Incarnational Card Deck Overview

The Incarnational Card Deck is designed to illustrate the cosmological framework for Incarnational Spirituality. It has 27 cards, 16 of which symbolically represent the process by which the Soul takes incarnation, as observed by clairvoyant perception and research. They also represent the generic stages by which many things take form. In this respect they present in visual form a major element of an incarnational cosmology.

     The core 16 cards, called the “Stage Cards,” may be used as visual aids to a meditation exercise that help you attune to your own incarnational field and inner capabilities and aid your spiritual practice. The remaining 11 cards represent Principles and Conditions. When these are added to the Stage cards, an oracular deck is created which can give you a “snapshot” of your incarnation that can stimulate your own intuition and inner perception.

      The Incarnational Card Deck is designed to be a living deck, open to change and evolution. The methods of using the cards, the tableaus and suggested methods of doing “readings” are not graven in stone. They provide a platform from which to begin your own exploration and experimentation in using the cards.

     The tableaus or card layouts for readings that I include in the manuals and here within the Card Exercises are suggestions for using the cards. They are not meant to limit your creativity. You may find a different card layout works better for you, or for answers to certain kinds of questions. 

      With the Incarnational Cards, you have blank cards included and can download more from this website (see Print Blank Cards). There are various ways these can be used. For instance, one possibility is to create new Condition cards, or even new examples of the Principles at work. Let your attunement, your intuition and your creativity explore these possibilities. There is no reason you cannot create new cards that work for you. And, if you feel you’ve come up with something that adds to the “canon,” so to speak and would be helpful to others, let us know. Send your new card designs and ideas to info@lorian.org. We can share them on the website with others.

     Likewise, I have given my interpretations of what the cards mean, and what I was trying to communicate in designing them (with the very able, wonderful help and inspiration of Deva Berg, a most extraordinary artist who truly went deeply into the spirit of the cards to find the images that matched what I most wanted to convey). But these interpretations are not sacrosanct either. A card might bring up a whole different meaning or interpretation for you, one that takes you deeply into your process of manifestation or incarnation and provides just the key you need. If so, I’d like to hear about it. I want to hear how you’re making your deck your own, rather than just depending on the interpretations and card layouts that I’ve created. (See Card Stories!)

         If you would like to purchase a copy of the Incarnational Card Deck, please click here and go to the Incarnational Card Deck listing.
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Incarnational Deck Exercises

INCARNATIONAL CARDS
An Exercise for Starting a Project

This is a special tableau to use when starting a project. Think of your project as something you wish to incarnate: you are going to give it energy, a form, and connections to the world, and most likely you hope something will emerge from it to be part of your life and part of the world.

The tableaus in the Manual are basically intended to be oracular, that is, to give you some indication of the future, or of how energy is moving in and around yourself or a project of yours. This exercise is different. It’s intended to focus your attention to help you clarify your project and give it an energetic boost.

For this exercise you will need your Incarnational Cards and a notebook.

STEP ONE: CREATING THE DECKS: You begin by creating five separate stacks of Incarnational Cards. Separate the cards into Principle Cards, Stages cards and Condition Cards. Set the seven Condition cards aside; you will not use them in this exercise.   Then set aside the four Principle cards from the deck. These are Identity, Boundary, Engagement, and Emergence. You will be using these cards. Finally, create four stacks with each stack containing the four cards that represent a particular stage.

• The Identity Stage stack will have the Infinity, Source, Flow, and Vision cards in it.
• The Boundary Stage stack will have the Path, Ecology, Allies, and Time cards in it.
• The Engagement Stage stack will have the Wizard, Architect, Alchemist, and Explorer cards in it.
• The Emergence Stage stack will have the Person, Home, Incarnational Spirit and Community cards in it.

STEP TWO: DETERMINING IDENTITY AND INTENTIONALITY: Lay down the Identity Principle card. This represents the intention behind your project, as well as its unique identity. Focus your attention upon this. Why are you starting this project? What is its identity? What do you want it to achieve? Write down in your notebook any ideas that come to you, no matter how strange or far-fetched they may seem. As you reflect upon the intention behind this project, you may find yourself discovering other, related intentions that you hadn’t thought of. If so, write them down. Write down everything that comes to you about the What and Why of your project.

STEP THREE:  PLAYING AN IDENTITY STAGE CARD: Thinking of all you’ve written and thought about concerning your project’s identity and intentions, take up the Identity Stage stack and shuffle the four cards. Pick one at random and place it FACE DOWN next to the Identity Principle Card without looking at it.

STEP FOUR:  DETERMINING BOUNDARIES: Lay down the Boundary Principle Card. This represents the boundaries and limits you place on your project that help define it. These limits may be ones you determine or they may be determined by circumstance. For example, you may only have a certain amount of money to finance the project, and that creates a financial boundary. Focus your attention upon the boundaries of your project. What are they? What distinguishes your project from others of a similar nature? What makes it unique? What limits it? What protects it? Write down in your notebook any ideas that come to you, no matter how strange or far-fetched they may seem. As you reflect upon the boundaries that define this project, you may find yourself discovering other, related boundaries or limits that you hadn’t thought of. If so, write them down.  Write down everything that comes to you about the boundaries of your project.

STEP FIVE: PLAYING A BOUNDARY STAGE CARD: Thinking about all you’ve written and thought about concerning your project’s boundaries, take up the Boundary Stage stack and shuffle the four cards. Pick one at random and place it FACE DOWN next to the Identity Principle Card without looking at it.

STEP SIX: DETERMINING ENGAGEMENTS: Lay down the Engagement Principle Card.  This represents the connections you see your project having with the larger world and any relationships that you feel may be necessary to bring the project into being. Focus your attention upon how your project will engage with the world. What connections are necessary for it to succeed? What connections do you think it will form? What does it contribute? How does it serve? Why would other people be interested in it or desire to support it? What might others get from it? How will this project affect your relationships and connections? Write down in your notebook any ideas that come to you, no matter how strange or far-fetched they may seem. As you reflect upon the engagements this project may create and what collaborations may be necessary, you may find yourself discovering other, related connections that you hadn’t thought of. If so, write them down. Write down everything that comes to you about the engagements of your project.

STEP SEVEN: PLAYING AN ENGAGEMENT STAGE CARD: Thinking about all you’ve written and thought about concerning your project’s engagements and connections, take up the Engagement Stage stack and shuffle the four cards. Pick one at random and place it FACE DOWN next to the Engagement Principle Card without looking at it.

STEP EIGHT: DETERMINING EMERGENCE: Lay down the Emergence Principle Card. This represents the possible or desired results of your project and what may emerge from it. It represents your imagination about the potentials of your project. Focus your attention upon the emergent qualities in your project. What are they? What possibilities might this project bring into being? What might emerge from it? What would you like to come from it? Write down in your notebook any ideas that come to you, no matter how strange or far-fetched they may seem. As you reflect upon what may emerge from your project, you may find yourself discovering other, related possibilities that you hadn’t thought of. If so, write them down. Write down everything that comes to you about your project and what might emerge.

STEP NINE: PLAYING AN EMERGENCE STAGE CARD: Thinking about all you’ve written and thought about concerning your project and emergence, take up the Emergence Card stack and shuffle the four cards. Pick one at random and place it FACE DOWN next to the Emergence Principle Card without looking at it.

STEP TEN: TURN OVER THE FACE-DOWN CARDS: Turn over each face down card one by one, in whatever order you wish. The four face-down cards represent possible first steps you can take to initiate your project in each of these four areas:

• The Identity Stage card suggests a step to bring your intention into focus and expression.
• The Boundary Stage card suggests a step to begin forming the boundaries of the project.
• The Engagement Stage card suggests a step to begin connecting your project to the world, and what power to use to begin its manifestation.
• The Emergence Stage card suggests a step to begin unfolding the possibilities inherent in your project or where to look for the energy or help that can empower your project’s emergence and development.

The purpose of these cards is not to tell you what to do or give you oracular information. It’s to indicate a possible way in which you can focus your will and activity to bring your project into being. The purpose is to help you clarify your own thinking.

ORACULAR ELABORATIONS: If you’d like to introduce an oracular element as well, you can shuffle the Condition cards and lay one card down on the stage you’re focusing on. Then take that card back into the Condition Card stack and shuffle the Condition cards again, laying out a card for the next stage. In this manner, you could get the same Condition card for more than one stage.

If you also own the Manifestation Card Deck, you could shuffle the Synchronicity Deck and deal out one card to each of the four stages. (Follow the interpretations given in the Manifestation Deck manual for the meaning of that card).

 

Print Blank Cards

To print blank cards for your Incarnational Deck, you must first download and then print a .PDF file. After you print the PDF file, use it as the master copy to print a page of card images on the card stock of your choice.

Click here to download the .PDF file.