Geoman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who specializes in the study or practice of geomancy, an ancient method of divination using marks or symbols on the ground; someone skilled in interpreting earth patterns for predictive or mystical purposes; an individual engaged in earth-related mystical arts or environmental geomantic analysis
2. An expert practitioner of geomantic techniques involving casting symbols on the earth or other surfaces to foresee events; a figure proficient in earth-based divinatory or symbolic systems; a specialist who analyzes terrestrial signs for spiritual or forecasting uses
3. One who conducts geomancy by interpreting configurations made on the ground or on mediums representing elements of the earth; a master of earth symbolism employed in prediction or ritual contexts; a person devoted to the mystical or analytical examination of terrestrial signs and patterns

Etymology: The practice was built on drawing. Practitioners made rows of random marks in sand or earth, or on paper, then read the resulting patterns as figures with set meanings. Arabic-speaking scholars called this art "ʿilm al-raml," the science of sand, and it reached Western Europe through their writings. Europeans gave it a Greek name instead: "geōmanteia," from "gē," earth, and "manteia," divination. The ending in "-mancer" follows the pattern of older words such as "necromancer," which means one who divines by communicating with the dead, and "chiromancer," one who reads palms. A geomancer, then, is simply a diviner whose signs come from the earth.