The figures' meanings, and their meanings in each house, are the Golden Dawn's table as Crowley printed it in “A Handbook of Geomancy”, The Equinox I(2), 1909, with its abbreviations spelled out and “evil” read as “unfavourable”. What each house governs follows Agrippa's Fourth Book (Turner, 1655), in our own words.

16 Tetragrams



Acquisitio
(gain)
Amissio
(loss)
Albus
(white)
Rubeus
(red)
Puella
(girl)
Puer
(boy)
Laetitia
(joy)
Tristitia
(sorrow)
Caput Draconis
(dragon's head)
Cauda Draconis
(dragon's tail)
Populus
(people)
Via
(way)
Conjunctio
(conjunction)
Carcer
(prison)
Fortuna Major
(greater fortune)
Fortuna Minor
(lesser fortune)

Spirits and Rulers

PlanetIntelligenceSpirit / Ruler
☉ SolNakhielSorath  
☿ MercuryTirielTaphthartharath  
♀ VenusHagielKedemel  
☾ LunaMalcha betharsisim hed beruah schehakim1 / Shelachel2Chasmodai  
♂ MarsGraphielBartzabel  
♃ JupiterIophielHismael  
♄ SaturnAgielZazel  

The sigils are drawn after Heydon, Theomagia (1663/4), p. 13 and p. 15.

Notes

  1. Malcha betharsisim hed beruah schehakim is the classical name. Agrippa gives the Moon no single intelligence: in De occulta philosophia (1533), Book II, chapter 22, he names an “intelligence of intelligences” in its place, numbered 3321, the sum of the Moon's magic square. Crowley's 777 gives a variant of the name, as Malkah Be Tarshishim va A'ad Be Ruah Shehaqim, and the Golden Dawn tradition a related form, as Malcah Betarshisim ve-ad Ruachoth ha-Schechalim in the Order's papers Regardie published. ↩︎
  2. Shelachel is a name found in present-day sources. We have not found where it comes from, nor found it in Agrippa, in 777 (the revised edition of 1955) or in Heydon's Theomagia (1663/4). ↩︎

Geomantic Houses

1st House: The querent: their life, body, looks, complexion, temperament and present condition, and any question about themselves.

2nd House: Money and possessions: wealth and want, gain and loss, luck with goods, and goods lost by theft or carelessness.

3rd House: Brothers, sisters and other kin by blood; short journeys; how far people can be trusted.

4th House: Father and forebears; inheritance and family property; land, houses, fields and hidden treasure; things missing through theft or neglect; and the end of the matter.

5th House: Envoys and messengers; reports, rumour and news; honours; what follows after a death; pregnancy and unborn young.

6th House: Illness and its cures; servants and household helpers; cattle and tame animals.

7th House: Marriage and other unions, lawful or not; dealings with associates; quarrels and disputes; lawsuits and cases before a judge.

8th House: Death, and what comes to anyone through a death: legacies, inheritances, a wife's dowry.

9th House: Long journeys; faith and steadfastness; dreams; religion and sacred learning.

10th House: Honour, rank and reputation; public office and authority.

11th House: Friends; the wealth and favour of princes and patrons.

12th House: Enemies; servants; imprisonment; misfortune, and any harm other than death and sickness (those belong to the 8th and 6th).

