Directory: set 3, cards 19-27
Directory of Meanings
Set 3: Balance
NOTES
1) Sets 1 and 2 were concerned with the psychological situation at the two poles of extroversion and introversion. Whether or not imbalance was involved, these cards dealt with the ends of the spectrum of behaviour, not the middle. Set 3 deals with the centre, with the balance position. No unbalanced mentions apply here.
2) Each card of set 3 must therefore be considered in relation to the two polar cards of the same group: In Spirit, Clarity is the balance between Deflation and Inflation; in Will, Passion is the balance between Control and Abandon, and so on for all the set 3 cards.
19. Clarity: Group – Spirit (1 violet/purple)
The image
We have a jungle scene predominantly in deep blue and pink – the colours on each side of violet. The scene is dominated by a blue tiger, seen from below, silhouetted in profile against the skyline. The blurred or indistinct vision typical of the depths of the jungle is superceded, thanks to an instance of the play of light, by a magical moment of clarity.
The meaning
Clarity: quality of spirit which apprehends without partiality or bias; seeing situations, relationships, others and oneself without the distortion of deflation or inflation
A General
Clarity is a quality of spirit, and represents the mid-point between inflation and deflation. In relation to yourself, it means having an accurate self-image, exaggerating neither your strengths nor weaknesses. Nevertheless, Clarity is affected by the imbalances involved in Spirit, so that it has a shadow side. It can be both a friend and an enemy. Just as the tiger is full of power and majesty, so Clarity – with its beautiful and authoritative force – can become a predator.
B Specific
At this time, you have a realistic view of who you are. You have been able to step back from the hurly-burly of daily life to take a dispassionate look at your situation. Clarity comes out of deflation, for you cannot avoid the hubris of over-estimating yourself unless you have first been humbled and brought low. After struggling up from that deep valley, you are now like someone surveying a landscape from a high place, benefiting from a panoramic perspective. Thus you demonstrate one of the attributes of wisdom, for how can one act wisely without ever being able to achieve a clear view of what is needed? With Clarity, you are in a position to make sound judgments of the appropriate action to take. You have the desire to use clarity to support beneficial communication.
But there is a price to pay. In Deflation, you had a somewhat hysterical, self-absorbed feeling of the enormity of your worthlessness. In Clarity, this gives way to the sober realisation of how small you are in the vast perspective of existence – and therein lies a danger, for this can all too easily incapacitate you in the struggle to complete your own fragment of the great mosaic of destiny. Clarity, amid the fog of illusion on every side, can make it difficult for you to communicate with others with the normal give and take of Interchange. Clarity includes an awareness which comes from your contact with the Unconscious, and your relationships will inevitably reflect that. There is something metallic about Clarity – it is hard and bright: you will not, for example, be able to get it to function alongside the warm, nurturing, and forgiving quality of the Matriarch. Clarity has the invasiveness of a knife, which means that, in your communication with others, you can use it both to heal and to hurt.
Divination summary
Accurate assessment of your own capabilities and performance; clear, unbiased view of situations and events; acute awareness often used invasively; difficulties in relationships with others less insightful; sense of deflation caused by sober evaluation of insignificance of single individual on global scale; clear seeing in relationship due to contact with Unconscious; sense of power and intensity; using insight for beneficial communication.
20. Passion: Group – Will (2 red)
The image
The scene is the interior of an old-fashioned gypsy caravan, where we see a young man and woman engaging in good-natured horse-play. He is chasing his sweetheart across the bed, while she defends herself with a pillow. They are both laughing and happy. The predominant red tones of the image, together with the behaviour and demeanour of the participants, make clear that their intensions are sexual.
The meaning
Passion:
emotional vitality in pursuit of what one wants; gusto; balance between control and abandon
A General
Passion is a quality of will, representing the mid-point between control and abandon, and its central component is emotional intensity. In control, the emotion is inhibited; in abandon, it has become ungovernable. In Passion, it flows freely, yet does not become a flood that overwhelms you.
