There are many divination modalities, and in feng shui, some of the most popular divination techniques are I Ching, astrology, dowsing Tarot, the Art of Sand, and so on.
What is divination?
Divination (from Latin divinare ‘to foresee, to be inspired by a god’, related to divinus, divine) is a mode of thinking to get insights into a question or situation using different divination methods such as I Ching, astrology, dowsing, tarot, runes, reading leaves or coffee, numerology and so on. I wonder if you can pretend you’ve never had precognitive and audacious thinking in your life and imagine what it is like to go through a typical day. Read more about Divination and Divination: A Window into the Unseen World and Its Role in Feng Shui
I Ching / Yijing: Book of Changes
I Ching is a Chinese method of divination and one of the oldest known Chinese philosophy texts and is composed of 64 hexagrams based on the combination of eight trigrams and is used in feng shui. Somebody wise said, “Be happy for all the time you don’t need, I Ching.” because if you do, you’re probably at a difficult time in your life.
“The Book of Changes is thought to be the oldest of the great Chinese classics and to date from perhaps as early as 1300 BCE. The book may also go back to the earliest phases of human thought because the I Ching is really the ground plan in the way in which not only the Chinese think, it’s almost a mapping of all the thinking processes of man.” The I Ching is the basis for polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s binary code and, consequently, the basis of our current digital technology. Psychologist Carl Jung used the Book of Changes to examine notions of synchronicity or ‘meaningful coincidence.’ Alan Watts considered the I Ching to be a conceptual model that charted the thinking processes of the human mind.
Alan Watts was aware of the fact that the system of arithmetic which is used by digital computers came from the I Ching, ie the binary code: “We have a binary system of arithmetic zero and one in varying arrangements. Digital computers use a number system which consists only of the figures zero and one, out of which you can construct any number and this was invented by Leibniz, who got it from the Book of Changes.”
Carl Jung used I Ching with his patients during therapy sessions. “… A certain curious principle that I have termed synchronicity, a concept that formulates a point of view diametrically opposed to that of causality. Since the latter is a merely statistical truth and not absolute, it is a sort of working hypothesis of how events evolve one out of another, whereas synchronicity takes the coincidence of events in space and time as meaning something more than mere chance.”
Dowsing
Dowsing is the ancient art of finding or gathering information. The principle behind it is that we can tap into any information field through our bodies and senses. Dowsing rods and pendulums are tools for externalising the intuitive responses that we have about people, situations and things.
Dowsing can be used for many things including:
- finding geopathic stress directly and over a distance from plans
- testing for feng shui problems and remedies
- locating underground water and minerals
- testing for allergies, etc
- locating lost people and objects
- evaluating present issues and solutions
Astrology
” Why do some people read horoscopes? Possibly because they want ‘someone’ to tell them what is going to happen. What about ‘designing’ what is going to happen?”
Edward De Bono
“People are constantly looking for explanations and striving to understand and make sense of their experiences, thoughts, and actions, as this makes us feel more in charge of our lives.” says Dr Jill Wilkinson, a senior psychologist at the University of Surrey. Whether it is I-ching, tarot or astrology some parts of ourselves want to be assured and want to know that we are going to be all right in the future.
“Giving up the need to know why things happen as they do are two of life’s greatest challenges. The hardcore truth is that we may never know why things happen as they do. Because we grow up with teachings about right and wrong, punishment and mercy, it is natural to fall into a pattern that seems to offer us a type of safety net, namely if we do not do anything wrong, nothing sad, bad, or undeserving will happen to us. Unfortunately, life is not that organised, and certainly, it does not script itself around our definition of fairness. Horrible things do happen. One woman spoke about her husband being murdered and how does she release that? Another woman wrote about coming to terms with the death of her daughter. ” Caroline Myss
‘Astrology is one of numerous valid worldviews available at the mythic level of consciousness, and it accomplishes a sense of connection to the cosmos and a role for the self in the vastness of the universe. It is not, however, a rational science with predictive power (which is why it has consistently failed empirical tests devised by astrologers themselves).
