Purposes of Geomancy

Introduction

The term, geomancy, has many possible meanings. Its original meaning is any method of divination based on signs in nature that can show us how to live more harmoniously with the natural world. In general, our meaning of geomancy, as it us used here, is also fundamentally about studying the signs and forms of nature in order to live more harmoniously on our earth. However, these presented teachings will not be explaining how to interpret patterns in sand or in bones. Instead, our interest here is the study of earth energies and how to best work with these for improved harmony in life. This study could, of course, also include principles of ecology and other related advices on how to live more in harmony with our natural world, but to include ecology and ecological principles would be too extensive for this book. So here, we are essentially concerned with subtle earth energies, including their various qualities and flow, and how to live in harmony with the less obvious factors of our existence on Earth.

Our study here could also be understood as similar to the Chinese study of fengshui. In the 'form school' of fengshui, the local landscape is believed to have Qi (earth energy), with various qualities and flow. So our meaning of earth geomancy is quite similar to this, but our western system of geomancy will not necessarily be exactly the same as the details of landscape fengshui. There is no inherent contradiction or disagreement between our western geomancy and the eastern fengshui, but the language/terms and details will inevitably be unique in each system. Readers and students will have to see, on their own, how to understand and apply the very general sense of geomancy, which might or might not at times be congruent with fengshui explanations.

There is also a possible spiritual aspect in this study of earth geomancy. Of course the very subject of geomancy is spiritual, but what is particularly meant here by the word spiritual is our own love connection with nature, or how we personally enter into a deep relationship with nature and the natural places around us. This is something to do with our heart connection, or how we deeply feel in special natural places. This has general topic has been called, deep ecology, or spiritual ecology, when our experience of nature is deeper within or more deeply affective, rather than just being a scientific understanding of ecological relationships and solutions. This deeply spiritual relationship with nature is also found in the more earthy religious traditions.

This spiritual aspect is emphasized more in our website, Native Wisdom, based on the essences of Native American spirituality, which is more about our deeper connective relationship with nature and certain practices useful for entering a deeper experience. Though in this geomancy website, many helpful practices will be suggested as well.

A basic definition of earth geomancy is a Way for man/woman to live and work harmoniously with the Earth. We are not just here to live on the Earth; we need to live with the Earth, and this includes living with all the other realms of nature. We have to realize that we need to live harmoniously with the natural world, rather than merely stomp upon it. The larger aim of geomancy is to be in harmony with the natural environment and all of nature. It is also about what we can do to improve the energy flow on land and help heal the land if needed.

Purposes in Geomancy

Geomancy is a vast subject. It is both a way of perceiving life and a way of living. It is a practical philosophy and a tool for living creatively and harmoniously within this interconnected relationship called life. Geomancy involves a great purpose and a way of living. The purpose of our living is to love and enjoy eachother and all of life, to understand the interconnected relationships that define life, and to serve and create a more beautiful and harmonious world for the future. We seek to manifest our deepest and highest ideals, such as truth, love, and beauty. And as part of this, we seek to be in harmony with the natural world and also to help the Earth if we can.

One great purpose of geomancy is to help us understand how to be in this natural world, on Earth, with sensitivity for all parts of nature, including the land itself, and to also sense and understand the subtle earth energies which actually have profound effect on our lives, even if we are usually unaware of them. The energies at and flowing through certain sacred areas will have a profoundly positive effect on us, in physical health, emotional well-being, and in mind awakening. But we need to develop our subtle sensitivity to these sacred energies, and we also need to help protect these areas from greed and abuse. Geomancy can teach us how to live harmoniously with the natural world and its energies. This includes walking harmoniously and with open senses upon the land.

Perhaps we will recognize or realize that much of the land on earth is specially positive and healing; as long as it is not allowed to be privately fenced up, economically exploited, or built upon un-respectfully. Sacred areas are all over. However, there are places where the subtle earth energies have been disrupted or corrupted, so we need to develop a sense of this as well, in order that we might know how to heal these places.

We need to take on an active concern and care for our environment, the physical ecology and the subtle ecology of sacred and psychological energies. Geomancy is a study of all relationships concerning planet earth, and the possibilities and creative work of conscious evolution. We have a responsibility in living here to actively care for our environment. If we can recognize our interconnectiveness with the environment, there is the possibility of understanding this life and being of service to it.

We work in service for the planet, above all respecting the lives, relations and processes that make up the Whole. We respect the rights and dignity of all the kingdoms and the land and elements that we make use of. Every part of our lives are seen to be interconnected with the Whole, every walk we take, everything we make. The whole planet is our body and all that lives are cells within us and the land itself are our bones.

Our work involves love, care, respect and appreciation. We consciously realize our relationship with the Whole and our responsibility within it. We work to maintain the sustainability and beauty of our eco-systems on the planet, and we work to heal the disharmonies, pains and pollutions so often caused by man. We work to establish order and beauty throughout, using the intelligent laws shown by nature.

