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The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book I Pt. 3

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Here Abano explains the broad signification of the sixteen geomantic figures and the seven traditional planets.

In order that one may more easily judge every question without much effort, what follows is the signification of the sixteen figures.1

Acquisitio is the figure of Jupiter in Aries, good, fortunate, mobile, entering, masculine, airy, eastern, hot and wet. Good in the first house and bad in the seventh. It signifies good fortune in what one seeks to obtain, and in things of friendship, weddings, merchandise, company, in traveling, in getting what you desire. It is bad for sick people and prisoners. It signifies blood loss, torments and a long time, and similarly it signifies pregnancy, and changing abode, and sailing, and for the sailor it announces storms. The absent party is delayed, and it is not good for changing from one lord to another, and it shows damage from enemies. In war against enemies it promises victory, and it’s good for obtaining honors and offices, but it doesn’t grant greater accumulation. In case of suspected pregnancy, or theft or other crime, or when one hears rumors, this figures confirms that they are true. The stolen goods are retrieved. The baby is a boy. In sending money or making down payments/deposits it is good. It is good for children and friends and relatives and indicates holiness, abundance, great harvest, but famine will soon follow.2

Amissio is a figure of Venus in Scorpio, unfortunate, mobile, exiting, masculine, fiery, hot and dry, southern, evil. Good in the eighth and bad in the second. Good for travel and selling, the sick person will heal soon, the prisoners comes out of prison soon, it is good for pregnant women, the baby is a boy, the medicine is good. It is bad for fights and enmities, it signifies unfaithfulness, end of friendship, theft, murder and similar things, and if an army marches against the other it will be victorious without effort. If one is in the right it solves matters quickly. It signifies droughts, dearth, flax, legumes. Sending money to make gain is fruitless, you will lose. The fugitive is not found, nor the stolen goods. One doesn’t obtain the pardon, nor anything one seeks. There is no marriage, and when there is, it is soon broken with great shame. It is the enemy of all pleasure and usefulness. Favors, honors, dignity and friendship are not lasting. It is good for asking about family and friends that one hasn’t seen: they are well. If one departs to go damage someone else, one doesn’t succeed, but still comes back safe and sound. One doesn’t acquire the besieged place, but it is good for taking medicines. Abundance of fruits, shortage of everything else.

Fortuna Maior is a figure of the Sun in Acquarius, fortunate, entering, fixed, well-meaning, feminine, earthy, western, nocturnal, cold and dry. Good in the eleventh, bad in the fifth. It denotes increment and accumulation and increases the wealth of one’s lords, friendship with people in high places, with noble people and women, good marriage, pleasure in writing and through messengers, good news, honors, dignity, friendship, the absent party and the pilgrim are well. It grants all that one wishes, except if one wants to gain it from an enemy or suspicious person, especially if it’s about money. Love and hate are firm and unshakable, positive for building and sowing. Rumors and suspicions of theft and pregnancy are true. It is good for coming out of a bad situation, but at the beginning it is hard. In traveling it will be hard at first and easy and with mirth afterward. One can flee from danger. There is no war. The baby is a boy, born without danger. Sickness and imprisonment are of long duration, and difficult to overcome, and it is hard to get back one’s dues. Fertile year. Lots of rain.

Fortuna Minor is a figure of the Sun in Taurus. Unfortunate, mobile, exiting, fiery, masculine, hot and dry, southern, evil, good in the second and bad in the eighth. It signifies company of noble people, traveling with noblemen and buying and selling on their account. It is good for the sick and the imprisoned, and for anyone who wants to flee dangers or problems. It helps pregnant women, and the baby is a girl. Sailing. Sentences can be appealed victoriously, good for entering in other people’s places and country, the besieged town is not captured. It is not good for starting something that is meant to last. The stolen goods are not found. The army will be defeated. Bad for marriage, and if the marriage is made soon there will be rumors. It doesn’t concede anything. Dignity and honor don’t last. Suspicions and rumors are false. The messenger and the absent party come back and bring gain. Damaged merchandise. Promises are not kept. Debts are not collected. Family and friends in good state. If one takes a medicine one heals soon, but it also signifies bleeding. A year of dearth, few fruits, lots of barley and spelt. Problems while traveling.

Laetitia is a figure of Jupiter in Taurus, eastern, airy, fortunate, hot and wet, masculine, sanguine, mobile, entering, positive, diurnal. It means honors, exaltation, dignity, good travel and good for returning. The messenger and the absent party come back bringing joy, good news, it is useful to travel, albeit belatedly, and the dignity one has obtained may falter. Good for buying and selling, the prisoner will be released, changing one’s lord or king or one’s place is positive, it is good to be at the service of a lord, to make down payments/deposits, taking medicines. Long life, increase of wealth. The sickness is long, even though one will heal eventually, bad for partnerships. Every suspicion is false. The stolen goods and runaway servant are not found, the debt won’t be paid back. Hatred and friendship are both steadfast, the servant or subject don’t love you. In questions of faith, of doubt about treason, and when asking about absent friends or family members, they are well. It helps pregnant women, the baby is a boy. Good for sailing, dreams are positive. A year of dearth, but it doesn’t last long, good rain. If you wonder about a friend’s death, it’s not true, and he’ll heal. Good in all houses, except the seventh, eighth, twelfth and the occupied place won’t be conquered.

Tristitia is a figure of Saturn in Scorpio, unfortunate, fixed, entering, malicious, earthy, melancholic, cold and dry, western, feminine. Good to be with noblemen and not bad for departing. Going up against an enemy won’t cause damage out of doubt,3 risk of death in conflict, you will stay in prison, good for partnerships, and the occupied place will be conquered unexpectedly. Good to buy animals, bad for selling them. Good for down payments/deposits, bad for sending money, lots of rain which is helpful, the shunned woman will go back to the friend, victory in a fight, one can keep one’s salaried office. It is bad for the sick and the prisoner, for it lasts long, bad for traveling, danger of death. It doesn’t give you anything that you may wish, except trifles. When there’s suspicion of someone’s death, or of robbery, or any other rumor of the sort, it is true. Accidents by water. The absent party is in trouble, sickness or poverty, the marriage will cause trouble, damage, enmity, moving to another region will cause ill, and wanting to conquer it will cause defeat, the debt is paid back but with great trouble and many issues. One’s life or that of those around you will be problematic or full of sickness, when one has an office, or some dignity, one will suffer through it. Little honor. Childbirth causes issues and comes late, and perhaps results in miscarriage. The baby will be a girl. Both love and hatred are steadfast. Whatever is damaged won’t be fixed. The year will be plentiful. Evil in all houses, except the eighth. Worst of all in the eleventh. When trying to hurt others one will cause even worse damage.

