Bohemian Gothic-Wheel of Fortune

Thirteen

Moonlight pours through the window of a stone cottage. There's a stunning carving of a winged skull on the wall. By candle light, and old woman tells the fortune of a young lady who, evidently, has stopped by after a shopping spree as a parcel dangles from her arm. One hand is gloved. The other is not. She seems quite interested in what the old lady has to tell her.

Very clever this card. We are reading the cards...and the card shows a tarot reader reading the cards. I find this card interesting not only because it suggests the wheel going round and round--and rifts on the idea of telling fortunes for the "wheel of fortune" but also because this deck has a lot of mirrors. It plays on the idea of reflections. All the cards, in a way, are dark mirrors of our reality.

So what else do people see in this card? And how do you think it relates (or doesn't) to the usual message of the Wheel of Fortune about luck, and a change in position?
 

Alisa13

I love this card! I think it is an elegant joke. The fact the client has been shopping is a sly pun on those who, if they don't like the cards dealt, deal again until they get the answer they want!
With the green dress, rose and purple hat is the package bearing lady the client or the reader? This points out the theme of free will in 2 ways. One, clearly by the look on her face and with her hand resting on her chin in an "I'll ponder that" pose she looks in complete control of herself and what she expects. Two, she looks like the type of client who would argue if you didn't tell her what she wanted to hear. I haven't been in that position yet being a Tarot neophyte, but I do feel sorry for those Professional Tarot Readers who get clients that try to take over the reading!
The Old Woman intrigues me. Even with this possibly difficult client she KNOWS her stuff. Even if the client took over the reading the Old Woman would just give a wise Crone smile and let her go, knowing that the Fates will do as they will, not as the client wills. I feel this is reinforced by the light coming in from the Old Woman's side, while the client has the skull to remind her of eternity and the experiences of life that are not under her control.
Also - being a Tarot-holic, I really want to know what Tarot Deck they are using!
 

Sleepwalker

Alisa13 said:
I love this card! I think it is an elegant joke. The fact the client has been shopping is a sly pun on those who, if they don't like the cards dealt, deal again until they get the answer they want!
With the green dress, rose and purple hat is the package bearing lady the client or the reader? This points out the theme of free will in 2 ways. One, clearly by the look on her face and with her hand resting on her chin in an "I'll ponder that" pose she looks in complete control of herself and what she expects. Two, she looks like the type of client who would argue if you didn't tell her what she wanted to hear. I haven't been in that position yet being a Tarot neophyte, but I do feel sorry for those Professional Tarot Readers who get clients that try to take over the reading!
The Old Woman intrigues me. Even with this possibly difficult client she KNOWS her stuff. Even if the client took over the reading the Old Woman would just give a wise Crone smile and let her go, knowing that the Fates will do as they will, not as the client wills. I feel this is reinforced by the light coming in from the Old Woman's side, while the client has the skull to remind her of eternity and the experiences of life that are not under her control.
Also - being a Tarot-holic, I really want to know what Tarot Deck they are using!

I was thinking much the same. My first thought was that this client does not belong here. But, when people get desperate, they try things and go places that they normally would not. The beauty of that scenario, is that we find enlightenment and help in some of the oddest places and/or from them most unexpected sources. The client, though she may be out of place, seems to be paying attention, even if to argue, and that is the most important thing.
 

ncefafn

Has anyone noticed that the sitter's left hand appears to be a skeletal claw?
 

Disa

ncefafn said:
Has anyone noticed that the sitter's left hand appears to be a skeletal claw?

hmm. I thought it was a glove :)
 

baba-prague

I'm so glad that the little shop box has been discussed. We put it in, took it out again, and then added it back when we did the final image for this card. I have in mind a scenario - maybe the way you can imagine a film beginning - in which an elegant young woman goes to buy various fripperies, and then decides, "Oh what a lark!" it would be to have her cards read by some old woman that all her friends have told her is THE person to go to right now. So she sits down, expecting to be amused, and in fact, she gets a serious reading which is much more than she bargained for. The tarot reader is kind, but issues a stern warning. We hear romantic but ominous music with violins and some distant drums - and the story begins to unroll on our screens.

