Geomantic Houses

Your online guide to divination and positive magic

[History] [Validity] [Cast] [Interpretation] [Geomantic Figures]

Each of the sixteen geomantic figures corresponds to an astrological sign and to a planet or node of the Moon. The planetary assignments are invariant across systems, but because there are at least six ways to assign the signs to houses in the geomantic chart, geomancers may use different systems for assignment of planets to geomantic figures and placing of figures in the houses.

The twelve geomantic houses are borrowed from medieval astrological practice. An understanding of the houses is fundamental to interpreting the geomantic tableau. Any possible question can be assigned to one of the houses. For example, questions about marriage are assigned to the 7th house; a question about whether a ship will return safely from a voyage belongs to the 9th house; a question about whether a sick person will recover belongs to the 6th house. Most geomantic treatises include long lists of the types of questions appropropriate to each house, and some compress this information into tabular form.

For example, in Martin of Spain's De geomancia, questions assigned to the 10th house, the house of kings, include:

Whether a man shall get honor or kingdom. Whether a king shall be honored in his kingdom. Whether a king shall be deposed from his kingdom. Whether he that is deposed shall enter again. Whether a foreign king shall subdue a king.

 

House

Latin

Meaning

1

Vita

Life, health, querent,

2

Lucrum

Money, property, personal worth.

3

Fratres

Brothers, sisters, news, short journeys,

4

Genitor

Father, landed property, inheritance. The grave, the end of matter.

5

Nati

Children, pleasure, feasts, speculation.

6

Valetudo

Health, servants, uncles and aunts, small animals.

7

Uxor

Love, marriage, husband or wife. Partnerships and associations, public enemies, law suits.

8

Mors

Deaths, wills, legacies; pain, anxiety. Estate of deceased.

9

Itineris

Long journeys, voyages. Science, religion, art, visions, and divinations.

10

Regnum

Kings. Mother. Rank and honour, trade or profession, authority, employment, and worldly position generally

11

Benefacta

Good Fortune, friends, hopes and wishes.

12

Carcer

Sorrows, fears, punishments, secret enemies, hospitals or prisons, unseen dangers, restrictions.

 

The Twelve figures of the Geomantic scheme as previously calculated are to be attributed to a map of the 12 houses of heaven to be placed therein thus:

The first figure goes in the 10th house.

The second figure goes in the 1st house.

The third figure goes in the 4th house.

The fourth figure goes in the 7th house.

The fifth figures goes in the 11th house.

The sixth figure goes in the 2nd house.

The seventh figure goes in the 5th house.

The eighth figure goes in the 8th house.

The ninth figure goes in the 12th house.

The tenth figure goes in the 3rd house.

The eleventh figure goes in the 6th house.

The twelfth figure goes in the 9th house.

 

 

 

According to Agrippa’s System, after placing his figures in the houses, he assigned the first house to the astrological sign associated with the first mother in the first house. In our example, mother one is Laetitia which Agrippa associates with Jupiter and Sagittarius. Agrippa then followed the zodiac sequence to locate all twelve signs around the wheel. Sagittarius is in the first house, Capricorn in the second, Aquarius in the third, Pisces in the fourth, Aries in the fifth, Taurus in the sixth, and so on around the wheel. Having linked each house with a different zodiac sign, Agrippa next entered the planet associated with each geomantic symbol in the same house as its symbol.

Agrippa derived these formulae from the idea the each nephew is the sum of the mother and daughter that are in trine aspect around the horoscope wheel. In this system it is possible for the same planet to occupy several houses. Agrippa then interpreted the chart using a combination of astrology and geomancy. Because no degrees in the signs are specified, Agrippa used mundane aspects, that is, planets are considered to bear the same aspect with one another as the houses they occupy. For example, planets in houses one and seven are in opposition, and planets in houses three and seven are in trine.

 

Here is a table showing Agrippa's distribution of geomantic figures in the horoscope:

 
 Angular Houses:      Succedent Houses:      Cadent Houses:
 
 1st  -  M1             2nd  -  D1             9th  -  N1 =  M1 + D4
 
 10th -  M2            11th  -  D2             6th  -  N2 =  M2 + D1
 
 7th  -  M3             8th  -  D3             3rd  -  N3 =  M3 + D2
 
 4th  -  M4             5th  -  D4            12th  -  N4 =  M4 + D3
  



••
••
4th Mother
--> 4th House
(Genitor - Father)

••



3rd Mother
--> 3rd House
(Fratres - Brothers)





2nd Mother
--> 2nd House
(Lucrum - Riches)



••
••
1st Mother
--> 1st House
(Vita - Life)

••


••
4th Daughter
--> 8th House
(Mors - Death)

••


••
3rd Daughter
--> 7th House
(Uxor - Wife)





2nd Daughter
--> 6th House
(Valetudo - Health)



••

1st Daughter
--> 5th House
(Nati - Sons)

••
••
••
••
4th Nephew
--> 12th House
(Carcer - Prison)

••
••

••
3rd Nephew
--> 11th House
(Benefacta - Good Fortune)


••


2nd Nephew
--> 10th House
(Regnum - Kings)

••
••


1st Nephew
--> 9th House
(Itineris - Journeys)

••
••

••
2nd Witness


••
••
••
1st Witness


••

••
Judge

Privacy Policy

Write us

© 2003-2005 Adula