Géomancie

The géomancie is a technique of Divination based on the observation of stones or objects thrown on a plane surface or posed in a given space. It can also be a question of a divination by the observation of elements laid out in nature without human intervention.

Oracles geomantic are based on a series of figures, each one made up of four lines of points, pars or odd.

Note: Christian missionaries traversing the China at the 19th century unduly translated the concept of Feng shui, side important of the Chinese thought, in “géomancie”, “translation” which had course during decades, in French and in other Western languages. But this confusion of vocabulary almost disappeared since the Années 1970, the original name of feng shui from now on being employed in an quasi-exclusive way in Occident, if one refers to the titles of the many works published on the subject.

There exists a African version which is in fact the base of the Vaudou through the god F (or Ifa) god of the divination. In this version, one considers 256 figures (together doublet of quadruplet (F has 16 wire which have each one 16 wire in their turn). It seems that more than of divination, it is about a very elaborate system of pedagogy supported by the Fa god and some other divinities (Lêgba, Gû, Hêbiesso… less than one ten) bound for people which did not have a writing and at which all must rest on the memory. It should be noted that on these divinities the gods superimpose themselves properly Animistes. The most objective work on the African géomancie would be that of Bernard Maupoil.

Etymology

The term is directly resulting from the bottom Latin geomantia (“divination by the ground”) borrowed from the Greek γεωμαντεία . It is brought back, in the form jomansy at the beginning of the 14th century, in particular in one of the relations of voyages of Marco Polo (chapter CLXXIV of the Devisement of the world alias the Book of the wonders of the world ). The term was however known before, since it appears then in French, towards 1333, in the form geomancie in the handwritten translation of the Miroir Historial of Vincent of Beauvais written by Jean de Vignay at the request of the king of France Philippe VI '' of Valois '' and his wife Jeanne of Burgundy.

History

The real origin of this type of oracle remains dubious. Certain authors say it origin Perse, while others count on an Arab creation. The method of construction of the figures and their placement in the whole of oracle, always from right to left, are in any case the mark of people making use of a writing from right to left, that the language is of origin Semitic (Arab) or not (Persan).

16 figures

The Latin names of the sixteen figures are traditionally employed, in the “Western” géomancie, since the Middle Ages, in parallel with their translation in the profane language of use in the country where oracle is questioned.

Technique

The users of this method of divination usually carry out a “pulling” of four figures, according to various techniques (jet of dice, parts, separation of stone heap, etc).

A method of pulling consisted in for example aligning, on sand, four superimposed lines of randomly traced points, then to make of calculation of each line of points. From an odd line resulted a single point, and of an even line a double point. This method is still used nowadays, in an “adapted” version, where the medium traces on paper four lines of points to make the calculation then of it.

These the first four figures are in general called the “Four Mothers”, and from them rise, by a complex system of carryforward of points, the eleven other figures of oracle. These fifteen figures are divided into twelve “houses”, two “witnesses” (right and left) and a “Judge”.

Certain followers of this technique divinatoire add one to it sixteenth “house”, the “Subjudex” or “the Sentence”, obtained starting from the combination of the “Judge” and “house I”. This supernumerary “house” is usually not drawn on the graph of the fifteen traditional “houses”.

Construction of a graph

Randomly selected fictitious example among 65.536 different combinations (16 X 16 X 16 X 16).

The same figure can return two or several times in the whole of pulling: its interpretation will vary however according to the place occupied among the “Houses”. However, a graph joining together the same figure in four boxes (or more) on fifteen is usually regarded as no one.

Construction of the “Girls”:

  • the successive points of the first “Girl” ( V ) are the carryforward of the first line of points of the four “Mothers”;
  • the successive points of the second “Girl” ( VI ) are the carryforward of the second line of points of the four “Mothers”;
  • the successive points of the third “Girl” ( VII ) are the carryforward of the third line of points of the four “Mothers”;
  • the successive points of the fourth “Girl” ( VIII ) are the carryforward of the fourth line of points of the four “Mothers”.

Construction of the “Nieces”: to the difference of the construction of the “Girls”, the points are not deferred. Each line of each “Niece” is obtained by adding the points with the corresponding line of the two “Mothers” or the two “Girls” of the upper floor, then while reducing to the smallest even or odd entirety: 2 + 2 = 4 tiny room to 2,2 + 1 or 1 + 2 = 3 tiny room to 1,1 + 1 = 2.

The construction of the “Witnesses” follows the same diagram, each line of each “Witness” being obtained by adding the points with the corresponding line of the two “Nieces” of the upper floor, then while reducing to the smallest even or odd entirety. The two “Witnesses” are obligatorily of the same parity (either pars, or odd). A divergent parity is the proof of an error in the establishment of the graph.

The construction of the “Judge” follows the same diagram, each line of the “Judge” being obtained by adding the points with the corresponding line of the two “Witnesses”, then while reducing to the smallest even or odd entirety. The “judge” counts obligatorily an even number of points, which limits to eight the number of possible figures in this box: Via (4 points), Fortuna Minor , Fortuna Major , Carcer , Conjunctio , Amissio , Acquisitio (6 points) and Populus (8 points). Any other figure is the proof of an error in the establishment of the graph.

In the case of an interrogation of oracle calling upon the sixteenth supernumerary “House”, this one is obtained by adding the respective points with the first “Mother” (I) and with the “Judge”. One will have in this case:

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