Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. (Please note:  Any question received after then will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. I've been getting an increasing number of people trying to post after these are closed, so will have to draw a harder line than before.) If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.

The image?  That's the ninth card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 9, The Cross, when upright lets you know that various people, ideas, or factors in the situation that were previously separate are coming into interaction; when reversed, it warns you that the forces at work in the situation are in conflict -- at cross purposes, one might say. The oak leaves on the sides of the image tell you that this card belongs to the first third of the oracle, which corresponds to Calas, the principle of solidity and materiality. 

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button above to access my online tip jar. If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here. 

 

I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain other gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I now have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John,

I am looking to incorporate an altar into my practice and would appreciate some advice on starting one and what basic objects to use for the elements.

I've seen a recent post from you that you use a folded table which I have now found. Curious on cheap element objects.

Thanks

[ecosophia]

If you simply want symbols of the elements, John Gilbert used to recommend a folding fan, a votive candle in a holder, a small glass of water, and a stone. As for how to make use of it, well, that depends very much on what kind of occult work you have in mind. Some schools use temporary altars that are set up in the middle of the room for ritual work, draped with an altar cloth, and then folded up and put away afterwards. Some use permanent altars that are usually over to one side of the space -- they can be the top of a bookcase or a dresser, or what have you. What do you plan on doing?

[jprussell]

Good evening and thanks as always for hosting this space and answering our questions.

I'm uncharacteristically short on questions this week, just one!

1) Do you believe that modern storytelling has any role to play in adding to the store of spiritually significant myths? If so, do you think it's something that can be done intentionally, and if yes to that, what distinguishes it from regular fiction-writing besides having spiritually significant themes?

Besides questions, as an update for anyone who's interested, I'm staying strong on my "read only books by dead folks" resolution, having just finished Psychic Self-Defense by Fortune, and about halfway through volume 1 of Spengler's Decline of the West. I'll also be continuing through Iamblichus's recommended reading order for Plato's dialogues (next up is Phaedo), but if anyone has recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Cheers,
Jeff

[ecosophia]

Nobody invents a myth. A story becomes a myth through being picked up and retold until it becomes one of the core narratives of an entire culture. It's possible that some piece of fiction will eventually become a myth, but it's not the writer who makes that happen! That being the case, I'd encourage people who like to write fiction to concentrate on telling a good story and, if spiritual themes seem appropriate, by all means put them in.

Modern Order of the Essenes

[australiandreamer]

(I like how your nearly midnight is my about 3 in the afternoon!)

1) You mentioned previously that ‘The Modern Order of Essenes is a healing order and teaches various means of spiritual healing.’ and there was an implication that that was something else you were hoping to revive further down the track. Is this related to the http://www.orderofessenes.org/ you have previously mentioned (which at least in the initial section is speaking of health, happiness and material success) or something completely different? You said it was not mentored any more so guessing the followup courses (which apparently require at least monthly feedback on your progress) would not be available. Ok further looking I see that elements of that were taken up into the Modern Order – is that something already available or a planned release like you did the Order of Spiritual Alchemy one?


2) Does the Essene mystical path mesh with the EOTIW and Practical Mysticism? (I am assuming here that EOTIW counts as a mystical path which may or may not be correct)


3) You mentioned it was a ‘a blessing-centered mystical path’ what are the main categories/types of mystical paths?


4) With the etheric cleansing elements of washing in cold water – does it make any difference if you do it in the evening before bed or in the morning after waking?

Re: Modern Order of the Essenes

[ecosophia]

1) No, they're two different orders. The Modern Order was founded in the 1950s by Rev, Matthew Shaw of the Universal Gnostic Church, and it doesn't have the New Thought focus of the Order of Essenes founded by Burks Hamner in 1937. The MOE isn't available yet, and it's not next on the list -- John's Golden Dawn offshoot has that status.

2) It should be broadly compatible with both of those. EOTIW is magic, not mysticism -- Knight is precise about such things, and describes it as Christian Cabalistic magic.

3) You'd have to ask a mystic. I simply repeated the description that John always used.