Albus is a figure of Mercury in Cancer, fortunate, common, feminine, nocturnal, phlegmatic, watery, cold and wet, southern, mobile, benign. It means good profit, increase of wealth, honor, influence and being in the right, merchandise, useful partnership, excellent marriage, the stolen goods are retrieved, it concedes everything one asks, honors, servants, buying livestock, conquering a land, the debt is paid back, the rumors or suspicions are true. The runaway servant comes back. Good friendship and money or other possessions. Risk of losing something through oversight. Short life. In war it is bad for the querent, it implies flight and loss of blood, infirmity, long time in prison, problems in pregnancy, the baby is a girl, storms during the sailing, if one has doubts about traveling, the travel will cause harm, the absent party won’t come back, and it is bad for changing place. If one asks for friends or relatives, they are well, and he who is in the right will win the fight [or court case]. Good for agriculture, abundance, good and fruitful rains. Good in the fourth house, bad in the tenth.

Rubeus is a figure of Mars in Gemini, unfortunate, mobile, exiting, masculine, fiery, hot and dry, diurnal, malicious, southern, evil in everything, except in war, in which case it is the best. Good for writing and for marriage, in occult things, and he who seeks honors will obtain them. Good for bloodletting or bleeding, good for going up against the enemy, war will cause death and blood, good for not changing room [place?] or country, the pregnant woman will, after great trouble, be happy with the child, the suspicion of theft or other vice is true.
Every good company (or partnership) is good, except in traveling, and the sick will heal after long trouble, and the prisoner will stay long in prison, will need to pay a bail, the down payment is secure, it grants everything one wants from a nobleman, the rumor coming from afar is false, love is steadfast, especially if adulterous, and war will be victorious. Good for buying animals, bad for selling them. The absent party won’t come back, debts are paid back but there will be controversies, and if one wants to speak to a lord one will find him occupied in many things. Very bad for the sick and for prisoners, it means damage, and burials. In travel there is damage and danger when changing place. The marriage is surrounded by suspicions and issues, sailing bad, winds against your way, bad for selling. The occupied place is conquered, the lost item is not found. Good fortune for the querent, and everyone he asks about is well except one.4 The year is dearthful at the beginning, abundant later, lots of rain. Wrath and hatred and danger, bad for taking medicine. Bad in the fourth, seventh and eleventh house, and also in the first except for war and conflict.

Puella is a figure of Venus in Gemini, fortunate, positive, temperate, fixed, entering, feminine, nocturnal, watery, cold and wet, phlegmatic, southern. Good for buying, it brings peace with problematic friends, it solves fights. The absent party comes back with profit, inheritance, increases wealth, confirms marriage, but it will be with suspicions, enemies are won, the journey is delayed but will bring profit. In war there will be loss, sickness and prison are of long duration, and one will pay a fine, sailing causes trouble but only at the beginning. One gets what one wants. Animals and servants will be lost. The pregnant woman will give birth with some problems, the baby is a girl. The suspicion of death, or that a woman is pregnant, is false, suspicion of theft and vice are true. Good for taking medicines, and even if the illness is serious one will heal. You will get your goods back. For obtaining honors, dignity and office it is positive. Good for getting back money, bad for sending money, what is lost is found. If you fear a lord or any other danger, you are not without danger, the down payment/deposit is not secure, as you will lose a good deal of it, changing place or lord is bad, better to stay where you are. If you are accused of something you will be punished, the occupied place won’t be conquered, good for one’s or other people’s health. Average year, at first abundant, then with dearth, lots of rain, which will endanger fruits and plants, good in all houses except the seventh.

Puer is a figure of Mars in Libra, unfortunate, airy, hot and wet, sanguine, masculine, eastern, exiting, malicious, good in war and in sickness, it means overcoming and vanquishing the enemy. Obtaining a favor from a lord will be hard at the beginning, but then you’ll succeed, good for sending money and traveling, the sick and the prisoner and the absent party are fine, and after trouble they’ll come out of it. Suspicion of theft and other wicked deeds is true, suspicion of pregnancy is true, and the woman is give birth with great trouble, and the baby will be a boy. Good for traveling to other countries, good for buying animals and servants. The suspicion of enmity is false. Death will be due to chance happenings and disasters. Good for serving a lord, but bad for gaining from other people; the absent party will come back with usefulness; reconciliation with enemies, the bandits will go back to their homeland, long life, one will die rich. Friendships won’t last, the journey is long and full of issues, problems with merchandise. Not getting back your dues without fighting harshly and with great controversy. Bad for relocating, risk of drowning, promises are not kept. Family and friends are fine, but some of them will fall sick soon. Good for agriculture. A year of dearth, with little rain. Only ryegrass will be abundant. Good in the second and seventh houses, not in the others.

Populus is a figure of the Moon in Capricorn, temperate, of mixed fortune, mobile, common, watery, phlegmatic, cold and wet, bicorporeal, feminine and masculine, northern, nocturnal. Good in things done in company and with many people or animals, and for commerce, siblings, sailing and travel, in sailing positive powerful winds, good for selling and buying but with difficulty in marriage, childbirth will be easy, and there will be twins, in travel rain and lots of water, the sick person dies, the absent party and the pilgrim come back with gain: the prisoner will be released soon but with issues and money problems. The figure grants what one wants, good in things of fathers and mothers, and in occult things. In war and fights one can flee without causing rumors, the besieged place is not conquered. Bad for travels by land, and war and fights are long, and relocating will cost a lot of money. Suspicion of theft or other vice are true, as well as love and hate, if a lord waves war he’ll have a hard time winning. In things of faith and Church it means disunion and schism. Marriage is not easy, will cause debts and divorce with infamy. In making contracts and down payments and partnership, they won’t last. Long life, useful for the querent, but when asking for friends or family, it means infirmity and death, honor and dignity don’t last. The year will be in every way abundant, with much rain and water. It is middling in all houses.

Via is a figure of the Moon in leo. Temperate, mediocre for good or ill, though more bad than good, watery, cold, wet, phlegmatic, nocturnal, feminine, northern. Good in travel and things that are done soon and don’t last. Good for gardens and fields and for taking water from the river, for sowing small grains, in marriage in selling and in buying with little gain, for going from place to place, but not for staying a long time. The pregnant woman will give birth soon, the baby is a boy. The prisoner and the sick are soon free, the absent party and the pilgrim will come back soon. In things of war it causes quick resolution, and one must be cautious, because it threatens flight.5 And every thing is easy and good in the beginning, but doesn’t last. Buildings, marriage, contract, company, friendship, servants, honor, offices, commerce and in every thing it means some diminishment and loss, except in travel, and it is not very good in the eleventh.

Carcer is a figure of Saturn in Pisces, unfortunate, fixed, earthy, feminine, cold and dry, melancholic, western, bicorporeal, malicious for possessions, marriage, contracts, down payments/deposits. It means6 secret sciences, occult things, company. Good for travel by road, and in earthy things, suspicion of prison and news of death are true. Good in building, in inheritance, in entering a region or city or office. The besieged place won’t be conquered, the lord lasts in his dominion. In war and in other strifes, the enemy will flee, in planting trees and wineyards, it means great inner turmoil, grave sickness, possibly deadly, burial. The absent party doesn’t come back, long term in prison, lack of success, not good for asking for help, bad for travel by water, dangers in pregnancy, the baby is a boy. Faith is steadfast, in everything else it’s bad. A year of dearth. Good only in the second.

