Divination: Crafting Your Own Oracle Deck (pt. 2)

Hello friends!

This week's divination post piggy-backs off of the themes of the last divination post. Glyphs in most any situation are a way to express an idea in a concrete fashion. They come in a dazzling array of designs and that is before you begin talking about an artistic glyph or letters from other languages. Typically they're used as a form of short hand to express the idea as quickly and simply as possible. 

Language that is written is a form of using glyphs that most people don't think about. Literacy is so common in the Western world that we have forgotten the power of words. I think people are drawn to ancient languages because they don't seem so common and that lack of commonality evokes a sense of mystery. There are many people who don't want to hear that Latin is about as complicated as using a computer generated spreadsheet program. It is tedious to learn, but once you grasp it, using it is very straight forward. The same is true for most of the languages derived from Latin. (This position has been espoused by quite a few Latin teachers and others who teach languages like Spanish that are derived from Latin. I still have nightmares of worksheets on proper verb endings in Spanish.)

When most people think of glyphs, they are thinking not about letters but artistic glyphs (which are often based upon long forgotten languages). These type of glyphs condense the idea expressed to a single image. This image can be called a pictogram, though that term is better suited for language components that have a resemblance to the idea expressed. Japanese is an excellent example of a language that uses pictograms in complex fashions. For example, the Japanese kanji for the word trouble (which I can not pronounce or spell phonetically) is a simplistic image of two women under one roof.

Artistic glyphs can be used to create cyphers and codes (the first thought that comes to mind is the infamous Zodiac killer's cypher based upon the glyphs of the zodiac). These cyphers and codes can be used like normal letters to spell out the intent of your spell work or the ideas you wish to impress upon your creative work. Or you can incorporate the use of a cypher wheel (most often seen with the English alphabet on it, it is a wheel of letters that you can draw a shape that spells your keyword). In this fashion glyphs can be turned into sigils.

Most of the glyphs on my oracle deck are artistic glyphs that serve the short hand purpose accompanied by the English word for the concept they embody. I feel that my artistic glyphs are too simplistic and lack emotional depth. Some of them I am considering completely reworking. I am debating incorporating background imagery to convey the concept of the card visually as well. This leads me to wondering if I should use traditional techniques and imagery or if I should use abstract. It's a tough debate.

Divination: Musings on Crafting Your Own Oracle Deck.

Dear Reader,

I posted a while back that I am working on making my own oracle deck. It is based off of dream images and running themes in my artwork. The preliminary deck is small symbols sketched out on 3x5 notecards with a word associated with the symbol in question at the base of the card. It is proving a bigger challenge than I anticipated. I need to flesh out the artwork because a small glyph doesn't fully capture the meaning of the image.

I am trying to decide if I am going to use paint or colored pencils on the next set of cards I make. I am a fan of both mediums. I don't think I'm brave enough to use the watercolor pencils that you can paint over. I have always had a hard time controlling where the paint goes with watercolors. Either way, the glyphs alone is not sufficient. 

Reading with the deck is pretty meh right now. I have come to the conclusion that the deck is incomplete, which means I need to work up more glyphs for more dream symbols. I can get an ok reading with the deck but it lacks detail. I want the deck to give results that are just as detailed as I can get with a tarot deck. That means tweaking it and working up different layouts for readings. Just pulling cards gives some information that is useful. Laying them out in a fashion similar to the Celtic cross just gives me a jumbled mess. So tarot spreads are not going to work for this deck.

It's a shame that my favorite craft store is going out of business. I'd pick up heavier cardstock and make the cards with that. It's not easy to shuffle a deck of notecards. They tend to bend. But, here's your update on how that project is going. Slow and steady is what's going to win the race here.

Tasseography: The Art of Reading Tea Leaves

Dear Reader,

During the era where bagged tea wasn't available, a popular hobby was tasseography. You and your querent would both have a nice cup of tea, with most of the leaves strained out as you pour. (The tea strainers from the 1800s are absolutely beautiful and have incredible variety of design.) Once your querent is done with their cup of tea, they tip it upside down and set it on the saucer. You may chat for a moment as you wait for the bits of tea leaves left behind settle into their places and the cup cools down.

Tasseography is a highly intuitive form of divination. What follows below is a list of suggested interpretations.