B Specific
At present, you have Passion in your life. Passion is like a vehicle driven by the most powerful engine in existence – desire. With it you can move mountains i.e. have a huge impact on people and situations. Because you are experiencing a free flow of emotion, this is not in danger of backing up and then needing a sudden uncontrollable release, as with abandon. With Passion you have energy, drive, enthusiasm and enjoyment – for love, sex, friendship, work, play, studies… Passion can take you in any direction you desire.
With Passion, you are able to draw on the resources of the unconscious, and your qualities of soul flow out into action. You have an inner intensity, for Passion acts on the spirit, driving you forward to explore and invent, out of sheer zest for life. Passion gives you a good relationship with the physical – your body and the world. In relationship, you are well centred, and this creates the essential pre-condition for excellent communication with others: you are forceful, exuberant, full of enthusiasm and optimism. You have the capacity to throw yourself into situations and relationships with gusto, free of undue hesitations and anxieties.
Passion also has limitations. First, you will find it difficult to sustain that intensity over a long period; second, you may have difficulty choosing a worthwhile focus. Just as Passion can add warmth and colour to Clarity, so Clarity can underpin Passion with a focussed and sustained purpose. Finally, Passion is the quality of the lover in that old antipathy of wife versus mistress. The Matriarch represents responsibility, duty, the sustained nurture of others, whereas the Wanton, the woman of Passion, just wants to enjoy! This dichotomy exists also in the male psyche, with the dangerous and exciting sexual predator on one side and the good, solid and dependable but dull husband and father on the other.
Divination summary
balance between control & abandon; energy, zest for life, gusto, intensity; gaiety, fun, enjoyment; invention, enthusiasm, dynamism; openness, self-integration, beauty in communication; ease with own body and world, physical well-being; tendency to burn out, problem sustaining momentum and focus; irresponsibility, lack of mothering qualities.
21. Relation: Group – Heart (3 green)
The Image
A heavy-set man sits on some steps outside an old-fashioned gypsy caravan, with green hills in the background. Beside him, linking arms, is a small boy. The man rests his left hand on the shoulder of a male companion, who stands next to, and partly turned towards him. This companion has his hands in his pockets, and wears the type of headscarf, knotted at the nape of the neck, commonly associated with gypsies. The relaxed body language of both men, together with the presence of the small boy, suggests friendship.
The meaning
Relation: right relation with others, with no compulsion either to withdraw or invade; ability in the art of friendship; soundness of heart
A General
The balancer for Withdrawal and Invasion is Relation. Relation belongs to the Heart group, so is concerned with warmth, affection and friendship. It can be thought of as a way of being with others which avoids the extremes of both withdrawal and invasion. It is the art of being close to people, but in a way whose expression is not sexual.
B Specific
With the card Relation, you demonstrate an ability to show warmth and affection in a way which springs from a sensitive attunement to the feelings of another and does not involve any unwanted and excessive incursion into their space. Equally, Relation has no element of retreat – it implies that you are there for the other person; that they can count on you when they need you, as you can upon them.
Relation involves you in warmth, tenderness and closeness without any sexual content. Your communication here is more based on resonance, which we could think of as a non-sexual chemistry. This absence of any sexual element in your closeness will be due to one of three possibilities: 1) between you and the other there is no sexual chemistry; 2) no sexual energy is present, for example because you or the other are ill; 3) repression. Relation involves you in some kind of joyful inner awakening, but one in which control plays a major role. You find both play of love (conjugation) and pain present, with sensuality in moderation describing their combined effect on you. In other words, the cards strongly indicate that you have elements of repression[1] present in the psychific state we call Relation.
The overall impression is that of Relation in part at least as a half-way house: a form of relationship which has not yet become sexual, or which would be sexual if control of emotions was not involved. The illustration on the card seems to suggest friendship between two heterosexual men, pointing out that the obvious major category of non-sexual relationships is that where, for reasons of gender orientation, the two individuals concerned are not sexually attracted to each other. However, a second explanation is logically possible: that we are all bisexual, but nearly all of us repress elements of our sexuality.
This card also means that you express honestly, both about yourself and about your friend. You would find genuine closeness impossible if you or your friend were practicing self-concealment, or were able only to be ‘nice’ to each other.
On the other hand, a judgemental attitude also undermines friendship. Tolerance, even active enjoyment of difference is a necessary part of your ability to make friends. The card Relationship will also be present when you and one or more friends pursue a common hobby or interest.
