You must be logged in to post a comment.
Class 4: all parts
THE BI-POLAR OCTAGON IN USE
Introduction: Paula and her question
I have known Paula (not her real name) slightly for several years, but am not familiar with any of her personal circumstances. This is therefore close to the typical reading which one might do for a stranger, of whose personal life one knows nothing.
She asked what I think is one of the natural or obvious questions for someone with no familiarity with the cards: ‘Where am I at at the moment?’ In fact, after fifteen years or so with Rainring, I still feel the need, once in a while, to ask the exact same question.
Here is the resulting spread for Paula:
One clarification is advisable at once: the subject of this spread is not Paula’s basic nature. It is not a reading about who she is fundamentally, but about where she is at right now in her life.
My 3-part presentation of the reading
I am going to present this reading in three parts. First, I will describe the constituent elements, both technical and human, of this reading situation, together with some more general reflections. Second, I will comment on the general meaning of each card in the reading, including some reference to the position in which it occurs in the spread. Third, I will present Paula’s own personal comments on each card.
As a prelude to this presentation, however, I think I should make clear what happens during a Rainring reading; to sketch the scene for you and describe the process by which we arrive at some understanding of the spread of cards.
To make this reading accessible to those of you who have access to the web but have not yet purchased a pack of cards, we have done the reading online, using only the facilities available there.
1: the mechanical details
We began, therefore, with Paula at the keyboard, enabling tips and reversals, then typing in her question. She then clicked on ‘next’ to go to the play screen, dragged and dropped the nine cards needed to complete the spread, activated the reversal facility for one of them, and again clicked on ‘next’. This took her to the screen corresponding to the document to which the link is provided above – the viewing screen. We studied the spread on the screen At the end, we used the print screen system on the keyboard to produce a colour copy for her to take home as a reference.
2: the tools of interpretation
The web site reference for the layout of this spread can be found at this page:
http://www.rainringcards.com/VisualDirectory/Spreads.aspx
This can be accessed during play, enabling the user to go back and forth from the cards to the spread map. For another presentation of the same information in a different context, we could also have accessed another page: http://www.rainringcards.com/VisualDirectory/Groups.aspx
Either or both of these pages could also be printed. We in fact, for added convenience, used the instruction manual which accompanies the hard copy of the pack. The second facility which Paula made use of was that of being able to hover over each card in the viewing screen during the reading, so bringing up the full-sized image together with the meaning:
[In order to capture a print-screen to illustrate this facility, I had to do an actual reading, so you have a reading within a reading here! This shows one of the constituent cards – Action – over which the mouse has been hovered. Alternatively, if one wants to contemplate the card Action, or any other, with no distractions, its own page can be accessed via the visual directory link. Then you get this:
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Action/22.aspx ]
3: the human interaction
The style of this is really led by the querant, not by the reader. In this case, Paula had a quick look at the relevant information on the meaning of each aspect before she started. Once she had gone into the interactive module and made her selection, on the viewing screen she read over the meaning of each card as she hovered on them one by one. She often asked me to explain something: either to add to something in the basic meanings given, or to make something more immediate.
Usually, there is an interaction in approximately this sequence: the reader proposes an interpretation; the querant responds by acknowledging it, amplifying it, challenging it or simply being unable to relate to it at all. The reader responds accordingly. If the querant challenges an interpretation, she will hopefully be able to offer a counter-insight. The reader can then confirm whether this revised view can be supported by the card being studied. As the reading develops, it should be possible to see certain broad themes emerging – the very idea of a bigger reading is to enable this cross-referencing to take place.
In order, when developing the web site, to keep the technical IT side within manageable limits, we did not attempt to introduce the facility for a supplementary card into the online interactive format. If, however, you are reading online, are stuck with a given card and want a supplementary, just open up another window, go back into the play module, do another four-card spread (the quickest), but instead of asking a question, merely designate one card in your new spread as the clarifier (supplementary) – the Unconscious will respond to such an instruction with no problem – and ignore all the others.
Finally, when reading, there is always a fall-back position: there are occasions when neither the querant nor the reader knows what a given card, even with a supplementary, refers to. In this case, it is necessary to accept that one must leave it for time to sort things out – it is fascinating how one can be completely foxed by a card in a reading – and not just one concerning the future – only to find that many months later, one suddenly has a light-bulb moment: yes! That’s what the meaning of that card was! Enough of generalities, let’s get into the nitty-gritty!
