Geomancy - The Geomantic Houses

An understanding of the houses is fundamental to accurately interpreting a geomantic cast and the resulting figures - the geomantic tableau. The twelve geomantic houses are borrowed from medieval astrological practices.

Any question that you can think of can be assigned to one of the twelve houses. For example, questions about traveling are assigned to the ninth house; questions about marriage are assigned to the seventh house; questions about health are assigned to the sixth house; questions about money are assigned to the second house. And so on.

  • House 1: Vita - Life - Signifies the querent and generally relates to life and health.
  • House 2: Lucrum - Riches - Money and finances in general.
  • House 3: Fratres - Brothers - Brothers and sisters, news and short journeys.
  • House 4: Genitor - Father - Inheritance and a father.
  • House 5: Nati - Sons - Children. Also speculation and pleasure.
  • House 6: Valetudo - Health - Health, aunts and uncles, staff and small animals.
  • House 7: Uxor - Wife - Love, marriage, husbands, wives, relationships, partnerships, legal and enemies.
  • House 8: Mors - Death - Deaths, legacies and wills. Also anxiety, worries, and pain.
  • House 9: Itineris - Journeys - Long distance travel, art, religion, science and divination.
  • House 10: Regnum - Kings - Leaders, a mother, employment, position and profession.
  • House 11: Benefacta - Fortune - Fortune (as in luck), friends, hopes and wishes.
  • House 12: Carcer - Prison - Fears, sorrow, secret enemies, hospitals, prisons and unseen dangers.

If you look at the diagram below which represents the figures obtained from casting the points as previously shown, you will see which figure is assigned to which house. You will notice that the the two witnesses and the judge are not attributed to one of the astrologically based twelve houses. They are effectively put in an additional two houses. The two witnesses go in one house, and the judge in another. The best way to understand the roles of the witnesses and judge is to borrow from the tarot. The two witnesses can be assumed to be the influences surrounding the querent and the question and the judge can be thought of as an overall significator.

 

House 8
House 7
House 6
House 5
House 4
House 3
House 2
House 1
D4
D3
D2
D1
M4
M3
M2
M1
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House 12
House 11
House 10
House 9
N4
N3
N2
N1
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Witnesses' House
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W1
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Judge's House
J1
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