AUTHOR’S NOTE: Recently I was digging through my old posts looking for a specific piece of information and came across this amusing and instructive bit of whimsy that first appeared in a slightly different form. (I’ve linked the original post below, but be aware that it gets deep!)

The essay involved numerological correspondences between pairs and sets of tarot cards, and one point of reference was the relationship of the number Three to the Empress, the Hanged Man and the World, all of which are closely linked to one another and to the Threes of the Minor Arcana by way of Theosophical addition (summing of digits, in this case “1” and “2”), creating a series of “counterparts.”

This is a staged scenario (courtesy of Pamela Colman Smith) that shows the kind of “storyboarding” that can produce a remarkably coherent narrative.

“An attractive woman (Empress) had an estranged husband (Hanged Man) who stabbed (3 of Swords) her lover(s) (3 of Cups) at church (3 of Pentacles) and was sent “up the river” (3 of Wands) to spend the rest of his days in confinement (World).”

If these cards happened to appear in this order in a ménage à trois reading, I think I would be worried for all concerned. Otherwise, they suggest getting away with something, possibly by receiving a pardon and a one-way ticket out of the country.

Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity