Five of Coins
LindaG said:
I look forward to the point we get to the 5 of Coins. I also read Mary`s thought on some cards Kat. Even though this card is quite different than the Waite/Smith version it will be interesting to hear everyone`s thoughts on it. I`m very curious about the two figures in this picture.
If you get a chance, could you explain what you see as going on in this picture? I know it`s saying that the couple are holding hands but it could also interpreted in another way. It looks to me like the woman has some sort of grasp on the man and it has depleated him materially......maybe financially or physically, even though he is quite muscular. He looks in misery at the Coins yet can`t seem to let go of her. Maybe he is her sex slave LOL. I see something has caused him moral loss. Did you see any other interpretation when you made this card? What I`m thinking could still fit though quite well.
Linda
Eeep! I knew this would happen... being asked to explain my least successful or RWS-like cards first!
Hmm.. to start, I'll quote the AE Waite "Key to the Tarot" LWB definition first, as this wasn't one of the couple of cards that I intentionally swayed away from the RWS meaning too much:
"This card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated - that is, destitution- or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers - wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonised.
Reversed - Disorder, chaos, ruin, profligacy, troubles in love."
You might have noticed in my LBB that in a lot of my personal meanings, I've been wary of the financial fortune = happiness angle. In the same way, I don't feel that financial destitution has to = unhappiness. To this end, I attempted (although I suppose a little unsuccessfully!) to show that this couple may have lost everything else, but they still have each other, they still have the love and comfort of each other's touch.
And thus my LBB meaning: "Misguided goals. Poor decision or lack of decision could lead to destitution and misery. Ill health and misfortune may await you. Make the most of whatever you have, nomatter how little it is."
http://www.goldentarot.com/mico05.htm
In terms of the dynamic, it's the man who is still looking longingly at the coins (as per RWS). It's the woman who just deals with it, soldiers on (in RWS) or provides comfort (my intention in GT).
The thing I did NOT intend, and perhaps that's what Mary Greer was alluding to, is that there's any significance in the fact that they are now
inside the church rather than
outside , and yet they find little comfort in there. It's still cold and dark. I guess perhaps that could be read that there is little comfort in religion, but then I think you could also read the RWS card in that way, as these people are out in the snow instead of being allowed inside the warm, inviting church. The fact is, I couldn't find a snowy exterior to use amongst my source material, so I used the cold and uninviting church interior that I did.
I guess it was inevitable that the negative cards would be the hardest for me to do, given my personality and beliefs. I tried to be as objective as possible creating the deck, but whom I am and the life I've lived was always going to affect it to some degree. Perhaps this card was a bit of a plea for men not to take women for granted, to value a loving relationship above some floating illusion of success or independance or whatever.