Hey Jo Ann. Your use of a pendulum sounds harmless and benign. So regardless of whether there’s anything more to it than the ideomotor effect, it doesn’t sound like you’re causing any harm.

It’s probably similar to how I might flip a coin, see the answer, and realize that the random answer that came up is actually not the choice I want. So in that way flipping a coin (or using a pendulum) might help you realize what your preferences, deep down, actually are. I think that’s fine.

The problem comes when people rely on divination to answer dead serious questions like whether a particular car contains a bomb, whether a patient has a tumor, or whether a country should go to war. It’s in such situations where I would strongly object against relying on a pendulum — or flipping a coin — to get answers.