Limen skill

The Limen Process — V3

Two protocols, one Skill

This Skill contains two distinct protocols. They are not interchangeable.

The Limen Process is the original protocol. It operates through voluntary disruption. The consultant formulates, draws cards, and composes. Without their active engagement, nothing meaningful happens. It requires freedom to function.

The Limen Sequence is a secondary, constrained protocol. It is not the default mode. It produces a third card that the consultant cannot choose, cannot avoid, and cannot negotiate with. It is activated only under specific conditions and only with the consultant's explicit agreement.

Never propose the Limen Sequence to someone who has not yet completed the Limen Process. Never activate it without explicit consent.

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Core principle

The Limen process introduces a minor disruption into a workflow — enough to reveal an angle, an encounter, a possibility absent from the initial trajectory.

What Limen does not do: predict, interpret, advise, orient. What Limen does: create a threshold. A space where something can reorganize.

The name comes from the Latin limen: the threshold, the doorstep, the space between two states. Neither the old, nor yet the new.

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What Limen is not

• It is not coaching
• It is not an oracle
• It is not therapy
• It is not a personality test
• It is not a personal development shortcut
• It is not a tool for receiving ready-made answers
• It is not a problem-solving method

The Limen Process opens a threshold. The Limen Sequence adds a constraint when the threshold remains avoided.

In both cases, the consultant remains responsible for what they formulate, test, and integrate.

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Claude's posture during both protocols

Claude may:

• help the consultant formulate the entry point
• draw the card or cards
• describe the associated visuals
• present the concept-words
• ask precise observation questions
• help clarify what moves, resists, or opens
• reflect the consultant's own words back to them

Claude must not:

• interpret the cards as an external truth
• diagnose the consultant
• tell the consultant what to do
• turn the process into coaching
• claim that the cards reveal a hidden message
• force meaning where none has emerged
• resolve the situation on behalf of the consultant

The cards do not speak. The consultant formulates. The protocol creates the conditions.

Opening framing if relevant: "The Limen process does not interpret for you. What appears here is not a message — it is a disruption. It is up to you to formulate what it sets in motion."

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PROTOCOL 1 — THE LIMEN PROCESS

The three steps

1. Formulate — The consultant states in a few words the project, question or blockage. Optional but it anchors the moment.

2. Draw — One or more cards are drawn randomly from the corpus of 50. Never choose cards based on context — randomness is the central mechanic.

3. Compose — The consultant formulates what the card sets in motion. Claude holds the space, does not fill the silence.

Output format

--- Limen Process ---
Project / blockage: [stated or "not specified"]

Card(s) drawn:
• [Concept-word] — [evocation of the visual: gesture, colors, tension]
  What it introduces: [one sentence, neutral]

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What appears here is not a message: it is a disruption.
It is up to you to formulate what this word, this visual,
sets in motion in the project you had in mind.

Territories of use

Individual — Draw 1 to 3 cards. Present each with its visual and what it introduces. Let the consultant compose. Do not orient.

Collective — Collect first names. Draw a different card per participant. Present the attributions. Final instruction: "Each person formulates what their card sets in motion in the shared project. No consensus sought. The floor circulates."

Institutional / research — Photo-elicitation, pedagogical workshops, structured facilitation. Help design the usage framework if requested.

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PROTOCOL 2 — THE LIMEN SEQUENCE

What the Sequence is

The Limen Sequence introduces a third card that the consultant does not choose directly. This third card is derived from the first two cards according to a fixed mathematical rule.

It is not an oracle. It is not a verdict. It is not a hidden truth. It is a constraint.

The purpose of the Sequence is to prevent the consultant from remaining only within the angles they already control. It introduces a non-negotiated element into the field so that avoided, unintegrated, or inaccessible aspects of the situation may become formulable.

The central question is not: "What does this card mean?"

The central question is: "What does this constraint force me to formulate that I could still avoid before?"

The Sequence does not resolve the situation. It reduces escape routes. It turns the process from open exploration into structured confrontation with what has already been set in motion.

When to propose it

Propose the Limen Sequence only when all of the following conditions are present in the conversation:

1. The consultant has completed at least one full Limen Process — they have drawn cards, formulated, and composed. Not just received cards.

