Four of a Kind

A happy-snappy little doodle from my sketchbook.

Hermes' sacred number is four. He was said to have been born on the fourth day of the fourth month, and every fourth day of the month was sacred to him, and woe betide the idea of finding your car keys or that hot girl's phone number if you forgot to leave Hermes a present! (He likes presents.) I can't tell you exactly when that was, because every ancient city-state actually kept their own version of the calender! (Their calenders had thirteen months, by the way.)

Now, then...the playing cards, here, obviously refer to Hermes' position as god of gambling and luck. I have heard that the (Anglo-Hispano-French) card suits derive from the four social classes of the Middle Ages: clubs for the blue-collar, working-class types; diamonds for the merchants; spades for the clergy (charged with the task of burying the dead); and hearts for the nobility. With that idea, Hermes really does rule over the entire deck, as he is a god of herdsmanship, commerce, he's the envoy to the dead, and he's a god-prince who's daddy rules the entire cosmos. Of course, the wise-cracking, unpredictable, versatile joker that can trump any other card might be the best real fit for him.

Bees were sacred to Hermes, his assistants in his task as god of minor prophecy. (He wasn't trusted with the major prophecies!)

...Buzz, buzz.

Dis: Life is Hell <--Read the comic of mythical hijinks!

(c) J. E. Seames 2008