The Answer Deck - Jealousy

[sunflowr]

What do you make of this card? I am having trouble reading "jealousy" out of this image. A woman with a skeletal face and withered hands, holding a mask she wears that makes her look like a young woman. The only thing I can think of is that jealousy eats away at you, like this woman's face is eaten away, showing the skeleton underneath. (??) Why does she wear a mask? Maybe to show her "good face" to others so that they can't see what a jealous "monster" she really is?

 

[lunakasha]

Why does she wear a mask? Maybe to show her "good face" to others so that they can't see what a jealous "monster" she really is?

I love this card!!! Well....visually anyway, not so much what it represents!

Yes, sunflowr....I think that is exactly what the image is trying to say. Jealousy is a very ugly and potentially destructive emotion. Most everyone experiences jealousy at one time or another....it does not feel good, but we usually try to keep it inside and not let other people see it. Just as this woman is trying to keep her jealousy and ugliness hidden behind a gentle-faced mask.

Sometimes though, the strength of the emotion overcomes a person's ability to keep it hidden...and this is when the ugly truth is revealed. It looks almost like she is agonizing over not being able to keep the mask on her face...and powerless to conceal her jealousy any longer....

Luna

 

[Alissa]

I had this card come up in a reading last week.

For me, it immediately suggested that "Someone is not who they are pretending to be around you, and the reason for this deception is their own jealousy against you."

It could just have easily reflected on the querent, but in this reading I had the feeling it was speaking to another, and was a "warning" to watch how others behave, and how you behave around others.... They are not necessarily the person they present themselves as.

The hideous skeletal face, revealed behind the artificial "pretty" mask, is a great image. I see a "widow" when I see this card too. Just a psychic association thing... the long double strand of white pearls against a black dress looks like something a widow wears to a funeral. To me anyhow. (Random, other association with the card, thrown in....)

 

[Ruby7]

I hadn't really looked at this card before. I read the posts in this thread before I looked at it, and I think that you've all, Luna, Alissa, and Sunflowr, covered the meaning and I can't think of anything else to add about the skeletal woman and her pretty face mask.

So that covered, I found myself looking at the window behind her, it seemed to jump out at me, and now I'm wondering does it represent or mean anything? There must be a reason for her standing in front of windows. One meaning could be that jealousy can't hide forever, standing in front of a window it will eventually be found, 'cause it really is so obvious......any other thoughts on the window,

Ruby7

 

[Alissa]

A beautiful point, Ruby! One I hadn't even considered yet.... I'd say you had plenty to add!!!

She is standing before a window. She appears to be "on the inside" of a dwelling. But is she? Is she on the outside, looking at what she can't have? Does she see what she covets through the picture of the window...?

Or does the world see her, revealed through this clear glass, for what she truly is instead? Is she the one who is on display?

 

[lunakasha]

I like both of your comments on the widow aspect of the card (Alissa) and the significance of the window (Ruby7).

So then I put the two of them together.....

and immediately came up with Miss Havisham from Great Expectations!!!! Now, I read this book MANY years ago, so my memory may not be very accurate...but I remember that she was a mildly "eccentric" older woman who had been deserted on her wedding day...and spent the rest of her days locked away in the attic of a Gothic mansion. She was not wearing black; instead she was still dressed in her wedding gown, waiting for the day of her fiance's return. She was hiding from herself and hiding from the truth of what happened....the reality that he would never come back to her. She was hiding behind the mask of a wedding gown, so that people would not realize how sad and angry she was inside.....

Luna

 

[Alissa]

WOWOWOW LUNAKASHA~!

That is eye opening! The connection between "window" and "widow" and then to Great Expectations is fabulous!

And her motivation for giving the inheritience was a desire to live almost vicariously, thus "observing" what she wants, the life she covets (?), without actually engaging in the requirement of activity. Of involvement.

She perceives, but rarely interacts, unless those come to her, and willingly enter her state of mind, her delusion.

I quote, from a study guide page

Characters:

Pip (Philip Pirrip) - narrator. His ambition is to better himself socially. However, in doing this, he rejects many of his closest friends in order to achieve his goals. His devotes most of his life pursuing Estella.

Estella Havisham - adopted daughter of Miss Havisham. She was brought up on Miss Havisham's desire to get revenge on men. She is condescending despite her beauty.

Miss Havisham - an eccentric old lady who lives in seclusion with her adopted daughter, Estella. She was deserted on her wedding day, and then made it her goal in life to get revenge on men. She lives in the past, wearing her yellowing wedding dress. All the clocks in her estate are stopped on the minute she found out her fiancee left her.

These concepts connect so well, it's almost spooky. Great observations....

 

[lunakasha]

WOWOWOW LUNAKASHA~!

That is eye opening! The connection between "window" and "widow" and then to Great Expectations is fabulous!

And her motivation for giving the inheritience was a desire to live almost vicariously, thus "observing" what she wants, the life she covets (?), without actually engaging in the requirement of activity. Of involvement.

She perceives, but rarely interacts, unless those come to her, and willingly enter her state of mind, her delusion.

These concepts connect so well, it's almost spooky. Great observations....

"Great Observations" you say??? LOL!!!

Thanks Alissa....it just hit me after I read your post and Ruby's...I looked at the card and THERE she was!!!

Thanks for the character synopsis...nice little refresher course!!!
I really loved that book...maybe I should read it again???

Luna

 

[lunakasha]

Here she/it is: