In a Swedish church named Täby, there is a fresco from the 1480s. The painting depicts a man playing chess with Death. This fresco inspired the world-renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman to create the 1957 film "The Seventh Seal." The film tells the story of a knight who delays or postpones his own death by playing chess with Death. He loses the game but manages to accomplish what he desired before he dies.
Games and fate have a peculiar way of attracting each other. Perhaps we perceive life as a game where it’s crucial to "play your cards right." We also use the expression: "it wasn't in the cards," meaning it wasn't in our fate. The chess game could just as well have been a card game. Ever since playing cards were introduced in Europe at the end of the 13th century, card games have spread like wildfire. Playing cards, Tarot cards, and Lenormand cards all have this dual function. They can be used both for playing games and as an oracle to glimpse into the future.
Throughout history, people have wanted a peek into the future. Kings, emperors, and other rulers turned to oracles when making significant decisions to gain insight into, for example, the potential outcome of a war. When facing a difficult or challenging situation, many people turn to astrology, palmistry, or oracle cards to get a glimpse into the future. The thought might be: can I change or delay my fate if I "play my cards right"?
Every person "plays cards" every day—not with death, but with life itself, as we all interact daily with life. And life itself is our surroundings, fellow humans, animals, etc. This game of fate often raises the obvious question: do humans have free will? The short answer would be, yes, humans can fundamentally do what they want, but they are bound by the consequences or reactions of their actions. These consequences or reactions are thus our fate—for better or worse.
It's tempting to conclude that life is therefore a game or perhaps more like a play, where we perform a specific role, and the cards can tell us how the future story will unfold. Do we wrest some information from fate about our future when we lay out a card spread? Can we influence our fate by gaining insight into some of the threads in the tapestry that fate weaves? These are quite natural questions.
Playing cards are a small book of wisdom with 52 unbound pages, whose order changes when we shuffle the cards. When we lay them out in a spread or pattern on the table, we gain insight into the energy or power structure we are currently in. A glimpse of a pattern of fate is revealed to us. The moment’s scenography and scenery are unveiled. The play or theatre of life emerges before us in symbolic form.
The Danish author Martinus wrote the following interesting reflections in a small book: "Humans' experience of life is really the experience of a gigantic play, a play in which we all have roles. But the peculiar thing about this great play, which we can call fate, is that we are not only role players or actors but also spectators. The play or fate play, in which we are all both actors and spectators, is an eternal scenic panorama with changing sceneries from the bloodiest and most hate-filled dramas and hellish settings to the most radiant adventures and love scenes with settings of the purest mental gold."
And Martinus continues with these reflections on the past, present, and future: "Our fate is the same as our present connection with our past and our future, and life's fate play is therefore a performance or display of these three different kinds of times. Past, present, and future are three role players in the fate play, and our own role is the present."
(Martinus, Short Book 18, The Fate Play of Life)
It’s tempting to ask the cards themselves what they can tell us, and I have chosen to ask the playing cards: what is the role of a card spread generally and objectively speaking?
The following 6 cards appeared:
The top line is the most significant - the bottom line elaborates. Note that an ace both starts and ends the spread. It's about decisions and choices. Additionally, the number 9 dominates. We have a nine of diamonds, but the sum of the five of clubs and the four of spades also equals nine. It indicates a change in the situation. It is also noticeable that there are no hearts. The red colours are represented by two diamonds. Self-insight, enlightenment, and structure are important elements. Notice further that the king of diamonds has his gaze directed at two cards: the ace of spades and the nine of diamonds. Darkness and light.
The spread can be summarized as follows: When everyday life comes out of its usual framework (five of clubs) and difficult and important decisions (ace of spades) must be made in a situation where paths and solutions can intersect (five of clubs), becoming master of one's own house (king of diamonds) can be a great help. By looking at oneself (king of diamonds + four of spades), one can gain insight and understanding of the inner forces or mental or emotional demons that block or imprison us in our own world of thought (four of spades). By bringing the worrisome thoughts into the light of day (nine of diamonds), our understanding of ourselves and our situation changes, and new solutions and opportunities emerge (ace of clubs).
Thus, a spread can, through the insight we gain, transform a worried mind into an optimistic view of the situation we asked the cards for advice on.
Cards used: © Hermès, Paris 1948