When you’re looking for answers, maybe you grab a Tarot Deck to examine the situation at hand, or maybe if you don’t have as much time on your hands, you reach for your Favorite Pendulum for a quick YES / NO assessment. But did you know that you can take advantage of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these divination tools and combine them to dive even deeper into your question?

Mixing Tarot and Pendulum together to get the best of both worlds is a practice that I myself indulge in whenever I can. Mostly because I love both of these Divination Tools, but also because having them be the best friends possible is a pretty efficient way to get the most out of my readings.

There’s a lot of different ways to go about this journey, so I’m going to focus on the techniques I do use personally and know to be effective (in my own spiritual practice at least).

But first, let me tell you about what motivates me to combine these two together.

I’ve been a Tarot Lover and collector for many years now, and I use it all the time for many different purposes. But I’m also the kind of person who spends most of the time in her head, analyzing and overthinking everything, imagining and creating plans for hours on end, living in my own world, et cetera, et cetera. INTJ, what can I say.

For good or bad, a tarot reading is very much an intellectual experience for me. It relates and speaks to the mind and consciousness, it usually involves a lot of brainwork and not much else bodily-wise. There’s a lot of stuff happening in the Realm of Air if you know what I mean.

That’s when Pendulums come into play, bringing the Earth Element that I’m usually missing, helping me stay grounded for the duration of the reading.

The gentle balancing movement is a constant reminder for me to pay attention not only to my Inner Voice but also to my body: the imperceptible tension in my neck, the shiver that I almost didn’t feel, the warmth that slowly enveloped me. I find it pretty amazing how a tiny piece of wood swinging back and forth at the tip of my fingers can do wonders when it comes to being in the Present Moment.

🌿 Before the reading

Okay, so I’m in the mood for a Tarot Reading, but I’m not really sure which deck to use this time. I’m a bit of a collector when it comes to Tarot and Oracles, so I have plenty of options available. Most of the time, I know which one to pick, depending on the reading, the time of year, or the type of imagery I’m looking for in a particular situation.

But sometimes I don’t, and having a Pendulum at hand has proved to be useful in guiding my choice.

In this case, I can totally let go of any questions like “does this thing actually work?” or “is it really the right choice?”. It’s not like picking a pack of cards over another is life-changing after all, so I’m willing to give up my decision-making power here.

Another thing I like to do sometimes before I even start to pull cards and interpret them is to use a Pendulum as a medium to get into a slightly altered state of mind.

Nothing really fancy here either. Think of it as a tool to relax and be calm, maybe meditate, allowing you to focus on your breath as the weight goes back and forth, back and forth, before your eyes. It’s pretty much what I’ve been talking about earlier: a gentle but effective way to get grounded into the Present Moment and focus on the task at hand.

🌿 During the reading

If you just picked your Tarot Deck using a Pendulum, then why not let it choose your cards too, right? Or just to confirm your choice, you know, if you prefer to stay in control. It could also be that once you’ve pulled all of your cards, you let the Pendulum show you which ones are most significant, which ones you really need to pay attention to.

To give you an example, I’m thinking of one Oracle in particular for which I 100% leave the Pendulum to choose the cards for me. Crystal Ball Oracle is a clever little deck with a small number of cards – 13 if I’m not mistaken. It pairs so well with a Pendulum precisely because of its limited size, and it’s a perfect combination when you’re looking for a quick fortune-telling type of reading.

This is how I’ve been using it: I lay every card on the table in front of me in a semi-circle while I formulate my question, then I take the Companion Pendulum that lives with my copy of the deck, and l let it do its thing, swinging to the card that will give me my answer. And that’s it! Quick and easy, with just enough magical vibes to get me into the mood when I don’t have the time for something more elaborate.

Lastly, just like you can use a Pendulum to relax and meditate before interpreting your cards, you can also take advantage of it during the reading, if the answers turn out to be difficult or upsetting. Allow the gentle dance of the Pendulum to pull you back into a state of relaxation, and take this moment to ponder your thoughts and emotions.

🌿 Extending the reading

Sometimes you draw a card, turn it over, reveal its imagery, and… nothing. It just doesn’t make any sense at all. There are usually a couple of solutions here, like letting your reading sit aside for a while to see if it gets better with a little hindsight.

But you can also take a more immediate approach: grab your Pendulum for additional YES / NO questions to help clarify the meaning and get insights from your card.

And if you want to go even further, then you can bring a Pendulum Board into the experience.

There are plenty of those available for download on the Internet for many different purposes, and if you’re feeling creative, you can definitely make up your own. There’s no need to be artistically gifted for it, simple lines and texts will do the trick, and you’ll be sure to craft it specifically for your own needs.

🌿 Outside of the reading

Last but not least, another way that I personally use Pendulum and Tarot is to communicate with the Spirit of a Place – call it a Genius Loci if you will.

Connecting with the Land is an essential part of my spiritual journey. Most of the time, it’s more of a physical, earthy kind of work: bonding to an ecosystem and its inhabitants by means of observing, listening, and learning about the ways they move and grow and form this intricate web of conscious beings that is the Living World.

But sometimes, the connection goes on a more subtle level and a whole other path of communication opens. It’s always a bit frustrating to try and put words on this particular thing, precisely because it goes beyond our intellectual ability to grasp and describe it. Words fall short and disappoint in this case.

If you ever experienced a feeling of wonder and awe staring at a distant range of mountains, realizing these ancient beings are looking back at you. If you ever felt the warmth of a tree while sitting in its lap, your back resting against its body. If you ever been overwhelmed by the beauty of the tiniest living creature trusting that your hand will hold her, then you surely don’t need any words to get the essence of what I mean.

But anyways, when those particular moments occur, when the magic is strong and vibrant, Pendulum and Tarot can be very useful to add another layer to your experience. Other Divination Tools such as Runes can be as effective for sure, but these are my go-to in this case. In fact, I have a Tarot Deck and its Companion Pendulum specifically dedicated to this purpose of communicating with the Land, and you can bet they will be in my backpack whenever I go on a Forest Walk.

But I’m starting to go and reach beyond the topic of this article, and this is getting way longer than I intended, so I’m gonna leave it here for today.

I hope reading this has given you some ideas to explore and play with. If you combine Tarot and Pendulum in any other way, feel free to share it in the comments below. Let’s enrich our journey by sharing our experiences with each other.