4) Most people I know do it in the morning because cold water tends to shock you awake! That said, I don't know of any reason why the etheric effects would be different.

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG,

Pretty embarrassed to be that guy on MM this week with another dime-a-dozen “OMG this crazy stuff happened!!” post, but I had two very peculiar nights in a row this week and I was hoping if you could tell me if they just sound like weird static or if they sound more significant. (Keeping in mind I’ve been on a magical hiatus since roughly mid November).

The first night I woke up around 5am with this very intense large sphere of, say, static energy in my upper chest that was slowly trying to force itself up my midline into my head. Wasn’t thinking totally straight, but I felt like it wasn’t in my best interest to have all that energy to burst up the channel into my skull. I tried to just let it dissipate instead of forcing it down, and opened my eyes suddenly if it got too close.

After three times I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere, and called on a personal deity who thankfully shut it all down.

There’s probably a proper name for this that I don’t know, but the second night I woke up in a ‘astral temple’ of sorts. I was aware that I was sleeping, and knew exactly that I was in a strange temple that others have built in the astral field for rituals etc. Was filled with strange icons and statues that I’ve never seen in my waking life, and had a distinct left hand feel in a Hindu sense. There’s a whole lot of important details here that I’m skipping, but I eventually knew I wasn’t getting anywhere with it and chose to wake up.

I work with a shaman at my day job and ran the first night past her quickly. She suspected someone was doing some sort of a working on me. She always err’s on the side of extremely negative though, and to me none of it felt particularly ‘bad’ or foreign etc. Either way, I’m planning on casting a house chart to ask if it was like that tomorrow. Any thoughts or ideas for plans of action if needed are much appreciated.

Cheers

[ecosophia]

Ah, the joys of astral static! The magical hiatus may have something to do with this -- you've sensitized yourself, and now without regular banishing the static level is becoming noticeable. Protective methods of natural magic might be helpful; prayer will certainly be helpful. One of the basic rules with astral static, though, is that none of it is ever as important as it seems at first.

A very sad question about magicians

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG.

I feel a little bad about asking this question but... I came to realize that a number of magicians and polytheists have gone through the horrible experience of losing their child: Aleister Crowley, Robert Bruce (Astral Dynamics), Courtney Weber (priestess of Brigid), and, I am sad to say, yourself.

Do you think there is any occult reason for this? Or do you feel that the rate at which magicians go through this particular tragedy is about the same as it is for everyone else?

Re: A very sad question about magicians

[ecosophia]

I think it's about the same as everyone else. The current infant mortality rate in the US is roughly 1 out of every 200 births, and it was considerably higher than that in (say) Crowley's time. Looking over the list of occultists I know of, that seems about right; I suspect you'd find that rates for other unhappy events are also about the same.

Monsters

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG, I just finished reading Monsters and really enjoyed it! It generated some additional questions:
1. Where would you catagorize incubus/succubus? Is this just a variation of the “Old Hag” or something different?
2. Would you consider the Golem a tulpa or something else?
3. Alex Jones would rant about Silicon Valley elites using psychedelics to communicate with aliens. It sounded crazy. Now, it all looks like an elaborate fay practical joke. What implications would this have for those participating in this communication? What do the fay get out of it?
4. There’s a very entertaining YT channel called Dixie Cryptid. It’s got hundreds of audio-only well-narrated stories of Big Hairy Monsters, with a few chimeras mixed in. It’s interesting for two reasons: first, because there are so many stories from all across the world, especially the SE US; and second, because it’s not uncommon for a good story to get 100,000+ views. I can’t quite make a question of out this, but it’s an interesting phenomenon, and your book helped me put these stories in perspective. Thank you!

Re: Monsters

[ecosophia]

1) It's something different. The Old Hag phenomenon doesn't have a sexual dimension, while incubi and succubi are sexually predatory by definition.

2) Golem lore is exceedingly complex and there are many different things wrapped up in that body of legend. Some of them are tulpas, certainly.