Anchor = Travel and Adventure
Cross = Change or a decision to be made
Balloon = Unsuccessful project
Butterfly = Good luck
Circles = Wealth
Wreath = Company of good friends
Vehicles = A distant journey
Arrows = Misfortune or news coming from the direction the arrow points

This is but a partial list and the meanings are all different in different contexts. It's almost as vague and flexible an art of divination as reading clouds.

Divination: The Tarot Deck as the Fool's Journey to Enlightenment.

 Dear Reader,

Some of you may have heard of the Tarot Deck as a pictorial story of the Fool's journey to Enlightenment. There are cycles within cycles here. The Major Arcana give the clearest pictorial story. The division of the suits, in their own spheres of influence, repeat the story. Joseph Campbell, world famous student and author regarding mythology, holds up the story of the Tarot Deck as an example of the Hero's Journey.

I can not go over the entire cycle of the Fool's Journey. It is not because I am not versed in it but because my current migraine is making typing difficult. A rough summary that I can give you is that the Fool starts out on their journey to make their fortune in the world. They encounter various figures that give them support and that gives them challenges to encourage them to grow to the next step in the journey. 

Eventually, the Fool realizes that this journey is more than a trip to seek fortune and possible fame, but a journey to find their authentic self. Like all journeys there are setbacks and delays. And like all journeys there is good fortune and finding secret ways forward. And in the end, the Fool finds they had all that they needed all along and the cycle begins again as the Fool goes looking for something new.

Divination: Tarot - the Suit of Pentacles/Coins

 Dear Reader, 

Please forgive the lack of images to show you how various decks portray this suit. That box of tarot decks is buried under crafting materials that are in various stages of use to make Yule/Nativity presents. I have a new deck but I want to get to know it before I start posting pictures and commenting on it.

The suit of Pentacles is also known as the suit of Coins. This is in part to attempt to obscure the occult element of the Tarot deck (which originated as an Italian set of playing cards for a game called Tarocchi, which you can find directions for online). It is also the highlight the influence of this suit over the sphere of finances and work. There is, however, much more to this suit.

The suit of Pentacles is also associated with physical aspects of life such as health, strength, and vitality. There are cards within the suit that mirror cards of the Major Arcana. As with all of the suits, for some reason the fifth card of the suit is the nadir of the suit and brings generally poor news. I have tried to understand this and have yet to find anything that explains it. In all of the suits, the fifth card is a card of conflict, disappointment, and regret.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the ten of Pentacles. While many point to the ten of Cups as the card of ultimate success and dream fulfillment, I have seen that the ten of Pentacles much more accurately fills this role. This, however, is a point of debate between different cartomancers. Ask five cartomancers their opinion on any of the cards in the Tarot deck and you will get six answers.

Divination: Tarot: Suit of Rods

 Left to Right: Kawaii Tarot, Holographic Rider-Waite Tarot
and the Celestial Tarot

 There are many ways to portray the suit of Rods (also known as wands). They are related to the suit of Swords but not interchangeable. Many associate the suit of Rods as an elemental Fire suit and read it as I read the suit of Swords. As you can tell from the image to the right, every tarot deck out there has their own way of portraying the suit of Rods.

As a green flourishing stem or the star topped image of the traditional magic wand, this suit is generally benevolent in nature and tend to speak of matters of work, travel, and striving for better things in life.

This suit, I associate with Air. As such, there are many cards in the suit that reflect communication. Inverted, the Rods are not as dire portents as the Swords, but like the Swords it is full of warnings of danger, miscommunication, and ill fortune.

Divination: Tarot: Suit of Swords

 Dear Reader,

The suit of swords is the one that is most frequently misrepresented in popular culture and media. People assume that the swords mean death, disaster, and destruction because they are weapons of war. While this suit has a higher likelihood of having those connotations, they can also speak of courage, cunning, and overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The trick in reading the card 'right' is understanding it's placement in a pattern (i.e. the Celtic Cross) and it's relationship to the surrounding cards and the querent.

There is some disagreement as to what Elemental force this suit is aligned with. Many people say it is the Element of Air. Others say it is the Element of Fire. I personally was trained to associate it with the Element of Fire on the basis that swords are formed out of metal worked in fire. There are ancient kennings in various languages describing the wounds created by a sword as fiery. As such, it seems most logical to me that the suit of swords are associated with fire.