The reading: A - my initial interpretations
Interpreting Raindance. Spread position: North Aspect: Unconscious
Card: Raindance
Grid position: group: Question (9 grey/brown); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Raindance/45.aspx
The image on Raindance is that of the Lamplighter being brought a gift of fresh bread by a small boy, as he goes about his dawn duties in the rain, extinguishing the lamps. A young girl swings around the lamppost and a cat, indifferent to the proceedings, washes itself. a rainbow appears on the ground in the foreground.
Raindance is the card which represents the centre (in terms of the Rainring octagon) of the spectrum for the fundamental archetypes set. This, like each set, reprises the theme of the group to which it corresponds. This is the fifth set from the top of the grid, set 5, and it corresponds to the indigo group 5, the Unconscious group. The set 5 cards, the fundamental archetypes, thus represent the underpinning energies of the Unconscious psyche. Just as white light is the source of the spectrum colours, so Raindance, at the centre of the set, represents the source of the Unconscious. In the same way that the lamplighter is the bringer of light, Raindance is the source of consciousness. It represents the sum total of the unconscious psyche, which is the repository of everything that can ever come into conscious existence. It is therefore a very powerful card in the Unconscious position in this spread, suggesting that the querant has potential access to the whole spectrum – that is, the entire range of constituents of psyche. The Unconscious represents unrealised resources which await development, so the card implies that Paula has at present the potential to develop into a very balanced and complete person. On the other side of the coin, the very scope of Raindance implies the possibility, especially in the unconscious position, of getting lost in the vastness. This card can suggest disorientation, problems of assimilating unconscious contents.
Interpreting inhibition
Spread position: South
Aspect: consciousness, daily life, practical matters
Card: Inhibition (reversed)
Grid position: group: Communication (7, Blue); set: introvert imbalance (1)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Inhibition/7.aspx The image of Inhibition features a young man and woman at a country fair. In the complementary card Exhibition, the youth is playing his guitar and the young woman is dancing with abandon. In this card, however, they stand still, their body language suggesting self-protection. The spotlight is on them, the spectators have gathered, but they seem unable to perform.
Inhibition, like all the imbalance cards of sets (1) and (2), can be understood in two ways: it has an imbalanced and a balanced version. In the four-mention version (hard copy), these are distinguished. In the web version, we have to intuit. The imbalanced version refers to a difficulty in communication, as a result of timidity. The inhibited individual has a need to express themselves at a particular moment, but is too fearful of the response which they imagine they might get from others. It should be emphasised that in the imbalanced case, this is a neurotic response – the fear is not a response to actual danger, such as the probable outcome if I insult a boy soldier armed to the teeth at a roadblock when he demands a few banknotes to help ‘him feed his old mother’.
The balanced form, appropriate inhibition, refers either to a situation such as that just described, or refers more generally to the benefits which will be derived in certain cases from keeping one’s own counsel. Suppose I am a reporter interviewing a difficult subject who has shown great reluctance in allowing themself to be drawn out. At the point where they actually begin to unburden themself, the last thing I need is to start intruding with a personal anecdote of my own. Still further, I might choose to speak very little in a certain context in my life – during a whole period for instance, or whenever I am in certain company. Or I might be a professional actor playing the role of a taciturn character. In every case, if the inhibition is appropriate and voluntary i.e. chosen, it is not neurotic.
The reading here is inhibition reversed. Generally, we understand reversal in three ways: as the opposite of the psychific element on the card; as a strategic withdrawal – because the timing is not right; or as a form of the element which involves a complete U turn: going in the opposite direction. For example, thought reversed might be 1)not thinking about anything; 2) deciding to leave until later something that I can’t figure out right now; 3) thinking about an issue in a radically different way to that in which I have thought about it until now.
In a complex case like this, it would be most unwise for the reader to attempt to impose an interpretation without asking for feedback from the querant. However, the presence of pain as the central card suggests that inhibition reversed here, in Form aspect, therefore relating to practical daily life issues, might have some negative connotations. my first impression would be of a shy person who at the moment is being obliged – by the demands of her professional situation, those of an intimate relationship, or both, to come out of her shell under circumstances where she feels less than comfortable.