From the mythic level, we want to preserve the experience of belonging and the capacity for membership in a community. But within any level of reality, there are more valid and less valid views, as determined by the criteria for that level. Astrology is part of the mythic level, and there are good and bad astrologers. Although none of them have thus successfully passed any rational-empirical tests, that is not the actual criteria of the mythic level. The mythic level, like all levels, attempts to provide coherence, meaning, connection to the cosmos, care of others, and pragmatic guidelines. The mythological version of this (of which astrology is a subset) is an interpretive scheme that provides meaning, ethos, mythos, and sanction for the separate self at that level. Mythology and astrology speak to this level in all of us and when in touch with that level, provide a wonderful connection to our vital roots. Good astrologers do this in valid and worthy ways; bad astrologers do not (judged within that level). Of course, it is one thing to tap into that lover level, quite another to remain there (or to champion that lower level as if it were the ultimate level of reality). Those making higher claims for astrology, when they cannot be substantiated, are suspect in any case.
On the other hand, a rational scientist who despises every variety of mythology because it a lower level (and cannot pass rational-empirical tests) is simply someone out of touch with his or her roots. Integrated individuals are comfortable with all of the levels of reality as manifested in and through them, and can speak the languages of all chakras as various situations warrant. As always, it is only the exclusive attachment to any one (chakra) that causes most of the problems.’ – Ken Wilber
It appears astrology is a belief without corroborating evidence. What I see people yearning for, when turning to astrology, is a sense of connection to the cosmos. But they would do better to turn to the Kosmos. Thus is, instead of plugging into the gross dimensions of physical planets connected to their personal egos, let their awareness rise gently into the transpersonal realms. Not merely a horizontal connection to physical planets, but a vertical connection to soul and spirit, subtle and causal, ultimate and nondual. The spiritual impulse hidden in astrology and diverted onto the cosmos needs to be released into the Kosmos, released into that ultimate Embrace which holds the planets in the palm of its hand and spins galaxies in its stride. Not psyche and cosmos, but psyche and Kosmos, holds the secret to the connection long sought, – Ken Wilber
Books on astrology related to feng shui
Feng shui Astrology – Jon Sandifer, 0-7499-1709-1
The Ki – Takashi Yoshikawa, 0-312-02594-7
Nine Star Ki – Michio Kushi, 0-9628528-0-5
Astrology – Darby Costello, 0-7513-5449-X
Nine Star Ki – Bob Sachs, 1-85230-334-4
Secrets of Japanese Astrology – Takeo Mori, Dragan Milenkovic, 0-348-0290-2
Earth Medicine – Kenneth Meadows, 1-85230-117-1
On Divination and Synchronicity – Marie-Louise Von Franz, 0-919123-02-3
Chinese Numerology in Feng shui – Lilian Too, 983-9778-72-2
Feng shui & Destiny for Managers – Raymond Lo, 981-204-620-8
Feng shui and Destiny – Raymond Lo, 1-85646-026-6
A young man asked Winston Churchill what are the characteristics of becoming a politician. Churchill said, “It is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”
Tarot
Tarot started as a popular, trump-based Renaissance card game in 15th-century Italy which is now a very popular tool for examining the present in relation to the past and future. Nowadays, tarot is popular as ever with over 61 billion views on TikTok. The common misconception about tarot divination is that it can predict the future. The main function of tarot is to gain clarity, and perspective about your life, resolve conflict or troubling issues as well as find patterns and narratives that influence you. The tarot is composed of 78 cards which are organised into 22 cards of Major Arcana which chart and symbolise the stages of your psychological and spiritual growth and 56 cards of Minor Arcana which cover subplots and give further insights. There are also four suits within Minor Arcana: cups represent your creativity and heart/emotions, swords relate to mind/ego, pentacles relate to the worldly needs/aspects such as body, food, accommodation and finances and wands relate to the levels of our energy needed to start new projects.
The tarot pack is a simple visual tool that can easily be reconciled with the 9 archetypical energies of the feng shui bagua. Using the tarot in feng shui will help to give you a quick, practical analysis of a situation. See the bagua tarot spread below.
When reading tarot, shuffle the cards with a question in mind. It might be useful to write it down beforehand to gain extra clarity and focus. There are different spreads for different scenarios and needs. Place the cards face down in your chosen spread or particular order. Turn the cards up and start connecting the meanings between them according to the spread matrix. If a card is reversed, ie upside down, it means that the energy of that pattern or archetype is blocked and you need to work on it, or you’re coming from fear as opposed to trust, truth and love. Reverse cards, metaphorically speaking suggests that you’re in the process of turning things around as long as you’re conscious about the issue and you’re willing to work on it. Some tarot readers don’t subscribe to reverse card meanings which potentially could be limiting.
Examples of tarot spreads
Celtic cross spread which suggests ways to move forward by looking at the present, past and future aspects.
Tarot spread for the current situation – Celtic cross spread
Simple tarot spread for an issue
Bagua tarot spread
You can use tarot cards to do a bagua-type spread for the current year. Ask, “What are opportunities and challenges for the current year that I need to be aware?” If you get a reverse card, it means that the energy of that aspect/house/gua is blocked and needs extra work or attention on an inner level and external, environmental, and feng shui level.
Tarot bagua spread for the year
Customised tarot spreads
You can make your own tarot spreads depending on your needs, creativity and preference. For example, you can make a tarot spread for your chakra system, starting from the root chakra and ending up with your 8th chakra with the intention of getting any insight into what’s going on on these levels. For your feng shui purposes, you can draw a tarot card for each room of your home or workplace.
“We can predict the future, when we know how the present moment evolved from the past.”
Carl Jung in 1933 lecture on synchronicity
Runes
Rune stones (or cards) are used as a divination tool. Rune stones come in a set of 24 ancient alphabetic symbols. Runes were originally an ancient Germanic alphabet used for writing and then for divination and magic. From about 100BCE to 1600CE, runes were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles and Iceland. Runic inscriptions have been found as well in North America, which suggests that the Vikings arrived in the Americas long before Columbus.
Patterns of Divination: Parallels between Middle Eastern Geomancy (The Art of Sand), Feng Shui, and the I Ching.
The Middle Eastern tradition of geomancy, known as the Art of Sand, displays remarkable parallels with Chinese feng shui and the symbolic numerology seen in the I Ching and turtle shell divination. These systems all employ chance-generated patterns – whether marks scratched in sand or cracks on shells – interpreted against a web of elemental and celestial correspondences to guide harmony, fortune and individual wellbeing.
Symbolic Patterns and Random Markings
The process of geomancy in the Middle Eastern context involves creating marks in the sand – either by casting grains or using a stick – as a form of divination based on essentially random generation. These marks are grouped into sixteen standard figures, each associated with fundamental binary oppositions, reminiscent of the hexagrams and trigrams of the I Ching. This echoes the legendary origins of the I Ching itself, which is attributed to patterns observed on the shells of tortoises or through cracks produced by heating them. In both traditions, randomness in the initial markings becomes a conduit for symbolic order, interpreted through established systems.
Elemental Correspondences
Every figure in traditional geomancy is linked to a direction, planet, zodiac sign and one of the four classic elements – earth, air, fire and water – as well as a season. This mirrors the Chinese cosmology of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) in feng shui, where each element is distinctly tied to environments, personality traits, and health. Both geomancy and feng shui work from systems in which elemental attributes shape the meanings and consultative uses of marked patterns. Even the square magic of the Lo Shu diagram – historically mapped onto the tortoise’s shell – is interpreted using elemental and directional attributes; further, the concept of centre, balance and rotation therein is integral to feng shui spatial design.
Landscape, Harmony and Fortune
The broader aim in these traditions is always to interpret natural or “random” signs to promote social and spiritual harmony, prosperity and wellbeing. Feng shui determines the auspicious placement of buildings, graves and rooms according to “dragon lines” or earth energies; Middle Eastern geomancers read the sand to uncover truths about one’s present and to recommend remedies or proper actions. Both methodologies reflect a belief in the interconnectedness of heaven, earth and humanity, mediated by pattern recognition and symbolic reasoning in the landscape – quite distinct from the Western notion of divination as merely fortune-telling.
Parallels to Turtle Shell Divination
The ancient Chinese technique of turtle shell divination involved interpreting naturally-occurring cracks as omens or answers, a method that prefigured the I Ching’s formal system of trigrams and hexagrams. In myth, the trigrams themselves were first discerned by Fu Hsi while observing such random patterns, whether on the tortoise’s back or in nature. This randomness, brought into meaningful order by the diviner, forms a striking parallel to the sand marks of geomancy, where the unplanned becomes a guide to the planned.
The Art of Sand: Ilm al-Raml, an Arabic Tradition of Divination
Divination has taken many forms across civilisations, but few are as captivating or as deeply rooted in the landscape as the Arabic art of sand divination, known in Arabic as ilm al-raml—literally, “the science of the sand.” Practised across the Middle East and North Africa for centuries, this method harnesses the elemental vastness of the desert, transforming shifting grains into cryptic messages said to reveal the unseen and the future.
