Geomancy

Geomancy tool

Geomancy or geomantic ( ancient Greek γῆ ɡɛː , German 'earth' and μαντεία manteía , German 'prophecy' , thus roughly 'prophecy from the earth') is a form of clairvoyance , in which markings and patterns in the earth or in sand, stones and used in the ground. Arab North Africa is assumed to be the place of origin. In the twelfth century, geomancy came to Europe through Latin translations of Arabic works and became a popular method of divination during the Renaissance . Today geomancy in the original sense has almost disappeared in Europe. The term is used today for other methods, for example in connection with the so-called ley lines , which are more similar to Chinese Feng Shui .

history

Geomancy became known in Europe in the 12th century through Latin translations of Arabic texts - for example by Gerhard von Cremona . B. by the treatise Ars geomancie by Hugo von Santalla . Another well-known work is De geomantia by Robert Fludd in the Tractatus secundus. De naturae simia seu technica macrocosmi historia , Oppenheim 1618, Frankfurt 1624. Through Arabs, who traded and spread their beliefs all over the coast of East Africa, geomancy came to Madagascar, where it was spread as Sikidiy and is still practiced today. Geomancy was already controversial in Europe in the 17th century. The philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz described it in 1686 in his Metaphysical Treatise ( Discours de métaphysique ) as a “ridiculous art” and used it as an example of a completely sterile instrument of knowledge.

Sikidiy method in Madagascar

In Europe, Sikidiy was made known according to the Malagasy method by the French colonial official Raymond Decary.

A sikidiy exercise begins with a chance experiment (called the questioning of fate ) using seeds from a fano tree, a species of acacia . While reciting “magic” formulas, the fortune teller takes a handful of grains, the number of which he does not know, and puts them in a pile in front of him. Then he takes two grains away from it until only one or two grains remain. He repeats this process 16 times. Each drawing result (one or two grains) is stored in a square table of four by four fields, the mother matrix (Renin-Tiskidy). Each of the four columns (from right to left) and the four rows (from top to bottom) has a name. Columns: bilady, fahatelo, maly, tale; Lines: fianahana, abily, alisay, fahavalo.

From the mother matrix, eight additional figures, each with four fields arranged one above the other, are calculated. These eight figures are placed under the mother matrix. In each field the result is either one or two grains. The "daughters" are determined by adding two columns or two lines in a specified order. The addition is done modulo two,

one grain and one grain make two grains,
one grain and two grains make one grain, (from the three grains two grains are subtracted again as in the questioning of fate, one grain remains)
two grains and two grains make two grains (two grains are subtracted from the four grains as in the questioning of fate, two grains remain).

Fundamentally, fortune tellers differentiate between the eight daughter figures, each of which has a name (from left to right: fahasivy, ombiasy, haja, haky, asorita, saily, safary, kiba), between figures with an even number of grains, the prince ( mpanjaka), and the figures with an odd number, the slaves (andevo). Each of the prince figures as well as each of the slave figures also has its own name. Prince: z. E.g. 1 1 1 1 tareky, 1 1 2 2 alsady, slaves: e.g. B. 1 1 1 2 karija, 1 1 2 1 alimizanda

The rules of interpretation are complex, but in principle princes are stronger figures than slaves. The person seeking advice is represented by column one (bilady) of the mother matrix. When asked about an illness, this column would be added 1 bilady to daughter haja. If figure 1, which stands for the person seeking advice, is a slave, and the figure which stands for the disease is a prince, then the fortune teller concludes that the disease is serious.

In addition, each of the 16 possible Sikidy figures is assigned to a direction. This varies a bit regionally, but among the Atandroy in the south of the island z. B. the figures renilaza, alibiavo, karija and adalo assigned to the north. The cardinal points also play a major role in the interpretation. One interpretation says, for example, that two princes and two slaves from the same direction will never harm each other.

Figures are considered to be extraordinary (toka or into) in which a cardinal point occurs only once among the 16 tableaus. Sometimes the fortune tellers sprinkle a white powder on such an unusual tableau, which they later process into a talisman that is considered dangerous.

The 16 figures of geomancy

European method

By Robert Fludd , a variant was used, the geomantic system consists of 16 characters, each with four lines that can have one or two points each. The figures all have a name from which an oracle was derived.

In order to strike the oracle, a grid was drawn - either on the ground or on a piece of paper - in which the various rectangles each correspond to a line of the figures. Without looking, you drew a random number of points on the ground with a stick or on the paper with a pen. Then you counted the points in the respective rectangles, with an odd number corresponding to one point on the figure or an even number corresponding to two points. For each oracle one needed four figures from which one read a prophecy.