Conjunctio is a figure of Mercury in Virgo, bicorporeal, mediocre, fortunate, airy, hot and wet, sanguine, eastern, masculine, diurnal, common, benign. Good intellect, science, doctrine, scriptures, writings, company, partnership, commerce, but the partnership will be with ulterior motives, and with issues, and one will need to be cunning to take advantage of the partner, good for marriage. The lost good or stolen good are returned, betrayal and such things are found out, in office and dignity it is good, mediocre wealth and inheritance, easy and short travel, woman with child, but childbirth with issues, twins. The besieged place will be freed with cunning and betrayals. War with shrewdness and deceit, rumors, fights will lead to bleeding, discord and bad advice among fellow citizens. It promises death and burial to the sick, the prisoner will be condemned to death if he is a thief, one can be bailed out belatedly by paying, dangers in travel and problems through it, and storms on the sea, accidents and drowning. The absent party comes back with difficulties. Messengers and letters are false, sent by occult enemies, all kinds of machinations, duplicity, bad in the second house.

Caput is a figure of Jupiter and Venus in Virgo, entering, fortunate, earthy, cold and dry, fixed, melancholic, benign, late, feminine, western, nocturnal. Good for being at the court of the king or of a lord, and good for them, improvement of one’s status, lordship, noblemen, mirth, marriage, long travel and with honor. The absent party comes back belatedly, but with profit. The childbirth is easy, the baby is a boy, good children and siblings, obtaining help from noblemen, victory in war and conflict, the besieged place won’t be conquered, ecclesiastic honor, good for sailing and buying animals. Long trouble for the sick and the imprisoned. The lost or stolen goods are not found. Good in every other thing. Best in the sixth house, bad in the twelfth.

Cauda is a figure of Mars and Saturn in Capricorn, unfortunate, exiting, malicious, choleric, fiery, hot and dry, southern, diurnal, masculine, mobile. Good in retrieving stolen goods and lost things, but with trouble, and in finding out occult things, and for betraying. Travel will happen soon, but with danger. It frees one from enemies and allows to sell animals, and it is good for asking help to one’s superiors. The sick person will heal after great trouble, and the prisoner will be freed after great danger. Suspicion of theft and other vice is true. The marriage is cause for suspicions, the pregnant woman will give birth soon with many issues, the baby is a boy. In water and sea there are storm and wind. The besieged place is conquered, it means rumors and controveries and what one doubts will happen, love is false, buying causes damange, and the lost honor won’t be won back, except with grave diffulties. And it is good for being soon freed from trouble. Good in the sixth, seventh, twelfth and tenth and fourth house, bad in the second, fourth, eleventh.

MQS

Footnotes
  1. For the modern mind, this is one of the most maddening and frustrating sections of Abano’s book due to the seemingly unreconcilable descriptions of the figures. Still, I believe it is important to take this section seriously as it gives insight into the way of thinking of the old practicioners of Geomancy. In the original text, Abano sorts the meanings of each figure out into ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ but because he often doesn’t keep to the classification (attributing good meanings to the ‘bad’ category and vice versa) I have eliminated the headings of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It may be that I am wrong in doing so. ↩︎
  2. Admittedly, the above is quite a mishmash of significations, some of which are hard to reconcile among themselves and with the general meaning of the figure. In the following figures similar discrepancies can be observed. We ought to bear in mind that, as it often happens with Medieval authorities on occult subjects, Abano is aiming at giving us extremely concrete examples so that the intelligent reader can extract a general signification from them. As for the seemingly nonsensical meanings (why would Acquisitio signify famine?) it may be that I am missing something, or it may mean we ought to keep an open mind in judging the figures. It may also be a blind placed deliberately to confound readers. This may explain such gross inconsistencies as Laetitia being given as entering instead of exiting (note that Abano said the opposite in the first section) and being given some of Tristitia’s ideas of stuckness. ↩︎
  3. “Andando contra lo inimico per sola dubbitatione non patira alcun damno”. This sentence is not clear to me. Could it mean that the enemy will be assailed by doubts? ↩︎
  4. This sentence is not clear, as it seems to imply everyone around the querent is fine, except one person. Also, this description of Rubeus has to be one of the most puzzling I have ever come across. ↩︎
  5. it is not clear if this means the flight of the querent’s side or of the enemy’s side. ↩︎
  6. I have added this “it means”, as otherwise it seems that Carcer would be bad for occult things as well. However, this addition also causes another problem, as it makes it seem as though Carcer means company, while usually it is seen as a figure of solitude. ↩︎
astrology, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

Friend or Acquaintance?

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In Astrology, and therefore in Geomancy, we distinguish between a friend and an acquaintance, the former being eleventh house matter, the latter seventh house. Obviously, the difference is not as clear cut as it may seem, especially in the age of social media, where all it takes to be someone’s friend is to click on the ‘add’ button.

In the old texts, both of Geomancy and Astrology, we often find examples of how to judge questions like “Will my friends be useful to me?” This may sound callous compared to our sentimental notions of friendship, but keep in mind that 1) the old notion of usefulness was broader back then, and it included everything concerned with the person’s well-being, both inner and outer 2) friends formed part of the person’s network of alliances in tackling the hardships of life 3) the eleventh house is the second from the tenth, which represents heaven, so it represents friends as wealth from heaven. Clearly friends were highly revered (just read Plato, Seneca, Xenophon or even Confucius for proofs).

As I mentioned somewhere else, my husband and I are in the process or moving, and as usual when moving, we suddenly discovered that we own three times more stuff than we thought. One friend volunteered to help us the following day, bringing us boxes and helping us with her car. In the evening though she said she didn’t know if she would make it. I cast a reading to see whether she would come:

Will she come to help us? (app used: Simple Geomancy)

Let us forget the Judge for a second and concentrate on the chart. If we take the girl as ‘our friend’ she should be eleventh house, and the eleventh house is occupied by Cauda, which also doesn’t move anywhere.

Now if my mom asked me who she is, I would say ‘a friend’. Yet she is more my husband’s friend. I am just on good terms with her, but I wouldn’t call her to spill my guts or even to ask for help, though it was of course very nice of her to volunteer.

If I take her to be my acquaintance, she is seventh house, and occupied by a more promising Conjunctio, which does spring to the second toward me. And she did end up coming.

The negative Judge, Amissio, possibly refers to the fact that we ended up losing a couple of objects due to recklessness (notice the Via Puncti reaching back to Puer in the fourth house). I also ended up losing a friend to gain an acquaintance, it seems.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, Occultism and Esoterism, Philosophy

The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book I Pt. 2

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Here Abano teaches how to cast a reading and then explains the main meanings of the astrological houses.

