Play Your Cards Right | An Interview with Alexander Dunlop

In this episode of the Calvin Correli Audio Experience, Calvin talks with Alexander Dunlop, spiritual coach, healer, and author of Play Your Cards Right: A Sacred Guide To Life On Earth about his journey of finding meaning in his life through energetic experiences, meditation, psychedelics, and card reading. 

Listen to the full podcast episode here. 

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Transcript:

Calvin Correli (00:51):

Hey, everybody. I am Calvin Correli, I'm here with Alexander Dunlop. I'm really excited to have Alexander on today. We connected about what? Six months ago or something? I was going through some challenging times in my business. Well, it wasn't like major challenge, but we were trying some new initiatives and it wasn't quite working. It wasn't actually why I reached out to you. It just happened to be that time that we had a recession. I reached out because you're doing something that I find fascinating, which is that you read people through playing cards, so you tell them about their lives. So, I was like, I'm the kind of person that I'm like, I want to try stuff. So, I was like, I got to try this thing, and I have actually some followup questions like, where the hell does this thing come from? That I don't think I ever really understood.

Calvin Correli (01:42):

I was like, I want to try this. It was really mind-opening in many ways. There's a lot in there that I was like, that makes so much sense, so super helpful. Yeah, I wanted to have this conversation, get to know you better, hear more about your story and how you can help everybody in the same way you did with me.

Alexander Dunlop (02:06):

Yeah. Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on your show, and thanks for the conversation, and thanks for the kind words. Appreciate it. Well, yes, a deck of ordinary playing cards, and I grew up playing cards. We were a card playing family. Starting at age 17, I went on a spiritual quest. I grew up Roman Catholic and went to Catholic schools all the way through and was basically agnostic just going through the motions. Then my senior year, I went on a retreat that the Catholic high school offered, which was ... This is in South Florida and the retreat center was on the beach in Miami. It was three days out of school to go and hang out at this facility on the beach with my friends. I was like, "Yeah, sign me up baby." I went on this retreat and the last night of the retreat there was a priest who came to talk to us, and it really moved me.

Alexander Dunlop (03:04):

I had been the product of divorced parents and had a difficult emotional childhood. His talk really touched my heart. For the first time in my life, I actually wanted to talk to a priest. So I went afterward to sit with him in what's called a face-to-face confession style. I don't remember what I said to him at this point long time ago, but what I do remember is that when I was done, he stood up to pray the traditional prayer that I had heard umpteen times in my youth. He put his hands on my forehead like that, and the moment that he did, something went whoosh, right through my body. This electricity and water all at once flashing through my body. It was really quite shocking in a good way.

Calvin Correli (03:51):

Obviously never experienced that ever before.

Alexander Dunlop (03:53):

No.

Calvin Correli (03:54):

Experienced that since?

Alexander Dunlop (03:55):

No, not like that. Not in that way. I've had, since then, other types of spiritual experiences, but not like that. It very much felt like I was being washed clean, and it was distinctively a flash from head to toe of a split second electricity. It changed me.

Calvin Correli (04:16):

I'm assuming he wasn't actually wired up, but there was something about his energy in that moment, just like, whoa.

Alexander Dunlop (04:22):

Totally.

Calvin Correli (04:23):

It's fascinating with like the people that you meet that sort of have that. Where the hell does that come from? You can just [crosstalk 00:04:32].

Alexander Dunlop (04:32):

They're tapped in. They're really tapped in. I've since learned that in other traditions, that's called Shaktipat. It's the ability to transmit a frequency of energy that is tangible and that the other person feels, and in various religious traditions, there are stories and explanations of people who can transmit that energy. Like Chi, I've since been to China where I had an experience with someone who did a Chi healing on me, and there was electric sparks coming out of his fingertips that was like zapping my liver, and you could see them. For my partner also, he did it for her on her forehead, and we could visibly see the energy.

Calvin Correli (05:15):

Wow.

Alexander Dunlop (05:15):

But yes, so when I was 17, never had that happen before, and it set me on my quest of what the heck was that? After years of going through the religious dogma, then to have a direct encounter like, oh, there's something real behind all the dogma, all the religious rigmarole. That started me on my quest and it led me on a long journey, which we could talk about. It would be a long story, but quickly, I went through evangelical Christianity. I became a born again Christian. I went to Roman Catholic seminary because I thought I wanted to be a priest. Meanwhile, I had done well growing up in school, so I got into Harvard and I studied philosophy at Harvard, trying to figure things out through philosophy. Moved on from seminary and came to New York. I started experimenting with all kinds of psychedelic and recreational drugs.

