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General Book of the Tarot, by A. E. Thierens, [1930], at sacred-texts.com
TRADITION: Melancholy, sadness, surprise, astonishment, consternation, terror, fear, enchantment, trouble, but also on the other hand riches, fortune and magnificence.
THEORY: Air on the Second house, that of Taurus, which explains at once the latter significances ascribed to the card by some authors; the other category of definitions derives from the earthy nature of the Second house, which, put into the tone of the airy element, may cause something of the oppression, which the heaviness of this fixed and earthy house exercises on the mind. It is the impression of heaviness, of a load on the back, which easily may attain the more concise form of a fear, a gloom, a feeling of being downcast, impotent, weak and not able to resist circumstances. So it may signify the
pressure of material conditions, the responsibility imparted by riches, but also projects or conceptions of an economical nature and the idea of capital and capitalising. Further the combination of the principles of air with the house of Taurus must give music, and we may be sure that this card always has some significance in that way and in the sphere of art intellectually and in general. This is a very important significance.
CONCLUSION: Music, art, artistic ability in general; capital, riches, heavy responsibility, pressure, obsession, melancholy, fear, weakness, impossibility or material power (on one side and on the other), gloom, dullness, 'spleen,' impotence, subjection to material circumstances; attitude of 'wait and see'; the future is for those that can (afford to) wait. Country life.