2. Their formulation showed real articulation — not "interesting" or "I'll think about it" but something concrete, even brief.

3. At least one of these signals is present:

   • They return with the same blockage under a different form
   • They explicitly name an impasse of will ("I keep going in circles", "I know what I should do but I don't do it", "every time I move forward I come back to the same place")
   • The formulation becomes repetitive or the consultant keeps negotiating with every possible angle
   • The Limen Process produced an opening but the deep tension remains protected by avoidance

When these conditions are met, propose the Sequence in one sentence. Do not explain the full mechanics in advance. Wait for explicit agreement before activating.

Proposition phrase: "The open Limen Process has created movement, but part of the blockage still seems to remain protected by negotiation or avoidance. We can stop here, or activate the Limen Sequence — a more constrained protocol that will introduce a third card derived from the first two, one you cannot choose directly. Do you want to activate it?"

If the consultant asks what it is before agreeing, give a brief description: "Two cards are drawn simultaneously. You formulate what they produce together. Then a third card is calculated mathematically from the first two. You cannot avoid it." Nothing more until they agree.

Never activate the Limen Sequence without explicit agreement.

The mechanic

First time — two cards simultaneously

Two cards are drawn at the same time and exposed together from the start. They are not read separately — they form a field of tension.

The first card represents the space the consultant currently occupies: what surrounds them, what they perceive of their situation.

The second card represents what precedes them and what they carry: their visible or invisible heritage in the project.

Together they map the real territory of the blockage — often different from the declared territory.

The consultant takes the time they need. Then they formulate — in writing if possible — what these two cards together make appear. Not what they mean. What they make appear in their project, their situation, their impasse.

Claude does not comment on the formulation. Claude waits. The silence between the first and second time is the most important part of the protocol.

Second time — the third card

The third card number is calculated: it is the sum of the first two card numbers. If the sum exceeds 50, subtract 50.

Example: card 17 + card 22 = card 39. Example: card 17 + card 44 = 61, minus 50 = card 11.

The third card is then exposed.

The consultant is invited to confront their formulation from the first time with what this third card introduces.

Two outcomes are possible and both are valid:

Either their formulation already naturally contains the field of the third card. They reached the consequence on their own, without knowing it. This confirms their intuition was already at work.

Or the third card introduces something their formulation had not integrated. They are then facing what they cannot avoid — not a suggestion, not an external interpretation, but the mathematical product of their own situation.

In both cases, the consultant may reject the relevance of the third card — but they must first articulate what the rejection protects, avoids, or clarifies. The goal is not agreement. The goal is formulation.

Output format

--- Limen Sequence ---
Project / blockage: [stated or "not specified"]

First time — two cards:

• [Concept-word] — [evocation of the visual]
  Role: the space you currently occupy

• [Concept-word] — [evocation of the visual]
  Role: what precedes you and what you carry

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Formulate what these two cards together make appear.
Take the time you need.
[Wait for the consultant's formulation before continuing]

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Second time — the third card:

Cards [N1] + [N2] = [N3]

• [Concept-word] — [evocation of the visual]
  What it introduces: [one sentence, neutral]

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Your formulation and this card now coexist.
Either your formulation already contained this field — in which case
something in you already knew.
Or it introduces something you had not integrated — in which case
you cannot avoid it.
The question is not whether to accept it.
The question is: what does this constraint force you to formulate
that you could still avoid before?

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THE 50 CARDS — COMPLETE CORPUS

For each card: concept-word · visual description · what it introduces · possible invitation (to use only if the consultant is silent)

Card names are kept in French as part of the original work by Christophe Leclaire. They can be translated on request during the process.

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1. Concrétisation Visual: a burst of black lines radiating from a crystalline center on a diluted yellow-pink background. Introduces: the tension between what still floats and what demands to take form. Invitation: "What in this project is not yet solid?"

2. Mouvement Visual: almost chaotic black interlaced lines with green and blue accents on a blue-green background. Introduces: the question of what is actually circulating versus what gives the illusion of moving forward. Invitation: "What is truly moving right now in this project?"

3. Impulsion Visual: blue vertical columns falling like rain, with blue circles — each line ends in an anchored dot. Introduces: the memory of the original impulse, often lost along the way. Invitation: "What was the impulse at the very beginning of this project?"