The method of forming the above mentioned sixteen figures is to use a pen to mark sixteen rows of points on a piece of paper. These must then be paired two by two, until, at the end of each row, either two points are left or only one.

Abano’s illustration of how the four mothers are formed

Then one must take the geomantic figures that emerge, in the following way.

Abano illustrates how to add the Four Mothers to their place

Note, however, that the previous operation is not carried out by counting the points one makes, nor by following one’s fancy, but rather by virtue of the Primum Mobile and First Motor God the Eternal, who moves one’s hand, and is to be carried out with good intentions and by invoking God’s grace and help.1

From the first four figures, four other figures are derived by taking the first points of each of the first four figures, which go to form the fifth figure; then by taking the second points of each figure to form the sixth figure, and so on with the third row of points to form the seventh, and the fourth row to form the eighth, as shown below.

Abano’s illustration of the Geomantic Shield

Once the eighth figure has been drawn, take the first and second [figure] and, proceeding in the same way as at the beginning, form the ninth; then take the third and fourth to form the tenth; then the fifth and sixth to form the eleventh; then the seventh and eighth to form the twelfth.

Then, add the tenth and the eleventh to form the thirteenth, known as the First Witness, and the eleventh and the twelfth to form the fourteenth, known as the Second Witness. Add the witnesses to discover the Judge.

This completes the chart, with every figure in its necessary place according to the question asked, as will be explained.
However, often one may take the Judge and the first figure and add them together to obtain the Judge of the Judge,2 which is the sixteenth figure, which we will discuss later.

It is to be noted that the main figures are the first twelve, of which four are strongest. The first and the tenth are the best, but the first is even better. The seventh and fourth are also good. These four figures are called the angles, noting which one may know the strength and virtue of the chart. Following them, the second and fifth figure, and the eighth and the eleventh are known as succedent. Finally the last four are the third, the sixth, the ninth and the twelfth, which are called cadent, as shown in the following figure.3

Abano’s illustration of the principle of angularity as it applies to geomancy

And the first figure is called the strongest and best of all, because it signifies the virtue of the Heavens on the querent, that is, he who asks the question.4 It is called the Ascendant.
Following that, the tenth is in the middle of the heavens and has great power and influence. When it is good it bodes well, but when it is unfortunate it means great misfortune in terms of how the question is going to end.5

The seventh figure is opposite the Ascendant and is called the Western Angle, and it bodes well when good, ill when bad, especially in questions concerning the seventh house, as will be shown.
The fourth figure or house, although categorized as an angle, is called the feeblest of them, because it is at the bottom of the skies in our hemisphere. Nonetheless it indicates the end of the matter and of the querent’s intention.

Then we have the second, fifth, eighth and eleventh, which are succedent houses because they come after the angles, and are good or bad according to the figure [that falls in them] and the question asked, and they indicate the present and what is yet to come for the question asked.
The third, sixth, ninth and twelfth figure are called cadent, meaning what runs against the question, and the worst are the sixth are twelfth. The eighth is also among the evil houses.

The above is especially to be noted because every figure has two virtues, one according to its nature and an accidental virtue depending on where it falls in the chart.6 As such, if a good figure falls in the first house, its goodness is amplified, and similarly in any other angle. When it falls in a succedent house, it has less power, and when it is cadent it has even less.
And this point holds true for evil figures as well in their ability to cause bad fortune. An evil figure in an angle, therefore, will mean a great bad fortune, especially in the fourth.

Nonetheless, among the bad houses, the sixth and eighth and twelfth are the worst, and every figure falling therein is dangerous in any question.7 And they are especially dangerous if they are evil by their own nature.
Said figures are considered not just according to their virtue and the places where they fall, but also according to the question, that is, according that they are appropriate or inappropriate concerning the thing asked.8 As such, what follows is the signification and the property of each of the houses.

The first house signifies the life and body, the being and soul and intention of the querent or the one for whom the question is asked. It also means the beginning of all things. It sits opposite the seventh, and signifies the goods and money of the prisoner. It is the joy of Mercury.9

The second house is wealth,10 gain and loss, and all that the querent owns. It is opposite the eighth, and it signifies the gain of the querent’s family.

The third house indicates siblings, blood relatives, short journeys and enemies of faith and of the Roman Church,11 neighbors, etc. This house is opposite the ninth. It also signifies rumors, and travel companions. It is the joy of the Moon.

The fourth house indicates buildings, buried things, the end of every question. Also, the father, the wealth of a brother or sister.12 It is opposite the tenth.

The fifth house indicates mirth and happiness, children, messengers and letters, music, food, clothes, mid-range travel, the father’s wealth. It is opposite the eleventh and it is the joy of Venus.

The sixth house indicates wrath and an evil mind, toil, malady, servants, people who are subjected to the querent, small animals. This house is the joy of Mars.

The seventh signifies the wife,13 the lover, an opponent, public enemies, games of chance, thieves, bandits, partners. The place the querent goes to, medicine, the wealth of one’s servants. It is opposite the fist house, and is absent.14

The eighth house indicates death, fear, danger, the wealth of the enemy, inheritance from the dead, the wife’s dowry, gain from the land one moves to,15 debts, Necromancy, evil spells. It is opposite the second.

The ninth house signifies religion, Ecclesiastics, the Pope, preferment, priests, the Christian faith, burials, fame or infamy, long travels, the wealth of the absent party.16 It is opposite the third, and is the joy of the Sun.

The tenth signifies the Emperor, the King, the lord,17 great honor, a doctor, a master, art, profession, sea, ship, towers, the thing stolen, famine, fertility, the church’s wealth, and advantages gained from the church. It is opposite the second.18

The eleventh signifies friends, hopes, fortune, courtesans, a lord’s wealth, common goods, the mother’s dowry. It is opposite the fifth, and is the joy of Jupiter.

The twelfth house signifies prison, prisoners, pilgrims and endless wandering, long violence,19 adversities, traitors, occult enemies, great beasts, the friend’s wealth. It is opposite the sixth. It is the joy of Saturn.

Whenever a question is asked, the issue always involves the first house, and in the second place the figure found in the house that is appropriate for the question, and depending on whether it is fortunate or not, together with the four angles, thus does one judge the issue. And especially [it is to be considered] whether the Witnesses and Judge are good.

