Fugdale’s Funhouse

As an avid collector of Tarot Decks, I’ve attempted a few times to create my own deck.

In this post I have included several cards from my first attempt at designing a deck. The GAMES tarot is based on popular board games. I had the entire deck mapped out, but after working on several cards I realized my graphic quality was too low for decent printing and I also had a difficult time locating source material to use in the images. I abandoned the idea. But here, saved for posterity, I present all the cards I completed.

Six Cups - Candyland

The Six of Cups represents innocence, happiness and nostalgia. Candyland represents the innocent age of childhood, with soft bright colors, candy and plastic cups.

Six Swords - Chess

The 6 of Swords represents science, logical thinking, research, mastery. Chess, a complex and classical game of skill, requires logical thinking and mastery. The King rises out of a checkmate, and in doing so rises above the situation through the skills of his mind.

Death, represented by the Skeleton, holds out a gentle hand to catch the child falling off the slide. In this card, death is an ending and a beginning at the same time. Life has many endings and beginnings (represented by the chutes and ladders). Death isn’t final, it is just a transformation, set-back or progression. Physical death comes to everyone eventually and Death himself treats all new arrivals with the same care as the others.

Princess of Swords - Clue

The Princess of Swords is a smart cookie. She dresses in scarlett and solves the crime presented in the game of Clue. (You will notice her hand holding the cards). She herself is also the perpetrator of the crime. Her method of murder is the sword of the mind (the dagger). And the location of the crime is the library, where the Princess is most comfortable perusing tomes.

The Tower - Jenga

Jenga represents the seemingly strong tower of the ego that everyone eventually builds to protect themselves from the pains of the world. Every now and then the ego gets too big and the tower must eventually fall. Look at this time from a detached point of view as if you are not the tower but the one who placed the last brick before the fall. Adjust to your new surroundings and start to build the tower up again from the bottom

Fool - Life

The Game of Life represents the path we all must follow and like the Fool, we start off alone and with a zest for all things new. We will meet ourselves along the way. The wheel of life turns in the middle and determines our path. The dog from monopoly tugs at our bumper warning us of the cliff we are about to drive off of.

The King of Disks, represented by the Monopoly Man wanders across his domain of entrepreneurship and wealth. He is a master at making money and dealing with business and real estate. A rainbow of wealth flies over his head representing all his achievements in life.

Six Discs - Trivial Pursuit

The Six of Discs represents stability and balance. Like the spokes of the wheel on the board of Trivial Pursuit and the perfectly balanced slices of pie in each piece. It also represents a sense of accomplishment and pride as the winning piece in the center demonstrates

This card represents synchronicity, partnership and interconnectivity. The twisted bodies entangle and become like one unit, exposing the two left over circles. This game requires a team effort and a close bond in order to play and there is a delicate balance between all involved in order for the group to stay standing.

That’s all I have. I hope you enjoy the cards. Give me your feedback.

You can see more fun stuff at my site www.dougfahl.com.

Visualize the traditional Celtic Cross Spread in 5 different dimensions. This way of focusing on the spread helps me give more detailed readings. I hope it helps you as well.

This image shows a typical layout for the Celtic Cross Spread. The first part of the spread looks like a cross (cards 1-6) and the second part looks like a staff (cards 1-7).

For those interested in string theory or quantum mechanics, I’ve developed a way of visualizing this spread in 5 different dimensions.

Instead of thinking of the first half of the spread as a cross, think of it as a 3 dimensional orb. The center point of the orb is the cross formed by cards 1 and 2.

Flatland - Length and Width

Card one represents the longitude and card 2 represents the latitude. You can think of them as width and length. Think of all the various states of human existence as lying on a flat 2 dimensional map. Cards one and two will place you on the map. Card one will line up vertically on one of 78 columns and card two will line up horizontally on one of 78 columns. This coordinate is the subject’s situation in life right now. Card one covers the subject and card 2 crosses the subject creating a coordinate.

In a 2 dimensional world, this is all you would need to determine your present state. But we are three dimensional beings, therefore we need to add another dimension.

3D - Adding the Dimension of Height

Now we can ad a third dimension with cards 3 and 5. A dimension of up/down or of height. Card 3 represents your inner state–the unconscious influences, what lies below the surface. Card 5 represents your guiding state–the super conscious influences or what lies above the surface. Both of these cards color and influence your current state (the coordinate created with cards 1 and 2). You can interpret the center coordinate through the ‘height’ filter to determine your coordinate of consciousness.

4th Dimension - Adding a Time Line

Let’s now move to the 4th dimension–that consisting of Time. Your current state and how your levels of consciousness effect it are continually moving along on the arrow of time, which is indicated by cards 4 and 6. Card 4 represents your past and influences which brought you to your current state. Card 6 represents your future influences–the state you are moving towards. As you visualize this line of cards, the center coordinate represents the ‘now’ state in time.

Humans living in 3 dimensional space tend to visualize time as moving only forward, but if you pull yourself out into the 5th dimension and look at the 4th dimensional time as a single unit, you will realize that the Now state is only one slice of the entire entity of the subject’s life.

The 5th Dimension - Inner/Outer

Now we come to the 5th dimension. This dimension is really a branching off of the timeline represented by cards 4, 1, 2, and 6. It is outside that timeline, but still effecting everything. It does not intersect with any of the coordinates of the orb section because it is outside that dimensional realm, but still specifically tied to the coordinates. Think of the orb and all it’s various states throughout the timeline of the 4th dimension as a single unit. From the 5th dimension we can take this entity and offer advice. You can visualize the 5th dimension as one of inner/outer. Exploring the situation from a larger perspective.

What do the cards of the staff mean?

Card 7 represents the subject of the orb coming from the center outward in all directions. (How the subject views the situation). Card 8 represents the subject of the orb moving inward from all directions toward the center. (How the subjects environment effects him). Card 9 represents a ‘key’, a ‘hint’, a unifying theme, a solution to any puzzles present in the spread. And Card 10 represents a possible outcome. These four cards are like a super-conscious examination of the same themes presented in the orb portion of the spread.

Higher Dimensions and the ‘Universe Next Door’ Card

Sometimes when visualizing the spread this way, I like to throw out an 11th card. (String theory actually predicts we live in 11 dimensions). I like to angle this card and lay it between the 5 card and the 10 card. I call this “the universe next door”. It represents a version of ‘you’ in a parallel universe as a comparison card. It can show the subject how things could be better, worse or at least drastically different if they were living in an alternate reality (perhaps one where they had made other choices).

Many readers will probably describe this visualization as hogwash and so be it. But I find it useful in tying the cards together.

For more information on visualing the 11 dimensions of string theory, check out this video (Visualizing the 10th Dimension). It demonstrates some of the concepts I’ve discussed and makes it easier to comprehend concepts like the 5th Dimension.

Here is another flash tarot card reading application that I created. It has a simple straightforward presentation and it will guide you through all the steps.

Free Online Tarot Card Reading

You can choose between a 3-card reading or a 10-card Celtic Cross Spread reading. The deck used in this application is my favorite tarot deck, The Osho Zen Tarot. For those of you who haven’t had a reading with this deck, you will enjoy the thoughtful descriptions and beautiful artwork.

If you like to get readings with only the major arcana cards, this application will please you. But you can opt for a full deck reading as well.

Enjoy!

Find more fun things at my website www.dougfahl.com