Geomantic Intelligences

What are they? Why are they linked to Tarot the way they are (see Liber 777, column CLXXVII)? And whence do they come? I've done a bit of reading on geomancy, but I don't understand the connection to Tarot. Moreover, I haven't been able to find anywhere else that these specific spirits are referred to. Does anyone know what their connection is to the 16 geomantic glyphs? And/or anywhere I can turn for more reading on this subject?

This one could be fun! Geomancy is one of the main methods of divination that I've used, along with tarot and horary astrology (I use Israel Regardie's "stones" method rather than the "box-of-dirt-and-a-stick"). I have books and texts by Stephen Skinner, John Michael Greer, Aleister Crowley (beyond 777), "pseudo-Agrippa" and the Golden Dawn paper compiled by Regardie in The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. I haven't delved into them in quite a while (horary astrology has grabbed most of my attention), but I don't recall that any of them make a clear cross-connection between geomancy and tarot, unless it's through planetary associations. I'll take a look and get back later.

Just a quick one:

In A Handbook of Geomancy, Crowley includes a table at the front that shows geomantic "geniuses" and "rulers" (i.e. Malchidael and Bartzabel, respectively, for Puer, along with Mars as its planet). I haven't looked yet, so I don't know if this is identical to 777. Unfortunatley, this is basically a "how-to" manual so he goes into no discussion of these correspondences.

Another tidbit:

In Book 4: Magick in Theory and Practice, "Of Clairvoyance and the Body of Light", Crowley makes the following interesting statement about geomancy:

"At one time, the MASTER THERION employed it extensively; but he was never wholly at ease with it; He found the interpretation very difficult. Moreover, it seemed to Him that the geomantic intelligences themselves were of a low order, the scope of which was confined to a small section of the things which interested Him; also, they possessed a point of view of their own which was far from sympathetic with His, so that misunderstanding constantly interfered with the Work."

Crowley in Magick Without Tears said:

]It is of course of the very first importance in Geomancy to frame your questions accurately; for the Intelligences serving the Art delight in tricksome gambols. If there is a possibility of assigning a double meaning to the question you can bank on their finding it, and deceiving you.

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http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/crowley/mwt/mwt_59.htm

These sound a bit like the mischievous fairy folk in fairy tale lore with their double edged bargains

There are a few more threads to pull in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Chapter XXII, "Of the Tables of the Planets . . ." (Donald Tyson, 1993). Agrippa's "Spirits of the Planets" align with Crowley's "Rulers" of the geomantic figures as I mentioned above. Agrippa's "Intelligences," however, don't line up with Crowley's "Genius" column. Tyson notes: "Agrippa uses the term intelligence to denote a benevolent supernatural being, and spirit to denote a malevolent supernatural being." The graphical figures for these entities are derived from the "magic squares" for each planet. Agrippa said "Now how the seals, and characters of the stars, and spirits are drawn from these tables, the wise searcher, and he who shall understand the verifying of these tables, shall easily find out." Helpfully, Tyson provides Appendix V, which does all the heavy lifting.

ETA: There is probably more in the Picatrix, but I don't own a copy.

Here's an interesting series of exchanges from a Temple of Thelema forum.

http://www.heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6627

Thanks for all the information! The "genius" column at the beginning of the Handbook of Geomancy corresponds to the intelligence listed in column CLXXVII of Liber 777. But the intelligences listed for the planetary paths (e.g. Zamael on path 27) don't correspond to anything in the Handbook. Moreover, there are more intelligences listed in 777 than there are glyphs in geomancy.

It's interesting to note (in the Temple of Thelema thread linked by Barleywine) the argument that the entities listed in 777 are actually archangels rather than elementary spirits.

As I understand from what I've read (and granted, I'm fairly new to geomancy and my knowledge is severely limited), these intelligences/geniuses are spirits who rule over the art of geomancy; one spirit is connected to each glyph. And then the glyphs themselves (largely, it seems, through astrological symbolism) have been connected to Tarot. Does this seem right? Or am I missing something?

The "rulers" listed in the Handbook seem to be the planetary intelligences. But once again, the names given in 777 are different than the names of the planetary intelligences. Anyone have an inkling as to the origin of those names?

smw said:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/crowley/mwt/mwt_59.htm

These sound a bit like the mischievous fairy folk in fairy tale lore with their double edged bargains

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Thank you for this resource! I greatly enjoyed reading it. I especially appreciate the note that geomancy is a fundamentally earth-driven form of divination and therefore that Crowley himself is "just the worst person in the habitable globe that you could have asked about this matter". I also am severely lacking in the earth department when it comes to my natal chart, but I guess that doesn't limit curiosity.

Aleister Crowley;Liber 777 said:

These intelligences are angelic in nature, but possessing material and even earthly dominion. Hence they preside over the geomantic figures, whose nature indeed expresses their relation to man.

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Just for reference.