3) People who are sufficiently ripped on psychedelics quite often think they're communicating with aliens. They also think they're communicating with cartoon characters, teapots, coatracks, and their own toes. Get stoned enough and you can believe anything, no matter how stupid it is. ;-) I don't think the fays have anything to do with it; it's just a bunch of stoners who like to get pretentious about their trips, as stoners often do. "All is love...all is peace...all is one...except the SPIDERS!!!"

4. The Southeast is crawling with skunk apes and other BHM-type monsters, so this doesn't surprise me at all. I'm glad they got a few chimeras too.

[(Anonymous)]

My staves said Mor when I asked what the occult significance of the US-RF standoff in Ukraine is.
Umm… might you hazard an opinion on an interpretation? Outside and new influences stood out when I looked in The Druidry Handbook, but which ones?
Also, I shake my staves in a box. Mor came flying out and landed face down but upright by my foot. Should I assume an emphatic response?
Rhydlyd

[ecosophia]

1) Mór is a few of destiny and of the closing of one age and the beginning of another. In a political reading I tend to see it as an indicator that an era is coming to an end. How will it end and what will follow it? You need a more complex reading to tell that.

2) That's how I would read it.

Golden Goddess

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening JMG and the commentariat, I recently had a dream a two weeks ago that took place in a sandy temple beneath the basement of my house. The ceilings and walls were made of simple sandstone, but seemed to depict colorful murals of the goddess that inhabited it. There was also an amazingly large golden statue of the goddess herself, tucked into the apse of the temple. The goddess that had called me there was a larger woman who was curved in the way a goddess of love or fertility may be. I never got her name, but she seemed quite content whether I was there or not, her other followers seemed a bit distressed though, as they seemed to believe that she would disappear from their own lives and their cult religion. Any ideas of who this mystery goddess would be? Any suggestions from the commentariat are much appreciated as well. Thanks!

Re: Golden Goddess

[ecosophia]

There I can't help you; there are a lot of goddesses, and plenty of them can be described in the terms you use.

Occult Botany: Sédir's Concise Guide to Magical Plants

[jpc_w]

I found an English version of Paul Sédir's Occult Botany book, which was supposedly used in Papus' École Hermétique as a textbook.

Would this be a suitable book for the CGD Bardic work, or should we stick to more regular books on herbalism?

Re: Occult Botany: Sédir's Concise Guide to Magical Plants

[ecosophia]

It's a fine book and I have copies of it in both languages. By all means use it.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Thank you for your work. I have a question about SoP. When I invoke an element I first draw a symbol, imagine it, and say the invocation. Then I imagine a scene. When I imagine the scene do I also continue to imagine the symbol at the same time or just the scene?

[ecosophia]

Keep on imagining the symbol, and see the scene as though it's off past the symbol.

[(Anonymous)]

For the purposes of mundane astrology, would the relevant chart for the Freedom Convoy be when it reached Ottawa, or when the first trucks left from Prince Rupert, BC?

[ecosophia]

Mundane astrology doesn't work that way. The relevant chart would be the most recent ingress chart for Ottawa. You might also check recent eclipses that are still playing out.

Getting my feet wet in astrology

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Mr. Greer,

I recently purchased a copy of Roy Gillett's "The Secret Language of Astrology" and am attempting to work my way through my birth chart. I see that I have a lot of activity in the third house that governs communication (literally my Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all clustered there). Is this par for the course or is having four planets in one house very unusual? For whatever its worth I have two additional planets (Sun and Mercury) in the 5th house of creativity. This leaves the rest of my chart pretty empty looking.

Re: Getting my feet wet in astrology

[ecosophia]

That's called a stellium, and though it's less common than some other patterns, if you look at natal charts you'll see one farly often. My wife has four planets in one house of her chart, for example, and so does the upcoming US Aries ingress chart.

[gullindagan]

Working on the Heathen GD still. It's still feeling a little difficult to synthesize, but I guess that's just part of it.