Meanings in the Houses

Acquisitio
Generally good for profit or gain.
  1. Happy success in all things.
  2. Very prosperous.
  3. Favour and riches.
  4. Good fortune and success.
  5. Good success.
  6. Good, especially agreeing with 5th.
  7. Reasonably good.
  8. Rather good, not very, the sick die.
  9. Good in all.
  10. Good in suits, very prosperous.
  11. Good in all.
  12. Unfavourable, pain, and loss.
Amissio
Good for loss of substance, and sometimes for love, but very bad for gain.
  1. Unfavourable in all but for prisoners.
  2. Very unfavourable for money, good for love.
  3. Unfavourable end, except in quarrels.
  4. Unfavourable in all.
  5. Unfavourable, except for agriculture.
  6. Rather unfavourable, except for love.
  7. Very good for love, otherwise unfavourable.
  8. Excellent in all questions.
  9. Unfavourable in all.
  10. Unfavourable, except for women's favour.
  11. Good for love, otherwise bad.
  12. Unfavourable in all.
Albus
Good for profit and for entering into a place or undertaking.
  1. Good for marriage; mercurial; peace.
  2. Good in all.
  3. Very good.
  4. Good, except in war.
  5. Good.
  6. Good in all.
  7. Good, except for war.
  8. Good.
  9. A messenger brings letters.
  10. Excellent in all.
  11. Very good.
  12. Marvellously good.
Rubeus
Bad in all that is good, and good in all that is bad.
  1. Destroy the figure.
  2. Unfavourable in all.
  3. Unfavourable, except to let blood.
  4. Unfavourable, except in war and fire.
  5. Unfavourable, except for sowing seed.
  6. Unfavourable, except for blood-letting.
  7. Unfavourable, except for war and fire.
  8. Unfavourable.
  9. Very unfavourable.
  10. Dissolute, love, fire.
  11. Unfavourable, except blood-letting.
  12. Unfavourable in all.
Puella
Good in all demands, especially those relating to women.
  1. Good, except in war.
  2. Very good.
  3. Good.
  4. But indifferent.
  5. Very good, but notice the aspects.
  6. Good, but especially so for debauchery.
  7. Good, except for war.
  8. Good.
  9. Good for music, otherwise medium.
  10. Good for place.
  11. Good, and love of ladies.
  12. Good in all.
Puer
Unfavourable in most demands, except those relating to war and love.
  1. Indifferent; best in war.
  2. Good, but with trouble.
  3. Good fortune.
  4. Unfavourable, except in war and love.
  5. Medium good.
  6. Medium.
  7. Unfavourable, save in war.
  8. Unfavourable, except in love.
  9. Unfavourable, except for war.
  10. Rather unfavourable; good for love and war; else medium.
  11. Medium; good favour.
  12. Very good in all.
Laetitia
Good for joy, present or to come.
  1. Good, except in war.
  2. Sickly.
  3. Unfavourable.
  4. Meanly good.
  5. Excellently good.
  6. Unfavourable generally.
  7. Indifferent.
  8. Unfavourable generally.
  9. Very good.
  10. Good rather in war than in peace.
  11. Good in all.
  12. Unfavourable generally.
Tristitia
Unfavourable in almost all things.
  1. Medium, but good for treasure and fortifying.
  2. Medium, but good to fortify.
  3. Unfavourable in all.
  4. Unfavourable in all.
  5. Very unfavourable.
  6. Unfavourable, except for debauchery.
  7. Unfavourable, but in secrecy good.
  8. Good for inheritance and magic only.
  9. Unfavourable, except for magic.
  10. Unfavourable, except for fortification.
  11. Unfavourable in all.
  12. Unfavourable, but good for magic and treasure.
Caput Draconis
Good with good, bad with bad; gives a good issue for gain.
  1. Good in all.
  2. Good.
  3. Very good.
  4. Good, save in war.
  5. Very good.
  6. Good for immorality only.
  7. Good, especially for peace.
  8. Good.
  9. Very good.
  10. Good in all.
  11. Good for the Church and ecclesiastical gain.
  12. Not very good.
Cauda Draconis
Good with bad, and bad with good; good for loss, and for passing out of an affair.
  1. Destroy the figure.
  2. Very unfavourable.
  3. Unfavourable in all.
  4. Good, especially for conclusion of the matter.
  5. Very unfavourable.
  6. Rather good.
  7. Unfavourable, war, and fire.
  8. No good, except for magic.
  9. Good for science only; bad for journeys; robbery.
  10. Unfavourable, save in works of fire.
  11. Unfavourable, save for favours.
  12. Rather good.
Populus
Sometimes good, sometimes bad; good with good, bad with bad.
  1. Good for marriage.
  2. Medium good.
  3. Rather good than bad.
  4. Good in all but love.
  5. Good in most.
  6. Good.
  7. In war good, else medium.
  8. Unfavourable.
  9. Look for letters.
  10. Good.
  11. Good in all.
  12. Very unfavourable.
Via
Injurious to the goodness of other figures generally, but good for journeys and voyages.
  1. Unfavourable, except for prison.
  2. Indifferent.
  3. Very good in all.
  4. Good in all, save love.
  5. Voyages good.
  6. Unfavourable.
  7. Rather good, especially for voyages.
  8. Unfavourable.
  9. Indifferent; good for journeys.
  10. Good.
  11. Very good.
  12. Excellent.
Conjunctio
Good with good, and bad with bad. Recovery of things lost.
  1. Good with good, bad with bad.
  2. Commonly good.
  3. Good fortune.
  4. Good, save for health. Compare 8th House's figure.
  5. Medium.
  6. Good for immorality only.
  7. Rather good.
  8. Unfavourable, death.
  9. Medium good.
  10. For love good, for sickness unfavourable.
  11. Good in all.
  12. Medium, bad for prisoners.
Carcer
Generally unfavourable, delay, binding, stay, bar, restriction.
  1. Unfavourable, except to fortify a place.
  2. Good in Saturnian questions, otherwise unfavourable.
  3. Unfavourable.
  4. Good, only for melancholy.
  5. Receive a letter in three days; unfavourable.
  6. Very unfavourable.
  7. Unfavourable.
  8. Very unfavourable.
  9. Unfavourable in all.
  10. Unfavourable, save for hid treasure.
  11. Much anxiety.
  12. Rather good.
Fortuna Major
Good for gain in things where a person has hopes to win.
  1. Good, save in secrecy.
  2. Good, save in sad things.
  3. Good in all.
  4. Good in all but melancholy.
  5. Very good in all.
  6. Very good, except for debauchery.
  7. Good in all.
  8. Moderately good.
  9. Very good.
  10. Exceeding good, to go to superiors.
  11. Very good.
  12. Good in all.
Fortuna Minor
Good in any matter where a person wishes to proceed quickly.
  1. Speed in victory or love; but choleric.
  2. Very good.
  3. Good, but wrathful.
  4. Haste; rather unfavourable, except for peace.
  5. Good in all.
  6. Medium in all.
  7. Unfavourable, except for war or love.
  8. Unfavourable generally.
  9. Good, but choleric.
  10. Good, except for peace.
  11. Good, especially for love.
  12. Good, except for alteration or serving another.

