Swing Trading

Using Pendulum Dowsing to Trade the Stock Market

The purpose of this page is to encourage more women to become interested in trading the stock market – without a broker – through use of “feminine intuition” coupled with technical analysis.

Like a pendulum, the world goes round: money makes the world go round one way, love makes the world go round the other way. Aim for the still point.

Fortune is a Woman
– Mary Jo Magar –
For years, the fairy-tale emperor wore,
Not owned, designer clothes, by credit had;
A dandy he was, a fool born of fad,
But so was everyone; good times galore
Inflated the bubble more to ignore;
Hence, what a burst! What now? What launching pad
Can set forth recovery and re-clad
Our emperor, as naked as before?
In such times, we all pray to God, but still,
It is Fortune we seek – “luck” – like a ship,
A plane, train, . . . all called “she,” her” to distill
The sex of salvation needed round trip.
We soldiers of fortune, the human race, will
Lay down our lives for “her,” that pink blue chip.

Given that the universe is composed of only two factors, energy and mass-matter, money itself amounts to nothing; that is to say, money is an energy, a concept, a virtuality; only its representations are matter and therefore matter: cash, checks, debit / credit cards, gold, silver, etc. – none of these are money “in specie”, nor are numbers on an account statement actual money, because money does not actually exist. It never has and never will. Unfortunately, this fact has become perversely overemphasized by the growing dimensions of financial technology, particularly electronic finance in which “money” can be made, lost, transferred, recycled, laundered, etc., in a matter of seconds.

Like “The Period” described in the opening paragraph of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “It [is] the best of times, . . . the worst of times, . . . the age of wisdom, . . . the age of foolishness, . . . “ As we progress in the twenty-first century, no longer is supply and demand defined by productivity, commodity, and revenue but rather by speculative trading in which virtual corporate capital is supplied in response to demands of economic volatility. In other words, nothing is as it seems – literally – and the world is hanging by a thread and living by its wits! However, in such times, people discover true worth at the expense of so much false worth, which appears as “matter” but really does not matter. Therein lies the paradox, the irony: once the material world no longer “matters,” one can then finally, fully appreciate, if not enjoy, the world for what it is: an inefficient energy trap, phony, beautiful, atrocious, self-destructive and self-constructive, and always wasteful even when seemingly economic and purposeful.

Because we live in this perpetual “tale of two worlds” – energy and matter – it behooves us all to make the most of the best and the best of worst and to use both wisdom and foolishness to singular advantage.

Here is my personal list of “pros” and “cons” for independent trading as a sole or supplemental means of earning money and achieving financial independence. Certainly, more pros and cons than these exist, but these are the outstanding ones to me.

Pros:

– The stock market is a timeless source of money. Methods of trading may change, such as with the advent of electronic finance (which actually began in the early 1900’s), but the principles of “stock exchange” remain the same. In a fickle world of fads, which come and go and profit and lose accordingly, the stock market moves with and against such fads without ever essentially changing its own nature; therefore, the potential for profit (and loss) is continuously available in pure form, independent of inflation, deflation, currency values, and even the profits and losses of the market’s constituent stocks and commodities. Like a tree, the stock market endures through seasons of fruition, deciduousness, blight, even death, while the seed of finance remains in perpetual germination.

– One controls one’s own money at all times (and therefore one must control oneself at all times). One is one’s own boss, one’s own broker, one’s own money manager, one’s own financial advisor – the CEO and CFO of one’s own life. One answers only to oneself, which is a great responsibility – the word “great” having the double meaning of “fortunate” and “heavy.”

– One can profit from a bad economy as well as a good economy. Business can downturn, assets can depreciate, but when a stock downturns and depreciates, one can short sell it, rather than buy it, and profit thereby. Few decent endeavors offer the opportunity to profit financially from economic failure and desperation. In fact, more opportunity for profit exists in a “bad,” dishonest, manipulated trader’s market, which we now have, than in an ordinary straightforward investor’s market.

– One does not have to “prove” oneself to anyone but oneself. One does not have to “sell” oneself by pleasing others in exchange for profit nor does one have to compete with others. There is no need to be polite, solicitous, ingratiating, etc., to customers, clients, an employer, or co-workers. One does not have to make a good impression, maintain an image, keep up appearances, keep good relations, or keep “one step ahead,” all for the sake of steadily securing and protecting an income. One can be authentically, securely oneself – the best and only way to be!

– There are no expenses or debts. Other than transaction fees, which are usually minimal at discount brokerages, all principal and profits are one’s own. Short-term capital gains and dividends are taxed as ordinary income.

– There are no concerns about employee benefits because one provides ones own benefits. Among the benefits of self-employment and management of one’s own money is the freedom to determine for oneself how much and in what way one wants to save for the future. Remember, no one cares more about one’s future than oneself.

