94stranger
77. Input: group – unconscious (5 indigo) [stage 5]
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Input/77.aspx
The Image
The scene is of a snowbound landscape, with a frozen lake in the foreground and fir trees on the slopes behind. At centre, on the ice is an open sleigh, on which sits an older woman; next to the sleigh and in front of it kneels a young woman, almost a girl. The occupant of the sleigh wears only the scantest clothing, in contrast to the girl, who is clad in a thick fur and still, from her body language, appears to be cold. The older woman holds in front of her, on her palms, an open box, from which appears to emanate some kind of force. This, together with the strange, unfocussed expression in her eyes, and her apparent imperviousness to the cold, all suggest that she may not be present in her physical body. This may also explain the expression of awe on the young woman’s face.
The place of Input in the Process Cycle
The transition or crossing between stages four and five is the critical moment in the cycle. If it is accomplished successfully, then the cycle will move through to completion; if not, it will abort. The problem is that up to this point, the qualities of consciousness - reason, analysis, planning, organisation and so on – have been sufficient to enable development to take place. Input (stage 5) however involves the resources of the Unconscious. These resources are only available if contact can be made, and if what is offered is able to be received. Accomplishing these two things requires another dimension to be added, in order to cross the watershed and finish the work. We now look at what this requires.
The meaning
Input: eventual loss of momentum in the formation stage can be overcome only by new input from within or without. Conscious efforts fail; the unconscious must be accessed.
Your plans are in disarray; things have not turned out as you expected. You are in uncharted territory and do not know how to proceed. Should you turn inwards and look for your own inspiration, or would it be wiser to seek advice from others? In any case, surely you will have to be able to diagnose effectively what has gone wrong, before you can hope to apply a valid remedy? As if this was not enough, you have to cope with your own loss of confidence, not to mention the reactions of others. How are you going to extricate yourself from all this?
This is an intensely inner stage, and necessarily so. If we looked at it in the context of the ‘project’ of your entire life, for instance, this would be the point at which you discover that you cannot go on as you have done in the past: the ‘mid-life crisis’ as it has been called. During the early part of your life, you are carried forward by the stream of activities, events, goals and ambitions. But there comes a moment when you finally ask yourself: but what is all this for? Where am I going? What are my values? what do I believe in? The answers, clearly, will have to be sought within. This is a stage 5 moment.
At Input, there is a radical shift in focus. You can’t go on externally, so you are driven to look inside. Once you give up on the external struggle, you experience a sense of freedom. Perhaps you take a walk in the park, go off on a day’s fishing, visit an old friend. And you realise that you have been working so hard that you have forgotten even why you have been working like a soul possessed. The conditions which you have created around your previous frenetic activity no longer suit your present mood: you need time to think. You don’t need to deal with a hundred people clamouring for instructions, requiring decisions… you need to be with yourself and to go over things; or perhaps to talk matters through with someone not immediately involved, someone whose judgement you can trust.
Gone is the euphoria, the inflated sense of your own self-worth. You are in an altogether more sober frame of mind now. Where previously you were a slave of all the razzmatazz generated by the project, now you are obsessed by the need to find the key to unlock your predicament, the ‘magic bullet’ to kill off all your troubles. You stop telling everyone else what to do and start listening for advice on what you need to do. Whether the necessary input comes from a dream, an omen, a chance remark overheard, a talk with an ex-colleague, a web-site… whatever its source, the crucial issue is that you have acquired a state of receptivity and in that state the help which you need can reach you. Input does not have to come from a great dream or other inner catharsis; it can be from outside: the point is that your change of attitude attracts what is needed – from wherever.
In a broader sense, we go through our lives constantly receiving Input, whether from dreams, synchronous events, clairvoyance, art, poetry, quiet reflection as we walk on the beach…In general, it can be said that the less preoccupied we are with our own agenda, the less our minds are full of the buzz of thoughts, the better the access we can have to what lies beyond – to the Unconscious. Input is a card which can refer to any circumstance where you are in touch with, and get help from, the Unconscious.
Divination summary
inward focus; reflective attitude; listening to your inner voice; attempt to re-evaluate your situation; retreat from frenzy of external activity; collapse of manic pursuit of goals; loss of euphoria, deflation, ceasing to be full of yourself; search for help, new willingness to listen; humility, admission of defeat, failure or impotence, recognition of own limitations.
78. Achievement: group – self (6 yellow) [stage 6]
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Achievement/78.aspx
The image
In the foreground we see what could well be a traveller, passing under an arch. He is a big ginger-haired man, carrying a staff with a wolf’s head carved at the top. Beyond him, through the arch we see the white houses of a town, in front of which is a melon seller with a barrow, and a woman customer who is in the process of buying a melon. An animal, apparently a wolf, looks on. Behind the town, the colour of the hills suggests that this is a dry climate.
The place of Achievement in the Process Cycle
The sixth stage of the cycle takes us to the card which represents the self group – Achievement. This combines two characteristics: first, it is again a stage concerned with action; second, there is an emphasis on the personality of the querant – the qualities and the investment of effort and energy which enable him / her to bring the project to fruition. The card Achievement refers to the period after Input – this period culminates in Achievement, but the card covers also the period leading up to that culmination. Achievement, as we shall see later, does not complete the cycle, yet it certainly does mark at least an initial stage of completion.
The meaning
Achievement: the stage of concrete, finished results; sustained and, when necessary, revitalised action bears fruit.
Achievement is an unambiguously positive card. It signals either the fact that you have been able to carry to a successful conclusion the enterprise which you began in stage one, or that you will succeed in doing so. This stage is one where, once again, you are focussing very much on yourself. You push forward hard now with the necessary action, having learnt the lessons which were required of you to overcome the setbacks in the later period of stage four. Once again, you do not need outside help: not because you are wilfully deaf to it, but because you have incorporated into the project what was lacking. You now have, or can obtain, the resources required to finish the job. Your inner attitude is a far more balanced and moderate one – you have made the necessary accommodation with the female side, so eliminating the worst spirit side excess of some earlier stages.
Up to a point, you return to the stage one situation: you have to re-assess your plans and strategies in the light of your change of heart, to ensure that you are making the necessary change of direction, which will in turn lead to the appropriate corrective action. This period involves a lot of inner tension. You are all too well aware of having come unstuck once already. This has dented your confidence, and henceforth you will not be taking anything for granted. Whereas previously you were in throwing-caution-to-the-winds mode, now you have an altogether more sober mind-set. This is going to affect your relationships – on the one hand, you will be more tolerant and less dismissive of others’ contributions, but on the other, because the euphoria has gone, you are capable of more a thorough, on-going appraisal of whether others are pulling their weight effectively.
Finally, this new sobriety needs to extend also to your private life. In this stage, the main danger that you face is that of not having the resoluteness of purpose to carry you through to the end. This is a period of personal sacrifice, privation and self-denial, at least in certain respects. The temptation to kick over the traces, rebel against the discipline imposed by the task, is always there. If anything can still derail you, or at least compromise your completion of the task, it is this. For example, at this time you need to fall in love about as much as you need a hole in the head!
Once again, we have looked at the card in terms of its place in the great sweep of process of the project. And again, as with the other process cards, Achievement can appear under much more banal circumstances, such as, for example, a successful mini-moment within a much larger context: a good result in yesterday’s performance of the play; success in getting a bargain; a difficult moment at work well handled and so on. And there is always the inner dimension: just as there are inner processes continually at work, so there are moments when you successfully achieve inner goals – freeing yourself from the last feelings of wanting to return to cohabitation with an abusive ex-partner, for example.
Divination summary
dedication to completing a task, strong-mindedness, ability to maintain focus; inner tension, uncertainty over personal capabilities, shadow cast by previous difficulties; careful planning and re-evaluation; cool and level-headed approach towards both work and co-workers; tolerant and fair attitude; self-reliance, determination to run a tight ship; being demanding first and foremost of oneself.