Interpreting Form
Spread position: West
Aspect: Will - female pole: emotion
Card: Form
Grid position: group: Form (4 orange); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Form/40.aspx
The Image on Form is that of a camel train moving across the desert. The sun is sinking below the horizon behind the caravan, so that both animals and humans cast long shadows across the sand towards the viewer. Like all the fundamental archetypes, the dominant motif of Form is the circle, though it is not geometrically exact.
The card Form gives its name to the fourth (orange) group. Rainring is based on the notion that psyche comes before soma, so it is only with the arrival of the fourth archetype that we enter what we call the material world. It is true that the group representing the Unconscious, 5, comes after Form (see grid)
The Unconscious group has been allocated the central position in the grid because it cannot be correctly placed anywhere in the chronology of the psyche – it is beginning, middle and end.
Form is the archetype representing manifestation: diversity, multiplicity, proliferation; also time and linear thinking. But how are we to translate these grand notions into a straightforward meaning? Form refers to order, proportion, practicality, groundedness, efficiency. With Form, things are in their right places – we are as far from chaos as we could be, and chaos is one of the meanings of Form reversed.
The west is the position of the emotional, feeling aspect, so we have Form in feelings. This suggests someone who is able to handle their feelings in such a way that they do not impede her functioning in the workaday world. Although Form is a highly positive card, I have a degree of discomfort at finding it in the feeling position (aspect). For me, there is a whiff somewhere there of managing ones feelings, making sure that they take their proper place in one’s life. This management creates tension, and this in turn may be a contributor to the pain at the centre. This card does not, however, imply suppression of feelings, so I as the reader would at this point look for clarification from the querant as to how she relates to these findings.
Interpreting Creation
Spread position: East
Aspect: Spirit - male pole: reason, discernment, perception etc
Card: Creation
Grid position: group: Heart – (3 green); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Creation/39.aspx
The image on Creation is that of the early world. Perhaps it is the quasi-roundness of the image which gives it an oddly goldfish-bowl appearance, as though the tree were a bonsai, and creatures and landscape were miniatures, even the great whale. It feels, in short, like a God’s-eye view of Creation. (Non-believers may object that Creation is a loaded word. There may be some justice in this, but it hardly does away with the fact that life and the world as we know it have certainly come out of – what? At Rainring we are studying the psyche. The ability to create, the existence of both creation and The Creation are part of that; the theology we leave to others.)
The card in fact, like all the others, uses Form to present the energy of Creation in a form accessible to sense perception – sight in this case. Creation itself represents a harmony and fusion of the two elemental forces – the first two fundamental archetypes, conception and desire. Creation contains, like all Heart group cards, elements of balancing. Creation takes place when a sufficient degree of harmony has been achieved between the two polarities of Spirit and Will, exactly in the same way as a human child can be conceived when an appropriate level of contact between male and female has been established. You can’t make children across cyberspace!
In this reading, Creation appears in Spirit position. This is an unusual reading in having a fundamental archetype at three of the four cardinal points. Creation in spirit is simpler to interpret than any of the other cards so far. It refers to Paula, at this time in her life, using her mental abilities in a creative manner in her life. The expectation would be either that this would refer to her career, or just possibly it might refer to a major hobby or interest outside of work. However, as it is the card chosen by the pack to represent her spirit aspect, it indicates the dominant activity in this area of her psyche, not some secondary preoccupation or interest.
Interpreting Formation
Spread position: North-West
Aspect: Communication
Card: Formation
Grid position: group: Form (4 orange); set: process archetypes (9)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Formation/76.aspx
The image on Formation is that of an older man pointing out some feature of animal tracks to a younger man. The older man’s body paint suggests that he belongs to a tribal culture and so represents attunement with the Earth and physical reality.
Formation belongs to the orange group and is the stage in psychic process (set 9 is that of the process archetypes) which is most specifically associated with physical results – manufacture, resolving practical problems, visible and tangible development. It is also the stage which corresponds to study and learning, especially any kind of practical training.