– Thanks to online trading, one can work from home, even from bed. By using the facility of stop limit orders, one does not even have to trade during trading hours, nor trade every day, nor remain tied to a computer or the Internet. All that must be done, besides knowing what one is doing, is to be vigilant in watching the market daily and closely, particularly the major indexes and any stocks that one owns while keeping abreast of current events that can affect the market overall and thus one’s stocks in particular. The triadic endeavor of trading, investing, and managing can be a full-time job but a flexible, self-determined one, and thus its own reward spiritually as well as financially.

– The virtues of concentration, astuteness, responsiveness, and character inadvertently develop through the self-discipline necessary for trading, and as is the case in all forms of human alchemy, as one’s inner life profits, so does one’s material life.

Cons:

– The old adage, “It takes money to make money” applies: one must have enough money to open a brokerage account and begin trading comfortably, which means one must NEVER open a brokerage account with money that is not to spare or until one has thoroughly learned and comprehended the basics of trading and investing – and dowsing, if so inclined.

– One must constantly battle and conquer the four horseman of financial apocalypse: Fear, Impatience, Greed, and Regret. Until one proves stronger than these formidable human harbingers of disaster, one has no business trading; moreover, proving stronger than these four instinctive failings never reaches an absolute status but remains an ongoing battle, even for the sophisticated trader.

– One must befriend both the possibility and the inevitability of loss, which must be befriended in any and every life endeavor – in every life, in fact. Loss is merely the reverse side of the one “coin” of experience, and as a “coin,” the overall experience is surely profitable; however, there is no loss without gain (if only wisdom) and no profit without some kind of loss.

Many people feel intimidated by the idea of trading because they feel that it is akin to gambling, hence, a risk. But what in life is not a gamble and a risk? From the moment a person leaves the womb, life is a gamble and risk is a factor. The only way to minimize risk is to try to take educated risks, and even educated risks can lose their “education” at a moment’s notice, if that. In my opinion, stock trading, especially now, is far less of a risk than usual, traditional means of earning money, including starting / managing a business or buying / managing real estate. Although trading can qualify as a form of gambling (it is indeed speculation), the variables involved in market fluctuations invariably remain based on perceptible realities, e.g., human nature, supply and demand, political and economic events, disasters, weather, seasons / cycles, and so on, with little relationship to imperceptible “luck,” so often personified by gamblers as a woman: Lady Luck.

Traditionally, women have not been regarded as having the best temperament for successful trading. The rational, unemotional, even ruthless approach to market trading (among other fields) has usually been attributed to men, thus establishing the realm of trading as “masculine” in the sense of being a “left-brain” endeavor. What is unfortunate is that since the 1970’s, the neuroscientific theory of a left brain-right brain division of functions has been so popularized that the findings of new research, in the late 1990’s and in the twenty-first century, have been slow in reaching the public from their presence in scientific papers and journals. Latest findings indicate, and in many cases prove, that we humans do not, by nature, perceive, think, feel, or act from any one brain location or isolated neural area; rather, the two hemispheres of the brain dynamically couple and uncouple their processing as a function of task complexity. In other words, nothing is ever done one-sidedly. Everything requires the union of two wholes to create a result or outcome or third whole; moreover, so-called “dominance,” whether in brain activity or anything else, only exists when it is encouraged and allowed to exist.

Certainly men, whether they know it or not, use “feminine intuition” to make evaluations and decisions (and trades), and certainly women use rational thought in the course of everyday living. However, all of us, regardless of sex, do experience times in our lives (as brief as a few minutes or as long as years) when one “side” of ourselves does seem to dominate, and we feel out of touch with the other side. Often, at these times, we seek the “other” side of ourselves outside rather than inside, which is where true equality resides – not socially but individually as the harmonization of the rational and intuitive parts of the one whole self. I do believe that women still commonly first seek their rational self through men, and while there is nothing “wrong” with this exactly, would it not be better to seek and find one’s own rational self first and then enjoy its reflection in a man rather than the other way around? Curious to say, it is feminine intuition that can best, most efficiently, lead a person, male or female, to the rational self, in all matters, including money matters.

Intuition, by nature, may be categorically “feminine” (categorization would seem to be a “masculine” approach), but it is not the province of females, nor is it the same as emotion. In fact, intuition, like reason, cannot function objectively when influenced by subjective emotions – and all emotions are subjective.

Intuition is innately available to anyone and everyone who desires to use it, simply by first acknowledging that it exists to be used and second, by listening to it openly without interference of judgment.

Unfortunately, judgment, which can be an aspect of either rational thought or emotional consideration or both, can be very difficult to dismiss from consciousness. Modern living in a chaotic, material world does not encourage trust of intuition as much as trust of judgment; therefore, mediation is often needed between the puissance of judgment and the subtlety of intuition.

