Power Drains

  This week I'll be using a quirky tarot deck by Amerigo Folchi, the Millennium Tarot 2000.  The majors, aces, and courts commemorate famous/important people in the last millennium.  The other pip cards (2 -10) are based on regular RWS imagery.  Today's draw is the Four of Coins:

When I first started learning tarot symbolism, I always interpreted this card as a miser who was being stingy with his time, energy and money (an Ebeneezer Scrooge of sorts).  Indeed the coins on his head, over his heart, and under his feet suggest that his mental, emotional, and physical focus is in the material realm.  Yet there are times when being focused on oneself is not necessarily a bad trait, especially if I am being drained by circumstances, whether emotionally, physically or financially.  Like this man who sits far from the city, sometimes I need some time away from a situation to assess whether my involvement in it is beneficial and productive for all involved, including myself.

     The other deck I'll be using this week is a set of trippy handmade cards I found on Etsy, created by Masha Falkov, the Post Psychedelic Cyberpunk.  The black and white images are a combination of photography and line drawings.  Although Falkov labels it a tarot, I believe it falls more into an oracle category.  Today's card is "Energy:"

This flower-like image looks as if some kind of mechanism is spinning inside it.  Exactly what is energy?  The dictionary defines it as "the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity."  So food and rest in the right amounts are necessary, but just as important is what feeds my soul.  Art, nature, and the use of spiritual tools can be helpful here.  But I also must be careful with the "leeches" that drain my energy - worry and anger.  Added to this list are the people who seem to plug in to others and suck the life right out of them.  Have you ever been around someone who constantly seems to have chaos going on in their life, or the "Eeyores" who swim in self-pity?  Not only what I do can affect my energy level, but the people I choose to associate with as well.