Geomantic figures
The 16 geomantic figures are the primary symbols used in divinatory geomancy. Each geomantic figure represents a certain formed state of the world or the mind and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the ba gua, the eight trigrams used in the I Ching, a Chinese classic text.
Properties of the figures
Each of the figures is composed of four lines, each line containing either one or two points. Each line represents one of the four classical elements: from top to bottom, the lines represent fire, air, water, and earth. When a line has a single point, the element is said to be active; otherwise, with two points, the element is passive. Because there are four lines, and since each line can be either active or passive, there are 24, or 16, different figures. The different combinations of elements yields different representations or manifestations of the figure's energy.Each figure can be said to have a ruling element, whereby that element's energy and manifestations correlates most closely to the figure itself. With the exception of Populus, the ruling element for each figure is always represented as active. For figures with only one active element, that element by default is its ruling element; other combinations of active and passive elements require more introspection to assign rulerships. Populus, consisting of all passive lines, is ruled by Water by its nature of being entirely passive and taking on the reflective qualities of water whenever an outside force acts upon it.
| Ruling Element | Figures Ruled |
| Fire | Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Fortuna Minor, Amissio |
| Air | Puer, Rubeus, Acquisitio, Conjunctio |
| Water | Populus, Via, Albus, Puella |
| Earth | Fortuna Major, Tristitia, Caput Draconis, Carcer |
While the elements just described are from the geomantic tradition, another set of elemental assignments are used based on the figures' astrological connections. These elements are assigned based on the zodiac sign of a given figure. The geomantic element is said to reflect the nature of a figure when viewed alone; the astrological element reflects its nature when acting with other figures.
| Ruling Element | Figures Ruled |
| Fire | Puer, Fortuna Major, Fortuna Minor, Acquisitio, Cauda Draconis |
| Air | Albus, Puella, Tristitia |
| Water | Populus, Via, Rubeus, Laetitia |
| Earth | Amissio, Conjunctio, Caput Draconis, Carcer |
Another classification of the geomantic figures involves their quality, which is either stable or mobile. The quality of a figure represents its duration of effect or motion, such that a figure with a stable quality will represent a long-term situation or that a certain object remains where it was left, while a mobile figure represents a transient effect upon the real world. In simple "yes or no" style divinations, stable figures indicate a positive answer, while mobile figures indicate a negative one.
| Quality | Figures |
| Stable | Acquisitio, Albus, Puella, Populus, Tristitia, Caput Draconis, Carcer, Fortuna Major |
| Mobile | Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Amissio, Fortuna Minor, Rubeus, Puer, Conjunctio, Via |
Originally, the quality was shown in terms of entering or exiting figures, where, from the viewer's point of view, the figure would be pointing towards or away from the viewer. Entering figures have the stable quality, while the exiting figures have the mobile quality; when an entering figure is rotated upside-down, it becomes an exiting figure, and vice versa. However, based on this classification, the four figures that point in both directions regardless of rotation have the quality of both entering and exiting and must be evaluated in terms of its neighbors or generating figures.
| Direction | Figures |
| Entering | Acquisitio, Albus, Puella, Tristitia, Caput Draconis, Fortuna Major |
| Exiting | Laetitia, Cauda Draconis, Amissio, Fortuna Minor, Rubeus, Puer |
| Both | Populus, Via, Carcer, Conjunctio |
In the generation of the geomantic charts, the primary answer is given by the figure called the Judge. Based upon the mathematics involved in generating the charts, the Judge figure must always have an even number of points. For this reason, all the figures that can appear as Judges are also termed impartial figures; they represent objective states of the world observable equally by any party. The ones with odd numbers of points are termed partial or personal due to their subjective and emotional nature.
| Type | Figures |
| Impartial | Populus, Via, Carcer, Conjunctio, Amissio, Acquisitio, Fortuna Major, Fortuna Minor |
| Partial | Laetitia, Tristitia, Rubeus, Albus, Cauda Draconis, Caput Draconis, Puella, Puer |
In the Middle Ages, when geomancy was introduced to Europe where astrology was the foremost occult science, the geomantic figures obtained astrological correspondences to the Zodiac and to the planets. Based on their zodiacal correspondences, astrologers assigned new elemental rulerships based on the element of their zodiacal ruler. The exceptions to the planetary rulerships were the figures Cauda Draconis and Caput Draconis, which were assigned to the northern and southern lunar nodes instead.
| Planet | Diurnal figure | Nocturnal figure |
| Sun | Fortuna Major | Fortuna Minor |
| Moon | Populus | Via |
| Mercury | Albus | Conjunctio |
| Venus | Puella | Amissio |
| Mars | Puer | Rubeus |
| Jupiter | Acquisitio | Laetitia |
| Saturn | Tristitia | Carcer |
| Lunar nodes | Caput Draconis | Cauda Draconis |
Traditionally, the energies and manifestations of the planets were different based on their declination or motion; for the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the diurnal energy represents the planet in direct motion, while the nocturnal energy refers to the retrograde motion of the planets. For the Moon, this was illustrated by the waxing or waning periods of the Moon, respectively; the Sun's figures were based on the Sun during the day or during the night. The zodiacal rulerships followed from the diurnal or nocturnal planetary rulership: nocturnal figures are assigned earth and water signs, while diurnal figures are assigned fire and air signs. The North Node is assigned, by Gerard of Cremona, to Sagittarius and the South Node to Virgo. Once the zodiacal rulerships were agreed upon, all the following correspondences followed upon the geomantic figures, including what part of the body they each ruled over, different countries, planetary hours, body and character types, and so on.