud to cut an arc at any given degree, as "cut 160". Give the Pendule time to respond. At first it will vacillate, or even do the opposite of the command, but continue day after day. After the first response, select other degrees on the circle. Continue until you become proficient with the numbers technic: then place around the chart [3] the names of organs and tissues of the body. In commanding the Pendule to swing to any point or object focus the gaze on the latter and think about it. If an organ of the body, visualize it while also looking at the word or place on the chart.
Thru practise first make the Pendule obedient to the conscious mind command - just as a pianist coordinates mind and muscle, developing brain areas for execution of the technique. The Pendule thru practise becomes obedient to conscious-mind demands. Then when the operator closes off the conscious mind, and allows the unconscious or superconsciousness to take control the Pendule will obey the higher command also. The limitations of Pendule diagnosis and prescription are simply those of our own capacity to form intelligent concepts, ask the right yes-or-no questions, and receive and interpret the answers.
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On the first page of the brochure, Dr. Bidwell quotes "an anonymous contributor" to the effect that "Any motion of the hand interferes with a true record ... the hand acts only as a medium for a continuous circuit and for suspension of the Pendule." If this is true, one might suppose that the Pendule would respond to some extent if the thread were held as usual, but a clip or peg interposed between the hand and the pendule proper, or bob. We have no evidence that this is the case.
It is not apparent why subconscious nerve and muscle control of the Pendule motion is not consonant with the theory as stated by Dr. Bidwell. It does not detract from the phenomenon, since the resources of the subconscious are not definable; it is believed by many to act as the intermediary between the High Self or Superconscious, and the normal consciousness plus body organism. It should be noted that the training begins with conscious commands to the Pendule - not at all the amateur way of dabbling with this subject. It is almost certain that involuntary and unconscious hand movements accompany these commands. This does not vitiate the phenomenon, because the hand and nervous system and brain are being trained to respond unconsciously - i.e., to later commands which issue from below the threshold of consciousness, or 'above' or 'beyond' it.
All students of 'occult' or esoteric theories and developmental methods will find the techniques and theory of the Pendule very intelligible and familiar. Contemporary psychologists whose thinking is not hopelessly dated should find little to cavil at. It is a device for tapping the seemingly limitless resources of the un- or sub- conscious, and the personal knowledge, power, skill, mental attitudes of the operator enter into the matter and affect the results. This principle obtains even in the lowest grades of passive mediumship, to some extent, and everywhere in the field of psychic and occult development. It is quite clear, too, that the Pendule has its place in spiritistic practises, as a means of communication, not unlike the Ouija board and similar contrivances. Eventually, we believe, medical practise, the Pendule, clairvoyance, spirit communication and assistance will all be completely integrated in the service of humanity. All this is already written large - for the few who have so far learned to read.
Dr. Bidwell's address is 800 No. Main St., Greenville, S.C. He has charts ($1) Pendules ($.2., desk type) Medical charts and instructions ($25). The brochures are free.