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How I do Geomantic Readings for a Time Period
One of the staple practices mentioned in The Art and Practice of Geomancy is casting daily (or weekly, or monthly, or yearly, or life) charts, to see the influences coming to bear for the time period in question. I've been doing this for a couple years now, and I've cast several life charts for people, and I thought I'd share a bit about how I do it.
After I cast the chart, the first thing I do is link up all the houses that share figures by occupation, company demi-simple, or company compound. (When I say "link up", I mean literally draw connecting lines on the chart between these houses. Company must exist in this chart for such figures to be connected, so for example Laetitia and Tristitia are not linked in all charts, but only in those where they are in appropriate houses. You'll note that company capitular isn't considered: it appears to be too weak to matter much.) The figures of the court are considered to be houses for this purpose, and the Witnesses in particular are considered to have potential company between them (as they are houses which get added together). Houses that are linked indicate both emphasis (e.g. these are more important) and shared events affecting multiple facets of life (e.g. a link between the V and the IX indicates some single event affecting both children and education, say). Be sure to pay attention to the normal meanings of company when considering these: the nature of the company is usually important to the meaning of a linked group as a whole.
Particular attention should be paid to:
It helps to keep a journal with a page for each house, and note special meanings when figures or links relate to that house. An example that I've seen again and again is that Carcer in the twelfth house is suggestive of insomnia.
Finally, it's worth noting that even groups that aren't connected together may be related... but the only way I've found to follow these is intuition. (For example, that Rubeus in the V may be the very reason for that Carcer the IX... can't study if you're hung over!)
Let's look at an example, a daily chart of mine from last month:
As noted, I first cast the chart, and then draw lines linking each house that share figures either directly or through company. This resulted in three "groups:" Carcer in the IV (home), XII (difficulties), and J (overall picture of the day); Puella in the XI (friends) and RW (internal factors of the day); and the figures of Mars in the III (communication), VII (spouse), VIII (spirits), and X (goals). This is a pretty difficult chart, with nine of the fifteen houses containing malefic figures, most of which are tied together into groups. One would expect the day to be challenging!
The I occupies nowhere else, so I shouldn't expect to have any particular focus for the day. I have a very difficult relationship with Acquisitio: I find the figures of Jupiter confusing, and this one is no exception. As a figure of Jupiter, it should be generally beneficial, but I've found it to be almost universally troubling in my readings, indicative especially of having too much of something or hanging on to things that I should let go of.
And speaking of troubling, the XII is actually quite a significant house in this chart: it contains Carcer, which is pretty strong in the XII house (as both the figure and the house are about limitations), and furthermore Carcer occupies three houses total, including the J! This simply says that I'm going to be isolated today, especially from my home life, and that it'll be the single most defining aspect of the day. Naturally, this was a work day, I don't much enjoy my job, and my workload for the day was crushing: so I simply had to buckle down and grind it out. (Indeed, I didn't get it all done until late evening, went straight to bed after, and had great difficulty sleeping despite my exhaustion due to melancholy.)
The next significant thing to look at is the group of Puer and Rubeus. To be quite honest, I was pretty baffled when I saw this; given the presence of the III and X, I assumed it had something to do with work (and it kinda did, given the way I had to plow through everything), but the links to the VII and VIII, themselves in company, made no sense. In fact, when I reviewed the chart before bed, I was no closer to a conclusion. I only learned what it meant the day after: my wife complained of difficulty sleeping because "something in the sky was watching her." And, look: upset Rubeus in the VII (for my wife) and turned IX (of dreams), in company with combative Puer in the VIII (of spirits) and X (of things above). Sensible in hindsight, though now I pay attention to such things! (Luckily, the following day, my wife was in company with Puella in the VIII, and slept great.)
That Puella group refers to friendly and pleasant conversation with a female co-worker, who I tend to counsel: this put me into a generally helpful and accommodating frame of mind, which helped me be constructive at work, but also probably made me bite off more than I could chew.
And, of course, one should pay attention to each individual house. I won't go into each, but as an example, the meaning of Tristitia (sorrow) in the V (of pleasures) simply means it won't be a very fun day (not surprising, in light of the above).
And there you have it! I cast one of these every year (on New Year's Day), every month (on the first), and every day (in the morning when I get up), and I review them again at the end of the period (New Year's Eve, the 31st, or before bed). I also put my daily charts on a scrap of paper so I can carry it around with me and review it throughout the day as needed. I think nothing has helped me understand geomancy more than the constant and consistent practice these have afforded!
