‘Wealth’

‘The Star Money’
by Oskar Herrfurth (1862 – 1934 German)

This card is about abundance and the curious nature of wealth and prosperity. ‘The Star Money’ is an old German fairy tale about a young orphan girl who is gifted a loaf of bread from a kind soul. In her wanderings, she meets a beggar who has less than she, so she gives him her loaf of bread and continues on. She next meets three children who are shivering in the cold, and so gives them her hat, jacket and dress. Next she wanders into the forest and meets a naked child, and thenceforth gives the child her shift, leaving herself naked instead. As she stands alone in the dark forest, staring at the night sky, the stars begin falling around her, dropping to the ground and changing into silver talers, and in the midst of her wonder, finds herself wearing a brand new dress.

This story has many layers to it. One is that wealth and abundance are always relative, there is always the other with more or less. It also points to generosity as being one of the signs of true wealth, the ability to share, and how one can be rich and poor at the same time, or conversely, be poor and yet rich. The story closes with the sky raining down abundance upon the young orphan girl, as to refill her life with the richness she carries within. This story is also a story about the nature of love, how loving creates more love, and the curious nature of things of how one is always given more when they have already too much, in love, in life, in abundance.