Origins and Historical Foundations
The tradition of sand divination can be traced to the ancient Islamic and pre-Islamic worlds, with ilm al-raml appearing as a prominent form of geomancy. The word “geomancy” itself, from the Greek for “earth divination,” is a translation of khatt al-raml or ilm al-raml. This practice became highly influential in the medieval Islamic world and, through translational movements in Moorish Spain and elsewhere, spread into Europe, shaping Western occultism and divinatory systems.
Accounts of its origin are both mythic and historical. Legends credit the prophet Idris (Enoch in Abrahamic traditions) with revealing sand divination to humanity after learning it from an angel. Others suggest it grew out of cross-cultural contact along Arabian trade routes, absorbing techniques and philosophies from Indian, African, Hellenic, Jewish, and Persian sources before forming its classical, astrological form in Mesopotamia during the tenth century. The treatises of Muhammad al-Zanati and others helped preserve and expand the system throughout the Islamic world and beyond.
Method and Philosophy
Sand divination begins with the practitioner marking the surface of sand, dust, or soil – hence the moniker ’science of the sand’. Using a stick or just one’s finger, the diviner makes a series of random lines or dots. These are grouped into patterns, which are then interpreted via a complex system of figures and rules.
The core of the system revolves around the formation of sixteen figures, each consisting of four rows of either one or two marks (binary in structure, representing odd or even). The creation of these figures is a blend of chance and intent, blurring the line between randomness and cosmic order. The figures are then arranged into a geomantic chart, sometimes enhanced by astrological techniques, with each figure and its position conveying answers to specific questions posed to the sands.
This binary and recursive process is not only a system of divination but also reflects a distinctive philosophy: everything in creation is interlinked – fire, air, water, earth; the four directions; and the cycles of time. Ilm al-raml thus holds an almost sacred respect for number, balance, and duality – a perspective not unrelated to modern ideas of coding and mathematics.
Practitioners, Implements and Objects
While the simplest sand divination requires just bare earth and a stick, more elaborate geomantic instruments have been uncovered. Notably, a thirteenth-century brass device inscribed in 1241 AD, now housed in museum collections, features multiple dials and windows for calculating and displaying geomantic figures. These artefacts point to the status of ilm al-raml as both an esoteric art and a respected science of its age.
From the bustling medinas of Cairo and Fez to remote Bedouin camps, geomancers – often regarded with a mixture of reverence and suspicion—have acted as mediators between the world of the seen and the unseen. Their clientele sought answers to all manner of questions: marriages, journeys, harvests, or lost property, every aspect of life was deemed worthy of consultation with the sands.
Cultural and Spiritual Significance
Unlike imported systems of divination, ilm al-raml was seen as uniquely attuned to its environment. The desert, with its vast emptiness and shifting forms, invited contemplation and the sense that answers might be found written in the earth. Some practitioners and scholars suggest that the use of sand makes the process closer to nature, with the act of drawing and reading patterns embodying humility before the fleetingness of human concerns compared to the eternal landscape.
Within Islamic tradition, discussions about divination are complex. While astrology and magic met with varying degrees of tolerance or prohibition, ilm al-raml maintained a position of relative respectability, especially given stories that linked it to revered prophets. Nevertheless, it remained an occult science – a tool to be approached with knowledge and respect, not mere superstition.
Legacy and Modern Revivals
Though the practice faded in much of the Arab world with the rise of rationalist thought and reform movements, it never entirely disappeared. Neo-traditional scholars, artists, and curious outsiders have begun to revisit the art, whether for insight or artistic inspiration. Installations and performance art, such as those staged at AlUla in Saudi Arabia, re-imagine divinatory acts with contemporary meaning, inviting participants to ‘read’ their futures and uncertainties in flowing sand.
Moreover, digital culture, with its fascination for binary codes, resurgence in astrology, and the seeking of meaning in complex patterns, has found an uncanny resonance in geomancy. The original “science of the sand” offers a striking parallel to our desire to decode the random and the ordered, the predictable and the mysterious.
References
Wikipedia, “Arabic geomancy”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_geomancywikipedia
Mirlesse, S. “Geomancy: The Science of Sand”
Discover Islamic Art, “Geomantic Instrument”
Ancient Black History, “Mathematics, Geomancy, Arabic, Ilm Al Raml”
Absent Fathers and Missing Camels, “Notes on Sudanese Sand Divination”
Feng Shui of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
This exploration of ilm al-raml reminds us that the sands are more than a metaphor: across centuries, they have been both canvas and oracle, a testament to the enduring human search for understanding and connection in the patterns of the earth.