Presumably, you can’t sleep with everyone! So Relation will occur in every circumstance in which, for whatever one of many reasons, there is closeness between you and another, but sexual expression is not included.
Divination summary
non-sexual closeness in relationship; friendship, warmth, good-heartedness; relationship based on shared interests or activities; possible repression of sexual feelings towards another, or by another; non-judgemental attitude, tolerance; honesty and straightforwardness in relationship; joyful and affectionate contact
22. Action: Group – Form (4 orange)
The image
The image is of a semi-desert scene at sunrise. In the foreground, a Tuareg nomad is attacking a shrub with an axe, whilst in the background we see a goat-hair tent in front of which a small fire burns. Although we do not see the man’s expression clearly, his body language clearly suggests that he is very much focussed on the task in hand.
The meaning
Action: physical vitality; energy balance: both activation and rest as and when appropriate
A General
Action belongs to the Form group, which is that of closeness to, and harmony with the physical world. It is the balancer for torpor and hyper-activity, so it refers to a right relation to one’s body, in the sense of correct handling of one’s physical energy. This also implies freedom from whatever forms of neurosis produce either excessive sluggishness on one side or metabolic over-activation on the other. In a wider sense, action is good use of the intelligence of the body.
B Specific
As with Oeuvre, in dealing with Action, the emphasis must be on its practical nature: your preliminaries – ideas, emotions, plans, discussions… – are over; now is the time when things happen. No matter how thorough your preparation, there is can always be doubt as to whether you are ready. At this point, you put doubt aside and you trust that things will turn out satisfactorily. In any case, the unexpected is part of life – between you and the completion of your course of action, things can always happen which you have not predicted; problems may arise which require a spontaneous, unprepared response. Action liberates you, because once you have thrown yourself into it, you are carried along by the momentum of it, putting aside the cares and worries which you may have in other areas of your life.
You are in a position of good balance with regard to your use of physical energy. Whether this involves a rather slow, sedate form of action, or one of high energy and vigour, what you are doing is appropriate to the circumstances. Equally, in balanced action, you are aware – you know what you are doing and why. Your actions are not being driven by unconscious impulses. You do not wash your hands again for the twentieth time, even though they are not dirty: you are not ‘acting out’, but acting. Action implies an unrestricted flow of energy: if you keep putting off making that appointment with the dentist, there is no Action. Finally, Action in the best sense is well-directed and effective – after you repair the car, it runs again; the map you buy is the one you need for your journey.
Action exposes you: you come out of yourself and you make your presence felt in the world – in other words, action is a form of communication, a way in which you tell others about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. To watch someone at work is to learn who they are. Action involves a special form of relationship – the shared activity creates a bond between you and your colleagues which has its own particular character and strength. Your work colleagues are probably a major factor in your life. Action brings its own particular challenges, opportunities for you to grow as a person. It demands a certain kind of focus and discipline, requires virtues of application and steadiness; it cannot function effectively in an atmosphere of drama and panic. Finally, it offers you upon completion of the task a type of satisfaction, a reward which merely thinking about something could never do
Divination meanings
good relationship with your body; appropriate activity; end of plans, preparations etc; throwing yourself in at the deep end; readiness to face the unexpected; relationships based on shared doing; communicating who you are through what you do and how you do it; steady focus, absence of atmosphere of drama or panic; effective and well-directed activity; using the intelligence of the body.
23. Soul: Group – Unconscious (5 indigo)
The Image
The image of Soul is that of a vortex, deeper blue at the centre, changing as it rises and expands to include lighter blues, blue-green, lime green and so on. Associated with this vortex, whether wrapped within it or curled up on its margins, are a number of figures which are clearly human, though they have no features – perhaps because we do not want to emphasise their particularity as individuals. One figure only is more identifiable – an adult female, one of whose hands cups her breast.
The meaning
Soul: balanced relation to one’s unconscious; psychic openness, but with adequate control; action from, or being within, one’s deepest nature or self
A General
Soul is the mid-point between Obsession and Possession, and represents right relationship with the Unconscious, implying a balance between the self and what is beyond the self. This involves an ability to integrate conscious and unconscious, so that there is not a great inner divide and consequent war within the personality.
