Ksenia Elisseeva - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...

“Reading” the cards takes place in this sequence: initially the cards that the
person has “on his heart” are read (at first 2-3, then 4-7), then come “what was”,
“what is”, and “what will be”. The order of the cards within a group can be
significant for all groups except the center. The positions of the cards in relation
to the center, the person, are important because reading takes place from the
center to the periphery in a sequence such as 1-17-16 or 1-(13, 14)-15. The
person “acquires” the last card by and through the intermediate card or cards.
For example, if card 16 stands for the journey and card 17 is an individual, then
the person whose fortune is being told turns out to be on a journey because of
this individual; if, on the contrary, 16 is an individual and 17 is the journey, then
this individual will come on a journey to the person whose fortune is being told.
Clearly the sentences, “a meeting due to money” and “money due to a
meeting”, have different meanings. In short, the syntax in reading all eight
peripheral groups requires a “direct” order of words from the center to the last
card and does not permit inversion. The order of the cards is neutral only in
isolated cases; for example, 9♣ + K♣ + Q♣ signify an affectionate attitude
toward the person whether they are in extreme or middle position. As a result, a
structure is created in which the sum, so to speak, of simple elements
generates a complex whole whose overall meaning is changed substantially by
varying correlations of elements.
After the reading of the entire distribution of cards comes the divination of
“what remains to the person”, what the final result of this or another period of
the person's life will be. It is also possible to make subsequent distributions of
the cards on themes such as “what will soothe”, “for you”, “for the home”, and
“for the heart”. Only very primitive sentences are created by these divinations,
which are limited in number to between three and nine cards, together with the
predivination that determines the person's card by the paired card “next to” it.
Therefore we can omit them from consideration without detriment, and
henceforth shall only consider the basic distribution of cards.
Reading this distribution generates an entire “history” of the person's life
and thus creates a plot. There are an extraordinarily great, though finite,
number of plots.
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