by John Michael Greer
Geomancy is the forgotten oracle of the Western world. Few people know about it nowadays, but geomancy was among the most common methods of divination through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It was imported to Europe from the Muslim world with the first wave of translations from Arabic in the early twelfth century, and spread quickly. Hundreds of geomantic manuals survive in manuscript collection, and these are only a small fraction of the total number that were once in circulation.
Like the Chinese I Ching, and other less widely known methods of divination, geomancy is based on binary processes—that is, processes that can give rise to one of two different answers. The “divination system” of flipping a coin is a very simple example of this. More complete methods combine some set number of binary events (even and odd numbers, for example) to produce a pattern that communicates meaning to the diviner.
In geomancy, four binary events were added together to produce patterns of meaning. There were sixteen of these patterns, or figures, and they made up the basic building blocks of geomancy. These, with their traditional meanings, are as follows:
The Geomantic Figures
|
Name |
Figure |
Qualities |
|
Puer (boy) |
• • • • • |
Rashness, violence, energy, |
|
Amissio (loss) |
• • • • • • |
Transience and loss. Favorable for love and for situations in which loss is desired, but unfavorable for material matters. |
|
Albus (white) |
• • • • • • • |
Peace, wisdom, purity; |
|
Populus (people) |
• • • • • • • • |
Multitude, a gathering or |
|
Name |
Figure |
Qualities |
|
Fortuna Major (greater fortune) |
• • • • • • |
Great good fortune, inner strength. A figure of power and success, favorable for any form of competition. |
|
Conjuncio |
• • • • • • |
Combination of forces or |
|
Puella (girl) |
• • • • • |
Harmony and happiness; a favorable figure in nearly all questions. |
|
Rubeus (red) |
• • • • • • • |
Passion, power, fierceness, and vice. Evil in all that is good and good in all that is evil. |
|
Acquisitio (gain) |
• • • • • • |
Success, profit, and gain; things within one’s grasp. Favorable in nearly all matters. |
|
Carcer (prison) |
• • • • • • |
Restriction, delay, limitation, imprisonment. An unfavorable figure. |
|
Tristia (sorrow) |
• • • • • • • |
Sorrow, suffering, illness, and pain. An unfavorable figure except in questions relating to building and the earth. |
|
Name |
Figure |
Qualities |
|
Laetitia (joy) |
• • • • • • • |
Happiness and health. |
|
Cauda Draconis (tail of the dragon) |
• • • • • |
A doorway leading out. |
|
Caput Draconis (head of the dragon) |
• • • • • |
A doorway leading in. Favorable for beginnings and gain, neutral in other questions. Good with good, evil with evil. |
|
Fortuna Minor (lesser fortune) |
• • • • • • |
Outward strength, help from others. Good for any matter a person wishes to proceed quickly. |
|
Via (way) |
• • • • |
Change, movement, alteration of fortune. Favorite for journeys and voyages. |
In geomantic practice, these figures are produced by what amounts to a simple form of automatic writing. Traditionally, the geomancer would smooth out an area of sand or bare soft ground and take a pointed stick in one hand, then concentrate on the question the divination was intended to answer. The diviner would then seek a sort of mental clarity in which no thought would rise up to disturb the process. Holding this state, he or she would make the stick move so that it made a line of marks across the ground. It is important that the geomancer not count the marks while they are being made.
Once four lines of marks are traced on the ground, the diviner then counts up the number of marks in each line. An odd number of marks equal a single point; an even number, a double point. The result might look something like this:
|
Line |
Marks |
Figure |
|
First line |
12 marks |
• • |
|
Second line |
14 marks |
• • |
|
Third line |
9 marks |
• |
|
Fourth line |
13 marks |
• |
The result, in this case, is the geomantic figure Fortuna Major, the greater fortune.
The same thing can be done using paper and a pen. Several other processes have also been put to use—for example, some geomancers take a random handful of pebbles from a small bag or bowl, and then count the pebbles to see whether they came to an even number or an odd one. Decks of geomantic cards have also been used at various times. There were even special dice made with either one or two points on each face; four of them would be rolled to make a figure.
There are various ways to use these figure in a reading. The standard methods involved generating four of them—thus, making sixteen lines of points to start with—and then combining them in various ways to generate a total of sixteen figures, each of which makes it own contributions to the final reading. Done this way, a geomantic divination can be as detailed and informative as any form of divination in the world.
There’s also a place, though, for a simpler approach. It can be useful simply to concentrate on a question, clear your mind, make four lines of dots, and interpret the future that results as an answer to the question. Thought this does have its limitations—in particular, the questions asked this way should be answerable with a “yes” or a “no”—it also provides a good introduction to the secret of the “forgotten oracle.”