Masterclass 4(A)
The individual card and the directory of meanings
Developing the Rainring cards (1993-96)
Looking at this image of the Will now, I am struck by the simplicity and purity of the beginnings of Rainring[1]. At the time I produced this image, I did not yet have the notion of a pack of cards. It was because my first representations were circular that, when I began to develop cards as such, the natural shape for them was square. Rainring cards, therefore, can be thought of as circles which have mutated – for the purpose of easy handling – into squares. Something of this circular motif survives in the images of what are now the fundamental archetypes:
The original circles next acquired text and so on, giving rise to stage 2:
As can be seen, the designations were not always, at this stage, what they later became. Rainring, for example, is now the north mention on Heart (in the 4-mention pack), while the fundamental archetype for group 9 is Raindance:
The first pack which I created was produced on squares of heavy white card, generally bearing only a single mention, though one or two cards had more than one. The cards of sets 1-5 were illustrated, as shown above, whilst those of sets 6-9 bore only simple graphics:
It was with this crude but usable pack that I was able to begin exploring Rainring. This early, relatively simple version is the one which is now available on the web, and which we will explore in this Masterclass 4(A). The 4-mention version of the cards, which is of another order of complexity entirely, will be the subject of class 4(B).
I should say at once that the version which a given reader will prefer is a matter both of temperament and of the nature of the querant’s gifts. For those who work in a clairvoyant or clairaudiant way, I think the simple version is the most suitable: it is image-based, uncluttered, comparable in straightforwardness of presentation to the tarot and most oracle packs. For those who are basically intuitive, but with a more logical and rational cast of mind, I recommend the 4-mention pack, which constitutes a repository of over 7,000 combinations, and is therefore able to work in great detail. Neither is inherently better or worse than the other.
One word of warning is in order: a number of conventions in use in the web version could not be imported from the 4-mention one. There are hence some differences in the way the cards are read in the two versions, and the reader must therefore study these masterclass 4 pages when moving from one to the other.
The web version of the individual cards (2007)
Individual cards
In principle, the cards on the web – 81 in total – can only be read two-sided i.e. upright and reversed. However, the complex history of the cards, and the adaptation from 4-mention to two, means that things are not quite that simple.
There are two sources for reading the individual web cards. The first is the text which accompanies the illustration on the particular web page devoted to each card: input, for example. Many of these brief texts, however, are quite inadequate for practical divination.
For this reason, readers are strongly advised to refer to the directory of meanings which can be purchased from this site http://www.rainschool.com/shop/rainring/rainring-cards–accessories/. The latter has two versions: the mentions required for the 81 cards on the web; a second, larger one to include the 4 non-grid cards and the umpires. The former is the source which will be referred to below. In the directory, it will be seen that three sets of cards carry not one but two meanings. The first two of these are sets one and two. A set one card, such as Deflation, carries the further mention ‘Ebb Spirit’, whilst its set two counterpart, ‘Inflation’, carries the additional mention ‘Flow Spirit.’ This duality exists for all the cards of sets one and two. The main mention of the card represents an unbalanced state: Deflation, Exhibition, Will Denial etc and the reverse of this is a balanced state: Ebb Spirit, Flow Song, Spirit Pole etc. ‘Unbalanced’ here refers to compulsive behavior which may be entirely inappropriate to the objective needs of the situation; ‘balanced’ is about similar behaviour freely chosen as appropriate to the circumstances. This departure from the strict principle of reversal comes about because of the 4-mention cards, and Masterclass 4(B) shows how these cards operate in their 4-sided incarnation.
The other set which does not follow the simple principles of reversal is set six. Here, the ‘feeling archetypes’ – Grief, Despair, Freedom etc – feature as the main mention in the web version, since it is these emotions which are illustrated. However, the directory also includes the principle mentions on these cards, and their meanings: Heart, Sensation, Vibration and so on. In my experience, the Unconscious adapts itself satisfactorily to such directives (i.e. directing the Unconscious to have the cards follow particular conventions of meaning; even, if necessary, to make a change in an already established convention of this type) provided they are systematic. What is not possible is to start a reading without having explicited how the cards are to be read.
One further anomaly needs drawing attention to: Pain/Twainsong. This is the only grid card whose north and south faces are independent and mutually exclusive. The reversed side of Pain on the web should, therefore, not be read as Pain reversed, but as Twainsong. The meanings involved are detailed in the directory.
To summarise, we need to draw the attention of readers to the fact that to read Rainring on the web without using reversals is to deprive oneself of all the possibilities detailed above, and this option should perhaps not be entered into without some thought.
Spread Positions
The great advantage of reading cards in spreads, rather than singly, is of course that we can designate to a particular spread position a meaning which then widens and deepens the meaning which we derive from that card in itself. We saw this principle in action during our exploration of the bi-polar octagon spread in Masterclass 2. The spreads available on the web version of the cards have deliberately been kept very limited. This web version is an introduction and we have wanted to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible. Even here, however, we have two major spread types: in the first, the bi-polar octagon and centred triangle spreads, each position is of equal weight, unless it is considered that the central card has a preponderant influence. In the second, the five- and nine-card squares, we are specifically designating some spread positions as carrying more weight than others: we ask for the factors of strength and weakness, for example, to be graded from most influential to least influential. Again, we can use various spreads, including the ones on the web, to ask for advice from the Unconscious – in dealing with a particular situation or circumstance in our life. In this case, we will have to find out how an apparently negative card must be read positively.
It was such a reading, in the very early days of my experimental pack, which brought me face to face with ‘Inhibition’ – a card which I then understood as unbalanced only – as a recommendation. It was my meditations on Inhibition as a beneficial (?!) psychific influence which eventually led me to the perception that the problem with the set one and two states was not their existence per se, but the compulsive element which might – but did not have to – be present. This guided me to the concept of Ebb Song as a valid (i.e. appropriate and balanced) form of Inhibition, and so on for the rest of the two first sets.
Setting up spread positions
It follows from the above considerations that a great deal of influence on a reading will be produced by the spread positions used. A spread is, if you like, an analysis: we break down a topic into a number of components which, when synthesized or put together, will give us a whole picture. As has already been explained, some of the key spreads used in Rainring are based upon the principles of the 8-fold Ring plus centre (making 9) itself, as also upon the fundamental polarity we perceive between male and female and between conscious and unconscious.
On the other hand, we also use the obvious chronology which features strongly in tarot spreads: past, present, future. Rainring in fact also has two chronological spreads of its own: one based on the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn, the other based on the positions of set 9 – the process archetypes. Neither of these spreads is available on the web, though web readers could adapt the 5-card square to the seasons, by designating a season for each corner and the centre representing the year as a whole.
So, as will have become clear in class 2 of this series, learning the spread positions used in Rainring requires a psychological and philosophical journey in itself. The outcome of that journey is that layers of meaning are incorporated into many of the spread positions used in Rainring, before even a card is placed in one of those spread positions. Once we have a number of these spread templates available for use, an even bigger question looms: what questions can be brought to this framework – how far can we go in ‘extracting’ answers from the Rainring cards? Questions will be the subject of Masterclass 6.
[1] When I find a publisher, I will write a book on Rainring which includes a detailed account of the historical development of the cards.