Dowsing is a long-proven form of psychological mediation, a way of translating intuition from the subconscious realm into an an objective judgment to be applied in the conscious realm.

Though dowsing is probably as old as human consciousness, the ancient Egyptians are presumably the first culture actually to record dowsing, specifically pendulum dowsing, in detail as a formal practice.

Traditionally considered an art, dowsing is NOT pseudo-science or mysticism or superstition or fortunetelling or even a form of guessing or “playing” with chance. It is simply a means, a practical, physical method of gaining knowledge that exists and can be known but is not yet consciously known.

Personal experience has invariably shown me that skeptics of dowsing have never, themselves, earnestly tried to dowse nor have they ever witnessed a skilled dowser in action.

Albert Einstein, who was a dowsing enthusiast, spent the latter part of his life attempting to prove a Unified Field Theory in which EVERYTHING – the “all” that is the universe – could be reduced to a single field, a single equation. Before Einstein, The French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace also believed that the universe could be reduced to one simple formula in which the past, present, and future were one and the same.

The art of dowsing actually presumes, even proves (abstractly), the Unified Field Theory and the Theory of Everything in the sense that dowsing presumes the existence of a universal consciousness / intelligence / mind, of which everything is a part, and therefore, everything that can be known is known already, collectively, concentratedly, and at once.

The world’s financial markets have been greatly influenced and transformed by electronic finance, especially the rise of discount brokerages in the 1990’s which allowed individuals to trade securities directly via the Internet without needing the services of a broker. This revolution remains a very great advantage for the general public. A disadvantage, however, is that financial markets have become corrupted by professional “market makers” who regularly use high-frequency trading combined with insider information to manipulate stock prices at the expense of the general public, the ordinary consumer / investor.

Paralleling the steady rise of consumer electronic trading has been the rise of financial news networks on radio, television, and the Internet. Like all “news,” financial news is nearly all biased, but worse, it is mostly propaganda carefully constructed and released to the public as a Judas goat to lead ordinary investors to their slaughter solely for the benefit of elitist investors. A saving grace is that there can never be a perfect “crime,” in any field, finance being no exception, because truth is ever available through the Unified Field, the universal mind. For example, The FBI, CIA, and many other intelligence organizations have long used dowsing and remote viewing (related to dowsing) to gain information when very little information is or can be known consciously. Similarly, a trader / investor can use dowsing to gain “insider” information, not necessarily as specific facts, but by the degree to which insider information is influencing movement of the market or movement of a particular market sector or stock.

Following is a basic procedure that I have used since 2002 to trade equity stocks (not commodities, currencies, options, or futures) as well as make long-term investments. It is my own technique, presented here for novelty only, not recommendation.

First, I must assume that anyone reading this knows the basics of trading. If not, there are many good sites on the Internet that can provide this education free of charge. Investopedia is a very good, if not overwhelming, site with which to start, as is the site Informedtrades.com.

Second, a practical knowledge and profound understanding of dowsing is necessary. What I mean by profound understanding is that more than just the technical ability for dowsing is needed, one must also apprehend and unwaveringly respect the principle of dowsing. This comes only with time and practice (it took me seven years), and ultimately, both technique and principle reduce to self-trust as self-faith. The dowsing device (pendulum) must become analogical with oneself as an instrument through which knowledge, as information, can pass, the way music passes through a musical instrument by first passing though the musician. An inspired musical performance comes from a trained (not necessarily schooled) musician’s ability to trust herself completely by emptying herself of everything but the music. So it is with dowsing, which is both a practical and inspired act.

Learning to dowse can be easy or difficult, depending on one’s attitude. The best attitude for learning to dowse or to do just about anything in life is the child-like attitude. Children, natural dowsers, are without inhibitions and motives and approach everything with a spirit of playfulness. Children have no concept of ambition, doubt, error, or consequences (until they are taught), and they naturally know all through knowing nothing from which all comes and to which all returns. Remember: reduce anything to nothing and therein is everything. Moreover, women, I believe, from my own experience as a woman, remain, throughout adulthood, closer to the child-like attitude (perhaps because of their potential to bear children) than do men who tend to associate maturity and manhood with the absence of child-likeness, which, by the way, differs entirely from childishness. It is this sensitivity to openness, which is nothingness, that forms the basis of so-called “feminine intuition” and qualifies women, I believe, to be inspired traders as well as inspired dowsers. However, as Thomas Edison reminded, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration;” unfortunately, the same percentage ratio applies to trading and dowsing, even once they are “mastered,” if they ever can be fully mastered.

