Bohemian Gothic-The Tens

Thirteen

I'm very interested in the "10's" in this deck. Three are very clear (or seem very clear to me). The last is a bit mysterious.

10/Wands: I love this card. I think, like so many other, most excellent cards in this deck, it's use of dark and scary imagery really illuminates the ultimate meaning of this card. We see an old woman hauling a bundle on her back. She wanders past a castle wall, under an illuminated window. Light from somewhere casts her shadow large upon the wall. This is one of those double-take cards. Unlike in other 10/Wands cards, the woman doesn't seem overly burdened, and quite able to handle this load on her back. But a double take shows us that the shadow she is casting has horns, and the window has a hot, orange glow to emphasize something demonic. Her physical burden in this world may not be so bad, but she is carrying around another burden, a spiritual/otherworldly burden that is far more heavily weighted.

10/Swords: One of the most beautiful cards in the deck; a kneeling woman buries her face in her hands and weeps before a grave marked with a cross (sword etched on the cross). In the typical 10/Swords we see a body stabbed by 10 swords, the usual meaning being that we've been stabbed in the back, killed by bad words, thoughts, plots against us, what-have-you. What I find fascinating about this card is that, like 10/Wands, it goes a step further. Our demise doesn't just affect us, but others. The pain and loss carries on beyond us to others who might be related, involved with us, or just care for us.

10/Cups: A very creepy card showing a very creepy family. They are a handsome family decked out in their very best, most especially the baby who is swaddled in elaborate baby clothes and lace-frilled baby blanket. The doted on daughter in the background has a toy horse, the mother gazes oddly but adoringly up at her husband, who stands at the ready, as if to protect his family. 10/Cups usually signifies a peaceful environment, love and accord, harmony in a family and between lovers. We certainly see there here. The family feel very much in accord, the children doted upon, the environment secure and comfortable. The step-beyond, or dark shadow to this seems to be that they are too much into each other. We feel that nothing exists for this family outside of themselves and their home. The card suggests the scary side of excessive love, of too much doting and focusing only on each other for happiness.

10/Pentacles: This is the 10 that mystifies me. 10/Pentacles usually signifies secure material wealth and or a legacy or inheritance; family fortunes or traditions. Yet the image here is of a poor but loving couple as they pass by a door opened by a wealthy old man. The couple are carrying their meager belonging in one over-the-shoulder bundle. The old man seems to be letting out his none-too-friendly dog.

Curious. I can certainly imagine a story to go with this card. The night is cold, the old man invites the couple into his warm home. That is the usual beginning of certain scary stories. Dracula, after all, starts with Jonathan Harker invited into the Count's castle. The poor couple are invited into the weird old man's house. Do they become his servants? His helpers in his unnatural experiments? A part of his experiments? It seems to suggest that while wealth may bring warmth and security, it may not bring happiness. Wealth, family legacies and inheritances, can be traps. Once you accept the invitation to step in, you might not be allowed to leave...not unless, as with the dog, the one who invited you in lets you leave. And by then, you might not be the same at all.

Other views of these cards?
 

Aerin

The 10 of Pentacles, it has always seemed to me in this deck, is about the difference between material and spiritual/ emotional wealth. So the old man has the money.... but the young couple have the happiness (at the moment). I believe the old man is jealous, and may even try to prevent the happiness he sees 'if I can't have it NO-ONE can'.

The 10 of Cups, I see the daughter as feeling neglected and unhappy looking in to a family she feels excluded from. The father looks to me like he wants to possess rather than support, some darkness I feel and perhaps a tendency to cruelty. One of the saddest things I heard was the question (from a class of 5-7 year olds) "Why do adults ignore children when there is a baby in the room?" Some felt that it was like when they got a new toy, the old was discarded. One boy didn't feel like this and said so... but this really challenged everyone else.

10 of Swords, yes I love this card. I had it the other day as 'Secret Fear' (the spread in the book). Everything has stopped for grief, the world of the girl is 'at an end'. But.... life does go on...

