So, the tool which is pending generation – and has caused quite a bit of delay – is what Huson refers to as the “Rune Sticks”. In fact, this is a cool tool for generating the figures used in the divination system known as Geomancy, which has quite a lot of history behind it and has been seeing a considerable growth in its popularity (thanks to the work of people such as Dr. Al Cummins and Sam Block).
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it: Geomancy is said to originate from a trance-induced form of sortilege which involved the drawing of figures in the earth (hence “geo”-mancy). By the medieval period, Geomancy had become an elaborate and highly popular form of divination (second, it is said, only to Astrology). The figures are deceptively simple – numbering sixteen in total – but this only serves to make the process of interpretation all the more intriguing.
The process involves the random generation of four figures (known as the mothers) through a binary method (odd and even numbers). These figures are then combined in various ways to generate the daughters, and nieces, which then give you the judges and the result (terminology does vary a little depending on the source).
This chart is sometimes paired with a chart ascribing the figures to the astrological houses (i.e. the first figure is the first house etc), adding a secondary layer of symbolism to the readings, but this is not universal. Huson does mention the astrological chart, however, and this has been the approach I have used in my own experiments with the system.
Geomancy, when done well, is a mind-blowing system of divination and magic which sends me green with envy. I have not yet attempted it in the altered state generated through the Mercurial tuning ritual but I have tried my hand at it to varying levels of success.
The thing with this system – which is both awesome and incredibly frustrating – is that there is a fairly involved degree of information inherent in the system. If you know nothing about astrology, there is a steep learning curve for applying the astrological chart methods, and this on top of getting your head around the figures themselves, how to draw the chart, and how the figures interact.
It can be taken at a quite simple level but the degree to which it can be extrapolated, deepened, and nuanced is essentially unlimited. Elemental, planetary, astrological associations as well as the significance of order of figures leading to a judge make for dizzying study sessions (especially for someone who falls into the “must know everything about this right now” camp – i.e., me).
This complexity was, in a sense, its undoing. The system was taken up and reduced to a sort of reference-table form of divination (this figure in this position means this thing). Around the time that this happened the system fell out of favour and became a rather unknown system for the most part.
Thankfully now, there is a great deal of study and new writing happening around this system.
For people interested, I can recommend Al Cummins’ beginner course (which includes a video lecture and digital access to a stack of source materials). I took this last year and it jump started my experiments with Geomancy as a divination tool. I fell off the band wagon but it’s time to get back in the saddle – so to speak. You could also peruse his blog Grimoires on Tape for a lot of great content, as well as Sam’s blog. There is also a facebook group called the Geomantic study group
arawnbel 