79. Communication: group – communication (7 blue)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Communication/79.aspx
[stage 7]
The image
The outdoor scene is in a pale blue and turquoise setting, with a falling leaf suggesting autumn. Shadows, and the sky colour, imply that it is a sunny day, and this is reflected in the smiling, relaxed face of the man talking in the centre of the image. He sits on the ground, supporting his weight on his left hand while waving his right in the air to emphasise what he is saying. His female companion has her back to us. She sits facing him, leaning back with her knees bent and her arms folded across them. Both people wear simple clothes with bare arms, and she is barefoot. In the bottom right foreground, a rabbit sits facing them, apparently unafraid.
The place of Communication in the Process Cycle
Communication is the card which gives its name to the blue group, to which therefore it belongs. The stage 6 card Achievement focussed mainly on the period leading up to that achievement, the conditions in which the project could be finished. The mood of Communication is different: the core of the work is over; it remains to take that work into the public domain, to obtain feedback and response to it. At this stage, people are going to use the building which has been constructed, read the book which has been published, sample the dish which has been brought to the table, and so on. As a result, there may be modifications to make, revisions and alterations which, in the light of the response evoked by the public, are see to be required before the work can be said to have reached its final and most complete form.[7]
The meaning
Communication: completed work attracts response – interaction with others ushers in the final phase of the cycle
There is now a major shift in emphasis: your project has to be made available to those who will use or otherwise benefit from it. You must get your painting out of the studio and into the exhibition hall, and so on. There may be some adverse reactions: your oeuvre is rubbished, or given no publicity. On the other hand, the opposite may happen: you may be applauded and esteemed. Whatever happens, you will have a sense of relief and of satisfaction at the thought that you are now in the penultimate stage: for better or for worse, you are in sight of the end. You can begin to anticipate that you will eventually be able to put this behind you and get stuck into something else. For example, once you have dealt with whatever is required at this stage, you might finally get a well-deserved holiday!
The constraints of a project mean that you can never fully be yourself. You are now increasingly free of the discipline required to work with others, cope with the relationship issues arising. You are reaching the point where you can do as you like. You are not obliged to exhibit at such and such a gallery, accept an interview with this particular journalist… Equally, you should get progressively freer of the obsessional element of the work which has accompanied you thus far. Of course you may have, for example, a major marketing problem, in which case you are not yet out of the wood of obsession. Nonetheless, this stage carries you through to the point at which you can either consider that you have accomplished your task, or that there are no further options available to you and that you have done whatever you were able to. You are ready to let matters rest. It is one thing to have dreams, ideas, imaginings of what you can achieve – these will drive you forward. Once you have achieved what you set out to do, offered your work to the public, you have fulfilled your original contract. You cannot control the verdict which the world delivers on the results of your efforts; but you can carry your own endeavours to a conclusion.
This process of responding to feedback is one which corresponds to uniting male and female energies to the fullest achievable extent. It is this harmonisation which is the hallmark of all great human achievement, in whatever domain. The Rainring cards also express this aim as Making Sound.[8]
Whilst the stage of Achievement corresponds to self, at Communication you are reaching out to the other – this involves both male-female energy union in the work of your project, but also, correspondingly, in your personal life. This latter can express either as an internal phenomenon – perhaps drawing on the inner resources needed to accomplish this publicising phase; or as an outer one - attracting a partner; or as both.
Once again, the inner threat to this stage in your process is from sensuality. Success is an aphrodisiac. The potential danger is that the public perception of your work may be seriously harmed by gossip and scandal arising from frivolous sexual liaisons. Sexual charisma may well have been one of the motives driving your project forward. If so, you owe it to yourself to put the result beyond doubt before, as it were, cashing in your chips!
Finally, what of Communication in a more limited contest? This card says that contact is taking place with others, but on the wavelength of the throat chakra: putting forward your views, persuading, discussing. Communication, whatever its precise context, refers to this type of contact, interaction or interchange with one or more others. It could, though far less often, refer to your two inner poles ‘talking to each other’.
Divination summary
switch of orientation from self to others; publicising or marketing your work; responding to feedback; making alterations or modifications; final bringing together of constituent energies of project; enjoying the plaudits of the public, / suffering their criticism; looking forward to rest, new beginnings; handling effects of success.
80. Completion: group – conjugation (8 magenta)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Completion/80.aspx
[stage 8]
The image
The image shows a woman, probably from the country, holding in her hands a large seed or nut, a bit like that of the avocado. Two shoots are emerging from the seed. She has apparently just dug this up, as we see a small garden fork on the ground, and an earthworm which has presumably been disturbed during the digging. Superimposed upon this, in outline, are the heads of two tigers, one male and one female. All this is contained within an image whose contours mimic in shape those of the nut or seed.
The place of Completion in the Process Cycle
Completion: the high point, at which the old can go no further; completion rounds off; nothing can, or should, be added - ‘the rest is silence’
Completion, which belongs to the Conjugation group (magenta) is the final stage of the cycle, since the next and ninth stage, Crossing, is concerned with the transition between the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next one. Completion represents the furthest point that a project can reach. It is the culmination and conclusion of what has gone before. This does not, however, mean that what is to come will not feature in any way in the psychific profile of Completion.
The meaning
After the battles which you have fought in order to reach a successful conclusion, it would be good to report that at this stage you will do nothing further than bask in the glow of your achievements. Unfortunately, the cards do not quite see it that way, and they are right. Nevertheless, here you are in an overwhelmingly positive situation. To complete a project successfully, it is necessary to bring together male and female energies, which are both required to make their respective contribution. This you have been able to do. This is a time of celebration – of receiving the plaudits of the public and your peers. Not everyone’s efforts will be rewarded by an Oscar or a Nobel Prize, but this is the stage at which recognition will be accorded to your work. As we have implied already, one form of ‘reward’ for your efforts may well be sexual / romantic opportunities. This parallels the bringing together of male-female energies mentioned above.
Completion cannot but be affected by what is to come next. For example, by this point, you already know that you are reaching the moment where you and the world will move on, your work will cease to belong to now, and you will have to let go of it. You are saying goodbye to those who have accompanied you on the journey – your shared efforts, struggles, failures and successes are at an end. At the very moment when you are enjoying the fruits of your success, an inner voice is telling you that the whole saga is virtually over. By now, you find yourself starting to day-dream about what you will do next; or worrying about whether there will be a next. And something in you already wants to make contact with that bedrock of the psyche where you can find a firm foothold even in the storms that could shortly be upon you.
It is the anxiety of facing the unknown which will tempt you to try to hang on – perhaps to contact with the people you worked with, or with trivial additions or adjustments to your work which could, and indeed should be passed on to others perfectly capable of taking up the baton. To conclude, Completion is a time of joy, but a joy in which you cannot escape entirely from the shadow of what is to come next. In the end, the best way to experience Completion is to do your utmost to live it to the full, and then have the courage to walk away.
Once more, we can find more prosaic contexts for Completion – of course it will mark any circumstances where a cycle ends, be it only a miniature one lasting no more than days or indeed hours. Equally, it can refer to a situation of ending, of conclusion in your psyche, even if there is no immediate and direct external manifestation of this.
Divination summary
conclusion, ending, completion, success; public acknowledgement of achievement: prizes etc; successful bringing together of male and female energies; kudos with opposite sex[9]; joy at successful outcome; uncertainties over future; possible resistances to letting go, need to leave ex-colleagues, allow others to take over work; day-dreams of future projects; intuition of forthcoming test of Crossing.
(NOTE: where completed work has not been successful, the above will need some modifications – e.g. less reluctance to move on.)
81. Crossing: group – quest-ion? (9 grey / brown)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Crossing/81.aspx
[stage 9]
[We have decided to withhold the detailed meanings for all the cards of group 9 until we can publish all this material commercially. We are really sorry for the inconvenience this may cause. See 9 Ebb (set 1) for details. Note however that the divination summaries for ALL the 81 web cards can be purchased via the 94stranger blog.]
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[7] If this feedback process reveals sufficiently important inadequacies, or indeed very great new possibilities for improvement, the changes to be considered could be so extensive as to amount to a whole new project, in which case a further cycle is going to be set in motion.
[8] I remind the reader that all these card portraits are based on the reading of spreads designed to elucidate their meanings.
[9] Gay/lesbian querants modify as required!
