Busy couple of days, but I'm back. As a side note, I am so enthralled with this Decameron Tarot that yesterday I purchased The Decameron, the book. There were several translations available, and I chose the translation by Rebhorn because it appeared the easiest for my American brain to understand. As a reminder, The Decameron was originally written in Italian in 1348, in Italian, and the print length of this translation is 1,081 pages. Not a quick read. However, I hope it will be worth the effort.
Onward to today's cards. My Inner Focus card is the 9 of Swords. The image on this card shows a naked man sitting on a stool facing the viewer. We can see only from his rib cage to just below his knees. Before him kneels a naked woman who is facing away from the viewer, with her knees spread to the outside of his ankles and her face in his groin, giving him oral sex. The man has one hand on his knee and the other hand on the woman's head. The woman has one hand on the ground, supporting herself, and the other hand around the man's hips with her elbow resting on his thigh. While the background appears to be well-lit, The woman's body from the waist down and the man's legs from the shins down are in shadow, a shadow caused by the window through which it appears the viewer is seeing this happen. The key phrases for this card are: a sudden approach, and there is hope.
My Outward Focus card is XV The Devil. The image on this card is interesting. We see a man viewed from the back wearing a jester-type hat and naked from the waist down taking a woman from behind, with his head turned toward the viewer and a toothy grin on his face. The woman is naked from the waist down, with her undergarment around one thigh and one shoe off her foot. Her elbows and upper body are resting on a waist-high 3-legged table or bench, with one table leg between her thighs and preventing her from bringing her legs together. Her head is tilted back and her lips are parted, but we can't tell for sure whether she is enjoying the experience, even though she does not appear to be actively fighting it. On the near side of the table is bolted a sturdy metal ring. Below the bench is a garment and a dagger. Behind them is a large fireplace without a fire, but inside the fireplace a lit lamp is hung. The key phrases for this card are: anxiety and extreme sensuality and the joy that comes from suffering, and to fight the boredom of repetition try new and original ways.
Traditionally, the 9 of Swords is about fear and anxiety. Not necessarily the fear and anxiety that comes from actually experiencing a traumatic event, but rather the fear and anxiety that comes when we anticipate that a traumatic event is likely to happen and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. In the Decameron Tarot, the suit of Swords is about the element of Air and its correspondences, the mind, and all qualities of thought, which means the discomfort being presented by the traditional 9 of Swords pretty much only exists in our minds. This deck treats the 9 of Swords in a less-oppressive manner. This is obviously not a planned encounter, for they are not comfortable on a bed and in a private place. Perhaps this couple is taking advantage of an unplanned opportunity, but in any event we are being told that a sudden approach just might enable us to evade fear for the moment, and concentrate instead on pleasure. That mental break from fear could allow us to conquer fear in the end.
When looking at the Decameron Devil card and reading its keywords, I immediately thought of the Llewellyn Welsh Tarot version of The Devil. In the Llewellyn Welsh Tarot deck the Devil is named The Horned One, and the image is of a shaman-like figure draped in furs, with the tree branches behind him appearing like horns on his head, sitting on what appears to be a toppled dolman. Before him on the ground is a fire; in front of the fire is a fox, curled up and dozing but with his eyes watching us. The card image is described in the guidebook for the deck as "the spirit of the wild or god of the hunt . . . the difference [between this card and the traditional meaning of The Devil] being that there are no chains or pain in the scene, only life in its natural state." The Decameron Devil image reminds me of the idea that in many religions the Devil is about the temptations of the pleasures that are natural to us and in the end, fighting those pleasures because of how someone else views them is worse. The card image shows two people having sex; we cannot tell just where the man is penetrating the woman, but he is up on his toes with his knees locked, and he is reaching under her garment toward her chest, and fully engaged. We cannot tell if the woman is experiencing pain or pleasure (or both) but she is not fighting the encounter; indeed, her foot, the one that has lost its shoe, is locked around the man's ankle, keeping him in place. Indeed there are no chains in this image, even though that ring bolted to the side of the table appears to be there for that very reason.
I am being told today that I should not allow my mind to control my emotions, at least as far as uncomfortable feelings are concerned. Sudden decisions to take action now could break things up and get things moving (which is what I've been trying to do all week). I need to understand that the things I need in order to feel fulfilled might be off the beaten path, and I should use any anxiety about the way others perceive me to fuel me forward, rather than hold me back. Discomfort is a part of life and it too has its value.
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