Aerin
 

HoneyBea

The 10 Pentacles - Perhaps this is a card that suggests that not all happiness is found in material things, and when and if you acquire them, are they enough to give you a full and satisfying life? The couple may only have what they carry but perhaps they have given meaning to their existence, while the man may have a whole lot more materially but is he happy?

10 Swords - This cards image leaves you in no doubt that something has come to an end, and although it is a sad depiction it is also a beautiful depiction — again for a dark deck, I find this card not very dark. Notice in the sky the dark and ominous clouds but just breaking through is some sun light that makes the clouds appear a little pink — this to me seems to symbolise that out of darkness comes light. The grave itself bears green growth and white flowers which again could symbolize here the potential for growth, with reflection and illumination. The pink may well represent love and show the healing that can be achieved when we accept that sometimes there are tragedies in life or that things cannot always stay the same, whether it be in relation to a job, or a person.

This card seems to definitely emphasize the sorrow aspect of the swords deck, but it is also a reminder that we need to move through that sorrow in order to have the opportunity to start again.

10 Wands I've just done a write up on this card on my blog here's an extract from what I said; —

I don't think this old lady really represents the Devil here but she does look a bit sneaky doesn't she! Perhaps the darker side of this card warns against doing something that is not all together above board, it may just be saying that you think you can get away with it, but can you? It could also be alerting you to somebody who is coming into or who is already there in your life, who may just not be what they appear to be — perhaps someone is in disguise for some other reason that is not honest.

This dark side says to you think before you take on something that may just turn out to be a big burden!

Or quite simply there are consequences for actions that you take, are you prepared to face them



~HoneyBea~
 

Nightgarden

For the "10 of Pentacles": I have the Beatles-line in my head: "Money can't buy me love!". Simple, but true.
I don't know why, but for me the couple are brother and sister. She looks like a kid to me.
This changes nothing about the general meaning of the card for me-money can't buy this old man love or youth.
 

Thirteen

Peace restored!

HoneyBea said:
10 Swords - This cards image leaves you in no doubt that something has come to an end, and although it is a sad depiction it is also a beautiful depiction — again for a dark deck, I find this card not very dark. Notice in the sky the dark and ominous clouds but just breaking through is some sun light that makes the clouds appear a little pink — this to me seems to symbolise that out of darkness comes light. The grave itself bears green growth and white flowers which again could symbolize here the potential for growth, with reflection and illumination.
Excellent point! There are few cards in this dark deck that seem to have a "silver lining" as it were, and it's ironic that this one does. Given the deck, which is all about the supernatural, and tends to hold the sinister suggestion that death is not the worst that can happen to you, any card that has just death as the end can be seen as positive!

This is the one card in which there is no hint that the person is anything but dead, passed on, no lingering with supernatural forces. The lighting, the cross, the greenery, even that beautiful woman honestly grieving, all suggest a very clean and untainted conclusion.

It's ironic because the 10/Swords is usually a disturbing card, viewed with dread. But in this deck, it's a card that suggests, literally and figuratively, resting in peace. We image that it might well be the grave of a vampire hunter, or the one who broke a spell or cleansed a haunted house or drove out a demon. However badly the end, the card seems to say, it was bravely met. The one who died was on the right side, may even have succeeded, and the grieving woman is not going to be haunted by an evil spirit.

Very apt for a card about troubles (the swords) ending (abet violently) and mental peace restored.
 

Thirteen

Nightgarden said:
I don't know why, but for me the couple are brother and sister. She looks like a kid to me.
Interesting thought. Having them as siblings certainly emphasizes that idea of continuing the family, which 10/Pents is very much about. It contrasts the single old man who seems to have no family. Or, rather, seems to be living with the ghosts of his family.

I do keep coming back to the usual 10/Pents meaning of legacies, what parents pass down to their children. I think the message is less: "money can't buy me love" and more about family inheritances, be it the old man's grand house, or the young man's meger bundle. These are not, as with the 10/Wands, burdens, but rather family legacies.

Perhaps the real question in this card is, "What do you want future generations to hold onto?" A grand but likely haunted house, or a small bundle of treasured keepsakes as well, in this case, as the living legacy of our siblings? The old man's house blazes with light and heat, but is likely full of cold, frightening memories and scary ghosts. The siblings out in the cold and dark, carry with them warm memories.