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Input/77.aspx
The Image
The scene is of a snowbound landscape, with a frozen lake in the foreground and fir trees on the slopes behind. At centre, on the ice is an open sleigh, on which sits an older woman; next to the sleigh and in front of it kneels a young woman, almost a girl. The occupant of the sleigh wears only the scantest clothing, in contrast to the girl, who is clad in a thick fur and still, from her body language, appears to be cold. The older woman holds in front of her, on her palms, an open box, from which appears to emanate some kind of force. This, together with the strange, unfocussed expression in her eyes, and her apparent imperviousness to the cold, all suggest that she may not be present in her physical body. This may also explain the expression of awe on the young woman’s face.
The place of Input in the Process Cycle
The transition or crossing between stages four and five is the critical moment in the cycle. If it is accomplished successfully, then the cycle will move through to completion; if not, it will abort. The problem is that up to this point, the qualities of consciousness - reason, analysis, planning, organisation and so on – have been sufficient to enable development to take place. Input (stage 5) however involves the resources of the Unconscious. These resources are only available if contact can be made, and if what is offered is able to be received. Accomplishing these two things requires another dimension to be added, in order to cross the watershed and finish the work. We now look at what this requires.
The meaning
Input: eventual loss of momentum in the formation stage can be overcome only by new input from within or without. Conscious efforts fail; the unconscious must be accessed.
Your plans are in disarray; things have not turned out as you expected. You are in uncharted territory and do not know how to proceed. Should you turn inwards and look for your own inspiration, or would it be wiser to seek advice from others? In any case, surely you will have to be able to diagnose effectively what has gone wrong, before you can hope to apply a valid remedy? As if this was not enough, you have to cope with your own loss of confidence, not to mention the reactions of others. How are you going to extricate yourself from all this?
This is an intensely inner stage, and necessarily so. If we looked at it in the context of the ‘project’ of your entire life, for instance, this would be the point at which you discover that you cannot go on as you have done in the past: the ‘mid-life crisis’ as it has been called. During the early part of your life, you are carried forward by the stream of activities, events, goals and ambitions. But there comes a moment when you finally ask yourself: but what is all this for? Where am I going? What are my values? what do I believe in? The answers, clearly, will have to be sought within. This is a stage 5 moment.
At Input, there is a radical shift in focus. You can’t go on externally, so you are driven to look inside. Once you give up on the external struggle, you experience a sense of freedom. Perhaps you take a walk in the park, go off on a day’s fishing, visit an old friend. And you realise that you have been working so hard that you have forgotten even why you have been working like a soul possessed. The conditions which you have created around your previous frenetic activity no longer suit your present mood: you need time to think. You don’t need to deal with a hundred people clamouring for instructions, requiring decisions… you need to be with yourself and to go over things; or perhaps to talk matters through with someone not immediately involved, someone whose judgement you can trust.
Gone is the euphoria, the inflated sense of your own self-worth. You are in an altogether more sober frame of mind now. Where previously you were a slave of all the razzmatazz generated by the project, now you are obsessed by the need to find the key to unlock your predicament, the ‘magic bullet’ to kill off all your troubles. You stop telling everyone else what to do and start listening for advice on what you need to do. Whether the necessary input comes from a dream, an omen, a chance remark overheard, a talk with an ex-colleague, a web-site… whatever its source, the crucial issue is that you have acquired a state of receptivity and in that state the help which you need can reach you. Input does not have to come from a great dream or other inner catharsis; it can be from outside: the point is that your change of attitude attracts what is needed – from wherever.
In a broader sense, we go through our lives constantly receiving Input, whether from dreams, synchronous events, clairvoyance, art, poetry, quiet reflection as we walk on the beach…In general, it can be said that the less preoccupied we are with our own agenda, the less our minds are full of the buzz of thoughts, the better the access we can have to what lies beyond – to the Unconscious. Input is a card which can refer to any circumstance where you are in touch with, and get help from, the Unconscious.