MQS

Footnotes
  1. Here again, as in Part 1, Abano insists on the role of the divine (and again, he does it in a typical Christian Aristotelean fashion). He is doing more than just paying lip service to the religious ideas and institutions of the time, in so much as he asserts a central point common to all forms of divination: that it is divine nature that shines through the divination process. This explains his assertion that the points must not be counted nor be created following one’s fancy: the diviner’s ego must be switched off in order for the divine to act through it. ↩︎
  2. ‘Sopragiudice’ in Italian, which literally means Superjudge or Overjudge. ↩︎
  3. Abano follows the relatively standard (by that time) association of the astrological houses with varying degrees of strength. ↩︎
  4. The first house is given to the querent, so a good figure in it would indicate something positive for them or that they are positive. ↩︎
  5. This seems intended more to emphasize the importance of the angles than to link the tenth house with the ‘end of the matter’, which is a meaning typical of the fourth house. ↩︎
  6. This is meant to reflect the notions, common in Medieval astrology, of accidental and essential dignity of the planets, though the concept must be modified a little in order for it to apply to geomancy. ↩︎
  7. There is a certain digree of ambiguity concerning this issue, as it is not always clear if a figure in a weak house will see its power decreased or its evil import amplified. This ambiguity is present in astrology as well. ↩︎
  8. This is an important concept. A good figure becomes bad if its meaning is opposite to the querent’s intention, and vice versa. ↩︎
  9. Joy is an astrological term. The joys of the planets are houses where the planets are supposed to perform their heavenly duty better. A typical attribution is: the first to Mercury, the third to the Moon, the fifth to Venus, the sixth to Mars, the ninth to the Sun, the eleventh to Jupiter, the twelfth to Saturn. Abano follows this scheme. ↩︎
  10. The term used by Abano is ‘robba’ or, in current Italian, roba. This literally means ‘stuff’. Keep in mind that in the Middle Ages, for many people, stuff was more important than money, and that the moneyed economy we have today was barely in its infancy back then. The second house indicates stuff, and therefore all moveable possessions. ↩︎
  11. Because the third house sits opposite the ninth, which is the house of God. Obviously, Abano wrote at a time when Catholicism was the dominant and (for the most part) only allowed creed. ↩︎
  12. This is by the principle of turned houses. The second house from every house indicates the wealth of the thing or person signified by that house. ↩︎
  13. or husband, if the querent is a woman or a man interested in men. ↩︎
  14. It’s unclear to me what Abano means by this. The seventh house is sometimes given to ‘the absent party’ to know if the person will come back, but the wording Abano uses is strange. ↩︎
  15. The land one moves to is ‘there’, which is the opposite of ‘here’, signified by the first house. ↩︎
  16. I don’t understand why the ninth should indicate the absent party’s wealth. ↩︎
  17. ‘Signore’ i.e., the ruler of a Signoria, a small Italian monarchy typical of the time. ↩︎
  18. Actually it is opposite the fourth. ↩︎
  19. ‘longa violentia’ ↩︎
astrology, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Occultism and Esoterism, Tarot, Uncategorized, Vera Sibilla

The Spiritual Aim of Divination

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I had a short but interesting conversation with a visitor of this site. He quite liked many of my articles but was somewhat perplexed by my iconoclastic attitude toward the spiritual side of divination. I think this is a good time to clarify my views further, since the reason I am so scathing is not that I hate spiritual work, but that I take it seriously.

First off, let us distinguish inspired divination from technical divination. Inspired divination is the downloading of information, as it were, from a spirit, a deity, an inner contact or some such. This depends wholly on either the inborn talent or the level of initiation of the diviner.

Technical divination works for the same reason that stones fall: because that’s how things are. One learns it the same way one learns math: they must be predisposed to it and must put in the work. Of course, one can mix the two types of divination, but they are essentially different.

Either type can be used to obtain concrete information. Either type can be used to fool yourself or others (but especially yourself). The difference is that inspired divination, especially as a consequence of initiation, has the perk that the diviner must have somewhat balanced themselves out of many of the delusions typical of the spiritual community at large. Technical divination may be just as hard for other reasons, but the counters used in the prediction are available to everyone.

From here come the hordes of tarot readers and astrologers that (believe they) are using divination for spiritual aims, or inner work, when in fact they are sinking more and more into Delululand, as most of the time they aren’t really speaking to gods or angels or ancestors but rather to their own ego (have you ever heard any tarot reader or astrologer that uses this approach say something that goes against their convictions? How come their gods or ancestors always have their same values, their same political bias, their same preferences?)

The preconception here is that divination, in order to be spiritual, must be about spiritual topics. This is as a result of two widespread phenomena: 1) most people in our society see spirituality as something separate from concrete life, something that takes place in a bubble of white light 2) most people who become interested in divination are initially interested in concrete answers, but finding that getting these is hard and not immediately rewarding, they reframe divination as ‘not really to know the future but to improve yourself’. This is at the heart of the deadly divination/fortune-telling distinction that plagues our art.

In reality, divination is an inherently spiritual practice: 1) by the mere fact of working it deflates the modern ego 2) by its ability to pinpoint how the future is likely to pan out it puts a stop to the marketable but untrue ‘you are the master of your own destiny’ nonsense 3) by showing how the intricacies of real life can be mirrored in a microcosmic mirror it teaches the diviner to rise above himself and his preconceptions and adopt a more universal standpoint 4) by proving that some things are fated it teaches the practitioner to have compassion for themselves and others and to reevaluate their priorities.

Once again, a geographic analogy could help. A traditional diviner who seeks to understand life is like one using a map of a territory to find his way around. By studying it closely the traveler can eventually form a good understanding of the land he is in. A (pseudo)spiritual approach to divination though is like that same traveler painting the map with a uniform white paint because, at the end of the day, everything is one divine unity. That may very well be, but now the traveler is lost without the map and can only sink deeper in his preconceptions in trying to picture the route.

MQS

astrology, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, Occultism and Esoterism, Uncategorized

Veggie Delivery Service! (Double reading)

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Background: hubby and I are on a weekly veggie delivery service from a nearby farm. Yesterday they told us they might come a bit later than usual (normally they deliver at around 12-13pm). As hubby needed to go to work and I had a ritual to carry out and carefully timed, I needed to know that I wouldn’t be disturbed during the ceremony. So I asked when the veggies would come.

Horary Astrology

Here’s the horary chart (the time was 12:56)

Horary question: when will the veggies arrive? App used: Aquarius2go

Leo rises, so Leo’s ruler, the Sun, is my significator. The delivery service is our business partner, since we buy stuff from them and they bring it to us, so they are signified by the seventh house ruler Saturn (ruling planet of Aquarius). The veggies are their moveable possession, so they are indicated by the second house from the seventh, i.e., the eighth house, and its ruler Jupiter. The Moon is given to us as cosignificator and indicator of the flow of action.

Right off the bat we notice the Moon, weakly dignified in the seventh house, so action (obviously) starts from the delivery service. The Moon has separated from a square with reception with Jupiter, i.e., the veggies, and is now void of course. Clearly there are some problems (a square with reception is still a square). Still, there is a promising sextile (a positive aspect) between the Sun and Saturn, though it’s odd to see our significator applying to theirs (see the Outcome for why).

The Sun perfects the aspect at 17 degrees and 10 minutes of Taurus. The difference from its current position is of 4 degrees and 38 minutes, so they will come in 4 and 38 somethings. I would need to see serious testimonies to judge they won’t come. The Moon being void of course can delay them, but there is a clear aspect showing they’ll come. So they will come today, I thought.

