Geomancy: The Ancient Art of Reading the Earth — Patterns, Points, and Prophecy
Before the Tarot, before the I Ching was known outside China, before astrology developed its current elaborate system — human beings looked down at the earth beneath their feet and read it. They watched the patterns in thrown sand, in the marks left by sticks in soil, in the distribution of pebbles — and from these patterns, they sought wisdom about the questions that have always driven oracular practice: What is happening beneath the surface? What is coming? What should I do? Geomancy (from the Greek geo , earth, and manteia , divination) is the art of divination through the interpretation of patterns formed on or in the earth — or, more broadly, through the interpretation of specific dot and line patterns generated through various random processes. It is one of the oldest and most cross-culturally widespread of all divination systems, practiced across medieval Europe, the Islamic world, Sub-Saharan Africa, and pre-modern China in forms that share remarkable structural similarities ...