A Horary-Based Geomantic Technique to Finding

Lost Objects

Samuel Block

September 9, 2010

1 Introduction

Geomancy, a versatile method of divination used for hundreds of years, sharesmany similarities with its sister art of horary astrology, especially with its use ofastrological symbols and the houses. What may be answered with one methodmay be answered just as clearly in the other. That said, however, the two artsare not the same, and although techniques from horary astrology have beenborrowed into geomancy, the two arts have spawned their own unique methodsfor certain questions that cannot be so easily transferred to the other.

One such method in geomancy is for finding the locations of lost or hiddenobjects, where the significator of the lost object is determined based on whatkind of object it is: the fifth house rules clothes and jewelry, the ninth booksand religious items, and so on. Locations are indicated by the figure found forthe significator as well as what house the significator passes to, if it passes toany.

This method, though useful in some circumstances, can yield unclear orunhelpful answers. This paper describes a new method based off of traditionalhorary astrology methods used for finding the location of a lost object or whetherthe object may be found again. It incorporates astrological symbolism from thezodiac as well as standard geomantic technique, and offers the benefit of aclearer, more descriptive chart interpretation.

2 A New Technique

As in all geomantic divinations, a chart must be drawn up for the location andthe possibility of retrieval of the lost object. A review of the Court figures,or the Witnesses, Judge, and Sentence, is highly suggested since it will offer ahigh-level view of the query and may directly say whether the object is trulylost, misplaced, or can be regained. However, the technique discussed in thispaper deals with the house chart, which must also be constructed.

In the house chart, the figure found in the first house is given to the querentas his or her significator. The lost object, as a movable possession of the querent,

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is represented by the figure in the second house. If the lost object in question isa pet, the quesited’s significator should use the sixth house instead; if a person,the seventh; if a large animal, the twelfth. This paper will assume that thequesited’s significator is that found in the second house, though similar rulesapply for lost people or animals.

2.1 Finding Locations

The quesited’s significator represents the color, shape, and general form of thelost object. A stable figure found as the quesited’s significator shows that theobject has not moved recently or will not move anytime soon. A mobile figure,on the other hand, indicates motion to or from the item’s current location.

The house that the quesited’s significator passes to will show the directionor the type of area that the object in question may be found. If the significatordoes not pass in the chart, then the location specified by the second house shouldbe used. If the quesited’s figure passes to two or more houses in the chart, theitem in question is in motion between them.1

Angular houses suggest that the item is where it is often kept or should beor where the querent often frequents. Succeedent houses, including the second,shows that the item is not where it usually is kept but is nearby or possiblyoutside or near an auxiliary building. Cadent houses indicate that the item isfar off or hidden from its normal location. Individually, the houses indicate thefollowing areas:

1. East, where querent spends most of his or her time, on the querent’s bodyor immediate personal belongings, in front of the house, in the querent’sroom, home of grandparent (fourth from the tenth)

2. East-northeast, northeast room along the eastern wall, where querentkeeps his or her money or valuable possessions, pocketbook, wallet, depositbox, vault, file cabinet, home of a friend (fourth from the eleventh)

3. North-northeast, northeast room along the northern wall, on or in a desk,among papers or books, in a study, library, or writing station, in or near acar, places connected to travel, letters, education, or communication, neara telephone, radio, computer, or television, in the neighborhood, with asibling

4. North, in the home, child’s bedroom or under child’s bed (twelfth of thefifth), middle of the house, oldest part of house, kitchen, pantry, basement,with parent, with oldest person in house, in yard or garden

1Based on horary technique where the planets move through the zodiac in a counterclock-wise direction, the quesited’s figure might be seen as passing counterclockwise from the chartas well. E.g., if the quesited’s figure is found in the second, fifth, and tenth houses, the itemwould be found in order of the locations specified by their respective houses. However, thisspecific technique has not been explored sufficiently enough.