Alexander Dunlop (06:10):

I wanted to explore consciousness and explore everything that had been verboten to a good Catholic boy. So, I dove into the nightlife of New York City while I was working as a consultant on Wall Street and learned a lot through that experience.

Calvin Correli (06:24):

Was that [crosstalk 00:06:25] or?

Alexander Dunlop (06:26):

Mostly ecstasy.

Calvin Correli (06:28):

Ecstasy. Gotcha. Yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (06:29):

Magic mushroom.

Calvin Correli (06:30):

MDMA.

Alexander Dunlop (06:31):

MDMA. Which as I found out later, was designed to heal people with posttraumatic stress disorder. That was how it was first created. Growing up, I had had a lot of emotional stuff. Little did I know that I was tapping into my own emotional healing. But anyway, again, this is a longer story, but I ended up going to India. I left my job, traveled to India, got a one-way ticket, and was meditating in Ashrams. I took initiation as a Swami, came back to New York through a few different twists and turns. I ended up starting a holistic health center, co-founding that with my now ex-wife. I became raw vegan at the time. I was studying all kinds of modalities, and I was also doing ayahuasca ceremonies with shamans. So, still exploring, still from that experience at age 17, still trying to figure out, what does this all mean and how do all the pieces of this puzzle fit together? What's my role? What's my purpose. And so on.

Alexander Dunlop (07:34):

Well, when the divorce papers were on the table and it was clear that we were splitting up, I decided, you know what? I need to get some fresh air, I need to blow things off. I'm going to go out to a party. So, I went out to a party in Brooklyn, loft party, and saw an old burning man camp mate there. He sees me, he says, "Hey, what's your date of birth?" I was like, "August 30th. Why?" He goes, "Oh." He does a little calculation and he's like, "That means you're born to play the nine of hearts. It means, in your life, you're going to go through tragic endings of the heart and you got to learn how to let go and move on." Timely advice.

Calvin Correli (08:15):

Yes.

Alexander Dunlop (08:16):

I actually was like, whoa, deja vu moment, air gets thick around me. I have a different kind of spiritual experience. My knees start to wobble like, whoa. That was my first introduction to the real meaning of this ancient knowledge that was hidden in plain sight. Since then, I've studied it, and I've now been doing professionally 10 years doing card readings for people and coaching them to play their cards right.

Calvin Correli (08:45):

With everything that you've been through and everything that you've experienced in all these years of searching, why was it the cards that really spoke to you in that way?

Alexander Dunlop (08:55):

Well, that's a great question. First of all, I don't think I would have been open to receive what the cards had to show me if I hadn't already explored everything and realized that there was no other thing that was giving me the answers. I think that was a big reason why I was willing to look into the possibility that something as anomalous, weird, not what I would have thought would be my spiritual answer in life that I could look into that and accept it, because I think that's the biggest thing for people, is that there's so much of a mental attachment to these cards are for playing go fish or poker. What do you mean this is a spiritual toolkit to help me have my awareness of my purpose and path in life?

Alexander Dunlop (09:50):

There's a lot of that kind of mental block that I found that it's important for us to be able to breakthrough. But for me to answer your question, why, it's because it really spoke to me. It rattled my bones, it spoke to the depth of who I am, and it gave me an answer that didn't require me to have any compromise, meaning that I didn't have to compromise my reason in order to have the faith. I didn't have to [crosstalk 00:10:21].

Calvin Correli (10:20):

Tell me about that. You had enough to compromise your reason to have your faith. So, [crosstalk 00:10:25].

Alexander Dunlop (10:25):

How can I say that? It's like granted the cards are mystical, and why is it that there's 52 cards, 52 weeks, the four suits, four seasons, and you add up the numbers and it adds up to the calendar year. Why that is, I don't know. There's a mystical element to that. So, there is an element of faith of why it works with a Gregorian calendar and so on, which we could get into. But it stretches my imagination enough that I can implement reasonable solutions within the framework, and I can see that it works, first of all, whenever I talk to people like yourself or whomever. They're like, "Whoa, that's really accurate." And then, "Oh, wow, that's actually helpful advice," based on my cards. So, my brain is satisfied with, oh yeah, it really makes sense. It's really working for people.

