Rabika Primer

The following primer was written for people using a Rabika Tool Card Deck. However, most of the information is also pertinent to understanding, and getting more from, your online virtual readings.

Cick any of the ‘Show’ links below to show the text of that section.

Rabika is Unique  Show

Caring For Your System  Show

• Honor Your Tools  Show

I like to keep my card sets in containers that reflect their innate beauty. The decks I use with my clients are in beautifully crafted bags with beading on them. The decks I use for my personal readings are in hand-carved boxes. What I like about giving them their own place is that it is easier to remember that they are sacred tools. I want the cue that, when I take these tools from their repositories, I am holding in my hands a personal window into ancient and divine wisdom.

Whatever receptacle you decide to use, plain and simple is fine, but it should be clean, without damage, and reflect the respect you have for your tool.

  Hide


• Be Grateful  Show

Another way of caring for your tool is to have a measure of gratitude for its wisdom. When I am done using any tool, cards included, I thank them from my heart for their help.

  Hide


• Keep Your Tools Clean and Sacred  Show

With use, any tool can absorb disparate or negative energy. When this happens to your sacred tools, cleanse them. There are many ways to cleanse items, some more effective than others.

In specific, don’t cleanse cards with water or liquid substances. Turn to the mineral world to affect their cleansing. Crystalized salt is an excellent cleanser for cards. Place a bed of ancient mineral bed salt, Himalayan salt, or a good unbleached sea salt, in a bowl or plate and place the cards on top of the salt. Leave the cards on the salt for 24-48 hours.

Unlike when you cleanse stones, do not place the bowl in the sun, as the sun’s rays could bleach the cards. Salt will not harm the cards and the cleansing nature of salt will distill the energy of the cards back to the neutral place in which they started.

Above that, if you wish to amplify the card’s energies at the same time, place a clean quartz crystal, or any other crystalized mineral you feel drawn to, on top of the cards. The salt will draw the crystal’s energy down through the cards as it cleanses them.

You can also use a well-prepared, dry mud instead of salt to set your cards on. Several types of good clear mud are available in fine stores.

  Hide

Empower Your Inner Voice  Show

The Future is Probability  Show

Understand the Rabika Grid  Show

Symbolism in the Cards  Show

• Round Cards  Show

Often, the first question people ask is, “Why are Rabika cards round?”



The answer is simple. In a layout, the round shape facilitates the cards ability to influence one another from anywhere in the layout, depending upon where they point once the card falls.

The ability of the Rabika round cards to influence each other so liberally, gives a layer of interaction to the readings that make the readings so rich.

There are three types of influence cards in the Rabika card deck. The 2-10 cards send their influence along one axis; therefore pointing in two directions. The Yang, Yin, and Youth cards send their influence along two axes; therefore pointing in four directions. The 1 cards, and the 3 of spiritual card, spiral their influences and send them in all directions.

When a Rabika reading is laid out, this layered presentation takes on a 3-dimensional effect. In other words, the layout of the reading has meaning in every direction: top-bottom, left-right, and depth.

For more information on card directions, see the section entitled, ‘Directions.’

  Hide


• Hemispheres  Show

The hemispheres of the reading space are as follows:



• Yang hemisphere = external movement, either by external forces or external movement of the self.
• Yin hemisphere = internal forces at work.
• Unconscious hemisphere = those things we are becoming aware of.
• Conscious hemisphere = that which is or should already be in awareness.

The hemispheres are arranged thus:

• Upper Right = Conscious Yang
• Upper Left = Conscious Yin
• Lower Right = Unconscious Yang
• Lower Left = Unconscious Yin

In this way, the position of a card in any particular hemisphere can provide valuable information about the rich meaning of that card.

  Hide


• Card Sets  Show

There are four card sets in the Rabika system:



• The Spiritual card set, or blue set, highlights all that is unseen in our lives. The divine, our spirit, and our intuition, as well as how we interact with metaphysical energies.
• The Physical card set, or red set, pertains to our physical bodies and the energy that emanates from our physical interactions with the world.
• The Social card set, or green set, looks at our interactions with other humans and the social systems we create and live within.
• The Material card set, or cyan set, covers the material world we’ve built and the monetary systems we’ve created that govern the use of resources.

These sets work together synergistically to represent the broad spectrum of energy we create and interact with on a daily basis.

  Hide


• Numbers  Show

There are many numerological systems in use in the world, some that are quite disparate from one another.

