Answer to first question is -yes - there definitely is a 'right' way to hold a pendulum -which is never allowing it to swing at the end of your arm.
The
left fist is placed on the tabletop and the pendulum is held in
the right fist with its chain dangling over the back of the index
finger, so that when the right fist is placed on top of the left
fist, the pendulum is suspended about an inch above the tabletop.
Then the target is placed under the fists for working.
Holding a pendulum in any other way is a good way to make sure that you have no control over it. Dowsing, like any other psi skill, can be learned, and can be controlled tightly so that anomalous data will not be a problem.
The late Ron Warmoth, acknowledged the world's best at finding underground targets, referred to it as remote viewing, as he had long since found any dowsing 'tool' unnecessary....and could clearly 'see' what he was seeking, right through the earth, rock or whatever.
It is best to begin the learning process with a pendulum and a set of protocols which will lead to complete control over this tool.
It is also essential that at least in the initial steps, the subconscious be blinded by using unseen targets. This is especially true when working such targets as stocks or commodities, for no matter whether you accept that you do have an 'opinion' about any stock, etc., you do, and it could cause you to fail to produce a valid result.... In other words, you would get a false signal just because you knew the target.
As I pointed out in Mesquite, you need to prepare a set of blind targets, one of which will be the one you're seeking information about. The others are randomly selected from a pool of similar items.
LOL In some cases, working this way, one of the other targets might provide a much stronger reaction, so that this choice may supplant the one you were interested in originally. :) It's happened. :)
Tight control and knowledge of what the skill is and what is expectable of the tool you're using is the key to good work in dowsing. Pendulums, for instance, must be tightly programmed to respond with a special movement for a 'yes' answer, and a different movement for a 'no' answer. There is no need to program other responses than 'yes' and 'no' as there are only two answers possible - it is yes - or it is no...and there is no 'in between'.
Y-rods and L-rods will react wildly unless you program their response as well.
Suggest you locate some good books on dowsing. My 'Pendulum Power' is a good primer on basics.
Bevy Jaegers
U.S. Psi Squad
www.uspsisquad.com