Divination summary
inward focus; reflective attitude; listening to your inner voice; attempt to re-evaluate your situation; retreat from frenzy of external activity; collapse of manic pursuit of goals; loss of euphoria, deflation, ceasing to be full of yourself; search for help, new willingness to listen; humility, admission of defeat, failure or impotence, recognition of own limitations.
78. Achievement: group – self (6 yellow) [stage 6]
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Achievement/78.aspx
The image
In the foreground we see what could well be a traveller, passing under an arch. He is a big ginger-haired man, carrying a staff with a wolf’s head carved at the top. Beyond him, through the arch we see the white houses of a town, in front of which is a melon seller with a barrow, and a woman customer who is in the process of buying a melon. An animal, apparently a wolf, looks on. Behind the town, the colour of the hills suggests that this is a dry climate.
The place of Achievement in the Process Cycle
The sixth stage of the cycle takes us to the card which represents the self group – Achievement. This combines two characteristics: first, it is again a stage concerned with action; second, there is an emphasis on the personality of the querant – the qualities and the investment of effort and energy which enable him / her to bring the project to fruition. The card Achievement refers to the period after Input – this period culminates in Achievement, but the card covers also the period leading up to that culmination. Achievement, as we shall see later, does not complete the cycle, yet it certainly does mark at least an initial stage of completion.
The meaning
Achievement: the stage of concrete, finished results; sustained and, when necessary, revitalised action bears fruit.
Achievement is an unambiguously positive card. It signals either the fact that you have been able to carry to a successful conclusion the enterprise which you began in stage one, or that you will succeed in doing so. This stage is one where, once again, you are focussing very much on yourself. You push forward hard now with the necessary action, having learnt the lessons which were required of you to overcome the setbacks in the later period of stage four. Once again, you do not need outside help: not because you are wilfully deaf to it, but because you have incorporated into the project what was lacking. You now have, or can obtain, the resources required to finish the job. Your inner attitude is a far more balanced and moderate one – you have made the necessary accommodation with the female side, so eliminating the worst spirit side excess of some earlier stages.
Up to a point, you return to the stage one situation: you have to re-assess your plans and strategies in the light of your change of heart, to ensure that you are making the necessary change of direction, which will in turn lead to the appropriate corrective action. This period involves a lot of inner tension. You are all too well aware of having come unstuck once already. This has dented your confidence, and henceforth you will not be taking anything for granted. Whereas previously you were in throwing-caution-to-the-winds mode, now you have an altogether more sober mind-set. This is going to affect your relationships – on the one hand, you will be more tolerant and less dismissive of others’ contributions, but on the other, because the euphoria has gone, you are capable of more a thorough, on-going appraisal of whether others are pulling their weight effectively.
Finally, this new sobriety needs to extend also to your private life. In this stage, the main danger that you face is that of not having the resoluteness of purpose to carry you through to the end. This is a period of personal sacrifice, privation and self-denial, at least in certain respects. The temptation to kick over the traces, rebel against the discipline imposed by the task, is always there. If anything can still derail you, or at least compromise your completion of the task, it is this. For example, at this time you need to fall in love about as much as you need a hole in the head!
Once again, we have looked at the card in terms of its place in the great sweep of process of the project. And again, as with the other process cards, Achievement can appear under much more banal circumstances, such as, for example, a successful mini-moment within a much larger context: a good result in yesterday’s performance of the play; success in getting a bargain; a difficult moment at work well handled and so on. And there is always the inner dimension: just as there are inner processes continually at work, so there are moments when you successfully achieve inner goals – freeing yourself from the last feelings of wanting to return to cohabitation with an abusive ex-partner, for example.
Divination summary
dedication to completing a task, strong-mindedness, ability to maintain focus; inner tension, uncertainty over personal capabilities, shadow cast by previous difficulties; careful planning and re-evaluation; cool and level-headed approach towards both work and co-workers; tolerant and fair attitude; self-reliance, determination to run a tight ship; being demanding first and foremost of oneself.
