4 of Pentacles (Heralding the Future Today)
(a.k.a Maintaining Control of Your Path)

Another deeper meaning of the 4 of Pentacles is about control....acquiring it....maintaining it...and never losing it. Our mystical sword-stress appears to be a great warrior, and although quite gorgeous, would probably cut off my hands and feed them to the crowd if I dare try and disturb her! For she appears to be in a state of deep meditation among some runes carved on the ground. This is where she is centered within herself and prepares the future battles with clock-work accuracy and precision...always mapping out the encounter before hand, leaving no room for errors...no move wasted...no blood of her own lost. She is the game master here...they are but pawns within her sword's furious reach. As many who may enter....only one shall ever leave...and that is always HER !

(Thanks Julie !)

http://www.templeilluminatus.com/photo/33-heralding-the-future-today

In Julie Luke's painting, we also see the warrior princess from our above 4 of Pentacles, but here she's within herself...her ego self within her own mind ! She is standing between her own eyes...right below her Third Eye...to command her thoughts from within her own world of imagination to be molded to her Will.

She accomplishes this by demanding compliance of her thoughts to only be of victory...never defeat. She envisions the "future" as if it were "today"...already happening....and within her order of execution!

The battle is always already won for she has already seen it play out and adjusted for every variable to follow suit.

There is no "chance'...only opportunity.

There is no "destiny"...only environmental choices.

There are no "mistakes"...only "bad planning".

For she has already won the greatest dual she will ever face...

...the dual for control of her own mind !