The “Game of Fate” Multi-Track Answer Tableau
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here I’m taking my four-card “window” premise with its inner and outer dynamic flow and turning it into a divinatory board game that can be used to decide between two or more choices with unknown potential. In this example I’m using two tokens (Chinese coins) to represent the “players” (who may in fact only be the reader posing multiple options). Two six-sided dice are also needed to move the tokens around the board toward the center “quad” where the answer lies. This has similarities to the Game of Hope but is much simpler, with a different objective.
The first step is to lay out the 36 cards in a 6×6 grid that presents a centripetal spiral (moving from the outside to the center) starting at the top left (Rider). In the layout the “core quad” of the base array will always be the Key, the Fish, the Anchor and the Cross (echoing the “house” positions of the “summary” or “fate” row of the 8×4+4 Grand Tableau). The “portal” cards that grant access to the “quad” will always be the Moon, the Ring, the Book and the Sun. These “portal” cards do not figure into the final reading, they just point the way when a token lands on them. I decided to keep this fairly straightforward, with only a couple of shortcuts and no setbacks, since the sole purpose of the journey is to see who reaches the destination first. With the chance of rolling a “12” on every throw, obtaining the answer should not take more than a handful of turns.
The next step is to take a second deck (ideally of the same dimensions), shuffle it and lay four cards face-down on top of the center quartet. These “covering” cards can be placed in any order. (Set the rest of that deck aside undisturbed in case you have to pull another card as described below.)
Play proceeds with the “players” alternately rolling the dice and traveling around the course beginning at the Rider and moving in numerical order, navigating the perimeter of the “outer dynamic” and passing on into the “inner dynamic” loop at the Mountain (21).
A player who rolls “snake-eyes” (two one-spots) on the first roll lands on the Clover and immediately jumps to the Mountain, gaining a big lead. A player who rolls “boxcars” (two six-spots) on the first roll lands on the Birds and instantly “flits over” to the Letter, gaining an even bigger lead. This only applies on the initial roll.
Play continues until a token lands on one of the “portal” cards (25, 26, 31 or 32), at which time that token enters the quad at the adjacent “base” card and the answer is read, as follows:
The face-down card on top of the base card is turned over, followed by the other three cards of the “quad” in clockwise order. These five cards are laid out in a line spread from left to right with the base card first.
The Key as lead card will always confirm the testimony of the rest of the cards (i.e. “This is the Way”), regardless of the positive or negative polarity of its companions. The Fish as lead card will either amplify the subsequent evidence for “good” or exaggerate it for “ill” according to the nature of the following cards. The Anchor as lead card will show a solid basis for hope if the accompanying cards are favorable, or instability and uncertainty if they aren’t. The Cross as lead card indicates that the scenario described by the balance of the cards will amount to a greater or lesser hardship (but always some kind of burden) as defined by their relative severity. (Note that the polarities of these cards according to author Andy Boroveshengra are: Key and Fish are positive, Anchor is neutral but leans positive and Cross is extremely negative, creating a reasonable spectrum of harmony and discord when we consider that the Key can be impartial in its endorsement.)
The base card becomes the first card in the narrative and the rest of the cards complete the story. Here is an example outcome, in which landing on the Moon sent the token to the Key with the Cross as its “covering” card. I might read it as “An offer of help (Bouquet) with a heavy load (Cross + Anchor) could help relieve some of its adverse consequences (Tree) and should be accepted (Key).”
If any participant rolls a number that takes its token beyond 32 (the Moon), that participant must finish out the roll by beginning a second “inner dynamic” circuit at the Mountain and retracing its steps to try again. A second failure to finish could be construed as disqualifying that option, taking it out of the running.
Once a contender has “cashed in” at the center of the array, there are two choices for closure: 1) stop play and consider that to be the final answer, or 2) continue with the second token until it too reaches the center, providing an alternate forecast for that opportunity; in the latter case the reader must decide which of the two results is the most advantageous. If you choose to keep going, deal four new face-down cards into the “quad” positions from the second deck before proceeding. In order to level the playing field, it would be advisable to put the initial four back into the deck and reshuffle before laying the new cards. Once again after dealing, set the deck aside undisturbed in case you have to pull a replacement card as described below.
There are two possible variations that require mention. The first one involves the base card from the original layout also appearing as part of the face-down quartet from the second deck, thus doubling its presence in the reading; if that happens, remove the subsequent instance and replace it with the top card from that deck without reshuffling. The other situation envisions the runner-up token landing on the same “portal” card as the winning token; this is acceptable as long as you have pulled four more “answer” cards to receive it.
Another random thought is that, because I’ve loosely equated the “base” cards to the “fate” line of the Grand Tableau, it might be reasonable to place them as the “focus” card at the center of any five-card string and read the other four as qualifiers. But I doubt I’ll pursue that since I like them as “triggers” and not as “significators” in their own right. Feel free to experiment if you like.
The decks used in this layout are the Grand Tableau Lenormand by Lo Scarabeo (main display) and the Blaue Eule Lenormand by Konigsfurt Urania (“covering” cards).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on September 29, 2023.