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5. North-northwest, northwest room along northern wall, in recreation room,in place for hobbies or pleasure, child’s room, with a lover, in a bar,restaurant, tavern, theater, or banquet hall

6. West-northwest, northwest room along western wall, container or pocket,inside something, in place where one work or does chores, cupboard, closet,drawer, near pet, with tenant, with servant, with employee, in clinic ordoctor’s office

7. West, where partner spends most time, with partner, in partner’s roomor office, living room, with personal consultant, attorney, or astrologer,father’s residence (fourth from the fourth), with maternal grandmother(tenth from the tenth), with a niece or nephew (fifth from the third)

8. West-southwest, southwest room along western wall, in garbage, dead,ruined, gone, potentially unrecoverable, near water or plumbing, in ornear bathroom, where research is done, places of sex, death, or legacies,among partner’s possessions

9. South-southwest, southwest room along southern wall, far away or distantplaces, places related to voyages, heights, religion, college, or publishers,with in-laws (third from the seventh), with grandchildren (fifth from thefifth)

10. South, office, where one works, hallway, parent’s room, mother’s room,dining room, department store, public building, with boss, with those inauthority, structural parts of a building

11. South-southeast, southeast room along southern wall, with friends, inclubs, lodges, meeting places, in partner’s work area (sixth from the sev-enth), with stepchild (fifth from the seventh), places the querent hopes orwishes to be

12. East-southeast, southeast room along eastern wall, in bedroom, underbed, places of confinement, hospitals, institutions, secluded places, privatespots, places of prayer, sleep, or meditation, hidden, out of sight, sick room(if the sixth house agrees), with secret enemy, places with large animals

If the geomancer assigns signs of the zodiac to the houses, then the signruling the house that the quesited’s significator passes to (or the sign ruling thesecond house, if the significator does not pass in the chart) can also indicatethe area of the lost item. The triplicity and quadruplicity of the sign can offergeneral indications:

• Cardinal quadruplicity: in the open, a new place, a high place, a placewith much activity

• Fixed quadruplicity: a low place, a calm or empty place, hidden

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• Mutable quadruplicity: by water or other boundaries, inner chambers,inside containers

• Fire triplicity: places near heat or fire, places of energy or power, neariron or walls

• Earth triplicity: places on or under the ground, near or under pavementor the floor, near mud or clay or dirt

• Air triplicity: places high up or elevated with an open view, near windowsor light

• Water triplicity: places near water, bathrooms, kitchens, gardens, ponds

Individual signs can also indicate more specific types or classes of areas wherethe object may be found:

• Aries: roof coverings, ceilings, plastering in houses, unfrequented places,sandy or hilly ground

• Taurus: low rooms, cellars, places near the earth, agricultural outhouses,sheds and stables

• Gemini: chests, high places, paneled rooms, offices, near office or commu-nication equipment, areas where games are played

• Cancer: near ponds or water, utility rooms, wash houses, bathrooms,kitchens, cisterns

• Leo: woods, parks, large or grand buildings or palaces, near a chimney orsource of heat

• Virgo: studies, closets, storage areas, drawers, barns, dairy houses, placeswhere crops are stored or processed

• Libra: windmills, barns, where wood is cut, upper rooms in houses, cham-bers, little houses, closets

• Scorpio: near muddy or stagnant water, gutters, sinks, kitchens or bath-rooms, ruins, compost heaps, dark or secret places

• Sagittarius: high lands, grounds, upper rooms, near fire or a radiator,stables, hills

• Capricorn: low or dark places, near thresholds or boundaries, cow sheds,wood stores, barren fields

• Aquarius: hilly or uneven places, quarries and mines, high places, an atticor roof, upper parts of all rooms

• Pisces: bathroom, kitchen, wells and pumps, all damp places, rivers, fish-ponds

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2.2 Determining Retrieval

A chart used to find the location of a lost object can also be used to determinewhether the object in question can be found or regained and, if so, how. Thisis determined by noting the perfection that occurs between the querent’s andquesited’s figures, as well as perfection between other houses, to determine theprospect of retrieval. However, it may be preferred to draw up a separate chartto answer specifically whether the lost item may be found again.

