4 Deniers (Coins) - how may it be read?

I once mentioned that this card displayed itself as a car with its engine...

...just shows that at times the image in the moment is, for a reading, what may be more pertinent.

Still, there would be little to discuss unless some generalities are mentioned. For myself, a four often symbolises stability.

In this sense, the Four Deniers may depict or indicate a stable financial situation, or a solidity.

Attached is the Schaffhouse I saw as described earlier, with horns, rear red lights, frontal bumperbar, comfy chair in front of the driving wheel, and scented flowers

As a Four (stability) and the Coins suit (representing Materiality and also the Earth element), the 4 of Coins may be the most evocative of the concept of Stability from among the pips.

In the centre of the card is a garden. This may be seen as something living (Earth) and solid and structured (Four) coming forth from the Earth, thanks to Nature but also as a result of our Work.

Gardens and Revolutions

When I see this card, I think of the neat rows of vegetables and herbs you see in some gardens - beautifully tended and all growing in rythm (so not all the cabbages or carrots mature together). I remember a particularly spectacular example of that in the chateau de Villandry, in the Loire Valley, where the gardens are both traditional Renaissance physic and vegetable gardens and so perfect, that they look ornamental too, for order and symmetry can be beautiful, if rather rigid.

In the Camoin card, Jodo and Camoin added a bird in the central shield - a phoenix, suggesting the idea of renaissance that can grow out of stability, and that all things, even what is perfect at one time, transforms again - either into instability or stagnation. It's also a card of warning, I think - don't seek to keep things exactly the same and perfect all the time, you must allow for things to evolve dynamically or they will stagnate, then stultify, then crack, then crumble.

In the Héron Conver reproduction, the central shield contains three fleur de Lys, the emblem of French royalty - the guarantor (in the mid-18th century), of material stability. But the card contains the seed of Revolution already - in 1760 the new ideas were already in full swing. 3 fleur-de-lys, the number of expansion and creation, together with 4 deniers, makes 7 - the number of action in the world, a sacred number that suggess all sorts of bouleversements, a form of accomplishment (as the French Revolution was seen as an accomplishment of the French people - who transformed from subjects to citizens). In a reading? Your stability contains the seeds of instability and progression. Build on stabilty but (again) do not seek to hold onto it.

Come to think of it, Camoin and Jodo only expressed, with the central Phoenix, that which was implied in the card (as they did with the Papesse's egg). Of course, all this Revolutionary projection can only happen with hindsight - in 1760 they had no way of knowing all this! Most French subjects (as they were then) thought things would stay the same, with the good king on his throne, God blessing him and the Kingdom of France (despite its recent wars with England in Canada) and the three orders of nobility, clergy and third-estate, forever in their place, like the ordered vegetable rows of the castle of Villandry.

Nice little Cabriolet number too jmd!

I remember the post well, where you described this previously, just as I will remember Firemaidens 'lotus lady' for the 3 of Coins now.

Yes I see matter, balance and stability in the four, I also at times see hard work, trustworthyness and patience. As I sometimes see this as relating to work in a reading, it has pointed to staying in an existing job before or to work hard to achieve financial stability. The flowers engulfing the coins is also a reminder for us that we need to 'play' as well as work or we lose the balance of a stable and happy life.

All of those coins look so cosy in their own little niches. They are protected and safe. Although this card represents to me all those properties of stability, I almost always see a warning against being trapped by our own success. A warning against stubborness or stagnating.

It is a time for new ideas to develop, a time to build on that stability as Helvetica says, to think of moving out of the comfort zone!

I like Helvetica's link to the French Revolution. In this card, I can certainly see the implication of all of the riches of the court and perhaps the five may be the struggle to swell the coffers after the financial implication of going to war? Was this card a warning to the monarchy then? Don't feel too safe. After all the fourth denier may represent the fourth estate - the MOB!

The loneliness of the coins reminds me of a post a while ago about self-sufficiency and I think this card can represent that also. Again, being too safe, not relying on others at all, makes for a lonely existence. Independent, self-governing, autonomous.

A prompt to get out more!

jmd, what a marvelous card!

Great posts so far...not much to add.

Four definitely reminds me of the material square foundation, the structure for what is to come next.

Stability, order, keeping things the same.

I think of L'Empereur, too, and the comfort of his stable kingdom...sometimes too comfortable a place to want to leave. But the seasons roll around and the earth is constantly being regenerated.

I feel as though this beautiful place of comfort and peace is so alluring that I want to stay here. It is hard to let go of "things" in order to focus on the spiritual development at times.

terri

tmgrl2 said:

I think of L'Empereur, too, and the comfort of his stable kingdom...sometimes too comfortable a place to want to leave. But the seasons roll around and the earth is constantly being regenerated.

Click to expand...

The fleur-de-lis 'royal' symbolism of the Conver IV of Coins certainly ties in with IV Emperor.

My first impressions upon pulling this card today was of an elaborate set family dinner table. Everyone got their seat, the shield is the grand turkey on a plate. things are set, rich and luxurious but rigid too.