Spring Equinox: The Flight of the Plumed Serpent (Part II)

I would like to delve more deeply into the reading I did for the Spring Equinox, The Flight of the Plumed Serpent. Here are some additional insights I got from it:

• The majority of the cards are low-numbered. I interpret this as meaning that the coming season will not be about huge changes or accomplishments, but rather about minding the 'little things' and making small chess moves that later on might evolve into bigger, bolder steps.

• The fact that the majority of the cards are also even-numbered reinforces the idea above. With a lot of even cards, one can expect a tendency towards passivity and receptivity, not movement. The satisfaction with the current state of affairs is greater than the pressure to change.

• The elements also move like a stair: we begin with a lot of Hearts (Water) then go through a long Diamonds/Club phase (Fire and Air) and end the season with a Spade card. So, the season will begin with a focus on the emotions, possibly coupled with the desire to retreat in order to deal with these inner tides. Then a spark of fire (appropriately represented by the A♦, Ignita) will generate an increase in vitality, which will help inspire the mind and the spirit. After that, we reach the only Spade (Earth) card, which hints that the visible results of the process will only manifest at the end of the season.

• We have three Deuces (2♥, 2♦, 2♣) in this spread, which is also very meaningful. The number 2 represents the coming together of two individuals, concepts, or things. It seeks harmony and cooperation, and is more about maintaining than about starting. Also, it is a number of indecision. All this helps corroborate the 'signs' previously described, that the season's journey will be more about harmonising and finding one's way than about implementing big changes.

Spring Equinox: The Flight of the Plumed Serpent

Yesterday he had the Spring Equinox here in the Southern Hemisphere, which is an important transitional moment of the year, when day and night are equal in length. Aside from the usual ritual to celebrate the new season, I also tried one of the new layouts taught by Ana Cortez in The Doors of Somlipith, which is called The Flight of the Plumed Serpent.

The goal of this spread is to provide a 'map' for the coming season, with each card representing a period of roughly 10 days. As Ana Cortez describes in her book:

"At the completion of your time with the Plumed Serpent, you will possess a road map of evolution for the coming season, along with two personal 'gods' to remain as guides. This consists of nine cards from the Lower Kingdom and two cards from the Upper Kingdom. The nine cards are stepping-stones that work in synchronization with your Time Gates. The two 'gods' are aspects of your own self to aspire to and learn from." (p. 267)

So, this spread is not focused on results, but rather on evolution and one's personal journey. The question to be asked is always the same: What is my journey as a being who wishes for personal evolution, and what do I need to know about this journey?

One unique attribute of this spread is that you have to use the whole deck in it, but you only read the cards related to the season starting at the moment of the reading. For this reason, The Flight of the Plumed Serpent can only be done during Solstices and Equinoxes, precisely at the 'gate' points that separate the seasons.

Here is what my Plumed Serpent looked like:

I have no intention of analysing this huge spread all at once, and I am sure (or, at least, I hope) that I will return to it many times until the next Solstice. But here are some initial key-points that got my attention:

• The rulers presiding at the pyramid crown, Sol (K♣) and Dango (J♦) are of complementary suits, but lack in female energy. I feel like they represent the need to develop more active qualities in myself (I have been quite 'slow' since my graduation) and also point to working to develop and heal 'maleness', both inside and outside myself.

• Sol (K♣) and Dango (J♦), due to their age and hierarchical differences, also give me a 'mentorship' vibe. The J♦ can be a bit of a wild card sometimes, but the K♣, with his calm and rational demeanour, can help cool Dango down a bit, and inspire him to act more sensibly. Meanwhile, Dango brings vitality and action to Sol's life, putting in practice what his 'mentor' teaches. I wonder if this points to such a relationship appearing in my life, one way or another.

• All four suits are present, which shows that in the coming season there will be opportunities to balance all different aspects of the self. But the suits of the rulers – Diamonds and Clubs – are, curiously, the ones with the most cards, suggesting that this particular leg of the journey will focus on mental, communicational, creative and possibly financial issues.