Formal lessons in dowsing, such as offered by various national societies of dowsing, tend to have involved protocols, which serve the purpose of disciplining the adult mind – the rational mind – so as to coax it back to the original, natural, child-like attitude that forms the basis of ineffable knowing as opposed to “knowing” defined in the common sense of just having information, which, even when “factual,” is ever subject to arbitrary changes through natural law and human error.

Once self-trust through self-faith is developed as a strong working relationship between rational thought and intuitive impression, dowsing protocols become less necessary. This is similar to “The Great Vehicle” (Mahayana) and “The Little Vehicle” (Hinayana) in Buddhism: a great amount of religious protocol is required to reach the understanding that no protocol is required once a person lives a philosophy rather than merely practices it. Similar also are social movements, such as feminism: to understand feminism, one must understand that its goal is its own abolishment through widespread unnecessity.

The more one can perceive, understand, and reduce to simplicity, which is the great common denominator – the Unified Field equation, which is no equation – the fewer steps are needed to achieve any goal, and in fact, goals themselves become less demanding, even less important. A great amount of life’s wasted effort and unpleasantness can be circumvented by simply attuning to simplicity.

Dowsing can be deviceless or performed using different kinds of instruments, including one’s own body. Applied kinesiology, commonly known as “muscle testing,” is a form of dowsing, as is rhabdomancy using “Y” rods or “L” rods or even just a single stick from the ground. Usually, as one practices at dowsing, one becomes “multilingual” and can dowse using just about anything or nothing at all.

Kinesiology, in my opinion, works best when dowsing personally, meaning literally about one’s physical body, such as questions about health or nutritional needs, because one’s own muscles provide the mediation of dowsing. Rods seem to work best with environmental or locational issues –”field work”– such as establishing a direction or finding the place of something. Pendulum dowsing, for me, works best with objects and printed or written words and numbers, particularly in lists, because the pendulum can be held directly over an object, and its tip can be precisely pointed at a word or number on paper. For this reason, I use a pendulum exclusively for financial dowsing; also, as an aside, when I think of the trading term “swing trade,” the swinging of a pendulum comes to mind, hence, the tile of this page.

Finding a good pendulum is important. Many dowsing experts recommend letting a pendulum choose the dowser as opposed to the dowser choosing a pendulum, and many recommend making one’s own pendulum or at least purchasing one locally. I have never made a pendulum, nor have I ever purchased one locally. I own several pendulums, each designated for a different use so that I never confuse one field of inquiry with another, and each of them I purchased through mail order, before I owned a computer (now I would probably just buy a pendulum online), which amounts to my choosing them.

I highly recommend the Jozef Baj pendulums for the reason that most of his designs have a witness chamber into which can be inserted a bit of paper with a ticker symbol written on it. Doing this helps target a dowsing session to a particular stock. The Jozef Baj designs are top-quality pendulums, made to last, and the designs are based on the ancient Egyptian pendulums depicted on pyramid walls and excavated from the Valley of the Kings. The ancient Egyptians created the architecture of their pendulums with the same precision with which they created the architecture of their pyramids. Their culture exemplified an inspired understanding of mathematical principles and universal laws of nature that even today is unmatched; hence, proof of the effectiveness of these ancient pendulum designs endures through their successful worldwide use for many diverse applications, including medical diagnosis and professional searches for water, oil deposits, artifacts, and missing persons and objects.

The best way to begin learning financial dowsing is to randomly select ticker symbols, without knowing the full names of what the symbols represent or any information whatsoever, and then take each symbol and ask questions about it using a pendulum. For example, pretend that one has found the symbol “ABC,” which one knows nothing about. One could begin by stating aloud, “I am seeking as much information as possible about the ticker symbol ABC .” Then one could ask, “To what market sector does this symbol belong?” and then dowse through the list of market sectors until the pendulum indicates the sector to which ABC belongs, and then dowse through the sector’s subcategories. One could ask “Does ABC represent a stock, fund, ETF, or index?” One could ask about business valuation: “Is ABC large-cap?” “Mid-cap?” “Small-cap?” One could even dowse out the full name that the symbol represents by dowsing through the letters of the alphabet, e.g., “Does the first letter in the first word of the full name represented by ABC begin with the letter A?” If not, one then goes to “B,” and so on, until the full name is spelled out.

Because the list of questions for investigating a ticker symbol of unknown representation is endless, the potential for dowsing experience is also endless.

As one gains experience and begins to show accuracy in dowsing, one begins to know a faith in oneself that transcends mere self-confidence; one begins to trust this faith, and through it, one’s ability to dowse and to trust the results from dowsing.

After learning well the basics of trading and investing and well developing dowsing skill, the next step is to practice, practice, practice at simulative trading. I did this for over a year before I actually made a real trade using dowsing as adjunct method of analysis.

