In a survey format, people were asked to complete a sentence with the first thing that popped into their minds. From this, I used a combination of tarot and astrology, and a little intuition, to formulate a description of a small part of their life.
This is the method I devised:
The Questions
The questions, twelve in number, were loosely based on the twelve houses of astrology: self, values and possessions, communications, foundation, fun and games, strategy, the other (the opponent), inheritance and legacy, wisdom, travel, friends, self-help and healing. The survey was for fun, so not *too* much effort was put into astrological accuracy. The questions were:
1. The Star Trek character I identify most with is...
2. My all-time favourite Star Trek CCG card is...
3. The best gaming advice I ever received...
4. The card I would most like to see burn is...
5. I played my first Star Trek CCG game...
6. One of the cards I reach for first when composing any deck is...
7. In the last Star Trek CCG game I played, my opponent...
8. I keep my cards...
9. My favourite Star Trek quote is...
10. The mission I would most like to virtually visit is...
11. The card I dislike most when it is played against me is...
12. But I have learned to counter that move...
Obviously the first question, the one of self, asks the respondent to choose a symbol of self-identity, and the second question is intended to have them state something of value, something important to them. The third question looks to see what communications stick most in the memory. The fourth house is the foundation, and in this instance I chose to emphasize a psychological aspect.
The fifth house is the house of fun and games, so that was the easiest question: in general, we all began in this game looking for fun. It was intended that the question spark a memory of the fun-quality of that first game. The sixth house is analytical, so I chose a simple strategy question, and the seventh house represents "the other" --partners, husband/wife, enemies --in this case, obviously the CCG player's opponents. The eighth house looks at what you will pass on to following generations, so I devised a question about how well the cards will be kept.
Looking back on it now, I see the 10th house with a 9th house value (travel), but a bit of randomness couldn't possibly hurt this process, and all worked well. The 9th house is study and travel, and the 10th house is traditionally "the caretaker", parents/guardians who look after us, or those in authority. If I could go back in time and do it again, I would attempt to devise a question about Decipher. :-)
In looking for a 9th house quote, I hoped to see past the words, to a glimmer of the wisdom the respondent displayed. The travel question takes us away in the direction of hopes and wishes. The eleventh house is the people we bond to in groups: friends, relatives and hobby buddies. The question I chose is intended to reveal a wee bit about the type of card that could make a barrier of ill feelings. The twelvth house takes matters into our own hands; it is where we act to solve our problems.
The Cards
Originally, that was all the survey was going to be: create a response based on interpreting the survey responses in light of these meanings. I soon realised though that I would have to be a bit more clever if I was going to give an interpretation that was in any way fun. So I pulled out a deck of cards and pondered how I could use them. A tarot deck (minor arcana) has 4 suits of 14 cards each; however, a regular deck of playing cards, with 4 suits of 13 cards, can utilize tarot meanings. I began by drawing a card for each question in the survey, and let it guide me in interpreting the responses. I drew one additional card, from the entire deck, to give an over-all feel to the 'reading'.
As an example I'll go through one of the responses, that of Dr. Bob.
| 1. The Star Trek character I identify most with is..."Riker. People keep telling me I look like him" |
5 Diamonds - material loss/failure |
| 2. My all-time favourite Star Trek CCG card is..."Braindrain" |
8 Clubs - dangerous risk/haste |
| 3. The best gaming advice I ever received..."try everything once, it won't work twice." |
6 Hearts - memories/talk |
| 4. The card I would most like to see burn is..."Wesley Crusher. Nothing if not a traditionalist." |
10 Spades - ruin/grief |
| 5. I played my first Star Trek CCG game..."on my girlfriend's kitchen table." |
K Diamonds - protective |
| 6. One of the cards I reach for first when composing any deck is... |
3 Hearts - commitment/celebration |
| 7. In the last Star Trek CCG game I played, my opponent..."won, and hated it." |
8 Spades - crisis/guilt |
| 8. I keep my cards..."well protected but untidy." |
A Diamonds - wealth |
| 9. My favourite Star Trek quote is..."'Red, white and blue, unlike the French who have them in the proper order: blue, white and red.' (Picard)" |
6 Spades - journey/insight |
| 10. The mission I would most like to virtually visit is..."Iconia Investigation (if the artifact was there like in the show)" |
A Spades - karma |
| 11. The card I dislike most when it is played against me is..."Revolving Door" |
Q Hearts - loyal |
| 12. But I have learned to counter that move..."Wrong Door" |
2 Spades - harmony/stalemate |
Notice this will allow me to apply an interpretation even to the question that was not answered. But still, this was entirely too much work. One more thing was needed: a book that actually did reasonable sounding interpretations for me.
Planets in Houses
Fortunately I had such a book in my astrological collection, called Planets in Houses. This book is part of a series of astrology guide books that offer up 'generic' interpretations for various astrological configurations. What this meant for me was a means to use it as an oracle using values I assigned, specifically the card pip values (A = 1 through Queen = 12) and the responses to the survey. King cards (a 13) were considered a "dud" and I effectively ignored that survey response.
The first step is to determine a planetary energy particular to the survey respondent. This is relatively simple based on the survey answers, and in particular the first question that gets the respondent to choose a character symbolic of themselves. For Riker, the planet Mars is appropriate, he being a man of action, self-assured and military. (Note, even though Dr. Bob specified that he chose Riker because of physical characteristics, it is the symbol's character that I use to determine an appropriate planet, not the respondent's character, which because of the anonymity of the Internet oftentimes I cannot know.)
So using the planet Mars and the Planets in Houses book as an oracle, and using the question number as a 'base' house and the card value as the number of houses variant, I looked up the generic meaning of that configuration and filtered it through the meaning of the card.
Keeping the personality of the first question symbol in mind, I created an interpretation that seemed to fit.
The generic entries looked like this:
|
"5th to the 1st - You insist on the right to assert yourself when you get the impulse.
You don't feel you have to explain your actions to anyone, and you don't." "8th to the 2nd - You take on more responsiblity than you can handle. You shouldn't borrow money except as a last resort." |
I turned that into, "Dr. Bob is assertive and self-assured, and often takes on more responsibility than he can handle." This fit the symbolism of the 5 of Diamonds card, with the possibility of "failure" hanging overhead. The second line was, "You should never borrow money, Bob, except as a last resort." This fit with the symbolism of the 8 of Clubs, which was "dangerous risk." And so on. I also tried to relate each reading to the game, since the bulletin board I was posting on was topic-specific.
That's Ocampan Astrology, in a nutshell.
Dr. Bob's Inkblot, and Elim's interpretation.