Alexander Dunlop (11:26):

What I mean by not compromising, it's like I hear anyway, in my own experience, people want to believe in something, but they don't want to believe in something that they feel like dumbs them down, or means that they have to ignore science or ignore their own faculties to accept an old anthropomorphic God, and to accept whatever they heard in Sunday school or in Hebrew school. There's a feeling of, I don't want to have to make myself dumb in order to have faith or believe in something. That was always important for me. I wanted to be able to say, wow, my brain is really stimulated by this, and not that my brain has to turn itself off in order to accept this. Does that make sense?

Calvin Correli (12:15):

With astrology, or human design, or other things like that, there's that element of like, how the hell does my birth date ... The way the system works is that you look up your birth date, I'm March 27, which means I'm a nine of clubs. I've never figured out, how do they know that this date links to that card?

Alexander Dunlop (12:35):

It's esoteric math.

Calvin Correli (12:37):

Okay. There is some math behind [crosstalk 00:12:39].

Alexander Dunlop (12:39):

There is an esoteric math. Yeah.

Calvin Correli (12:40):

How did they find that out? Or where does that even come from? quick. Personally, my approach is like, I don't care. If it tells me something that I can use in that moment, I don't need to know where it comes from. I used to be that way, the math logical programmer part of me that used to be like, well, that can't [inaudible 00:13:04]. Now I don't care. If it resonates, if it's useful, great. But I have done it with people that are like, well, it's essentially cold reading. It just says a bunch of stuff and people are going to resonate with some things that they like. Right?

Alexander Dunlop (13:18):

That's true, except what people often tell me is that it's 100% accurate, whereas a cold reading, you're just throwing stuff like spaghetti on a wall [crosstalk 00:13:26]. Or you're really good at reading people's eye movements and then you can respond accordingly, but-

Calvin Correli (13:34):

Right, but that doesn't work if you're just looking up in a book and reading out loud, right?

Alexander Dunlop (13:38):

Yeah. I've had people tell me that they've given my book to complete strangers and it resonates every time the other person reads it. It's uncanny. It really is uncanny, and it does mystify me of how it could be that our path in life is tied to the timestamp that we enter into this body. Then it challenges me to think a little more deeply about it. What if we don't understand the energy patterns that we are born into and there is like a quantum field, an energy vibration that's all around us, and when we pop out we're stamped by that energy? Something like that.

Calvin Correli (14:19):

Yeah. It's kind of, why wouldn't that be the case? Why wouldn't we be the product of everything, the state of the entire universe at the moment that we're conceived of, that we're created of in [inaudible 00:14:32], right?

Alexander Dunlop (14:32):

Yeah, and that the environment that we're in does imprint us, and the energy patterns that we're in do imprint on us. We're only just beginning to discover, like we're discovering a new world, the world isn't flat, it's round. Like, oh, there are energy patterns that you are incarnated into that are imprinted that show you the patterns of your life, and this knowledge was hidden in plain sight all this time, which leads to another question of, who knew about this a long time ago and was able to encode it in this simple geometric forms and then hide it in plain sight?

Calvin Correli (15:10):

Make people play games with these things when it's really like a very serious self-discovery tool.

Alexander Dunlop (15:15):

Yeah, and also to show us that maybe we've taken life too seriously, that it is more like a game.

Calvin Correli (15:24):

Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great point. I second that very much. I just had a conversation actually with my PR team, and we were talking about that, of the being wildly ambitious and driven and hungry, and at the same time, being 100% happy with loving everything that is right now. That didn't use to be the case for me. I used to be like, I feel wrong, I'm not good enough, that everything around me is wrong. If only like this, that, or the other thing, like a wife or a successful business, or whatever, then I'll be happy. Now, it's the complete opposite. I'm super happy, stoked where I am and overly hungry, ambitious. Then it becomes fun and then it becomes a game.

Alexander Dunlop (16:15):

Exactly. Yeah, no, that's right on. Then there's the excitement of a child at play that I want to create from this place of excitement and build something from this place of my own enthusiasm.

Calvin Correli (16:29):

Right. Yes, exactly. That's so true.

Alexander Dunlop (16:32):

Igniting the passion, 100%.

Calvin Correli (16:34):

Yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (16:35):

To answer your question before, on another level, I didn't find anything that really ignited my passion like I did when I found these cards. I had studied human design and other things as well. This went right in. Even the way I found it in that serendipitous moment, that on the day I was going through exactly what the cards would say I was going through, I found out that was on my cards to play. The way it came to me also, it really spoke to me, ignited something within me of like, wow, I want to study this. I want to figure it out what this is all about. Then, I didn't expect this, but I started teaching it to other people. That wasn't why I wanted to figure it out for myself. I was actually doing health coaching at the time. I had gone back to school to get a nutrition degree. So, I was coaching people like, okay, you need to eat more kale, and what about this? I'd be like, "Oh, you know what? There's this thing I do. Let me show you about your cards."