• We have a sequence of Diamond cards: the A♦, 2♦ and 3♦ (although this last one is separated from the other two by the 9♣ and the 2♣). Again, I have the impression there is an ascending movement in the areas under Ignita's rulership: money, self-esteem, vitality, creativity and ambitions in general. The presence of the A♦ only intensified this.

• The first step of the pyramid is the 4♣ (East Wind), which… totally suits my moment right now. I have been living in the 4♣ since my graduation ceremony last August. My life, which had been a flurry of activity for the last two years, suddenly screeched into a halt… and I don't feel ready yet for my next step (because I am not sure what it is). The 4♣ is also about procrastination which, I won't lie, I have been guilty of lately. So, this journey starts on a slow note, but promises to pick up after a while.


More to come on this spread… I am nowhere near done with it!

Time-keeping with the Playing Cards

The Playing Card Oracles method has always been deeply connected to the Lunar calendar, as evident in its very structure of 52 cards. Each card represents one week or seven days of the year, and the four cards used in the Present Spread (now called Window Into The Now or WITN) make one 28-day lunar cycle. Together, all 52 cards make the 13 lunar cycles of the year.

Now, one of the developments brought forth by The Doors of Somlipith is the deck's connection to the Solar calendar. The seed has always been there, in the way the four suits represent the fours seasons, each having 13 cards (which is the same amount of weeks each season has). But the DOS elaborates that idea with the revelation of the 36 Gates, which I will briefly explain below.

According to the DOS book "each of the 36 Lower Kingdom cards represents 10° (or approximately 10 days) of the solar cycle to make the yearly 360° solar circle" (p. 192). The Lower Kingdom consists of the pip cards, while the Upper Kingdom comprises the court cards. So, each of the pips is connected to a 10-day period, and the suit is determined by the astrological sign in which the Sun is at the moment. The pip itself depends on the modality of the current Sun sign, in accordance to the following rule:

Cardinal Signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) = Ace, 2, 3
Fixed Signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) = 4, 5, 6
Mutable Signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) = 7, 8, 9

So, if today is 13 September 2024, the Sun is currently in Virgo, meaning that the current Gate is a Spade card of number 7, 8 or 9. We are currently entering the final third of the Sun's journey through Virgo, so our pip number is most likely a 9, which makes the 9♠ (Dracula) our Guardian for the current Gate.

But, if that mental gymnastics feels like too much work, you can always consult the neat little table Ana gives us in her book:

I really love this expansion of The Doors of Somlipith to include the Solar aspects in the calendar calculations. And the possibilities are many! You can use the Gate card as a timing device during a reading, by checking what date/Gate corresponds to the top card of the spread (an easier variation of the Cat Spread). You can see how your daily or weekly cards relate to the current Guardian, adding depth to your routine readings. And, finally, the Gate can be taken into consideration when doing magic – does its Guardian help or hinder your intention?

I am particularly interested in understanding how we fare under more challenging Gates – like Dracula, the current one! No one can say the 9♠ is an easy card… yet, if we are to work with the 36 Gates, we need to contend with his formidable presence! And in this challenge lies the possibility of broadening our own understanding of the cards themselves.

Furthermore, when working with the 36 Gates, Ana suggests that we ask ourselves the following questions (p. 199-201):

    Question number 1: What is happening in my life right now that relates to this card intelligence?
    Question number 2: What is it about the current Guardian that I want to learn or use for my own life?
    Question number 3: What do I not want or need from this Guardian in my life right now? In other words, what is this Guardian helping me to be aware of as potential pitfalls?
    Question number 4: How do I see the current Guardian in its triplicity, and what powers or insight can I gain from the additional Guardian influences for my life now?

…thus making the Solar calendar, together with the cards, a tool of self-awareness and self-transformation. Seriously, the sheer richness of the Playing Cards will never cease to astound me!

The Doors of Somlipith © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman