What is Tetriamancy?

Tetriamancy is a system of divination that uses four-part figures placed on a tetrahedron. While it draws much inspiration from Geomancy, you do not need to be familiar with it to use Tetriamancy.

The name itself comes from combining “tetra” (four), “tria” (three), and “mancy” (divination).

Reading figures

The four-part figures are four parts stacked vertically, with each part representing something:

1. Fire: Will, awareness
2. Air: logical form, reason
3. Water: experience, emotion
4. Earth: matter, action

Each of these parts can exist in one of three states:

• Manifest:
  • Active, present, projecting, expressive or made definite
• Liminal:
  • In-between, transitional, changing or held at a threshold
• Latent:
  • Passive, potential, concealed, absent from expression, not yet definite

Because each figure contains four parts, there are 81 possible combinations (3 x 3 x 3 x 3). This creates many possibilities for interpretation, but can seem overwhelming (for reference, the Tarot has 78 cards and intimidates many would-be practitioners).

You do not need to memorize all of them to use Tetriamancy, especially while learning. Even as its inventor, I still refer to my notes when performing Tetriamancy readings.

Instead, each figure can be understood by its structure.

Consider the following figure:

Its four parts are:

1. Fire: manifest
2. Air: liminal
3. Water: latent
4. Earth: manifest

Rather than treating the figure as a symbol with an arbitrary definition attached to it, we can understand it by asking questions like:

• What is being expressed?
• What remains unresolved or transitional?
• What exists only as possibility?
• How do these four elements interact?

The figure’s meaning emerges from the relationship of its parts; a figure is not simply a sign for meaning—it is a structure from which meaning can be read.

We will use this figure as an example further along in this introduction.

The Three States

These are the smallest building blocks of the system.

Latent

The latent state indicates what has not entered expression.

It may be possible but unrealized, hidden, unavailable, dormant, excluded, internal, or simply absent.

It is not automatically bad for something to be latent, nor is it automatically good.

A latent opportunity can help remind us of what we want but can’t have yet.

A latent conflict may never erupt.

A latent ability may be dangerous to develop without the right conditions surrounding it.

A latent limitation may be a warning while also signaling freedom.

The glyph used for “Latent” is different than that of Geomancy; a single dot is used to represent something unexpressed. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the next state.

Manifest

A manifest state indicates an element has become actual, expressed, available, or operative.

When something is manifest, that is not automatically a good thing, nor is it a bad thing.

A manifest opportunity can lead to joy.

A manifest conflict can lead to suffering and unrecoverable fallout.

A manifest ability can be a source of power or danger, depending on how it is used.

A manifest limitation can lead to frustration.

Manifest simply means that something has crossed into expression.

The glyph used for “Manifest” is also different than that of Geomancy; a solid circle with a ray projecting out on each side is used to represent something expressed.

Liminal

The word “liminal” comes from the Latin “limen,” meaning threshold.

Something may be emerging but not complete, dissolving but not gone, divided between alternatives, dependent upon circumstances, or acting as a bridge between what is and what could be.

Liminal states are in the process of unfolding—and the result can go either way.

It is more than potentiality because what is potential is not entirely absent; it is present but not yet expressed.

Liminality is not just uncertainty; it can also represent mediation between the manifest and latent, or the unfolding from one state to another.

At its core: something in a liminal state has not yet settled into anything definite.

“Liminality,” as a concept, does not exist in Geomancy; the symbol here represents the mediation between the manifest and latent states.

Interpreting Figures

Let’s consider a specific figure and analyze it through the lens of the four elements and their three possible states.

We already know its structure:

1. Fire: manifest
2. Air: liminal
3. Water: latent
4. Earth: manifest

Rather than looking up a definition immediately, we can use the pieces to come to a deep understanding of the figure’s meaning and significance with just these parts.

Fire: Manifest

If fire concerns Will and Awareness, and if fire is manifest, we know the spirit of the figure already knows what it wants; there is a clearly defined direction and intention.

Someone represented by this figure may know what they want. A situation represented by this figure may have a clearly expressed intention and purpose.

Nothing is said about whether the Will is good or bad; it simply is expressed and projected towards its particular end.

Air: Liminal

If air concerns Logical Form and Reason, and if air is liminal, we know the knowledge the figure has is still developing—either towards clarity or collapse, or it may remain in a perpetual state of development.

Someone represented by this figure may be on the brink of learning something new. A situation represented by this figure may have a plan that exists but is changing.

If understanding a liminal space is difficult, don’t worry—humans perceive things in terms of binary oppositions, and anything in a threshold is reduced to one side or the other. Tetriamancy challenges us to see beyond the binary and to honor the “maybe” just as much as we honor the “yes” or “no”.

Water: Latent

If water concerns Experience and Emotion, and if water is latent, we know these qualities have are either absent or not yet expressed.

Someone represented by this figure may be refusing to acknowledge their experience or emotions. A situation represented by this figure may seem sterile, empty, or hollow.

Again, latent does not categorically mean nonexistent.

Something can be present as a potential without yet having become part of lived experience.

Earth: Manifest

If earth concerns Matter and Action, and if earth is manifest, we know something is happening in the material world.

Actions are being taken. Circumstances have become concrete. The situation is no longer purely theoretical.

Someone represented by this figure is someone in movement, someone who is taking action and making things happen in the physical world. A situation represented by this figure may be characterized by tangible results and measurable outcomes.

Whatever uncertainty exists elsewhere in the figure, it has not prevented the matter from crossing into action or other manifestation.

Reading the Figure as a Whole

Now we can put the four parts together.

We have:

• expressed will,
• unsettled reasoning,
• unexpressed experience or emotion,
• unexpressed action

One possible way of describing this figure is:

Acting from a clear desire before either the reasoning or the emotional consequences have completely settled.

