States describe availability
FLOW means a function is available and proportionate. DISTORTION means it is active but excessive, defensive, misdirected or detached from evidence. ABSENCE means it is missing or insufficient.
States are not moral grades. A distorted protective function may be trying to solve a real problem with the wrong dose.
Pair-state reading
Read the first card’s state, the second card’s state and then the interaction. FLOW can support an absent function, intensify a distortion or expose a mismatch. Two absences may describe a stalled system rather than a dramatic crisis.
State interaction should generate a diagnostic question: What capacity is available? What is overworking? What is missing?
Do not force symmetry
Cards in a pair do not need the same state. Use evidence from position and context for each one. If the state of one card is unclear, mark it unknown rather than borrowing certainty from its neighbor.
For randomized states, preserve the recorded result even when the narrative would be easier another way.
Translate the interaction
A useful synthesis identifies one function to preserve, one to regulate or supply and one observable test. This turns a state matrix into a proportionate movement instead of a diagnostic label.