This card appears in the Communication position or aspect of the spread. The general meaning would therefore be either the production of tangible results, or development of skill or knowledge (or all of these), through communicative activity, or in a context (one would assume work) in which communication is an integral part of what takes place. However, if the card refers to intimate relations, rather than professional life, it suggests an apprenticeship in communication with one’s partner, which may relate to what we refer to as a ‘steep learning curve’ – in other words, another possible contributor to pain. We will look at this in more detail at the end.
Interpreting Attraction
Spread position: South-East
Aspect: Conjugation
Card: Attraction
Grid position: group: Will (2 red); set: love ways ( 
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Attraction/65.aspx
The image shows a young man and woman facing each other. They have both hands joined and are looking into each other’s eyes. Behind them is a fortune teller’s booth and there are also some small formal trees in a neat spiral shape, perhaps produced by topiary.
The red or Will group - the female pole - is closely related both with emotion and sexuality, though it can also refer to survival, as red is the root chakra. Set 8, love ways, chronicles aspects of the relationship between man and woman, though its application is not limited to heterosexual relations, as all partnerships, whether straight or gay, involve male-female polarisation. It must be stressed at once, however, that the cards of this set by no means refer automatically to the physical or external encounter of male and female. In fact, they can also refer to inner, psychic events. Broadly speaking, we can say that the outer circumstances of our lives stand in a mirror-image relation to the inner ones. For example, I am attracted to a certain kind of partner because this person embodies those elements of Spirit or Will – male or female-side energy – that are lacking in myself. This actually means that a card such as attraction, if it refers to being drawn to an individual of the opposite sex/polarity, will also mean an inner state which corresponds to that – a female-sided individual drawn towards Spirit, or a male-sided individual towards Will.
Here, we have attraction in conjugation position or aspect, and this is the aspect which involves male-female issues – again inner or outer. The strong chances are that attraction in conjugation position for a young woman like Paula, allied to the card Pain at centre, is going to refer primarily to an external relationship. As always, however, the reader will want to get feedback on this, and not jump to premature conclusions.
Interpreting Beauty
Spread position: North-East
Aspect: Quest-ion? (goals)
Card: Beauty
Grid position: group: Conjugation (8 magenta); set: art and life (7)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Beauty/62.aspx
The image is of a wooden rowing boat apparently moored under one or possibly two cherry trees in bloom. Pink blossom is falling from the trees into both the boat and the water. There is no sign of any people in the picture.
In the view of Rainring, the artist’s fundamental motivation is to communicate. Set 7, whose theme is art and life, has been designed around the artist because we see him/her as the embodiment of the energy of communication – that which animates the blue group 7 and similarly the corresponding set 7.
This means that the card beauty has a rather special meaning in Rainring. It refers, in effect, to successful communication, by balancing the male and female energies. These may be those embodied in a work of art, such as a sculpture, novel or piece of music, but they may also be in speech, or indeed in life itself. Perhaps the greatest of all art forms is the art of living, in which the artist does not produce anything as such, but incarnates an ability to live beautifully – that is, with an ideal balance of Sprit and Will, male and female. However, the card Beauty, being from set 7, would still focus particularly on this ability being expressed in a communicative context.
Balancing male and female in communication might strike the reader as quite a lofty goal for a young woman. I have certainly not seen anything similar. However, it is probably relevant to mention that we established Paula’s personal type as The Maid. The Maid belongs to the same magenta group as Beauty and the implication is that women (typically, this is a female prototype) who have this type will be driven by their nature to try to bring the male and female poles together. By having magenta in their energy, they have red and violet mixed in more or less equal proportions.
So, I would present these considerations to Paula and ask if she can identify with them and if so, flesh them out into more specific details regarding her goals.
Interpreting Input
Spread position: South-West
Aspect: Self
Card: Input
Grid position: group: Unconscious (5, indigo); set: process archetypes (9)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Input/77.aspx
Input shows a young woman kneeling on a frozen lake beside a sleigh. There is a snowbound landscape with, on the sleigh, an older woman. The latter is wearing only a flimsy garment: she does not feel the cold because she is not present in her physical form – she is holding out a box towards the young woman, and light appears to radiate from this box. It brings to mind the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box.
