The following is an old post from the Vexsystems wordpress. You can find a slightly edited version of this in Time Sorcery, available now through Gate Zero.
Subdecadence, governed by the great lemur Tokhatto, has several uses to a practitioner of time-sorcery. While complete understanding of the system still eludes us, a general cohesive one exists and is ready to be shared.
1) Decadence vs Subdecadence
The CCRU describes two forms of card game related to the lemurs: decadence and subdecadence. Decadence and decadology are rooted in hermetic and AOE understandings of the numogram, and this explanation will only cover the uses and meanings of subdecadence because of that. Time-sorcery is a tool or weapon to be used against the AOE calendric matrix, so what good is their decadological understanding to us?
2) Set-up.
Each lemur that is not a syzygetic one is assigned a subdecadence card (Katak is a special case). The card they are assigned is determined by their cluster type (numbered zero through nine) and their rite, as well as their pitch polarity.
The cluster type has a pattern which seems to relate to how the rite moves through the numogram, but the specifics of which are still uncertain at this time. This may be rooted in the fact that only 4 cards can share a cluster type, so some will be forced to be outliers. However, it seems that the zone that the rite starts in (and whether it's major or minor) helps to determine the cluster type of the lemur.
The major and minor rite of a lemur seems to be arbitrarily chosen and requires more study, but it is worth it to gloss what we mean by those terms. A major rite begins the travel through the numogram at the larger zone value, while a minor rite begins at the smaller value and travels to the larger one. Katak, for example, has two rites, one major [54] and one minor [418725], written as a list of how one would travel the numogram to reach the destination zone.
The pitch polarity is taken directly from the pitch, where "ana" is positve and "cth" is negative.
When one puts this all together, one can choose cards out of the 40 cards that a standard playing card deck is truncated to and assign each of them a lemur. Note that the syzygies are removed, though Katak is assigned explicitly one of the joker cards.
Luckily for us, each lemur has already been given a card, denoted by the [XX] parentheses under the decadology. The only cards which are not given a card are the chaotic xenodemons, which we can label using what we know from above, plus a little reasoning. The hearts and diamonds suits are minor rites while the clovers and spades are major. Moreover, clovers and hearts are positive while diamonds and spades are negative. Since queens are assigned a value of 0, this means that the major and minor rite can be determined by whether it goes to or from zero. Since zero is always minor, we have assigned 3::0 and 6::0 to the minor rites, while 9::3 and 9::6 are major rites.
3) Lay-out
The subdecadology spread is laid out in the manner of the Atlantean cross. There are five positions: 1) memories and dreams, 2) destructive influences, 3) creative influences, 4) far future, and 5) deep past. the specific understanding of what these positions mean still requires more research, but overall can be alikened to a y-axis which involves the "timeline" and an x-axis that determines what actions are likely to occur at the mid-point where they intersect, which could be considered "the present".
4) The Game
The way that subdecadence works is simple. You pull two sets of five cards. The first set you lay out in the manner of the Atlantean Cross, the next set you place on the side or along the bottom of your playing space. Then, you make pairs which add to nine(9+0), 8+1, 7+2, 6+3, 5+4). Every unpaired card in set one is assigned its number value as a negative score, while any pairs are scored according to their difference as a positive number.
EXAMPLE:
3
0 8
5
2
37481
The 2 and 7 pair, the 8 and 1 pair, the 5 and 4 pair. This gives 1+7+5-3-0, since the 3 and 0 are unpaired.
If you score a positive result, the game continues and you pull another set. Do not shuffle this set back into the deck before pulling the next set.
If you score a negative result, the game ends and you call the lemur whose mesh number equals your score. A score of 0 ends the game and calls Lurgo, but is not considered a "loss".
The game ends on your first negative result, and your total for the aeon is added up to give you a final score. In other words, if you score a positive 2 the first round, but a negative 7 the second round, the game ends and your final score is negative 5.
5) Subdecadence As A Tool
Subdecadence can be used both to do magic and to divine in the same way that a practitioner would use a tarot deck or even a traditional deck of cards. Unlike other systems, subdecadence gives divinatory responses that are deep and mythical instead of simple "she is sad, she is angry, she wants money" and requires a deeper level of interpretation or understanding than the straightforward symbolisms of tarot.
Casting spells using subdecadence requires a pull which leaves a degree of uncertainty or ambiguity, specifically in how cards pair. For example, if there is a 7 on the cross and your set-2 has two 2s, then you can choose either card to fulfil the adding to 9, thus giving you control over the meaning of the aeon.
We have decided to view each pair as a cancellation of the original lemur aspect, which cancels out either the meaning of the cross or allows the sorcerer to choose whether an event takes a destructive influence or creative influence
6) Further thoughts, Conclusions
Obviously, this system is still in its infancy. This description should be used as a quick-start guide, allowing any sorcerer to pick up a deck of cards and understand them as a tool of Pandemonium. The way that the system creates meaning and what each of the lemurs mean, as well as how the magic of subdecadence work, are still in their early stages and only through rigorous experimentation can we understand the true value of this system.
Preliminary experiments have all yielded good results using the approach outlined above, including when compared to traditional forms of divination (tarot). The tarot spread and the subdecadence spread were essentially equivalent, and though they revealed different aspects, they held to the same conclusions and told the same overall story of the given situation.
Once a better understanding of the obvious interpretations of each lemur exists, we can begin to understand better the ideal ways to employ subdecadence in our work.
As far as spellcasting goes, it seems to only work on things pulled for the current situation. Any ambiguity can be used by the sorcerer performing the reading to affect the supposed outcome, while other situations give no ambiguity in the cards which are pulled.
Are there deeper meanings to this system? How does it become "the darkest of sorceries" or "the ultimate blasphemy"? How do the five syzygetic demons involve themselves in this system? As canaries in the coalmine, we may not know until it is too late.