By popular demand, here's a detailed description of the soon to be publicly
distributed Discordian Deck. All the meanings listed are our own
interpretations only and not to be taken as canon or anything.
A Description of the Discordian Deck
as discovered by Max Flax Beeblewax and (boing!) Cnoocy Mosque O'Witz
TRUMPS
Card Format: name on bottom. arabic number on top middle. mayan number
on left and right upper corners.
1: The Sacred Cow: a cow. Speech balloon says "mu".
meaning: a sacred cow.
2: A Pope: a pope card.
meaning: querent, or anybody really.
3: The Initiate: a hand holding a book, reading. Letter in book is "T".
meaning: someone looking for knowledge or at the beginning of a journey.
4: The Illuminate: a hand writing a book. Letter in book is "E".
meaning: someone who has gained knowledge or completed a journey.
5: The Believer: a sheep.
meaning: someone who accepts ideas.
6: The Skeptic: a dragon.
meaning: someone who rejects ideas.
7: Flower: a five-petaled flower, with pistil and stamen evident.
meaning: sex, drugs, and hedonic pursuits.
8: The Trout: a fish with a hat on.
meaning: silliness, laughter, surrealism.
9: Conspiracy: silhouettes at a table.
meaning: There's a plot behind coincidences.
10: Joker: traditional playing-card joker.
meaning: wild card.
11: Net of Synchronicity: lines connect circles near a mystical face.
meaning: There's a cosmic force behind coincidences.
12: Discordian Deck: information about the deck.
meaning: this deck, or self-referentialism.
13: The Big Bang: a stylized circular explosion.
meaning: Eristic Creation.
14: The Great Pyramid: a pyramid in front of a horizon.
meaning: Aneristic Creation.
15: Radioactivity: radioactivity symbol.
meaning: Aneristic Destruction.
16: The Tower of Babel: decomposing rectangle containing Genesis 11:7.
meaning: Eristic Destruction.
17: The Discordian Society: a golden-apple flag on a slanted forked stick.
meaning: Eristic group or groups.
18: The Bavarian Illuminati: an eye/pyramid flag on a vertical pointed stick.
meaning: Aneristic group or groups.
19: Greyface: a bearded man in robes kneeling with a compass.
meaning: someone on the all-order trip.
20: Eris: a wild-haired girl dancing.
meaning: someone on the all-disorder trip.
21: The Golden Apple: an apple with "kallisti" on it in greek letters.
meaning: Eristic forces.
22: The Pentagon: a thick pentagon, pointing sideways.
meaning: Aneristic forces.
23: The Sacred Chao: The Sacred Chao.
meaning: The Sacred Chao.
MINORS
Card Format: for D, S, C, and A, name on bottom. In upper left and upper
right corners, suit symbol then number/letter.
Suits:
The suits are named after the five basic Discordian elements. They
correspond to the five senses, the five Aristotelian elements, and
every other five you can find lying around. Try figuring out which of
your toes is the "Prickle" toe some time when you're feeling inspired.
Sweets: Taste, Water, Pleasure (a drop of water or tongue, with a smile)
Booms: Hearing, Air, Action (an ear-shaped cloud)
Pungents: Smell, Aether, Intensity (a dark circle with two smaller circles
inside it next to each other, like infinity or a snout)
Prickles: Touch, Earth, Conformity (5 lines coming up off a horizontal base)
Oranges: Sight, Fire, Bizarreness (an upward-pointing eyelike crescent)
Faces:
Z (zip): blank card except for corners. A lack of whatever the suit means.
1: one of the symbol. A good amount of whatever.
2: two of the symbol, one above the other. Shared whatever.
3: three of the symbol, in a vertical line. Imbalance of whatever.
4: four of the symbol, in a square. Excess whatever.
O: Onomatopoeia. A moment of whatever, or the sense of the suit.
O of Sweet: MMMMM
O of Boom: whoosh
O of Pungent: O
O of Prickle: thud
O of Orange: wow
D: Day. The days of the Discordian week, and the time of a spiritual day.
Sweetmorn: A Sweet symbol poking over the horizon, with an arrow upwards.
The happy beginning of something.
Boomtime: A Boom symbol in front of a circle. The hectic morning, or the
starting work of something.
Pungenday: A shining Pungent symbol above a horizon. The noon meditation
or the central point of a task or project.
Prickle-Prickle: Two overlapping Prickle symbols. A physical afternoon,
a siesta, a non-thinking time.
Setting Orange: An Orange symbol half-visible over the horizon, with an
arrow downwards. The end of the day and the cast party after a project.
(Cnoocy on the range of the D cards: "They cover the day from sunrise to
sunset. They don't cover the night since that is the domain of Eris's
mother, Nox.")
S: Season. The Seasons from the Discordian Calendar. These are basically
just like they are in the seasons document on the 5CDSSR web site,
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/people/denis/seasons.html. For those without
browsers, here they are in a nutshell:
Chaos: No illusions
Discord: Eristic Illusion
Confusion: Conflict between both Illusions
Bureaucracy: Aneristic Illusion
The Aftermath: Playing with Illusions
C: Cow. A Cow. May symbolize someone in the midst of whatever, but not
actually affected by it.
A: Apostle of Eris. Hung Mung, Dr. Van Van Mojo, Saint Gulik, Zarathud, and
Malaclypse the Elder. Pics scanned straight outta the Principia. May mean
someone who embodies the whatever.
Pope Max Flax Beeblewax, KSC, DSM, ULC (
denis@jarthur.cs.hmc.edu)
5-College Discordian Society of Saint Rufus
<a href="http://www.cs.hmc.edu/people/denis/mfb.html">My WWW page</a>
B. E. T. E. O. P. O. D. H. E. A. H. D. R. A. D. D.
