Bohemian Gothic Tarot - King of Pentacles

sharpchick

I decided to make this my daily reading deck for a while. I do a three card draw each day - no spread, just three cards to shed a little light on what the day holds. Then I draw a fourth drawn from the bottom of the deck for "What's hidden?"

I have drawn this card twice now in two daily readings back to back. . . and interestingly, I've drawn it as the fourth card both times. His surroundings reek of opulence, while the man he must once have been would fade into the woodwork, were it not for the white cloth covering his skull.

I look at the crowned skull of the King, and naturally my eye is drawn to the jewels adorning the crown and surrounding his cloth wrapped skull. Such wealth and lavishness seems to completely obscure what was at one time human and real.

And for both days I've drawn this card, I've had to engage in tedious dealings with someone who is so removed from real life, and what really matters - the way one should treat other human beings, for example - I marvel at the card's appearance. And then wonder why I do, since I do not believe in coincidence.

The individual I think is represented by the card is a woman - in her 60s - who simply cannot relate to the "little" people. Her reality is one of luxury and wealth, and she simply has no concept of what it's like to be a "have not." Appearances are very important to her.

This King becomes for me someone who is blinded to real life.
 

Thirteen

Great interpretation. This is a fascinating card. It reminds me of how people hold in honor the bones of kings. As if they were still kings, still wearing crowns even after they've been reduced to the same end as everyone else. We still bury them with their riches and velvet robes as if they will be wearing them in the afterlife.

Given the ghostly elements in the BG, there might be validity to this perception. Perhaps it is not so easy to remove that crown from that skull. Perhaps anyone who tries will find themselves faced with the spirit of that king, a king who is determined to keep that crown and all it represents, a crown they, perhaps, earned (?).

It is ironic that it is not the crown itself on that pillow, but the skull wearing the crown. Usually, it is the crown which has the power. Set it on a man's head and he is King. Here, the skull itself has become a relic of worth in combination with that crown. As if it could advise future kings from beyond the grave.
 

Alisa13

When I look at any of the Kings I see "Mastery of . . .". With the lovely BG Tarot it goes one step further.
The King of Pentacles is mastery over that which we materialize in the broadest sense, not just financial but what we have earned, created. Perhaps the jewels in his crown are things he earned or materialized for good or bad.
But - at the end of the day - we are all dust!
The card is so poetic. We can materialize what ever we want (a sense of being higher that the "little people") but at the end of the day we are all skulls on a pillow. Think of it. Skulls. We all have them. No skull is better than the other, just the same as no particle of dust is better that the other.
For me, the BM King of Pentacles is a great leveler and a reminder not to abuse the "Mastery of . . ."
Just a thought . . .
 

Thirteen

Alisa13 said:
We can materialize what ever we want (a sense of being higher that the "little people") but at the end of the day we are all skulls on a pillow. Think of it. Skulls.
Nicely put. There's also a sort of pun in the picture isn't there? Our skulls are our "crowns" as the old Jack & Jill poem goes ("Jack fell down and broke his crown" means he broke his skull). So one crown (our shrouded skull) wears the other (the gold and jewels). Very apt if we consider it. The basic "matter" of what we are, bones and dust, wearing the crown as if to say, "I am the king of bones and dust." And, after all, what are gold and jewels but also minerals and elements of Earth.

The more I look at this card, the more it becomes like a mirror reflection of a mirror going on and on. The King of all earthly elements, be they dust, bone, rock, crystals or metals, is a skull wearing a jeweled crown entombed in a stone crypt. Absolutely perfect encapsulation of the King/Pents.

Oh, and I said he was on a pillow, but now that I give it another, closer look...is he atop a book?
 

sharpchick

Yep. His skull, eyes covered, is sitting on a book.

Wouldn't you love to know which one?

I sure would.
 

Alisa13

Confession!

Thirteen said:
The more I look at this card, the more it becomes like a mirror reflection of a mirror going on and on. The King of all earthly elements, be they dust, bone, rock, crystals or metals, is a skull wearing a jeweled crown entombed in a stone crypt. Absolutely perfect encapsulation of the King/Pents.

Oh, and I said he was on a pillow, but now that I give it another, closer look...is he atop a book?

Hello Thirteen
Very beautifully put - that is exactly what I was feeling - the eternity of materialization and the fleetingness of it.
I think his head is on and Altar - sort of raised plinth with a pillow on it to further enhance the "pun" aspect that you are so right on about.
I must now confess that my BG just arrived in the mail today! I have been looking longingly at them on the BG website and I have a friend who introduced them to me.
The shipping was super fast! I'm in Canada and it only took less than a week to receive them.
I am so excited and love this forum. Thank you for your thoughts
Lisa
 

Thirteen

sharpchick said:
Yep. His skull, eyes covered, is sitting on a book.

Wouldn't you love to know which one?
Well, as it's the King/Pents, I'd presume it was a ledger of all his riches. :D
 

swimming in tarot

I can't make out the script on the edges if the book, if book it is. It seems to be cyrilic-influenced, like old Romanian. The book retains knowledge--but everything that was inside that brain--gone with the brain. The king's armorial bearings on his headdress--he has gone the way of his ancestors.

The King of Pentacles: a former head of state. :D
 

Queen of Disks

All the power, money and knowledge in the world is worthless after death. And there is nothing the empty skull can do to stop anyone from picking up its crown or the book it's sitting on. (Unless the king's ghost is around. Then there may be trouble...)
 

Thirteen

Queen of Disks said:
All the power, money and knowledge in the world is worthless after death. And there is nothing the empty skull can do to stop anyone from picking up its crown or the book it's sitting on. (Unless the king's ghost is around. Then there may be trouble...)
This is certainly true, and why it fits the card so well. That this skull has retained its crown rather than losing it to grave robbers indicates that at true King/Pentacles has such a reputation that even after death none dares to take his riches from him. That may be because of a ghost or curse, or maybe he just created his tomb in such a way that it's very, very hard to get to those treasures.

The King/Pents motto, I would imagine, is that you can take it with you, or, at the very least, he's gonna try to, whether it matters after death or not. It belonged to him and no one else is ever going to have it.