I've used the images from Joanna's website with her watermark on them, so maybe it's okay to post them all, hope so!
Now I'm doing my musings without consulting any books or writing anyone else has done about these cards. It may be repetitive, I don't know. But if I'm repeating what Joanna says, I guess that means I get it! And if I'm not, I'm making my own meaning, which is even better.
At first glance, Four of Fire doesn't seem to have anything to do with foundations. Performing a rite under a full moon doesn't seem terribly grounded. But then, I don't know what her rite is. Maybe she's connecting with spirit to put those sorts of foundations under her endeavor. That may just be the essence of spellcasting anyway. She calls upon the energies of the earth and other elements to make her goals manifest. Right, I'm with that.
Is a nest secure? I guess it may be the most secure place in a bird's life, particularly when it's still in the egg. At no other time will be bird be so nurtured and thoroughly protected, being fed from within and kept safe from harm by doting parents. (Who seem to be absent at the moment, but maybe our perspective on the card is actually the mother bird's??) Four of Air is not as overtly about 'thought', instead using the symbolism of birds for air that runs throughout the deck. Come to think of it, when we talk about planning for security, we usually call it a 'nest egg'. Okay, I'm with this one, too.
Now, Four of Water shows a woman sitting by the Chalice Well in Glastonbury. I have to admit, it's a lovely image and one that attracted me to the deck when I viewed it in a scan. The 4 of Cups in the RWS is almost always seen to be about boredom or stagnation, but the woman in this image doesn't seem bored at all, nor stagnant. She is contemplating what is a very important spiritual site for many people; she has no doubt made a pilgrimage there. So this card would seem to be more purely a 4 of Cups than the RWS image, if four is meant to be 'taking a break in order to find security and stability,' as I said earlier. Surely a pilgrimage to a meditation garden is an excellent way to take a break in search of emotional stability. I just wish there was 'four' image in this card. I like the presence of pips, four of something on a 4 card. But I don't really see four of anything here.
Four of Earth is obvious, with the squirrel carefully storing nuts for winter. And it even has four carefully stacked stones to represent my pips.
Trim: 1 Don't trim: 2.75
Hi Carla,
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying your exploration of this deck! With the Four of Air, I also see the eggs as a cocooned stage of preparation before bursting out as chicks who have to deal with life and all its ups and downs...
Only thing that confused me, you seem quite positive about the Gaian fours, so how come that encourages you to trim the deck? I thought it was the other way round, if you couldn't connect with it as a tarot you'd trim? By my count, it should be 3.75 against trimming!
Cx
I think one thing that makes me want to trim is the lack of pips or multiples of something to remind me of pips. Without those, decks don't feel like tarot to me. And since the Chalice Well card in particular struck me that way, it's one strike against the deck. That's my thinking anyway... if there had been four of something in that card, I would have felt more positive about it. I still like it, but...well, that's my logic on that anyway. :)
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