Sorry it takes so long for me to post replies sometimes. I like to try to take a few days to think about the card. The process of commenting on the cards in a rational manner is quite different than was the process of creating them, which was more intuitive rather than rational. Also, I try to give others the chance to respond first, so as not to monopolize the conversation.
This is one of my favorite cards as well! One of my core tarot beliefs is that magic is rooted in the ordinariness. Astraea captured this in her comment in the "Ecstatic" thread in the Tarot Decks forum: "apparent ordinariness is transformed, such that magic can happen -- or be found -- in each moment, even the difficult times."
I was probably influenced here by Rachel Pollack's text for the 10 of Pentacles in her 78DW book.
It was only after the fact that I realized that this card captures some important things about my lover (although he's a lot younger than the Sage!). He loves gardening and being outdoors. Landscaping is a very creative act for him, and he really does seem to draw sustenance from actually touching and working with plants and soil.
I like a lot what telcontar writes about pulling weeds, that it could also be seen as grasping the plants for support. Here's something else we can thank Antonella for; I had merely specified that he's pulling weeds.
As I mentioned in the reading which telcontar links to (and again, this is something I thought of at the time of the reading, therefore much later than when I created the card), the fence could indicate how important working with the earth is to this Sage, how it helps him keep the stresses and difficulties of the world at bay.
Just as a note of aesthetic appreciation, I think it's really cool that the overalls and knee patches are quite stylish!
Or at least I think so. I'm no fashion maven.
-- Lee
