Review Oracle of the Triad from Dominike Duplaa

The game is delivered in a soft cardboard box. The cards are satin and glossy. A small booklet is slipped into the box.

The Dominike DUPLAA's game is published since 1998. Passionate about calligraphy, the author wanted to create a divinatory game based on a symbolism mixing various philosophical and religious currents. On the cards one finds details and symbols belonging to the Judeo-Christian tradition, to the Kabbalah, to the mythologies of antiquity, in particular Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythologies of the pharaohs.

The booklet is translated into two languages, French and English. Each translation covers 14 pages. The author writes a two-page introduction which has no added value, he does not reveal either his intention or the genesis of his creation. He only evokes generalities about what a divinatory card game is. This introduction could be suitable for any other card game.

The author first proposes methods of printing before devoting himself to the meaning of the cards. Duplaa describes 3 methods :

• Triangle spread : Method in 4 locations = 1. force in presence, 2. near events, 3. possible outcome, 4. finality or synthesis. This draw is strangely similar to the cross draw, it seems to me too close to the 3rd proposed method.
• Spread of the spread : Method with 12 locations. Locations 1,2,3 represent the consultant. Locations 4,5,6 refer to the entourage. Locations 7,8,9 refer to a council, and finally cards 10,11,12 represent the outcome of the question.
• Traditional Cross spread : Méthode en 4 emplacements = 1. en faveur de la question, 2. en défaveur de la question, 3. force dominante, 4. résultat, 5. synthèse. Cette méthode respecte le format habituel du tirage dit "en croix".

The second part of the booklet covers the meaning of the cards in just a few pages. For each card, 4 to 12 key words are provided depending on the richness of the symbolism. There is no explanation of the details of the card. For this, it is necessary to obtain the book by the same author that deals with this deck. I regret that the booklet is so short, the graphics of the cards are loaded with many symbols worth explaining.

The cards have a rather dense overall graphic design, with sometimes too much detail. Anyway, the cards I like are the purest, the less filled, the less esoteric, and with a neutral atmosphere, even pleasant to look at.

The card is very simple to understand because its emblematic element is a horn of plenty which indeed speaks of wealth. However, I regret that there are not one or two additional details evoking other forms of wealth such as artistic talents, spiritual wisdom, or a form of benevolence and generosity.

Clearly inspired by the Judeo-Christian world, this card displays two tablets (of the law) and a trumpet surrounded by two wings (the Last Judgement). The symbolism of the card seems clear, this reference to Judeo-Christian mythology completes the primary meaning of the card's name: "Order".

I like the sky merging with the sand. The sandstorm causes a loss of landmarks with only the horizon and the sun remaining visible. The card speaks aptly of loneliness, isolation, or emptiness and absence.

The palm leaves remind us that papyrus is derived from their material. Naturally, the sailing barge takes us back to the Nile and Egypt where papyrus was born. This card speaks wisely about paper, writing, and in an extended sense of evolution. But no doubt the author goes a bit far in attributing to it also the sense of business and commerce. No doubt, he thinks this with the sailing barge, which was most certainly a privileged means of transport for trade during antiquity. But this context is very peripheral to the original meaning of the word "papyrus". Should the card have been called that ?

Does a card whose illustration is a simple black background with a white dot, a figuration that holds abstract art, have its place in a divinatory game? This image means everything, as it means nothing. Moreover, the author attributes to it rather negative keywords such as fall, evil, darkness, loss. Words that reinforce my reticence towards this card.

The card displays a crunchy apple in reference to Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Confirming this interpretation, the word "Sin" appears on the card. However, the card bears the name "Error". This title confuses the three very different notions of error, fault and sin.

The card is called "Blessing" and it features a hand that is in a posture where it usually means "STOP!". In my opinion, the illustration does not carry the symbolism that the author wants to see in it.

I am not at all convinced by the symbolism of this card. First of all, forgiveness is not the same as putting water on the fire. We know what happens when you put water on embers or on fire. It doesn't necessarily put it out, but it often leads to dangerous splashes. In my opinion, we must symbolically remove the logs from the fire, in order to stop feeding the fire, the hatred, the anger. To forgive is not to oppose the devastating fire, but to eliminate all that is the source of it. To forgive is to evacuate, to accept, to repair what is at the origin of the conflict. Furthermore, forgiveness requires that we look at the situation with wide open eyes. This is not the case in the illustration since man's eyes are closed. To forgive is not to meditate or to be passive. Moreover, the white flag is a symbol of peace and not of forgiveness. In short, the illustration on this card is more about stopping conflict. But the end of fighting is not forgiveness either.

Indeed the multiple calligraphies on the image can speak to us of a kind of initiatory knowledge, but the eye in the center of the hand, and all these incomprehensible calligraphies, make me think of a very elitist knowledge and initiation.