# Sand reading Source: https://spiritfold.com.au/Sand_reading Published by the Australian Spiritual Alliance on Spiritfold, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. [](https://spiritfold.com.au/index.php?title=File:MS_Arabic_823_p._19.jpg&filetimestamp=20261014131930&)An excerpt from an anonymous Arabic tract on geomancy (Wellcome Library MS Arabic 823). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons **Sand reading** is divination from figures or patterns drawn in sand or a similar material spread on the ground or another flat surface. This is one meaning of **geomancy**, though the same word is also used for the Chinese practice of feng shui.[1] In this form of divination, predictions are made from sixteen figures that are usually drawn in sand. It was first codified in Arabic, as *ʿilm al-raml*, "the science of the sand".[2] ## Description ### The sixteen figures Every form of this geomancy, Erika Bourguignon writes, rests on the same basic pattern: markings set against each other in pairs and arranged in sixteen combinations, each of four positions. In the Arab system and in medieval Europe, where it was called *ars punctatoria*, points or lines were drawn on the sand in a pattern left to chance.[1] The *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology* describes geomancy as scattering pebbles, dust, grains of sand or seeds on the ground and interpreting the shapes and positions they form; it says the interpretation is partly intuitive and partly follows a set system of positions.[3] A later development, which it credits to the occultist Cornelius Agrippa, made the marks on the ground with a stick; today they are often made with a pencil on paper.[3] ### The Arab system and its European form The Arab system, called *raml* ("sand"), is built on complex mathematical calculation and the idea of an ordered universe, and its numerical order underlies all the other Western systems of geomancy. In the European system, the sixteen figures were linked to the planets and the signs of the zodiac, and also to the four elements and four qualities. Bourguignon notes that writers have interpreted the system in different ways, but its basic structure has stayed remarkably constant.[1] ## Scope ### What it includes - Divination from marks, dots or lines drawn in sand, or from scattered grains, pebbles or seeds[1][3] - Reading the sixteen geomantic figures, including later forms drawn on paper[2][3] ### What it is not - It is not feng shui. The word *geomancy* is also used for the Chinese tradition of siting towns, houses and tombs according to the flow of influences across the land, which is a separate practice (see [Feng shui](https://spiritfold.com.au/Feng_shui)).[1] - Some related African systems use no sand. In the Yoruba system of Ifá, for example, the marks come from casting palm kernels or cowrie shells.[1] Bourguignon notes that the African systems are still in use; this page does not describe how Ifá is practised.[1] ## Traditions and lineage Bourguignon thinks this kind of geomancy most likely began in the ancient Near East and may have been developed further through Greek mathematical ideas. During the expansion of Arab culture in the eighth and ninth centuries it was systematised and spread to Byzantium, across North Africa and into Spain, and probably from Spain into Christian Europe, where it became closely linked with alchemy and astrology. From Egypt and North Africa it travelled south with Islam, and it is now found in West Africa, among the Yoruba of Nigeria, and in East Africa, including Madagascar.[1] Recent research puts the written record later. A German research project at the University of Tübingen (2022–2025) describes geomancy as the only science of the ancient-to-modern tradition that was first codified in Arabic, but notes that the beginnings of that codification can be traced back only as far as a group of twelfth-century Latin treatises based on Arabic models whose exact sources are unknown. The project set out to edit a previously unpublished work, *Kitāb al-Muthallathāt fī l-raml* ("The Book of Triads on Sand"), whose author, Ibn al-Maḥfūf, presents himself as the first writer of a standard geomancy.[2] European geomancy had a brief revival in nineteenth-century occultism, Bourguignon writes, while the African systems are still in use, and forms of the Yoruba practice have been found in the Americas, notably in Cuba and Brazil.[1] ## Context ### Within Spiritualism Spiritfold has found no published source linking sand reading with Spiritualism. ### In Australian Spiritualism Spiritfold has found no published source linking sand reading with Spiritualism in Australia. ### A Spiritualist perspective Sand reading comes from a different stream from Spiritualism: a learned system of figures and calculation, carried across the Arab world, Europe and Africa, rather than a practice of contact with spirit. A Spiritualist would meet it with respect for its age and for the cultures that still keep it, and would take particular care not to borrow from living traditions such as Ifá without their own teachers' blessing. For anyone offering readings, the usual Spiritualist counsel applies. Present a reading as an interpretation, not a fixed fate. Never use it to frighten, and be wary of anyone who says a client is cursed and needs to pay for a cure. ## Safety and good practice Western Australia's Commissioner for Consumer Protection advises people to be very cautious if a psychic or clairvoyant says they are in danger, unlucky or cursed, because the solution on offer is likely to be a scam. Anyone paying for a reading should know the total cost and exactly what they will receive, and ask about conditions and hidden costs.[4] ## Common questions ### What is sand reading? It is divination from figures drawn in sand, the practice Arabic writers called *ʿilm al-raml*, "the science of the sand".[2] The diviner reads sixteen figures, each made of marks in four positions.[1] ### Is sand reading the same as feng shui? No. Both have been called geomancy in English, but feng shui is a Chinese tradition for siting buildings and tombs, while sand divination reads figures drawn on the ground.[1] ### Where did it come from? Bourguignon traces it most likely to the ancient Near East, systematised in the Arab world in the eighth and ninth centuries.[1] Researchers at the University of Tübingen note that its written codification can so far be traced back only to twelfth-century Latin treatises built on Arabic models whose exact sources are unknown.[2] ### Is it still practised? Bourguignon reports that the African systems are still in use, and that forms of the Yoruba practice are found in Cuba and Brazil.[1] ## Related modalities - [Feng shui](https://spiritfold.com.au/Feng_shui) - [Astrology](https://spiritfold.com.au/Astrology) - [Runes](https://spiritfold.com.au/Runes) - [Tarot](https://spiritfold.com.au/Tarot) - [Numerology](https://spiritfold.com.au/Numerology) - [Psychic reading](https://spiritfold.com.au/Psychic_reading) ## References 1. Bourguignon, Erika. ["Geomancy"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/geomancy). *Encyclopedia of Religion*, 1987 (revised bibliography). Reproduced on Encyclopedia.com (accessed 14 October 2026). 2. Villuendas Sabaté, Blanca (applicant). ["Die Triaden des Ibn al-Maḥfūf: eine Historie der arabischen Geomantie und ihrer Verbreitung in Europa und darüber hinaus"](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/490947083) (The Triads of Ibn al-Maḥfūf: a history of Arabic geomancy and its spread to Europe and beyond). Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project no. 490947083, Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies, University of Tübingen, 2022–2025. Project description in German, translated for this page (accessed 14 October 2026). 3. ["Geomancy"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/geomancy). *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*. Gale. Reproduced on Encyclopedia.com (accessed 14 October 2026). 4. Chopping, Lanie (Commissioner for Consumer Protection). ["Commissioner's blog: Beware the misfortune tellers"](https://www.wa.gov.au/government/announcements/commissioners-blog-beware-the-misfortune-tellers). Consumer Protection, Government of Western Australia. First published 27 August 2020; last updated 14 August 2024 (accessed 14 October 2026). ## Further reading - Bourguignon, Erika. ["Geomancy"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/geomancy). *Encyclopedia of Religion*, 1987. - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. ["Die Triaden des Ibn al-Maḥfūf"](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/490947083). Research project 490947083, University of Tübingen, 2022–2025 (in German).