King and Queen of Pentacles, Empress and Emperor

Oddity

Hello!

As I was laying out some cards today I noticed something...

The King of Pentacles looks a lot like the Empress (I think he does). He is surrounded by plants and nature just like her, he has a laurel wreath at the base of his crown just like her, both are wearing these long flowing robes decorated with fruit – he has even borrowed her sceptre, but he's not holding it as high.

And the Queen looks like the Emperor, especially their crowns are very much alike. Also both are wearing red, and sitting on a throne with ram heads. It could almost be the same mountains in the background too, but just a bit further away in the Queen card.

What is going on here? Have the royal couple of Pentacles secretly raided the closets of the Empress and Emperor? :) And if so, why have they switched clothes between the genders?

Is there some sort of real intended connection between these cards, or am I just making things up in my head when I'm comparing them? I couldn't find any information about this and I hope this question is not too stupid – I'm still learning about this deck, so I wouldn't know. :)

What are your thoughts?
 

Akuts

Oddity said:
What is going on here? Have the royal couple of Pentacles secretly raided the closets of the Empress and Emperor? :) And if so, why have they switched clothes between the genders?

They didn't switch genders with the shoes. Maybe the King's feet were too big to fit into the Empress's little red shoes. :D

You're right about the similarities, but I have no idea what it might mean.
 

Oddity

Akuts said:
They didn't switch genders with the shoes. Maybe the King's feet were too big to fit into the Empress's little red shoes. :D
You're right – the Queen has the red shoes! Haha! :D

They make me think of children who borrow Mum's and Dad's clothes to play dress-up with. I would love to know if there is a real reason they look so alike, or if it is just coincidence.
 

Jourdain

I think the Pentacles suit reflects the nature/nurture of the Empress and the order/structure of the Emperor at the same time, and that it is linked to those two Majors more than any of the others. I'd say your completly right with your interpretation. Why the gender roles are switched is a mystery to me, but my intuition is telling me that it probably has to do with not sanctioning each quality to a specific gender role. Like, nature/nurture isn't an exclusively female principle and structure/order isn't a strictly male principle. It would fit Golden Dawn gender equality--even though Waite didn't use the whole Princess/Prince concept in the court, so I gues it's sort of a wierd disharmony, but whatever.

Oh well. I'm just rambling now, haha. That last part is barely a sentence, lol.