The Golden Rule Tetraflexagon is a magic device created by Steffan Soule in order to teach the Golden Rule. It has myriad applications including in schools, where Soule and others have used it to combat bullying.
The Tetraflexagon is easy to assemble and features several tricks, or effects. The following two pages in this issue present the two sides of the Tetraflexagon ready to assemble.
Simply cut them out with care, follow the instructions in the video mentioned below, and presto! the magic of the Tetraflexagon is yours to wield. If you would like to download additional Tetraflexagon templates, please visit https://steffansoule.com/golden-rule-tetra-flexagon
To learn how to cut, fold, and use the Golden Tetraflexagon on pages 60-63 of the Winter 2021-2022 issue (The Golden Rule), please press “play” on the video above. You can also watch this video on YouTube here.
—The Editors
How to use the Tetraflexagon
Once you have folded the Golden Rule Tetraflexagon properly, you will have a smile face on one side and a black & white or a golden mystery person on the other side. The smile face represents “you” and the mystery person represents “others.”
Show the smile face to your audience. You are going to talk about splitting your attention to put part of your attention on “you” and part of your attention on “others.”
Fold the left side of the smile face behind and to the right. This means that while you see the mystery person, you fold your left side of the smile face back toward you and to your right. Then you open the left side edge toward you and to the right.
Now the audience sees the smile face split in half, and you see the green and white mystery man.
After you talk about splitting your attention, you turn the Tetraflexagon around to show your audience the green and white mystery person which represents “seeing others in a new way.”
Now rotate the Tetraflexagon one quarter turn to your left and then close the Tetraflexagon toward you at which point, you see the green head on your left and the green shoulders on your right.
You open the Tetraflexagon toward the audience to reveal the four “others.” This means that you open the front edge out toward the audience.
Now you will flip the top down toward you and rotate it to the bottom. To do this, you fold the top toward you and down which folds the Tetraflexagon in half. Open it from the top down toward you and show the numbers on the four “others” have changed.
Fold the Tetraflexagon in half toward you and open it from the front fold, toward your audience, to show the Golden Rule. Turn it one quarter turn to the left as you fold it closed toward you and open it toward the audience again to show the heart.
You have completed the basic moves. Of course, you will need to rehearse these moves over and over to become a Tetraflexagon expert. Once you are ready to show the moves to your friends, it will be time to work on the story that you tell while you perform your moves. The basic story is easy to remember because of the images on the paper. You can add to the story by telling stories from your experience. You can be creative. It’s fun.
At the very end of the moves, you may want to set the Tetraflexagon back to the beginning. To return to the starting point, you fold the heart closed by folding the left and the right toward your audience. The word Golden will be on your left the word Rule will be on your right. Now open the center from the edge closest to you and you will see the four others on the back. Turn the 4 others one quarter turn to your right so that if someone were watching from the front, they would see “Golden Rule” on the front. Now fold the Golden Rule closed toward your audience (by folding the left and the right sides together toward your audience), and then open up the center from the edge closest to you. Do this again, which means that you close by folding the left and the right toward your audience and open from the side closest to you. By doing that two times, you will see the smile face return, and you are ready to begin again. ◆
This excerpt appears in our Winter 2021-22 issue, “The Golden Rule.” Purchase the issue here.