79. Communication: group – communication (7 blue)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Communication/79.aspx
[stage 7]
The image
The outdoor scene is in a pale blue and turquoise setting, with a falling leaf suggesting autumn. Shadows, and the sky colour, imply that it is a sunny day, and this is reflected in the smiling, relaxed face of the man talking in the centre of the image. He sits on the ground, supporting his weight on his left hand while waving his right in the air to emphasise what he is saying. His female companion has her back to us. She sits facing him, leaning back with her knees bent and her arms folded across them. Both people wear simple clothes with bare arms, and she is barefoot. In the bottom right foreground, a rabbit sits facing them, apparently unafraid.
The place of Communication in the Process Cycle
Communication is the card which gives its name to the blue group, to which therefore it belongs. The stage 6 card Achievement focussed mainly on the period leading up to that achievement, the conditions in which the project could be finished. The mood of Communication is different: the core of the work is over; it remains to take that work into the public domain, to obtain feedback and response to it. At this stage, people are going to use the building which has been constructed, read the book which has been published, sample the dish which has been brought to the table, and so on. As a result, there may be modifications to make, revisions and alterations which, in the light of the response evoked by the public, are see to be required before the work can be said to have reached its final and most complete form.[7]
The meaning
Communication: completed work attracts response – interaction with others ushers in the final phase of the cycle
There is now a major shift in emphasis: your project has to be made available to those who will use or otherwise benefit from it. You must get your painting out of the studio and into the exhibition hall, and so on. There may be some adverse reactions: your oeuvre is rubbished, or given no publicity. On the other hand, the opposite may happen: you may be applauded and esteemed. Whatever happens, you will have a sense of relief and of satisfaction at the thought that you are now in the penultimate stage: for better or for worse, you are in sight of the end. You can begin to anticipate that you will eventually be able to put this behind you and get stuck into something else. For example, once you have dealt with whatever is required at this stage, you might finally get a well-deserved holiday!
The constraints of a project mean that you can never fully be yourself. You are now increasingly free of the discipline required to work with others, cope with the relationship issues arising. You are reaching the point where you can do as you like. You are not obliged to exhibit at such and such a gallery, accept an interview with this particular journalist… Equally, you should get progressively freer of the obsessional element of the work which has accompanied you thus far. Of course you may have, for example, a major marketing problem, in which case you are not yet out of the wood of obsession. Nonetheless, this stage carries you through to the point at which you can either consider that you have accomplished your task, or that there are no further options available to you and that you have done whatever you were able to. You are ready to let matters rest. It is one thing to have dreams, ideas, imaginings of what you can achieve – these will drive you forward. Once you have achieved what you set out to do, offered your work to the public, you have fulfilled your original contract. You cannot control the verdict which the world delivers on the results of your efforts; but you can carry your own endeavours to a conclusion.
This process of responding to feedback is one which corresponds to uniting male and female energies to the fullest achievable extent. It is this harmonisation which is the hallmark of all great human achievement, in whatever domain. The Rainring cards also express this aim as Making Sound.[8]
Whilst the stage of Achievement corresponds to self, at Communication you are reaching out to the other – this involves both male-female energy union in the work of your project, but also, correspondingly, in your personal life. This latter can express either as an internal phenomenon – perhaps drawing on the inner resources needed to accomplish this publicising phase; or as an outer one - attracting a partner; or as both.
Once again, the inner threat to this stage in your process is from sensuality. Success is an aphrodisiac. The potential danger is that the public perception of your work may be seriously harmed by gossip and scandal arising from frivolous sexual liaisons. Sexual charisma may well have been one of the motives driving your project forward. If so, you owe it to yourself to put the result beyond doubt before, as it were, cashing in your chips!
Finally, what of Communication in a more limited contest? This card says that contact is taking place with others, but on the wavelength of the throat chakra: putting forward your views, persuading, discussing. Communication, whatever its precise context, refers to this type of contact, interaction or interchange with one or more others. It could, though far less often, refer to your two inner poles ‘talking to each other’.
Divination summary
switch of orientation from self to others; publicising or marketing your work; responding to feedback; making alterations or modifications; final bringing together of constituent energies of project; enjoying the plaudits of the public, / suffering their criticism; looking forward to rest, new beginnings; handling effects of success.