B Specific
The inner aspect of Soul refers to you being centred – not at the ego level, but in broader terms. Whereas the tendency of self is to fight intrusion as potentially destabilising, in Soul you handle the Unconscious not by trying to close yourself against it, but by incorporating whatever is appropriate as you go along, hence enabling your self to grow and change. You are open to receiving what the Unconscious brings you, rather than obsessively trying to impose your own agenda upon it; your concern always being to integrate unconscious contents. In this way, you are not swept off balance by the force of this material. Again, rather than becoming too greedy or inflated, you will be consciously limiting yourself to the amount that you can handle. You are not, for example, using drugs as a short cut to unconscious material, which would risk flooding you with unconscious contents, with consequent mental health problems.
In the outer world, you are not in an introspective mode. In Soul you do not go in search of the Unconscious, you simply allow it to work on you with its own rhythm and amplitude. Soul implies balance also in both self and relationships. With regard to the former, to be heavily involved in the ambitious drive to achieve will block access to the Unconscious. Soul has a here-and-now quality: if you are looking to the future, asking yourself all the time what the legacy of your actions will be, you cannot act with Soul. In relationship also you want to have a good balance – neither excessive sociability, nor a surfeit of personal isolation.
The card Soul may reflect your contact either with universal material, or with buried material from your own past. The distinction is only partial, because we all share so much of the psyche in any case. To know yourself is to know the world. To ‘have soul’ or be in touch with Soul means that the scope of your actions is broader than that of narrow self-interest, that your desires are deeper than the shallow ones of sensory gratification. In Soul also there is great empathy, for if you not only see but truly feel the pain of the world, how can you not also hurt? Soul is a quality or attribute of yours that communicates itself to others. It has a healing and integrating function, working against extremes and disequilibrium in the psyche. Soul is thus a highly positive card, making clear that you have both depth and breadth, and are not merely acting superficially or parochially.
Divination summary
being in touch with your unconscious; right relation with the Unconscious; absence of inner splits; integration of conscious and unconscious aspects of your psyche; self-awareness; empathy; sensitivity to others; absence of ambition or self-promotion; good relationship balance; auspicious psychological balance
24. Radiance: Group – Self (6 yellow)
The image
It is summer. A blonde woman, wearing a green dress and white apron, stands looking out from a high place towards wheat fields, with hills beyond. She has one arm round a tree trunk and the other holds a large sunflower. Nearby, a baby lies naked on a blanket in the sun.
The meaning
Radiance: the balance of one’s self-vibration in interaction with others – radiance cannot be bent to the will of another; neither seeks power and control for self over others
A General
Radiance is the balancer for Submission and Domination, which means that it involves the proper use of one’s self-vibration. Radiance is the attribute of the strong personality which does not seek to dominate. It requires and therefore demonstrates a high degree of self-assurance.
B Specific
You are involved with others, relationships are important to you and you assert yourself, but not in a way which tends to override the will or freedom of others. Your strength of character is likely to be felt and admired, but you are exercising it for yourself, not to gain control over others. There is a joyful quality about Radiance and people are drawn to you. Radiance is based on being centred, knowing who you are and where you stand. It is not that you are throwing your energy into trying to make contact with others; on the contrary, it is your relationship with yourself in the first instance which makes you attractive. For just as most people love the warmth of the sun, so Radiance draws most people to it. Your vibration also includes an element of drama and excitement, capable of having a destabilising effect.
Radiance is about shining, and if you want to be a sunflower, the first requirement is to have your place in the sun!
People tend to divide into the strong and the weak, with the former intent on taking away from the latter their living space, their freedom…and the weak conceding it. There is an urgent need for Radiance – for those who fight their own corner, are a push-over for nobody, yet have no inclination to lord it over anyone either. Radiance also has an association with creativity. Children often exhibit it, and this is connected to the freedom they have to express themselves in a completely unconventional manner. Radiance, like Soul, comes out of the still centre of being.
Radiance is not something which you can produce at will, it is something that happens. It comes out of contact with the Unconscious, and the enrichment you receive from such contact. Finally, Radiance leaves a mark on those who come into contact with it, a legacy of warm feelings.