1.I'm starting to meditate on the spheres of the ToL, starting at the top and going down in the lightening flash, one per day, I'll do this at least 3 times, maybe more? Then work up from the bottom, and doing each path too. As far as magical images go, think I can sort of make them up using classical images, and images of the Heathen gods? For instance, Chesed/Vanaheim has a very similar image in Paths of Wisdom as Thor does in the renaissance Saxon images. I could go over each image on here with you first.

2.As far as the paths go, if I put the Anglo-Saxon/Northumbrian runes on it, 33 runes to 32 paths plus Da'ath seems like it works... I've been cross word puzzling it using Paths of Wisdom.

3. I think one of the main parts of the higher/highest initiation grades will be brewing a mead of inspiration using herbs, and consecrating the brew when its still a tea, then drinking it in the initiation ceremony. Part of me was a little skeptical about alcohol in ritual, but then again, the Christians use wine, the CGD uses alcohol extractions, and this makes a lot of sense when looking at the remnants of Germanic initation myths (Maiden with the mead cup etc) see any problems? Teetotalers can maybe just do a strong infusion. Also I've been signing ALU over a cup of water and pouring light into it every day, that can be a preliminary exercize.

[ecosophia]

1) That should work well. Yes, you can make up magical images -- mages do that all the time.

2) That seems very sensible to me.

3) Excellent! Enright's Lady With A Mead Cup is a good reference here. Your teetotalers can simply dissolve honey in herb tea.

BTW, you might be intrigued to read the first ritual in this book -- a 19th century Masonic reworking of the Gylfaginning as an initiation ritual...

[ataulfo]

How do some people today practice magic only out of premodern sources with gaping pedagogical holes?

[ecosophia]

Good question. Have you asked them?

[(Anonymous)]

Hello mr greer,
I now realize that I have been consumming hours of internet content every day for several years instead of doing something more meaningful with my life. I have tried several times to quit and to cut and my will always ends up failing me rather soon (even though I know it to be strong usually). I have some ideas as to why I do this to myself but keeping a regular journalling practice (which would help) is always failing because of this systematic behaviour. My baseline energy is high and I am definitly not depressed yet it seems like all the commitements I make with myself systematically fail in a matter of weeks. Do you think the affirmation "I have control over my own life and everyday my will becomes clearer" is a good one and can help with that ?
Do you have advice on truly keeping a commitement when there is a long history of failures looming behind ?
Thanks !

[ecosophia]

This isn't a matter of strength or weakness of will, it's a matter of divided will. You want to stop using the internet but you also want to keep enjoying the internet, and so your will cancels itself out. Your first task, then, is to find other things to do that you enjoy even more than the internet, and put your time into those instead. Your second task is to make time to do that journaling and find out what role the internet plays in the emotional economy of your life. Your second task is to avoid beating yourself up over this -- that's simply another way to weaken your will. Accept that this is the situation you're in, and work with it, instead of locking it into place with white-knuckle opposition.

Reversed Cards

[(Anonymous)]

I think my tarot cards are broken. Either that or they're trying to tell me something.
I do a three card read for the day (not every day). The last five times I've done it, all three cards have been reversed. I shuffle pretty well, so there's good mix of upright and reversed cards. Does anybody else get that sometimes?

Re: Reversed Cards

[ecosophia]

Happens all the time. Don't treat reversals as a bad thing -- each card has one meaning upright and a different meaning reversed, and the deck will reverse them if that's what you need to hear.

[(Anonymous)]

In the year numerology JMG says about 2022:

It's a bad time for conflict, which will prove ruinous for those who start it, and unfavorable for direct action, sudden changes, or new beginnings.


I am thinking this in terms of truckers:
- given that the gov started a conflict (protest against a conflict is not starting a conflict)
- given that gov want's sudden changes, reset, mandates
- given that gov want's direct action (supress the protests is a direct action, protest is a rather indirect action),

Looks like Canadian narrative pushers are about to meet with Jupiter to have a chat, am interpreting this right?