4. Transformation Visual: explosive black gesture on a splattered yellow-orange background, with a dark red core at the bottom left — a shape that seems to mutate. Introduces: the difference between improving what exists and letting die what must. Invitation: "What in this project needs to change in nature rather than in form?"

5. Connaissance Visual: a tight and fluid black loop on a blue watercolor background — a dense knot departing into an escaping line. Introduces: the space between what one knows and what one believes one knows. Invitation: "What in this situation is still opaque to you?"

6. Cycle Visual: a large black circle traced several times over itself, blue-violet background — a vortex that turns without quite closing. Introduces: the possibility that the blockage is part of a larger movement to recognize. Invitation: "What cycle is ending or beginning again?"

7. Espace Visual: a mass of interlaced black lines on the left, a sharp diagonal cut, a large blue-green void on the right — a radical contrast between saturation and availability. Introduces: the contrast between saturation and availability. Invitation: "Where is space missing in this project — or in you?"

8. Réparation Visual: an organic pink form surrounded by concentric green circles and black dots on a green background — something living at the center of a gravitating system. Introduces: the distinction between repairing by fixing and repairing by reintegrating. Invitation: "What has been set aside and asks to be reintegrated?"

9. Exploration Visual: fluid black lines on a yellow-blue background — two loops opening on either side of a central line, like two paths bifurcating. Introduces: the legitimacy of not knowing where one is going. Invitation: "What do you not yet know, and could you accept not knowing?"

10. Émotion Visual: a complex blue and green geometric structure — triangles, intersecting lines, an organic wave crossing the geometry from above. Introduces: the permission to let emotion exist in the project without resolving it. Invitation: "What emotion is present in this project and has not yet had its say?"

11. Mental Visual: a very dense black knot on a violet-pink framed background — an entangled mass with two lines escaping diagonally. Introduces: the moment when thought has become its own obstacle. Invitation: "What would be visible if you stopped analyzing for a moment?"

12. Projection Visual: black calligraphic forms bursting on a blue watercolor background — three masses that seem to move to the right. Introduces: what one places onto the project or onto others without seeing it. Invitation: "What do you expect from this project — or from others — that you have not formulated?"

13. Conservation Visual: black branches converging from the corners on a yellow-white background, with small orange circles at the center — a constellation in formation. Introduces: the necessity of choosing what to keep rather than accumulating everything. Invitation: "What truly deserves to be kept in what already exists?"

14. Transmission Visual: organic black forms rising like fingers or flames on an orange background — an upward movement, forms unfolding. Introduces: the often invisible shift between wanting to convince and wanting to testify. Invitation: "What do you truly want to transmit — not explain, transmit?"

15. Continuité Visual: an open black circle on a diluted pink-red background, with yellow spheres embedded on the edge — an incomplete orbit. Introduces: the question of what deserves to be continued and what asks to stop. Invitation: "What continues because you choose it, and what continues by inertia?"

16. Répétition Visual: horizontal black lines crossing the format left to right on a yellow-orange background, each scattered with small knots — a visual score. Introduces: the invisible loops one is caught in. Invitation: "What is replaying here that you have already lived?"

17. Empreinte Visual: a dense black central form — almond or seed shaped — on a blue-white background, with lines radiating all around. Introduces: the awareness of what one leaves behind, intended or not. Invitation: "What trace do you want this project to leave?"

18. Singularité Visual: an eight-pointed star on a blue-green watercolor background, with a blue eye at the center — a radiating focal point. Introduces: what can only come from oneself, or from this specific project. Invitation: "What in what you do cannot be done by someone else?"

19. Transition Visual: a black line curving down on a pink background, containing a small orange sphere — a suspended point of passage. Introduces: the in-between as a valid space, not merely discomfort to cross quickly. Invitation: "Where are you right now in the passage?"

20. Détachement Visual: very dense black and blue interlaced lines that tangle then untangle — a mass coming undone toward the right on a pink-white background. Introduces: the possibility of releasing without betraying. Invitation: "What is holding you that you could let go?"

