A proper revisit to the "Four of Pentacles" is in order for me. I still dislike this guy, as I previously wrote on this thread, but it's pretty obvious we're not meant to like him. After all, life is not all sunlight and flowers and not everyone is brimming with happiness and good intentions...at least not all the time. That said, there's a lot to learn and contemplate when such a sour card comes up in a reading. Robin's rendering of this miserly, distasteful man makes him come to life...albeit a miserable life...and shows just how lonely his actions have left him.
Being human, (and I'll speak for myself here), there are times when I want to clutch, even crush, something for fear it'll be taken away or I'll lose it forever...slipping away like a grain of sand through one's hand. This isn't my normal state of affairs, but I'd be a liar if I said the feelings/thoughts didn't pass through my being more than once in my life. Of course, the harder you hold on at those times and the more stubborn you become, the worse the situation often becomes. One can want to hold on to a moment, a person, a thing, an ideal, an opinion, etc. But if one doesn't take into consideration the feelings of others and the situation outside of what one wants personally (the BIG picture)...then much can go wrong, and we're left holding the bag, so to speak, ALONE. Sometimes we even "win" and get to keep "the prize," whatever it is...but at what cost? When I see this card in a reading I now sometimes view it as a warning and I ask, "Is it really worth it after all and might there not be a better way to go about things, yielding far more positive results?" Hopefully there's a way to undo any damage that might already have been done.
I can understand why Robin chose to set this man in his own castle, cut off from humanity and all its beauty. She says in her book, "And there he sits, with his back firmly turned to anything which might open his world, or take his mind off his obsession." He refuses to see anyone and no one can see him. Ultimately, people like this are forgotten, rotting away amidst their hard-won spoils.
Robin reminds us that when this card comes up in a reading for someone, we should remember "...whenever you have to give someone a hard truth like this to be as gentle and understanding as you can possibly be." Very good advice, indeed.