The Liminal Spirit Oracle Part 2
Now that we’ve discussed the nature of the Liminal Spirit, you’re probably wondering just how you can start connecting with your Genius Loci and exploring what it has to communicate to you.
The inspiration for the Liminal Spirit Oracle can be found in the practice of Western-style Geomancy. Geomancy, an ancient divination practice, is based on interpreting patterns in the earth or ground (from Greek, geo, meaning “earth,” and manteia, meaning “divination”). The core theory behind geomancy is that the natural world, particularly the earth, is imbued with hidden spiritual or cosmic forces. By observing random patterns formed in the earth or other mediums (like sand, dirt, or even dots), geomancers believed they could gain insight into human affairs, hidden knowledge, or future events.
In the practice of Geomancy, the process involves generating symbols, or “sigils,” through random means. These sigils are arrived at by casting lots, tossing dice, or making a series of random marks on paper or in the dirt. The randomness is believed to be guided by unseen forces, allowing practitioners to tap into occult knowledge. By analyzing these sigils, Geomancers gain insights into various aspects of life and future events.
The Liminal Spirit Oracle is based on a different conceptual framework compared to traditional Western geomancy. It focuses on interpreting “probability patterns” within causal currents that flow throughout a landscape. These currents, akin to ley lines in concept, are the lines, or “wexes,” of cause and effect. The system assumes that these wexes carry information about potential outcomes, making them crucial to understanding how events and possibilities unfold in the world. The Liminal Spirit has access to the full set of wexes which passes through its landscape, and can provide a clearer assessment of the current moment in the landscape than any single one of its parts:
Instead of relying on the classical elements—Fire, Air, Water, and Earth—like other systems, the Liminal Spirit Oracle introduces a structure where the rows forming the sigils represent these probability currents. Each current originates from one of the four cardinal directions: North, South, East, and West. These directions aren’t strict; they’re quite literally where the wexes have their origins. They represent distinct causal forces in motion which are available to the Liminal Spirit, which describe the shape of the nature of the events they influence.
Additionally, the Liminal Spirit Oracle includes a fifth row in the sigil structure that holds special significance, as it directly represents the querent—the individual for whom the reading is being performed. This row acts as a focal point, anchoring the wexes to the person in question and making the reading specifically relevant to their life. By integrating the querent into the reading, the system creates a link between the individual’s life force and the larger currents of probability, offering insight into how their personal energy interacts with the broader forces at play.
The Liminal Spirit Oracle facilitates communication between its users and the Liminal Spirit by offering a method based on expanding beyond binary principles. Binary systems, such as 1/0, Yes/No, or On/Off, are essential in the natural world for simple yet effective exchanges of information. Although the complexity of nature itself is nonbinary, communication often begins with this binary foundation. As an example, take the Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), which uses a rudimentary form of counting—if an insect touches its hairs and escapes within a second, the flytrap “knows” it hasn’t caught its prey and doesn’t waste energy closing. However, if the insect remains longer, the flytrap’s mouth snaps shut and digestion begins.
To use the Liminal Spirit Oracle, querents cast a sigil to ask a question, initiating a process that mirrors this binary communication but in a more complex, multidimensional way. The sigil represents the user’s inquiry, which is then transmitted by the Liminal Spirit across its vast network of entities, energies, and forces. The Oracle acts as an interpreter, mediating the user’s question through a framework that can be understood by the nonhuman, energetic entities within the surrounding environment. These entities, part of the “Commonwealth of Entities,” are in constant communication and reception of signals, making them well-positioned to respond with relevant answers. The Oracle acts as a translator, bridging the gap between the binary-based question and the nuanced, nonbinary world of the Liminal Spirit.
Ultimately, this Oracle transforms the user’s initial query into a dynamic exchange of information. The Liminal Spirit is capable of interpreting the question and directing it through a network of potential answers, assessing the probability currents and networking with the surrounding entities to which it has access. Through this multidirectional communication process, the Liminal Spirit receives responses from the Commonwealth of Entities that are likely to be the most pertinent and meaningful, which it then transmits back to the querent.
It’s like a rock dropped into a pond– the ripples go out from the center, reach an obstruction, and reflect back. To return to the amateur radio analogy, when a broadcaster is looking for someone to talk to, they might find an open channel and broadcast their ’call sign,’ an individual code name, and the letters “CQ” (“seek you”). Another operator who hears the broadcast can then reply using their call sign and the conversation can commence.
By adding a fifth row (which can be changed by the caster, as will be explained in the next section), our system makes the reading more specific to the caster or querent’s circumstances. This extra row adds an extra level of ‘accuracy’ when it comes to probability predictions because, as mentioned above, the querent/caster is part of the Liminal Spirit in any given geographical location.
To simplify: essentially, the querent/caster asks a question or sets an intention and shouts it to the four directions. The Liminal Spirit broadcasts that question or intention, collects the answers it receives from each direction, and translates it into the sigil generated during the casting– kind of like bats using echolocation to map a cave. So, although the result may seem “random,” it’s actually the personification of the Liminal Spirit!
Clear as mud? Good! Mud is awesome! In the next installment, we’ll look at how to actually perform a casting, and this will all begin to come together.