Modern usage of the term geomancy

Today's European geomancy is an unscientific esoteric doctrine that understands itself as a “holistic” empirical science and tries to grasp the identity of a living space, a place or a landscape and to take this into account through design, art or spatial and landscape planning and its individual To give expression. Geomancy is the recognition and sensing of good places in space and landscape and thus the basis for harmonious and healthy living. The task of a geomancer is to unite “building biology knowledge” with geomantic art, to design rooms, to recognize and feel the good place and to bring it into harmony with the people. It has thus moved away from the original Arabic fortune telling system and is more similar to Chinese Feng Shui .

In the view of modern esoteric geomancy, the whole earth is covered with global grid systems. These grid systems are called “ Curry grids”, “ Ley lines ”, “ Hartmann grids” or “ Benker lines”. This grid and line system is assigned "energetic" properties and thus biological effects.

The ideas of geomancy regarding the energies postulated by it are not scientifically verifiable and tenable. The double-blind, well-controlled experiments on radiesthesia , which tested the most diverse assertions, all resulted in negative results. Grid and line systems and their “energy flows” have never been detected with physical measuring instruments.

literature

Marcia Ascher: Mathematics Elsewhere. An Exploration of Ideas across Cultures . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2005, ISBN 0-691-07020-2 .
Marc Chemelier, Denis Jacquet, Victor Randrianry, Marc Zabalia: The mathematics of the fortune tellers of Madagascar . In: Spectrum of Science Special 2, 2006, (Ethnomathematik).
Lara Mallien, Johannes Heimrath (Ed.): What is geomancy? The new relationship with our home planet . Drachen-Verlag, Klein-Jasedow 2008, ISBN 978-3-927369-18-4 , ( Edition Hagia Chora ).
John Michell: Sun, Moon & Stones. A brief historical outline of astro-archeology . Werner Pieper's MedienXperimente, Löhrbach 1989, ISBN 3-925817-56-5 , ( Der Grüne Zweig 156).
Werner Pieper (Ed.): Strong places - places that speak to the heart. Der Grüne Zweig 110, ISBN 978-3-925817-10-6 .

Web links

Links to the ancient geomancy of the Arabs and their reception

Text des Ars geomancie by Hugues des Santella from the 12th century
www.shikanda.net “The origin of Islamic geomancy in Graeco-Roman astrology” (assumptions about the roots of traditional geomancy), by Wim van Binsbergen, Erasmus University Rotterdam (PDF file; 734 kB)

Sikidy in Madagascar

Scientific criticism of esoteric geomantics

“Report on experiments with the divining rod” ( memento from April 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) by Fritz Gassmann, Zurich, at www.geophys.uni-stuttgart.de
Bamberg Skeptics → Projects → Geocomics at www.gwup.org

Individual evidence

↑ Eleanor von Erdberg -Consten: Time and Space in Geomantics. In: Alfred C. Boettger, Wolfram Pflug (ed.): City and landscape, space and time. Festschrift for Erich Kühn . Bonn University Print Shop, Cologne 1969.
↑ Geomancy is still thriving at German universities, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on December 23, 2011: Esotericism at German universities: Let the nymphs dance!
^ Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's von Nettesheim Magical Works, including the mysterious writings of Petrus von Abano, Pictorius von Villingen, Gerhard von Cremona, Abbot Tritheim von Spanheim, the book Arbatel, the so-called Heil.-Geist-Kunst and various others. 4th edition, fully translated into German for the first time, 5 volumes, Amonesta, Wien ohne Jahr, Volume V, pp. 60–94 ( Astronomical Geomancy ).
^ Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Metaphysical treatise. In: Ulrich Johannes Schneider (Ed.): Monadology and other metaphysical writings. Meiner, Hamburg 2002, pp. 2–109, here: p. 15.
↑ Nigel Pennick: The ancient science of geomancy - Man in harmony with the earth. Trikont-dianus, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88167-083-1 , ISBN 3-88167-084-X .

[1] Eleanor von Erdberg -Consten: Time and Space in Geomantics. In: Alfred C. Boettger, Wolfram Pflug (ed.): City and landscape, space and time. Festschrift for Erich Kühn . Bonn University Print Shop, Cologne 1969.

[2] Geomancy is still thriving at German universities, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on December 23, 2011: Esotericism at German universities: Let the nymphs dance!

[3] Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's von Nettesheim Magical Works, including the mysterious writings of Petrus von Abano, Pictorius von Villingen, Gerhard von Cremona, Abbot Tritheim von Spanheim, the book Arbatel, the so-called Heil.-Geist-Kunst and various others. 4th edition, fully translated into German for the first time, 5 volumes, Amonesta, Wien ohne Jahr, Volume V, pp. 60–94 ( Astronomical Geomancy ).

[4] Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Metaphysical treatise. In: Ulrich Johannes Schneider (Ed.): Monadology and other metaphysical writings. Meiner, Hamburg 2002, pp. 2–109, here: p. 15.

[5] Nigel Pennick: The ancient science of geomancy - Man in harmony with the earth. Trikont-dianus, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88167-083-1 , ISBN 3-88167-084-X .