Geomancy also includes designing and building structures on the land that are harmonious with the surrounding ecology, landscape, and earth energies, and which are also healthy and healing for us. So, our intention is to design and build harmoniously with the sacred-earth energies. We can also attract sacred positive energies into the areas where we live. We can also build artistically, or place artistic objects, in a way that enhances positive psychological qualities in us. Structures built with natural proportion or with positive symbolic meaning, placed correctly with geomancy in mind, will not only improve the quality of the surrounding land, but will also have positive psychological effects -- affecting our health, emotions, and mental-spiritual vision.

Balance between Nature and human interests

Needs of the Earth and the quality of earth energies are of utmost importance in geomancy. This ought to be our primary concern. But human needs and wishes are also important in geomancy, because the human kingdom has its own very special purpose in life, which includes creativity and enjoyment, as well as many other values. Geomancy does not deny the value and importance of human needs and enjoyment. But there must be right balance in this.

There has to be also a serious consideration of what the earth needs or what the land needs, to be balanced with our human needs and wishes. We have to balance human needs with natural earth needs. Because on the one hand, we too are important in this life on earth, and as humans we will not be able to avoid seeking our human enjoyment and fulfillment. Yet on the other hand, we have a responsibility and ethical obligation to also care for the needs of nature or of the natural environment in which we live. So we have to come into a balance - a balance between our human desires and what is needed for the land, the Earth. Both have to be considered.

Our purpose here on Earth is to manifest the highest values possible -- personally, socially, and in the natural environment. We must consider human needs and potentials, but also the environment’s needs and potentials. We need an environment that gives to us what we need and is harmonious for our physical, psychological, and social well-being. And in turn, we must give to our environment what it needs.

Our human needs cannot be fully elaborated upon in this book, but we can consider the basics for fulfilling our human potential. The first is survival: food, shelter, health and warmth. We need the substances and means for health and growth. We also need human contact, love and care. We learn how to live through education, communication, and through personal experience and challenges. We need to have some type of work or dynamic meaning in our lives, and also perfect some abilities within ourselves. We need recreation, pleasure, and artistic opportunities. As a group we need to build cooperation, so that we can work together and achieve more than any one person can do by themselves. We need to interact together, to love and be loved, to teach and learn from, to play with and have fun together, and to communicate with and create life together. We need to grow as individual persons, to allow our innate potentials to come forth, to know our true self, and to realize our purpose here in this life.

So in geomancy, we must recognize the real needs of human beings, so that we can design environments accordingly and help steer natural forces in a way that nurtures our needs. We help creativity serve both man and nature. We discover what a man and woman really need for themselves, then work with nature to manifest these human goals. Yet we are not just trying to force nature to fit into our desires. We work with nature and seek to develop a cooperative, friendly relationship between the many aspects of the Whole. So, we help create places, buildings, art and technology for the good of man and woman, making these functionally successful, artistically beautiful, emotionally enjoyable, and of course harmonious with the physical and spiritual needs of the planet.

Thus, geomancy is a study of how to direct the forces of nature and make good use of them. But at the same time, geomancy studies and considers the needs of the natural environment and seeks to fulfill those needs as well. Ultimately we are seeking a win-win solution in this dynamic between human and natural-environmental needs.

Our Environment affects us

In this balancing act, we must realize is that we humans are intimately affected by the energies and quality of the local natural environment around us. In other words, the quality of nature's energy, harmony and beauty, which we stand upon and are surrounded by, has a very real effect on us, physically and psychologically.

Thus, we cannot actualize our human needs to completion without also actualizing the needs of our environment, both social and ecological. Everything is interconnected, and nothing exists without some relationship and environmental influence. Our environment affects us, and we cannot escape from this fact. No one can hide from the surrounding influences. Therefore, in order to best serve ourselves, we need to serve our environment. If we are to fulfill ourself, we must also fulfill the environment which sustains and affects us. There is no way out and no place else to go.

The environment affects us in many ways, but most of these effects are subtle, beyond the average awareness. Yet they have profound influence on all parts of our being and on all aspects of our activities. Though we may not be aware of all these subtle influences on our bodies and psyche, they nonetheless affect us subconsciously. The degree of harmony and order surrounding us, or the lack of it, will be a structuring influence on our life, whether we like it or not. The quality of beauty, or lack of it, in our surroundings have a profound effect on us.

The subtle energies flowing upon this planet actually feed us in a definite way, so their pathways and overall order need to be respected and considered. Every form, shape and design on the land has a certain effect on us, from being delightfully beneficial to being disastrously harmful.

The love we share with others and nature create a lasting, radiating memory from that place, and thus the land will sing with love and make us feel in love. Yet, the opposite is also possible, because any hatred or intentional hurt or callous disrespect will also have a lasting effect and will reverberate back, but in this case with disharmony. So the work we do and the attitude we carry in any area have a profoundly lasting effect and even an effect over the whole planet.

Thus, whatever we do to the natural world has a reverberating, echoing effect back upon us. So if we neglect a respectful consideration for the natural world and earth energies surrounding us and in which we abide, then whatever harm or disruption we create will reverberate back to us. Whatever is done to the natural environment is then also done to us. Because wherever we are, we are unavoidably in some quality of natural environment and subtle energies that will unavoidably affect us, either beneficially or detrimentally. Geomancy, and any geomancy work, is based on this realization.

All action, all movement, all creativity, and in fact, all thought, has interrelated effects extending throughout space and time. The environment is affected, and these effects extend into the future. What we do, and how we relate with our space around us, however small, whether it be our living room or small garden area, has effects throughout the town and landscape we live in. We are each potentially very important to all life and its evolution. We can become ever more intimate and involved with our surroundings and the sacred energies moving through all nature, space and time.

Reciprocity - Giving back to life

People tend to take for granted how much the earth gives to us. It really is amazing how we happen to live upon such a fruitful and beautiful world, but we take it for granted. In fact, we take and we take; we take everything we can. There really isn't anything bad about receiving from the Earth what we truly need, but there needs to be a balance in this, and to balance this we need to give as well. We need to give our respect and care to Mother Earth. Ultimately, we need to care. And much of nature is in need of our care.

We might consider how blessed we are to be alive and have this opportunity of a lifetime. Our lives have truly been given to us. We are born and are taken care of through childhood without much responsibility to take care of others or our environment. The growth into adulthood should be an understanding and agreement of our responsibility of being human, yet this is rarely the case. People tend to presume this life, to forget how much the planet gives to us daily for our survival and even enjoyment. We forget or never consider how special and significant this life is, and we seldom question in our hearts about the purpose of it all or what we can do to help this purpose along.

Upon simple consideration, we can easily see that we are given much more than we give back. Certainly we each owe a great deal of gratitude to our parents or persons who helped us grow up, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Mothers especially deserve thanks for their pain sacrificed for us at birth. The culture we live within deserves thanks and all the people before us who helped keep this world together and help make this our life how it is. Of course some of how they all left it is not too nice, but we cannot deny that much of what we cherish and rely upon in our daily lives is due to some great efforts and inventiveness by our predecessors. So one of the first steps of a conscious life is to remember and recognize how much we are given by other people and the planet.

In a sense, this planet is a gift to us. Each of us can feel personally rewarded with all the gifts of life, though we probably cannot honestly feel we deserved anything. But creation, the planet and the gift of life gives to us without any promises that we will give anything back, let alone gratitude. This is because the planet and the creative intelligence of life loves us! Love gives first, with a hope that we’ll ask questions later, if not before. And the question we might ask is “how does this all happen, why, and what can I do within this grand scheme of things?” And why not feel this planet is for our fulfillment? Let’s not get too arrogant in believing it is only for us, but certainly The Giver would hope that the gift is well received, appreciated, and even cherished as ones own.

We would not want to neglect using the gift, anymore than we would not want to abuse it. This gift is ours, it is for us , yet it is also for us to take care of it, allow it to grow to maturity, and by all means love and appreciate it with all one’s heart. We do have the ability inherent within us to properly maintain and even to improve the quality of life on this planet. We have a moral responsibility to at least maintain the environment in some suitable fashion for the future generations and for other kingdoms of nature. To ruin or desecrate the ecology which we live within is foolish for ourselves and disastrous for future generations. We do owe a kind of debt for our lives. Though it is given freely, our conscience needs to awaken to our responsibility of give back something, not out of sentimentality or guilt, but out of love and sincere gratitude. We would be quite foolish if we didn’t feed our body what it needs, and since this Earth is the greater body interconnected with all bodies, then it needs to be cared for.

There is definite law of reciprocity in the cosmos, just as there is a definite law of action and reaction in kinetic physics, and there needs to be an equal exchange of give and take. If we do not consciously give, then it is taken in some way at some time, in order to re-balance the reciprocal energy flow.

What we need to give back is not necessarily physical or of the same type as what we are given. There are many kinds of giving, as there are many kinds of energies and forms of matter in physics. We must first ask or study what exactly is called for. This involves a study of natural ecology, human psychology, subtle planetary energies, and many other related subjects. The debt we owe has many dimensions, but we need not worry about doing everything, if only we can continually learn more what we are capable of giving back to life and becoming evermore responsible to do it.

We can work on a physical level, on the level of emotional vibration, in the world of creative thought, and upon the spiritual aspiring spiral of sacrifice and service for the Highest. We can give to the physical ecology and form, to the maturation of human psychology, to the acculturation of creative ideas, and to the purpose of inner self-realization. Conscious effort and loving care upon the land or with others releases a great energy for good. Our love and our work, our appreciation and our giving radiates to all, now and into the future. The sacrifice we make within ourselves for self-transformation and planetary service builds a higher quality of being, within ourself and in worlds unknown. And we give back to life a great gift as we come into deeper self-realization of purpose and being.