It starts at 2 pm. I’ll be doing readings. $20 for 15 minutes, $40 for 30 minutes, and $70 for an hour.
There will be other vendors, an altar, and more.
Come and down!
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Monthly Archives: April 2022
Intro to Geomancy: Creating the Shield Chart
The primary method of geomantic divination is done through creating a specialized table commonly known as a shield chart. The shield chart is made up of 15 sections, with various sections having specific names.
The first section is made up of four figures, called the mothers. The mothers are the only randomly generated figures in the chart, created by various methods. The oldest historical method was to use a smooth field of sand, which would then have dots tapped into by the geomancer or the client seeking answers. The dots would be counted, and the resulting odd or even count would generate a line of the figure. So either 16 lines would be tapped out at all once, one for each line to make up the four mothers, or a line would be tapped out one at a time, slowly creating this figure. Over time this process would get streamlined, either by using a field to write on, whether it was paper, or a board coated in wax, or a chalk board, or by using specialized tools that would have so many dots allocated on them. Unlike tarot or similar methods of divination where certain signs are unlikely to repeat, it is entirely possible for geomantic figures to repeat in the four mothers, or really anywhere in the shield chart.
Once you have generated the four mothers, those four figures are used to generate the next figures, called daughters. The method for doing this is that from the head lines of all the mothers, that becomes the head neck body and feet of first daughter. The neck lines of all the mothers becomes the head neck body and feet of the second daughter. The body lines of the all the mothers become the third daughter, and the feet lines become the fourth daughter.
Once this process is complete, the rest of the chart can be generated. This is done through a process of simple addition. The process is like this. Two signs, side by side and add the lines together. If the result is an even number (2 or 4) then you put two dots. If the result is an odd number (3) then put a single dot. For example:
You apply this process as follows. The 1st and 2nd Mothers. The 3rd and 4th Mothers. The 1st and 2nd daughters, and the 3rd and 4th daughters. This produces the section known as the nieces.
Then you add the nieces together in the same way. 1st and 2nd nieces, and the 3rd and 4th nieces. This produces the figures known as the witnesses.
The two witnesses are added together, and this produces the Judge. While historical examples often show that the Judge was the final figure, some geomancers would add the Judge to the 1st mother, which generates a figure known as the Sentence, or the Result of the Result. I often use this additional figure and I see many others use it as well.
The shield chart is the primary method for doing geomancy divination. The next post will discuss the house chart, a method that was added in Europe, but little used elsewhere.
With the shield chart you can effectively answer any question posed with little difficulty. Quite simply, the answer is the Judge. Especially for a yes or no question, the judge if it is a favorable figure, would indicate a yes, while the unfavorable figure would indicate a now. Since there are only 8 judges possible (Populus, Via, Carcer, Conjunctio, Amissio, Acquisitio, Fortuna Major, Fortuna Minor) the favorability or unfavorability will depend upon the question. Although in most cases, the figures of Acquisition and Fortuna Major will almost always be favorable indications.
There are additional methods that assist with interpreting the shield chart, but that will be for a future post. If you are interested, I highly recommend just practicing generating the shield chart and making yourself familiar with the process.
Beltane Festival April 30, 2022
Beltane Festival at Points of Light in Long Beach!!!
When: Saturday April 30, 2022 2-6 Pm
Where Points of Light, 4358 East Sterns Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90815
Come down and Turn the Wheel with Points of Light. There will be vendors, readers, and an altar set up where you can participate. The shop will also be open as well.
Look forward to seeing you all there.
RSVP At the link below
Intro to Geomancy: Geomantic Signs
In Geomancy, we use sixteen signs that are interpreted to give indications. These signs are made up of four lines in which there are either one or two dots. It is essentially like binary code, in that you could consider the single dot indicates something as being “on” or active and the two dots is the equivalent of “off” or “inactive”. This combination of dots shapes the figures.