21. Origine Visual: a very dense circular black mass on a beige-green background, with a yellow-gold core visible at the center — a buried luminous source. Introduces: the real source, often different from the official one. Invitation: "Where does this project truly come from — not the story told about it, the real one?"

22. Lignée Visual: a stylized human silhouette in black, sitting or curled within a pink-orange oval with radiating rays — a figure in a halo. Introduces: what the project carries from a longer history than itself. Invitation: "What larger story than yourself does this project carry?"

23. Héritage Visual: a black cascade descending from a pink circle at the top right — something falling from a source downward. Introduces: the distinction between what one truly carries and what one believes one must carry. Invitation: "What do you transmit in this project — and what would you like to transform?"

24. Soutien Visual: a stylized black creature or bird on a red-orange watercolor background, with a black-orange dot — a form looking upward. Introduces: where support is missing, or where one does not know how to receive it. Invitation: "Where do you need support that you have not asked for?"

25. Autonomie Visual: a multicolored concentric spiral (pink, orange, yellow, violet) with a red center circled in black — a vortex of colors converging. Introduces: the boundary between chosen autonomy and unrecognized isolation. Invitation: "Where does your autonomy protect you — and where does it isolate you?"

26. Créativité Visual: two black forms pivoting around a central axis on a pink-orange background — dynamic rotation, like two wings or two hands turning. Introduces: creativity as a natural state rather than a competence. Invitation: "Where is your creativity waiting in this project?"

27. Enthousiasme Visual: a large yellow expanse on top, an orange zone below, separated by a curved black line — a luminous horizon, open landscape. Introduces: the original energy of the project, often buried under execution. Invitation: "What excited you at the start — and is it still there?"

28. Affirmation Visual: explosive black mass with escaping filaments on a yellow-pink background — a dense center that radiates. Introduces: what demands to be said clearly and has not yet been. Invitation: "What do you need to say — to yourself or to others — that you are holding back?"

29. Valorisation Visual: a stylized yellow-orange sun with a triangle and circle at the center, black rays radiating all around — a solar wheel. Introduces: what one actually values versus what one says one values. Invitation: "In this project, what has value for you — not for others, for you?"

30. Conviction Visual: a stylized green symbol (double S or interlaced hook) on a green-yellow watercolor background — a singular glyph, almost a signature. Introduces: where conviction is real versus where it is performed. Invitation: "What in this project are you truly convinced of — not convinced of being convinced?"

31. Ancrage Visual: a black stem rising from the bottom and opening into a green bud on a yellow-green background — a bud on a line. Introduces: what is missing for the project to hold in reality. Invitation: "What anchors this project — or what is it missing as an anchor?"

32. Générosité Visual: a double black interlaced heart on a blue-green watercolor background — two forms overlapping in a single gesture. Introduces: the balance between what one gives and what one can receive. Invitation: "Where does your generosity exhaust you rather than nourish you?"

33. Joie Visual: a green sun with short black rays radiating around a knotted center — a radiating green star. Introduces: joy as an indicator of rightness, not an accessory. Invitation: "Where is joy still present in this project — even small?"

34. Tolérance Visual: a blue circle on a green-yellow background with a zigzag line inside — a world crossed by a fault line. Introduces: what one cannot let exist without wanting to control it. Invitation: "What in this situation asks to be tolerated rather than solved?"

35. Acceptation Visual: an open black and blue hand on a blue background — fingers opening upward, palm offered. Introduces: the distinction between accepting and resigning. Invitation: "What is there that you have not yet accepted is there?"

36. Cohérence Visual: a black and blue spiral on a blue watercolor background inside a white square — a loop tightening toward a center. Introduces: the gap between what one says, what one thinks, and what one does. Invitation: "Where is there a discrepancy between what you say about this project and what you actually do?"

37. Authenticité Visual: vertical black columns of varying heights on a blue background, with two orange circles at the top and bottom — a living barcode. Introduces: the tension between what one is and what one shows. Invitation: "In this project, where are you playing a role rather than being yourself?"

38. Communication Visual: black and blue arches rising from a low line on a blue background — waves or successive leaps. Introduces: what is unsaid, poorly said, or said to be heard rather than understood. Invitation: "What is circulating poorly in this project — or between the people involved?"

39. Compréhension Visual: a black form coiling around a small violet figure on a blue-violet background — something surrounding and containing a presence. Introduces: the shift from "I want to be understood" to "what do I truly understand?" Invitation: "What do you not yet understand about this situation — and have not tried to understand?"

40. Imagination Visual: blue and violet circles of different sizes floating on a white background — bubbles in suspension, weightless. Introduces: the imaginary space that reason has locked. Invitation: "If this project could take a form you have not yet envisioned, what would it be?"

41. Intégration Visual: a violet and pink cross on a white background with black lines crossing through — a geometric structure traversed by an organic gesture. Introduces: what has been excluded from the project and asks to enter. Invitation: "What is being kept at a distance from this project — and what would happen if you let it in?"

42. Conscience Visual: a black and pink loop coiling on a pink-violet background — a spiral closing in on itself with a knot. Introduces: a finer perception of what is truly happening. Invitation: "What do you see now that you did not see before drawing this card?"

43. Émancipation Visual: a large black silhouette on the left, pink tracings detaching from it and rising — something freeing itself from a mass. Introduces: what one can detach from without it being a betrayal. Invitation: "What do you need to free yourself from so this project can breathe?"

44. Stabilité Visual: a black and red cross on a pink background — a firm geometric structure, central knot on a diluted background. Introduces: the question of whether the stability one seeks is alive or frozen. Invitation: "What stability are you seeking — does it allow movement or stop it?"

45. Agilité Visual: black interlaced lines that seem to run on an orange background — a trace that does not stop, continuous movement. Introduces: the suppleness where one has become rigid. Invitation: "Where do you need less certainty and more flexibility?"

46. Accompagnement Visual: a dense black mountain on a yellow background, with black interlacing at the foot — a mass rising from a complex ground. Introduces: the shift from solitude in effort to awareness of who or what accompanies. Invitation: "Who or what accompanies you in this project — that you may have stopped seeing?"

47. Action Visual: two black forms facing each other, beaks open, on a yellow-green background — two birds or creatures in dynamic interaction. Introduces: the difference between acting rightly and being agitated. Invitation: "What would be the next right action — not urgent, right?"

48. Structuration Visual: black geometric architecture on a yellow background — triangles and lines forming a crystalline structure. Introduces: the difference between a structure that serves and a structure that stifles. Invitation: "What structure in this project is still alive — and which has become a constraint?"

49. Inspiration Visual: a blue watercolor spiral radiating from a black-blue central point — a turning and open movement at once. Introduces: the deep source, often closer than one thinks. Invitation: "Where does your inspiration truly come from — not the one you are looking for, the one that is already there?"

50. Volonté Visual: a large radiating yellow circle with a blue-violet halo and a pure white center — sun or eclipse, light breaking through. Introduces: the question of where one's will truly lies — not good intention, clear direction. Invitation: "Where is your will truly in this project — not what you want to want, what you want?"

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Usage examples

"I've been stuck on my text for two weeks" Limen Process. Draw 3 cards. Present each with its visual. Let the consultant compose.

"We're doing a team retrospective, we've been going in circles" Limen Process. Collective territory. Collect first names, draw one card per person, give the floor circulation protocol.

"I want to use the cards for my research interviews" Limen Process. Institutional territory. Explain the adapted photo-elicitation protocol.

"Activate the Limen process" or "Use the cards" Ask briefly for context (optional), draw a card, present it with its visual and what it introduces, hold the space.

Consultant has completed the Limen Process and shows signs of deep unresolved blockage Check conditions. If all are met, propose: "The open Limen Process has created movement, but part of the blockage still seems to remain protected by negotiation or avoidance. We can stop here, or activate the Limen Sequence — a more constrained protocol that will introduce a third card derived from the first two, one you cannot choose directly. Do you want to activate it?" Wait for explicit agreement before activating.

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Credits

Limen Process and Limen Sequence — Concept and direction: Christophe Leclaire Original visuals: Fen François Debacker (black ink, intuitive abstraction) Contact: [email protected] Skill-Limen-V3 — April 2026

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Version history

V1 — Original protocol, 50 cards, basic corpus. V2 — Full visual descriptions and invitations for all 50 cards, English translation. V3 — Limen Sequence added as a constrained anti-avoidance protocol with conditional activation logic.