Experiments with "Eye Rhythms" in the Dodal

Off the cuff. Could it be.....

"Seven = 4 + 3; the four elements of the body plus the three elements of the soul."

4 is the anchor, and 7 (as the sum card) is an indication that to achieve the 4, employ the 7?

Strictly speaking, the Eye Rhymes approach is purely visual. So although snippets of numerology &/or bits of esoterica might disclose a meaning to each individual, it's not what we're suposed to be doing...... is it?

....... and I'm not getting anywhere with purely visual.....

Bee

Here's where a Question really comes in handy. The question anchors or gives "context" to the spread. Jordorowsky wouldn't read for someone unless they had a question.

The vines/flowers suggest movement or growth patterns- if the vine shoots upward in one card and is shriveled up in the next, this might tell me something important about "fear" or "holding back". When a flower blooms, this means something. In real life and in the cards. I follow the pattern of the vines/flowers throughout the cards. In other words from the first card to the last I treat the vine/flower as the progress/evolution or devolution of the same vine/flower

But for me, these vines and such suggest energies or attitudes simmering beneath the surface. Sometimes the vines/energies are tame or focused, sometimes they are wild, and sometimes they are non-existent... they literally vanish as in some of the higher pip cards. Where do they go? Why have they disappeared?

I'm not sure what any of this really means but it helps me sometimes when I'm analyzing shape and form in a spread

In our current spread, the vines literally wrap themselves around the three center coins in the Seven. For me this suggests something special about these three coins so I treat them as a distinct group apart from the remaining Four coins.

in the Four Cups, the "same" vine now shoots straight up. There seems to be a passageway that has opened up. Former obstacles have been removed and there is a better flow now for our original Three Coins.

What were the obstacles? I suppose the obstacles were the four outer coins of the Seven. The four outer coins prevented the "Core Three" from moving forward.

Something happened in between these two events/cards. This is where the story lies. I believe Umbrae writes about reading the message contained in between the cards. Reading the gap, so to speak.

So between the Seven Coins and the Four Cups, various obstacles have been removed for a group of people. These obstacles were slowing down progress but perhaps through some dialog or a kind of honesty -Cups- the relationship between these "people" has changed and now things are flowing more freely.

The vines/plants are like "living stuff", "electricity" "energy". For me they suggest movement or growth patterns- if the vine shoots upward in one card and is shriveled in the next, this might tell me something important about "fear" or "holding back". When a flower blooms, this means something. I follow the pattern of the vines/flowers throughout the cards.

The key for me is, from the first card to the last... I am looking at the progress/evolution of the same vine/flower


I'm kinda babbling... this is quite difficult. I've read pips-only spreads and they've been semi-successful but following Jordorowsky's lead, I always ask for a question

Herzog, yes, you're making so much sense (not babbling)! I think what you're saying is very incisive... I need to get my head round it But yes, you're right. The vines, the vines, snapshots of a development of sorts...

More later (I'm at work....)

It's interesting how you see the central 3 coins as being segregated. For me there is one coin which is very much isolated from the rest. The other two are enclosed in a place with a significant opening which, if the coins were that way inclined, they could escape from. I wonder if this is significant? One coin is very much isolated, imprisoned even...

I like your vines theory; snapshots of a trajectory. Like a flick book showing different phases!

Le Fanu said:

snapshots of a trajectory. Like a flick book showing different phases!

Click to expand...

Wow... perfectly put That is exactly what I was trying to say.


I can see your point about the "isolated coin".


Following on a terrific exercise idea by Enrique Enriquez I created the following image of the current spread...




This may help us see the connections between the images and perhaps locate some "eye rhymes". Normally this is done with a full deck spread out across a table. It's a wonderful exercise as it eliminates distractions and really focus the eye on shapes and contours and hence, a possible message. I will post observations in a bit

Oh I LIKE that! What an interesting perspective it gives.

What I also notice (or maybe you have said this already), one could assume that the cups are seen from above with some rather dodgy perspective. I mean, if these cups are seen from above then the vines would appear to divide each cup into its own enclosure, if you get my drift...

If I look at the image in a certain way, each cup is in a seperate enclosure (I am merely describing! LOL. Don't know if this means anything...)

Looking at the three cards in the way you have arranged them, we see such distinct patterns;

far right; bow shape (3 of S)
Middle, vertical arrangment; two Cups linear, top to bottom (or bottom to top)
Far Left; the lack of symmetry is made evident

You can see that, far right and middle cards (3 of S, 4 of Cs) are vertical, top to bottom and the far left introduces a very different, more chaotic rhythm.

Seen like this, the central vine of the 4 of Cups echoes the central Sword in the 3.

Some time soon, I'll get onto what this might mean, Lord knows one always thinks it must mean something...

newbie here, I am finding this fascinating. I have never worked with "eye rhymes" or non-illustrated minors but I will have a go.

Initially I couldn't "see" anything then I stood back from the images and looked at them from the other side of the room to give me a different perspective.lol

the first word that came to mind was symmetry. The 7 of pents is not symmetrical, the 4 of cups is, the 3 swords (despite being an odd number) is symmetrical in its imagery.

I see one coin on 7 pents being the odd one out, like there is a disharmony. the vines are winding round, also not symmetrical so something is binding this disharmony together like the situation fells like it is being bound up or "strangled".

In the 4 cups there is the symmetry of the cups, the vines are still not symmetrical but are diminished in number after the 7 of pents. I see this as meaning the constraints of the 7 of pents are being diminished and there is movement towards harmony/balance with an agreement of sorts due to the emotional aspect of the cups.

Moving to the 3 swords bringing symmetry. the vines are released and the swords are "free" from the contraints. I see this as being something that is stable and balanced, yet it looks like one tiny movement either way and the symmetry/balance is lost, the sword in the centre feels like a middle ground has been acheived with 2 sides equal.

what has just come into mind bizarrely is an image of a child learning to ride a bike for the first time without stabilisers. The odd number in the coins is like the child desperate to do it on their own. mum and dad (the restricting, sometimes overprotective, vines) finally trusts the child (cups) and lets go of the bike and the child has to maintain the stability with the watchful eye of both parents on either side, they have acheived it but could topple over and hurt themselves if they don't concentrate.

I have probably contradicted myself at some point as I have simply typed what was running through my head as I was thinking it

Le Fanu said:

Seen like this, the central vine of the 4 of Cups echoes the central Sword in the 3

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking, too. And including the vine from the Seven Coins we can maybe see a progression like you say from "chaotic" or "curved" to "stretched" to "pin straight"

An evolution of sorts from passive on through to assertive. It almost looks like a person reaching up... toward a goal, perhaps?