80. Completion: group – conjugation (8 magenta)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Completion/80.aspx
[stage 8]
The image
The image shows a woman, probably from the country, holding in her hands a large seed or nut, a bit like that of the avocado. Two shoots are emerging from the seed. She has apparently just dug this up, as we see a small garden fork on the ground, and an earthworm which has presumably been disturbed during the digging. Superimposed upon this, in outline, are the heads of two tigers, one male and one female. All this is contained within an image whose contours mimic in shape those of the nut or seed.
The place of Completion in the Process Cycle
Completion: the high point, at which the old can go no further; completion rounds off; nothing can, or should, be added - ‘the rest is silence’
Completion, which belongs to the Conjugation group (magenta) is the final stage of the cycle, since the next and ninth stage, Crossing, is concerned with the transition between the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next one. Completion represents the furthest point that a project can reach. It is the culmination and conclusion of what has gone before. This does not, however, mean that what is to come will not feature in any way in the psychific profile of Completion.
The meaning
After the battles which you have fought in order to reach a successful conclusion, it would be good to report that at this stage you will do nothing further than bask in the glow of your achievements. Unfortunately, the cards do not quite see it that way, and they are right. Nevertheless, here you are in an overwhelmingly positive situation. To complete a project successfully, it is necessary to bring together male and female energies, which are both required to make their respective contribution. This you have been able to do. This is a time of celebration – of receiving the plaudits of the public and your peers. Not everyone’s efforts will be rewarded by an Oscar or a Nobel Prize, but this is the stage at which recognition will be accorded to your work. As we have implied already, one form of ‘reward’ for your efforts may well be sexual / romantic opportunities. This parallels the bringing together of male-female energies mentioned above.
Completion cannot but be affected by what is to come next. For example, by this point, you already know that you are reaching the moment where you and the world will move on, your work will cease to belong to now, and you will have to let go of it. You are saying goodbye to those who have accompanied you on the journey – your shared efforts, struggles, failures and successes are at an end. At the very moment when you are enjoying the fruits of your success, an inner voice is telling you that the whole saga is virtually over. By now, you find yourself starting to day-dream about what you will do next; or worrying about whether there will be a next. And something in you already wants to make contact with that bedrock of the psyche where you can find a firm foothold even in the storms that could shortly be upon you.
It is the anxiety of facing the unknown which will tempt you to try to hang on – perhaps to contact with the people you worked with, or with trivial additions or adjustments to your work which could, and indeed should be passed on to others perfectly capable of taking up the baton. To conclude, Completion is a time of joy, but a joy in which you cannot escape entirely from the shadow of what is to come next. In the end, the best way to experience Completion is to do your utmost to live it to the full, and then have the courage to walk away.
Once more, we can find more prosaic contexts for Completion – of course it will mark any circumstances where a cycle ends, be it only a miniature one lasting no more than days or indeed hours. Equally, it can refer to a situation of ending, of conclusion in your psyche, even if there is no immediate and direct external manifestation of this.
Divination summary
conclusion, ending, completion, success; public acknowledgement of achievement: prizes etc; successful bringing together of male and female energies; kudos with opposite sex[9]; joy at successful outcome; uncertainties over future; possible resistances to letting go, need to leave ex-colleagues, allow others to take over work; day-dreams of future projects; intuition of forthcoming test of Crossing.
(NOTE: where completed work has not been successful, the above will need some modifications – e.g. less reluctance to move on.)
81. Crossing: group – quest-ion? (9 grey / brown)
http://www.rainring.co.uk/Cards/Crossing/81.aspx
[stage 9]
[We have decided to withhold the detailed meanings for all the cards of group 9 until we can publish all this material commercially. We are really sorry for the inconvenience this may cause. See 9 Ebb (set 1) for details. Note however that the divination summaries for ALL the 81 web cards can be purchased via the 94stranger blog.]
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[7] If this feedback process reveals sufficiently important inadequacies, or indeed very great new possibilities for improvement, the changes to be considered could be so extensive as to amount to a whole new project, in which case a further cycle is going to be set in motion.
[8] I remind the reader that all these card portraits are based on the reading of spreads designed to elucidate their meanings.
[9] Gay/lesbian querants modify as required!
