The Logic of Geomantic Houses

[sdi]

In The Art and Practice of Geomancy, Greer writes that the houses follow a subtle but definite logic; true though this is, I've spent a lot of time trying to puzzle out what, exactly, that logic is.

Here is my best guess so far:

1. Me
2. Closely held things (possessions, money, self-esteem, close advisors, secrets you keep from everyone else, etc.)
3. Nearby things (the local environment, neighbors, communication, common knowledge, etc.)
4. Things beneath (things relating to the earth (agriculture, real estate, etc.), one's roots, the past, etc.)
5. Nearby benefits (pleasures, made things, etc.)
6. Nearby limitations (the body, diseases, hired help, etc.)
7. You (partners, opponents, "the other party", etc.)
8. Things let go of (death, wills, legacies, magic, etc.)
9. Distant things (faraway places, dreams, specialized knowledge, religion, etc.)
10. Things above (things related to the sky (weather, astrological forces, etc.), authority, gods, one's ambitions, the future, etc.)
11. Distant benefits (friends, benefactors, hopes and wishes, etc.)
12. Distant limitations (societal hindrances, things hidden from you, the unknown, fears, etc.)

Obviously, the opposite houses have complementary meanings. But there's also relationships to the four triplicities of the shield chart here (I+II=IX, III+IV=X, V+VI=XI, VII+VIII=XII). I am still grappling with these for the moment.

Comments

[barefootwisdom]

This is still an un-worked-out hunch, but one place to look for connecting houses and triplicities might be in the oktatropos, a system of houses used in Hellenistic astrology, where only the first eight houses (still of 30 degrees each) had inherent meanings; meanings for all twelve houses could be derived by compounding houses that were already present, in much the same way that we "rotate the chart" to get derived houses in geomancy.

I don't know offhand all the Hellenistic authors who discuss the technique. I know Firmicus Maternus has a section on it, although in the translation by Jean Rhys Bram, the translator gets seriously confused, and tries to turn the eight houses into 45° segments which would then cover the entire zodiac. This is a mistake, as Chris Brennan clearly shows in his Hellenistic Astrology textbook. (The Rhys Bram translation of Firmicus is riddled with errors; if you can find an alternative, I'd recommend doing so.)

More generally, I recall Brennan having a nice discussion of the oktatropos in his book, and so beginning there, and proceeding on to the sources he cites, might be a worthwhile approach.

[emmanuelg]

I think we already discussed the axes of the house chart;
Generally Houses I thru VI are nearby, and Houses VII thru XII are distant.
Pairing the houses;
I Me VII You
II Closely held stuff/Money VIII Things let go of/Death
III Local/Neighborhood/At Home IX Far Journeys; Geographical, Philosophical or Religious
IV Things beneath/roots/earth/Mother X Things above/Sky/Built Reputation/Father
V Fun/Sexuality/Crops/Reference Sources XI Hopes/Wishes/Dreams/Friends/Promises/Unmentionable
VI Professions/Diseases/Hired Help XII Government/Limitations/Quarantines/Rulers.

I wonder if assessing the Axis-pair of significant figures, such as figures that pass to other locations, would give additional information.

[tunesmyth]

Have you fleshed it out any more at this point?

One thing I love about this setup is that there is a natural feeling division between 6-7, moving from ME stuff to YOU stuff exactly where the house chart horizon is crossed; but there is also a natural feeling division at 8-9, between near things and far things, exactly where the shield chart runs out of daughters and shifts to nieces.