Sherlock Holmes Card of the Day: 4 of Deduction

The Sherlock Holmes Card of the Day is:

FOUR OF DEDUCTION

(4 of Pentacles)

In The Sherlock Holmes Tarot by John Matthews and Wil Kinghan (Sterling Ethos), the suit of Deduction (represented by a question mark) is comparable to the suit of Pentacles. The quotation chosen to represent the entire suit of Deduction is from The Sign of Four: “So much is observation. The rest is deduction.”

The Holmesian Wisdom for the Four of Deduction is: “I presume nothing.” This is a quote from The Hound of the Baskervilles, specifically, from Chapter 12 - Death on the Moor.

The scene on the card is from the story of The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax. In the story, an Australian conman called Henry Peters tries to pawn a jewel belonging to Lady Frances (after drugging her and putting her in a coffin!) As the deck’s creators note: “It is Peters’ greed that brings him down, making his story a fitting one for the classical associations for this card.”

Keys for this card, upright, are: “conscientious ambition, material gain, possessiveness, selfishness, spiritual miserliness.” Reversed meanings: “obstruction, limitations, delays, things are clogged up, financial ruin, failure in exams.”

The book that accompanies this deck also provides interpretations for each card under the headings “The Game” and “The Fog.” The former elaborates on the upright keys, while the latter expands on reversed meanings. An example from “The Game” for the Four of Deduction: “Clinging to your resources. Being careful. Unwillingness to give compliments or encouragement.” Examples from “The Fog”: “Being careless or profligate with money. Time to be generous with others. Breaking monopolies or institutional blockades.”

As a card of the day, the Four of Deduction calls our attention to the physical, material realm – to something that we value greatly and wish to protect or keep. The card can represent a positive attitude toward our health, a desire to improve or maintain a state of health. It can refer to the fear of losing material wealth or perhaps the need to be more careful with our money or possessions.