Anyone want to practice Geomancy charts?

[kalliope]

Is anyone around here currently practicing or learning geomancy? (I'm referring to the type where you cast figures and put them in a chart, not the feng-shui-ish sort where you determine favorable places on the earth.)

I've been studying it and was writing up a chart analysis for a blog post, but I know that there's more potential for discussion here on Aeclectic. So I thought I'd feel it out here to see if anyone would be interested. I really need practice applying what I know to answering questions, and I'm hoping there are others out there with the same need. It's hard to learn geomancy in a vacuum.

I'd love to discuss any aspect of the art: the individual figures, shield and house charts, casting methods, framing questions, etc.

Anyone? Anyone??

:crosses fingers:

 

[Polydeuces]

I have an interest in this art. How long have you been at it?

 

[N.Tesla]

You're not alone! As a matter of fact I always thought I had no talent whatsoever for tarot and was drawn to geomancy time and again. I read Stephen Skinner's Terrestrial Astrology: Divination by Geomancy (fantastic book), some Golden Dawn material as well as Henry Cornelius Agrippa's notes on geomancy (which is not included on his Three Books of Occult Philosophy), however I am not really practicing it, due to several issues; confusion from varying methods, not being able to decide what questions to ask and an inability to make sense of the resulting chart to name a few. I wish I could practice it though. Do you think we can ask a quick yes/no type of question by generating one figure only (4 lines of dots)? Was it ever practiced like that?

 

[kalliope]

Polydeuces - I've only been learning geomancy for a couple of months, but in some ways it's similar to some forms of astrology, which is something I've been interested in my whole life.

N.Tesla - I'm not sure if it was practiced quite like that, but another simple option may be to do something like Ana Cortez does with her Playing Card Oracles. She uses the cards in one of her spreads to generate two figures to be the Witnesses, and then calculates the Judge. That would be a simple method, but could still give a rich answer.

I agree that it can be difficult to synthesize all of the various sources! I've decided not to use the Golden Dawn stuff itself, because the impression I got from John Michael Greer's The Art and Practice of Geomancy was that it was a misrepresentation of, or incomplete version of, some of the older methods. I've been working primarily from JMD's book, but also have several others that I haven't read enough of to figure out how to integrate them.

 

[crystal dawn]

Hi there
I practice astrological geomancy. I use the old square astrological charts to interpret the figures kinda like agrippa did.

blessings

crystal dawn

 

[Polydeuces]

I, too, have been reading from JMG's text regarding geomancy. Admittedly I have not done many readings with it at all (only one I think up to this point) but am interested in furthering my experience with it.

What do you folks think are the advantages and disadvantages in comparison with other oracles, specifically the tarot? It would seem to me as though tarot is more suited to communicating abstract or conceptual ideas (archetypes of self, parts of the 'journey') whereas geomancy's strength is in identifying more practical things and 'easily'(?) spelled out things in a perhaps clearer way.

Has anyone made a shallow earth/sand/clay box for divinations? How do you get your four mothers?

 

[kalliope]

Hi crystal dawn - Glad to see another person here doing house charts. I hope you'll stick around and give your input if I post a chart to analyze! Or post some of your own!

Polydeuces - I think you're right in how you've described the strengths of tarot vs. geomancy. I also see tarot as more abstract, and particularly useful for getting closer to knowing your own mind about something. It can be great in the hands of a very intuitive reader, but for me, tarot is more of a self-help/self-psychology tool. It's just how my relationship to tarot developed over the years. I've begun experimenting with some more concrete reading methods and card meanings to use with older pip-style decks, though, to make tarot more "practical" or more like the Lenormand.

My attraction to geomancy was its concrete practicality, and its structure and rules. I love the idea of getting answers that are straightforward.

As for casting methods, I have not made a sand box, and don't anticipate ever doing so! As JMD mentions in his book, I don't think it's a good match for our house because we have two cats! I also prefer smaller, more portable methods. So far, I have done a few things:

Stones - I purchased a few bracelets made of nicely-sized stones (Sodalite?), and took them apart to get around 20-25 stones. I put them in a large tarot bag that I can fit my hand into, and I pull out a small handful 16 times, counting even or odd each time. I enjoy doing this because I love the feel and sound of the stones.

Dot Method on paper - this is the old method of creating 16 lines of randomly drawn dots. Easy, and it works!

Dice - I'm thinking about getting four colored dice, as JMD writes about in his book. Red=fire/head line, Yellow=air/throat line, Blue=water/heart line, and Green=feet/earth line. Because I don't have such dice as of yet, for fun I went looking for a free dice throwing app for my android phone. I created my dice, but haven't actually used the app for a chart yet. The nice thing about this method is that it only requires four throws instead of 16, since you create one full mother with each throw.


I think we all could use practice on more charts, which is why I hope at least a small group of us would be interested in examining charts we've done.

 

[Polydeuces]

I'd be thrilled to be engaged in this discussion Perhaps I will cast a chart later this evening if I have time, and will journal it and post my findings!

 

[crystal dawn]

Hi Kalliope - yes I would love to.

To generate the figures I now use what some sectors call druid sticks ( though i am unsure if this is the correct name for them) Basically they consist of four flat sticks kinda like popsicle sticks. Each stick has one dot on one side and two dots on the other side. I just mix them up in my hands and cast them and place my hand over them straight away, straighten them out remove my hand to reveal a geomantic figure. Cast them fours times and you have the four mothers.
In the past i have used other method to generate the figures such as dice,pen and paper and even coins.

blessings

crystal dawn

 

[Polydeuces]

So I had my first experience putting a shield & house chart together for a reading the other night. There were certainly some interesting findings while using Greer's method of interpretation.

A few observations: Geomancy takes some time. Generating the figures, drawing charts and then interpreting them (especially referencing to a book) takes a lot longer than reading the tarot, where I can just bust out the cards and read at a glance. Also, because geomancy provides figures for different situations/significances (a la the House chart) it can be difficult to stay focused on the original question sometimes. I'm sure both of these things become smoother and quicker with practice though.

The question I asked pertained to my current living situation, and to elucidate how I fit into it over the next month. The particularly interesting aspect of this divination were the witnesses and the judge, of course. The right witness, me, was depicted as Via, or, 'the way.' The right witness was Populus, which formed the judge of Via.

This blew my mind, because I currently live in an intentional community with about 30 people total. (Populus) I have been here for four months, and have been thinking of whether or not this is a place where I would like to stay long-term. This geomantic reading very overtly implies that I will be 'on the way' soon. There were some other interesting bits related to the triplicities and the house chart, but I don't have my journal with me at this moment so I can't elaborate on them. That stuff was a bit more personal, anyway.

This reading has really left an impression. I like geomancy a lot, but I feel like it is current taking a back-seat to my use and exploration of tarot. I'd like to experiment with it more, though and I would be thrilled if others shared their experiences with it here, too!!