From the greening earth potent spirits root, bud, flower, seed, and spring forth. Speaking the languages of dirt and trees and unfolding nature, working in harmony with the hidden but unmistakable actions of the fertile world, geomancers have many a plant ally they may potentially call upon in working their divinations and spellcrafts.

This course offers students in-depth consideration of forty-eight individual plants to be worked in cohering virtues and conjuring spirits of the Sixteen Geomantic Figures: presenting how these green allies may be worked, for what ends, and in what manners. Particular attentions are paid to the strategic coherence, regulation, and deployment of geomantic virtues and the influences and effects of geomantic spirits through such sorcerous herb-doctoring for remediation, for charming, and for empowerment.

While the stalwart gnomes, pygmies, and other earth-people may form a wise and industrious phalanx in your spiritual work and community, they are far from the only elementals a wort-wielding geomancer may work with. The lessons and training of this four-part course series also offer insight and advice on working various flora for engaging with the sylphs in the sighing forest branches, the naiads in the reeds and rushes of the riverbanks, and the salamanders of the basking rocks and piled-high bonfire boughs.

This course’s materials are drawn from historical texts of astrological medicine and astrological magic, as well as treatises of natural magic and occult philosophy, collected tomes of popular kitchen physick, and the closely-guarded pages of working spellbooks. Particular attention is paid to folk magical traditions of cunning plant-lore, with both historical record and evidences of extant practices considered.

Along with scholarly research, this course draws on Dr Cummins’ years of personal and professional experimentation with geomantic divination and magic, and includes – among other things – observations concerning spirit contact to tips on framing experimental operations and even divining for designing, debriefing, and troubleshooting our green-craft and plant magics.

The four class recordings of this course series breakdown as follows: 

Session 1: The Plant Allies of the Fiery Figures
In which is discussed the occult philosophy of Fire and the mysteries of Light, Heat, and Radical Moisture, along with concepts of motion, masculinity, transformation, and drive. Pertinent pre-modern humoural conceptions and techniques concerning choleric tempers, hot virtues, and vital spirits – from the quickwitted and courageous to the quarrelsome and inconstant – are discussed and analysed. Practical operations with fire are considered, from immolation to illumination, from candles to calcinations, and from fire bowls to bonfires. Twelve plant allies, a triumvirate of support for each of the Fiery figures, are saluted and given honour. Sorceries specific to these figures are considered in further depth: Puer for works of protection and enthusiasm; Fortuna Major for operations of honourable victory; Acquisitio for workings of prosperity and expansion; Cauda Draconis for the destruction of curses and impediments.

Session 2: The Plant Allies of the Airy Figures
In which is discussed the occult philosophy of Air and the mysteries of Mind and Medium, along with concepts of the agreeability of moisture, and the unctuousness of co-mingling, and the central operative occult mechanics of breath and blood. Significant pre-modern humoural conceptions and techniques concerning sanguine tempers, warm virtues, and (overly)familiar spirits – from the loving and beloved merry temperament to the lascivious and hedonistic – are discussed and analysed. Practical operations with air are considered, from incense to the prayers carried forth on such smoldering offerings, not to mention magically charged breath itself. Twelve plant allies, a triumvirate of support for each of the Airy figures, are saluted and given honour. Sorceries specific to these figures are considered in further depth: Albus for mental clarity and the wisdoms of ancestors; Fortuna Minor for quick fixes gaining fickle Lady Luck’s favour; Tristitia for honouring bereavement and working various nigromancies; Puella for charming crafts of artisanship.  

Session 3: The Plant Allies of the Watery Figures
In which is discussed the occult philosophy of Water and the mysteries of Coldness, Dream, and Femininity, along with concepts of reflexivity and imagination as well as cleansing and rebirth. Vital pre-modern humoural conceptions and techniques concerning phlegmatic tempers, cooling and drenching virtues, and spirits of introversion – from the visionary and empathic to the delirious and unbalancing – are discussed and analysed. Practical soothing and trancing operations with water are considered, from spiritual baths to lustral libation, and even water-bowl scrying. Twelve plant allies, a triumvirate of support for each of the Watery figures, are saluted and given honour. Sorceries specific to these figures are considered in further depth: Populus for both confusing and calming the grapevine of rumour and public opinion; Via for finding, scrying, and transforming; Rubeus for propitiating hungry spirits to minimise maddening dangers; Laetitia for celebrating accomplishments and revitalising flagging joie de vivre.

Session 4: The Plant Allies of the Earthy Figures
In which is discussed the occult philosophy of Earth and the mysteries of the Dry, the Dark, and the Prima Materia, along with concepts of heaviness, receptivity, the senses, and the gravity of the grave. Key pre-modern humoural conceptions and techniques concerning melancholic tempers, blackening virtues, and spirits of despair and genius – from inspired cogitations to vexing dread and debilitation – are discussed and analysed. Practical operations with earths are considered, from dirt gathering and processing to ritual burial to charge charms and materia magica. Twelve plant allies, a triumvirate of support for each of the Earthy figures, are saluted and given honour. Sorceries specific to these figures are considered in further depth: Carcer for binding and focusing; Conjunctio for joining, dealing, and crossing; Amissio for reducing and healing; Caput Draconis for blessing and initiating.

By purchasing this class, you agree that you understand that no part of the material dictated or provided throughout the duration of the course may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any other form (neither electronic nor mechanic, including photocopies and recordings), without the direct and written consent of the instructor, Dr Alexander Cummins.