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The Anatomy of the Octagon
The groups, and the aspects, are related to the chakras (energy centres in the body
felt and/or seen by some sensitives and clairvoyants). Communication, for example,
corresponds to the throat chakra.
Note that offline, the cards can typically be organised in two ways, either as
the eight sides of an octagon, or with a layout broadly similar to the online one,
with each card oriented north-south.
As for the aspects, each aspect or position determines what view of the relationship
is being taken: we look at it from eight different angles or perspectives, then
summarise these with the ninth.
This is not the only type of octagon spread. It is possible to change the positions
of certain cards, in order to alter the emphasis of the reading. The hard copy instructions
look at this issue in some detail. The above spread is called the bi-polar octagon
because it is based on four sets of opposites. The two fundamental ones are E-W:
Spirit-Will, and N-S: Unconscious-Conscious. The two minor ones are SW-NE: Self-Goals
(self now, self extended through time) and NW-SE: propagation non-materially (Communication)
or materially (Conjugation).
In Rainring, ‘male’ and ‘female’ typically refer to the psychic, rather than the
physical male and female. In gay / lesbian couples, we consider that this male-female
polarity is also in operation.
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