The meanings of the numbers used on the Rabika cards derive from an ancient form of numerology used by many practitioners today and in conjunct to our 10-base mathematical system. This numerological system’s meanings used in Rabika and mentioned here, are nuanced by the teachings provided to me by the many entities I have worked with.

In general, the numbers can be summed up with the following keywords:

• 0 = Divine
• 1 = Self
• 2 = Association
• 3 = Creation
• 4 = Building
• 5 = Freedom
• 6 = Home, Family
• 7 = Knowledge
• 8 = Resources, Power
• 9 = Completion
• 10 = Self connected to the Divine
• 11 = The first level of Mastery, Spirit
• 22 = The second level of Mastery, Sage

  Hide


• Colors  Show

Color is one of the most exciting ways to portray emotion and meaning in art. The colors of Rabika were chosen specifically for their symbolism and visual clarity.

First of all, the three main colors of the sets Physical, Spiritual, and Social are red, blue, and green respectively. These three sets are the embodiment of energies encompassing the natural world. They signify everything that transpires in the natural order of things. As such, the colors associated with them need to be all-encompassing; a complete system just as the natural world is a complete system.

Red, blue, and green are the primary colors of the refractive color system. As the primary colors of a complete system, every other color generated in that color system are from a mixture of these three primaries. This mirrors the main premise of Rabika, that all energies are influenced and transformed as they mix with other energies.

  Hide

1. Why the Refractive Color System?   Show

In general, people are most familiar with the reflective color system where the primary colors are Red, Blue, and Yellow. It’s called the reflective system because the spectral waves that make-up each color are made visible when light is shown upon a surface. The spectral-waves that are reflected (not absorbed) by the surface are the colors we see. If a ball is red it is so because the surface of the ball absorbs all the spectral waves except the red waves. As the red waves reflect, we see them with our miraculous eyes.

The refractive color system, however, relates to light and how certain spectral waves pass through each other. In so doing they influence, mix with, or otherwise alter the perceived color of the waves. Refractive properties are easiest seen by passing light through misty water. What comes out of the misty water is a refracted spectral palette we normally call a rainbow!

Most modern technology, such as televisions, computer monitors, and laser lighting systems all employ refractive colors of red, blue, and green to produce the various hues we perceive with our eyes.

Since Rabika is about energy, and light is a perceived form of energy, it made most sense to base the colors of Rabika on the refractive color system.

  Hide


2. So what do Red, Blue, and Green Mean in the Cards?  Show

When assigning the colors to Rabika, I looked at the human chakra system to glean clues about the applicability of certain colors.

Red is most closely aligned with our base, or root chakra. The root chakra helps us deal with our most primal states, such as self-preservation, fear, and lust. These states are aligned with how we interact with the physical world. Orange is the color of the second chakra that governs how we use our body to interact with the world and people. So, the Rabika set Physical is red with a predominance of orange.
Blue is aligned with our higher consciousness. The fifth chakra aligned with communication, and the sixth chakra aligned with our spiritual connections are often both signified with hues of blue. In some systems, purple is assigned to either the sixth chakra or the seventh, so the Rabika set Spiritual is blue with a measure of purple in the cards.

Green is most closely aligned with our heart chakra. The heart chakra governs our truth-meter, our strongest internal tool for dealing with people-to-people interactions. The heart chakra is also often symbolized by pink or rose, but we’ll get into why that’s important later. So, the Rabika set Social is green.

  Hide


3. What about the Material Set?   Show

Since the natural order of life as reflected in the card sets is comprised of the three primary colors of the refractive system, we had to find an appropriate color for the material set. The material set differs from the physical set in that it is the material world created by humans. Money, house wares, factories, and all that create and come from these things such as contracts, sales, acquisition, employment, are all contained within the Material set. Even though you could argue that all material things are still a part of the natural world, it is also true that they exist only because Homo sapiens have taken their special talents and transformed the physical world. For our purposes here, it is the human’s hand in these things that distinguishes them from the ‘natural world.’

To impart this distinction, Cyan was chosen as the color of the Material set. Cyan is a manmade color that rarely, if ever actually exists in the natural world. It lies somewhere between green and blue on the color chart and yet it is truly neither. Cyan represents the hand of man conjunct with the natural order.

  Hide


4. What Do the Other Colors on the Cards Represent?  Show

Well, whatever your personal beliefs are about God or a Higher Power, Rabika includes the idea of a power greater than that of an individual person. Some people regard this greater power as man’s mass consciousness, others as the Christ energy. Others believe in one (or several) omniscient being(s) that presides over the affairs of our world. Still others believe that the laws of physics itself provide the overarching power that governs our world.

Rabika makes no judgments about which if any of these thoughts are correct, but rather takes the view that there is something external to us, that we are not completely aware of, that does provide a framework for our movement on the earth plane and may also provide a hand in how actions between masses interact.

To signify this affect upon our world we chose the color yellow. In our chakra system, yellow is most closely aligned with our power center. It is also associated with the sun, and in Native American lore is associated with motherhood and governorship. So, all cards in the three sets, Physical, Spiritual, and Social have yellow as a significant color. You can call yellow the symbol of the divine or external power available to all of us.

In addition, to signify the innate transformative power of the metaphysical over all matters in life, the set Spiritual also incorporates the colors red and green (Physical and Social sets,) along with the varying degrees of purple, as a strong signifier of the connection between man and spirit.

  Hide


5. Why isn’t Yellow in the Material Set?   Show

The material in our world also benefits greatly from the divine, but only indirectly. Since the material world is shaped by people, it is the divine that flows through people that is signified in the Material set. For this, we chose the color rose. As I said earlier, rose is a secondary color of the heart chakra. The divine flows through people into the material world when humans use their hearts. The head produces ideas and the heart imbues those ideas with meaning and substance. So, the secondary color for the Material set is rose.

We also included a little green in the Material set as a nod to the other heart color, as well as its close symbolic affinity with money, abundance, and wealth in many societies throughout the world.

  Hide

• Fractal Artwork  Show

According to the website Wikipedia.com:

“The word “fractal” often has different connotations for laypeople than mathematicians, where the layperson is more likely to be familiar with fractal art than a mathematical conception. The mathematical concept is difficult to formally define even for mathematicians, but key features can be understood with little mathematical background.

“The feature of “self-similarity”, for instance, is easily understood by analogy to zooming in with a lens or other device that zooms in on digital images to uncover finer, previously invisible, new structure … people have pondered self-similarity informally such as in the infinite regress in parallel mirrors …”

Also, according to Wikipedia.com:

“Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still images, animations, and media. Fractal art developed from the mid-1980s onwards. It is a genre of computer art and digital art which are part of new media art. The Julia set and Mandelbrot sets can be considered as icons of fractal art.

“Fractal art (especially in the western world) is not drawn or painted by hand. It is usually created indirectly with the assistance of fractal-generating software, iterating through three phases: setting parameters of appropriate fractal software; executing the possibly lengthy calculation; and evaluating the product.”

Because fractal art is based entirely on numerical equations and their interactions with one another, they arose as the prefect art form for the Rabika cards.

The art you see on the cards now, I created over several years. Many painstaking iterations were made of these images to get the art you see now. In addition, multiple versions of art sets were created to identify which fractals would best illustrate the energies of each card and work together as a set.

  Hide


• Directions  Show

All cards have embedded directions. They influence other cards within a reading based on a directions assigned to that card.

There are three types of directional influence:

• Spiraling
• Four direction
• Two direction

  Hide


1. Spiraling Cards  Show

Below are the properties of Spiraling cards:



• They influence outward in all directions.
• They influence all cards to which they have a clear line of sight.
• The 1’s of each of the four sets as well as the 3 of Spiritual are spiraling cards.
• They are represented by artwork that spirals and they have eight numbers around the outside of the card to cue the reader that this is a card with spiral directional influence.

  Hide


2. Four Directional Cards  Show

The properties of the four directional cards are as follows:



• They influence in four directions, like the cardinal points on a map, north, south, east, and west.
• They influence any cards that lie in these four directions and to which that the card has a clear line of sight.
• They represent a higher level of power that people and the institutions of people have upon other people.
• The people cards of Yang, Yin, and Youth, of all four sets are four direction cards.
• They have four markers around the outside of the card to cue the reader that this is a card with four directional influences. The directions in the actual reading are fixed by where the four markers point when the card is laid down.
• They are represented by artwork in the form of shields of energy. The Yang shields are well formed and definitive. The Yin shields are well formed and slightly more fluid. The youth shields are in the process of forming and, therefore, are not well formed.

  Hide


3. Two Directional Cards  Show

Following are the properties of the two directional cards:



• They influences in two directions, as if one line drawn through the center of the card extends outward from both ends.
• They influence any cards that lie in the two directions in which that card has a clear line of sight.
• All cards except the 1’s, the people cards, and the 3 of spiritual are two directional cards.
• They are represented by two numbers around the outside of the card to cue the reader that this is a card with two directional influence. The directions in the actual reading are fixed by where the two numbers point when the card is laid down.
• Their art is selected based on the energetic flow of the fractal and therefore they have no cross card pattern like the spiral and four direction cards have.