Many professional teachers of trading undervalue simulative trading for the reason that it offers no emotional investment (I prefer to say no investment of spirit) and therefore no motivation toward real triumph in winning or hard lessons in losing. This can indeed be true, but only to a degree determinable by each individual. Interesting to observe, however, is that lack of emotional / spiritual motivation can be the very factor that helps in developing dowsing skill, for dowsing is best learned and best performed in a relaxed, open, and in a sense, unmotivated state of mind. Simulative trading and dowsing practice can be highly mutually supportive to the point of producing amazing results, which, in themselves, will quickly (perhaps too quickly) motivate the desire for real trading. Unfortunately, to the novice, what appears to be well-developed dowsing skill, will often vanish when applied to real trading for the first time. For this there is no solution except not to give up and to tread and trade as cautiously and carefully as possible until financial motivation integrates with a neutral state of mind and heart; in other words, one must learn to care and not care at the same time – a wise approach to life in general, not just trading.

When first choosing stocks, combined use of both schools of analysis – fundamental and technical – can provide a good educational starting point; however, in the long view, as one becomes more proficient at trading, fundamental values become less important; in fact, fundamental values of stocks, industries, corporations, and so much else in modern life mean very little anymore, sad to say. The only fundamental that I give much thought to now is sector. I think that it is very important, when choosing stocks, to choose from sectors and sector subcategories that one likes. I always choose stocks in the basic materials / natural resources/ energy sector because I feel most comfortable with these, but for someone who likes shopping and fashion, the services / retail sector may be best; for someone who likes technology, the technological sector may be best, and so on.

I only work with four stocks annually because I have learned from experience that, for me, four is the maximum number of stocks that I am able to manage yet the minimum number for giving me some diversity with which to work. Usually, two of the four stocks are an index ETF, which I also apply to my Roth IRA because of trading restrictions on IRA accounts. Index ETF’s, which offer “umbrella” investment in many companies at once, are far more secure and certainly more profitable than the old-fashioned savings account at a bank, especially in economic hard times. The only “secret” to using Index ETF’s in this way is good management, and it is a pity that more people do not make the effort to learn this secret because it is really no secret at all. A good technical chart will betray nearly all secrets, with or without dowsing

I always start my stock research and planning in July of every year, just after second-quarter earnings reports. By the end of August, I decide upon my four stock choices to trade over the six month period from August to late February.

In befriending the stock market and working with it, I find it most helpful to view the stock market as an expression of nature rather than an expression of civilization because nature governs all, including civilization. The renowned chapter and verses in the Bible’s Ecclesiastes applies to the stock market too: “There is an appointed time for everything . . .,” hence, the rise and fall of empires, lives, and stocks.

Consider that the market and every stock in it has a summer solstice (52-week high) and a winter solstice (52-week low) with vernal and autumnal adjustments (ups and downs) in-between.

Consider that gardeners and farmers are the same as traders and investors: all begin with fundamentals: a seed (a stock) and the knowledge of what the seed is (what industry / market sector) and what its growing requirements are (what cycles the stock creates, follows, or is subject to). From that point, labor and management are required to encourage and protect the seed to fruition (profit). The investment cycle commences with sowing (buying) when the time is right; tending, weeding, cultivating (trading – selling in part / buying again) when the time is right; harvesting (selling in full) when the time is right; sowing inversely by composting, mulching, turning (short selling), and then sowing (buying) again when the time is right. A “season” for a gardener, farmer, and investor may last many months, while for a trader, only a few minutes, hours, days, or weeks. Just as a gardener or farmer uses the technical aids of soil analysis and atmospheric measurements (e.g., charts in the old Farmer’s Almanac), a trader or investor will make good use of the analyses and measurements provided on technical charts. However, as every farmer knows, sometimes bad weather is not predicted, but the farmer’s toe hurts or his pig’s tail curls, and that, for him, invariably indicates a storm approaching, which may not yet be meteorologically detectable and measurable; so then, no matter what the weather report, the farmer follows his intuition, which is native dowsing, to protect his crops. Moreover, good gardeners and farmers never curse “bad” weather or “bad’ insects or “bad” soil organisms (challenges to the stock market by acts of God or human intent) because in the grand scheme, these seemingly negative influences in fact have purpose and value. It is not absence of “evil” that creates an authentic, as opposed to mythological, Garden of Eden, but proper balance of negative with positive, and sometimes that balance must be imbalance.

Thinking of the stock market in this way, as a perennial garden of seasons, and myself as the gardener, very much helps me to feel that I am financially in control in and of my own backyard rather than overwhelmed on the floor of a busy stock exchange at which I am at the mercy.

I should like again to emphasize the virtue of simplicity and simplification, which are strong, defining points of nature: the more simplified one’s approach, in any endeavor, the more control one has over process, progress, and outcome; moreover, simplicity is a tremendously efficient and effective safeguard against both human error and the natural unexpected for the simple reason that simplicity cannot be easily upset or undone, and thus rendered unfavorable, because it lacks extraneous components and hence, extraneous variables.