Divination summary
radiance, self-assurance, personal strength of character but without domination; warmth, joyfulness, self-expression; individuality, unconventionality, originality, centredness; sense of wonder; co-operative ability in relationship.
25. Interchange: Group – Communication (7 blue)
The image
A group, or possibly a family of musicians are playing together in the open air. The middle ground is dominated by a man and a boy, both playing drums. They are looking and listening, each responding to what the other is doing musically. In the background is an older man, perhaps the grandfather. He is sitting on what could be the root of an adjacent tree, and playing the harmonica. In the foreground we see only the arms of a fourth, apparently female figure, held aloft playing a tambourine. An air of tranquility and enjoyment pervades the picture.
The meaning
Interchange: communicating from oneself and being open to receiving the communications of others; mid-point between, and balance of, inhibition and exhibition
A General
Belonging to group 7, Interchange is the balance for exhibition and inhibition. Exhibition is communication, but driven by a compulsive personal agenda; Inhibition is blockage in communication. In Interchange, there is an easy and natural flow to and fro, so that each individual is able to be genuinely present with the other. Interchange is not about agreeing with someone, but about the two arts of giving and of taking.
B Specific
You are in communication with one or more others. Whether you are using words, images, music or whatever, you may provoke intense emotions, sexual feelings and so on. However, the act of communication itself belongs to the throat chakra – sending some form of personal expression out to a ‘distant’ recipient. Interchange is a movement, like the ebb and flow of the tide, where you and the other person challenge each other, stimulate each other mentally, emotionally and spiritually, so that each is both teacher and student in the exchange. There is a magic here, whether you are one of a group of musicians playing together, are curled up on your own in a chair reading a book, are one of the actors or members of the audience in a theatre. As a communicator in Interchange, you take responsibility for the other – you care about and you show respect for them – naturally, and not because that is how you believe you are supposed to behave.
In Interchange, the Unconscious waits, as it were, in the wings. When the other is there with you, your focus is upon impression and expression. Only later will you have the freedom, in tranquility, to let yourself feel how the material thus gathered works on your Unconscious. But this is prefigured in a quality of awareness which you must have present in true Interchange. It is out of the soil of your awareness that the transforming elements will grow. Interchange, in its strongest manifestation, therefore requires a great deal of energy, motivation and commitment from you. And it is perhaps the most readily available arena for work on yourself.
So you may do media interviews, teach adults, work in a team of scientists, play in a band. Or the interchange may be outside your work, reflecting common interests such as cars or gardening… Unlike Relation, the emphasis in Interchange is on a certain content being transmitted – the issue is not how you and the other feel together, but on what passes between you – knowledge, understanding, experience, technique. It is also upon the quality of the transmission: is the expression timely, a true reflection of its inner source, accurately calibrated for the recipient(s). This card shows that you know both how to talk (or play) and to listen. Whether your conversations are musical or verbal, there is a sense of co-operation, in which each enriches, and is enriched by, her/his companions. The relaxed openness of those involved make this a card of enjoyment, as well as of interest, expression and learning.
Divination summary
teaching and learning; shared insights, mental and emotional stimulation; relaxing exchange; impression and expression; awareness of self and others; challenging and being challenged; magic of resonance – whether sending out or receiving; art of giving and of taking.
26. Joy: Group – Conjugation (8 magenta)
The image
A woman in a red skirt and white blouse dances barefoot in a pink room. She holds her arms above her head and has castanets attached to her fingers. A man in old-fashioned breeches and white socks, and wearing a low-brimmed hat, sits to the side of her playing a fiddle. Behind the woman we see a stone fireplace, in which sits an iron cooking pot.
The meaning
Joy: balance between clarity and passion; properly – a state with no denial; equal and full recognition of both male and female side in oneself and the world
A General
Joy is the first realised (balanced) card of the magenta group. It is the place between spirit denial and will denial, where there IS no denial. Like all the magenta cards except the two denials, Joy is a card whose substance can be realised only fully in a future order of existence. What we can experience now as joy is only a fitful shadow of what will later become possible in manifestation (the ‘Earth plane’).
