The ‘other’ man

‘Is it in the picture, then, my promotion?’ the woman asked, and I said, ‘yes, it’s in the picture. Although there are no plans to change the current status quo, a dire situation (6 Clubs, 4 Spades), the elevation is there (3 Hearts).’

‘When will it happen?’ the woman wanted to know, and I cast another set of three cards.

‘It won’t happen,’ I said.

‘But you said, it’s in the picture,’ the woman insisted, and then reminded me of what she took as a prediction I had just made. But I didn’t make one. What I said was that her promotion was in the picture. Her organization may have decided that she was up for a promotion, hence her anticipation, but a decision does not equal its realization. Most people forget that there’s an actual distinction between the two states. 4 Clubs that turned into 3 Spades, only to culminate into a clear conflict in the 2 Spades testified to this very situation.

‘Why not?’ the woman then asked, and I put down more cards.

‘Because there’s an obstruction,’ I said. ‘The boss, King of Clubs, is looking at a serious cut (Ace of Spades), the result being the inverse of the initial suggested promise (3 Clubs mirror now the 3 Hearts).

‘Damn,’ the woman said with a heavy heart, feeling the blow. Just when I thought that I was going to get it…’

‘Damn, indeed,’ I said, and I left it at that.

§

But now for more fun. Imagine this discourse translated into a question about love, with the cards being the same. What would you say? I’d imagine the exchange to look like this:

‘So, it’s in the picture, the love, is it not?’

‘Indeed it is,’ I reply.

‘When will we take it to the next level?’

‘You won’t,’ I reply.

‘Well, why not, if the love is there?’

‘Because there’s an obstruction.’ I reply.

I then offer this variation: ‘A man of power comes between you and your lover, causing resentment, so that instead of an elevation of your feelings, what you get is war.’

‘Damn, just when I thought we had a chance.’

‘Damn, indeed,’ I reply, and then point to the shifting signifiers.

§

Now to the conclusion here. As I always say, it’s the question that leads the answer, not what we imagine that the cards mean. The cards can only acquire signification according to what we’re talking about right then and there.

In these two examples, the first real, the other imagined, the King of Clubs is the clench card. In the first example this King rightly designates the boss who runs into a major problem that prevents him from participating in realizing his employee’s dream. In this example the woman and the man are on a par, their relation being characterized as a one-to-one working relation. The man can’t promote the woman because the company is in trouble.

In the second example that features a question that’s not about work, it would make no sense to assign any love interest to this King, whose suit, the Clubs, rules all manners of work, not amorous relations. If the couple is obstructed in realizing their dream of being together, it is not because the woman’s lover here has any objections. Rather, it’s because he hits the wall that’s called ‘the other man.’ Hence, the King of Clubs here has been seen as the perpetrator of misery, as far as the couple’s dream of happiness is concerned.

Either way, however, although ‘the thing’ can easily be in the picture, this does not mean, or equal, its realization beyond what the picture promises.

In traditional fortunetelling, we talk about ‘the other woman.’ But how about ‘the other man?’ The point is that in any reading of the cards, it pays off to pay great attention to who does what to whom in accordance with what is both plausible and possible.

Practice, practice, practice. Join the club for more.

Cards: Otto Tragy Playing Cards, 1910, Altenburg Stralsunder.

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