Once you have your question, it is time to begin your reading. I prefer to draw the shield myself, during which I think about what I am asking and why I am asking it.

With each line of the shield I draw (pictured above) I meditate on the question more. Next to the shield, or on another sheet of paper, make sixteen rows of numbers. 

When you are ready, close your eyes and focus your intentions on the question. When it is clear in your mind, take a deep breath and with a pen or pencil begin making strokes on your sheet of paper in the 16 rows. Stop when you feel it is time to stop and move onto the next line. Clear your mind so you are not counting the strokes in each row, feel the energy of the question and focus on your connection to the pencil or pen and the paper you are scribing on. Generally you want to make 9 or more marks on each line to be sure you are not counting lines. 

Once you have completed 16 rows of strokes then you will count them off and assign each row as ODD or EVEN depending on if there are 1 or 2 strokes left. I have found the easiest method is to connect the strokes together with a line between them so that you end up something that looks like a fence with either a single “I” left or an “H”.

Now you will have 16 rows of either 1’s or 2’s. These 16 rows are what contain the essence of your geomantic shield. If the row consists of an even number, the reader will use two dots. If the row consists of an odd number of marks, the reader will read that as one dot.

These symbols are divided into four groups of four. These four groups are read to determine the first four figures of your geomantic shield, the four mothers. The four mothers are the source of the rest of the reading. They are used to create the daughters, the nieces, the witnesses, and finally, the judge. We will cover the names and significance of each of the 16 figures but for now, let's focus on building our shield.

Rows 1-4 will create the figure in the first box, rows 5-8 will form the second figure, Rows 9-12 will form the third figure and rows 13-16 will form the fourth figure. These four figures are known as “the Mothers” (this part is what is replaced by the coins).

4. The third “row” must contain 2 boxes, these are “the Witnesses”

5.  The Fourth “row” or the last position must only contain 1 box, this is “the Judge.” 

On the following few pages you’ll find a more in depth breakdown on how to assemble a shield. If you get lost it’s recommended to begin again to be sure that you didn’t make an error early on.

The Mothers are the most important four figures of the Geomantic shield and are what determine the fate of everything that follows. Place the four mothers that you generated into the boxes shown.

The Daughters are made from the Mothers by taking each line of dots and creating a figure from that line. All of the heads, or the fire elements, (the top line in each Mother) are added to create the First Daughter.

The Witnesses are then formed from the Four Nieces in the same method as the previous step. Take the first and second Niece and combine them to make the Right Witness. The third and fourth Niece are then combined to form the Left Witness. The Right Witness represents the past and the person asking the question and the Left Witness represents the situation and the future. 

The Judge is the final figure in the Geomantic Shield and rests at the bottom. It is the accumulation of all of the figures in the chart and is the figure we first look to for a favorable or unfavorable outcome. Use the Left and Right Witnesses to form the final figure. The Judge can only be formed from an even number of points, since it is the sum of both sides of the Geomantic Shield. This means that only 8 of the 16 figures can ever end up being the Judge. It’s a good way to check if you did your math right. 

The possible judges are: VIA, FORTUNA MAJOR, FORTUNA MINOR, CONJUNCTIO, ACQUISITIO, CARCER, AMISSIO, POPULUS

The relationship between the two Witnesses should also be looked at. An unfavorable Right Witness followed by a favorable Left Witness suggests the situation will improve. When the Right Witness is favorable and the Left Witness is unfavorable it may imply that the situation will worsen. 

With our example, there wasn’t a question in mind, but let’s say we were asking about taking a job offer at a big company. The Judge is Carcer, which might not be a great sign. It suggests feeling stuck in place, but it can also represent security so let’s look to the witnesses. On the right we have Rubeus, almost always unfavorable, and on the left we have Puer, sometimes favorable with love and war, but pretty neutral when regarding work (unless direct action is needed). This ruling is still unclear, it seems like it’s leaning unfavorably, but it is still quite neutral. So now it’s time to dig even deeper into the shield.

The Reconciler is an optional 16th position that is usually written to the side of the shield. The Reconciler can offer information on how the outcome will affect the querent. The Reconciler is formed by taking the figure in the position of Mother #1 and the Judge and adding them together. Using our example we would take the Judge (Carcer) and the 1st Mother (Puer) and we get Rubeus, another indicator that taking this job may not be advised as it may cause the querent to escape into their vices.

The Geomantic Visions guidebook covers reading with triplicities, understanding the way of the points, and astrological geomancy. Further your studies with the Geomantic Visions set of coins and 100-page guidebook.