B Specific
In a world full of denial, Joy has a price tag: it costs you a great deal to end any element of denial; it destabilises you and obliges you to go through painful readjustments. In discussing Relation, we suggested that sexual attraction might be a far wider and more generalised phenomenon than it is usually taken to be. If this were so, it would mean that you would have to clear away an enormous amount of debris before you could have truly joyful – i.e. denial-free relationships. One of the effects of you having extensive casual sex in the presence of denial is to produce pain and guilt which you and your partners then deny, hence adding to – not subtracting from – the total sum of denial.[2]
The cards drawn for Joy emphasise this sexual aspect of it strongly. The true Joy of the future, when denial is cleared out, involves denial-free sex as one of its major components. It implies the end of the regime under which we live at present, where desire is in a state of extreme suppression. For example,
‘work’ for most of humanity means doing something that you don’t really want to do, at someone else’s behest. Children, increasingly, are being shoe-horned into this regime – play is now only justified if it is ‘educational’. School prepares children for work: i.e. it accustoms them from a very young age to a life in which play / leisure / enjoyment is only allowed as a minor add-on after work – i.e. a life of denial. All this is the absolute antithesis of a desire-led culture, and is causing greater and greater psychific damage.
Joy, then, involves you being in touch with your body, feeling its range of sensations. You become aware of the pain held in your body, as you move towards releasing it. In Joy, you find yourself much further towards the Will end of the spectrum than in our present spirit-sided culture: emotion, like sensation, comes to the fore. Joy leaves a lasting impression, a legacy in the world of form, in the body. It is intimately connected with expression, and the moment you begin to curb your self-expression in any way and for whatever reason, Joy goes out of the window. In Joy also, you cannot have attitudes of domination or submission – it is a state in which you feel good to be alive, and happy for others to be there with you.
In this state of Joy you are experiencing feelings such as exuberance, gaiety, wonder and delight. On the spirit side, to be joyful is to know a feeling of rightness: the sense of participation in an all-pervasive harmony to existence, beyond the self-absorption of normal awareness. These times of Joy are what you need to give meaning to your whole existence. Life offers possibilities beyond work, making money and becoming powerful or famous. You are experiencing such a time, a moment of true ‘en-joyment’. Authentic Joy is a gift – you cannot get to this; but it can come to you.
Joy is the balance for clarity and passion, such that to be joyful in the fullest sense is to incorporate completely the qualities of both. The shadow which at present exists in Joy is cast over it by the pain of the present existence into which we inevitably fall back. The Joy to come will be unrestrained and unrestricted, because untainted by denial in ourselves or the world. For the time being, perhaps the purest expression of Joy that we are likely to see is at moments in the lives of small children.
To conclude, experience shows that the card Joy may just as easily refer to the pain which erupts in your body or emotions during the process of freeing yourself from denial as it does to your feeling ‘blissed-out’. The difference is that the pain in Joy is birth pain – it is the price of freedom. The card Joy is pointing you towards a place where you are no longer denying either your Will or your Spirit – even if that place may still be far off.
Divination summary
Freeing oneself from denial both of Will and Spirit; contact with one’s buried sensations and emotions; self-expression; new beginnings, rebirth; sense of exhilaration, intense well-being; sexual enjoyment; pleasure, fun, freeing oneself from work-obsessed attitudes; sexual freedom without denial, long-lasting imprinting of enjoyment upon the body; freedom from attitudes of dominance or submission.
27. Tides: Group – Quest-ion? (9 grey/brown for white)
Until a publisher is found for a book introducing Rainring cards, we are withholding the publication of the text of the group 9 cards. This is to avoid the risk of piracy if a complete set were available on the web. However, the divination summaries of all 81 web cards are available as a double-sided 2 x A4 laminate, available from http://www.rainschool.com/shop/rainring/rainring-cards–accessories/
[1] In many cases such as teacher and student, boss and subordinate, therapist and client, doctor and patient and so on, repression of sexual feelings may be integral to the performance of a professional function, to the emotional or physical well-being of those involved, or both. In such cases, it would be highly unwise to stigmatise sexual repression as being reprehensible per se.
[2] The hippie period of the 1960s and early 70s did a great deal to get sex out of the closet, but fell into the trap of trying to jump to ‘free love’ without dealing with the guilt and denial present.