PCO: Levels of temptation

The following post was a part of a discussion that happened in the Playing Card Oracles Discord Server a while ago, and I felt like sharing it here because it ended up being an interesting analysis of the cards. In the PCO method, we have three different cards that could describe a situation in which we are being tempted or seduced somehow: the 3♥, the 5♥ and the 8♥.

In the Alchemy Edition (now published as The Doors of Somlipith), there is still the fourth possible card, the 9♠ (Dracula) but, in my opinion, this card is a lot more about being trapped and preyed upon than truly being 'seduced' (unless it has a few strong Hearts cards nearby). I love Gary Oldman's alluring version of Dracula in Coppola's 1992 film as much as the next person, but do I think a vampire would enchant us only so far as it took to sink his fangs in our neck.

But back to the tempting cards in the Heart suit. The first card is the 3♥, called The Clutch in the PCO and The Fortress of Desire in the DOS. Treys are always about a third element coming up where before there were two – either in harmony or conflict. In the previous card, the 2♥, you have two beings tied by the threads of desire and emotion (PCO) or a chalice of emotion from which two can drink, getting mixed with each other in the process (DOS). In the 3♥, a third element appears: it can be third party that causes emotional doubt and forces you to make an emotional choice, or a situation that promises to fulfil all your desires, but at the cost of betraying the vow you took in the 2♥.

Ultimately, both versions of the 3♥ are cards of "small temptation", in the sense that a third element comes along and tests the connection established in the 2♥. However, it differs from the 5♥ (Fata Morgana, in both versions) because it's not about an illusion – you are not being "deluded" or unable to see clearly. In the 3♥, the challenge is a bit more mundane: choosing to attach yourself emotionally to a person or a situation means forgoing a similar attachment to the many other possibilities still out there. But these possibilities will still be "out there" and from time to time they will test your resolve to stay in the path you first chose or not.

In the 5♥, one is unable, or unwilling, to see reality for what it is. That is why it's a more challenging card, because people have a hard time giving up the illusions that sustain them emotionally. There is no such thing in the 3♥, as reality is usually more or less clear: a third element has come to upset the initial balance of the Deuce. It beckons. Will you follow it or not?

In my opinion, the choice aspect is more evident in the 3♥ than in the 5♥. In the Fata Morgana, the spell is already at work, you have been ensnared at some level and will have to make a painfully conscious effort to overcome the illusion. There is also a chance that the "temptation" at hand is already causing certain disturbances in your life, as the 5s in general represent instability and a lack of direction.

And then we have the 8♥, called The Garden in the original PCO and The Faun in the DOS. The 8s are cards that usually point to already structured situations so, as far as the 8♥ is concerned, the choice has already been made. You have already followed the faun into the forest, or the serpent into the garden. There are not more choices to be made now, only consequences to be reckoned with.

This is why the 8s are considered "karmic" cards. In the case of the 3s and the 5s, the situations are still in the making, and the building blocks can be changed and adjusted. With the 8s, well, you have to deal with the reality you were building all along, whether you meant it or not. Furthermore, the 8 is an even number, which emphasises the idea that whatever "temptation" the 8♥ might be pointing at is probably something already established, a 'habit' so to speak.

Does that mean the 8♥ is a bad card? Not at all. The 8♥ is a Dionysian card of mischief, celebration and peak experiences. It symbolises situations in which we may be tempted to cross certain lines, causing an upheaval in the more conservatives facets of our lives. If we can take the heat, then it can be a very transformative card.