Geomancy is the relationship between people and place.
In the east, it is called Feng Shui. It is core to all shamanic and traditional cultures. Throughout history, people have had a conscious relationship to the place where they live and work. In right relationship, the physical aspects of place: the geology, topography, water, wind, weather, climate, and the non-physical aspects support the human endeavor that happens there: living, working, healing, and playing. Earlier cultures developed wisdom as what went where and how to work together with the spirits of that place.
Obviously, the world today is mostly very far from any awareness of geomancy.
Even when we are aware of the ramifications of topography such as flood plains and steep slopes, we generally ignore them. We are now learning what changes in weather can mean to a place and to a society. But the general culture’s willful ignorance doesn’t mean that you can’t learn and bring your new awareness to your place and your community.
We have talked about using ceremony and dowsing to begin working with and understanding the places that you care about, work, and live. The question to ask is whether what you are doing in a place is congruent with that place and if it is not, is change possible? I had a friend once with an apartment next to a hospital. It was not a good place to sleep as the ambulance drove by her window all day and night long. Not much she could do except to move. Another friend placed her garden aesthetically in a dry year and discovered that it was too wet most years. She was able to work with the land and divas to move most of the water so she didn’t have to move her garden. By looking into the broad tenets of geomancy and feng shui you can avoid many mistakes and develop a framework from which to approach your space and place.
I have listed below the geomancers who have helped me understand and who I highly recommend.
There are many, many others that are truly connected and available for teaching. If you don’t already have a teacher, ask Spirit to lead you to your teachers and watch for who shows up. Sig has a good list of western geomancers on his website. Patrick has a couple excellent short videos. Oscar has great connections to other shamans in addition to himself.
Sig Lonegren Patrick MacManaway Oscar Miro-Quesada
There are also many good basic books on Feng Shui worth exploring and applicable to the west.