Alexander Dunlop (17:34):

I would just bring it in a little bit. Then by and by, people would be like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I need to eat more kale, but tell me about my six of diamonds. I want to know about six of diamonds." It just [crosstalk 00:17:46].

Calvin Correli (17:45):

Because I want to do the same. Yeah. Now I remember, because I heard about you or about the cards from Peter Roth, which you probably are familiar with. He does mainly I think human design and a bunch of things. I've known a few human design for years, and I like it. It's given me a lot of understanding of myself, but it's very complicated. It just feels very, very heavy, and complicated, and I love the lightness of this. Yeah, he was the one that mentioned that he was really passionate about playing cards so I looked it up and then I found you, so thank Peter for [crosstalk 00:18:25].

Alexander Dunlop (18:26):

Yeah. I just talked to Peter the other day, and he is full-on in human design and what he loves, he loves leading with the cards, he tells me. Because like you said, the cards are simple and easy and give an entry point, and he finds it fascinating that the cards will say almost identical things about you as your human design. I love that too when these various systems of knowledge start converging on the same story, that's when we really know to pay attention.

Calvin Correli (18:57):

Yeah. I don't know, maybe you've already answered it, but that inner fire, obviously when you discovered the cards, something happened. Obviously, when you met that priest at age 17, something happened. Right? Yeah, tell me about your process with inner fire, like finding it in the first place, living it every day?

Alexander Dunlop (19:29):

Yeah. Well, this is a great question, because what I've realized is that, based on our cards to play, that looks different for each of us. There is not a one size fits all. It's similar to what I learned in nutrition school, which is there isn't one diet that's right for everybody. We have different body types and so on. We have different cards to play. So, there are 52 different archetypal patterns that we're each playing out, where the themes will be the same, even though the details will all be different because we're all unique and we all have free will of how we're going to play our cards. That's where we really do get to choose. But the patterns are the same. So, what's essential to realize is that we each have something different that's going to ignite our fire based on our cards to play.

Alexander Dunlop (20:19):

So, we can see, and we can start to map it, and that's what I do for people when they come to see me. They're like, "I'm not sure. Should I do this, or should I do that?" I'm like, "Well, based on your cards to play, this is what's going to really light you up. This is what you're really gifted to do." It's usually something that they're terrified of, which is why they think that there might be a better alternative over here. Then we start to rationalize, "Well, I'll just do this. That's fine." But what's really [crosstalk 00:20:48].

Calvin Correli (20:48):

And what happens to be a fire when you do that, then you're dousing it.

Alexander Dunlop (20:52):

It goes out.

Calvin Correli (20:53):

Yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (20:53):

It goes out. So, we can see really clearly, this is what's going to light us up. This is what's our passion in life, based on our cards to play. It just so happens that my birth card is the nine of hearts. What lights me up is lifting other people up. That was always my interest in the priesthood or in spiritual growth because the nine is a ladder. That's the symbolism. If you ever look at a deck of cards, it's a ladder, and the heart is the heart. So, helping other people to climb up the ladder of their life, that's what I do. Through my own journey, through my own passion of how do I climb up higher and learn more and grow more. So, we can see really clearly in the cards, both what we're passionate about and what we can do for other people, what our gift is for other people.

Calvin Correli (21:42):

Interesting. So, what if one was say a nine of clubs, for example? Just picking that out of ...

Alexander Dunlop (21:50):

Just for random. Yeah, so you're born to play the nine of clubs. The nine is a ladder and the clubs is knowledge. So, you like lifting people up with knowledge, giving them the knowledge that will help them elevate their whole world because our world is created by our ideas. So you like giving people the ideas that are going to elevate their world.

Calvin Correli (22:12):

Nice. That's exactly what I'm doing right at every level, and what I wasn't doing for years and I was miserable. Picture me, if that's my life purpose or what I'm here to do, the card I'm here to play, picture me sitting alone in front of a computer writing code all day, especially sitting in front of a computer alone writing code for other people for hire all day, is that going to make me miserable? Well, it did. Let's just put it that way. Right? Very. It was confusing for me because I'm like, I was so good at it. I was way better than most. I'm not the best in the world, but I was really, really good at it and I noticed that every day when I'd spent my entire day coding. I felt like shit, I felt terrible afterward.

