Recently, someone commented on one of my geomancy-related pages asking about the directions associated with the geomantic figures. I’m…actually surprised I don’t have a post written about that, and it’s a good topic, so I figured I’d oblige and discuss that briefly. Like with anything, there are more than one set of correspondences that can be used, depending on what source you’re working from or what techniques you’re using, but it’s not like that’s anything new to someone who’s familiar with the corpus of knowledge for geomancy.
Probably the most straightforward way is to associate the directions with the four elements, as given by Cornelius Agrippa (book II, chapter 7), and use the elemental rulers of the geomantic figures from that. This results in a simple association:
| East | Fire | Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Fortuna Minor, Amissio |
| South | Earth | Tristitia, Caput Draconis, Carcer, Fortuna Maior |
| West | Air | Rubeus, Puer, Coniunctio, Acquisitio |
| North | Water | Albus, Puella, Via, Populus |
Easy enough, and this is the system I prefer to use myself. However, I know of at least one other cardinal direction association in Western literature, and this one comes from the great English geomancer Robert Fludd. Question 21 in book IV of his 1687 work Fasciculus Geomanticus talks about a method to lost or hidden objects. I have a whole post already discussing this topic, but I figured I’ll quote and translate this particular section from Fludd in full for its own sake, as it offers its own take on finding such things:
Question XXI.
Where might the lost thing lie or be hidden?The first is given to the querent, the tenth to the thing, and the fourth to the place under consideration.
In addition, another way to know the place of the hidden thing: consider by the fourth figure in which part of the world the thing may be in. That area is divided from the East to the West [and] from the South to the North, for there the thing will be found, which the fourth figure will demonstrate. And if that area is too large for the sudden discovery of the hidden thing, it is necessary to again divide that part into four other parts, and so often it is known until what time the place may be sufficiently small for the quick discovery of the hidden thing, and the fourth figure will always be the demonstrator of the place in this manner.
Or, rather, a place is divided into four parts, namely into the East, West, South, and North. Next, look upon the fourth figure, especially of what element it might be. For if it is of the Air, this indicates the Eastern part, if of fire the South, if of Water the North, if of Earth the West. For example:
- East: Laetitia, Acquisitio, Puer, Coniunctio ([figures of] Air)
- South: Rubeus, Fortuna Minor, Amissio, Cauda Draconis ([figures of] Fire)
- West: Fortuna Maior, Caput Draconis, Tristitia, Carcer ([figures of] Earth)
- North: Populus, Via, Amissio, Albus ([figures of] Water)
When, therefore, you find the fourth, where the thing may be found, you will make a new judgment, and similarly judge by the fourth house as before. Then, the indicated area is again divided into four equal parts; this method is repeated until the place is reduced into a small or confined space.
While Fludd’s and my elemental associations for the figures differ slightly, the idea is the same: associate the elements with the directions, and use the elemental rulers of the geomancy figures as a basis for knowing their directions. Another thing to note is his manner of associating the elements with the directions; I haven’t seen this specific manner of associating directions with the elements before, but I have written about different ways to correspond the elements with the directions and how it works for someone internally to their own system. I prefer the Agrippa-style correspondences, based on the celestial directions of the four cardinal signs of the Zodiac, but your mileage and preferences may vary. Use the system most appropriate to you.
Another similar system that we know of comes from Arabic geomancy, where we have the following diagram from Arabic MS 2697 from the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris:
Originally used as a method to find water, the idea is fundamentally the same:
- East: Carcer, Puella, Fortuna Maior, Tristitia
- South: Acquisitio, Caput Draconis, Rubeus, Coniunctio
- West: Amissio, Via, Albus, Cauda Draconis
- North: Populus, Laetitia, Puer, Fortuna Minor
According to E. Savage-Smith M. Smith in their Islamic Geomancy and a Thirteenth-Century Divinatory Device (1980), they describe the method used for this (p. 66):
… Near the location where the item is thought to be, the geomancer is told to make a tableau and then to count how many waters are in it (i.e. to count the figures having a single dot in the third rank and to multiply this number by three). If less than eight there is nothing there; otherwise, the geomancer should proceed to make a new tableau, after marking the directions of the compass on the ground. He then counts all the elements in the tableau, multiplying the number of single dots in each rank by the value of the rank [ed. note: 1 for fire, 2 for air, 3 for water, 4 for earth]. the sum is then divided by 128, the remainder divided by 16, that remainder divided by 9, and finally that remainder divided by 4. If one is left the direction is easy; if two, west; if three, north; and if four south. The geomancer then faces that direction and draws a square on the ground and follows the same procedure to produce a new tableau, and the numerical process is repeated until one, two, there, or four is left. Then the geomancer looks a the Mother in the tableau which corresponds to this remainder and locates that figure in the square diagram in the manual … The corresponding position on the square which he has drawn on the ground in front of him determines where the object is. If it is buried, then the depth can be determined by knowing that the element of fire is assigned the depth of a finger, air the depth of the breadth of a hand, water the length of a cubit, and earth the length of a human body. The geomancer then looks at the figure of the Mother which was found to be the indicator, counts the ranks containing only one dot, and adds up the corresponding lengths. Then, using a certain ordering of the figures known as the “taskīn of the letters”, he finds the figure that occupies the same position in the taskīn that the Mother occupied in the tableau. He counts the ranks of that figure which contain a single dot and adds the corresponding lengths. Finally, he finds the sum of the number obtained from the Mother and the number found from the figure in the taskīn. This is the depth at which the object is located.
Definitely an interesting method of finding lost objects, especially when they might actually be buried in the desert, but again, the fundamental idea is the same as Fludd’s (if not a little more ritualized). Elsewhere in the text, Savage Smith and Smith give another association of the geomantic figures with the directions, this time based on their connections with the lunar mansions (though one that I have a hard time wrapping my head around, and which doesn’t look at all similar to the one inherited by Europe):
| East | Spring | 4 | Rising | Laetitia |
| 16, 17 | Setting | Caput Draconis | ||
| 6 | Rising | Acquisitio | ||
| 7, 8, 9 | Rising | Coniunctio | ||
| South | Summer | 3 | Setting | Fortuna Minor |
| 20 | Rising | Populus | ||
| 5 | Setting | Rubeus | ||
| 21 | Rising | Puella | ||
| West | Autumn | 4 | Setting | Tristitia |
| 16, 17 | Rising | Cauda Draconis | ||
| 6 | Setting | Amissio | ||
| 14, 15 | Both | Carcer | ||
| North | Winter | 3 | Rising | Fortuna Maior |
| 13 | Both | Via | ||
| 5 | Rising | Albus | ||
| 21 | Setting | Puer |
Savage-Smith and Smith go on at length about this system of lunar mansions and how they relate to rising and setting along, but that’s outside the scope of the current post.
Now, in addition to all that, John Michael Greer in his Art and Practice of Geomancy (2009) gives get another set of associations, this time by associating the 16 geomantic figures with the 12 houses of the House Chart, and using the directions for each house. This uses the minor directions (e.g. east-northeast) and can give much more fine gradations in directional guidance, which is excellent for navigation:
| 1 | E | Puer, Cauda Draconis |
| 2 | ENE | Fortuna Maior, Fortuna Minor |
| 3 | NNE | Albus |
| 4 | N | Populus, Via |
| 5 | NNW | Rubeus |
| 6 | WNW | Tristitia |
| 7 | W | Puella, Caput Draconis |
| 8 | WSW | Laetitia |
| 9 | SSW | Coniunctio |
| 10 | S | Carcer |
| 11 | SSE | Amissio |
| 12 | ESE | Acquisitio |
That said, I don’t know where JMG got this set of associations from (or I forgot). At first glance, they seem tied to the planetary-zodiacal correspondence and linking the signs of the Zodiac to the houses, such that Puella is considered associated with Libra due to its association with Venus, and Libra is the seventh sign, then Puella should be given to the seventh house. Though JMG uses this planetary-zodiacal correspondence, I prefer the one given by Gerard of Cremona; again, your mileage and methods may vary. Beyond that, though, I’m not certain where this specific geomantic association came from, and it only seems very loosely tied to the planetary-zodiacal correspondences of the figures.
Hope that helps! Personally, I prefer to use the simple elemental rulerships of the figures as the key to corresponding directions with them, at least where geomancy and its symbols are considered primary. For instance, if I’m doing a ritual that uses the geomantic figures as the primary symbols I’m working with, I’ll face the direction associated with that figure’s elemental ruler; if I’m doing a geomantic reading, I’ll use that same direction in location/direction-related queries. If, however, I’m performing a ritual where the planets or zodiac signs are primary, I’ll face the direction of that celestial thing and use the geomantic figures (if I use them at all) facing that direction. Context, I suppose, is everything, but for the purposes of divination and geomantic ritual, simpler is better.
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