Aligning Your Pyramid
In order for your pyramid to be the most effective, I recommend aligning it to either true north or magnetic north. In most places in the world, these are two different directions, as the magnetic north pole is not in the same location as the geographic north pole, which is the most northern point on the planet through which the axis of rotation passes through. The magnetic north pole, however, is somewhere off of northern Canada heading in the direction of Siberia. Yes, that's right. It moves, albeit very slowly. But it does mean that if you decide to align your pyramid to magnetic north, it could be off by as much as a degree after about 10 years. So for those who want to keep it as accurately aligned as possible, they should check it every 5 years or so.
So which one should you align it to? Well, the Great Pyramid is aligned to true north to within 1/15°, so I tend to prefer that orientation for nonmetallic pyramids and magnetic north for metallic ones. But there are other people who say that even nonmetallic pyramids should be aligned to magnetic north, including the late Patrick Flanagan, who claimed to get the best results in his experiments when they were aligned to magnetic north. And then there were the infamous Mythbusters experiments, which were also aligned to magnetic north. So...which one should you choose? I don't have a clear answer for you, except to encourage you to go with what feels right in your gut. And to experiment. Try both ways, and if one feels better than the other, go with that one.
I describe three different techniques to align your pyramid either way: using a compass, using Google Earth, and using the sun. Each way becomes more progressively involved, and more accurate. Using a compass is the simplest way, and will work for most people.
Using a Compass
Aligning a pyramid to magnetic north using a compass is easier than aligning it to true north. First, set the bezel ring of the compass to 0°. You can see the thin white line going through the “N” on my compass in the picture below:
Then simply push the compass up against one of the sides of the pyramid. In the picture below, the one on the left is a pyramid I made out of 1x12 pine, and the one on the right is a dowel pyramid:
Keep in mind, though, that compasses are very sensitive and can be thrown off by most metals. You will want to keep it at least six feet away from any and all metals. This includes metal on your person, including watches, jewelry, keys, glasses, phones, belt buckles, etc. Also, the wires in your walls, screws in your floor, and metal in a table that a pyramid may be sitting upon can throw it off, as well. It's tricky!
There are two things you can do that can help. Once you have aligned it, you can check both opposite north-south sides of your pyramid with the compass to see if it reads the same. If both sides are reading the same, you are probably good to go. If not, you can try holding the compass in your hand and aligning the pyramid by looking down the compass from above and matching it up with one of your north-south sides. This way, a screw in the floor or metal in the table will hopefully not be throwing it off so much. And again, you can check both north-south sides to see if they match up.
If you want to align your pyramid to true north, you will need to find your magnetic declination—meaning, how far off true north is from magnetic north in the area where you live. Go to www.magnetic-declination.com to find your declination. Note that there are 60' in one degree, so if it tells you your declination is +15° 45', for example, then divide the minutes by 60 to get the decimal equivalent of 15.75°.
So if your magnetic declination is, say, +12°E, then rotate the bezel 12° to the right, or clockwise. In the picture below, you can see that after rotating the bezel to the right, the little white line of my compass is 12° to the left of the N, at 348°. (The bezel is in 2° increments, so six ticks to the left of “N”.)
As another example, if it is -14°W, then rotate the bezel 14° (seven ticks) to the left, or counterclockwise:
Next, pushing the baseplate of the compass against your pyramid, align it so that the red magnetic needle matches the arrow on the baseplate. Make sure there is no metal within 6 feet of the compass, including phones, watches, jewelry, glasses, keys, etc. In the example below, the compass is set to -14°W and pushed up against a 2x4 to align a pyramid with only four rising legs and no base:
If you are in need of a compass, here is a link to a decent, inexpensive compass like the one shown in the pictures above: https://amzn.to/3E6qxc6
What about using a compass app on your cell phone? That could possibly work, but I lean towards using an actual compass because there are less things that can go wrong. One advantage with a good app, though, is that it can give you the option to have the compass point to either magnetic north or true north. So if you are aligning to true north, it can calculate the declination for you based upon your location. But a word of caution: not all apps are created equal, so read the reviews. Some can also be intrusive upon your privacy, as well. On the plus side, some of them can read to 0.1°, but are they really that accurate? I highly doubt it. It is my understanding that most or all of these apps are also affected by metal. But the truth is, I have only reviewed a few of the apps out there, and cannot say for sure whether any of them might be more accurate than a simple compass.