There are many technical tools for stock analysis – too many – and they are all variations of one another because they all share the common directive of tracking price (not just the price of an individual stock but the price of the overall market – the sum of internals), which can be done without any tools at all other than the price itself, which is self-tracking. I use only two technical indicators, apart from my pendulum, which is also a technical tool: the slow stochastic oscillator (daily and weekly) and the simple moving average, but even these are unnecessary in the long term because price movement, whether on a five-minute chart or on a six month chart, tells all. The timeless maxim “price is king” is universally applicable to all fields of commerce, whether a dollar store or a stock exchange.

Common sense and intuition are also reliable methods of technical analysis, and being natural, they quite often outperform the many manmade indicators, especially when common sense and intuition are translated through dowsing.

I should like to opine as to what I feel is an overrated method of technical analysis: candlestick pattern analysis. I am sure that at one time and for many years candlestick analysis proved very useful and accurate (the method is based on ancient Japanese war strategy), but to me, the present-day market moves too fast and too erratically for traditional candlestick analysis to offer substantial prediction, only implication, which can often be misleading in the short term. Personally, I do not bother with any of the patterns; I watch only for long-body candlesticks with short wicks to see whether the “bull” or the “bear” is dominating at a given time. This is enough for me.

In choosing my four stocks, I use data culled from the aforementioned indicators compared on charts of different time periods: a year, six months, three months, one month, two weeks, and ten days. To begin with, I mostly look for higher highs and higher lows and what I call, in sewing terms, the serge stitch above the hemline: steady “v” shapes, pullbacks and retracements, above a moving average. Usually, I only work with “Dow-30” stocks whose major holders are major institutions, such as Berkshire Hathaway, Mellon Corporation, BlackRock Trust, etc.

I establish my investment budget and a percentage return as my annual investment goal, and then after narrowing my stock search to approximately ten stocks, I use my pendulum to ask, “Which of these stocks offer the best possibility for a [percentage amount] return on my total TRADING investment in a year’s time?” I emphasize the word “trading” because I am not investing to hold but buying and selling throughout the year. The word “possibility” must be used because it is impossible to ask will a stock provide such and such a return in a year’s time for the reason that too many unknowns and variables will exist within a year’s time. The future is created, not fated. Dowsing is not a method of prediction, but rather a method of making known what is already known but not yet consciously known, and a year in advance is too soon for much to be already known. In fact, when I ask my question, most of the stocks become disqualified because my pendulum swings in the “unknown” direction. I often have to go back and find many more stocks just to dowse four positively. Once I do dowse four positively, that means that those four stocks, at the time of my dowsing, are experiencing developments of some kind that can work toward fulfilling my percentage-return goal in a year’s time. Of course, all is subject to change, so for each of my four stocks, I ask regularly, “Is [ticker symbol / company name] continuing to fulfill a [percentage amount] return on my total initial trading investment?”

At one time, I used financial dowsing in combination with financial astrology, but since the turn of the century, I find that astrological factors that traditionally influenced mass economy and financial markets are no longer as applicable since electronic trading has gained new dimensions. Whereas the placement, movement, and aspects of the planet Saturn used to be significant indicators for overall economy and investment, I now find that the planet Mercury is the more dominant indicator, no doubt because trading, especially high-frequency trading, is definitively mercurial. My point in mentioning this is to alert anyone interested in or engaged in trading to be especially mindful of the period of influence known in astrology as “Mercury Retrograde,” which occurs annually, usually quarterly, and lasts for approximately three weeks. The term “Mercury retrograde” describes the astronomical phenomenon of the planet Mercury appearing to move backward – retrograde – because Earth’s orbit has become temporarily synchronized with Mercury’s orbit around the sun. Though there are four phases to the Mercury retrograde influence (the shadow phase, retrograde station, direct station, and release), the overall effect is almost always one of confusion (false buy and sell signals) or significant reversal in the world’s financial markets.

Lunar phases also very much influence the stock market, and in fact, the market, analogically, has a menstrual cycle in which it “bleeds” from accumulation (e.g., profit taking), then rebuilds and self-nourishes through consolidation, thus returning to accumulation to bleed again. In fact, were it not for menstrual tension, there would not be a trading market at all!

When the transiting moon makes its last major aspect before entering the next sign of the zodiac, it becomes “void of course,” a period which can last for as little as a few seconds or as long as a few days. Like the phenomenon of Mercury retrograde, a void-of-course moon phase is NOT a propitious time for making financial decisions, though decisions can often be made in advance (applied as stop limit orders) so as to benefit from these perversely opportune times of change, which can also compromise dowsing if one’s reasons and questions are unclear.

