Geomancy

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Earthly signs interpreted through the language of stars and presages.

In the book. Hydromancy similarly relates signs to the stars of water, while Constellatio describes higher stars or their virtues impressing lower bodies.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352.

Historical Definition

Geomancy is the best-known art of the earth; here it means the stars of the earth manifesting themselves to people and giving grounds for presaging.

Meaning

The definition first names a general art and then specifies the sense intended “in this place.” That qualification matters: the compiler is not claiming to describe every practice called geomancy. The selected sense concerns stars of the earth manifesting themselves to human observers, providing a basis for presaging.

The phrase “stars of the earth” should not simply be replaced with the visible stars overhead. The definition locates them through the earth and their manifestation. It gives no list of signs or procedure by which a prediction is drawn.

Use in the Book

Hydromancy similarly relates signs to the stars of water, while Constellatio describes higher stars or their virtues impressing lower bodies. Essodinum concerns presaging through marks. The comparisons make the dictionary’s language of signs and attributed powers intelligible without turning the different arts into one method.

Places to Read

Constellatio. The influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.

Essodinum. Foretelling by interpreting marks.

Hydromancy. Foretelling through manifestations associated with water.

In This Edition

The modernised definition preserves the local qualification and the historical star language. It does not introduce a familiar later diagramming system under a definition that does not mention one.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Geomancy

See also. Constellatio; Essodinum; Hydromancy