Input is the fifth stage in the cycle of the process archetypes. It is the stage which corresponds to the Unconscious. It contrasts with Formation, because the latter is the stage which involves most particularly material development, visible and tangible effort, work and results. Input corresponds to the moment at which this forward momentum, driven by the left brain characteristics of reason, logic, planning and calculation break down. For any further development to take place, inspiration is needed. This means accessing the unconscious – bringing right-brain functioning into play. This new input could be either from inner search, or a flash of insight which shows the way to apply a previously unthought of external remedy or resource.
In Paula’s reading, this card falls in Self position. It implies that she is in a stage in her life where she is developing her psyche through access to the Unconscious. The card does not itself tell us whether this access comes about through inner search, or from some external source, such as reading, attending classes of some kind, the influence of art and so on. Her interest in Rainring certainly chimes with this card. The reader would want to ask her for some further clarification here. This card would tend to mitigate the possible negatives associated with Raindance.
Interpreting Pain
Spread position: Centre
Aspect: (Heart) Summarising
Card: Pain
Grid position: group: Communication (7 blue); set: love ways (
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Pain/70.aspx
The image is organised differently to that of all the other cards in the grid. There is not a single image filling the square and facing all in the same direction, as with all the other grid cards. This image is split equally into two: the half facing the querant shows a young man and woman obviously angry and upset, because they are in the middle of a violent quarrel. This is Pain. The part of the image facing away from the viewer is that of two snow-leopard cubs play-fighting. In the original hard copy of the cards, this card is referred to as Pain/Twainsong. It refers to the nature of the interaction of the couple, where their pursuit of the goal of union will bring a kaleidoscope of emotional experiences, ranging from moments of estrangement, antagonism and emotional pain to others of harmony, mutual delight, fun and a sense of being two-in-one – Twainsong.
The central card in this 9-card octagon reading normally summarises the spread. It is what we call the heart aspect, but here we usually take it to refer to the ‘heart of the matter’, rather than to the vibration in the heart chakra as such. However, these two interpretations are not mutually exclusive, merely involve a difference in emphasis.
Since we were reading with the reversal facility available, we should take the meaning here to be Pain. To access Twainsong, the Unconscious would have used Pain reversed. (I mean, Paula would have felt an impulse to reverse the central card while it was still face down.) In Rainring, Pain usually refers to emotional pain. I have had not encountered it in relation to physical pain, though I assume that it would read this too, as physical pain itself can be expected to induce emotional distress.
The appearance of this card is unexpected – one of those surprises that the cards throw up periodically. According to my initial impressions, there did not seem on the face of it to be any very obvious reason why Pain should appear as the summary card, since none of the others showed any clear signs of indicating personal problems, unless this might be connected Attraction in conjugation. At this point, I asked my partner Hacina to have a look at the reading. (She has met Paula only on one occasion). It was she who pointed out the possibility of Raindance as being a bit lost; Formation in communication as perhaps relating to a relationship, and Inhibition reversed – as I had felt also – as implying a going against one’s nature.
Let’s return to Pain for a moment. Pain refers to the inevitable friction which occurs in a dynamic relationship which has not slipped into a groove of endless repetition based on unspoken mutual adjustments. To experience pain is to go through the normal process consequent upon opening up, letting oneself be vulnerable to another human being. In other words, there is nothing pathological involved here. Attraction is a Will card, meaning that it highlights that stage in a relationship when things are very emotional, which is certainly one of the stages most likely to be associated with pain. The provisional interpretation, therefore, would be of Paula’s current psychic landscape as being predominantly affected by a relationship which was making her feel quite exposed emotionally. Nonetheless, the numerous strong cards in the spread suggest an abundance of inner resources with which to deal with this. If indeed a relationship is involved, exploration in this area would ad greatly to Paula’s understanding of her present life situation, and could be suggested to her as the subject of a subsequent reading.
At this stage (and indeed before going so far into such speculations) I would want to get feedback from the querant.
It is time we heard from Paula on all these cards!
