Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!sfo2-feed1.news.digex.net!intermedia!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!logbridge.uoregon.edu!tethys.csu.net!nntp!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Josef Newsgroups: alt.magick Subject: Re: Feng Shui vs. Geomancy Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 01:21:42 +0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: References: <3C8E8834.9B42380A@arcticmail.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.8/32.548 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 106 Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick:291463 On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 17:59:00 -0500, Chaoswolf wrote: >Guys and Gals; > >After Josef's post to me, I made a quick excursion with Google and came >up with the attached information about Feng Shui and Geomancy. > >It seems that our dear Josef mixed up some sources himself. Note the first two words of your source---"Strictly speaking..."---and look into what they refer to if you wish to know what "geomancy" is. This is geomancy friend: http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/geomancy/figures.html These geomantic dot figures constitute "geomancy", any application to ley-lines is simply finding a new and inaccurate use for the word. And I have already said that geomancy is a *misnomer* applied to fengshui. And that fengshui as generally appreciated is a gross corruption of what it truly is. There is more to research than believing the first source you come across that appears to support your ignorance. Are you a New Ager? > >Geomancy, old method of scrying, "merged" in the 19th century with the >Chinese Feng Shui and connected with the ley-lines matching the Dragon >lines of Feng Shui. > >But, whoever is interested in this topic, please read on. I took this >info from the following URL: > >http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMGeomancy.html > >Best regards > >CW > > >Geomancy > >Strictly speaking, the term geomancy refers to an ancient form of >divination in which, simply put, handfuls of soil or other materials >were scattered on the ground, or markings made in the earth or sand, >to generate a range of dot configurations which could then be "read" >by a seer. > >In the 19th century, however, geomancy came to be applied to the >Chinese practice of feng shui by which the location and orientation >of houses and tombs was determined with close regard to the topography >of the local landscape. The feng shui master or geomant employed a >circular magnetic compass, called a luopan, which was marked off in >rings containing data relating to astrology, directions, the elements, >landscape forms, times of day, and so on. The aim was to locate a site >where the energies or ch'i of the land and sky were brought into perfect >balance. The harmony of these energies ensured good fortune. > > >The layout of a typical feng shui compass, also called a luopan > >The science of feng shui, literally "wind and water", recognized that >certain powerful currents and lines of magnetism run invisible through >the landscape over the whole surface of the earth. The task of the >geomancer was to detect these currents and interpret their influences >on the land through which they passed. > >These lines of magnetic force, known in China as the "dragon current", >or lung-mei, existed in two forms: the yin, or negative, current >represented by the white tiger, and the yang, or positive, current, >represented by the blue dragon. The landscape will display both yin >and yang features; gently undulating country is yin, or female, while >sharp rocks and steep mountains are yang, or male. > > > >A feng shui geomant at work in the Ch'ing dynasty > >It was the aim of the geomancer to place every structure precisely >within the landscape in accordance with a magic system by which the >laws of music and mathematics were expressed in the geometry of the >earth's surface. The landscape itself may be manipulated in order to >achieve the harmony sought through the placement or adjustment, or >removal, of trees or rocks, or bodies of water. Every feature of >the landscape may be contrived to produce an effect which ultimately >is perceived as beautiful; indeed, perceived beauty in a landscape >may in fact be simply when the lines of the dragon current are in >balance. > >At the outset, a geomancer must locate the course of the major lines >of the dragon current in his or her area. These days, it is claimed >that such energy lines can be detected, and traced, through dowsing. > >In the 1960s, the ley lines discovered by Alfred Watkins forty years >earlier, came to be identified with the dragon lines of Chinese feng >shui. This gave a whole new meaning to ley lines which now ceased to >be simply straight tracks but in fact mapped on the surface of the >landscape lines of energy coursing through the earth. The presence >of prehistoric sites - megalithic tombs, stone circles, standing >stones - along ley lines indicated that these energy currents were >known in prehistoric times and that the sites did not merely mark >the route but somehow also tapped into this energy source. Frequently, >important prehistoric monuments occupy sites where two or more ley >lines intersect. Also located along these ley lines are sites >associated with Dragons and Dragon-killers