Franz Hartmann’s Geomancy: Astrology in Dots and Signs
Lark Lauren 8.23.2026
Franz Hartmann’s Geomancy is one of those old Theosophical manuals that looks mysterious, but the method inside is surprisingly simple.
It teaches a system where tiny dot‑patterns reveal how a situation is likely to behave — using the same planets and zodiac signs you see in astrology.
The book’s tables show the 16 figures, their planet, their zodiac sign, and their temperament.
But the real magic is that you can create these figures yourself with nothing more than a pen.
How It Works? It is simple
1. Take a pen and a blank sheet of paper
Geomancy starts with something anyone can do: making dots.
2. Ask one clear question
Not three. Just one.
Examples:
- “Is this project stable?”
- “Will this opportunity grow?”
- “Is this relationship balanced?”
3. Make your first line of dots
This is the heart of the method.
- Put your pen down.
- Tap dots across the page in a horizontal line.
- Don’t count while doing it.
- Stop when it feels natural.
You now have Line 1.
4. Count the dots in Line 1
Now you reduce the line:
- Odd number of dots → one dot (•)
- Even number of dots → two dots (••)
This becomes the Fire line of your figure.
5. Repeat the process three more times
You need four lines total:
- Line 1 → Fire
- Line 2 → Air
- Line 3 → Water
- Line 4 → Earth
Each line becomes either • or ••.
Now you have a four‑line pattern like:
•
••
•
••
This is a geomantic figure.
6. Match your pattern to the book’s tables
Hartmann’s book shows all 16 figures.
Each one has:
- a name
- a planet
- a zodiac sign
- a meaning
- a behavior pattern
For example:
•
• •
•
• → Puella (Venus)
•
•
• •
• → Puer (Mars)
• •
• •
•
• → Fortuna_Major (Sun)
• •
• •
• •
• → Tristitia (Saturn)
7. Read the meaning for your question
This is where astrology comes in.
Each figure behaves according to its planet:
- Venus figures → pleasant, cooperative
- Mars figures → fast, impulsive
- Sun figures → strong, stable
- Saturn figures → slow, heavy, delayed
You apply that behavior to your question.
The Core Idea
Hartmann’s book teaches that geomancy is astrology in miniature.
The dots show the elemental balance.
The planet shows the temperament.
The zodiac sign shows the style.
Put together, they tell you how the situation behaves.
You’ve already learned the core of the method:
Make dots → reduce to four lines → match the figure → read the meaning.
But Hartmann’s system doesn’t stop at one figure. It builds a whole chain of figures, each one derived from the previous, until you reach the final answer.
This chain is made of:
- Mothers
- Daughters
- Nephews
- Witnesses
- The Judge
These are not mystical titles, but simply the names for each stage of the calculation.
Let’s walk through them slowly, so any novice can follow.
The Mothers: Your First Four Figures
After you make dots and reduce them to a figure, you repeat the process three more times.
You end up with four figures.
Hartmann calls these the Mothers.
They are the foundation of the reading — the raw elemental patterns produced directly from your hand and your question.
Each Mother is a complete geomantic figure with:
- Fire line (the Head)
- Air line (the Neck)
- Water line (the Body)
- Earth line (the Feet)
These four Mothers are the “seed” of the entire chart.
The Daughters: Rearranging the Mothers
The Daughters are not created by making new dots.
They are created by rearranging the Mothers.
Hartmann’s rule is simple:
- The Fire lines (the Heads) of all four Mothers become the first Daughter. Basically we put the Heads of all the four Mothers one below the other.
- The Air lines (the Necks) of all four Mothers become the second Daughter. Basically we put the Necks of all the four Mothers one below the other.
- The Water lines (theBody) become the third Daughter. Basically we put the Bodies of all the four Mothers one below the other.
- The Earth lines (the Feet) become the fourth Daughter. Basically we put the Feet of all the four Mothers one below the other.
In other words:
Mothers give birth to Daughters by sharing their elemental lines.
This step shows how the elemental balance shifts when you look at the question from different angles.
The Nephews: Combining Pairs
Now you take the Mothers and Daughters and combine them.
Hartmann’s rule (counting each line individually: the Heads, the Necks, the Bodies, the Feet):
- Nephew 1 = Mother I + Mother II
- Nephew 2 = Mother III + Mother IV
- Nephew 3 = Daughter V + Daughter VI
- Nephew 4 = Daughter VII + Daughter VIII
How do you “combine” them?
You look at each line:
If the two lines have odd + odd, the result is even → ••
If they have even + even, the result is even → ••
If they have odd + even, the result is odd → •
You do this for Fire, Air, Water, Earth.
The Nephews show how the situation behaves when two forces interact.
The Witnesses: The Two Sides of the Story
Now you combine the Nephews.
Hartmann’s rule:
- First Witness = Nephew IX + Nephew X
- Second Witness = Nephew XI + Nephew XII
Witnesses represent the two sides of the situation:
- The First Witness shows the active, external, visible side.
- The Second Witness shows the internal, hidden, emotional side.
Together, they form the “testimony” of the chart.
The Judge: The Final Answer
Finally, you combine the two Witnesses.
This produces The Judge — the final figure.
The Judge is the answer to your question.
Hartmann is very clear:
The Judge shows the outcome.
If the Judge is Carcer, the answer is about restriction or attainment through difficulty. If the Judge is Fortuna Major, the answer is strong success. If the Judge is Puella, the answer is pleasant but unstable. If the Judge is Tristitia, the answer is sorrow or delay.
The Judge is the distilled essence of the entire chain.
Why This Matters
This whole structure — Mothers → Daughters → Nephews → Witnesses → Judge — is what makes geomancy astrology in miniature.
It mirrors the logic of:
- planets
- houses
- aspects
- testimonies
- final judgment
But instead of charts and ephemerides, you use dots.
The dots create the elemental balance. The figures express the planetary temperament. The chain reveals the astrological logic.
Geomancy is simple enough for anyone to do, but deep enough to behave like a full symbolic system.
You can find the PDF of Franz Hartmann's The Principles of Astrological Geomancy at the Internet Archive website: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501958/page/n5/mode/2up