Everything Under the Moon

This is a question that I've been pondering for a little while and I thought I'd post it here and see what others might think.

Could the Element of Earth by used for Divination? If so, how?

I'm familiar with using a bowl of water for scrying, or using a flame. I've even heard of listening to the wind for answers to your questions ( A really, really cool way to strengthen your focusing skills.)! But I haven't come across any mention of using earth. The oracles of Delphine breathed in the natural gases that wafted up from the earth, along with a mixture of herbs to induce hallucinations.

I suppose the argument could be made that using plants, or reading tea leaves, can be seen as using the Earth element to divine. I could see that. I could also see using crystals as technically using Earth.

But when I think of Earth, I literally think of....well, earth; the soil, the ground, stone and boulder.

Has anyone else given this some thought? I'm really quite curious.

Brightest Blessings!
~Heartsong

Hey there,

I'm not familiar with many other ways of divination (I use tarot, occasionally oracle cards and getting into tea reading) but I think something that may be of interest for you would be Geomancy. I don't know much about it myself but here's some links for you to check out and see if this is what you're looking for.

Geomancy

Geomancy symbols meanings

Wow, how have i never heard of this?? It's fascinating! Thank you for the links!

The Element of Earth has literally spoken to me more than once. It was startling. I think using the ley lines of the earth would work.

Frosty

Haha, I can only imagine! I hadn't even considered ley lines, what a brilliant thought.

The question would then be, however, how does one use them? I suspect that sending out your energy to flow with that of the line is one way. Perhaps simply opening yourself to it is another? Could you draw it in and channel it into a tool, such as cards or even the sticks used in some practices of geomancy? Are there any books that you (being everyone) would recommend as a starting point for ley lines or using ley lines for divination?

A further thought that's occured to me is communicating with actual stone, like a boulder or reaaaaally big rock, and just listening to it. I don't suppose you could ask specific questions of it, but rather just let it speak to you. What has it witnessed? What energies have flowed through it and around it? I know I'm wandering outside the original query here, but the possibilities fascinate me.

Heartsong, there is a discussion and how to about Ley Lines here .. http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum ... 24694.html

Hope this helps

Thank you, Lillady

Of course, I would consider tasseomancy, crystal scrying, runes, and so on to be divination through earth, BUT there is a method that involves actually reading the earth.

Geomancy is when you pick up a handful of dirt and drop it on a different surface and read the patterns that fall. The interpretation works much like tasseomancy or the same method with twigs or sticks, etc. You can read symbols in almost anything.

A variation on this that I sometimes use is to make marks [dots and short lines] indiscriminately across a piece of mark with a pen or pencil, without looking, and when you feel you are ready to take a look at it, start connecting dots and lines, and read the symbols you find.

When we went up Coal Creel canyon to bury our cat Scotty, I was walking downhill, carrying him, and was worried about slipping. The earth grabbed my boots, and I heard a voice in my mind say"I won't let you slip.'

Frosty

Vervain, that's an interesting method. I'd like to try that sometime.

It reminds me a little bit of the psychic Henwen from Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. She used sticks and would point her snout to to the symbols on them to indicate what she saw or knew.

SnowCat, that gives me goosebumps! That must have been comforting, though.

I find the pencil method is good for when I'm in class and simply can't wait, or just have a simple question.

Yesterday I met with my local pagan group and one of the older guys (whom I don't know very well, but seems to be an experienced shaman) was talking about how he does divination using one of the oldest shamanic practices known to humans. Apparently it's a two person technique; what you do is you find a rock, preferably a large-ish one with four or more "faces". Then, after asking the question, one person (the assistant, for lack of a better term - my term, anyways) holds the rock up to the diviner. The diviner says whatever comes to mind - anything and everything that the rock makes him think of. The assistant records everything the diviner says. Then, the assistant rotates the rock to show the diviner a different face, and repeat the process of divining and recording until the diviner has seen all the rock's faces.

He didn't go into too much detail, but it seemed like a pretty straightforward process (especially since it's clearly a very early practice without a lot of bells and whistles, so to speak). I thought you'd be interested, Heartsong!

That is pretty interesting, Xiao! And actually sounds fairly thorough, in terms of what the diviner sees. I'd like to try it.

Thanks for sharing!! ^_^

In one of Scott Cunningham's books, he talks about using a bowl of soil to scry with, much like you use a bowl of water. Simply gaze into the soil, without actually looking for images....just relax and let the images come to you. I haven't done much of this type of divination, as I use tarot cards and pendulums...but it's something to keep in mind!

I also just remembered... Lithomancy! Again, I haven't personally tried this, but it's pretty interesting.

Here's a wiki link so you can get an idea:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithomancy