Grammars of the living world

We are here to experiment with recursive eco improvement ideas. We exercise our will to hope, by making believe in a way that makes sense and that can recursively make it real.

Curious about oracles?

Ask about your process

Eager to create?

Create your own grammar

Curious about tarot history?

Explore the open-source tarot

Eager to broadcast?

Create your own channel

We would like to build a recursive public — a community that maintains and grows its own commons, the way the people behind Linux and Wikipedia do — here, for meaning-systems instead of code or encyclopedia articles.

In the commons right now

What people have made

Grammars are symbolic systems — tarot decks, ancient texts, astrology sets, kids' stories, wellness tools. Created by people, not algorithms.

Every grammar can be forked. Make your own copy, change it, share it back. That's what makes grammars truly recursive — they grow through the people who use them.

Tarot

The genealogy of tarot — from the Mamluk ancestor (15th c.) to the Marseille printed standard to the Golden Dawn's esoteric deck. We traced that lineage, and the research behind it, in The Tarot of All Tarots — Five Centuries of the Cards → Draw cards, reflect, interpret with AI.

All tarot →

Mamluk Playing Cards

Mulūk wa-nuwwāb — the 15th-c. Islamic deck tarot descends from.

Tarot de Marseille (1760)

Nicolas Conver's printed standard — the deck that fixed the Marseille pattern.

Golden Dawn Tarot

Book T with Rider-Waite-Smith imagery — the esoteric standard (104 cards).

I Ching

3,000 years of hexagrams. Multiple translations and interpretations — from classical Chinese to Human Design lenses.

All I Ching →

周易 — The Zhouyi (original text)

The site's official book — the original text, fully audited hexagrams.

I Ching — Chinese Original

From Project Gutenberg. Classical text with brief translations.

I Ching Summarized by AI

64 hexagrams with modern AI-assisted interpretations.

Astrology

From Victorian astrology to Vedic Jyotish to archetypal cosmology. Birth charts with AI interpretation.

All astrology →

Western Astrology — Canonical

The canonical western reference — signs, planets, houses, aspects.

Jyotish: Vedic Astrology

Traditional Hindu astrology using the sidereal zodiac. Science of light.

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos

The 2nd-century classic that shaped western astrology for a millennium.

Wellness

Sacred texts, relationship tools, and daily practices for wellbeing. Each one a grammar of meaning.

All wellness →

Wisdom Texts: A Grammar of Grammars

Dhammapada, Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, Aurelius — side by side.

Relationship & Parenting Tools

Evidence-based tools for conflict, connection, and the give-and-take of love.

Wellness Practices

Simple, research-backed practices for daily wellbeing. 15 minutes or less.

Kids & Families

Curated playlists, chapter books, folk tales, bedtime mythology from every continent. Vetted by parents, not algorithms. No ads, no tracking, no auto-play. See also: Parenting Resources

All kids →

YouTube Playlists for Parents

Art, music, science, sleep, spirituality — curated for shared screen time.

Ballet Classes — GVO Kids

Calm, child-friendly ballet with exercises and imaginative movement.

channels.recursive.eco

A Focus mode viewer. Mister Rogers, Daniel Tiger, MINUSCULE — calm and intentional.

Explore the Full Library →

Fork any grammar to make it yours. Share it back to grow the commons.