Calvin Correli (23:06):

I was like, I'm good at it, I actually enjoyed it, but I felt drained after. I was in a bad mood. I was grumpy. It was so weird for me. It scared the living daylights out of me, because I was like, well, this is what's going to make me rich, and I need to be rich to feel that I'm worthy, and I feel miserable every day doing this. It was like this. I was stuck in that conundrum, that prison that I created for myself. If only I had playing cards back then. Right?

Alexander Dunlop (23:39):

Well, it would have still taken you the courage to actually elevate your own game. I've met many people born to play the nine of clubs that they've come to me when they feel trapped or stuck, and they're not quite ready to take that next step because it is a step of courage. It's a step of, I'm going to trust my own knowing and my own wherewithal that when I elevate my own game, I'm going to land in a solid place and I'll be able to be financially supported, and I'll be abundant and I'll be successful. I don't have to keep myself in this low place in order to play it safe. So, the nine game is I'm willing to take that risk to step up the ladder, step up to the next level, and I'm going to find that it will go well for me when I do that when I take that step. So, you always, as a nine, in that process of taking the step to the next level.

Calvin Correli (24:35):

Sort of ahead of other people around you, right?

Alexander Dunlop (24:38):

Yeah.

Calvin Correli (24:39):

Which makes it ...

Alexander Dunlop (24:39):

You're the thought leader playing the nine of clubs, and that can feel like a lonely place to be, being out in front of everyone, waiting for them to catch up. But that's your role, is to be the thought leader who elevates the world around you.

Calvin Correli (24:54):

Right. Yeah, it's super interesting. With you being the nine of hearts, we would make a good team, huh?

Alexander Dunlop (25:00):

Yeah. We could. We could do it.

Calvin Correli (25:02):

I'm thinking like you experimenting with like MDMA, well, which is just the heart-opening drug. It's very fitting and appropriate.

Alexander Dunlop (25:10):

[crosstalk 00:25:10].

Calvin Correli (25:11):

I would always be reading books, tons and tons and tons of books, so there you go.

Alexander Dunlop (25:17):

Yeah. You wanting to lift your mind up, you wanting to fill your mind with the knowledge that will elevate your thinking. For me, it's been learning how to elevate my relationship dynamics, my heart experience, and how I connect with people. Then, this is the work that I do in my coaching practice is lifting people up, inspiring them to go to the next level of their life, so I'm playing my cards right. Doing what lights me up. That's the win-win that we get. We're playing our cards right. It helps other people. We're ignited, we're lit up. Other people are lit up. This is my bigger vision that we can help everyone know their cards to play in life. My children love knowing their cards to play. It helps me as a parent ...

Calvin Correli (26:01):

I've done it with my kids too.

Alexander Dunlop (26:02):

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's so helpful. I know what they need. I know my own lens that I see them through, and I can see, oh, they have their cards to play. This is how they need to do it, and it helps me, in my better moments, to have that perspective to let them do it their way.

Calvin Correli (26:21):

Yeah. Oh, for sure. Any parent, any leader. Yeah, no, that's helpful. I did it with my team as well on an offsite just as a sort of icebreaker exercise, bringing that up with everybody. Some people loved it, some people hated it, really resisted it.

Alexander Dunlop (26:43):

Really?

Calvin Correli (26:43):

Well, yeah. Not hated the actual things, but hated the idea of it. Some people aren't comfortable with ... Well, like here's a book that says, and based on your birthday and that kind of stuff. Right?

Alexander Dunlop (26:58):

Right. No, that's why I say to you that I think that I had to have tried everything else first because I was that skeptical person too. I was like, you got to be kidding me, a deck of cards does that based on my birthday. But I tried everything else and nothing really spoke to me. I was determined in some way, in an unspoken way, I was determined to find an answer that would satisfy my soul. Much to my surprise, it was at a party in Brooklyn that I found it.

Calvin Correli (27:31):

Brooklyn is a great place, man.

Alexander Dunlop (27:32):

In a deck of playing cards.

Calvin Correli (27:33):

Was it in Williamsburg?

Alexander Dunlop (27:36):

No, it was not in Williamsburg. I think we'd call it Prospect Heights. It was a loft space near the park.

Calvin Correli (27:45):

All right. Yeah, you're forgiven. 10 years ago, there's lots of loft spaces around here.

Alexander Dunlop (27:52):

Yeah. Well, Williamsburg has changed a lot.

Calvin Correli (27:55):

Yes. Yeah, it was the first place that I moved to in 1999. I moved to Williamsburg. It's changing a lot.