After I cast the chart, the first thing I do is link up all the houses that share figures by occupation, company demi-simple, or company compound. (When I say "link up", I mean literally draw connecting lines on the chart between these houses. Company must exist in this chart for such figures to be connected, so for example Laetitia and Tristitia are not linked in all charts, but only in those where they are in appropriate houses. You'll note that company capitular isn't considered: it appears to be too weak to matter much.) The figures of the court are considered to be houses for this purpose, and the Witnesses in particular are considered to have potential company between them (as they are houses which get added together). Houses that are linked indicate both emphasis (e.g. these are more important) and shared events affecting multiple facets of life (e.g. a link between the V and the IX indicates some single event affecting both children and education, say). Be sure to pay attention to the normal meanings of company when considering these: the nature of the company is usually important to the meaning of a linked group as a whole.
Particular attention should be paid to:
- Anywhere the first house is linked to: these indicate a focus of attention for the time period.
- Anywhere the twelfth house is linked to: these indicate the greatest challenges for the time period.
- Anywhere the Judge is linked to: these indicate the factors most salient in affecting the time period.
- Any links involving many houses (and the more houses, the more attention should be paid to them), as these indicate something of particular significance. (Enough houses and there may be significance beyond the time period, as well.)
- (I don't tend to pay much attention to the cardines or aspects, either in time-period charts or generally. If you find them useful, you might look for those as well.)
It helps to keep a journal with a page for each house, and note special meanings when figures or links relate to that house. An example that I've seen again and again is that Carcer in the twelfth house is suggestive of insomnia.
Finally, it's worth noting that even groups that aren't connected together may be related... but the only way I've found to follow these is intuition. (For example, that Rubeus in the V may be the very reason for that Carcer the IX... can't study if you're hung over!)
Let's look at an example, a daily chart of mine from last month:
As noted, I first cast the chart, and then draw lines linking each house that share figures either directly or through company. This resulted in three "groups:" Carcer in the IV (home), XII (difficulties), and J (overall picture of the day); Puella in the XI (friends) and RW (internal factors of the day); and the figures of Mars in the III (communication), VII (spouse), VIII (spirits), and X (goals). This is a pretty difficult chart, with nine of the fifteen houses containing malefic figures, most of which are tied together into groups. One would expect the day to be challenging!
The I occupies nowhere else, so I shouldn't expect to have any particular focus for the day. I have a very difficult relationship with Acquisitio: I find the figures of Jupiter confusing, and this one is no exception. As a figure of Jupiter, it should be generally beneficial, but I've found it to be almost universally troubling in my readings, indicative especially of having too much of something or hanging on to things that I should let go of.
And speaking of troubling, the XII is actually quite a significant house in this chart: it contains Carcer, which is pretty strong in the XII house (as both the figure and the house are about limitations), and furthermore Carcer occupies three houses total, including the J! This simply says that I'm going to be isolated today, especially from my home life, and that it'll be the single most defining aspect of the day. Naturally, this was a work day, I don't much enjoy my job, and my workload for the day was crushing: so I simply had to buckle down and grind it out. (Indeed, I didn't get it all done until late evening, went straight to bed after, and had great difficulty sleeping despite my exhaustion due to melancholy.)
The next significant thing to look at is the group of Puer and Rubeus. To be quite honest, I was pretty baffled when I saw this; given the presence of the III and X, I assumed it had something to do with work (and it kinda did, given the way I had to plow through everything), but the links to the VII and VIII, themselves in company, made no sense. In fact, when I reviewed the chart before bed, I was no closer to a conclusion. I only learned what it meant the day after: my wife complained of difficulty sleeping because "something in the sky was watching her." And, look: upset Rubeus in the VII (for my wife) and turned IX (of dreams), in company with combative Puer in the VIII (of spirits) and X (of things above). Sensible in hindsight, though now I pay attention to such things! (Luckily, the following day, my wife was in company with Puella in the VIII, and slept great.)
That Puella group refers to friendly and pleasant conversation with a female co-worker, who I tend to counsel: this put me into a generally helpful and accommodating frame of mind, which helped me be constructive at work, but also probably made me bite off more than I could chew.
And, of course, one should pay attention to each individual house. I won't go into each, but as an example, the meaning of Tristitia (sorrow) in the V (of pleasures) simply means it won't be a very fun day (not surprising, in light of the above).
And there you have it! I cast one of these every year (on New Year's Day), every month (on the first), and every day (in the morning when I get up), and I review them again at the end of the period (New Year's Eve, the 31st, or before bed). I also put my daily charts on a scrap of paper so I can carry it around with me and review it throughout the day as needed. I think nothing has helped me understand geomancy more than the constant and consistent practice these have afforded!