The end of the Gregorian calendar year presents us with an interesting time of reflection and planning for the year ahead. Honestly, even if it doesn't feel like it. The astrological year of course begins with the start of the cardinal fires of Spring, those awakening buds of new life and greening vitality returning to the land to begin again with Aries' vim and vigour. But the calendar year ending in December starts the secular New Year while still in Winter. For many of us, January can be somewhat of a dreary slog to that spring cleaning, stalled between the ending of the dying and the beginning of the reborn. We may even catch ourselves considering the first month a sort of dreadfully banal waiting room. Yet in this liminal antechamber we may find ourselves well-furnished to consider our plots, schemes and goals for the coming year ahead.
Divination is one of the main tools of not merely forecasting or fortune-telling, but of careful planning, deliberation, and prioritising. So I wanted to make a special fuss about what I am calling Year Ahead Geomancy Readings I am offering over January 2018, partly because this is arguably one of the best times of the year to get a reading, and partly because I understand not everyone knows that much about geomancy or why it happens to be so incredibly well suited to this kind of reading.
Speaking in the language and grammar of astrology, a geomantic chart (or shield, if you're feeling technical/fancy) utilises the twelve Houses of the Heavens to be able to help characterise or offer perspective on various aspects of one's life: aspects like money, family, career, relationship/s, spirituality, etc. Significantly, geomancy also differs from astrology in at least one important respect: while the stars can only be in one place at a time (Jupiter cannot be in Sagittarius and Pisces simultaneously, and Libra cannot be in the Seventh and Eleventh House at the same time) geomancy allows for the same pattern of virtues or energies (the same figure, in the lingo of geomancy) to be present in more than one area of your life at once. This has always made sense to me: sometimes you can advance your career (a Tenth House matter) by hearing about a new job opportunity through your sister (signified in the Third House). Sometimes you can discover the issue that is holding you back (a typically Twelfth House thing) is also present in how you manage your resources (found in the Second House) or perhaps also found in the rumours floating around about you (also Third House).
One of my geomantic shield chart blanks, ready to be filled in with a reading for a client. Note the twelve places for the Houses of the Heavens as well as the final Court (made up of two Witnesses and a Judge) by which the question is answered.
This is in no way to suggest astrology cannot also discover these kinds of things, often by connecting different parts of a chart through examination of the placements of the Lords of the Houses. But geomancy can locate the same figure in two areas in your life: it can uniquely identify the interconnections and overlaps of the facets of oneself, and explain something of exactly how they are connected. In our first example, that new job that helps advance your career might be signified by the figure Acquisitio (Gain) in the Tenth and Third House - suggesting the new position might pay more than your current job and that listening to your sister about this might encourage you to spend more quality sibling time together. This same figure might also suggest that the new job will mean taking on a lot more work with longer hours, which is of course another kind of Gain - it all depends on what is going on in the rest of the shield. Each reading is always a uniquely bespoke set of answers, advice, warnings, and encouragements.
As you can hopefully imagine by now, exploring these kinds of interconnections is especially useful for planning your year ahead. They can help a client avoid calamities, misunderstandings and misfortunes, or even simply feeling isolated or at a loss. They can also help clients ensure victory, secure successes, and protect their blessings. Crucially, they can help set realistic and occasionally thoroughly unlikely-but-nevertheless-achievable objectives and goals and understand the means to achieve them.
As such, January is an excellent time of year to book a reading: whether about a specific thing you would like to achieve this year, or a general forecast of what is attainable in the next twelve months. When you book a geomantic reading with me, you receive a shield chart and a detailed answer to your question, which includes a rundown of both the useful and potentially unhelpful patterns present in your life circumstances, as well as how to employ, avoid or even redirect these patterns. There is both a characterisation of the aspect/s of your life you ask about, and a verdict on what is likely to happen and how things will progress. If you specify you would like a Year Ahead reading, we will go through all twelve Houses to examine not simply one situation you would like clarification or advice on, but explore the totality of your days and ways ahead of you in 2018: Life, Money, Communications, Home, Creativity, Work, Partnerships, Ancestors, Spirituality, Career, Benefactors, and Obstacles.
I write this on the Feast of Saint Stephen, a patron of my geomantic practice, and as such I sincerely hope this short blogpost has at least encouraged you to look at little closer at this oft-overlooked but elegant and thoroughly useful system of divination. If you do find yourself wanting to know more, you might be interested in this short reading list of resources for learning geomancy, or in downloading and studying these seventeenth-century geomantic textbooks, or in taking an introductory geomancy class, or even in booking a place on my online Geomancy Foundation course which begins in February. And don't forget to check out the Digital Ambler, the blog run by my good friend, colleague, and geomancer-in-arms Sam Block for some of the best free geomantic writings, teachings and experiments on these here internets. And if you do feel you would like a reading, you can book one here.
As always, I am available at consultantsorcerer@gmail.com to answer any inquiries you might have about this craft. On this Feast of Saint Stephen, I wish you all many victories in the coming year.