Alexander Dunlop (28:01):

Oh, wow. You're way ahead of the curve then.

Calvin Correli (28:03):

21 years. Yeah, I didn't buy a property back then though, but yeah, my rent was 850, so different times.

Alexander Dunlop (28:14):

Yeah, [crosstalk 00:28:15].

Calvin Correli (28:16):

Yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (28:17):

Well, It's nice to hear and that's fun for me to hear that you're applying the tool with people in your life. I think [crosstalk 00:28:25].

Calvin Correli (28:24):

Well, it's super easy. You just like grab the book and start reading and yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (28:28):

Yeah. Yeah, and it's fun and it's illuminating. Yeah. Then as a parent, what's been your experience of using the toolkit with your kids?

Calvin Correli (28:42):

Well, it sparked some really, really interesting conversations, really useful conversations. If you were to put me on the spot now, I don't remember. I don't remember what their cards are or what it meant. I think if you'd ask my kids, it's the same, they wouldn't. It's like, it's doing it again and again, which is what ... I like the way you state it, the symbolism. The way you explain it to me, that you can basically look at each card and how the symbols are placed and that there's meaning there, and that really helps simplify it, like the ladder of the club is the mind.

Alexander Dunlop (29:18):

It's an ancient language, and it's like a hieroglyphical language. So, we really can learn to read it the way the symbols are placed, like the four is a box. Once you know that the four is a box, you know the meaning of the four energy, or you know that the nine is a ladder, so you know that nines are always climbing up the ladder or going down the ladder. That's it. It's a simple visual language that helps us recognize our patterns, see the patterns in other people and change our consciousness about how we're interacting with the other person based on knowing what their patterns are. There we can see our relationship dynamics, and this is where my partner loves it the most. This is what ignited her passion about this system of knowledge. We can see what are the dynamics that we have with each other in the cards.

Alexander Dunlop (30:16):

Like musical notes, there are some cards that play better with each other than others. There's some discord with certain cards and some harmony with other cards. We can see that very clearly, so you can say, oh, this is a better relationship option for you, or you're going to have this tension with this person. It's not your fault. There's a discord between the two of you that you're just going to need to work through and be aware of. So, we can see relationship dynamics and it's very helpful.

Calvin Correli (30:49):

Yeah, I've done that with my wife as well. We've looked each other up and talked about that. Yeah, is there something that shows you specifically how the two match up or is that something you're ...

Alexander Dunlop (31:02):

There is, yeah. There's the meaning of the pattern itself, and I don't remember your wife's cards, but whatever her cards are, the meaning of them, just like the meaning of the nine of clubs, but then there's an additional layer of complexity and interesting things to look at, which is, what is the relationship of the two to each other. Then that is a completely different analysis of, what is the dynamic between the two?

Calvin Correli (31:32):

Have you memorized all of this stuff? I guess ...

Alexander Dunlop (31:34):

Pretty much. Yeah.

Calvin Correli (31:37):

If you have a birthday, do you memorize what the card is or do you ...

Alexander Dunlop (31:42):

Throw it at me.

Calvin Correli (31:43):

Well, June 27 would be hers, but ...

Alexander Dunlop (31:45):

June 27th. So, I'll do math in my head for a moment here.

Calvin Correli (31:50):

That was my question.

Alexander Dunlop (31:51):

That's the three of clubs. All right, now I'm going to just double-check my own work by looking in my book, but there is a way, there's a calculation to do it in your head. Yeah, she's born to play the three of clubs. So, you're both in the suit of clubs, so we would say you're well suited for each other. You had the same love language as a result because there's four different love languages, four suits, so you have a mental love language, which means you like to hear the words, you like compliments. You need the actual words, I love you, the words really matter. Then there's the fact that there's a space between you in your life. So, it would tell me that you would have slightly different lives and you would have your own interest and she would have her own interests. That's the dynamic between the two of you, that there is going to be some space in your relationship. So, you'd have to both be comfortable with being independent.

Calvin Correli (32:50):

Got it. Yeah, interesting. I was just talking to Gay Hendricks. Are you familiar with Gay Hendricks? Do you know him?

Alexander Dunlop (32:56):

Yes.

Calvin Correli (32:56):

Yeah. Last week or the week before, and where he was talking about the importance of, in a relationship, is learning to be a part of the individual and then unity, an individual, and unity. It's funny, because our journey has been very much from like, we kind of melt it together in the beginning, and we were very, very together, but it was kind of dysfunctional, and it was part of our growth work. Then to just very much living our own lives, doing our own things. I'm focused on my work, she's focused on her work, that kind of thing.