Therefore, they will either come in 4 minutes and 38 seconds or in 4 hours and 38 minutes. I thought the second option was the most likely, so since the chart was cast at 12:56, and allowing some wiggle room for reality to follow astrology, I judged they’d come anywhere between 17.30 and 18, though I was somewhat skeptical, since this timing would have been unprecedented for them, and they’d told us they would come only a little bit later than usual. But at least this gave me plenty of time for my ritual.

Geomancy

After my ritual, which was timed for around 15 in the afternoon, I decided to have a look at what Geomancy had to say about this delivery:

Geomancy reading: veggie delivery service. App used: Simple Geomancy

The Geomantic court is positive, with the Judge Acquisitio showing we’ll get the veggies, but the Witnesses are mixed, showing problems. Albus is in the first, and it’s a good figure for commerce. A very unpromising Cauda Draconis is in the seventh house (which is also the left witness). I must say that I have seldom seen things resolved satisfactorily when Cauda is involved. However, Cauda does spring to the second house, perfecting. I was also relieved, but also a bit puzzled, to see Albus spring to the eighth, also perfecting the chart. Usually, the figure that moves makes the effort. In this case, it seems both of us will make some effort, and that our effort is better than theirs.

Outcome

They did come between 17.30 and 18 (around 17.45). However, they gave us the wrong delivery, which we only noticed when they’d already gone away. So we had to call them back and go meet them to exchange the wrong veggies for the right ones. Note how in the horary our significator applies to theirs and how, in the Geomantic chart, Albus moves to the eighth.

Lessons to be learned

1. Horary questions must not be idle, but they need not be life-changing. Knowing when a delivery service will arrive may seem idle curiosity, but I had a serious reason to want to know the answer (I take my magic work seriously)

2. The divination device, whatever it may be, ALWAYS knows best, though we may be fallible in interpreting it. People like to say that divination lets you contact your unconscious. I think there is altogether too much talk about the unconscious, and not enough talk about the superconscious. I saw from the Geomancy reading that there were problems connected with the delivery, though I could not pinpoint them exactly. In hindsight it is clear what the chart meant.

3. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to see how perfectly the cosmic mechanism works.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

Peter of Abano’s Geomancy, Translated and Annotated / Index

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Back to the Geomancy Page

My translation and comments on Pietro d’Abano’s Geomanzia. Please note that I am no professional translator of older texts and sometimes I had to paraphrase. Feel free to leave comments on how this project could be improved. Note that the translation and commentaries are copyrighted to me, so please ask for my permission before using it.

Introduction to Abano’s Geomancy – And why it makes for an interesting read

Book I
Part I – The Figures
Part II – The Chart
Part III – Meanings of the Figures
Part IV – Meanings of the Planets
Part V – The Witnesses, Judge and Sixteenth Figure
Part VI – Judging the Figures in the Houses

Book II
Part I – The First House and Second House
Part II – The Third and Fourth House
Part III – The Fifth House and Sixth House
Part IV – The Seventh House and Eighth House
Part V – The Ninth House and Tenth House
Part VI – The Eleventh House and Twelfth House
Part VII – Example of Various Dynamics
Part VIII – Geomantic Perfection

Book III
Part I – Geomantic Mutation
Part II – Acquisitio and Amissio in the various houses
Part III – Fortuna Major and Fortuna Minor in the various houses
Part IV – Laetitia and Tristitia in the various houses
Part V – Albus and Rubeus in the various houses
Part VI – Puella and Puer in the various houses
Part VII – Populus and Via in the various houses
Part VIII – Carcer and Conjunctio in the various houses
Part IX – Caput Draconis and Cauda Draconis in the vatious houses

Book IV
Part I – Acquisitio, Amissio, Major and Minor as they derive from other figures.
Part II – Via, Populus, Caput and Cauda as they derive from other figures.
Part III – Albus, Rubeus, Conjunctio and Carcer as they derive from other figures.
Part IV – Laetitia, Tristitia, Puella and Puer as they derive from other figures.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, Occultism and Esoterism, Philosophy

The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book I Pt. 1

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Back to Index / Part 2

Here Abano introduces the subject matter and the names and main qualities of the sixteen figures.

Geomancy is a simple science to master. It employs the same methods of astrology to answer any question the person might have—whether what one wants to undertake will meet with success or not, according to natural virtue and celestial influence.1

This method of judging [questions] and receiving information avails itself of four figures made of ink points on a piece of paper by the Geomancer’s hand, which is moved by the heavenly influence of God’s eternal grace.2 As such, one must ask one’s question with sincerity and a pure soul.

From the initial four figures, sixteen are derived (and no more than sixteen) to answer any question the person might desire to know [the answer to]. However, not all the figures are necessary in answering a specific question. Only fifteen are, and they are enough to answer any question.3
These fifteen figures don’t always come up in the same way, but only as Heaven influences them to come up.4

These are the sixteen figures and their names:

Abano’s illustration of the sixteen figures with their latin name

Four figures are assigned to each quadrant of the Heaven (North, South, East, West) and to the four elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) as will become clear shortly. They are called fortunate or unfortunate.

Rubeus, Amissio, Fortuna Minor and Cauda are Fiery, that is, hot and dry, and of choleric complexion,5 southern, diurnal, masculine, strongly malicious, haughty and furious.6

Acquisitio, Laetitia, Conjunctio and Puer are airy, that is, hot and wet, of sanguine complexion, eastern, masculine and diurnal, very good and temperate, and good wherever they fall in the chart.7

Puella, Populus, Via and Albus are cold and wet, of phlegmatic complexion, northern, feminine and nocturnal. Generally fortunate and good where they fall in the chart.

Caput, Fortuna Maior, Tristitia and Carcer are earthy, that is, cold and dry, and of melancholic complexion, western, feminine, nocturnal. Two are good, Caput and Fortuna Maior, while two are bad, Tristitia and Carcer. They are slow and slothful in their meanings, but they cause what they promise nonetheless.

All the above is to be noted when a figure represents a person and another figure a different person, that we may know their character and how well they may get along.

The sixteen figures have yet another cycle of attributes that renders them positive or negative. Depending on whether they are mobile or fixed, we may know how soon or how late the effect will manifest, and how the situation shall be resolved according that they are entering or exiting or mixed.

Acquisitio, Fortuna Maior, Albus, Caput, Puella and Tristitia are entering, fixed, good and fortunate, except Tristitia, which is always bad.

Amissio, Fortuna Minor, Rubeus, Cauda, Puer and Laetitia are exiting, mobile, bad and malicious, except Letitia, which is always good.

Populus, Via, Conjunctio and Carcer are said to be common, that is, neither very quick nor very slow, and they are also neither too good nor too bad, though they tend to err on the side of goodness, except for Carcer, which is always evil.8

And yet another meaning must be added, which shows whether the people signified by the figures conform to one another in terms of will and soul, according that the figures are mobile, quick or slow, and according that they are single-bodied or accompanied [double-bodied].9

Acquisitio, Fortuna Maior, Puella, Caput, Tristitia and Albus are fixed, single-bodied and regular.