  Hide

• Influences  Show

Each card in a reading is influenced by its placement and the placement of neighboring cards. These influences are interpreted based upon:

• the hemisphere the card falls in, if appropriate to the layout,
• the position the card occupies in the layout,
• the cards that point to it within the reading, and
• whether or not it has history.

The cards are affected by the pointers sent by neighboring cards. Any one card can be influenced by no other cards, or by any combination of cards around it. The determining factor is the way each neighboring card fell when it was laid down.

To read a card, you determine the meaning of its position in the layout, then which other cards are pointing to it. You then look up the meaning of that influence on the ‘Quick Start Guide,’ or in the ‘Card-by-Card Interpretations’ section of this book.

As with any metaphysical tool, a good reader must use his or her intuition to put all these influences into a cohesive message.

  Hide

Layouts  Show

• Lifecross Layout  Show

The Lifecross layout is the most comprehensive Rabika reading. The cards are laid out in eight stacks of various depths with 1-3 optional stacks.



The eight main stacks are positioned as you see in this illustration.

The spine of the reading falls up the middle of the board and consists on stacks 1,4,5, and 8. The spine also straddles the Yin and Yang hemispheres. The bottom section, stacks 1-4, called the Cradle, falls in the unconscious hemisphere. The upper section, stacks 5-8, called the Heart Cross, falls in the conscious hemisphere.

When extra helper stacks are used, spots 9-11, they add dimension to the reading and fall around the outer circumference of the board represented in the illustration by the red circular line. These cards can be positioned in any of the hemispheres depending upon where they fell in the layout process.

  Hide

1. Position Meanings  Show

The meanings of the positions, and some possible questions that cards in each position might answer, are as follows:

• Position 1: Self in relationship to the question. How is the self relating to the issue? What is driving the self to this challenge or decision point? Does this help or hinder the situation?
• Position 2: Yang activity generated by self. What actions is the self taking, or ignoring that are working for or against this situation?
• Position 3: Yin activity within self. What internal struggles or talents are being stimulated or brought to bear because of this situation? What part of self created the situation in the first place?
• Position 4: Culmination of activity. When looking at the self in relationship to this question, what actions and internal beliefs and issues have given rise to the situation? Or what can be enhanced right now to help the situation? How might this person’s influence help or hinder the situation?
• Position 5: Heart of the matter. What is the real issue at the heart of this inquiry? What is the underlying motivation for the individuals involved? What is the hope of the issue?
• Position 6: Yang forces at work. What actions are effecting this situation externally, either generated by the self, the situation or other people involved? Is this an action already happening? Or is this an action being suggested as a step to take toward a solution?
• Position 7: Yin forces at work. What underlying issues, dramas, hopes or dreams might be influencing this situation? How can the self shift perspective to meet the situation with empowerment?
• Position 8: Probable outcome. Where is this situation most likely headed, if no changes are made? Is there an alternative perspective to view the situation? Is the path toward a solution best handled passively or through direct action?
• Positions 9-11: External influences or helpers. What is coming in to help or hinder the situation? What other issues might be tangentially related and therefore coming to the fore as a result of this issue or situation? What helpers can be called on to bring a favorable conclusion?

  Hide


2. The Spine  Show

The spine of the reading is only important in the layout stage. It is not ‘read’ with meaning during the interpretation phase of the reading.

  Hide


3. The Cradle  Show

The Cradle, or sometimes called the bowl, is the combination of the stacks 1-4. The cradle forms a picture of the self as relating to the inquiry.

The cradle starts with stack 1, the self in relationship to the question. The self is either yourself, or the person you are doing the reading for. It then moves to stack 2 showing the yang or external activity of self as it relates to the inquiry, then stack 3 which is the yin or internal activity in the self as it relates to the inquiry. This cradle or bowl holds stack 4, which is the culmination of activity in the self. It is the combination of the first three stacks and shows what you, or the one you are reading for, are creating around the situation of the inquiry.

  Hide


4. The Heart Cross  Show

The Heart Cross is the combination of the stacks 5-8. Stack 5, the heart of the matter is the place where real issues are revealed. The heart of the matter might also be called the bottom line card. Stack 6 shows the issue as it expresses in yang form, or how the situation is interacting with people, and stack 7 shows how the issue is expressing internally, either to the people or the group involved, or to the issue itself.

The culmination of the heart related cards together with the culmination of the cradle, stack 4, work together to create a probable outcome.

