The Meaning of Via

This page serves as an outline of the meaning of Via– the Geomantic Figure. This page is partly a summary of my thoughts and feelings about a particular figure, but it’s also a collection of notes and references. I will update this page over time with more information – a one-stop shop! I hope that it serves other students of Geomancy.

To view one of the other figures, click here to go an article on the 16 figures of Geomancy:

The Geomantic Figure of the Way…

This is the geomancy figure of Via

Overview of the Meaning of Via

The Latin word Via is translated to mean ‘road’, ‘way’ or ‘path’. Its shape clearly reflects this meaning – a line of four single, active points that visually form a road, or a route of movement. Being comprised of four active elemental dots, Via is the most active of all the geomantic figures – making it also the fastest moving figure too. It is sometimes said that Via was the first geomantic figure which came into being – having all active elements, all other figures derive from it.

In Western Geomancy, this figure represents movement, transition, change and an ongoing journey. It can symbolise the energy present at the beginning of situations, or the fast change in circumstances. When this figure appears in the chart it often symbolises change, adding motion and speed in any house that it lands. Though change is not always good, and in some houses this may manifest itself as instability or an inability to hold onto something.

Unlike any other figure in geomancy, Via contains no passive elemental lines. The figure cannot, therefore, receive nor reflect the energy of another figure; it merely acts. When it interacts with another figure (through geomantic addition) it requires the other figure to change itself completely.

Whilst many of the figures have their ‘opposite’ or reversed figure (Laetitia/Tristitia, Puer/Puella), Populus is the same upright and reversed. There are four figures in Geomancy of this nature; Via, Populus, Conjunctio and, of course, Carcer. These four figures are considered ‘liminal’, as they are neither entering nor exiting. Conjunctio and Via are considered mobile liminal figures (i.e. they move), Populus and Carcer are considered stable liminal figures. The movement or stability of the figure was assigned in the West by their meanings. Therefore, Via is a figure that is both mobile and liminal.

In Arabic this figure is called Tariq (طريق ) which is usually translated as the ‘way’ or ‘path’. This is not so dissimilar to our Western name for this figure. As an even figure, Via can also appear as a judge. You sometimes see ‘even’ figures (those that have an even number of points) referred to as ‘objective’ figures, versus ‘subjective’. When Via does appear as a judge, some traditions believe that it’s completely active nature implies that the figure will only speak and not listen to the question the querent is asking. The figure is seen as too active, and thus cannot reflect on the matter at hand. In these traditions, some may choose to recast the chart (usually using certain figures from the existing chart as the new mothers of the new chart). Otherwise, the judgement is taken from the superjudex and other figures.

Western Geomancers attribute this figure to the Moon, and the element of Water. This is different to the Watery Moon of Populus, where the moon was calm and reflective. With Via, it reflects a Moon which is waxing, bright and travelling across the night sky. This is the Moon with countless changing faces, and an active and restless spirit.

Via is Favourable For:

• Anything where change or movement is required.
• Where less, rather than more, is required.
• When movement or a journey is wanted or required
• When you need energy or dynamism.
• When you need to speak out, or even when actions are better than words.

Via is Unfavourable For:

• Stillness.
• Calm reflection or a need to listen.

Reflections on Geomantic Figure of Via

When looking at the ‘patterns’ which can be created by the points in the figure of Via, we can see very few. Namely a road – the traditional image of a journey, four points along a straight road.

Geomantically, Via is constructed with four active lines, making four dots in total. It is the only figure in Geomancy to have no passive lines. This feels like pure raw power – like nuclear fission in an atomic bomb. Nothing is going to be the same. Just like I said that Populus was the chaotic primordial soup from which we are all created, Via is the moment that life comes into being. The moment of creation and conception – unapologetic in its expression.

Via teaches us the necessity and wisdom of embracing unavoidable change, movement and the resultant transformation. It is a lesson that nothing remains fixed, and that rigidity can quickly turn into stagnation. Via is not just a ‘change’, but it is change itself – not a mere noun, but the active verb. Just like how a journey asks us to continually make adjustments and navigate our passage’s currents, so too does Via urge us to be receptive to continual and unavoidable change during our rite of passage.

Just as a tree subject to high winds does not bend will surely break, if we do not bend the the power of Via, we may run the risk of breaking ourselves.

Elemental Ruler:

Planetary Ruler:

Zodiac Ruler:

Given to the sign Virgo