The Prince of Coins

1. Being meticulous, studious, or patient in your work
2. Person who is preoccupied with material things but clever and patient
3. Person who is timid, jealous, or meddling.

-- David Allen Hulse, The Western Mysteries

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"Rules and Restrictions Suddenly Seem Like Opportunities"

Congratulations to Justin Nickels, the new mayor of Manitowoc, Wisconsin! The 22-year-old managed to juggle college courses, a day-job as a grocery store cashier, and an effective mayoral campaign against the 39-year-old alderman Dave Soeldner, whom Nickels beat by a mere 16 votes.

This young up-and-comer has arrived thanks to a fundamental awareness of the modern political playing field and how it's navigated. Like the Prince of Coins, he's both an idealist and a pragmatist, in whose hands rules and restrictions suddenly seem more like opportunities. While it's easy to put on the show of a good campaign with a slick website, in these days of low voter turnout it's really still all about making contact with actual people in the real world, cultivating a presence that will motivate people to act in their own best interest (which coincidentally happens to be his as well).

The Prince of Coins is chock full of ideas, but they are only valuable to him to the extent that he can channel them directly into concrete results. He's almost single-minded in his approach, which makes him thoroughly dependable, but his youthful spirit and quick wits give him ambitions beyond the materialism of his suit, making him more approachable than, say, the King. If you (like myself) are not much like this in your everyday life, then this card is most likely meant to steer you toward a duty that could use more attention; for those of you who can already relate, then hopefully Nickel's story will be an affirmation, an incentive to keep up the good work.

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Prince of Coins

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Prince of Coins

Breakdancing may seem like it requires superhuman fluidity or lighter-than-air alacrity, but really it's all about your relationship to the earth, and a keen sense of exactly where your body is in three dimensional space. These photos by Denis Darzacq (more here) may intrigue us because the subjects appear to caught floating in midair, but it's the raw, kinetic movement that's implied by the pictures that really thrills the eye.

Perhaps you imagined that this Prince would be stodgier; after all, the suit of Coins refers to material concerns, which we often misinterpret as heavier and duller than the realms of intellect and emotion. The Prince's natural abilities, however, grant him an edge that makes him a formidable enemy, lover, or breakdancer. He is keenly sensual, meeting both pleasure and labor with equal relish and readiness. He'll work hard to attain material security and physical well-being, and once he has them, he uses them to unlock even greater accomplishments. He has an unshakable grasp of reality, which means he's less likely to be side-tracked in the middle of executing complicated maneuvers (and therefore less likely to land on his face).

Many peoples' identities spiral outward from their minds or hearts, and the idea of building from the ground up seems difficult and slow to them. The Prince, however, is a shining example of how others can produce jaw-dropping results doing just that. They may be blind to the big picture, but in the hardworking hands of a person who experiences life foremost as an intensely physical being, nearly anything is possible-- like foiling your logic and even stealing your heart, for example. There's nothing so powerful and resourceful as a self-made man, whether he's plowing a field or fine-tuning his body to appear weightless over the concrete. [Via]

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