The Four Of Pentacles...
(Sorry for the long post, but...I'm usually long-winded...)
...yep, I see this guy as "all about the 'mins" (all about the Benjamins!). I thought I'd post my thoughts based on another posting I had done earlier here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1236701#post1236701
In a nutshell, I watched this movie, "Constantine," last night and there was mention of the Devil's son as "Mammon." I looked "Mammon" up and found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon
and this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Mammon.jpg
The above picture reminded me of the Four Of Pentacles
(
http://learntarot.com/bigjpgs/pents04.jpg) ...."Mammon" has a similar posture to the man in the Four Of Pentacles....both are holding onto money...both are sitting...both are somewhat hunched over (clinging to that which they love, hiding it, covering it...). It made me wonder if Pamela Colman-Smith may have based this card on "Mammon" (from "Dictionnaire Infernal").
Here's the Wikipedia definition (citing several references) of "Mammon:"
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Webster (1977) defines 'mammon' as: 1) the false god of riches and avarice. 2) riches regarded as an object of worship and greedy pursuit; wealth as an evil, more or less personified. Winston (1954) defines: 1) wealth, worldly gain; 2) greed for riches; cupidity. Oxford (1992) defines: god of wealth, regarded as evil or immoral; 'those who worship mammon' = greedy people who value money too highly.
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Other things I noticed in this card (Original RWS)...Lemniscate on the man's left boot-lace. Possibly an "M" (Mammon?) on the man's left forearm (where black shawl meets the red sleeve). An "N" (?) on the grassy-mound on/in the left background
I also noticed that the black shawl (appears to be some kind of crocheted shawl) totally encircles the man's red-sleeved arms...i.e., that which is black, negative or darkened overtaking/suffocating that which is otherwise passionate or lively(?).
Having said that, I just noticed a few minutes ago that the black shawl seems to form a silhouette of sorts (forehead at the man's left elbow). Not sure if I'm looking at it too hard???
I've read where some in the forum believe this guy is "grounded." I have looked at his feet up-close and if I'm not mistaken, I believe he's got the balls of his feet on those two pents...IOW, the whole sole of his foot (for both feet) is not in contact with each pent. That said....he may not be that grounded after all. The Pents are somewhat tilted up at the back (so we can see the faces of the pents), but it looks like he's doing a "ballerina" thing by standing on them with just the balls of his feet.
Anybody got a clue as to what that "thing" is on top of the shortest building of the 3 orange buildings on the right side of the card (background; looks like an overdrawn cursive "t")? Universal and Radiant RWS decks show it to be some sort of bush or tree, but in the Original RWS...it'd be a heck of a bush to grow like that...totally taking over the top of that building.