Alexander Dunlop (33:32):

It's very important for the two of you. It's in the cards that way for you, whereas two other people may have dynamics where they could work together. They would have overlapping life paths, which would suggest that they can do everything together. But the two of you need your time apart.

Calvin Correli (33:52):

And why is it with a three in the nine that they're separate? What is it about those symbolically?

Alexander Dunlop (33:56):

It's nothing specific about the three or the nine. It's the placement in the overall game board of life. This is now another layer of complexity to talk about this system. It's a very simple tool, but it gets complex quickly. The way that they're placed inside of a game board, which I can't really show you right now, but there's a seven by seven grid and the cards are all placed inside of it. The three of clubs is apart from the night clubs. So, there is a space in the board between the two, and this is another one of those moments where the skeptical people are like, "But why is it like that?" Well, this is what it is and we can accept it. Then we start to realize, oh, it's accurate and helpful, or we can question it and never allow the knowledge to actually help us. But anyway, it is what it is. It just so happens that the three of clubs is spaced apart from the nine of clubs, and so that tells me there's going to be space, or there needs to be space in your relationship.

Calvin Correli (35:06):

Who teaches you this stuff? Obviously now you do, right? But ...

Alexander Dunlop (35:10):

I do. I learned a lot of it on my own. I originally studied with someone named Robert Lee Camp. He's written some books on the topic. And what happened for me is I was still doing ayahuasca ceremonies, which I mentioned, and I started to realize I was getting direct downloads of information, and that was when I really lit up about it. Like, oh, maybe I'm going to teach this now because I started to see the patterns on the cards and realize, oh, this is a language. This is not something anyone ever taught me. The way I learned it was you like memorize the meaning of the cards, but once I realized, oh, you don't need to memorize it, you just need to know how to read the pattern because it's a hieroglyphic language. A lot of it came through directly.

Calvin Correli (35:57):

It's super interesting. That's human design, or whatever, or ...

Alexander Dunlop (36:00):

You channeled it.

Calvin Correli (36:03):

Came that way, right? I've always thought too of Chinese medicine, meridians, acupuncture points, all of that stuff, Ayurveda. Where do that stuff come from? The only place it could have possibly come from is some kind of download, and it happens to be pretty effective and pretty accurate. Right?

Alexander Dunlop (36:22):

A lot of trial and error could be, but there's an original spark, there's an original insight. That's something that's really important for us in our Western rationalist scientific mind, a society to remember, is that knowledge does arise in this spontaneous light bulb eureka moment. It doesn't just arise in a Petri dish, and to listen to this revelation that we receive and go with it. and then put it into practice and test it. Does this work? You know a tree by the fruit that it bears. This has been my experience with these cards over the years is that it's always accurate and always helpful for people. I'm like, wow, okay, there's really something here.

Calvin Correli (37:07):

Yeah. Scott Adams, are you familiar with him? Do you know who that is?

Alexander Dunlop (37:11):

I don't know.

Calvin Correli (37:11):

He's a cartoonist behind Dilbert, and now he's also active on Twitter and talking about politics and stuff. He's actually also a hypnotist. Talks about lots of interesting topics, but one of the things that he keeps talking about is judge a belief system by its ability to predict, or a filter. If you perceive the world this way, what would the prediction be? If your predictions are generally true, well, then probably your filter belief system has some merit. That's a pretty good measure. Right?

Alexander Dunlop (37:50):

Sure. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:37:51].

Calvin Correli (37:52):

Yeah. It's essentially what you were saying like, hey, if it turns out to be accurate, that's pretty cool. For me, it was always very, very mental. But that used to be all I was. So, I lived in my head, in my brain. Didn't work out, didn't eat healthily, drank too much. My body was just this necessary evil almost. Necessary vehicle to carry my brain around because my brain was where everything was at. But it wasn't until I opened up my body and started to feel. I couldn't feel a thing back then. I would vomit out in a rage or fit a rage or something. Or just sulk forever or something, get depressed, want to I kill myself. But it wasn't until I opened up my body that my brain really got to do its work. For years, I've had that feeling of downloading stuff. Channeling, I don't know where it's coming from, presented with someone, and you're like, whoa, where did that the hell did that come from?

Alexander Dunlop (39:08):

I think we all have that ability, and we got scared of it and we gave it the dirty word of being psychic, or being a witch, or whatever, because it does transcend whatever dogma we've got, whatever set of assumptions and predetermined belief patterns we've got. Then we get this flash of insight and inspiration. That's always going to be at odds with whatever is the preconceived notion by definition because it's new information.

