For those of us who wonder about the, all be it slow, Crashing of the stock market and the growing interest in Fantasy Sports Gambling; Geomancy and its history might be a relevant point of entry into the exploration of the all too human desire to incorporate the expression of the random into a view of the future?
Wallace Stevens wrote:
““A violent order is disorder; and a great disorder is an order.
These two things are one.”
But before Stevens, Stéphane Mallarmé, and in particular his 1897 poem Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira le Hasard [“A throw of the dice never will abolish chance/hasard”] Explored in a completely poetic (and Hegelian) way the common problematic that locates confusion at the center of our media and sensory experience.
And yes, we are still seeing our reality is being cast like dice…
Geomancy {Greek: γεωμαντεία, “earth divination”} starts with generating random numbers. It gets its name from the original method of generating random numbers by making dots in the dirt. Pen and paper is easier for us. Flipping coins also works. Whatever method you choose, it is important to concentrate on the question of interest while generating the numbers. It was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. But of course literary types are wise to the folly of embracing chance, Geomancy’s first mention in print was in William Langland’s Piers Plowman where it is unfavorably compared to the level of expertise a person needs for astronomy (“gemensye [geomesye] is gynful of speche”). In 1386 Chaucer used the Parson’s Tale to poke fun at geomancy in Canterbury Tales: “What say we of them that believe in divynailes as …geomancie…” Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were also known to use geomancy for comic relief. Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy makes a passing reference to geomancy. In the first two stanzas of Canto XIX in the Purgatorio,
It was the hour when the diurnal heat
no more can warm the coldness of the moon, vanquished by earth, or peradventure Saturn,
When geomancers their Fortuna Major see in the orient before the dawn
rise by a path that long remains not dim…
— Dante Aligheri, referencing the Greater Fortune (Fortuna Major) and the Way (“the path”)
Traditionally, geomancy requires a surface of sand and the hands or a stick, but can be done equally well with a wax tablet and stylus or a pen and paper; or even on your iPhone, online gambling, e-trading… the similarities are unavoidable…. ritualized objects may or may not be desired for use in divination. Often, when drawing marks or figures, geomancers will proceed from right to left as a tradition from geomancy’s Arabic origins, although this is by no means mandatory. Modern methods of geomancy include, in addition to the traditional ways, computerized random number generators or thrown objects; other methods including counting the eyes on potatoes….
Well, the book I am working with today gets deep into the technical “Scientific” aspects of the Method or Generation! It is a thick serious book full of plates and diagrams.
This compilation of Latin treatises on geomancy includes, among others, Robert Fludd’s Tractatus de geomantia, H. de Pisis’ Opus geomantiae completum in libros tres, and Quaestiones geomantiae Alfakini, here attributed to Platon de Tivoli but, according to Charmasson, based on the treatise of Gerard of Cremona ( (c. 1114–1187) was an Italian translator of scientific books from Arabic into Latin) .
“[T]he practitioners of the art have found geomancy to be a true science through which things future, present, and past may be revealed, provided the geomancer’s judgement is not obscured by the obnoxious influences of the body or the deceitful actions of the senses.” (Richard Fludd 1617, in Josten 1964). Always remember: “The science of geomancy is very occult and inward; it is difficult to account for it in a rational way. Geomancy transcends vulgar understanding to which it must appear foolish, inane, absurd, and ridiculous.”
” (Richard Fludd 1617, in Josten 1964). Josten, C.H. 1964. Robert Fludd’s Theory of Geomancy and His Experiences at Avignon in the Winter of 1601 to 1602. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 27: 327-335.
596G Henri de Pisis (ca 1639) Robert Fludd 1574-1637 Ibn al-`Arabi,; 1165-1240
Tabulae geomanticae, seu, Liber singularis de tribus ultimis ex antiquo manuscripto de anno MDXXXV : iam primo lucidatus, annexis duabus tabellis huic studio mirè inservientibus, caeteroquin utilibus & incundis.
[Bound with]
Fasciculus geomanticus in quo varia variorum opera geomantica continentur : opus maxime curiosum, a multis hactenus desideratum, nunc vero magno studio correctum & ex parte jam prima vice editum
I) Francofurti ad Moenum : Sumptibus Joannis Davidis Zunneri,1693
II) Verona: [Heidelberg?] 1687. $Sold
Octavo 6 1/4 X 3 1/2 inches A-M8, N4 (N4 blank).II) A-Z8, Aa-Rr8,Ss4Page 123 is misnumbered here as in some copies of the first edition. II) first edition.
This copy is bound in full original vellum, soiled but solid. The Tabulae is with out an author The second book bound here, is a collection ofgeomantical treaties, including texts by Robert Fludd and H. De Pisis and an article ”Quæstiones geomantiæ Alfakini” which is attributed to Platon de Tivoli, but which is probably based on a text by Gerard de Cremona. :
Liber primus. De animae intellectualis scientia by Robert Fludd — Liber secundus. De praxis geomantica by H. de Pisis — Liber tertius. Quaestiones geomantica by Alfakini. These two works are frequently found together and in 1704 they were issued together.