  Hide


5. Helper Stacks  Show

Around the outside, if there are any external influences or helper cards, stacks 9-11, they are energies brought by other people, other situations, or groups. They usually work in favor of the outcome, though sometimes you will see a more difficult energy express here.

  Hide


6. Depth  Show

The Lifecross reading incorporates numerology in the early stages of its layout. The depth you choose for the stacks, will determine how many cards are placed in each of the four initial stacks along the spine, before they are cut. Choose a number that best relates to your question:

• 3 – The deepest root of ongoing challenges and issues
• 4 – Past life issues, laying foundations, work challenges
• 5 – Health, sexuality, and love relationships
• 6 – Art, family, and creativity
• 7 – Your Higher Path or any spiritual question
• 8 – Money, material gain, career, and power issues
• 9 – In general, how am I doing? What do I need to know?
• 10 – Miracles, magic, synchronicities, and reciprocities.
• 11 – Major life changes, Consciousness growth

  Hide


7. Stack Creation  Show

Stacks are created by using the depth to layout the four spine stacks with the appropriate number of cards in each stack. If the depth is 6, then four stacks are created along the spine that each have 6 cards in them, all face down.

To create the stacks 2, 3, 6, and 7, each of the four spine stacks is cut once:

• The cut cards off stack 1 become stack 2.
• The cut cards off stack 4 become stack 3.
• The cut cards off stack 5 become stack 6.
• The cut cards off stack 8 become stack 7.

The cards that are left over from creating the 4 spine stacks are then used, if appropriate, to create any stacks 9-11. These stacks are optional and may or may not pertain to any one reading. A reader must use their intuition to know if any of these stacks are appropriate and in what positions they lay. More information on figuring this out is provided in the section on performing readings.

  Hide


8. History  Show

When any card has history attached, that history is something that happened in the past that had a direct influence on the energy of that card. Some people want to call this a karma card, but it is more precisely thought of as history, because it may not have any association with work or thoughts that are undone. It was something that had influence.

When history does enter a reading, it is because that history may help to understand where that current energy came from. You see what set it up, in other words.

History is determined to be present if only one card remains under the top card after a stack is cut. If any stack is two cards high, you uncover both cards. The one that was on the top is the current matter for the reading. The one that was underneath is the history of that card’s energy. As such, you read that card in full, interpreted in a historical context. You also read that card as a directional influence on the top card.

It is also possible for a card to have no history. That would be if after a stack is cut the current stack has only one card, the card you turn over and read. If the case exists that no card is left under a card being read it is said to have no history. It is a new energy or situation that has just appeared in the life of the self or to the situation.

  Hide

• Short Layout  Show

The Short Reading is very popular for resolving quick questions. This spread gives a good summary of the energies involved in your situation.



Often the information derived from the short reading is plenty, but sometimes it becomes clear that the energies are more extensive and following up with a Lifecross reading may be appropriate. It is one of the few times asking the same question again can work for you instead of against you.

  Hide

1. Position Meanings  Show

The meanings of the positions are as follows:

• Position 1: Foundation of the matter
• Position 2: Most recent experience
• Position 3: Heart of the matter
• Position 4: Next action
• Position 5: Possible outcome

  Hide


2. Stack Creation  Show

This layout does not utilize the hemispheres, nor are there helper cards. The five stacks are laid out following one of three methods:

1. The full card deck is cut into five piles,
2. the top five cards are laid out in order, or
3. depth can be used if desired.

Simply select the layout method that feels right to you. I most often use method one, cutting the deck, to lay out a short reading.

  Hide


3. Influences  Show

All other card influences, such as directional influence and history apply to this layout.
Of course, if you lay out the cards using method 2 above, history would not apply.

  Hide

• Yes/No Layout  Show

Use the Yes / No spread when you are asking a question that begs a Yes or No answer.



There are only three card stacks:

• If they all fall in the same set, the answer is “Probably Yes.”
• If they are all different sets, the answer is “Probably No.”
• If you get two cards in a matching set and one different one, the answer is “Uncertain at this time.”

The third card will help you understand the action to take to gain clarity.

Since the future is malleable, my experience with this reading is that one rarely receives a clear yes or no. However, this layout offers good information on where the issue stands and what to look at to create change if desired. When a clear yes or no is provided, and it is not the answer you like, follow this reading up with a Lifecross to see where you can make a change to the situation if appropriate.

  Hide

1. Position Meanings  Show

The meanings of the positions are as follows:

• Position 1: What or who created the situation
• Position 2: Present influence
• Position 3: Action to Provide clarity

  Hide


2. Stack Creation  Show

This layout does not utilize the hemispheres, nor are there helper cards. The three stacks are laid out following one of three methods:

1. The full card deck is cut into three piles,
2. the top three cards are laid out in order, or
3. depth can be used if desired.