If the significators of the querent and quesited perfect, then the querent andthe lost object will be reunited. The specific method of perfection indicates howthis will happen:

• Occupation: the querent will find the object easily, the object was nevertruly lost, or the object was always within the querent’s grasp or possession

• Conjunction when the querent’s figure passes: the querent will find theitem after much searching and effort

• Conjunction when the quesited’s figure passes: the item will be found withno effort on the part of the querent, the object will by circumstance findits way back to the querent

• Mutation: the item will turn up unexpectedly and unusually

• Translation: a third party will return the item or lead the querent to itslocation

Favorable aspects that form between the querent’s and quesited’s significatorsindicate an easy or comfortable circumstance in which the item may be found.Unfavorable aspects, conversely, show that the querent will have a difficult timesearching. If the chart denies perfection but there are favorable aspects, thequerent will have limited but potentially fruitful opportunities to find the objectagain.

The kind of house that the quesited’s figure passes to in terms of qualitycan hint at how long or how much effort must be used to find the object. If thequesited’s figure passes to an angular house, the item will be found quickly orimmediately; if to a succeedent house, or if the quesited’s significator doesn’tpass from the second house, after some delay; if to a cadent house, only aftervery long, if the item is to be found at all. The sum of the chart, whereby onecounts all the points of all sixteen figures found in each position of the shieldchart, can also offer a similar indication: if less than 96, quickly; if 96, after thequerent makes an honest effort to find the object; if more than 96, slowly.

In some cases, theft can be a very real cause of the loss of an object orpossession. If the lost object’s significator perfects with the seventh house ortwelfth house, and especially the twelfth in the case of a lost person, the chartindicates that the lost item has been stolen by someone known or unknown,respectively. If the lost object occupies the eighth house as well as its own, theobject is in someone else’s possession or has already been sold off.

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3 An Example

My sister, already an expert at the Tarot, was once learning geomancy andwas experimenting with one method of finding the location of lost objects withher husband’s help. Her husband had hidden a book of hers somewhere in herhouse, and she drew up a chart to find the location of the object.

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Her significator was Amissio in the first house. Because the lost object wasa book, the quesited’s significator was shown by the figure in the ninth house,which was here Caput Draconis. Caput Draconis passed to the sixth house,indicating a place of daily work. Further, Caput Draconis signifies that theitem in question was never truly lost.2 The North Node also represents highplaces and new areas. However, this was unable to help my sister find thelocation of the book.

Using the Tarot, she had an image of a woman with a weapon showing thelocation of the item. The book, as it turned out, was hidden in her lunchboxwith a Japanese animated character of a young woman with a crossbow on a redbackground, set on her desk where she had her computer and workspace set upfor her recently-won telepsychic job. The only things that could have been readin the above chart indicating the location of the book was that it was wheresomething new was begun and that it was in an area to deal with day-to-daywork.

Using the new method, however, yields a much clearer answer. Since thebook was hers, we take the second house as the book’s significator, which ishere Puer. Puer indicates things that are red, metal, and weapon-like, whichfits the description of the lunchbox. Puer passes to the third house, showingthat the book is on or near a desk and among other books or papers. Lastly,

2Greer, Art and Practice of Geomancy, p. 147.

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using the astrological sign of Amissio in the first house as the Ascendant of thechart, Scorpio,3 we find that Capricorn rules the third house, so the place isalso a place of work and storage. Put together, the the book is found with ared metal object related to weapons and storage (the above lunchbox) near oron a desk used for a career and other papers (her workdesk). A much cleareranswer, indeed.

Although the validity of the traditional method of discerning locations isnot in dispute, this paper offers another method for more astrologically-inclinedgeomancers to develop clearer readings in such questions as these. Of course,the reader is left to try this method and ascertain whether it works for his orher own practice.

3Using Gerard of Cremona’s zodiac assignments, which I have found to be useful in assign-ing house rulers.

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