CARDS 2: DERIVATION

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_spirit.com.au>
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995 14:21:06 +1000

[CONTINUED FROM PART ONE] DERIVATION OF THE ELEMENTAL CARDS We based the elemental cards around a system where the numbers one to seven each have a divinatory meaning and a link to one of the Theyalan version Lightbringers.

The meanings of the numbers are:

ONE
Beginnings, foundation, mortality, novelty, newness, enthusiasm. Negative: Stubbornness, rigidity, over-confidence. God: Flesh Man (also, Taros Ridgeleaper).

TWO
Impulse, instinct, change, flexibility.
Negative: Meddling, seduction, self-indulgence, capriciousness. God: Eurmal.

THREE
Wisdom, dedication, truth, knowledge, focus, balance, impartiality. Negative: Obsession, faithlessness, hyper-criticality, abstraction, lack of feeling, pomposity, dogmatism.
God: Lhankor Mhy.

FOUR
Wholeness, harmony, self-sacrifice, dedication, [pleasure]. Negative: jealousy, manipulation, 'martyrdom'. God: Chalana Arroy (also, the Animal Twins).

FIVE
Mediation, communication, practicality, material things. Negative: Greed, politicing, carelessness, selfishness, gossip. God: Issaries Trader / Issaries Lawspeaker.

SIX
Mysticism, the unknown, fate, the Shadow, Power, destiny. Negative: Arbitrary, self-deception, delusion, the Shadow. God: Ginna Jar.
(Positive and negative are often intermingled for the number six).

SEVEN
Completion, authority, unity, sovereignty. Negative: Rebellion, arrogance, dominance, bullying, tyranny. God: Orlanth [Yelm].

And the meaning of the elements (not terribly systematic, but you'll get the idea)...

AIR: Freedom, movement, violence, honour, obligation, ancestors, choice, the clan, the breath, Will.

EARTH: Stability, fertility, kin and blood, the senses, protectiveness, cyclicity, children, the womb, Emotion.

FIRE*: Law, tradition, authority, the impersonal, hierarchy, direction, the tribe, the Intellect.

WATER: Life, fluidity, flexibility, growth, shaping, inevitability, catalyst, the spouse, the heart, Creativity.

DARKNESS: Brutality, mystery, the mystical, protection, strength, aggression, transcendence, barrenness, the Great Below, the Hidden, the Soul.

• Some particularly Far Point concepts embedded in this one.

A passing thought: a divination system is actually a form of emic psychology, as it seeks to define and name all of a culture's important emotions and states of mind.

And now the cards themselves...

END PART TWO

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