Good morning! Here are my cards for today:
Inner Focus card: XIV Temperance. The image on this card shows a room with cabinets filled with containers and ewers and bowls, with a window high up on the wall allowing in the daylight. Before us is a solid wooden table. Behind the table is an older man dressed in expensive clothes, with one elbow resting on the table and the other hand holding a metal cup. Before him and in front of the table kneels a woman with her back to the viewer, also dressed in fine clothing from the waist up (in other words, as far as the older man is concerned, she is conservatively dressed). She is pouring a liquid from a pitcher in her hand into a pitcher on the table. The man appears to be speaking to her, and her eyes are closed and her head is bowed in a servile manner. Below the front of the table, laying on his stomach and out of sight of the richly dressed older man, is another man. He has his face in the woman's pubis and one of his hands is on her buttock, holding her steady. With her free hand, she is holding her skirt out of the way to give him better access; this is happening below the surface of the table. The key phrase for this card is: don't ever think you have your loved one in your grasp, for women are unpredictable and their behavior not based on rational criteria.
My outer card is the 10 of Chalices. The image on this card shows a naked woman standing on a rumpled bed, her hands on her waist, leaning over to see her partner, who is on the floor with just feet and legs to the knees on the mattress; that is all we see of her partner. We can't see either of their faces to determine their moods, but I kind of get the feeling that she is wondering just what her partner thinks he/she is doing. The outcome is certainly unexpected to her. The key phrases associated with this card are: success that may actually be compromised, and an invitation to continue the battle.
The traditional image on Temperance shows a woman or an angel pouring water from one Chalice into another. The card tells of finding inner balance that involves acknowledging extremes and then finding a place where we can take some of each extreme to create peace in our lives. To me, the Decameron Temperance card image gives a nod to the traditional symbolism of the card and at the same time, offers a more realistic connection to us. In this image, the woman does her job in a manner that maintains peace in the household. At the same time and unbeknown to the person in charge, she is fulfilling her own desires. However, if we look at her more closely, we notice two things. First, the back of her skirt is tucked into her belt. That tells me this scene is not accidental; she planned to take her pleasure this way. Second, if we look at the elbow of the hand holding up her skirt to give access to the man under the table who is pleasuring her, we see there is a hole in the material. We are being told that perhaps, despite her lovely home and richly appointed room, she is not being treated that well. She has examined the extremes and found a way to feed her inner peace. Yes, to the person in charge her actions may seem not rational, for she is living in a comfortable home, but we each have our own expectations as to what is comfort.
Normally, the 10 of Cups shows the possibility that occurs if we successfully manifest our feelings and emotions and dreams for the future. It shows us the emotional and spiritual fulfillment to be had through this process. This could very well be what the woman in this image thought she was getting, but in the Decameron Tarot we are shown that appearances can be deceiving and getting through the challenges presented in the suit of Chalices might not bring that expected peace.
Both of these cards seem to have the same message, and that means both in a day-to-day fashion and a more far-reaching fashion, I need to examine my emotions but not allow them to cloud my perception of reality.
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