Sketchbook - Ten of Coins

Behold, the Tetractys. I wrote about it once before, in reference to its four rows of points. I apparently can't keep my mind off it -- here we are, basking in its beautiful symmetry once more.

Let's get the practical card-reading stuff out of the way first. I wanted to diagram the arduous process of refinement one cultivates while traveling through the suit of Coins. In the beginning it feels like a marvel that you're able to manifest anything concrete at all; as time passes and pressure mounts, diamond-hard points begin to emerge from the grit you started with, until finally you have access to the treasure that you hoped was there all along.

And it was there all along -- that's extremely important to remember if the product isn't quite what you expected. In this case, seeing a project through to its completion has been the most significant reward. You should be proud! But you should also know when it's time to stop polishing and move on to the next hunk of rock. Remember, the thrill is in the process of attainment, it's rarely in the actual possession. This is how empires are built.

Now for the Tetractys. In my drawing above, the ten points are connected by 21 pathways -- exactly like the qabalistic Tree of Life diagrams you see floating around out there with Tarot card associations doodled all over them. That's right, 21 pathways for 21 cards (the Fool is either unnumbered or assigned to "zero"). Sure, you could easily connect more pathways between the points on either diagram... but then that wouldn't be nearly as mystically coincidental, would it?

But that's the wonderful thing about numbers and geometric figures: you can customize them to fit almost every need. And if what you need is an elegant framework upon which to drape a complex system of symbols, then the Tetractys has got you covered! You could assign the 21 Trump cards to these 21 pathways, or you could divide them into 3 groups and embed them in the figure's 3 empty layers like fossils suspended in sediment.

Forget the Tree of Life; the Tetractys is a more beautiful and complex system by which to organize your Tarot cards. For example, it's radially symmetrical. It replicates seamlessly, illustrating both microcosm and macrocosm. It has a firm base and won't tip over easily.

Anyone who uses the qabalistic model for their card interpretations, I'd like to hear what you think about this. Whose version of the Tree do you use as a reference, and why? Which parts would you keep, and which parts would you rather throw away?

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Ten Of Coins

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"Racking Up Achievements That Border On The Unreal..."

If Serena Williams was merely a tennis star, then her victory at this weekend's Wimbledon championship (against her sister Venus) would be just another feather in her cap. But it's obvious to everyone that she's so much more than that; rather than try to blend into the quiet, WASPy world of tennis, she's turned its expectations and image inside-out at every opportunity, becoming a major celebrity and fashion icon. With their friendly rivalry and insane winning streaks, she and Venus have changed the sport forever -- people try to act normal about it, but if I ever saw her in person I'd scream like a girl at a Beatles concert, and I don't even really care for tennis.

That sort of outsized, long-term accomplishment is what the Ten of Coins is all about. The Nine has already set the pace at which your earning potential will blossom, providing pretty much everything you might need; should growth persist unchecked, you'll practically have a dynasty on your hands, rocketing beyond mere felicity and racking up achievements that border on the unreal.

If that seems impossible to attain, it's even harder to maintain. Becoming well-established means tolerating more scrutiny and responsibility. Everyone's standards for you will change; when you win, you'll win for everyone, but when you lose, everyone will feel the tremors and sell their stock. Normal family drama can become downright Shakespearean as the power dynamic shifts to accommodate your new weight. Those who can handle this kind of pressure long-term make immense personal sacrifices in order to do so, and those who aren't suited for it feel only the burden of their success, and none of the happiness.

Compared to the number Nine, there is a great round symmetry in Ten that is hard to defeat, a balance that is hard to upset -- but in the earthbound suit of Coins, that can be a liability; you need to exercise and stay flexible, lest your senses dull to the natural ebb and flow of your world and your place within it. This card challenges you to embrace good fortune when it comes, but not blindly. Examine yourself for signs of complacency, materialism, or plain old dissatisfaction. Your money, success, responsibilities should always be taking you somewhere new, so if you find yourself just running victory laps, maybe it's time to set off on a new adventure and let someone else win for a change.

(Not you though, Serena! I hope you're still knocking us out with white trench coats and Swimsuit Editions for a good long time! *swoons*)

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Ten of Coins

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Ten of Coins

1. Wealth
2. End or result
3. Cleverness in monetary transactions.

-- David Allen Hulse, The Western Mysteries

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Ten of Coins

For only €80 ($115) a night, your dog can bask in the comforts of Canis Resort, the first full-service luxury hotel for dogs, located just outside of Munich. If your dog prefers to lodge stateside, there's always New York City's DogSpa, where you can often see homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk mere yards from where well-bred hounds await the blow-dryer, reclining on shiny black leather sofas. It seems impossible to enjoy any success in this world without running up against the ethical dilemmas that accompany it.

The Six of Coins showed a beautifully harmonious balance of prosperity and generosity, a marriage of material success and spiritual growth. When that balance becomes tipped, as it does in the Nine of Coins, we can't help but revel in the awesome transformative potential of material gain. Ten takes a longer view, proposing the tempting notion that this kind of success may be more than a fluke -- it could become your new status quo. It's important to remember, however, that staying on top changes the way you see the world; it imposes its own limitations and perpetuates its own interests. It exchanges the flexibility of the generous mind for wealth's ability to bend all obstacles to the side. I always recall the Alchemical deck's Ten of Coins whenever I see this card in a reading -- whether success is inherently corrupting is up to each of us to decide, but it certainly helps one turn a blind eye. It's a compromise many are willing to make, because they usually don't have to sense themselves making it.

For some, this card will be the ultimate assurance of stability, security, influence, responsibility, and fulfillment -- a wonderfully assuring influence, perhaps hard-earned. It can also portend a stifling or corrupt state, however, forcing one to do battle with corruption, greed, and other forms of resistance to change. In a world where there is only so much to go around, this is only natural; I'm not here to make value judgments. Having personally known little of wealth, I'd be in a pretty pathetic place to do so! Just try to remain mindful of your humanity as you go for the gold, and hopefully you'll avoid some of the harder lessons that accomplishment teaches. At the end of the day, your dog won't care how much your portfolio is worth. [Via]

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