Just like with a short reading, simply select the layout method that feels right to you. I most often use method one, cutting the deck, to lay out a yes/no reading.

  Hide


3. Influences  Show

All other card influences, such as directional influence and history apply to this layout.
Of course, if you lay out the cards using method 2 above, history would not apply.

  Hide

Performing Readings  Show

1. Prepare Yourself  Show

Come to the reading as prepared as you can be. As much as is possible, be open, relaxed, and receptive.

When you use Rabika, you are invoking all personally aligned entities and energies to aid you in obtaining greater wisdom. This includes your personal intuition, your guides and masters, your higher self, and if you desire, the energies and entities of the Rabika Grid. The cards returned in the reading, with their corresponding meanings, align based on divine principles as they relate to the situation of inquiry.

Please bear in mind that readings are as useful to you as you permit them to be. You must bring a sense of commitment and calm to your reading space. To get more from your reading adhere to the following guidelines:

• Center yourself as best you can: Your commitment to your own growth will be matched by the energies that are helping you at that time. When you bring your best to the reading, you will get the best results. If you attempt merely to ‘play’ with the cards without bringing your own commitment to the reading, the energies will sense this and what displays to you may be gibberish.
• State your intentions: I always say to myself the intentions that I ‘be a clear reader’ and that ‘everything that happen in the reading be for the highest good of all concerned.’ These intentions work well for me and many other readers I’ve trained. You may have intentions of our own. The point is to set the intentions at the outset so you remain centered and clear throughout the reading.
• Follow your intuition: If you ‘sense’ that the cards are saying something in particular, you are very likely correct. The more you follow your intuition, the more it will grow; like a muscle, intuition needs to be exercised. Using Rabika will help you grow your intuitive sense.
• If you ask about a situation and receive an answer that poses a new question, do another reading with the new question in mind. However, if you try to ask the same question, more than once, the energies involved will sense your hesitation to accept the information and insight you have already been given. They will withdraw from the reading. What you receive after that may be incomprehensible.
• Demonstrate respect for the process and you will get more in return.

Remember always to interpret your results in light of your question! This is very important. For example, if you ask about your health and you receive information about abundant wealth, consult your question and realize the cards may be talking about your abundant wealth of physical health and/or emotional well-being. The answer will always be directly relevant to the question.

  Hide


2. Prepare Your Space  Show

Allow your space to reflect the respect you have for the reading process. I like to do readings in a quiet space where I’m unlikely to be interrupted. That said, I have many times done readings in restaurants, on commuter trains, or in some other crowded public place. Let your situation be the guide, but in all cases have respect for the process.

Prepare the surface for the layout. If you’re unsure if the surface will deface the cards accidently, wash it or wipe it clear before you begin. Some people like to have a special scarf or cloth to do the layouts on, so the underlying surface cannot accidently mar the cards.

When you bring out the cards, be gentle with them. Treat the cards with care.

The order of the cards should always be randomized at the beginning of the reading. I generally interleave the cards several times without any question in mind so they become neutral before I formulate my question.

  Hide


3. Select Your Question  Show

Spend some time formulating your question.

Questions are best when they don’t include fear based emotions, or judgments. Asking the question, “What is blocking my happiness at this time?” is a better question than, “What’s wrong with me?” Or, “How can I help the situation with Uncle Joe?” is better than, “What do I do with my no account uncle?”

It’s also good to be clear and precise. The question, “Are things ever going to happen?” is vague. But the question, “Are the options I’m reviewing for this promotion worth considering?” is concrete and should yield a clear reading.

However, there is one special question that is purposefully vague, but is used to solicit information from your guides when you don’t actually know the specific question to ask, but feel there is something you need to hear. That question is, “How am I doing at this time?” or can also be asked as, “What do I need to know at this time?” There is even a special depth for this type of question, depth 9.

  Hide


4. Choose a Layout  Show

Next, select which layout best serves your needs in relationship to the inquiry. For example, if you want a comprehensive reading, select the Lifecross layout. If you want something fast and without too many complications, select the Short layout.

  Hide


5. Choose the Depth  Show

If appropriate to the layout, and with your question in mind, select a depth that most closely aligns with the goal of your inquiry.

If I’m going to ask about a challenge in a personal relationship, I might select depth 5 for love relationships, or 6 for family. If that challenge has been difficult and persisted for a long time, I might select depth 3 for the deepest root of an ongoing issue.