Neither money nor things can buy love; but there are "things" that we associate with our past, and treasure for generations. Things that remind us to love our siblings and stay together as a family, no matter what hardships we're facing. Far better to be warmed by such living legacies, then keep cold company with the dead--as the old man seems to be doing.
 

Nightgarden

I totaly agree with you, thirteen.

And I think about this: The difference between the coldness of a splendid but cold/empty house versus a life on the street with heartwarming companion..what would we choose?
 

HoneyBea

Thirteen said:
Interesting thought.

I do keep coming back to the usual 10/Pents meaning of legacies, what parents pass down to their children. I think the message is less: "money can't buy me love" and more about family inheritances, be it the old man's grand house, or the young man's meger bundle. These are not, as with the 10/Wands, burdens, but rather family legacies.

.
It's funny because I do not automatically think of this when I see 10 Pentacles, I tend to see this card as an culmination of the good aspects of Pentacles (those things that are tangible) but also having a spiritual significance too, sort of like they are going side by side. Especially with this Bohemian 10 Pents, it does seem to me, from my point of view to be delivering the message that you can enjoy being yourself and it is not always necessary to have lots of material things in order to do that - in other words you have learnt that it is not totally necessary to have lots of anything in order to appreciate life, it can be enjoyed in an uncomplicated way. Ten of Pentacles seems to be a card that expressess the feeling that its ok to enjoy those things that you have in life, but not necessary to do it in a materialistic sort of way - it seems to be a card that pin points the relationship between those tangible things and our being human. - You know where does the true source of happiness lie, is it in those material things, or is it in our attitude to those material things.......

~HoneyBea~
 

Thirteen

HoneyBea said:
Ten of Pentacles seems to be a card that expressess the feeling that its ok to enjoy those things that you have in life, but not necessary to do it in a materialistic sort of way - it seems to be a card that pin points the relationship between those tangible things and our being human.
Obviously, what you see in a card you see and I won't argue that. But technically speaking--and I mean given the usual meaning of the card--the 10/Pents really doesn't refer to this. The 10/Cups is all about enjoying family, life, and non-material love and relationships. 10/Pents is about not only enjoying all the wealth that you've accumulated, but making sure that it continues on as a legacy to others. That legacy doesn't have to be inheritance, it can be creating a charity or a hospital wing, sharing your wealth to make others happy--which is where the spiritual "ten" aspect comes in. It still involves using *money* to do the "human" thing--because it is the suit of pentacles. The spiritual here does not suggest surrendering or ignoring that money or materialistic goods in order to be human, but rather making use of it so that something of your generous spirit continues on after your are gone.

I think, in this card, that it's important that the poor couple is carrying a bundle with them. If they had nothing, then I might go with what you're saying. But this isn't the 5/Pents which discusses poverty or having nothing and surviving on spirit. I would personally see it as different types of keepsakes and legacies rather than an anvil over the head reminding me that: "the best things in life are free."

I could be wrong, but this deck seems far more complex than that.
 

HoneyBea

Well I agree with you that inheritance and legacies is what is referred to in its broadest sense, but I was only talking about what I see in the symbolism of the BG card, not intending to have a disagreement about the technicality of the card in general, just giving a point of view of the BG as as originally asked, and although technically the card is understood to refer to what you say, I have no argument with that, it also has other connotations that can be derived from it depending on what deck one is looking at.

My comments are not meant to challenge anything you say, I respect that you have a good knowledge of the cards, they are purely another point of view. :)

I have learnt over the years of working with tarot that one can read them by their generic meaning or by what the symbolism presents.

Now concerned that I have grasp perhaps the wrong meaning for this card, made me look it up in Karen Mahony's book that accompanies the deck, she says of this card:
This card asks us to think carefully about the real value of material wealth. It suggest it should often take second place in our lives to values like friendship, love and trust. These things are far more magical and deeply satisfying than mere money can ever be. It's a simple message, but one that it's useful to be reminded about in the very materialistic times we live in.

Interesting...

~HoneyBea~