Divination: Tarot - The Minor Arcana & The Suits

 Dear Reader,

After some careful consideration, I looked at my pile of tarot decks and decided that we were going to take a stroll through the minor arcana and the suits. I know that there is a lot you can pull out of these cards. Simply using the minor arcana alone (or a regular pack of playing cards) you can do a full tarot reading.

Much of what I am going to present here is going to be my basic interpretation of these cards and how they relate to each other. There are some cards that have ties to the Major Arcana, we will be exploring those too. Where most of my reading is intuitive, I do have a standard set of meanings that I work with as a base for my intuitive style. And they're a bit different from the 'standard' meanings as defined in the Rider-Waite decks.

Next week, we will start with the suits. You can condense an entire deck of tarot cards down to a single suit to do a reading. It has it's challenges but it is possible to be done. That, however, is something we are going to discuss later in the series of posts (I'll be going over different tarot spreads and how to draw information effectively from them. It'll be in a series of posts after we wander along through the suits and the minor arcana. Good things to look forward to!)

Divination: Random Thoughts.

 Dear Reader,

This fan is more than an embroidery project. It is a project begun by my late Grandmother and finished by myself. It has a strand of her hair woven into it, though you can not see where it is located. I still have the mount it and frame it, but I finished it Saturday. I could feel my Grandmother's approval and happiness with the way it turned out. The fan is a literal touch stone to her because of her work on it and the hair woven into it.

When you're starting out practicing necromancy, you need those touch stones to help you connect with the person you are attempting to contact. You also need a touch stone to bring you back to the present. They act as compass guides to bring you to where you want to be. The more intimate the touch stone is, the deeper the contact will be and the more you learn. It is the difference between a mass produced prayer card with their picture on it and a favorite pen they used to write letters. One resonates better than the other because it was an active part of their life here.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Practicing divination when your depressed is a crap shoot. Your depression may block or distort the psychic input of the session. If you're getting accurate results, depression's attendant problem, imposter syndrome, may leave you to think that you are just wrong about everything. If you are depressed and trying to do psychic work, be extra gentle on yourself. And get a second or third opinion, just to make sure that you are focusing on psychic input and not the garbage input that depression creates.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In a little retail therapy a few months back, I picked up this deck. It was made in China. These cards are the most adorable things I've seen in a while. My favorite cards are The Chariot (that cat looks like it's hyper and doesn't care about the rules of the road), the Hanged Man (I can't get over how they took a 'serious' card and made it fun with the character sticking out their tongue at you), and Death (it actually looks friendly and welcoming).

I  am still working on getting the deck properly mixed up. My hands are small and the deck is kinda large.

But that Chariot card, though, utterly hilarious when you think about cats.

Divination: Rune Study - Ehwaz/Eoh

 I apologize for how long it is has been since I posted and that I dropped the ball on the Rune Study. Today we are looking at the rune Ehwaz/Eoh. The first spelling of the rune's name comes from Proto-Germanic reconstruction by a whole heap of linguists trying to figure out just how the ancient runes sounded. The second spelling of the rune's name comes from Old English and Anglo-Saxon.

This rune translates as the word horse. While some readers would say the cognate of this rune in the tarot deck would be the Chariot, I would contend it is the six of wands (frequently depicted with a rider carrying a laurel wreath topped want and surrounded by other who carry similar wands). Horses have famously been described as 'untrustworthy at both ends and uncanny in the middle'. Still if you build a good relationship with a horse and treat them well, you'll have a boon companion for just about your whole life. (Horses can live up to 30 years. I have heard rumors of one living to 50 years, but I can't confirm or deny that one.)

The six of wands shows a victorious rider arriving with all honors. It warns, however, that these honors may vanish and the horse will no longer serve the rider if the rider is not prudent. How, one may ask, does this compare to the only existent Anglo-Saxon rune poem regarding this particular rune.

"The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.

A steed in the pride of its hoofs,

when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;

and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless."

The source of this translation is the Wikipedia link given at the beginning of the article. Comparing this rune poem to the interpretation of the six of wands, we find focus on the arrival in glory and how the horse is a good help-mate to their rider. If one is inclined to read runes as reversed, they would find the result in many ways identical to the reversed reading of the six of wands. Perhaps this is a cultural memory preserved in both systems recognizing the importance, high status, and wealth indicated by horse ownership in antiquity.