Using Google Earth
If your pyramid will be indoors and you are having trouble getting a consistent reading on both north-south sides (whether using a compass or an app on your phone), or for those who would like to be as accurate as possible, there is another way you can align your pyramid using Google Earth. And if done correctly, will probably be to within 1/2° of accuracy, but it is more involved than simply using a compass. First, you have to find your house on Google Earth. If it is not visible, like for example, if your house is in the middle of a forest and blocked by trees, then this method won't work. Assuming it is visible, then you will need to use the measure tool to find a bearing on one of the edges of your house or its ridge line, if that visible. In the example below, I drew a line along the edge of the roof of a friend's house. To be the most accurate, draw the line along the longest edge you can find. In this case, I had to stop a little past midway because the roof jutted out a little bit past that point and would have thrown off the reading. Even so, that length gave me a bearing (or heading) of 141.54°, which is probably accurate to less than 0.5°:
After you get your heading, draw a simple diagram of your house with the room your pyramid will be in, and label the wall you will be measuring your angle off of to align your pyramid, along with its heading:
In the example above, the inner wall I will be orienting the pyramid off of is parallel to the bearing line I created on Google Earth, but if the inner wall were perpendicular, then I would need to add or subtract 90° (either is fine as long as the new bearing is between 0° and 360°). So if my inner wall was perpendicular to 141.54°, its bearing would be 231.54° (141.54° + 90°) or 51.54° (141.54° - 90°).
Next, you will need to draw a second diagram, a circle with the four cardinal points marked, along with the bearing of your inner wall. Also include the bearing in the opposite direction by adding or subtracting 180° (whichever way that makes the opposite direction between 0° and 360°). So in my example, 141.54° + 180° = 321.54°. If you are aligning your pyramid to true north, there will be two sides running in a north-south direction (0°-180°), and two sides running in an east-west direction (90°-270°). You can align your pyramid off of either direction. In the diagram below, I show the angles for both directions, but you only need to draw the one you will be using to orient your pyramid. Simply draw one of the angle lines and subtract the larger angle from the smaller angle. So for the north-south orientation: 180° - 141.54° = 38.46°. For the east-west orientation: 321.54° - 270° = 51.54°.
So in my example, I will be orienting my pyramid to the north-south (0°-180°) direction, which will be 38.46° off of my inner wall. But what if I wanted to orient my pyramid to magnetic north instead? First, I would need to find my magnetic declination from the website mentioned earlier, which, let's say is +12E. Then, in addition to my inner wall bearing line, I would draw that bearing line on my diagram: 12° on one end and 192° (12°+180°) on the other end. Then to find the angle off of the inner wall to orient my pyramid, I would subtract the higher number from the lower one: 192° - 141.54° = 50.46°.
What if my magnetic declination were -12°W? Then to find my bearing line, I would first subtract 12° from 360° to get 348°. Then subtract 180° for the other side of the line: 348° - 180° = 168°. So I would draw a 168°-348° bearing line on the diagram to represent the magnetic north bearing line. Then to find the angle off of the inner wall, subtract the higher number from the lower one: 168° - 141.54° = 26.46°.
So now that you have found what your angle off of your inner wall should be, you have two options on how to orient your pyramid off of it. The first one is to use a protractor, preferably a digital one that is accurate to within 0.1°, and you orient the pyramid like in the picture below:
For larger pyramids, you might be able to push up a straightedge like a yardstick and then place masking tape on the floor in line with its edge and then extend it out from there. A more accurate way, though, would be to use a scientific calculator (there is probably one on your phone) and a tape measure. First you need to calculate your rise-to-run ratio for the angle off your wall. I will use the 38.46° angle example that I calculated for the true north-south bearing for my pyramid. Using my calculator, I will find the tangent (tan) of 38.46°, which is 0.7943. What that means is that my rise-to-run ratio is 0.7943:1. With that, I will draw another diagram showing this rise-to-run ratio going off of my inner wall:
Be sure not to mix up the two numbers. The number you get on your calculator is the rise, which will be on the opposite side of your triangle from your angle (38.46° in my example). The run will always be 1, and will be against your inner wall. If your angle is more than 45°, your rise (going away from the wall) will be greater than 1. If it is less than 45° (like in my example), it will be less than 1.
Now that you have your rise-to-run ratio, using your tape measure, make two light pencil marks (or stick masking tape and make darker lines) on the base of your wall, measuring any distance you choose, preferably at least three feet long, and the longer the better. But mark it, if possible, with where you want your pyramid to be sitting in your room with respect to where your pyramid line will end up being. So let's say I marked a 4-foot (48 inches) line on my wall (my “run” line), then to calculate how long my “rise” line will be, I would multiply: 48” x 0.7943 = 38.126” (or about 38+1/8”). So then I would measure 38+1/8” out from the wall off of the right-side mark and mark that point on the floor with masking tape. Try to make this measurement as accurately as possible, and as perpendicularly as possible off of your wall. If you have something like a carpenter's square, that can help. Even if you don't, if you are close, it should be fine. But if you want to be as accurate as possible, you can use the Pythagorean theorem to get it exactly: you square each side (your rise and your run), add them together, and then take the square root to find the length of your diagonal in the triangle (the “Side of Pyramid” line in the diagram above). In my example, that would be 48 squared (2304) plus 38.126 squared (1453.59) which equals 3757.59, and then the square root of that which is 61.299”, or about 61+5/16”. So by measuring 61+5/16” along the diagonal and meeting up with 38+1/8” off of the wall, that line will be almost exactly perpendicular off of the wall. But again, if that is too much complicated math for you, then get it as close as you can, and you will be fine.
