Bohemian Gothic-Three of Pentacles

[Thirteen]

Okay. In a deck of cards full of favorites, this is one of my top five. I adore this card. I sure hope we hear the story behind it's creation--in my mind I see two deck creators, up too late (was there thunder and lightning that night?), and maybe drinking down one too many shots of something saying, "What the hell?" I think this card is absolutely marvelous. I love that it reminds the reader that dark and scary as this deck can be, it also has a great sense of humor. And yes, once again, it's right on the money, isn't it? What could be more perfect for the "craftsman" card, a card about bringing an idea to life enough so that, perhaps, you'll get funding and support for it (the original RW meaning there) than the Frankenstein monster minutes after re-animation?

I laughed out loud when I first saw this card--and I also went "Wow! That's it exactly!" The good doctor, from his laboratory, watches his monster taking it's first steps, revealing itself from under the bandages; he is both shocked and triumphant! He's done it! You can almost hear him saying, "Alive! It is ALIVE!" All his hard work, all his plans, the realization of his vision made manifest. And yet...it is cobbled together, imperfect. The beginning, not the end of what he hopes to achieve. And there will be a cost to this initial success as we who've read the story well know.

Thus, we have the 3/Pents meaning of something envisioned being made concrete, the initial completion of some part of a work-in-progress. We have the message that persistence and skill can bring real world results no matter how impossible something may seem on paper (don't give up, even if they call your idea "mad!" and insane!). We have that feeling of pride in an achievement. We have the idea that this will turn doubters into believers and finally earn the craftsman support. We even have the idea of crafting something with your bare hands. Making something at home rather than farming it out

Yet, at the same time, we also have that knowledge that the craftsman's materials do not come free. He is going to have to pay for that stolen brain he put into that monster in some fashion or other. And the good doctor is certainly going to be remembered for his work.

Love, love, love this card!

 

[swimming in tarot]

I remember going to see a play about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster (still haven't read the book). I don't remember much, beyond the "monster" trying to live as a man with a second lease on life and having difficulty fitting in with the rest of society, which insisted on seeing him as a monster. The doctor was little concerned with the realities of his creation's life and problems beyond being critical of what it was and was not doing, and more hung up on the greatness of his work was and how brilliant a scientist he was. Who, then, was the monster? That certainly refers to the darker meanings of the card.

 

[Queen of Disks]

I did read Frankenstein a while ago, and I agree with Swimming in Tarot's idea of responsibility for what you do and create-a child, a monster, an invention, anything. Just because you can create something does not mean you should. (I think scientists sometimes need to remember that the next time they clone things or try to make animals that glow in the dark.) Unfortunately, Frankenstein figures it out the very hard way.

I look at this card and see either the stereotypical mad scientist or an ill-prepared parent, ecstatic over his creation and not realizing the responsibility of caring for what he created.