When I first received Earth Divination, Earth Magic I was a bit disappointed because I had been expecting a book on the subject of dowsing, ley lines, and feng shui. By the time I had read the first two pages I was hooked. John Michael Greer presents the Medieval art of Geomancy "...a traditional Western way of divination based on intuitive contact with the subtle energies of the Earth...." in a way that is easily understood and interesting. Geomantic divination is in some ways similar to divining through Tarot cards, Ogham, Runes or the Chinese I Ching. It is based on the idea that nothing that happens happens by chance, that all things are interconnected in a great synchronicity and that when one draws a card, casts the runes or tosses a coin the outcome is governed by entire web of that is, was and ever will be.
In Earth Divination, Earth Magic, Greer traces the roots of Geomancy back to Africa and the divinatory practices of the medicine men of several different tribes. These practices, according to Greer, came into Europe via contact with the Arab world during the Crusades and the Moorish occupation of Spain. The divination may be done in a number of ways: randomly tapping a stick on sand or drawing a random number of marks on a piece of paper, drawing lots or stones of opposing colour from a container or tossing a coin a number of times. The patterns of evens and odds create a figure composed of single and double points or dots. Sixteen of these figures are generated for each divination. As with the I Ching each figure has a different meaning and that meaning is studied in relation to the querent, the question and the other figures generated by the query.
The system is elegant and simple, easy to learn, easy to remember, easy to apply. Greer has given us an extra treat. The appendix contains a translation of medieval treatise on the interpretation of a the Geomantic chart, The Method of Judging Questions, written by Pietro de Abano of Padua most probably written in the 1300's. Source documents of this sort are rare and hard to find and I commend Greer for making it available. This is a good book for anyone who is interested in divination.
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