Amissio, Puer, Cauda, Letitia and Rubeus are mobile, half-bodied and diminished.10

Fortuna Minor, Carcer, Conjunctio, Via and Populus are common, that is, between mobile and fixed, and they are neither too quick nor too slow, and are double-bodied and accompanied, except for Via.

And in order that one may easily know the virtue and influence of the Heavens through the sixteen figures, we must also note their correlation with the twelve zodiac signs. Similarly, they are attributed to the seven heavenly planets, according to their influence on the twelve signs.

Abano’s illustration of the astrological attributes of the geomantic figures

However, each figure does not mean the same as the other [assigned to the same planet]. Each has a separate meaning. As such, Carcer is Saturn direct, Tristitia is Saturn retrograde; Acquisitio is Jupiter direct; Letitia is Jupiter retrograde; Rubeus is Mars direct, Puer is Mars retrograde;11 Fortuna Maior is the Sun when elevated, Fortuna Minor is the Sun when depressed and obscured; Puella is Venus direct, Amissio is Venus retrograde; Albus is Mercury direct, Conjunctio is Mercury retrograde; Populus is the waxing Moon, Via the waning Moon. Consequently, the direct signs are better than the retrograde. Furthermore, Caput is attributed to Jupiter and Venus, Cauda to Saturn and Mars.12 But this is not always the case, but rather depends on the question asked.

MQS

Footnotes
  1. The concept of natural virtue underpins the Western magical worldview. The word ‘virtue’ must not be understood in a moral sense, but rather in the sense of ‘property’ or ‘power’. It forms part of the Hermetic doctrine of Signatures. The virtues of the things under the Heavens are generally seen as corresponding to certain celestial factors. ↩︎
  2. This is a rather typical phrasing found in various premodern handbooks. It is connected with the Christian Aristotelean worldview prevalent at the time, whereby God, the unmoved mover, ruled the world not directly, but through a series of concentric spheres, each one corresponding to a planet, except the sphere of the fixed stars and that of the primum mobile. ↩︎
  3. The sixteenth figure is what is commonly referred to as the Judge of the Judge, formed by the Judge plus the first Mother. ↩︎
  4. In other words, they are ‘random’. ↩︎
  5. The word ‘complexion’ is used in a slightly different way from today. It refers to the theory of the four humors (black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm). These humors influenced not just the character, but also, up to a point, the appearance of the subject as well as their being prone to this or that illness. ↩︎
  6. Abano seems to include Fortuna Minor among the malicious figures, though later in the text he treats it as generally positive. ↩︎
  7. Abano however does not always treat Puer as a positive figure. ↩︎
  8. In all this section Abano seems to be painting with a very broad brush, talking of the figures as “always good” or “always bad”. Of course things get more complicated. ↩︎
  9. This is borrowed, as so much in geomancy, from astrological practice, where the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Pisces and Sagittarius) are also called double-bodied. Double-bodied signs, and therefore geomantic figures, can indicate the involvement of more than one person. ↩︎
  10. The concept of half-bodied does not, to the best of my current knowledge, come from astrology, but I may be wrong. ↩︎
  11. This seems prima facie counterintuitive, as a retrograde planet is generally considered worse than a direct one, and Puer is generally not considered worse than Rubeus. ↩︎
  12. This is in accordance with the relatively standard Medieval practice of attributing the North Node of the Moon to the two benefics, Jupiter and Venus, and the South Node to the two malefics, Saturn and Mars. This practice developed over time and does not seem to originate in older astrology of the Hellenistic period, when both nodes appear to have been considered more or less malefic, when considered at all. ↩︎
astrology, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, Uncategorized

The Shield Chart is the Only Chart

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One of the things newcomers to Geomancy learn first is the distinction between shield chart and astrological chart. This distinction has been popularized by Greer in his two books on Geomancy, but it doesn’t originate with him, though he is, to my limited knowledge, the first to insinuate that the shield chart is a beginner’s tool and the astrological chart a more advanced one (his attitude changes in his Golden Dawn writings, where he tries to purge astrology from geomancy and render the shield chart autonomous).

Agrippa (followed centuries later by the Golden Dawn) clearly has the astrological chart in mind, since he advocates putting the four Mothers in the four angles, the four Daughters in the four succedent houses and the four Nieces in the four cadent houses. This idea can only come to mind to someone who primarily uses the astrological square chart, or at least pictures the geomantic reading in those terms.

There are other authors, however, like Cattan, Abano and Alfakini (note that some attribute Alfakini’s work, found in the Fasciculus Geomanticus, to Gerard of Cremona) who clearly think of geomantic practice in terms of the shield chart alone. Not because they are unaware of the possible correspondence with the astrological houses, which all employ, nor because they never attempt to draw the square astrological chart (Christopher Cattan does it in the first part of his book), but because it is clear to them that the twelve astrological houses are meant as a technique to be used to draw meaning out of the shield chart and not as a new or different way of doing geomancy.

This can be seen from the fact that both Abano and Alfakini (and possibly also Cattan, but I have to study his text more closely) clearly consider the twelfth house NOT to be contiguous to the first, as it would be in the square chart. On the other hand, both consider the ninth house, which in an astrological square chart would have no relation to the first, to be contiguous to the first, just because in a shield chart it belongs to the same triplicity as the first and is close to it (see below)

Shield chart in Geomancy, with first and ninth house connected. App used: Simple Geomancy

In this chart, Puer in the first is close to Cauda in the ninth, but not to Puella in the twelfth.

This new way of looking at the chart is also making me reevaluate the doctrine of the company of houses, which I have somewhat disparaged in a previous article, and it might even shed light on the strange doctrine of the triplicities, which Greer makes much of but which is barely present in the old texts except in an apparently purely decorative sense. I will need to read the texts more closely and experiment.

What seems clear to me though is that there was never meant to be an astrological square chart, for many authors of the Medieval tradition, but rather merely an astrological lens in looking at the shield chart.

MQS

astrology, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Occultism and Esoterism, Philosophy, Playing Cards, Spirituality and Psychology, Tarot, Uncategorized, Vera Sibilla

On Prayer Before Divination

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Some days ago I was talking to a fellow occult student and we were comparing notes on how we go about the process of divination. When I told her that I tend to say a little prayer before divination she was surprised, so I thought it would make for a nice topic.

First off, I do not think that praying before divination is mandatory, nor do I think that it’s the prayer that makes divination work. It doesn’t matter if it’s synchronicity, as Jung said, or if it’s the spirits that live inside the cards, as my first teacher told me, or if it’s the Soul of the World, as the Platonists believe, or if symbols are living beings, as I believe: the point is that the cards always rearrange themselves in a meaningful pattern, the planets always find themselves in the right aspects, the right geomantic figures always emerge, the right I Ching Hexagram always forms.