(The feedback from Paula needed to complete this reading now follows 
The Reading: B Paula’s feedback
Interpreting Raindance. Spread position: North
Aspect: Unconscious
Card: Raindance
Grid position: group: Question (9 grey/brown); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Raindance/45.aspx
The subject of the Unconscious has been something that I have become more and more aware of over the years. Initially I found the sheer scope of its unending possibilities very daunting and almost painful to think about. Overtime I have begun to understand more and feel more comfortable with the possibilities of the Unconscious and my abilities to re-connect to my natural energy state. I have recently been through some tragic circumstances and during my recuperation period happened upon a book that jumps with both feet into the Unconscious. I am reading this book at the moment and it’s like reading material you always knew to be true, in your heart, but which you’ve never seen organised in print before, clearly rational and making complete sense. It has been a real revelation and one that has given me a clearer perspective on life and death and the purpose of the positive and negative experiences we all go through.
Interpreting inhibition
Spread position: South
Aspect: consciousness, daily life, practical matters
Card: Inhibition (reversed)
Grid position: group: Communication (7, Blue); set: introvert imbalance (1)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Inhibition/7.aspx
I found this card to be amazingly insightful as, the day before the Reading, I had been discussing the issue of public presentations and speaking in meetings with my business partner. I have never enjoyed public speaking (I think for fear that what I say won’t make sense, or that people won’t react well to me) but it is becoming more a part of my business and therefore important that I at least try. My business partner has basically told me to pull myself together and after I’ve spoken up in a meeting a couple of times I won’t find it difficult anymore. The simple fact remains that I just don’t enjoy it. I am generally confident and am able to interact very well in 1-2-1 or small group situations, but I absolutely dread standing up in front of people I don’t know and having to address them. I have also suffered a knock to my confidence recently and this has heightened my unhappiness at standing up in front of strangers. I like to camouflage myself so that I never have to be in the limelight. This is my natural state and I have always been this way – at the moment I am being forced out of my natural state at a time when it’s absolutely the last thing I want to even think about.
Interpreting Form
Spread position: West
Aspect: Will - female pole: emotion
Card: Form
Grid position: group: Form (4 orange); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Form/40.aspx
The meaning of this card in this position couldn’t describe my emotional state any better at this time. I keep my emotions in check because it benefits me to do so and helps with the running of my life in the material/physical world. Three months ago I gave birth to my first child, a girl, but tragically she died. The pain (physical, emotional and mental) was almost overwhelming and I had to become very disciplined with my emotions so that I could begin getting my life back in order and to start to move forward. I took some weeks out after the birth to properly grieve and therefore the interpretation of the card is absolutely right when it suggests that my ordered feelings are not in fact suppressed. It is necessary for me to manage my feelings because I have responsibilities to uphold (to my husband, my business partners, my family) and I cannot allow my emotions to let me sink into any form of depression. Right now I feel that I need to channel my energies into work and solid, material projects so that I have a strong focus at this time. I know that time takes care of all things eventually, and that I won’t feel this way forever, but at the moment it is very beneficial for me to concentrate on keeping myself grounded.
Interpreting Creation
Spread position: East
Aspect: Spirit - male pole: reason, discernment, perception etc
Card: Creation
Grid position: group: Heart – (3 green); set: fundamental archetypes (5)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Creation/39.aspx
I feel the meaning of this card follows on from the previous card and further highlights that I am focusing on creating in the material sense a) because it gives me a definite focus at this time and b) because what is better that combining will and desire and creating? I am ambitious and entrepreneurial and find great satisfaction and happiness in creating businesses and generating money. We all need to live in the physical world and therefore we need to make money and assets and bits and pieces to protect us and enable us to live well. These things are not in themselves the goals that I am seeking: one day I want to be able to indulge my spirit to create and be free! (Unfortunately to get to this point I need to take care of my material concerns first and that is what I’m working on at the present time).
Interpreting Formation
Spread position: North-West
Aspect: Communication
Card: Formation
Grid position: group: Form (4 orange); set: process archetypes (9)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Formation/76.aspx
Communication is at the heart of my business, as is training and learning. I really like this card in this position because my business development is due to the effort I put into learning, studying and applying the tools I need. As there are three business partners communication is very important – especially at this time, due to the third partner joining only four months ago and us being in a state of transition and development. The balance has shifted and any form of change needs to be managed and needs to have open lines of communication. At the moment I feel the success or failure of our business is down to the level of communication between us.
