Sherlock Holmes Card of the Day: 6 of Deduction

The Sherlock Holmes Card of the Day is:

SIX OF DEDUCTION

6 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 this card is a quote from Silver Blaze. “The horse is a very gregarious creature.”

Silver Blaze is about the disappearance of a famous racehorse and the murder of the horse’s trainer. Holmes investigates and arrives at the correct conclusion, but does not reveal his insights immediately. The horse, meanwhile, has been disguised by painting over the white blaze on his forehead. He wins the Wessex Cup, which Holmes may or may not have bet on.

Keys for this card, upright, are: “material success, winnings, good fortune shared, generosity, charity, patronage, gifts, the great work, the exchange of matter and spirit.” Reversed, the card can suggest: “passion, desire, lack of balance, selfishness, ambition, injustice.”

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. Examples from “The Game” for the 6 of Deduction: “generous gifts and sponsorship. . . acts of kindness. Job-sharing, working in harness or mentoring others. . . Rewards and dividends.”

Examples from “The Fog”: “being unable or unwilling to receive. Denying your personal needs. Taking things for granted. . . . Individual or national jealousy.”