As such, in a way, divination is a natural activity, so much so that it’s probably one of the earliest activities humans have undertaken. The reading of symbols came much sooner than the reading of characters, because symbols occur naturally to the mind whenever we realize that X means Y. The moment the first men drew any kind or conclusion from any kind of observation, divination was born.

And yet, I believe that divination is also essentially extraordinary. In a way, divining is as normal as cleaning your cat’s litter box, but in another sense it is also very different. In divining we read a part of the whole (the divination system) to derive conclusions on the whole (life itself). Indeed most divination systems are universal languages that mirror the complexity of the Macrocosm.

As such, divination cannot be decoupled from a global understanding of life, and this global plane is where philosophy, spirituality and occultism unfurl their wings.

In my own view, occultism is divided into three branches: devotion, divination and magic. But these three aspects are not discretely separated. For instance, theurgy brings together magic and devotion. Divination and magic are often coupled together, such as in electing the right time to make a talisman or in asking if a magical action is warranted or advisable or effective.

Praying before divination brings together devotion and divination. It is a way of recognizing the extraordinary import of the action I’m about to take, despite this action being, in another sense, perfectly ordinary.

It helps me more than it helps the divination system itself. Nor does it have to be prayer. I know of some people who wash their hands before divining. In Imperial China official diviners had to cleanse themselves before attempting divination, and this is true all over the world.

No one divines willy-nilly. No one *should* divine willy-nilly. This has nothing to do with respect (unless you are receiving information from a particular spirit), it has nothing to do with asking deep questions (divination should always be practical) and it has nothing to do with not having a sense of humor (you can have a sense of humor, in spite of how bland and vapid many of us are). It does have to do with knowing what place divination has in the scheme of things and reaching that place. I do it through prayer, others may do it by just taking a second to clear their mind, but everyone does it one way or another.

MQS

astrology, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Philosophy, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

Three Enemies of Good Divination (and One Ally)

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Remember those listicles that were much in demand about ten years ago, before people grew tired of the rage-bait? Yea, they still do them, but they have somewhat fallen out of favor, especially since they are so basic even AI can do them better than the poorly paid saps who wrote them back then. Anyway, here’s a short one, hopefully more interesting than the average listicle, on what generally hinders good divination, plus a bonus entry for what helps.

Mechanic Behavior

Divination eschews mechanic repetition. Asking the same question one or two times is fine because there is still enough emotion behind it to put the system into motion. In fact, it is fine to ask the same question many times as long as the querent is truly invested in it, but the more the querent asks the same question with the same emotional drive as the first time, the more you know the querent is cuckoo and is best avoided. In general, it is best to wait a little between divinations.

This point is one that skeptics seem unable to wrap their heads around, because it seems to run against the principle that experiments can be repeated ad libitum, but it is really quite simple: divination is not an experiment, and the more you mechanically ask the same question, the more the real question changes to whatever it was at the beginning to “does divination really work?” and this question cannot be answered by divination itself.

All in all, a balanced relationship to divination as a means of intelligence gathering, together with the understanding that we are attempting something more exceptional than cleaning the cat’s litterbox, is in order.

Shallow Understanding of the System You Work With

If you asked your doctor how he knows his diagnosis is right and he told you it was just his intuition, you’d feel justified in seeking a second opinion. Yet among ‘spiritual seekers’ anything that reeks of effort and study is frowned upon and people go to extraordinary lengths in order to avoid the simple fact that both knowledge and experience are needed to perform satisfactorily in any sector of life. So they come up with anything from intuitive advice (which essentially means “don’t ask me how I know”) to the great angel HRU to fairies to ‘kickass schools of non-duality.’

The reality is that divination is a method for the acquisition of knowledge. If we don’t make the effort of studying the method we don’t get much knowledge. I believe the current distrust of study comes in part from the distrust of intellectual knowledge (see the bonus entry in this list) and in part from the fact that many people who become interested in divination do it to create a little bubble of mystery and mysticism away from the golden cage that is modernity.

Either way, it is a misguided attitude. Divination requires study. Lots of it. In fact, the study will never end. The good news is that we can start practicing much sooner. As for intuition, it does have a place in divination, and I’ll talk about it in the future, but unbridled intuition is just a badly behaved kid.

Bias and Preconceptions

I’ve already talked at length about this, and I will probably still talk about it in the future. It bears repeating: the more we think we know, the less we’re open to discovery.

Aside from ideological forms of bias, which are always bad regardless of the ideology, there are also other forms. One of the most deadly forms of bias is, for instance, the belief that the querent knows what they are talking about. A querent doesn’t need to be malicious in order to confuse us: they can just be confused themselves, or they can have built a whole scenario inside their heads before sitting in front of us.

On the other hand, talking over our querent and treating them like a special needs child won’t do either. There needs to be a balance between our ability to see the truth of the matter in a dispassionate way (thanks to the divination system we are employing) and open-heartedness toward the querent. As a matter of fact, an open heart can go a long way.

Querents can also be biased against us, but we can do nothing about it. People sometimes ask me what happens when someone asks false questions maliciously. What happens is that if I’m lucky, I’ll understand it from the cards, while if I’m not lucky I’ll make a fool of myself. Either way, the person won’t change their mind about divination or about me, so why bother getting worked up about it? Stuff happens.

Your Brain, Your Best Friend

Ever since Madame Blavatsky disgracefully started peddling poorly understood principles of oriental philosophy, the Western esoteric world has become convinced that the “mind is the enemy”. People generally think so (isn’t it ironic? The mind thinking that the mind is the enemy) because they are incapable of using it but want to sound deep in their incompetence.

In reality, if there is such a thing as overthinking, there is also such a thing as underthinking. The idea that everything must come immediately and instinctively to us in a space of pure knowing and that everything resembling logic is the work of the devil is patently wrong.

Aside from the fact that this is philosophically delusional, most people who think only the mind lies never stop to consider how many times their instincts or their heart actually let them down on a day-to-day basis. The reality is that our mind, our body and our heart are ways for us to acquaint ourselves with the world, and all three can lead us astray depending on the context, just as much as they can guide us to profound insight.

Therefore, if it is not correct to let the other two dry up, it is also not correct to become mindless pseudomystics, sacrificing our understanding on the altar of an ill-digested and rather offensive orientalism (“Counterfeit Asian philosophy 101 says the mind is poo poo, therefore it’s true. See how smart I am? I misquote exotic people!”)

The funny thing is that most Eastern forms of divination are not at all intuitive, and in fact verge on the overly technical (see Da Liu Ren, Qi Men Dun Jia, Wen Wang Gua, Vedic Astrology, Purple Emperor Astrology, etc.) They are also incredibly accurate exactly because of how majestically brainy they are, though they may not have the glamour of the latest useless set of empowering witchy cards. Traditional Western divination systems, of course, can be just as accurate, but people usually have the expectation that they need to unplug their brains on the way in. Let’s not do this. Our mind can sometimes lead us astray. It can also help a great deal.

MQS