Bohemian Gothic Tarot - King of Pentacles

Lilija

The first thing I thought of, when seeing what the skull was resting on, was a box. Of stuff. More stuff. The skull's stuff!
 

magpie9

Where's the rest of the skeleton? In a lot of cultures beheading was a way of taking power from/fully killing the bad guys --Vampires, for example, required a 3-fold death including beheading. The ancient Celts were headhunters, displaying the heads in niches, and also bottling them in glass in oil and showing them around. Personally, I would think pickling them in brine would have been a better preservative , but what do I know? They were precious family treasures, the heads gave them the power the former owners had. It gives the phrase "Bury the head of my enemy at my feet" more literal meaning.
And then theres all the prophetic heads, Bran, for instance, spouting wisdom and protecting Britain from invasion. Even today, we have talking heads, but they're mostly pundits on the News Shows, explaining everything to us.

So why do we have just the King of Pents head? Was he so powerful and dangerous in life that it is necessary to dis-empower him in death...and perhaps placate his ghost with crown, jewels and priceless pillows and arcane powerful books?
Come to that, why is the pillow in such good condition when the skull is gone to bones?
 

Thirteen

magpie9 said:
Where's the rest of the skeleton? In a lot of cultures beheading was a way of taking power from/fully killing the bad guys...So why do we have just the King of Pents head? Was he so powerful and dangerous in life that it is necessary to dis-empower him in death...and perhaps placate his ghost with crown, jewels and priceless pillows and arcane powerful books?
Come to that, why is the pillow in such good condition when the skull is gone to bones?
What an excellent observation! There is certainly a feeling of "how the mighty have fallen." But keep in mind that, traditionally, the King Pents is not the warrior King. He is the wealthy king. This doesn't negate your observation, but I get the feeling that this relic is preserved for more important purposes than just to steal power from a hated enemy. He does still have his crown. And your last point is very important, though the head has gone to bone, the shroud over it is clean and without holes, the pillow and all the rest looks well tended. No dust, no spiders.

My assumption would be that this relic has been carefully tended for a long time. The bones of the body may have been lost for whatever reason, but the head remains, there to give his descendants, perhaps, wise advice on how to keep their kingdoms wealthy.

It is ironic that a King of Pentacles, the suit of the body, is missing his body. I wonder if the answer why might be in the Knight/Pents who, contrariwise, is the headless horseman.
 

magpie9

Thirteen said:
My assumption would be that this relic has been carefully tended for a long time. The bones of the body may have been lost for whatever reason, but the head remains, there to give his descendants, perhaps, wise advice on how to keep their kingdoms wealthy.

It is ironic that a King of Pentacles, the suit of the body, is missing his body. I wonder if the answer why might be in the Knight/Pents who, contrariwise, is the headless horseman.
I love it! Yes, I agree it is very very old, and well cared for in it's shrine, and holds great power for his descendants &/or successors. A wealth of experience, certainly. And no body. Interesting that right now we are suffering under the Kings of Money, who seem to have more power than the Kings of Law, Love or Fire. The headless Knight certainly comes in here...action without thought to anything but profit, materialism scores again.
 

Thirteen

magpie9 said:
The headless Knight certainly comes in here...action without thought to anything but profit, materialism scores again.
Oh, good observation! There is a thread on that card. We should pull it up. I can so totally see Wallstreet types, frantically buying and selling, as headless horsemen!
 

magpie9

I'm gonna look that one up tomorrow--this is so cool, the deck is coming alive for me, after all this time. I sure am glad you guys started a Study Group, and I stumbled over it and fell in. :joke:
 

ncefafn

I'm not reading others' interpretations until I set my own impressions down.

A crowned skull rests on a lavish cushion in what looks like a reliquary. 'The king is dead, long live the king.' I can't tell if the skull is covered by a shroud or by cobwebs. I'm having a hard time deriving any meaning from this card. The impermanence of power? The folly of clinging to relics, or to the past?

Also, am I going blind, or is the Knight of Pentacles headless? Does this mean that the government is controlled by the will of a dead man, and run by senseless automatons?
 

Thirteen

ncefafn said:
IAlso, am I going blind, or is the Knight of Pentacles headless? Does this mean that the government is controlled by the will of a dead man, and run by senseless automatons?
It means that senseless automatons are taking their orders from a dead man. Which fits the suit of pents perfectly. When a person amasses enough money, transforms his small business into a wealthy corporation (empire), his will and way of doing things can continue on even after he dies. The way he did it made money, so why do it differently? Keep making the product the way it's always been made. Which keeps the money coming in, which keeps the business going...etc.

The company, thus, is being run as our dead king ran it, even if that no longer makes sense. And the knights don't need to think, just do. The business has been set in motion and will keep going so long as it has the wealth to sustain itself. It has become, in short, a money-making machine that requires no thought...or life for that matter.
 

Master_Margarita

I just saw on FB that the model for the King of Pents is King Wenceslas! Check out image here.

:heart: M_M~
 

Thirteen

Master_Margarita said:
I just saw on FB that the model for the King of Pents is King Wenceslas! Check out image here.

:heart: M_M~
Wow! There it is all right! A relic.

Here's wiki info on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslaus_I,_Duke_of_Bohemia

And he is the Wenceslaus of the Xmas carol, which is a story about a king who goes out in a snow storm to give alms to a peasant. Here's a quote about King W:

"But his deeds I think you know better than I could tell you; for, as is read in his Passion, no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched."

Puts an interesting spin on our King/Pents there. What to do with ones money is the big issue of the Pents suit, and the wise King/Pents knows that one gets more riches from giving it away then holding onto it. Maybe that is why his skull retains its crown?