I consider the TdM Ace of Coins a "gambit" card (an action that is calculated to gain an advantage), one that entails some "grit" and requires getting one's hands dirty. The expression "dirt under the fingernails" gives an idea of how much hands-on engagement and self-reliance are required. It has no patience with the proverb … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Thumbnail: Ace of Coins

As a service to my readers, I decided to capture all of the divinatory "snippets" from my previous posts in a single document for ease of reference. Note that I went back and tweaked the keyword entries in my Swords overview essay to match this summary after receiving some excellent comments from Lee Bursten. This … Continue reading The Tarot de Marseille “Pips:” A Divinatory Tabulation

Because I commented on all of the Coins individually, I'm not going to do a detailed overview of them as I did for the rest. Unless I choose to develop my thoughts on the Ace of Coins or decide to amplify my brief cameos of the pips of the other suits at "book length" (and … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille “Pips” Overview: Footnotes on the Suit of Coins

Due to their liquid-bearing connotation, the Cups of the tarot have long been associated with the fluid, emotive side of life and the expression of both joy and the sorrow. The Tarot de Marseille "pip" cards strip this down to its bare essentials; all we see for the most part are suit emblems (chalices) and … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille “Pips” Overview: The Inspiring and Irritating Cups

Going strictly on visual appearance, the TdM 9 of Coins is the "squashed" version of the 5 of Coins. The doubling of  external suit emblems has compressed the capsule holding the "seed" to a fraction of its former volume, intensifying the conditions for germination and ideally coaxing or "forcing" the kernel to sprout on a … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Thumbnail: 9 of Coins

The design of the TdM 8 of Coins makes me think of "warehousing:" neatly organized shelves of goods laid up for storage. (In an ideal world they would all be racked barrels of ale!) Well-planned productivity is indicated, with no helter-skelter rush to fill the distribution channels with output. There is a low-key professionalism to … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Thumbnail: 8 of Coins

The 3 of Coins is one of the TdM cards that display a "womb-like" arrangement of foliage  enclosing a suit emblem. Because the foliage appears to be encircling the emblem in a protective and nurturing  way, the implication is that of gestation of the "seed" principle of the suit. The other "incubator" cards in the … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Thumbnail: 3 of Coins