A Crazy Quilt

Part one of this essay proposed a series of colors for us to use, and a method for combining them into color palettes that we could apply to each card in the Minor Suits of a tarot deck. We left that essay wondering what the final results of such a formula would be, and whether it would lead to color harmonies or color insanities! Individually, the color palettes that result for individual cards may or may not produce pleasing color harmonies, but whenever a bunch of colors are thrown together across a grid matrix like the one we use to organize the Minor Suits of a tarot deck, the results are going to look motley! This idea of colors swimming into each other across a grid of possibilities could be compared to a Crazy Quilt. A Crazy Quilt is a quilt that is made from the scraps of scraps, with not discernable pattern, and no regard for color harmonies - just playful insanity. This idea of a colorful Crazy Quilt made me think of a black and white "quilt" that already appears elsewhere on this site, in the essay on how the seasons of an Earth year and the elements of Alchemy can combine to describe the grid matrix of Minor Suits (see Seasons elsewhere on this site). That diagram was used to explain why this approach to tarot does not associate the elements of Alchemy with the suits of tarot, the way so many others do. In addition to explaining the orientation of elements and suits, it was also drawn in such a way as to include representations of reversed and upright card positions (i.e. the "good" and "bad" of each card) thereby creating a square, 9 x 9, "quilt- like" appearance!

This diagram shows the entire Minor Suits, upright and reversed. By mixing one fourfold quaternary model with another as a crossed grid, conflicts concerning syncretism are reduced. This diagram shows elements describing an entity, and seasons describing the binary aspects of that entity. For more on these various subdivisions of binary influence, consult the essay Evolution of a Deck Design: The Matrix.

Warp and Woof are terms borrowed from the profession of weaving. In weaving stationary strands of yarn are stretched end to end, and then crossed, by the weaver, with a second length of yarn that moves through the stationary strands to create the weave of a fabric. As a metaphor, this fits well with the way concepts and colors warp and woof their way through the grid matrix of Minor Suits being illustrated in all the decks created on this site. In our case, though, we are creating a conceptual fabric, with a pattern designed by nature, to describe the essence of being. In this metaphor, the stationary strands of yarn - the Warp - are equivalent to the elements that identify each number of a number line... while the moving length of yarn - the Woof - is equivalent to the individual seasons that run through those elements.

This is a more complete assortment of colors, from the 20 step color wheel put forth in the essay Enjoy the Pretty Colors. Notice how it includes CMY at one end and RGB at the other. The gradients that represent the elements are the Warp of our Quilt. The gradients that represent the seasons are the Woof of our Quilt.

As implied by the diagram above and the Warp and Woof metaphor, the 4 x 4 grid of colors being used to describe our Quintagrams are meant to be crossed as a grid - with the same colors being used for both seasons and elements - the Scarlet to Gold row describing both the Fiery core of our theoretical model of existence, as well as the warming of Spring. While the Yellow to Leaf row describes both the green surface of our Earth, as well as the idea of a green Summer. The Cyan to Sapphire row then describes the Water of our atmosphere, as well as the cooling of Autumn. Leaving the Violet to Magenta row to stand for the frigid reaches of our model's Airy outer realm, as well as the frigid days of Winter.

Here are the 16 colors of our 20 color wheel crossed as a Warp and Woof grid. Warm at the center or fiery core. Cool at the outer periphery. Lighter within... darker without.

Below is the result of crossing 16 warm and cool colors as a Warp and Woof grid, and combining those with a 7 step spectrum and Painter's primaries. The result is a four color palette for each card in the Minor Suits. And inasmuch as each Major Trump is in fact a combination of two Minor cards, we also establish color suggestions for Major Trumps as well. Also... In addition to a logical arrangement of colors that symbolically duplicate the underlying structure of all the decks on this site, this "quilt" becomes yet another "calculator" of influence that can be used in the same way as The Binary Influence Calculator seen elsewhere on this site. Print it out, and see if it works!

If this quilt is to be used in the same way as The Binary Influence Calculator, the first fold should be horizontally, at the middle... to determine the "good" vs. "bad" of the yet to be determined Quintagram. Then... fold horizontally two more times, once to determine the positive vs. negative, then again to determine the quantitative vs. qualitative. Then vertically three times to zero in on a number.

The quilt above includes the light to dark gradients of the various suits. It also includes the lightening of Multiplication/Hearts/Cup, the desaturation of Subtraction/Club/Stave, and the darkening of Division/Spade/Sword that were suggested in the previous essay on Colors. All those additional treatments can make it hard to see the underlying symmetry of the various colors being used. To see how the CMY/RGB primaries cross as a grid, and how the 7 step spectrum and the Painter's primaries combine... here is the same quilt stripped bare.

Quintagrams tell us how we are living. They use opposites to determine which way our minds are going concerning five critical states of existence that are the same for any manifest entity breaching the continuum of space. Thus, to not be affected by these perpetually shifting opposites, and live in perfect harmony with them all, we need to be absolutely Gray... in every way... every day... in everything we do and say... at the center of this quilt.