Technical Study of Tokka (book)
A Technical Study of Tokka
By Fateweaver Diansine Marindra
Introduction:
The practice of divination is old. Very old. Long have our ancestors sought tools with which to reveal the patterns of fate. Many methods have evolved since the beginning of history, each according to the predilection of those attempting to see what others could not. Wandering hunter-gatherers saw the future in the chance tumbling of handcarved bones, while scholars drafted charts to track the progress of stars across the sky. These things were not for my people, gamblers, singers, and gypsies that we were.
In every throw of the dice or deal of the deck, the path of your fate branches many times. The dice tumble; the cards are shuffled and cut. This is fate. We do not control the dice or impose our will over the cards. We merely travel along for the ride and read the pips as they lie.
It is in this way that those who follow Fortune's Path came to devise their preferred method of divining. From our tradition of game arose the Tokka deck. It is hard to say precisely when the practice of Tokka originated, but the idea of laying illustrated cards in patterns was a natural evolution of our way of life.
It is unsurprising, then, that Tokka has played an important role in our history. Biographies of talented Gypsies reference their adroit understanding of Tokka and few tales touch on the Unbound without mentioning a deck in some way. Perhaps what is surprising, however, is the dearth of material discussing their use. Whether this arises from our habits or some other, more nefarious, cause is difficult to say, but nevertheless it is something that warrants correction.
So it is that this document was begun.
The Cards
If there is one detail on the composition of a Tokka deck that is common knowledge, it is this: no two decks are the same. How, then, does one even begin to go about categorizing their makeup? Well, the truth is that most decks actually have much in common, even if the exact selection of cards is varied. To begin with, all Tokka cards may be categorized into three basic types: Portents, Avatars, and Taisialaen.
When most people think of Tokka cards, they likely envision Portents. These depict an item or a setting, like The Keep, The Web of Fate, or The Silver Scroll. A Portent is a place or situation, or something you must handle. In the grand scheme of fate, Portents do not control where you will go, but they control where you will start -- what you have to work with, if you will. Powerful Portents suggest predictions of great impact.
Avatars do not detail places, instead presenting an image representing a person. The details of the portrait are frequently trivial, but the card will typically portray a particular race or a profession. Some Avatars you might find are The Dwarf, The Minstrel, or The Grinning Rogue. These cards often illuminate the role of the individual in a prediction. It is important to remember that while we cannot often control our fate, we may sometimes determine when we meet it.
Lastly, Taisiala is a word that means "Sky Jewel" in Gamgweth. Taisialaen are painted with images of constellations, occasionally connected with lines to facilitate audience appreciation. The stars are a familiar sight to most students of divination, so it should come as little surprise that Taisialaen are commonly interpreted to represent the role of fate itself. Taisialaen have the potential to sway the very outcome of your prediction itself, hinting at dire consequences or providing insight into the nature of your reading.
The Spread
Rarely do cards convey meaningful insight alone. One may draw a powerful Portent from the deck, say, the Jewel of Night. Frequently an ominous sign, yet sometimes associated with wealth, the card cannot be put into perspective unless we have a frame of reference. In order to position the cards in a meaningful fashion, we lay them into what is commonly referred to as a Spread. The Spread has long been a subject of experimentation for seers of all ilks, but over the years it has become clear that all Spreads require a minimum number of cards to consistently convey output of value. Over time, these required positions came to be known as The Thread, The Path, and The Terminus.
The Thread is always dealt first of the three, as it governs the here and now. As our observations of the heavens give us insight into the strands of fate being woven around us, so does this knowledge flow into the dealing of The Thread. The insight we receive is born of the strength of this card. Because of their nature and immediacy, Portents signify the strongest influence when laid into this position.
Next, we play The Path. Simply put, The Path tells us how we get where we're going. It doesn't tell us what we'll find when we arrive, but it represents the route we take. Frequently, the astrologer will look to The Path for guidance on how long the road to fortune stretches. The more powerful the influence, the longer this particular Thread extends. Common convention is to attribute to the Avatar the most weight in The Path position.
Finally The Terminus is drawn. The Terminus is so named for its severe role in determining the nature of the reading. The Terminus shows you where this Thread of fate will end. We often use The Terminus to show us what area of life a reading refers to. An inverted Endless Seas might make one think twice about taking a swim!
Kismet Cards
Not all Tokka dealers restrict themselves to three card spreads, however. Sometimes the reason might be appearance. A paying customer wants to believe their future is more complex than three cards, after all. Usually, though, supplementary cards are dealt to provide perspective. This document lacks the space for a full discussion of all spreads and the myriad possible arrangements of additional cards, so I will attempt to generalize for the sake of practicality.
Cards played prior to the primary spread are referred to as Kismet cards. In some configurations there are definite positions for both Major and Minor Kismet cards, but my experience has been that the difference between these may be somewhat cosmetic. It is difficult to say. At any rate, Kismet cards represent an attempt by the dealer to provide additional context for the subsequent prediction. This is not without danger.
For every Kismet card you play, you heighten your ability to understand the outcome, but you also risk disrupting the results. A powerful Portent may significantly impact the turn of The Thread, while the appropriate Taisiala might prove to be a boon to your Terminus. The effects are somewhat poorly understood, but scholars of Tokka have observed an occasional correlation between the content of Kismet cards and the outcome of The Thread, The Path, and The Terminus.
Studies are divided as to the explanation for this. One postulate is that Kismet cards merely reflect an outcome already predetermined. If you play The Golden Moon as a Kismet card and proceed to finish a prediction with a powerful result, then perhaps the reason The Golden Moon was played as a Kismet card was merely to clarify the event already destined to happen. Others theorize that the Kismet cards actually serve as a cosmic wrench in the works, providing additional insight but also altering the course of events. Perhaps the random draw of The Golden Moon actually served to strengthen the result, consequently reflected by an appropriate card in The Thread! As this is roughly akin to the predestination versus free will debate, it continues to be hotly contested.
Inflection, Inversion, and Miscellanea
The above text is a great simplification of the Tokka reading process. Shades of meaning alter the effect of every card, while the orientation of placement can wholly reverse the means of interpretation. I cannot discuss every possibility in this document, but I will endeavor to outline the most common.
Inflection is a term used to describe the connotation of a card. The typical practice is to label them merely as good, bad, or neutral, though some prefer more colorful terms. I find it appropriate to think of inflection as working either in concert or at odds with the desired thread of fate. The practical effect of inflection is to either resist or encourage a certain aspect of the interpretation.
For example, The Valley of Mist is frequently seen as a foreboding sign and the Fount of Spirit a positive one. Both of these cards are Portents and would suggest powerful meaning when played in The Thread. In a reading of good omen, the Fount of Spirit would be even more influential, while the Valley of Mist less so. The negative inflection of Valley of Mists drives the effect of the prediction away from what is desired. Conversely, if the prediction boded poorly, the Valley of Mists would increase its potency, while the Fount of Spirit would diminish the significance. All in all, this effect is somewhat subtle, and a negative Portent will still frequently have more effect in The Thread than a neutral Taisiala on a beneficial reading.
Inversion is another phenomenon the skilled Tokka dealer learns to interpret. Identifying inversion is easy: the card is played upside down. The effect of this on the outcome is often quite striking. Inversion in The Thread and The Path will completely reverse the scale of the effect. A powerful Avatar played for The Thread would have quite little influence, while the same Avatar inverted would be quite potent. Inversion also reverses the effect of inflection, so those negative cards may still bear positive results when inverted.
Inversion also strongly reflects the final outcome of the reading. In the event that no inversion occurs, a reading will almost always be beneficial. If The Terminus inverts, however, the omen is less positive. Sometimes other arrangements are cause for concern as well. For example, inversion of both The Thread and The Path rarely bodes well, but an inverted Terminus can counteract that. As you can see, the effect of the Spread must be taken as a whole and can rarely be divined from one card alone.
Lastly, there is the subject of individual card potency. Within a given category of cards, we occasionally will refer to some of them as "weak" or some as "powerful." This refers to the card's potency. Some scholars describe a finely graded scale, but I've found little practical value in dividing a category into more than three parts. By identifying which of your cards have a weak, moderate, or strong influence, you should be able to interpret readings with adequate refinement. Below are some general guidelines as to how to do that.
Avatars: An accepted method of delineating Avatar potency is to arrange them by the amount of control that image might have had in determining its fate. For example, The Dwarf has slim chance to elect another race, while The Minstrel was more able to choose his destination. A qualified profession like The Thief of Hearts is more potent still. Negative or positively inflected avatars are usually easy to pick out as well, as their expression will often reflect their influence appropriately.
Portents: The potency of Portents is understood to scale with the scope of the Portent. Something that might affect only one person, such as The Locked Door, is understood to represent a weak influence, while a Portent like The Dawn is much more universal and thus represents a powerful effect. Inflection of Portents is somewhat more intangible, but can usually be discerned through the connotation of the image. The Crypt is obviously a less positive sign than The Stellar Stairway.
Taisialaen: These require the most study to accurately identify. We shall begin with inflection, as it is most simply understood. The majority of our constellations take the forms of images representing aspects of our deities. These aspects, frequently described as light, dark, or neutral, correspond in turn with the positive, negative, and neutral inflections. The Centaur, as a dark aspect sign, has a negative inflection, while The Dove would have a positive inflection.
As for the potency of the card, it seems to run parallel to the complexity of the constellation. This is not a precise measure by any means, and only holds within a given inflection. For example, The Nightingale is rarely taught before The Cat, but The Cat is a much more potent Taisiala, being one of the more advanced neutral Taisialaen. Conversely, The Dolphin is an extremely potent Taisiala, despite being easier to learn than The Viper or The Shark, which are much weaker in influence.
Conclusion
Consider The Thread, The Path, and The Terminus as houses for basic meaning. The Kismet cards provide additional insight with additional risk. Portents, Avatars, and Taisialaen each govern an aspect of the reading, corresponding to the three positions above. When played in their position of strength, they convey more powerful meaning. When played as Kismet cards, they heighten your understanding of a particular aspect of the reading.
We study the skies, codify the stars, and triangulate the moons. Despite this, our attempts to divine the future are mere reflections of a greater truth. Our Tokka cards are but ripples on the river of Fate, and reading their meaning is as much an art as a science. Using the knowledge in this brief text, I hope I have provided some aid in discerning the meaning behind a deal of the Tokka deck, but it is a skill that warrants refinement through use. The best way to learn is to practice.