Symbol systems and playing cards

In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics (Part #5)

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The formal structure of Figure 2 is also closely related to that of the lauburu (or Basque cross) as discussed in relation to climate change (Playful exploration of ecopsychological embodiment of climate change pathways, 2005). They may offer ways of holding what has been described as the "cognitive twist" associated with the process of enantiodromia (Psychosocial Work Cycle: beyond the plane of Möbius, 2007).

The challenge of widespread communication of the pattern of four attractors might be usefully associated with the symbols characteristic of widely used sets of playing cards. There is even a case for recognizing their degree of resemblance to the fold, cusp, swallowtail and butterfly catastrophes. This would respect popular legends according religious or metaphysicial significance to four-fold systems of fundamental categories through playing cards (cf International Playing-Card Society, History of Playing-Cards, 2000). A case might then also be made for recognizing the "court cards" as representing the umbilic catastrophes (hyperbolic, elliptic and parabolic) of catastrophe theory. The four "suits" might then conveniently represent the contrasting perspectives on the "higher order" umbilic catastrophes.

The merit of associating fundamental strategic challenges with widely understood popular processes of play has been argued elsewhere (Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005).