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To: alt.occult.methods,alt.pagan.magick,alt.divination,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.chess,rec.games.chess.misc From: nagasivaSubject: Re: Chess Divination (was Forum Notice) Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 07:51:36 GMT I originally sent some of this material to an Enochian Chess Yahoogroup. I'm referring to CZalewski for most of the information about rules for Enochian Chess below. there are probably variations, and I'd like to become aware of these, should any decide to offer corrections. thanks. 50020304 VI my focus in initiating conversation on this topic is: to examine the general method by which the Chess/Chaturanga/Enochian Chess and the like are interpreted (board, pieces, moves, and configurations or positions), when, and in what style/theme. I've been playing a variety of games in the family of Chaturanga and Chaturaji, all four-player, all 8x8 and generally K-R-N-B/P-P-P-P, set into different configurations in the corners, arrayed along the diagonal (as in The Game of Four Seasons) or along the side of the board (as in most descriptions of Chaturaji which I've seen -- fylfot/svastika form, and circularly disposed, because all of each force's Pawns are headed into the next (or the previous) Player's position. some rulesets include directives that require attacks on the Player next in sequence. I've explored this and feel it is a good character to integrate to a 5-element Chinese symbol-system (4+earch/center), because of the relation that is described, by process, of these principles or elements. the actual *playing* of the game is governed by a few dynamics which I find important in a consideration of rulesets. * SKILL -- if one wishes to integrate skill of play as factor in the result, it is probably best to reduce the usage of dice, for the determination of which piece(s) may be moved, for example. variation (3 Players random and 'best move' and 1 Player (Querent) at liberty to determine moved piece, for example) assists focal aspect of oracular consultation, though why any one of the 4 forces should be utilized by the Querent is another conceptual issue. NOTE: I'm consistently using dice as determining factors of what *may* be moved (if possible), and I've settled on *must be moved if it can be arranged* as the standard for 'random' Players -- i.e. those using dice, required to attack the next Player in sequence until and unless an opportunity for capture is present and it simultaneously serves the primary alliance -- if 4 Players, oneself and one's partner across the board, if 3 Players, one's own force alone. present system (second one I'm trying) to determine move: 1-P, 2-B, 3-N, 4-R, 5-F, 6-K where P=Pawn, N=Knight, R=Rook and K=King all as in ortho Chess, but B=Boat [2 Diag, Jump] and F=Queen/Fers [1 Diag]. if a piece designated by the *2* d6 or their combination cannot be moved, then no move is allowed. if both can be moved, then they should be. * PLAYABILITY -- whether watching the outcome of the dicing or detemining for oneself the moves, how well the game plays to the result is another important factor; games with weaknesses or which are skewed toward certain forces, moves, or dice rolls, may be valuable to avoid. (e.g. the fylfot-svastika start configuration seems inferior when the corner square is occupied by the Boat, the King 3 spaces away on the side -- the only move by the Boat is a check to the target's King, and this King must also face assault from advancing Pawns from the same force, necessitating immediate defensive maneuvers -- something recommending *against* this configuration; compare this with the Four Seasons Game, in which the King sits in the corner surrounded by R-B-N, P-P and P-P flanking; not only does this make the harrowing 'Four Boat Capture' more likely[!], but I find that placing the Rooks facing the direction of play, the Knights defending, a better usage is made of Pawns during the game, defense against the previous Player in the sequence is made easier, and there is generally room to move about in one's 'Castle Area') * MEANING -- with all the skill and playability in the world, without some kind of symbolic association scheme, the divinatory result of our construction will be completely devoid of use. rather than add a piece (e.g. the Ptah) attached to the Querent's King, I'm finding it more elegant to merely look at the configuration of the board at the end of the game, from where the winning move is made, and the focal end square of success. using the variation that a lone King is allowed to establish a Draw Game, it is possible to obtain quite a number of complex meanings, especially if the board is somehow marked for its squares in Enochian Chess/Divination, Dee's tablets and various other symbols are used to fill the squares on the specially selected elemental board out of four possible. I've been filling the board with a magic square (of late the 'Mercury' Square from Agrippa utilzing the most simple means of 8x8 construction and popular amongst ceremonial magicians for their 'kamea' talismans that spin from the same author (into Golden Dawn and others)), attributing to it I Ching hexagrams. I'm identifying each force with a colour (changing these up a bit as I learn about novel colour designations from Chinese mysticism, Chess variants (Four Seasons has a mini-symbol-setup already!), a direction, a season, a time, and one of the 5 Chinese elements (along with the center, earth). QUESTIONS (just brainstorming here; comments welcome!) is skill of play important to the process of divination if so, then fewer dice should be used. I am enjoying the use of dice as it both restricts rational direction to certain vectors and makes possible quick wins or very long games with intriguing endgame positions for interpretation. can the principles of Chess and its relatives be identified as part of a family of games of similar type and then a composite created for study of transcultural occultism? this seems possible enough on its face. Chess isn't that ambiguously defined that a small group of similar or like-form games could not be gathered with similar principles. having been used for divination or integrating easily with preferred symbol-systems would seem to be important. Xiangqi, for example, may have been a divination device complete with astrological implications, magic squares, etc. the more extant or previously-designed divinatory systems utilizing these components may be discovered and described, the more we'll have to work with. exactly what are the differences between Chaturanga and Enochian Chess? the ones I've been able to identify so far are (these are tentative, as I haven't been able to identify the exact differences between the variable Enochian Chess fragments and modern projections through these fragments): PTAH PIECE Enochian Chess Divination (apparently only overlapping with but not the same as the Game, at least by description of CZalewski) uses something called a 'Ptah' piece which differs from most of the Chess variations I've seen in association with this game family. this piece is used to provide a simple 'yes' or 'no' to a Querent's interest -- if the Querent, directing an appropriate force, is able to position hir King upon the same square as the Ptah piece, then it is ruled a 'successful' result, according to the conditions under which this took place (i.e. if it was a struggle, so will the achievement be a struggle). DOUBLE-PIECE CORNER 'THRONE' SQUARE OCCUPATION Enochian Chess Game/Divination sets up *2 pieces* on the corner square, the 'Throne', which operates as in ordinary Chaturanga or Chaturaji as a power spot, occupying it with one's King changes control over all the forces tied to that square to the colour of the King (who thereafter has two turns, one for each force). some Chaturaji/Chaturanga games make use of a Fers/Queen, but most of them do NOT have this double-piece occupation and it should be considered an extreme variation as I see it. FOUR ELEMENTAL-ENOCHIAN BOARDS AND DIRECTIONAL PLAY Enochian Chess and Chess Divination both utilize four different possible boards (elemental, based on Dee's tablets and integrating tarot pieces and Hermetic forces and principles). this appears to be unique to this game family (a feature of the Dee/Enochian theme). these boards have a specific orientation and placement. in addition to this, the direction of play may be chosen (rotating rightward or leftward). what about the possible *Chinese origins* of Chess? see, for example, The Origin of Chess http://www.shamema.com/origin.htm which throws light on all the academic and not-so-academic background of Chess history researchers and writers (the over-emphasis on Murray in an analysis of Chess' origins, for example, is probably still a major obstruction to clear retrospective). most sources seem smitten with India as the originator of the game, and the old Indian games identified as ancestors are definitely what has been used by Western magicians in association with Westcott, Mathers, and Regardie. little has been examined in depth or detail about the rulesets, pieces, and game dynamics of the game family as a whole -- a kind of overall or 'holistic' analysis and composition. ok, I've run out of steam here. I'll fetch the bibliography I made for additional studies and post that next. conversation encouraged! nagasiva
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