Also on a personal level I am thinking I have an issue with a digestive parasite that got upset by me trying to stay protected from a certain novel virus by trying to drink milk with a bit of black pepper (entire and not milled), bit of turmeric and 1 or 2 cloves.
Looks to me the bug, parasite or whatever it is, started a conflict with my body/mind/soul complex on a number 6 year.

Is the numerology also working on this micro scale?

[ecosophia]

1) It'll be interesting to see how that works out when the year is over.

2) You need to add your own time number to the year number to see what kind of year it is for you. Instructions on finding your time number are here.

Breathing

[(Anonymous)]

Hello everyone,

while sitting in meditation it is very hard for me to take deep breaths. When I‘m laying down it seems, that I can inhale forever but in the sitting position, it stops after just 3 seconds. It makes meditation harder because I often feel like I’m not getting enough air.

Has someone similar experiences and can help me?

- Alex

Re: Breathing

[ecosophia]

This is usually caused by excess tension in your ribcage and abdomen. I'd encourage you to put extra time into relaxation exercises, and also see if you can arrange to get some massage to help loosen the muscles.

[jruss]

Good evening to you ArchDruid,

A simple question for you sir, lately I've been feeling drained and tired all the time. Disclaimer: Don't seeking medical advice, I am instead here seeking religious advice.

Are there any traditional meditations or rituals that are said to give one extra energy?

[ecosophia]

The first thing to do is make sure there's nothing physically wrong with you. Since the mainstream medical system seems to be stuck in permanent crisis at this point, an appointment with a licensed alternative medicine provider would be a very good idea.

In one of her books, Dion Fortune has a fine essay titled "Pitfalls of Spiritual Healing" where she talks at length about why it's always a bad idea to treat something like this using magical or spiritual means when you haven't ruled out a physical cause first. People die that way. Don't be one of them.

Sexual energy and healing

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG,

And thank you very much, again, for the opportunity to ask questions (and get meaningful answers!! ;-) ).

A couple weeks back, a commenter asked about a course including sexual energy work:

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/166965.html?thread=24926773#cmt24926773

and last week, you kindly expanded on that with regards to my question on moving energy around Tai Chi style:

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/167921.html?thread=25283057#cmt25283057

I’ve been mulling this over and have come up with more questions - would very much appreciate your input, and also pointers by other commenters:

1. Are there any „western“ occult or magic traditions which work with sexual energy?

2. Is sexual energy actually different from other kinds of „energy“ used during magic/occult work, and how? Or is this just a simple name for „the energy that comes up during sexually charged moments“?

3. Branching out into another topic:

I know a lot of „Eastern“ methods of energy healing for the body (e.g. acupuncture/acupressure, meridian work, certain Qi Gong exercises, Chakra healing, …).

Are there any equivalent „Western“ energy healing traditions or modalities?

4. And finally, you cautioned against using e.g. the Lesser Circulation from Tai Chi/Qi Gong together with „Western“ occult/magic practices.

How about Eastern energy healing systems? Could e.g. acupuncture interfere with occult practices?

And specifically: If an energy body is already „primed“ by the Lesser Circulation, and I‘m hoping for it to reverse to the baseline over time, would it then be wise to avoid things like acupuncture for the time being, because they might re-enforce the energy patterns already established by Tai Chi?

Thanks,

Milkyway

Re: Sexual energy and healing

[ecosophia]

1) Roughly half of all Western magical traditions do something with sexual energy. The spectrum extends from those that advise celibacy and redirect the sexual currents to other uses, all the way to those that practice ritual sex.

2) My understanding is that it's no different -- it's just that sexual arousal brings up a lot of it in a hurry.

3) Very little of that has survived the persecution of alternative health care by the medical industry, but yes, there's still some of it around.

4) No, acupuncture works with the peripheral meridians to balance the normal flow of qi through the body -- it doesn't redefine the energy flows in a specific way, as the Lesser Circulation does. I've used acupressure (specifically the Japanese form called Do-In) extensively over the years and never found any conflict between that and my magical work.

[ganeshling]

Hi JMG,

No question this time.

Just wanted to share a link that I hoped you and some of the readers might find interesting: The Real Story on Kundalini.