Interpreting Attraction
Spread position: South-East
Aspect: Conjugation
Card: Attraction
Grid position: group: Will (2 red); set: love ways (
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Attraction/65.aspx
To me this card simply shows that the bond between my husband and me is stronger and more powerful than ever before. We have been on such a painful journey, which many people find actually destroys the relationship between mother and father. Fortunately for us we find in each other what is weak or lacking in ourselves and have created a strong and loyal union.
Interpreting Beauty
Spread position: North-East
Aspect: Quest-ion? (goals)
Card: Beauty
Grid position: group: Conjugation (8 magenta); set: art and life (7)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Beauty/62.aspx
If I develop the basic ideas I have already shared (in Creation, above) my ultimate goal in life is to live in complete emotional, mental and physical balance and harmony. This may or may not be achievable but I am willing to try! I have always felt a mixture of both male and female energies and have been able to access both ‘worlds’ in an everyday life sense, which has been both fun and exciting. I don’t think about myself as either male or female to be honest: I often don’t understand why I can’t do something that typically belongs to a man’s world, such as building or boxing. I normally just go ahead and do what I want, regardless of stereotypes.
Ultimately I would love to live apart from the material concerns of daily life and spend my time learning, reading books, researching topics of interest and generally absorbing as much information as I can.
Perhaps then this card and the Inhibition card in my Communication Aspect is suggesting that I take this personal and rather introverted goal forward, and rather than just eating up all the information and knowledge for myself, I should in fact learn how to communicate and share this with others, helping other people find balance and harmony.
Interpreting Input
Spread position: South-West
Aspect: Self
Card: Input
Grid position: group: Unconscious (5, indigo); set: process archetypes (9)
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Input/77.aspx
I feel very much so that I’m developing my psyche through access to the Unconscious and my current life experiences are leading me to explore this area. This is coming about because of both my inner search and need to find meaning in life and death and existence, as well as due to my external reading and research. There comes a point in life when you openly ask the question ‘What does it all mean?’ Rather than having this as something that niggled away at me from the corners of my memory I am now using the question to fuel my creativity. After having been through the death of my child I now feel that I no longer want to waste time: I want to concentrate on what is truly important to me in my life. I have opened myself up to being inspired by the Unconscious.
Interpreting Pain
Spread position: Centre
Aspect: (Heart) Summarising
Card: Pain
Grid position: group: Communication (7 blue); set: love ways (
http://www.rainringcards.com/Cards/Pain/70.aspx
As you are now aware of what happened to me three months ago I think the card speaks for itself. Peter and Hacina were not aware of the death of my child, or even of me being pregnant as I hadn’t seen Peter for over 8 months and hadn’t told him about my pregnancy. I think the observations about this card in this position are correct and that to experience pain is to go through opening up, letting oneself be vulnerable to another human being. I gave myself to my child for nine months and relied heavily on my husband for support, something that I had never had to do before. The pain I now feel at her loss is obviously at the centre of my heart and I am dealing with both emotional pain and some physical pain (as by body still thinks I have a baby and has not yet returned to normal). I am also dealing with psychological pain and the unending questions I ask myself – ‘What could I have done differently?’ and simply ‘Why?’
I have, however, been able to find some peace from my explorations into the Unconscious and trying to define the struggle of life and death, what they mean in the grand scheme of things. This has quietened my questions and has allowed me to continue with my life and move forward with positivity.
Overall I really appreciated the Reading – I thought it was very relevant and helped make clear to me my current psychological state. Having this mapped out clearly for me helps me to re-align myself to what I want to achieve in life and to see if I am veering off track in any way. From this reading I know that I am strong, doing well and am progressing as I want to.
(Footnote: I have not edited the above in any way – it is Paula’s writing as sent to me. As Paula says, Hacina and I had absolutely no knowledge of such momentous events having taken place in her life. I am moved and impressed by this feedback from her, and her willingness to share with such candour. Through this text, what was in some ways a puzzling and unsatisfying reading is fleshed out into a moving and integrated portrait of a critical moment in a young woman’s life. It seems to me that this reading provides a template for sound, effective work with Rainring: it is a co-operative process in which both reader and querant are enriched by their mutual exploration of the mysteries of the psyche. 23/11/07)