(Posted late because of my kitchen disaster) Divination: Rune Study - Gebo

 Dear Friends,

The rune Gebo (also known in some parts as Gifu) is a very important concept in ancient Northern Germanic cultures. It was, you could say, the backbone that served to help hold the culture together. Gifts were given often and served to cement social bonds. It is claimed that the All-Father advised "It is better to give too little than too much." Sounds like odd advice.

When living in a culture where gifts are given and debts can be incurred on the basis of what kind of gift is given, this is where the advice of the All-Father is actually really smart. In the ancient lands of old, visitors were given gifts of new clothes (and towels if they were wet from the weather). This was not because of the fact that the host was so delighted to see them but because it was a big part of basic hospitality. At the minimum, a poor host would give their guests food and drink.

These gifts put the guests into debt to their hosts, ensuring that they would behave properly while during their stay. A similar weight was on gifts given as part of marriage contracts between two families. (Mind you, during this era if a man assaulted a woman, she was free to cut off the offending part and nail it to the wall as a warning to others. Divorce was also a thing.)

Peace gifts were also a thing to in this era. They were given to cement the bonds between rulers. To refuse a peace gift was almost tantamount to declaring war.

When interpreting this rune, there are two things I keep in mind. This is one of the irreversible runes. That which is a blessing to one person may be a bane to another. (Think of the infamous white elephant story.) The most important thing for interpreting this rune is context. If it is in near proximity to runes known for benevolent influence, it is safe to assure that the gift coming is a good one. If it is in near proximity to runes known for malevolent influence, the gift coming should be handled with great caution and awareness that it might be a poison pill in disguise.

Divination: Rune Study - Fehu

 Dear Reader,

This week's Rune is Fehu. It is associated with cattle and moveable wealth (i.e. money). It is popularly considered one of Freyr's runes. The rune poems are of mixed perspectives on this rune's meaning. The Icelandic and Old Norwegian poems speak of wealth as being a source of strife within a group of people. The Anglo-Saxon poem speaks of wealth as being a comfort and something to be shared freely to retain one's good name.

Fehu is popularly considered Freyr's rune but there's not a whole lot of hard evidence pointing in this direction. This appears to be a wholly modern convention. Modern changes to rune meanings, however, happen as language evolves. Some changes are good, some are not so good (see the Nazi influence upon the rune Algiz or Sowilo).

In most readings, this rune discusses financial situations. In a direct/upright orientation, it speaks of positive financial implications. Depending on how it falls in a reading, it may indicate a financial windfall that will be beneficial to the querent. In an indirect/reversed orientation, it speaks of challenging financial implications. Again, interpreting this rune in context of the runes around it, it can speak of financial hardship, increased expenses, or lost money. Typically, if Fehu pops up inverted with the rune Isa, it speaks of being stuck in a low income situation for a protracted period of time.

Divination: Rune Study - Peorth

 Dear Reader,

There's some debate as to if this rune represents the dice gaming bag (mine pictured to the right with the rune card) or the birthing bench. In either case, this is a card of chance. Depending on how it falls in a reading, it can indicate high stakes (like what you find in birth) or random results (like what you find from a bag full of dice). Peorth is mentioned in only one rune poem, indicating that it is something pleasant. The debate about the birthing bench versus the dice bag is a modern one (within the last twenty years, as best I can tell).

In the direct orientation, I interpret it as a positive indicator that what ever risk the querent is undertaking has the potential for success and lucky outcomes. In the reversed (inverted) orientation, the rune can be a warning against undertaking the risky activity. Much of this is influenced by how the rune falls with others. For example if Peorth falls reversed with Boerc in direct orientation, the querent is looking at a situation where the gamble will have a positive result but it will require some sacrifice and enduring a challenging, random experience that comes with it.

~*~*~*~*~*~
Yes, I am a rpg nerd of the old school variety. We've got a 1 which indicates a critical failure in your roll and a 20 that indicates a critical success. Peorth is the random chance that leaves you somewhere in that range between success and failure. It will never be fully explained because it is random. But, if you look at chaos theory, randomness is a good thing and can lead to highly interesting results.

