ABSTRACT
Geomancy was common among many of the peoples of Africa and Western Asia,' and it is practised at the present day in several towns and villages in both continents. The magician made the enquirer into the future to sit down upon the ground and to throw handfuls of dust or sand up into the air, and when the dust or sand had fallen on the ground, the magician inspected the little heaps or ridges and proceeded to identify them with some of the astrological symbols of the seven planets, and the Signs of the Zodiac, and certain important stars, and according to their shapes and positions he decided what the course of future events were to be. At the present time the sand is spread over a square board or flat stone .. and the enquirer takes up handfuls of it at random and throws them up into the air. When the sand has fallen the magician examines the shapes and forms which it has taken and makes his deductions as to their meaning as before.