The four lines are considered like a body, with a head line, neck line, body line and feet line. That is top line, second from the top, the second from the bottom, and the bottom line.These are also associated with the elements, with the head/top line equated with fire, the neck/second from the top is Air, the body/second from the bottom is Water, and the feet/bottom line is Earth.
This combination of active and inactive lines in the four sections creates the sixteen signs of geomancy.
These combinations have given values to certain signs, interpreted in various ways. One of these ways is elemental. Depending upon the active elemental lines, the figure has been assigned a certain element correspondence.
These same signs have also been assigned to the seven classical planets of astrology, which has also given them an additional set of elemental correspondences. While the elemental values given upon the active lines in the figure are fairly consistent, the addition of the planet qualities are not as consistent, and so this elemental quality changes depending upon the author. This variation between elements caused the planetary elemental quality to be considered the outer elemental quality, while the more consistent elemental value is considered the inner elemental quality.
The arrangement of the figures also creates several more categories of signs. A stable and mobile sign, entering and exiting signs, and partial and impartial signs.
A stable sign is one that indicates long term influences, and events that aren’t changeable.
A mobile sign is one that indicates short term influences, and events that are more changeable.
An entering sign is similar to a stable sign, while an exiting sign indicates a mobile sign. Some signs are neither exiting or entering, and need to be considered in relation to the signs around them.
Because these signs are made of combinations of one or two dots, some of these signs have even numbers, and some are odd numbered. The even numbered signs are considered impartial, and these numbers are the only ones that become judges. If you get an odd numbered sign as a judge, it means that you have miscalculated the shield chart and should go back. It makes it a kind of failsafe, knowing that an error has been made. That is why the even numbered signs are considered impartial, representing objective, factual conditions that are apparent to anyone. All the odd numbered signs are thus considered partial, and represent subjective and emotional states.
The sixteens signs are as follows:
Puer (Latin for Youth, or a Adolescent Male) – Inner element Air: Outer element: Fire Planet: Mars Sign: Aries Mobile Exiting, Partial
Puella (Latin for Maiden or an Adolescent Female) – Inner element: Air Outer Element: Water Planet: Venus Sign: Libra Stable Entering Partial
Albus ( Latin for White) -Inner Element: Water Outer Element: Air Planet: Mercury Sign: Gemini Stable, Entering Partial
Rubeus (Latin for Red) – Inner Element: Air Outer Element: Water Planet: Mars Sign: Scorpio Mobile, Exiting, Partial
Amissio (Latin for Loss) – Inner Element: Fire Outer Element: Earth Planet: Venus Sign: Taurus Mobile, Exiting, Impartial
Aquisitio (Latin for Gain) – Inner Element: Air Outer Element: Fire Planet: Jupiter Sign: Sagittarius Stable, Entering, Impartial
Populus (People or Crowds) – Inner Element: Outer Element Water: Planet: Moon Sign: Cancer Stable, Both, Impartial
Via (The Way or Road) – Inner Element: Outer Element: Water Planet: Moon Sign: Cancer Mobile, Both, Impartial
Carcer (Latin for Prison) – Inner Element: Earth Outer Element Earth: Planet: Saturn Sign: Capricorn Stable, Both, Impartial
Conjunctio (Latin for Conjunction) aka a Meeting or Crossroads – Inner Element: Air Outer Element: Earth Planet:Mercury Sign: Virgo Mobile Both Impartial
Fortuna Major (Latin for Greater Fortune) – Inner Element:Earth Outer Element: Fire Planet: Sun Sign: Leo Stable, Entering, Impartial
Fortuna Minor (Latin for Lesser Fortune) – Inner Element: Fire Outer Element: Fire Planet: Sun Sign: Leo Mobile, Exiting, Impartial
Laetitia (Latin for Joy) – Inner Element: Fire Outer Element: Water Planet:Jupiter Sign: Pisces Mobile, Exiting, Partial
Tristitia (Latin for Sadness) – Inner Element: Earth Outer Element: Air Planet: Saturn Sign: Aquarius Stable, Entering Partial
Caput Draconis (Latin for Head of the Dragon) – Inner Element: Earth Outer Element: Earth Planet North Node of the Moon: Sign: Virgo Stable, Entering Partial
Cauda Draconis (Latin for Tail of the Dragon) – Inner Element: Fire Outer Element: Fire Planet: South Node of the Moon Sign: Sagittarius Mobile, Exiting, Partial
You will also notice another pattern with the signs, based upon how I presented them above. The combinations above show opposite pairings. Youth and Maiden, White and Red, Gain and Loss, etc… You will also notice that these signs are either Reversions or Inversions of each other. This expresses a relationship between these signs that when they are found together may influence your reading.
