EXERCISES
- Choose one of the personal overview lay-outs above, and read for yourself. Given what you know about your life right now, was it accurate? Was it helpful? Did it yield fresh insight on your situation?
- Do an overview lay-out for a subject of your choice. This can be your school, the corporation you work for, your city or town, your state or province, your country. You can choose to do this reading using the national overview lay-out above (if more than one political party, you’ll need to wedge them in on the top line and draw three cards for each party), or you can choose one of the personal overview lay-outs for this subject. Given what you know about this subject, how accurate and/or revealing was your reading? Do you think it gave a good way forward for this group?
- Do a reading using any lay-out of your choice–three-card spread, five-card spread, seven-card spread, Hungarian six-card spread, twenty-five card spread, even the Grand Tableau, choosing 36 cards at random from the 104 Adinkra cards, if you’re feeling ambitious. How did the Adinkra cards fare, using these other lay-outs?
- In your opinion, how is the quality of the Adinkra’s insight different from other symbol systems we’ve covered so far? Are there any similarities with other divination tools we’ve covered? Would this deck best be used for some subjects and not others?
EXTRA CREDIT: Interpret the two spreads below:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Though I have designed the Adinkra cards with their summarized meanings right on the card, so you can do readings immediately, I strongly encourage further reading on the subject, because a greater depth of understanding of each symbol’s meaning and the culture from which the Adinkra symbols sprang will lead to better readings. Below is a title I personally own:
Willis, W. Bruce. The Adinkra Dictionary: A Visual Primer on the Language of Adinkra. Washington, D.C.: The Pyramid Complex. 1998. 314 pages. ISBN: 0-9661532-0-0.
This book took Willis six years to write, and some of the Adinkra symbols discussed in this book, Willis had to learn about from tribal elders conveying information in the traditional oral format. This is a good book to get you started on the subject, and will teach you some about the society from which these symbols sprang. Another thing I like about this book is it gives you the proper pronunciation for each Adinkra symbol.
Here are two more titles I found on Amazon.com, which both received five-star ratings:
Korankye, Charles. Adinkra Alphabet, Third Edition: The Adinkra Symbols & Their Hidden Meanings. Publisher: Adinkra Alphabet. 300 pages. ISBN: 978-0996523394. 2017.
Kojo, G.F. Cloth as Metaphor: (Re)Reading the Adinkra Cloth: Symbols of the Akan of Ghana, 2nd Edition. Publisher: iUniverse. 316 pages. ISBN: 978-1532028938. 2017.
While searching for these, I also saw some listings for Adinkra coloring books, which would be a fine way of learning the Adinkra symbols by heart, so if you want to get into this symbol-system, I encourage you to consider the coloring books as well.