Ritual of Connection

Two Guardian Cards

These two cards are not for interpretation — they guide and protect the entire deck.

King Le Kieu, the Mother Goddess

The spiritual heart of the deck — a gateway to the Mother Goddess. When the deck is at rest, this card is placed on top to invoke and give thanks for her guidance.

The Five Tigers Guardian Officer

The spiritual sentinel — it cleanses stale energy and drives away malevolent forces. When the deck is at rest, this card is placed at the bottom to guard and protect it.

Six Steps of Practice

1. 1

   The space

   A quiet table, a cloth, and incense if you keep it.

   A quiet, orderly table is enough. A cloth over it keeps the cards clean and marks the space as the reading's. Agarwood or a herbal incense clears the air, if you have it. None of it is required. The rite runs on attention.

2. 2

   The two that stay out

   The Holy Mother and the Five Mighty Tigers leave the deck before the shuffle.

   The Holy Mother and the Five Mighty Tigers are cards 1 and 2, and they are never drawn. They come out of the deck before the shuffle and sit at the top of the cloth, facing you. She presides. They guard. The eighty-eight that remain are the ones you read.

3. 3

   The question

   Said once, in the words you would use to a friend.

   Your hand rests on the Holy Mother, and the question is said once — aloud, or not. Say it in the words you would use to a friend, not the words you would use to a god. Vague questions come back as vague cards.

4. 4

   The shuffle

   Nine passes, or eighteen, or twenty-seven. The count is not the point.

   Nine is the count: nine passes, or eighteen, or twenty-seven. The number is not the point. The shuffling runs long enough that your hands are busy and your mind stops rehearsing the answer it already wanted, and it stops when that has happened.

5. 5

   The reading

   Cards down face-down, in the order the spread numbers them, turned over together.

   Choose a spread — one card for a question, nine for a situation. The cards go down face-down, in the order the figure numbers them, and turn over together. Turning them one at a time lets each card rewrite the one before it.

6. 6

   Between readings

   The Five Mighty Tigers pass once over the stack and it clears.

   Reading twice in an hour, or for two people in a row, leaves the last reading sitting in the deck. The Five Mighty Tigers pass once over the stack and it clears. The gesture is short. It is meant to be.

7. 7

   Closing

   The Holy Mother on top, the Five Mighty Tigers beneath, and the deck put away between them.

   The Holy Mother goes back on top of the deck, the Five Mighty Tigers on the bottom, and the cards are put away between them. She has the first word next time. They keep the deck until then.