Geomancy, from Ancient Greek ge manteía translates literally to “foresight by earth”; it is a translation of the Arabic term ilm al-raml, or the “science of the sand”. Earlier Greek renditions of this word borrowed the word raml (“sand”) directly, rendering it as rhamplion or rabolion. Other Arabic names for geomancy include khatt al-raml and darb al-raml. Geomancy is thought to have established roots in the Middle East when returning Arabic merchants brought the esoteric knowledge from East Asia via the Silk Road. The original names of the figures were traditionally given in Arabic, excluding a Persian origin. The reference in Hermetic texts to the mythical um um al-Hindi potentially points to an Indian origin, although Skinner thinks this to be unlikely. Having an Islamic or Arabic origin is most likely, since the expansive trade routes of Arabian merchants would facilitate the exchange of culture and knowledge. European scholars and universities began to translate Arabic texts and treatises in the early Middle Ages, including those on geomancy. Isidore of Seville lists geomancy with other methods of divination including pyromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and necromancy without describing its application or methods; it could be that Isidore of Seville was listing methods of elemental scrying more than what is commonly known as geomancy. The poem Experimentarius attributed to Bernardus Silvestris, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, was a verse translation of a work on astrological geomancy. One of the first discourses on geomancy translated into Latin was the Ars Geomantiae of Hugh of Santalla; by this point, geomancy must have been an established divination system in Arabic-speaking areas of Africa and the Middle East. Other translators, such as Gerard of Cremona, also produced new translations of geomancy that incorporated astrological elements and techniques that were, up until this point, ignored. From this point on, more European scholars studied and applied geomancy, writing many treatises in the process. Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Christopher Cattan, and John Heydon produced oft-cited and well-studied treatises on geomancy, along with other philosophers, occultists, and theologians until the 17th century, when interest in occultism and divination began to dwindle due to the rise of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason.
Thorndike, Vol. VIII, p. 481-482.; Caillet 4035.
Having spent a fair amount of time leafing through this book, I am still amazed by the sustained effort that truly dedicated practitioners have spent on this seeming, to me, fatal effort: For those of you how have more endurance or might I say faith in this, this book offers more methodology that I can bare!
Please explore it and enjoy!
February 10, 2016 at 12:00 PM
You know, in ‘De occulta philosophia’ (1510), von Nettesheim used a magic square of the sun with diagonal totals of 111 and an overall total of 636. Hebrew Kabbalistic names were produced via the match between numbers and letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Numerically, it turns out to be a perfect match to one identified in Foulridge in Lancashire, England:
6+11+16+21+21+31 = 111 and 36+29+22+15+8+1 = 111.
Note here that both are sequential in their ordering. They should spell out the names of the magical names for the Spirit but they need to be put through the Hebrew alphabetical box for that.
There is also the following repeated over several magical documents in the Lancs / Yorks area and so far untranslated and considered by most to be gibberish:
Apanton hora camab
Naadgrass Pquavetariad
Araptenas ro dignasque
Pagns sutgosikl
Tetragrammaton
Inverna amo Th.
Dominus deus hora q
Fiat fiat fiat.
The one in the Pendle Heritage Museum also possess an array of constellation symbols and some names of Hebrew origin. Underneath the poorly transcribed sun symbol (which is now damaged) is the word, ‘Machen’. As J. Harland and T. T. Wilkinson pointed out – ‘Lancashire Folklore’ (1867), ‘Machen’ is the name of the fourth heaven in the ‘Heptameron’. What he does not draw attention to is that the names of Kedemel and Hagiel which appear alongside two of the constellation symbols are actually associated with the incorrect constellations. For Kedemel and Hagiel are associated with the planet Venus whereas the ‘Kedemel’ constellation symbol (as well as the geometric symbol on the far right of the page – the ‘neutral character’) should actually be associated with the Sun and (in the case of the former) labelled ‘Sorath’. Also in this segment is the name, Michael and a four part symbol of the Angel of the Lord’s Day (Sunday – ‘Sabbath’ in this context represents Saturday): Michael Dardiel Huralapal which, we are told, “ought to be called the four parts of the world”.
The Heptameron was reputed to have been written by Peter de Abano. In actual fact, this is unlikely since he died in 1316 and this text seems to have been first published in the late 1500s although some of the symbols have undoubtedly been recycled from far earlier texts. In its first form this short grimoire was bound up with the Fourth Book of the ‘Occult Philosophy’ which in turn was reputed to have been written by Agrippa von Nettesheim and in its second publication (undated but very probably around 1600) the supplementary material included the other three books of the Occult Philosophy.
🙂 Indeed, a lot of sustained effort was going into this sort of thing – and it takes a lot to sort it back out again!!!!
February 10, 2016 at 12:48 PM
Reblogged this on A CERTAIN MEASURE OF PERFECTION.
February 10, 2016 at 2:18 PM
Lets see If we work with the these numbers According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the parish has a population of 1,503, a decrease from 1,506 in the 2001 census. or maybe the OS grid reference SD889422
we can come up with something of note!!! Foulridge derives its name from two Anglo-Saxon words, fola (foal) and hyreg (ridge), suggesting that it was established by Angles, and took its name from the ridge where they grazed their foals – possibly at the modern day Pasture Head.
August 29, 2016 at 6:24 PM
Very educational, thank you!