[telcontar]

Another card I've got a few problems with. It shows two guys, similar to the two from The Lovers, at the counter of a bank. One is behind it, one in front of it and, I think, the one behind the counter is handing some money to the one in front of him.

It is certainly about giving and receiving, like the RW-card. But the aspect of welfare seems to have really walked away right into the five. In fact, the money the guy is receiving is probably his own- can you even see it as giving and taking then?

I would like to read your opinions on this.

[Lee]

There could still be an element of giving and receiving involved. For example, the man receiving the money may have been given a loan by the bank. Or he may be cashing a check given to him as a gift.

On a relationship level, a love relationship usually (hopefully) entails exchanges back and forth of emotion and affection. One could say that the love and affection doesn't really belong to one person or the other, rather they're simply exchanging it back and forth, much like the bank customer and the bank clerk. The message might be that although you receive love and affection, you aren't really being given something that the other person owns, but rather, facilitating in the exchange of something of which there is an inexhaustible supply.

Rachel Pollack has noted that in the RWS 6 of Cups, one person is taller than the other, and she takes this to suggest an implied difference in the power structure between the two, much like the RWS 6 of Pentacles. The Gay Tarot 6 of Coins might be seen the same way. Notice how the bank customer is dressed casually while the bank clerk is in a position of greater power, being dressed in a suit, part of a large institution, and the one in a position to distribute the cash.

Also, since this is, after all, the Gay Tarot, it could suggest flirting while engaged in casual non-romantic encounters such as going to the bank.

-- Lee

[telcontar]

As I've never been a friend of seeing a relationship as a bank account (that's probably what startled me...) I like your last thought best

But the rest of your post makes sense, too, of course. Personally I used to think of the bankers' dress code as rather a prison than a status symbol. Especially those poor young guys still in training who look like they are skaters- but had to have a neat hair-cut and wear a tie. *shudder* Being someone casual myself, I can't imagine anyone enjoying this style as everyday wear. But someone more fond of status and hierarchies might do so...

Maybe it will be my daily draw one day and I'll be able to connect it to an event and understand it better. At the moment I can still connect much less to it than to most of the others, but that may change.

By the way, it's great that you're so actively involved in this discussion, Lee! I appreciate this very much.

[Lee]

Well, having been in a single relationship for 20 years, I can tell you that much compromise, give-and-take, and balancing is required, and sometimes it does indeed feel like a bank account!

This study group process is actually helping me a great deal in exploring and developing insights about the deck, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. I hope we get to do each card!

-- Lee

[Elentir]

As one of the main characters remarks in the filem Flawless, "There's no romance without finance."

Honestly, I think there are far more emotions caught up in money matters than many people are aware of or like to admit. For example, two people in a relationship who make very different salaries. The self-esteem issues involved can be extremely intense and emotional.

I like the idea of love being something that is in constant circulation and "exchange." The image of a teller and a customer at a bank seems meaningful to me, it's just very different from what I associate with the 6 of coins-- unless perhaps, as Lee suggests, the man is receiving a loan, but even then, I usually think of the 6 of coins as a gift of charity that requires no payback.

However, I don't really think of the 6 of coins in a relationship context, anyway, unless the question being involved requires it. And although I do think of it as "charity" or "a gift," in kabbalistic terms, the 6 of coins means harmony or balance of material resources (e.g., income and expenses balancing out). So in that sense, this card may be more appropriate than I thought at first, since the idea of "charity" seems more in line with the 4s (Khesed, 'mercy,') than the 6s (Tipheret, 'beauty, harmony').

I'm SO glad to be participating in these discussions! I've never done anything like it before. I don't usually "talk shop" with the other readers that I work with, so this is a great opportunity for me. Thanks everyone! Like Lee, I hope we get to do every card!

[telcontar]

Originally posted by Elentir

I like the idea of love being something that is in constant circulation and "exchange."

Wow. When I reread this thread something clicked in my head. That's an aspect of an "emotional bank account" I never realized. The free flow of it. There's not a customer and a bank- every partner is a bank of his own, receiving and handing out. Like the cash flow of a bank, emotions come and go. Sometimes you feel rich, sometimes you feel poor. That's more of my taste than my prior thought of "getting" something from a relationship and in consequence "owing" something to your partner.I consider everything you do and get in a relationship as a gift- what would it be worth if the other owed it to you!?)

Maybe the guy before the counter is just a friend or neighbour vistiting the other at work and the other continues counting th money while they talk? Who knows

[tarotbear]

One of the thought processes of the Six of Coins is that of someone with money helping those in need. The young man has possibly asked his friendly banker for a friendly loan, and from the size of the wad in the banker's hands-looks quite large! There is nothing wrong with giving a helping hand - in this case a loan- when it is needed.

The down side of this card - even upright, is also that unfortunate-but-stereoytyped concept that gays have more money to spend on themselves because they don't have a family to support, children to send to school, that sort of line created by the straight world. I wish I had a 'disposable income.' I wish I had an income! It is one thing to spend your money in a way that pleases you best; another to spend money because it is there to spend.

The 'emotional bank account' analogy is good. So - how many gay men out there have been with their lover for more than 2-3 years? {Off topic I know , but I figure more gay men might see it here than in 'chat.'}

[Elentir]

My partner and I will be celebrating our 13th anniversary this March.