This is not the only possible interpretation.

Depending on the question, the same structure could describe someone who knows what they want and has begun pursuing it while still figuring out how to understand the situation and their experience of it.

It could describe a project that has already moved into execution even thoug hthe conceptual framework is still evolving and its deeper consequences have not yet been experienced.

It could describe an argument in which someone is determined and already acting, but has not fully worked through either the reasoning and has not acknowledged their feelings.

The underlying structure remains the same; what changes is how that structure expresses itself in relation to the question.

As with many systems like the tarot, runes, the yi ching, etc., this is why Tetriamantic figures are not best understood as fixed statements.

The figure does not say:

This means impulsiveness.

Instead, it shows a particular arrangement of conditions from whicn impulsiveness might be inferred.

In another context, the same figure might describe experimentation, decisive action during uncertain moments, or the beginning of something whose consequences cannot be known yet.

The structure comes first.

The interpretation follows.

The Figures’ Identities

Although Tetriamantic figures can be reconstructed from their parts, each figure also has its own identity, keywords, commentary, and traditional divinatory meanings within the system.

These are not intended to replace structural reading; they are to supplement it.

They are a shorthand for the patterns that emerge from this system.

As you become familiar with Tetriamancy, you may begin to recognize figures immediately, just like how an experienced Tarot reader recognizes a card and its common meanings. In the same way, while you may refer to these common meanings and trends to inform your interpretation, you will ultimately refer to the details of each figure and their relation to the question at hand.

While learning (or even in mastery), it is never wrong to refer to the figure library.

In fact, you should.

The goal is not memorization for its own sake; the goal is to gradually become fluent enough that the structure begins to speak for itself.

The figure library will inform your understanding of the figures as will each time you analyze a figure and its parts.

From Figures to a Full Reading

A single figure can tell us a lot, but a full Tetriamantic reading does not usually consist of one figure alone.

Figures are placed into a larger chart based on a tetrahedron (i.e., a three-sided pyramid).

A tetrahedron has four vertices (angular points), six edges (lines between the points on the outside of the shape), four faces (surfaces), and a center. Tetriamancy uses these relationships to examine a question from several interconnected perspectives rather than reducing them to a single symbol.

The four vertices are the mothers for the rest of the chart; each edge is the combination of two vertices; each face is the combination of three vertices; the center is the intersection of all faces.

If this sounds too abstract, don’t worry—there are handholds along the way to help you understand how these relationships work in practice.

Structural Meaning and Correspondence

Tetriamancy also contains many symbolic correspondences from Western esoteric traditions.

These include relationships to the Qabalistic Tree of Life and the Four Worlds, astrology, elemental symbolism, Tarot, and many other systems.

These correspondences can be extremely helpful in learning Tetriamancy, but they are not necessary to understand the basic grammar of a figure.

This is important.

If a figure contains manifest Fire and latent Water, that relationship belongs to the figure’s structure.

If that same figure corresponds to a Sephirah, planet, zodiacal sign, Tarot card, or rune, those are additional symbolic lenses through which the figure can be explored.

You can practice Tetriamancy without knowing anything about these correspondences; they are there to deepen your understanding if useful so that your interpretations may be all the richer—they are never to be thought of as prerequisites for practice.

Good and Bad Figures

There are no “good” or “bad” figures. Period.

A figure is only good or bad depending on its context and what the querent cares about.

A figure can describe harmony, conflict, development, stagnation, abundance, deprivation, clarity, confusion, freedom, limitation, or any number of other conditions.

But whether those conditions are desirable depends on the question.

If you ask whether an illness will continue, a figure signaling dissolution might be welcome.

If you ask whether a friendship will continue, the same figure may be painful.

If you ask whether a harmful habit will remain latent, latency may be excellent.

If you ask whether a talent will remain latent, continued latency could be frustrating.

Try to resist the temptation to decide whether a figure is good or bad to receive before asking:

Fortunate or unfortunate for what?

Furthermore, one of the special techniques available in Tetriamancy that is scarcely available in other systems is the ability to identify exactly what to bring to a situation to transform it.

This technique allows practitioners to move not only identify how to act to transform their situations into what they want them to be, but to identify likely consequences were they to take those actions—all with the same chart.

However, I will share that technique some place other than the introductory guide.

Learning Tetriamancy

Tetriamancy can look more complicated than it is because the complete system contains many figures, relationships, positions, and correspondences.

You do not need to learn all of them at once.

If you remember only the following, you already understand the foundation:

• Every figure contains Fire, Air, Water, and Earth—in that order
• Each element can be Manifest, Liminal, or Latent
• The element tells us what kind of thing is being described
• The element’s state tells us how that element is present
• The relationship among all four produces the figure’s overall character
• The question tells us how that character applies to the situation

Everything else builds outward from there.

A useful habit to develop is to try to interpret the figure yourself before reading its full entry.

Ask:

• What is manifest?
• What is liminal?
• What is latent?
• Which elements reinforce or contradict one another?
• What overall condition does that create?
• How does that condition relate to the question?

Then compare your interpretation with the figure’s entry.

There is no need to get it “perfect”; fluency develops through repeated readings.

Where to Go Next

If you’ve enjoyed this introduction, I recommend going through the Learn section of this site. There, I go through this and more (e.g., you may be wondering how to generate a figure) in careful detail to answer everything I could think might be asked.

Assuming you decide to practice Tetriamancy, as a final reminder:

You do not need to memorize anything before you start.

Learn the grammar.

Use the reference material.

Perform readings.

Return to the figures.

Over time, what initially looks like a selection of 81 separate symbols organized on a 3-D object drawn on a 2-D surface will begin to look like a coherent language of meaning describing the world around and in us.