Calvin Correli (39:37):

That's a really good point actually. I never thought of it that way, but yeah.

Alexander Dunlop (39:41):

There's always this kind of tension between the known and the unknown. The known world of order, and then something comes in that was previously unknown. How do we receive that?

Calvin Correli (39:53):

Right. It's going to conflict with ...

Alexander Dunlop (39:58):

By definition-

Calvin Correli (39:59):

... your belief system and that can feel threatening, right?

Alexander Dunlop (40:03):

Totally. By definition, it's new information. It's like, how do we assimilate new information, and how do we expand what our assumptions and expectations were like, oh, you mean a deck of cards is actually a sacred geometric language. Whoa, that's a whole new way of looking at it.

Calvin Correli (40:22):

Right. Yeah, I used to feel so threatened when I was wrong about something. It felt like an attack on my identity. Learning to really celebrate that, like yeah, I discovered something I was wrong about. Now a whole new possibility opens up. It's phenomenal. It's so great.

Alexander Dunlop (40:43):

That's great. I love it. And oh, wow, this person is interesting. They have something new to tell me that I didn't know before.

Calvin Correli (40:50):

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right, so to wrap up where can people go find you, follow you, and interact with you, work with you?

Alexander Dunlop (41:01):

Yeah. Thank you. So I started a nonprofit organization to share this ancient knowledge. It's called Life Elevated, and the website is lifeelevated.life. You can go there, and there's a free lookup tool. You can put in your date of birth and get a mini reading. You can also download my digital book there, so you can read all 13 cards in your life, and you can go from there. I have classes on it and I do one on one coaching. Then I teach other people how to read the cards too. So, I'm committed to bringing forth this knowledge and elevating human beings to the next level of consciousness.

Calvin Correli (41:39):

Nice. I love that. Final question. What do you want to leave people with that they can really take with them?

Alexander Dunlop (41:51):

Wow. Life is a game that we've taken too seriously. People often are like, what's your best advice, or I see like Facebook posts are like, one piece of advice that you could give, and mine is to live your life like it's your favorite game to play, so that we engage life like we're trying to solve the puzzle and play a game. That's how we come forth in our life, that we live our life like it's our favorite game to play.

Calvin Correli (42:25):

Right. It's fascinating because I mean, that's exactly what life is. We get confused. People don't like being scared, but they love being scared. They will pay money to go on a rollercoaster. What that does is get you to feel afraid, but not really.

Alexander Dunlop (42:51):

Just a little bit. Just enough.

Calvin Correli (42:53):

Right. But you feel safe at the same time, so you get to enjoy it. But then, in real life, people feel like really scared, scared, because they think it's real or the stakes are real or something, and then they contract and then it becomes really uncomfortable.

Alexander Dunlop (43:12):

Yet, maybe it's the exact same thing.

Calvin Correli (43:14):

Exactly. Right. It's going for a ride.

Alexander Dunlop (43:17):

Yeah.

Calvin Correli (43:18):

Do you believe reincarnation, that will come back into ...

Alexander Dunlop (43:22):

You know, that's a good question. I believe in something called Journey of Souls, which was a book that was written and that we choose our life experience so that we can never be the victim of our life because we've chosen it. We can't say, "Ah, I hate my life." Well, you chose it. This is the life you wanted. You were given a choice beforehand, and this is the one that you picked. That's what I believe. Reincarnation, everything's happening in this moment, so past and present, future, it's actually all simultaneous, which is a little bit of a mind-bender, but yeah.

Calvin Correli (44:02):

Yeah, no, I'm with you 100%. I haven't heard of that book, but that's exactly how it just feels to me that, that's how [crosstalk 00:44:10].

Alexander Dunlop (44:10):

Well, and so it means we choose our carts to play also. So you chose that you wanted to be a thought leader in this lifetime.

Calvin Correli (44:17):

All right.

Alexander Dunlop (44:17):

There you go.

Calvin Correli (44:18):

Welcome. There you go.

Alexander Dunlop (44:18):

Play your cards right.

Calvin Correli (44:22):

On it, sir.

Alexander Dunlop (44:23):

[crosstalk 00:44:23]. Thank you. Yeah, love it.

Calvin Correli (44:25):

Thank you so much, Alexander.

Alexander Dunlop (44:26):

[crosstalk 00:44:26] chat with you. Yeah, it's a pleasure.