In short (and really butchering the article here), what we know as Kundalini now is not how it was described in the Tantric sources. They talk of two Kundalinis - the second one being above the head. The practices then, instead of shooting the Kundalini 'below' through the spinal channel up into the stratosphere, bring both of those coils of energy into the heart centre where they form the third Kundalini with a very different and more balanced effect. Instead of looking to escape the incarnation they look to incarnate most fully.

I found it fascinating how from that we got to the modern version of Kundalini practices that reflect our cultural approach to everything - shooting into and beyond the infinity faster than we possibly can without breaking.

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Thanks for this. Right now, curiously enough, I'm deep into researching certain Western occult practices that go out of their way to avoid the spinal centers, precisely because so many Western attempts at kundalini yoga have gone so horribly wrong. I'll be interested, when time permits, to read this and see how it interfaces with the stuff I'm studying.

Translation progress

[(Anonymous)]

Just a note that as a first exercise in translating German occult books (my previous experience has been mainly early 20C fiction and the German Historical School of Economics) I have started on a translation of a German book from 1793, titled in full in English: Theoretical and Practical Instruction over the Book of Thoth, or about the higher power, of nature and man, to dependably reveal the mysteries of life and to give oracles according to the wondrous art of the Egyptians.
I thought you might like this short quote which seemed quite druidish to me: "But in order to possess the knowledge of nature which is the mental capacity of every human, you must have studied nature. Then you need neither a divine inspiration, nor a hellish conjuring of spirits; you need only be a friend of mankind, a connoisseur of nature."

Re: Translation progress

[ecosophia]

Excellent! Thank you for this quotation -- you're right that every Druid I've ever met would agree with it enthusiastically, and so would most occultists -- and also for the news that you're at work. I'll definitely look forward to seeing that book; if you like, let me know when it's done and I may be able to point you to a publisher.

Synchronistically, I recently ran across a very influential German occult author whose works have been enormously influential in Europe, but as far as I know have never been translated into English: Johann Baptist Krebs, who wrote under the pen name Johann Baptist Kerning. He worked out a system of Rosicrucian meditations and subtle energy exercises, and published several books on the subject; those would likely get a great deal of interest from Anglophone occultists.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

The (nearly) full lunar eclipse of May 16th will conjunct Joe Biden's natal sun.

Do you have any insight into what, if anything, this portends?

[ecosophia]

That's an exceedingly baleful sign for a head of state, but I'd have to look at the whole chart (which of course I'll be doing in due time) to know what it portends.

[(Anonymous)]

Just a data point: the pope just appeared in a tv show for the first time in history. He said that he uses a historical prayer for good mood, and asked watchers to pray for him, he would need it. “If you don’t know how to pray, you can send good thoughts or good vibrations”, he added.

[ecosophia]

I don't imagine the Catholic traditionalists took that well...

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
Thank you as always for your kind efforts. A slightly unusual question, perhaps.
A family member who is a professional astrologer is trying to produce a forecast for me for this year. After quite a lot of work and enquiries, we have narrowed my possible birth-times down to two, several hours apart. Each is consistent with aspects of my life and personality, and seems convincing according to professional criteria I don't pretend to understand, but since my parents are long dead there is no chance of getting better information.

I had therefore thought about divination, especially Geomancy which I believe you recommend for yes/no questions. I have one of your books on the subject, but am still a novice. Would it be possible to ask, for each possible time, "is this the time of my birth?" or some variant of that question? If so, what houses would be involved in the reading and what should I look for? Sorry to ask such a lot.

[ecosophia]

Hmm. You might be able to do that, but it seems to me that the logical thing to do would be to rectify the two charts using the first really serious event that happened to you -- a serious childhood illness, say, or your marriage if you're married. Cast progressed charts for the year in which the event happened, using your two possible natal charts as the basis, and see which one does a better job of predicting the event. (For example, if it's a serious childhood illness, the ruler of the 6th house or a planet in that house should be afflicted.)

If your family member the astrologer has already done this and come up with equivocal results, then yes, you could probably use geomancy.