The Judge and the Witnesses

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

Finally, the tableau is completed by adding points in the same way to create three more figures. The first two are called the "Witnesses" or testes and the last is the "Judge" or iudex (If the Judge is a figure that does not have an even number of points, a mistake has been made in the addition. The 1st or Right Witness (W1) is created from the 1st and 2nd Nieces and the 2nd or Left Witness is created from the 3rd and 4th Nieces. And finally, the Judge is generated by the two Witnesses, using the same method.

A sixteenth figure called the "super judge" is sometimes drawn by "adding" the points of the first and fifteenth figures.

Because of the way the Judges are formed, only eight of the sixteen geomantic figures can become Judges: Populus and Via, Amissio and Acquisitio, Carcer and Conjunctio, and Fortuna Major and Fortuna Minor. Because they are related to the Moon, Populus and Via are variable as Judges.

Invariably favorable Judges are Acquisitio and Fortuna Major. Fortuna Minor is mildly favorable, and Conjunctio is variable as a Judge. Amissio can be a favorable Judge, especially if loss of some kind is a positive outcome. Carcer is a variable Judge which favors Saturnian matters like contracts, obligations, realization, attainment, just rewards, and responsibility.

Agrippa next suggested calculating an "Index" that "gives you a competent judgment of the thing quesited." To find the Index, you take the total number of holes that were poked in the ground and divide by 12 (for the 12 houses of the horoscope). In this case there were a total of 52 dots at the start. Thus, 52 divided by 12 equals 4 with a remainder of 4. What is important here is the remainder after dividing by twelve. The Index is the geomantic figure found in the house of the horoscope corresponding to the remainder.

If there is no remainder, that is, if the remainder is zero, the Index is the figure in the twelth house.

Ex:

 
  N1    o           N2   o o         W1   o              
 
       o o     +          o      =        o    Fortuna
 
       o o               o o             o o   Minor
 
       o o               o o             o o  
 
                        
 
                                              
 
  N3   o o          N4   o o         W2  o o                 
 
        o      +          o      =       o o   Populus
 
       o o               o o             o o
 
        o                 o              o o          
 
 
 
 Finally, Witness 1   +   Witness 2  =  The Judge:
 
 W1   o        W2  o o       Judge    o
 
      o   +        o o   =            o    Fortuna
 
     o o           o o               o o   Minor
 
     o o           o o               o o
 
 

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