Geomancy
Geomancy is a European method of divination by points: the diviner marks four rows of random points, a figure is assembled from the parity of each row, and from four figures a “shield chart” with derived figures is built. There are sixteen figures in all. The calculator below builds the full shield: four Mothers, four Daughters, four Nieces, two Witnesses, and the Judge. Settle on your question before you build the shield: the Judge answers exactly that question, and a different question needs a new shield.
How the shield is built
The order of calculation is strict, which is why geomancy can be fully programmed.
- Four Mothers. For each one, four rows of points are marked; an even count gives a double point, an odd count a single one. The result is four figures of four lines each.
- Four Daughters. These are read “by columns”: the first lines of all four Mothers give the first Daughter, the second lines give the second, and so on.
- Four Nieces. Each is obtained by adding two neighboring figures: identical lines give a double point, different ones a single point.
- Two Witnesses. The sum of the first two and of the last two Nieces.
- The Judge. The sum of the two Witnesses. This is the answer.
Accuracy check: the Judge must always come out as a figure with an even total number of points. If it doesn't, there's a mistake somewhere in the addition.
How to read the answer
The main figure is the Judge: it answers the question. The Witnesses add detail: the Right Witness describes the past and what led to the situation, the Left Witness the near-term development; some schools reverse the order, so it's worth settling this in advance.
Fortuna Major, Acquisitio, Laetitia, Albus and Puella are considered favorable. Unfavorable are Rubeus, Cauda Draconis, Carcer, Tristitia and Amissio. The rest are mixed or depend on the question: Conjunctio answers “yes, but together with someone else,” Via means change, Populus means “depending on circumstances,” and Puer is good for disputes and competition but not for agreement. Fortuna Minor and Caput Draconis are favorable, but the first only for a short time and the second only for new beginnings.
Figures in the houses
The full classical technique distributes twelve figures of the shield across the twelve astrological houses and looks at which house holds the figure governing the topic of the question. This makes reading noticeably more complex and requires knowing the houses — they are covered in the astrology section.
For most questions the Judge and the two Witnesses are enough, so the calculator shows those, with the full shield displayed alongside.
What's in this section
16 figures — structure, meaning, and reading in questions about love and money.
Where the method comes from
Geomancy came to Europe from the Arabic tradition of “ʿilm al-raml,” the “science of the sand,” where the figures were drawn in sand. From the 12th to the 17th century it was one of the most widespread divination methods in Europe: Agrippa, Robert Fludd, and Gerolamo Cardano all practiced it.
Mathematically the method is sound and fully deterministic after the first random step. But that first step is random, which means the result has no predictive power. Geomancy is interesting as a historical method and as a rigorous system of reading.