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