Four of Pentacles

When you view the Four of Pentacles from the Rider Waite Tarot alongside its corresponding card from the Crowley Thoth Tarot, the Four of Disks, you could be forgiven for initially thinking there is a difference of meaning between the two cards.

The Waite card shows a King clutching a pentacle to his heart. A second pentacle rests in his crown while the remaining two are beneath his feet. By contrast, the Thoth card shows the disks as the turrets of a foursquare castle, viewed from above. A turret forms each corner whilst the castle is surrounded by a moat that can only be crossed via a single bridge. The keyword at the foot of this card is ‘power’ and the castle itself is an image of foursquare stability with each turret representing one of the four elements. Such is the balance of the elements and the stability of the square that the disks themselves, as symbolised by the turrets have become square rather than round.

The theme in both cards is power but in their own unique ways, they show the constriction caused by the misuse of power. The Thoth image does this through the simple geometrical conflict of disks being portrayed as square, not round. Furthermore, the symbolism of a fortress shows a defensive stance and siege mentality where power is concerned.

This is very much an image of consolidating your position by building walls and barriers around yourself. It’s a fine line to tread; there are definitely times where we need a fortress to shelter in but the key to successful living is knowing when it’s appropriate to let the walls down once again. If we protect ourselves too much then we also isolate ourselves from good as well as evil.

In the Waite card, the King clutches desperately to his wealth. He makes it the foundation of his existence by having pentacles beneath his feet. He also makes it the priority of his rational outlook by allowing another to sit in a higher position than his crown. The remaining pentacle is a shield, clutched to his heart, indicating that trust in physical prosperity denies anyone access to his heart.

We all need material empowerment to make our lives comfortable but the question is where do we draw the line? When does money or material comfort cease to be our servant and we become its slave?

Chris.


Chris Butler. Illustrator for the Quantum Tarot 2.0. Published by Lo Scarabeo. 2010.

www.butlerart.co.uk
www.quantumtarot.co.uk

Colour your own....

Here’s an interesting experiment I’ve been conducting over the last few days as a means of relaxing from more serious work. I’ve discovered one of the best ways to meditate on the meaning of a card is to take a well known version in black and white and colour your own. (See photo, left.)

I’ve been working with Pamela Colman Smith’s High Priestess and I’m quite surprised by the results. My aim was to forget the colours of the original, meditate on the black and white image and fill it with the colours I would like to see in my mind’s eye. Surprisingly, the finished result isn’t that far from the original, although I’ve made her much darker and more nocturnal.

I’ve learned a lot about the Priestess herself along the way. I see her as a creature of the half light or the ‘time between times’. I also found myself trying to imagine just what was behind the richly tapestried veil she sits in front of. When you’re filling in the colours yourself the image comes to life in a very progressive and organic way and by necessity, you pay attention to details you may have previously overlooked. For me, this was noticing that you can in fact glimpse what looks like a still lake between the veil and the columns.

I’ve enjoyed doing this so much I may try another card over the coming days. I can’t share a torrent of new revelations concerning the High Priestess but I can say that I’ve connected with her on a somehow more personal level. To give her colour very much quantifies what she means to me and how she inhabits her own part of my inner space.

Chris.


Chris Butler. Illustrator for the Quantum Tarot 2.0. Published by Lo Scarabeo. 2010.

www.butlerart.co.uk
www.quantumtarot.co.uk

In the beginning..

Stories often start with “In the Beginning” or “Once upon a Time”. The Tarot begins with the Fool. Who is this figure? What does he represent? Most importantly, where is he going?

In traditional depictions, the Fool is stepping off the edge of a cliff. In my card (right) you’ll see him walking the plank to oblivion. The point that most artists are making when they depict the Fool is that he’s stepping into the unknown with no thought to the consequences. He is immaturity, he is absolute innocence. He is where we all are - in the beginning.

Although modern decks show him in a variety of guises, the Fool was originally shown as a Court Jester or a mad man . The Jester is found in traditional “Marseilles” decks and even more specifically in the 19th Century Swiss 1JJ Tarot, re-published by A G Muller and US Games in 1970. Both of these figures are important as they represent impulsiveness and unpredictability.

Special allowances were made for both the Jester and the mad man in medieval society. The mad man could say anything from the ridiculous to the obscene. It was tolerated and taken for granted because he was mad. Similarly, the Jester was a special kind of outrageous social commentator within the Court. Unlike any other subject, he could criticise the King. Humour and entertainment were the vehicle for uncomfortable truths or criticisms of the status quo to be discharged in a ‘safe’ manner.

As anyone having dealt with children will know, innocence brings unpredictable and shocking honesty. The Fool is a volatile figure and his presence in a situation means that potential chaos is never far away. Is this such a bad thing? After all, most new beginnings are born from upheaval and chaos.



When Kay Stopforth devised the Quantum Tarot she chose the ultimate expression of beginning and chaos, the Big Bang, to represent the Fool. This is the hypothetical explosion that created the Universe from nothing. Initially, the Universe consisted of nothing but opaque gas that even prevented the passage of light. Eventually, over countless millions of years, this great mass of chaos clarified itself into the beautiful and intricate cosmos that we know today.

In a strange kind of way, the Fool is the raw material that will be shaped by the other Major Arcana cards. We are the Fool and as we encounter the different archetypal forces depicted on the cards, we grow, mature and change.

I’ve depicted the Fool in many different guises over the last few years. The card displayed above is the new version from the Quantum Tarot 2.0. The the card displayed at the top of this post is one of my earliest attempts and is still one of my favourites. He’s both the Jester and a body builder; almost like one of those circus performers who flexes his muscles for the audience. He’s walking the plank without noticing he’s about to plunge into an unfathomable abyss. He’s too self-conscious to realise the danger, looking back rather than forward. He’s so fixated on posturing for whoever may be looking at him that he’s about to step off the edge.

For me, narcissism has always been a part of what the Fool represents. Think of your teenage years; very much the Fool’s journey to adulthood but one that mixes bravado with self-consciousness and doubt. This is the paradox of the Fool. His naivety doesn’t span from an absence of awareness but from an inability to be aware of what really matters.

There’s a Fool in us all, regardless of our age. The older I get, the more I realise my adolescence was a metaphor for the rest of my lifespan. You walk the plank. You fall off the edge. You dare to risk. You risk to live.

Chris Butler.

www.butlerart.co.uk
www.quantumtarot.co.uk

Quantum Tarot 2.0 is published by Lo Scarabeo.