One of the practices done in generating a chart (which we will cover in another post) is the adding of the signs together. This creates a third sign from their combination, creating new active and inactive lines. It also expresses a relationship between those signs that is a little tongue and cheek. For example, Puer and Puella when added together creates Conjunctio or Meeting. This could be interpreted as literal meeting of a man and woman, or as “sexual union”, depending upon the reading.
I will be doing readings at Points of Light Beltane Festival, April 30, 2022, from 2 to 6 pm. Located at 4358 E Stearns St, Long Beach, CA 90815. There will be other vendors and readers, as well as a public altar to observe the turning of the wheel of the year. See you there!
Intro to Geomancy
One of the types of divination or fortune telling I use is called Geomancy. It is a very old method of forecasting future events, that in the medieval period and renaissance, was second only to Astrology, and in many ways much more accessible. Mainly because it wasn’t as complicated as astrology and didn’t require as much knowledge, education and well, funding in order to learn and practice it.
Geomancy’s origins are actually in what we now call the Middle East. While we don’t know exactly where it came from, the basic method was developed in those lands, and it is actually a translation of the arabic name for it that we call it geomancy. ‛ilm al-raml (a more exact translation would be the science of the sand) was translated into Greek as geomanteia, which from latin and into English became geomancy. This is of course, not to be confused with the other geomancy, which would be reading literal omens by looking at rocks, the earth, and natural events, which was included in groupings of pyromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy etc…
I came across geomancy purely by accident, seeing a book being published in my local bookstore and finding i’s cover and back interesting. It was hooked by the unusual method of doing geomancy, compared to the familiar methods of cartomancy using Tarot and playing cards, which parallel reading and casting runes in some ways, and many other methods of divination. In a sense, the more comparable, but in no way the same, methods would be I-Ching readings, divination using astragalli, or knuckles bones, or diloggun.
Later, this method of divination would fall out of favor, and as playing card games arose, it would be forgotten almost completely. However, as only medieval manuscripts would be translated, the plethora of geomancy books that were written would ensure that it would be noted. With the occult revival of the 19th century, this caused geomancy to be revived in a limited scale. The Order of the Golden Dawn actually had a means of practicing geomancy as a means of divination, and it’s pamphlets that initiates received detailed the complicated process of making a set to practice geomancy, essential creating a ritual sandbox where marks would be made and formed into a reading. However, those early translations were often very mechanistic and lacked the depth that later translations would provide, and so this geomancy would be often overlooked. Although interestingly, an often overlooked source of geomantic education was the much recommended Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson, which in its first chapters on divination described a simple method of casting a geomantic chart and the meanings of the signs, although without much detail beyond that.
There are now many more books about geomancy, and quite a few academic publications about it, from a history of the occult perspective, to understanding it culturally in its different iterations around the Middle East and Africa, and more. If you want a practical manual that can help you get started and give detail to really work it, I recommend The Art and Practice of Geomancy by John Michael Greer. I also run a group on Facebook called Geomantic Campus, which has various files of translated works describing Geomancy to those who are interested, among other things.
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