The sixteen figures

A geomantic figure is four rows, each of one point or two, so there are exactly sixteen of them (two to the fourth power). Reading down the rows, the head, neck, body and feet, gives each figure its shape. Read as binary, that shape is also how the page can sort them.

FigureSignPlanet
AcquisitiogainSagittariusJupiter
AmissiolossTaurusVenus
AlbuswhiteGeminiMercury
RubeusredScorpioMars
PuellagirlLibraVenus
PuerboyAriesMars
LaetitiajoyPiscesJupiter
TristitiasorrowAquariusSaturn
Caput Draconisdragon's head–Venus and Jupiter
Cauda Draconisdragon's tail–Saturn and Mars
PopuluspeopleCancerLuna
ViawayCancerLuna
ConjunctioconjunctionVirgoMercury
CarcerprisonCapricornSaturn
Fortuna Majorgreater fortuneLeoSol
Fortuna Minorlesser fortuneLeoSol

Using this page

The grid opens sorted by meaning pairs: gain and loss, white and red, joy and sorrow. You can also sort it alphabetically or by binary value. Turn on show associations to see each figure's sign, element and planet. Below the grid are the seven planets with their intelligences and spirits and the spirits' sigils, then the twelve geomantic houses and what each governs. Last come the sixteen figures again, each with its general meaning and its meaning in every house. The meanings are the Golden Dawn's, from Crowley's handbook of 1909, and the houses follow Agrippa.

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