[HN Gopher] An Introduction to Medieval Geomancy (1999)
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An Introduction to Medieval Geomancy (1999)
Author : brudgers
Score : 19 points
Date : 2021-07-12 04:01 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.princeton.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.princeton.edu)
| qwerty456127 wrote:
| > Note: this is a large file with several graphics, totalling
| about 100KB.
|
| This is so cute :-)
| contingencies wrote:
| I'm only vaguely familiar with the Chinese system. Regardless,
| there is a substantial relationship between subsurface geology
| and surface-expressed biology, topography, even in some cases
| microclimate and audio. This was known to traditional societies
| but is becoming lost in our time as we disconnect from the biomes
| we are destroying and concrete-pouring. Anyone who has
| substantial knowledge of native plants can and will verify the
| same. I believe you could place many pre-modern humans in a
| random location within their domain and, blindfolded, after a
| minute they could likely tell you which plants and animals were
| nearby, what they thrived on, the nearby soil types and
| hydrology, the time of day, and the season.
| duskwuff wrote:
| > Regardless, there is a substantial relationship between
| subsurface geology and surface-expressed biology...
|
| Medieval geomancy, as discussed at the link, has nothing to do
| with geology or plants -- it's a form of divination practiced
| by making a series of dots in sand.
| [deleted]
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| The binary construction of the forms on the step-by-step page [1]
| is very intriguing, almost reminds me of the kind of bit-shifting
| you see in hashing algorithms. Sometimes I think there must be a
| better way to represent random numbers like git hashes and public
| keys, just because they're hard to remember or distinguish. Maybe
| representing 60 bits of entropy as one of these hierarchies rich
| with star-and-body associations would make it easier to remember
| what a particular hash refers to.
|
| http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/geomancy/geostep.html
| fsiefken wrote:
| It's an ideal oracle as you don't need cards, sticks, coins or
| dice. Just a stick and sand. On the other hand, i like the 2 dice
| for casting the tibetan mo.
|
| The geomancy figutes remind me of bagchen and domino
| configurations, i wonder if there is a relationship
| 99_00 wrote:
| In present day Canada, tax payer and corporate dollars go to
| geomancers in exchange for their services.
|
| >In 1990, Tai emigrated to Canada and started working as a
| professional geomancer...
|
| >Among some of his commercial clients are banks, shopping malls,
| office buildings and real estate consortiums groups, who seek his
| advice in the areas of feng shui, to ensure that their business
| environments are in harmony. Tai is the exclusive feng shui
| master hired by HSBC in Canada, continental America and Europe.
| He was the first Chinese geomancer hired by the Richmond City
| Hall who employed his services in feng shiu analysis in
| connection with their official building in B.C. Canada.
|
| He was also paid for work done a 2010 olympic building.
|
| http://www.shermantai.com/eng/author.php
|
| http://www.shermantai.com/ch/pdf/2006_02_14_Globe%20Mail%20(...
|
| http://www.shermantai.com/eng/pdf/2006_04_Business%20Magazin...
| egypturnash wrote:
| This isn't about the westernized version of Feng Shui. It's
| about a method of divination more akin to the I Ching:
|
| _In its original form, the geomantic figure was created by
| making lines of random numbers of dots in the sand, hence the
| name._ - the beginning of the "Geomancy Step-By-Step" link
| 99_00 wrote:
| Why is this distinction important?
| rablackburn wrote:
| It's like conflating palm reading with astrology.
|
| Irrespective of whether you believe the methods have any
| value, we should at least make sure we're talking about the
| same thing.
| egypturnash wrote:
| For the same reason Wikipedia has a ton of disambiguation
| pages for dealing with multiple concepts that have the same
| name: so you know which particular thing you're talking
| about, instead of just going "oh I heard that word once"
| and going off on a lengthy tear about what turns out to be
| a totally different thing with the same name.
| 99_00 wrote:
| Wikipedia is a general purpose store of knowledge.
| Comments exist in a context. In this case, discussion of
| geomancy.
| echlebek wrote:
| Wow, and I thought having no 13th floor, or floors with 4 in
| them, was nonsense.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| I'm not sure what to make of this. This is new to me. I have some
| familiarity with both tarot and astrology.
|
| I tend to think of tarot and similar systems as being akin to a
| Rorschach test: What you see in the cards is sort of a projection
| from your subconscious. That doesn't mean it's useless or
| meaningless. It just means it's not "magic." It's more like a
| psychological trick to help you figure out what you think is
| going on.
|
| Astrology likely began as observations about a relationship
| between events in the sky and events on earth at a time when
| people were much more exposed to the elements and there was less
| light pollution. You looked up to the sky and saw the phases of
| the moon and pattern matched to tides, wind patterns and other
| things on earth that modern science has affirmed really are
| influenced by the sun and moon. You began keeping records and
| talking about observed associations.
|
| And then at some point it kind of jumped the shark and now people
| imagine they can predict when you will metaphorically "win the
| lottery" (often without even buying a ticket) instead of
| something more akin to _predicting the weather._
|
| At first glance, this appears to likely fall in the "Rorschach
| test" camp.
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