If I’m going to ask about a sales effort at work, I might select 8 for money or career issues. Or if what I want to see are where those sales efforts could be energetically enhanced, I might select 11 for the magic and synchronicities.

  Hide


6. Layout the Cards  Show

Laying out the cards for a Lifecross Rabika reading is done in the following order. If you have selected the short reading or yes/no layouts, modification to these layout procedures should be apparent:

1. Randomize the Cards
   First, interleave the cards with your question firmly in mind. If you are reading for someone else, both you and that person should hold the question in mind while you are interleaving the cards.
   Try not to bend the cards as they will break down and deteriorate much more quickly. So, don’t ‘shuffle’ them as you would a playing card deck. I use a simple method of cutting the deck in my hands. While holding the stacks with their sides up, allowing one stack to gently fall into the other stack. Sometimes a simple shaking of the hands at the same time gives the cards the room they need to easily interleave.
2. Populate the Spine
   Next, with your depth in mind, create four facedown piles at the spine (positions 1, 4, 5, and 8.)
   Do this by placing one card at a time, from the top of your deck, onto the stacks. The first card would go to stack 1, the second to stack 4, the third to stack 5, the fourth to stack 8, the fifth card would go back on stack 1, and so on, until the stacks have the number of cards in them that correspond with the depth you selected.
   
   For example, if you chose a depth of 8, then you will finish with four stacks in positions 1, 4, 5 and 8 that each have 8 cards in them, all face down.
3. Cut the Four Stacks
   
   To create piles 2, 3, 6, and 7, cut the stacks on the board as follows:
   • Cut stack 1 and place the cut cards facedown into position 2.
   • Cut stack 4 and place the cut cards facedown into position 3.
   • Cut stack 5 and place the cut cards facedown into position 6.
   • Cut stack 8 and place the cut cards facedown into position 7.

   You will finish this step with 8 face-down stacks on the board in the above configuration of 1-8.

4. Place any Helper Cards
   Then, ask your internal intuitive guide if helper cards are appropriate. If so, you would place the remaining cards into those positions.
   I accomplish this step by holding the remaining deck face down and slowly moving my hand around the board in a clockwise motion following the movement of the red line in the illustration above. As my hand moves around I may get a feeling to drop either the whole remaining portion of the deck or part of it at any spot along that circle. I do this until the entire remaining portion of the deck is placed on the board or I feel the remaining portion is to be set aside.
   Doing it this way, you may end up with none, one, two, or three helper stacks. My experience is that none to two helper stacks is relatively normal with one stack being usual. Three helper stacks is unusual, but not unheard of. In no case would you venture past three helper stacks. The reading would become too complicated.
5. Turn Over the Cards
   Now it’s time to turn over the top card of each stack. Turn each card over with a simple movement and do not second-guess the placement of the card. Just turn the card over and let the directional pointers fall exactly as they do without change.
   I have seen readers try to make the pointers go in particular directions, perhaps even unconsciously due to desire, but it’s very important to merely flip the cards one at a time, and without thought to their placement.
6. Uncover History
   Now survey each stack for depth.
• If any stacks have in them only the one card you turned over, that card is considered to be history free.
• If any stack has two cards in it, the one you turned over and one still face-down below it, pull the face-down card out and turn it over, replacing it face up partially beneath the top card. This underneath card is considered a history card.

Take care not to change the directional pointers of the top card while you are manipulating a card beneath it.

You will notice that the shallower the depth, the greater likelihood that history laden, or history free cards will appear. This is at it should be for the type of reading sought with those shallower depths.

In my experience, the majority of readings are performed with the deeper depths. Even still, history does often appear. Watch for it.

  Hide


7. Read the Cards  Show

Now comes the fun part, reading the cards. If you have taken care with the placement of the cards during the layout, this interpretation phase will be exhilarating and rife with meaning and tangible guidance.

