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, this system of card reading incorporates geomancy (pronounced gee-oh-man-see) to further define and enhance the information given by the cards. Webster’s Dictionary defines geomancy as “a kind of divination by figures or lines, formed by dots or points, originally on the earth and afterward on paper.” The word geomancy is derived from Greek and composed of geo-, meaning Earth, and -mancy, meaning divination. In naming it so, the ancients distinguished it from the other elemental practices of pyromancy ination by Fire), aeromancy (divination by Air), and hydromancy (div-ination by Water). In consulting the geomantic oracle, we acknowledge our Mother Earth as a vessel of the sacred. We turn to our roots, humbly asking for “mother’s advice.”You can certainly use your playing deck without geomancy, but why would you want to? Geomancy works naturally with the cards, is user-friendly, and will take your readings into new and exciting realms of possibility. You can even use geomancy without your cards. The truth is, both methods of divination stand complete on their own, but in com-bination, are a couple meant to be. Like a good marriage, playing cards and geomancy work hand in hand, surpassing what either could do alone.
Here I will briefly mention the existence of a different practice under the same name of geomancy, so it will not be confused with Earth divination as it relates to the playing cards. This other involves location studies and has recently become popular in Western culture via the Feng-Shui tradition. That is not the subject of this text. The practice
being explored here is a divinatory type of geomancy as opposed to a locational type. Questions of any kind are potential material for divina-tory geomancy, just as when consulting the playing cards.
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I : Medieval Arabic manuscript showing geomantic calculations for finding water. (MS Arabe , fol. Bibliothèque Nationale)
Divinatory geomancy is literally thousands of years old. Numerous theories exist as to its actual origin, but the most well established seem to point to the Muslim area of North Africa, somewhere around the ninth century A.D. (Stephen Skinner, Divination by Geomancy, Rout-ledge & Kegan Paul, London. , p.). Then known as the “Science of the Sand,” geomancy was a mystical art used for everything from find-ing water to determinfind-ing the cause of illness. (See Illustration , p. .) The technique involved the tossing of stones or the random motions of a stick upon smoothed sand in order to determine geomantic “figures.”
In time, geomancy migrated north into part-Muslim Spain, where it gained wide attention. Paper and pencil replaced sticks and sand, and eventually geomancy grew to become one of the most noted sciences of the European Renaissance. During this period, geomancy came to be referred to as “terrestrial astrology,” and was used in combination with the science of the stars to produce a prolific number of texts and charts for predicting the course of events.
So how do playing cards figure into all this? Playing cards and geo-mancy have made strikingly parallel tracks across history. Playing cards were in existence in Europe at the same time as geomancy and have also been traced to North African origins (see Book Two, p. ). Over the course of time, specialty decks as well as playing decks have been printed with geomantic figures pictured on individual cards. This allowed the questioner to draw out a card and receive a ready-made geomantic response. (See Illustration , p. .) What does not appear in historical sources, however, is any reference to the fact that playing cards contain the components that create geomantic figures. (The re-discovery of the connection between playing cards and geomancy can be credited to my father, C.J. Freeman, and is discussed further on p. , Book Two.)
The deck is a book of unbound card “pages” inscribed with binary (or two-part) circuitry, the very stuff of which geomantic figures are made. The contrasting colors of black and red as well as the natural alternation between odd and even numbers suggest a mechanism, a machine for calculation. Binary mathematics has been in use for thou-sands of years in China and forms the basis of such marvels as modern computers. A small handful of authors, musing on the binary curiosi-ties of the -card playing deck, have noted that the pack seems to have
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been designed as a calculator of sorts. But until now, no one has stepped forward to say what it calculates.
It calculates geomancy.
Laying out a spread of cards is like laying out a section of Earth upon which geomantic figures are cast. The four suits represent the Elements that weave the fabric of our world, the seasons of our envi-ronment, and the directions of the compass. Configurations of the suit symbols resemble spatterings of stones tossed upon the ground, as if in ancient geomantic ceremony. The integration of the two systems is like hand in glove. By their synergy, each throw of the cards blossoms into a multi-faceted act of creation, opening new portals of meaning, like doors to hidden treasure rooms, awaiting our discovery.
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I : Two cards from The Astro-Mythological Game, by Mlle. Lenor-mand, , showing geomantic figures.
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