Divination: Rune Study: Sowilo

 Dear Reader,

The rune of the Sun is a problematic rune because of the Nazis. They reinterpreted this rune to mean 'victory' and used it in the emblem of the infamous SS troops. The concept of Sowilo as the rune of victory has lingered in various divination practices. I do not believe that the rune of the Sun is a rune of victory.* (Though in my book on divination, I did note this interpretation because it is shockingly common despite the source.)

The Sun in Germanic and Nordic cultures is a source of comfort, joy, and a sign of Divine will. The existing rune poems from antiquity all agree upon this. Interestingly, the Anglo-Saxon Sigel and Younger Futhork Sol variant of this rune can not be reversed. It is considered to be the direct opposition of the rune Isa. This makes sense when one considers the climates these runes come from and the roles played by that which these runes represent. Sowlio could be argued to be the spark that melted the ice and freed Ymir, Burri, and Aldhumba. 

Sowilo is a rune of primordial light and warmth. It is a rune of hope and liberation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
* I do not believe that a single rune indicates victory but rather a configuration of various runes, depending upon the lay out and the situation being examined. Even Nyd can potentially indicate a victory of sorts.

Divination: Rune Study - Tiwaz

 Dear Reader,

This is one of the runes directly associated with a deity. Tyr or Tiw is one of the oldest recognized deities within the Norse pantheon. He is known as the Sky-Father, the god of War, and the god of Justice. He is most famous for having his right hand bitten off by the wolf Fenris when he was bound by the Aesir through trickery.

Unfortunately, this rune has a strong modern association with Neo-Nazis and neo-facism. There is an effort to 'take back' this rune from these groups, but like all grass roots efforts, it is taking time and much of the work is happening behind the scenes. Tyr is a god of warfare and is strongly associated with the protection of warriors. It is for this reason that the rune was taken as part of the regimental logo of the 32nd SS Volunteer Grenadier Division. The Nazi appropriation of the Runic system has left something of a bitter taste in the mouths of all who encounter runes, leading to suspicion when they appear as part of a tattoo or some other form of bodily ornamentation.

One must remember, however, that Tyr is a god of justice and likely cursed the Nazis for their use of his rune in that fashion (and said curse likely continues upon others who do the same). Tyr is also a god of sacrifice for the greater good, which one does not find extolled in the communities that use the runes as short hand for white supremacist ideology. In my experience, Tyr is a humble deity who is very approachable, much like Forseti (another deity of justice). From what I have seen, in dealing with justice situations, Tyr handles the adversarial situations (such as criminal justice cases) where Forseti handles the situations where negotiation and mediation are necessary (such as civil cases).

When this rune appears in a reading, it can indicate a number of things. Upright, it can indicate victory over a current conflict, success in legal matters, and a just outcome in a difficult situation. Reversed, it speaks of sacrifice to maintain status quo, ill turn of luck in legal matters, and a possible miscarriage of justice. This is one of the runes that if pulled for a yes/no question gives a very definite answer. Upright the answer is yes, reversed the answer is a hard no.

Divination: Rune Study - Hagalaz

 Dear Reader,

I first want to apologize for how long it's been since I said I was going to start posting again. The last few weeks have been nothing but chaos. It kind of seems fitting because the next rune is Hagalaz, which is associated with chaos by many diviners. The rune card just sat there lurking beside my laptop as things like my camera quit working for no reason, my allergies suddenly became so bad I thought I had Covid (I didn't, thank goodness!), and my kids went on break from school earlier than was printed in the school calendar. (The school calendar has some misprints in it, like the surprise superintendent's conference day last month.) It's been an interesting time.

Hagalaz translates to the word 'hail'. This is not the greeting but the ice that falls out of the sky and flattens your field of wheat (or busts your car's windshield). Wikipedia has the different variants of how this rune is formed on their page. The rune poems all agree that this rune is discussing hail. In agrarian communities, hail is a big pain in the neck. It can ruin a field of crops, damage equipment, and (if you're caught out in it) injure you or your livestock. This rune is one of the more negative ones in the entire system. It is tied with Nyd and Isa for the amount of misery it predicts.