It is not necessary to know much about financial astrology, or any astrology, for that matter (best not to, in my experience), but these two influences – Mercury retrograde and moon void-of-course – are worth observing in that they exert considerable effect upon the stock market, separately and even more so when operating together.

Astrological calendars indicating times of Mercury retrograde and the void-of-course moon are liberally available on the Web.

The old adage, “Stars rule men, but a wise man rules the stars,” bears both truth and falsehood. Perhaps a better phrasing would be, “Nature rules all, but a wise person rules his / her human nature – the self.”

On the subject of phrasing, how one phrases a dowsing question is absolutely vital to the effectiveness and success of dowsing.

If dowsing is not used to answer a question affirmatively, negatively, or possibly, then it must be used to gain indication of something, such as a choice or direction, or to measure something quantitatively or qualitatively.

Important is NEVER to dowse using the word “should,” in any way, such as “Should I buy 100 shares of ABC?” The word “should,” its concept, meaning, and implications are entirely humanly derived and culturally dependent. The Unified Field, the one consciousness, is all-inclusive, without “conscience” or “ethics” as we define these words (words created by us);” therefore, “should” does not primordially exist. What does exist, eternally, is vast potential for expression, action, and manifestation, without judgment.

If one feels the necessity to ask a “should” type of question, then it is best phrased in such a way as this: “Is it in my best financial interest to . . .,” filling in the blank with whatever decision or action one is considering. In my experience, as one grows to feel unified with the dowsing procedure and as the vista of one’s experience with dowsing grows, even this indirect “should” kind of phrasing becomes unnecessary.

Here are some dowsing approaches that I regularly use for making trading and investment decisions:

If I want to determine my best entry price for buying a stock, I hold my pendulum (with its witness chamber holding the stock’s ticker symbol on a bit of white paper) over the stock’s full name, which I have written (not typed) on a piece of white paper, and ask, “I am seeking the best entry price for me to buy [stock’s name]. Can my best price be determined right now?” If my pendulum swings in the positive direction, then I ask if the stock’s last traded price (market price) is my best entry price. If not, then I ask if my best entry price is lower than the last traded price, and if it is, then I ask if my best entry price is lower only by decimal. If the answer is positive, then I proceed to dowse downward from the decimal of the last traded price (as an example, if a stock’s last market price were 45.16, then I would dowse downward from 16) until the pendulum indicates the precise decimal. If my pendulum indicates that my best entry price is not lower by decimal than the last market price, then I ask if my best entry price is lower than the last market price by one whole number. If not, then I ask if my best entry price is lower by two whole numbers. If not, I ask if my best entry price is lower by three whole numbers, and so on, until my pendulum indicates the whole number included in my best entry price. Then I ask if my best entry price includes a decimal. Usually it does, so I dowse from tenths, meaning that if the whole number of my best entry price is, say, 45, I ask if the decimal is 10. If not, I ask if the decimal is less than ten. If not, I ask if the decimal is 20. If not, I ask if the decimal is less than twenty, or if not, greater than twenty, and so on (30, 40, etc.) until I can dowse between tenths to locate the precise decimal.

I use this same procedure, the same questions reversed or modified, to determine the following:

– the best exit price for selling

– the best entry price for short selling

– the best exit price for buying to cover

– price placement of a stop loss (dowsing proficiency can eliminate the need for stops altogether, but I still use them)

I often dowse if the price of a particular stock has reached the lowest (or highest) whole number in its downward (or upward) trend for a particular time frame: fifteen minutes / one hour / one trading day / one month / three months (beyond three months, or even at three months, usually, but not always, results in the pendulum’s “unknown” swing).

I also frequently use my pendulum to dowse confirmation of either a prevailing trend or a temporary trend as a trend seems to approach to begin or to end before its opposite begins. Due to rallies and pullbacks, the market may give the illusion of reversal when in fact its predominant trend has not changed at all. Technical indicators provide trend tracking and alerts, while dowsing can confirm trends and often warn ahead of full reversals.

Stop limit orders are one of the best trading tools of all, especially in relation to dowsing, because the facility to place an early order at a fixed price allows one to dowse apart from trading hours at a time of quiet and convenience when one is able to concentrate on strategy without interruption and without the pressure of having to make immediate decisions during local trading hours. In fact, trading occurs on an almost constant basis now because of electronic exchanges and time zone differences; hence, market information is ever available for dowsing, no matter where one lives and no matter the time. Dowsing itself, in effect, functions outside of time and space, though the dowser, physically, of course, does not.

Important to mention is why pendulum dowsing can so often, so efficiently, and so accurately pinpoint prices and fine-tuned movements in the market. Because algorithmic and high-frequency trading, which drive our modern market, are automated and very computationally based, percentages and / or prices are predetermined by various technical means for rapid execution. Dowsing can “locate” and indicate these predetermined arrangements. Why? Because no advantages or secrets exist in the universal mind, which is the only authentic democracy, first and last. Also important to mention is that when a pendulum moves in the “unknown” direction, which is also the “maybe,” “possibly,” “uncertain” direction, the reason is usually because predetermined arrangements have not yet been predetermined. This often happens when the market is trading “sideways,” which also often happens to be when the moon is void-of-course or Mercury is retrograde.

Sometimes I ask “Are there factors of influence of which I have no immediate knowledge that are formulating a reversal [or furtherance] of this this short-term / long-term trend?” This question usually puts an end to the pendulum swinging indecisively. Then I can follow with, “How long before these factors become known? (then dowsing time frames), though this really is not necessary, as everything becomes known soon enough.

Dowsing the outcome of key events that will affect the economy and market in general or that will influence individual stocks can be helpful, such as what a Federal Reserve decision may be or what a company’s quarterly earnings will show, or who will win an election, etc.

One of the best, simplest ways that I use my pendulum for trading is what I call interactive dowsing. Very early, before the market opens, I make printouts of my stocks’ previous day’s fifteen-minute charts, then I hold the pendulum at a stock’s closing price on its chart and mentally concentrate on the intention of seeing how the stock’s price is moving from the closing price of the previous day, to the opening price of the new day, which is actually the intraday movement. The pendulum will begin tracing a pattern of the stock’s approaching price movement for the reason that the recent past, the present, and the immediate future (intraday) are actively unified, as opposed to the distant past, present, and distant future being passively unified. If the opening price is to be the same whole number as the previous day’s closing price, then the pendulum will circle tightly, clockwise, around the closing price or loosely around the closing price if the price’s whole number is to be the same but the decimal is to be considerably higher or lower than in the mixed number closing price. If the price is to rise or drop from the previous day’s closing price, the pendulum will move accordingly, upward or downward, toward the next price. An entire day’s trading session can literally, virtually be illustrated (and traded upon) in advance of “real time” by using a pendulum as an analogical device, not for predicting, but for interactively indicating a stock’s price movement as it manifests through executions and proposed executions that are occurring but are still in the realm of mind while reaching the realm of visible reality on a chart.

In my experience, the fifteen-minute chart is best suited for an interactive approach, as opposed to charts of shorter or longer frequency.

Also, this interactive approach works very effectively when applied to market indexes, which are the leaders of the market and exert more influence over any individual stock than even the stock’s company or its industry.

Many people believe that dowsing cannot be done financially under the belief that money is carnal and dowsing is sacred. To me, this is ridiculous. First of all, dowsing, in itself, is neither sacred nor spiritual nor sublime. A dowsing device is merely a tool, no different from a compass or a ruler, and the act of dowsing is very much the same as using a compass or a ruler, the only difference being that the approach is “blind,” meaning without any predetermined physical indicators, such as north, south, inches, centimeters, etc.; rather abstract indicators, such as questions and intentions, must be used, alone, or in combination with physical guides, such as ticker symbols, charts, etc., but the goal is the same: to gain information for practical use.

Secondly, nothing is carnal or sacred unless designated so, and it is people who make such designations. A spiritual person will regard everything as spiritual, even what seems, to that person, diametrically carnal, and a carnal person will regard everything as carnal, even what seems, to that person, diametrically spiritual; therefore, dowsing, in itself, is no more spiritual than money, in itself, is “the root of all evil.” In fact, not even greed is the root of all evil; rather lack of human desire to discipline greed, for its own good, is but one root of so-called evil.

Given that the fair (and unfair) exchange of goods and services has existed since people have existed, there is nothing “wrong” in applying dowsing to the stock exchange where age-old money continues to live.

Democracy and free enterprise, to me, are very sacred indeed; hence, financial dowsing, along with online trading, can free a great many people (I should like to say all people) to compete with the elite, who are the market makers.

I can only offer one “spiritual” consideration in the practice of financial dowsing, or any dowsing, for that matter, and that is to beware of “negative” thinking, often disguised as “positive” (pleasurable) thinking. Negative thinking includes, not only the four horsemen mentioned earlier – Fear, Impatience, Greed, and Regret – but the famous “seven deadly sins:” pride, avarice (already a horseman), envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth. To these, I add joy, curiosity, and hope, extrapolated to needless dowsing and unnecessary trading.

Consider the following quotations:

“There is no hope unmingled with fear [a horseman] and no fear unmingled with hope.”
– Baruch Spinoza –

“Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain.”
– Samuel Johnson –

“He that lives [and trades] upon hope will die fasting.”
– Benjamin Franklin –

Also visit my menu page titled Mineral Compass for information on using dowsing to measure a body’s mineral, vitamin, and hormone levels.