Or something like that. ;)

I just felt that that box needed to be there.
 

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Thirteen

baba-prague said:
I'm so glad that the little shop box has been discussed. We put it in, took it out again, and then added it back when we did the final image for this card. I have in mind a scenario - maybe the way you can imagine a film beginning - in which an elegant young woman goes to buy various fripperies, and then decides, "Oh what a lark!", to have her tarot read by some old woman that all her friends have told her is THE person to go to right now. So she sits down, expecting to be amused, and in fact, she gets a serious reading which is much more than she bargained for. The tarot reader is kind, but issues a stern warning. We hear romantic but ominous music with violins and some distant drums - and the story begins to unroll on our screens.

Or something like that. ;)
LOL! Karen, that is EXACTLY what I pictured as the story for the card. It's such a wonderfully classic scenario out of old Hollywood and old horror novels :D It's one of the reasons I so love this deck--that you're not afraid to indulge in all those tropes and funhouse devices of beloved horror films as well as books and stories (3/Pents with classic Frankenstein is still one of my all time faves!).

We know this scene and where it goes. And yes, that box of flipperies is SO important! It's important to tell us about this lady for whom things are going so right, who has been lucky in that she was born to a world of wealth and status: She might not consider that the Wheel of Fortune can turn any time for her as much as anyone! Luck changes suddenly and without warning.

It also shows us that her little happy world might be a bit narrow--concentrating on shopping and her own society and not much else. By going to see the Fortune Teller she takes her first step into a wider world, and hears a fortune that indicates that it will expand and go beyond what she might imagine--also a function of the Wheel of Fortune card, a card about expanding universes and experiences.

Luck, fortune (as in money, too) are shown in her dress and shopping bag; changes and expansion are shown in the fortune teller and their meeting. It's a wonderful scene that puts us at the center of that turning wheel, the calm eye of the storm before we head back out and are captured by it all once again. Very cool card!
 

Pam O

...One hand is gloved. The other is not. She seems quite interested in what the old lady has to tell her. ...

Has anyone noticed that the sitter's left hand appears to be a skeletal claw?

[size=+2]It IS a ghoul, skeletal claw! :bugeyed: [/size]
It is not the gloved hand on the arm of a chair so many of us saw at first!!! My heart is still pounding since I saw this!!

I just got the Baba bag of this card. Since the bag is an enlargement of the card, all of a sudden I saw that skeleton hand in the picture on the bag!!!

And her hand is NOT on the arm of a chair either! The chair arm I saw at first is actually the gleam of an enormous, barbed fish hook in that ghoul hand!!! :bugeyed:

So, the young innocent lady is not at all who she is pretending to be! So how does this play into the Wheel of Fortune? That life and people are not who they may seem? Don't read a book by its cover?

That enormous fish hook: Life &/or people can hook you? Beware of people whose true intent may be creating control, misery or doldrums in your world?

Other ideas???

NOTE: I tried to enlarge that ghoul hand with the enormous fish hook on my scanner and post the enlarged picture, but my scanner is not co-operating. Maybe someone else's scanner can enlarge that area of the card?
 

JenWt43

I love the idea of a skeletal claw. :) But I think it is a glove. I could be wrong, though. And is the shiny bit of metal the frame of a small handbag? I'm not sure. personally, I prefer the fish hook, so someone prove me wrong!

But I have been pondering the significance of one gloved hand, and one without a glove. The hand without the glove seems to be in a false and forced posture to me. Something that I call "faux casual." :D
 

RiverRunsDeep

Hmm, I can not really determine if the woman's left hand is in a
glove, or if it is a skeletal hand.

If it is skeletal, I would say her left hand represents death, while
her right hand represents life. Of all things, death and life are the
main turners of the Wheel, the major changes that happen through
endings and beginnings in our lives.

OR...if the left hand is gloved, then I would say the left hand represents
what is hidden and unknown while the right hand represents what
is known. These are also turners of the Wheel: what we know and
expect vs. the surprises life throws our way.