1. Look at the Overall Presentation
   Sit back for a moment. Take in the entire board. Often the first messages from the reading come not from the individual cards, but from the entire presentation.
   IS THERE AN OVERALL PREDOMINANT SET?
   When a reading presents with a predominant set, physical, spiritual, material, or social, it can offer a window into the true nature of the situation. Sometimes we might be stuck seeing a situation as pertaining to one thing, when the energies actually pertain more to something else. I have seen this many times, perhaps a client presents an issue that they think is about a work situation and they find that it is primarily a spiritual issue or crisis instead. Or perhaps a person feels they are stuck in their spiritual development and find through the reading that the issue is more closely aligned to their physicality.
   DO THE SETS SEGREGATE ACCORDING TO HEMISPHERES?
   Perhaps the yin side of the reading is all from the spiritual set, while the Yang side of the reading is all from the material set. This could be a valuable clue.
   On the other hand, perhaps the cradle is all physical, and yet the heart cross is predominantly Social.
   It helps to notice the overall expression of the reading before delving into the specifics.
2. Read each Card
   Now you get to spend time interpreting each card. You can use the Quick Start Guides or the Card-by-Card Interpretation section of this book.
   The Rabika cards are chock full of nuanced meanings. Even after all these years of using this tool I developed, I refer to the Quick Start Guides as I read. And from time to time I look up the full meaning in the Card-by-Card Interpretation section of this book, so don’t hesitate to utilize them. They are provided to make your reading experience enjoyable and filled with usable insight.
   And using these aids does not short-change you. As you put the meanings together for the guidance they can offer, there is plenty for your intuitive voice to offer. Let it speak up!
   Also, as a beginner, it’s a good idea to take notes along the way, so you can refer to what you said or read, say, 15 minutes ago. The readings can be so filled with information that you don’t want to lose any of it.
   FIRST, IDENTIFY THE MEANING OF THE POSITION IN LAYOUT AND IN HEMISPHERE
   Identify the meaning of the position the card sits in. For example, a card in position one offers insight about the person who is receiving the reading and that person’s relationship with the inquiry.
   SECOND, IDENTIFY THE CARD’S GENERAL MEANING
   Now look up the general meaning of the card itself. Use the Quick Start Guides or the Card-by-Card Interpretation section of this book.
   If the card is the 6 of Physical, look up its general meaning and see that it says, “This is the card of home and family. It represents all the physical things you hold near and dear.”
   THIRD, IDENTIFY THE MEANING OF DIRECTIONAL INFLUENCES, INCLUDING HISTORY IF ANY
   Take a look at all the other cards around this card you are interpreting. Continuing the example above if the card is the 6 of Physical and sitting next to it is the 1 of spiritual, you know the 1 of spiritual is a spiraling card that influences all cards around it. So you look up the meaning of the 6 of physical influenced by a 1 and find this message, “There is an element of togetherness in this situation. Togetherness is a mutual feeling, shared by all participants. Your home is warm and filled with love.”
   FOURTH, READ THE OVERALL MEANING OF THE CARD
   Now, read the entire card by intuitively interpreting the many messages the card offers.
   If in the example above the 1 was the only influence on the 6, as in:
   • there was no history card,
   • the card was directionally influenced only by the 1 card, and
   • the card being read is in position 1,

   …you might conclude that this person is very connected to their family and home and that this question at hand is being influenced by this person’s close relationship with the people and things they love.

  Hide


8. Consider the Information  Show

Once you have interpreted all the cards individually, consider the information you were given. Look over the notes you took to help you formulate a clear overall picture of what the reading is saying.
Sit back and read the cards in summary format, creating a story out of them. See how the beginning point of self rises out of the cradle into the situation at its very heart. See how the action around the situation influences the self and forms the probable outcome.

In regards to the probable outcome card, please read the section in Part One titled, ‘Future is Probability.’ Rabika does not tell you what will happen. Rabika shows you where the situation is probably headed if no changes or actions are taken to alter or enhance that outcome.

If you allow your intuitive voice to connect the dots, so to speak, between the messages, most often a clear path of action becomes apparent.

The act of performing the reading is already taking an action step and anything done, felt, or thought, because of the information provided, can have a substantive influence on the outcome. Keep this in mind.

  Hide


9. End the Reading  Show
1. Answer Questions
   If you are performing this reading for yourself, let yourself ask questions of the reading. Often, these questions may help you see nuances in the meanings that were hidden at first view.
   If you are reading for another person, let that person ask you questions. Sometimes those questions will be clarifications of something you’ve already seen and spoken, but he or she didn’t hear or understand the first time around. Other times the question will lead you to see more information previously hidden from your view.
   In any case, stay open and listen. You are exercising your intuitive voice and it wants to give you as much information as it can.
2. Close the Reading
   When the reading is complete, you’ll feel an energetic shift. When this happens, gently pick up the cards and return them to their repository. Thank them for helping bring wisdom to your life.
   Also, thank everyone who participated in the reading: The unseen entities that may have helped facilitate the information flow, the person you may have been reading for, and of course, yourself for being open and listening.
   Having gratitude for the process is the best way to keep the flow of information coming and enlighten your life with joy and peace.

  Hide