A Hint not to Squander

I have a funny relationship with this deck. I have had it for a few years but rarely use it. Actually, I have hardly ever used it. I had a similar relationship with it's elder brother, The Gilded Tarot. When I first bought that, I opened it in a bar in Victoria and instantly hated it. It was so syrupy that it stuck in my throat. I took it home and left it in it's bag by the door. I was intent on returning it to the shop, which I did. In that week before I took it back, I didn't take it out to rethink my decision once.

The Gilded is a very popular deck, so years later, I thought I'd give it another go and bought it again. I really thought I'd been missing something, but once again, my interest dissipated quickly and while at a tarot meet in Kensington, I gave it to a woman who had come along with her friend. She wanted to learn the cards and didn't have a deck. She really liked it so I gifted it to her and she was thrilled.

You'd have thought that that would have been the end of my relationship with The Gilded, but when I started reading for money, I bought it for a third time. On that occasion, I bought the Easy Tarot set, which comes with a great starters book by Josaphine Ellershaw. Finally, the deck started to open up to me and I saw many of the images as being quite beautiful. I think I'd probably built up my dislike for the pack so much that when I saw it at a friend's house, it wasn't half as bad as I had remembered. I thought it would be a nice set to read for clients with and I still have that copy. I've read that the deck's creator is self-publishing a reworking of this tarot, since he views the original as lacking now that his artistic skills have improved. I have seen some of the comparison cards, but I prefer the original. There is something about this medium of art that can look a little odd as it becomes more photo-real. The first Gilded may look a little amateur next to The Legacy of the Divine deck that I am using today, but it's rawness is now one of the reasons that I like it.

I bought The Legacy of the Divine Tarot because of my eventual liking of and ability to connect with The Gilded. There are some really lovely cards in Marchetti's third set, but once again, something turned me off of it initially. I felt a detachment from some of it's characters and a sickness through using the cards. I spotted it at the bottom of my ottoman today and thought I would give it yet another chance. I laid the cards out on the floor to simply look at them and thought how lovely some of them are. I think it is the fantasy-edge which turns me off of a lot of Marchetti's work. It can often feel a little dated to me. However, some of the courts are very welcoming. I especially love the Queen of Swords and Page of Cups.

Today's card is the 4 of Coins. This is one of the cards that I like a lot from this deck; the way that the guy looks into the reader's eyes. He really catches me. He has his four coins, but even though I have made eye contact with him, he isn't going to share any of them with me. This is a card of holding back. His coins could concern money, but it might be something or someone else that he doesn't want to share. He can be as possessive over the people in his life as he is with his possessions. Whenever the card comes up, I always see it as a hint to not squander what I have. As with money, time is also precious and must not be wasted.

My boyfriend and I went to a fancy-dressed-up 40th birthday party last night, even though we didn't dress up in Austin Powers garb like everyone else. I saw friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. Drinking really goes to my head these days; probably because I don't do it so often. I only had a bit of a headache this morning though. We spent the day in, watching another Harry Potter and making a healthy dinner. I can handle quiet Sundays when I've done something else over the weekend. Even though going out last night wasn't expensive, I still need to hold onto my money, since it is running down fast. Staying in today and being able to make our own amusement is a wealth in itself, which I am lucky to be able to have drawn on.


Illustration from The Legacy of the Divine by Ciro Marchetti