The House Chart

When one is using divinatory Geomancy, like in Tarot, there is more than one way in which one can arrange the symbols to be interpreted. The Shield Chart is to Geomancy as the Celtic Cross is to Tarot; it has centuries of energy built up around it because it had become used so many times that it has become the “default” of the art. But, like I have said, there is more than one Geomantic Chart.

Geomancy works in such a way that it is possible to derive charts from other charts, and often, the Shield Chart is generated first, and the Figures in that chart are rearranged to make other charts. However, it is also possible to generate alternate charts by themselves. For the following House Chart, I find it works best if one generates each of the Twelve Figures needed separately and on their own, but others may disagree, and still others might not support the idea of generating the House Chart on its own!

The House Chart is a very useful tool for placing the influences of the world around you into a more concrete context than the Shield Chart does. The Shield Chart is rather abstract in its nature, and the House Chart is more detailed and is directly tied to distinct, concrete spheres of one’s life. There is an image here of what the House Chart looks like. It is a hollow square. To rearrange the Figures from the Shield Chart into the House Chart, simply move them in order of their generation: in houses 1-4 put the Four Mothers in order, 5-8 put the Daughters in order, and 9-12 put the Nieces in order. Place the Witnesses and Judge, as they appear, in the center of the Chart.

Like with any Tarot spread or the Shield Chart, each space on the chart has a different meaning. In this chart, each space represents a Geomantic House. Astute readers may have noticed that there are many links between Geomancy and Astrology, and all of the Figures have links to astrological symbols. The twelve Geomantic Houses are very, very similar to the Astrological Houses. The Geomantic Houses are described here. Each Geomantic House represents a certain sphere of life and existence, and Figures found within a specific House manifest themselves in that particular sphere of life. In the House Chart, then, each of the Houses acts like a position in a Chart, with the meanings of the positions instead being the spheres the influences manifest in as represented by the twelve Houses.

The Significators

After placing all twelve Figures around the House Chart, the next step is to determine the Chart’s Significators. A Significator is a specific Figure within a House that holds special meaning. The first Significator, the Significator of the Querent, is easy to determine: the Figure in the First House is the Significator of the Querent. The Significator of the Querent represents the questioner, or the person who the question is asking about. This Significator can also tell the reader how the questioner will be affected by the situation being questioned.

The second Significator is the Signifcator of the Quesited, and represents the question itself, and the situation surrounding. It provides an additional layer of complexity to the Signifcator of the Querent, and can act as a simple (or simplified) answer to the basic question being asked. The Significator of the Quesited is determined based upon the question being asked, and to determine it, one has to match the nature of the question with the nature of the House (read the Geomantic Houses post to better understand this). A handy chart follows to help you determine the Significator of the Quesited:

First House: The Significator of the Quesited is never in the First House.

Second House: If the question involves property or finances.

Third House: If the question involves family, neighbors, surroundings, the media, rumors, or early education.

Fourth House: If the question involves moving, living, building on, or cultivating land, or endings.

Fifth House: If the question involves fertility, sex, children, crops, entertainment, enjoyment, or books.

Sixth House: If the question involves employees, servants, servicepeople, domestic animals, occultists, or sickness.

Seventh House: If the question involves close relationships between partners, treaties, conflict, love, marriage, thieves, enemies, searching, or doctors.

Eighth House: If the question involves death or missing things.

Ninth House: If the question involves long journeys, spiritual searching, or late education.

Tenth House: If the question involves social status and position, politics, or weather.

Eleventh House: If the question involves friends, acquaintances, hopes, helpers, or you don’t know the question.

Twelfth House: If the question involves harm, limits, debts, wild animals, or imprisonment.

The final Significator is the Significator of Completion. The Significator of Completion is always in the Fourth House, and represents how the situation posed by the question will end.

Once you have located all of the Significators, it is important to see if any of the Figures appearing as a Significator appears elsewhere in the chart (called “passing” or “springing”). If it does so, then the situation is more complex, and another layer of meaning is added to the Significator in question. The House of the Significator is most important here; while the Figure is most important in interpreting the Signifcators, in adding meaning to them through springing, the House is more important, as the meaning of the Figure is the same. The House of the springing Figure indicates where to look for other factors that influence the Significator.

Perfection

“Perfection” refers to the relationship between the Significator of the Querent and the Significator of the Quesited. There are six “Modes of Perfection,” or ways in which the Chart can be “Perfected,” which can help the reader determine how the Querent can succeed in what he or she wishes to do.

-Occupation: This Mode of Perfection occurs when the same Figure appears in the House of the Querent and the House of the Quesited. This indicates a powerful flow of energy helping the querent achieve his or her goals, and that things will likely just go in the way of the Querent.

-Mutation: This Mode of Perfection occurs when the Figure of both Significators appear out of their Houses, adjacent to each other in another place on the chart. This generally means that the path to success can be found in a surprising way, and encourages you to look in a place you might normally not think of. The House that both Figures appear in can give you a clue as to where to start.

-Conjunction: This Mode of Perfection occurs when the Figure of the Significators is found in one of the Houses adjacent to the other Significator. For example, if the Significator of the Querent (First House) is Albus, and the Significator of the Quesited is Cauda Draconis in the Eleventh House, but Albus also appears in the Tenth House, adjacent to the Eleventh, then the chart is perfected through Conjunction. Conjunction generally means success is likely, but might be difficult to achieve.

-Translation: This Mode of Perfection occurs when a Figure that is not either of the Significators appears in a House adjacent to both the Significator of the Querent and the Significator of the Quesited. This generally means that an outside force or help will be necessary to succeed. Again, the Figure and the Houses it appears in can give valuable clues.

-Company of Houses: This Mode of Perfection occurs when a specific relationship appears between either Signifactor in its “paired” House. The “pairs” of Houses are one and two, three and four, five and six, seven and eight, nine and ten, and eleven and twelve. Six and seven are not paired Houses. There are four types Company Houses can have: Simple (when the same Figure is in both), Demi-Simple (when Figures ruled by the same planet are in both), Compound (when opposite Figures are in each House), and Capitular (when the two Figures have the same Fire line). In any of the above cases, the Figure that is not the Significator acts like a second one, and should immediately be treated as such, and any Translations, Mutations, Occupations, Conjunctions, and Favorable Aspects should be checked for it! However, in terms of interpretation, it “counts” as the original Significator having made the connection, not the new one! In many cases, this Mode of Perfection indicates that one’s associations can be of great help in succeeding.

-Favorable Aspect: This is a sixth Mode of Perfection that I personally do not ascribe to. I almost never think of any sort of esoteric reading in terms of “favorable” and “unfavorable,” as I feel that it clouds the issue by making it too binary. As I do not practice this Mode of Perfection, I am not adept in its use, so will not discuss it here.  I will, however, mention its existence so you may do further research into it.

Denial of Perfection

Just as there are ways in which “Perfection” can be achieved in a Chart, to point the Querent to success, there are a few ways (fewer than there are Modes of Perfection) by which the Chart can indicate that success might not currently be in the cards (or the Chart, so to speak).

-Impedition: This Denial of Perfection happens when there is no relationship whatsoever between the Significator of the Querent and the Significant of the Quesited. This means that success may currently lie out of the Querent’s reach in his or her current position.

-Company of Houses: If, after checking for Company of Houses as above, you find that the new, second Significator has a Translation, Mutation, Occupation, or Conjunction that results in an Impedition, this can make a Denial of Perfection. In this case, it often means that someone the Querent knows is responsible for obstructing success.

-Unfavorable Aspect: Like the Favorable Aspect, I do not practice this Denial of Perfection, so am not skilled in its interpretation, and so will not discuss it. It does exist, though.

It is important to keep in mind that multiple Modes of Perfection are possible, and each one should be considered independently and along with the others. The more Modes of Perfection there are, the more paths to success! The same is true of Denials of Perfection. In very rare cases, both Modes of Perfection and Denials of Perfection are possible. In these cases, Modes of perfection win out over Denials.

Combining Figures

Another way to gain insight into the House Chart is by combining any two Houses together to better understand how they interact. To do this, simply combine the Figures in both Houses together like you do the Mothers and Daughters to get Nieces, and Nieces to get Witnesses, and Witnesses to get Judges in the Shield Chart: add up the dots in each line of the two figures, combining them, and if there is an even number of dots, put two dots in the same line of the Combination Figure, and if there is an odd number, put one dot there. This Figure is the symbol of and describes how these two houses will interact. As with any Geomantic interpretation, all three Figures and the Two Houses the original Figures exist in are important to consider. It can be helpful to designate one house (often the one with the lower numbers) as the Right Witness of this specific examination, and the other as the Left, and the Combined Figure as the Judge, and interpret them that way.

Projection of Points

Like the Way of the Points in a Shield Chart, this method can be used to find any hidden factors in a chart. Simply add up all of the single points on all of the Figures in the Twelve Houses, and then subtract twelve from that number until you get a number less than twelve (zero counts as twelve in this). Then, locate the House indicated by that number, and there you will find the energy and location of a the most subtle, hidden influence on the situation.

A similar process, called the Part of Fortune, is done in the exact same way, except one adds up all of the dots, not just the single ones. The House and Figure indicated by this result indicate where one might possibly gain the most by focusing their efforts on, or more traditionally, the House most likely to grant them fortune.

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While there are many other ways to further increase one’s understanding of the House Chart, I do not prescribe to them. If you want more information on the House Chart, please look at my bibliography.