Hagalaz is also one of the runes that can not be reversed. As one person said: the opposite of chaos is more chaos, not order. Depending on the placement of this rune in a reading, it can mean an immediate challenge that must be endured or a protracted period of difficulty. When you are pulling runes on a yes/no question and this one pops up, the answer to your question is a hard no (this is also true for the runes Nyd and Isa). Either way, this rune portents challenges and hardship where ever it falls. It is my experience that Hagalaz's challenges can not be averted or mitigated as those predicted by Nyd or Isa, only endured.

Divination: Rune Study - Jera

 Dear Reader,

This week's rune is about a week late, if we're going to be honest. Jera (Wikipedia entry at this >Link<) is associated with seasons, specifically the harvest season and the time frame of a year. It is positively aspected and can not be inverted. Jera speaks of prosperity, wealth, and a good year.

The rune itself is one of the few Elder Futhork runes that are not connected into a single glyph. It goes through some transformation in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork and in the Younger Futhork where it becomes a glyph that is entirely connected. Details about these transformations can be found at the Wikipedia entry referenced above.

This is among the runes associated with the god Freyr. It is pretty much always a positive rune no matter where it falls in a reading. The runes around it may dim some of that positivity (like paring Jera with Nyd may speak of a less than ideal harvest), but it still has that positive element.

Divination: Rune Study - Wynn

This week you could say that we are looking at the polar opposite of last week's rune: Wynn. Wynn is found in the Anglo-Saxon alphabet. It is also known as Wunjo, when found in the Elder Futhork. This rune means joy or bliss. It translates to the letter 'W' in the modern English alphabet. 

In the direct orientation, it speaks of joy and happiness. In the reversed orientation, it speaks of delayed delights. Occasionally, a reversed Wynn speaks of miss opportunities for joy. It really depends on how it falls in conjunction with other runes and the method you use in laying them out.

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem is the only one for this rune. For reasons that I can not decipher, this rune dropped out of the other runic alphabets. In the Gothic alphabet there is a letter that has a similar name but a different appearance. One would suspect this was an evolution of the rune over time but this is merely the speculation of a lay-woman, not a scholar of linguistics. Wikipedia has an interesting article on this rune. 

Divination: Rune Study - Nyd

 Dear Reader,

This week we are looking at a rune that is particularly influential during this season and during our times right now. This rune is known as Nyd, Naudiz, Nuad, or Nuaðr. It's name translates to need or distress. The rune poems on Wikipedia all agree upon this translation and present in some variation that need/distress is baneful in some fashion. It is associated with the letter N.

Nyd is one of the easiest runes to interpret. It simply means that there is a need or some form of distress in the picture. In an upright orientation (as seen in the picture above), it indicates a less dire situation than would be implied by a reversed orientation of this rune. If you are asking a yes/no question of the runes and you pull this rune, the answer is a very firm 'no' and a warning not to continue upon that path which has lead you to ask the question.

Nyd is frequently used in modern magic as a short hand for binding someone because one of its meaning is constraint. I, personally, am reluctant to use it in this fashion because this is a rune of deep power and grief. 

Divination: Rune Study - Thorn

 Dear Reader,

This week we are looking at the rune known variously as Thurisaz, Thorn, and Thurs. The letter combination associated with it is 'th' and the sound of 'th' as in the beginning of the word 'thing'. Many people of the contemporary sort associate this rune with Thor. I personally do not. It may have become clear as we have worked through the runes, I don't assign gods and goddesses to most of the runes. Other diviners do so, but only if the rune is explicitly about that deity, I see it as a more open ended proposition. 

The rune poems that reference Thorn under the name Thurs or Thurisaz are considered to refer to giants (jotuns). They speak of giants as being the bane of women and the cause of misfortune among men. The rune poem that reference Thorn under the name given here simply describes the unpleasantness of literal thorns. In all cases, Thorn is described as baneful and unpleasant, at best. These descriptions lead me to be disinclined to associate this rune with Thor, who is a friend of humanity and the Defender of Midgard.

In the direct association, Thorn speaks of obstacles and difficulties. These are passive resistance against the querent's goals, much like the thorns on a rose bush is a passive defense against that which would take the blossom or the fruit. In the reversed (upside down) orientation, Thorn speaks of more severe restrictions and challenges to activity. This rune equates directly to the five of Staves in the tarot deck, speaking of struggles that can either bring about edification and wisdom as one defeats the challenges (direct orientation) or difficulties that bring about suffering, misery, and blockages on one's path to their goals (indirect orientation).