I've wandered down an internet rabbit-hole again - easy to do is it not?! Reading a thread of commentary, on matters related to climate change, I followed a commenter's link to an article,
Technological Superstitions, by one John Michael Greer, ("the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and the author of more than thirty books on a wide range of subjects, including peak oil and the future of industrial society.") It's an excellent (and totally non-occult) read. As the commenter who recommended the piece wrote
"[Greer] is honest, factual, documents his findings, is hopeful, but brutally succinct in his assessments that humanity is already well into it's post-technological decline". The piece is published at one of Mr Greer's blogs,
The Archdruid Report. Another of his blogs, this with focus on the occult, is
The Well of Galabes (Reflections on Druidry, Magic, and Occult Philosophy). In case anyone is wondering, like me, what or where is Galabes: it was a fountain or spring in Wales frequented by the legendary wizard, Merlin.
I pottered around some of JMG's articles on both blogs, read his book review headed
Another Kind of Star Wars, relating to Ann Geneva's
Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind: William Lilly and the Language of the Stars (1995). Then, curious to discover whether he'd written anything on astrology himself, did a brief search which threw up a page from
his book, The Art and Practice of Geomancy.
JMG mentions that a 16th century geomancer called geomancy "daughter of astrology". I had no idea what geomancy involved, so wandered a little further down the rabbit hole to find a set of fairly brief pieces on
Astrological Geomancy at Renaissance Astrology website. Also another good piece at
serenapowers.com HERE.
Those "figures" used in geomancy, made up of pairs or single dots rang a clear bell in my memory - still clear even though it comes from long, long ago. My maternal grandmother had an encyclopedia of... don't recall the exact title, but it boiled down to "strange stuff". It was a thick door stopper of a book which I loved to dip into whenever, as a child, I visited my grandparents. One of my favourite sections was devoted to what I only now realise was geomancy. I remember those patterns of dots very clearly. I think the book must have offered some simplified method of using them - maybe to answer a question; but at this point memory detail becomes foggy. I do remember that was section I'd first turn to; it always fascinated me, but until now I'd never stumbled upon those dot figures again, though often had wondered about them. The I-Ching reminded me of them a little, but seems to be far more complex. Grandma's book must have offered a very much simplified version of geomancy, in order for me to have understood it. So far, I'm not feeling much enthusiasm from what I've read online about geomancy.
If a passing reader has experience of using geomancy I'd be interested to hear about it.
On wandering back out of the rabbit hole again, passing by John Michael Greer, I wondered about his date of birth. He's secretive on this, it would seem. "1962" is the only clue we are given. One website states 1 January 1962, but I think this is because there's no other information available - I've come across this practice of using 1 January before, when only the birth year is known, and have been misled. Hmm... wasn't 1962 the year of the big Aquarius stellium - around February ? Yes it was! It'd be fun if JMG's birthdate fell during that span. Other natives, such as Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Axl Rose, Eddie Izzard might be very entertaining and successful but they don't really fit my idea of maxi-Aquarius-types. JMG might do so.
So...back to the surface again, until another rabbit-hole looks inviting enough to investigate.
