If we listen, nature is speaking to us.
Geomancy is the study of the energy of the earth; how to pick those energies up, regulate them, and use them to help the earth and society grow in unity. Some refer to it as a pseudoscience, but it is a form of esoteric knowledge, a form of energetic divination, akin to the energetic principles of kundalini or the chakras in the human body. The knowledge is as old as earth itself – geomancy is rooted in European cultures, but originated in Arab cultures, and is likely an adaptation from African divination systems. There is no specific religious connotation in geomancy – it’s simply a spiritual study of the earth’s energy.
How does geomancy work? Earth is a body – the biggest we know.
The earth operates within the same principles of energy that we do – with energy paths that are invisible to the naked eye, but surely exist – under the land, at ground level, and in the air. You’ll notice this in the ribbon patterns within all living things, from your DNA to the way a stream of water ribbons through land. Earth has lines of water running throughout it in all directions, just as you have blood in your body traveling to all your arteries and main veins.
Think of when your chakras are blocked, or your kundalini energy center’s are clogged – you experience a ripple effect of tension and/or discomfort in the body; the earth’s energy is the same; if it’s blocked somehow, whether by an energetic force we cannot see or a physical land barrier, the disruption in the earth’s energy will cause a ripple of imbalances.
How geomancy can heal your environment
Geomancy is literally “earth reading” – it aims to understand the relationship between the people that live on the land; it makes positive connections among the environment, its inhabitants, and the structures within it. When you gain an understanding of negative and positive in ions in nature, the patterns that exist, and the forces of gravity and magnetism at play, you can establish a unity like no other. Forms of “earth acupuncture” even exist in order to heal zones of disturbance, just like acupuncture helps heal your physical body.
Geomancy is most often used to cure geopathic stress and to determine if and where it’s safe, and healthy, to build various structures. There are various formations underground that we can’t see to the naked eye, such as water pathways, geographic formations blocking energetic lines, or mineral deposits that alter electromagnetic fields.
Common signs of geopathic distress:
- Trouble in vegetation growth no matter what you’ve tried
- Cold drafts in space when you’ve heated a room to nearly 100 degrees
- Constant distress between family members in a home for no apparent reason (especially when everyone seems to be healthy and generally well-balanced emotionally and physically in all other aspects)
- Persistent water leaks in plumbing, pipes, and other water fixtures after constant repairs – by yourself and professionals
- Trouble sleeping in your bedroom, but sleeping perfectly well on the couch or in the bed in another room
- A pet despising being in a certain room or section of the home
- An excess of bees or wasps – they actually love areas of what we consider to be geopathic stress; honeybees tend to produce more, and sweeter, honey in geopathically stressed areas!
- Inability to keep goldfish and other common freshwater tank fish alive
- Inability to keep houseplants alive
Geopathic distress can genuinely weaken human health – it won’t make you sick itself, but it will drain your energy, because your body will in a constant state of attempting to balance itself against the energetic distress of the land around it. The geopathic stress can also heavily affect your plant health – just like you, if plants use all their energy attempting to balance themselves against distressful energy, they hardly have enough to grow big, leafy (or flowery), and strong!
The basics: there are 16 figures/shapes in geomancy, each of which are combined with 1 of the 4 elements (fire, air, earth, water), which establish their elemental structure. Each of these figures has an inner and outer element: the inner element represents what kind of power is within the element; the outer element represents how it expresses itself to the world around it.
Reading the land’s energy can be determined in multiple ways: through counting beans, pulling cards, and even simply tapping the earth (referred to often as sand-tapping). The most common and readily accessible way for determining land geomancy patterns is dowsing – if you want to learn about the geomancy of your home, try a local search for land dowsing in your area.
Forms of Geomancy
Because geomancy is rooted in so many rich histories and is as old as the earth itself, many cultures have established, and built upon, their own forms of geomancy:
Feng Shui: a Chinese form of geomancy principles that has evolved into an entire study of the creation of harmonious places for any activities.
Ifa: the African/Arabic form of geomancy that works by tossing sand in the air
Tajul muluk, also referred to as Ilmu Tajul: the Malay system of geomancy practiced by architects in Malaysia in Indonesia
Dowsing: uses a Y-shaped twig or rod to locate water “veins,” ores, and troubled areas in the land.
Curious for more, and how this can be applied to architecture? Check this documentary out.