You may find that your orientation line is somewhere in the middle of your floor and not next to one of the sides of where you want your pyramid to sit. In which case, you can transfer the line along the floor one direction or the other to match up with one of the sides of where you want your pyramid to be. Just make sure you don’t skew the line in one direction or the other. To do this, measure the same distance from opposite ends of the line, say 12 inches or 50 cm, making sure your measurements are perpendicular to the original line.
Once you have your pyramid set up in the right place using your orientation line, consider marking the four corners with masking tape so if it ever gets bumped out of alignment or you need to take it down, you can easily set it back up again in the right orientation:
Using the Solar Alignment Medthod
For those who want to be as accurate as possible, the solar alignment method is the way to go, but it is also the most involved. This method involves using the shadow line from a plumb bob when the sun is exactly due east or due west, or exactly due south (for those in the northern hemisphere) or due north (for those in the southern hemisphere). Using a due north or due south shadow line works best in fall and winter, while an east or west line works best in spring and summer.
It is easier to use this method for a pyramid that is outside, but it can also work indoors, especially if you have a large enough window in the right place. But you can even do it without using a window. Obviously, for this method to work, you need to have a clear day where the sun is shining without any clouds.
First, you need to find the exact time that the sun will be at one of the cardinal points in your location. To find this, go to this website and move the red pin to your location. If you will be using a due north or south shadow line, simply note the exact time in the Solar Noon box, which is in military time (e.g., 13:00 is 1:00 p.m.). Check the local time box to see if it is accurate. If it is off by an hour or two because it has you in the wrong timezone or doesn't take into account Daylight Savings Time, then you will need to adjust the Time Zone box or the UTC Offset box to make it right. If you are using a due east or west line, you will need to adjust the Local Time box to morning or evening and use trial and error until the Az/El (azimuth/elevation) section shows either exactly 90° or 270°. The box you are interested in is the first box in the Az/El section:
What if you want to align your pyramid to magnetic north instead of true north? Then find your magnetic declination and simply add that to the azimuth. So, for example, let's say that your declination is +12E. Then for due south, instead of it being 180°, it would be 192° (180°+12°). If you are in the southern hemisphere, then for due north, instead of it being 0° or 360°, it would simply be 12°. For due east, it would be 102° (90°+12°), and for due west, it would be 282° (270°+12°). If your declination is -14W, then due south would be 166° (180°-14°), due north would be 346° (360°-14°), due east would be 76° (90°-14°), and due west would be 256° (270°-14°). For all of these numbers, you would need to adjust the Local Time box until the azimuth was correct.
So now that you have the exact time you want, you will need to set up a plumb bob. I recommend preparing all of this well in advance, perhaps even the day before. You will also need to make sure you have a clock that is accurate to the second (usually phones are this accurate). If you are inside, hang your plumb bob on a hook or nail above the window you will be using so that it hangs freely and doesn't touch either the floor or the wall. It should be maybe a half-inch or so just above the floor. A minute or two before the exact time, place a strip of masking tape on your floor, crossing the shadow of the string as far away from the plumb bob as possible. Then, at the exact time, mark the shadow line on the strip of tape with a Sharpie. Then place another strip of masking tape under the plumb bob and mark that point with a Sharpie as well. You now have a very accurate orientation line. If you need to move this line over so it matches up better with where you want your pyramid to sit, you can shift it over measuring the same distance perpendicularly from both ends of the line until you are happy with its location.
If you are outside, hopefully it is not too windy. Tie the plumb bob on a stick between two ladders, on a tree, make a tripod, or maybe tie a rope between two trees and hang it from that. Be creative and figure out what works best for your situation.
On bare ground, insert a small nail directly under the plumb bob. Make sure it is not moving when you do this. And make sure these steps above are done well before the appointed time. Then, right at the exact time, insert a nail where the shadow is at the top of the string. Depending upon how high it is, the shadow from the string will likely be diffuse and blurry. It can help to see it by laying a white piece of paper on the ground.
You should now have a very accurate orientation line. After your pyramid is set up, I would recommend replacing the nails with toothpicks or wooden skewers, as the metal from the nails could possibly interfere with the energy.
What if your pyramid is inside, but you don't have a window to cast a shadow through? You can also use the same method above, hanging a plumb bob off of a ladder near one of the walls of your house and mark the shadow line.
Then you will need to measure the angle the shadow line makes against your wall:
Once you have that angle, follow the step in the Google Earth section where you draw a diagram of your house with the inner wall that you want to orient your pyramid to. If the inner wall is parallel to the outer wall with the shadow line, then it is the exact same angle, and you can simply lock your protractor when you measure the shadow line angle and transfer it over to create your orientation line inside your house. If it is perpendicular, then you will need to subtract that measured angle from 90° to find the correct angle off of your inner wall. For example, if the shadow line made a 20° angle off of your outer wall, then your orientation line would be 70° off of your inner wall (90° - 20°).
So these are three different ways to align your pyramid. If magnetic interference isn't an issue, using a compass is a simple and relatively accurate option. Using Google Earth is the middle option, a little more involved, but generally more accurate. And using the solar alignment method is the most involved, but it is also the most accurate.