When Tarot Becomes Matter: Why Frater Setnakh Chose Coins Instead of Cards?
For centuries, the Tarot has existed primarily as a two-dimensional system: printed images on flat rectangles of paper. This format shaped the very way Tarot was interpreted — as a symbolic window into the psyche, a mirror of archetypes, an artistic language suspended between the visible and invisible. But when Frater Setnakh introduced Tarot Coin Collection in 2025, he broke with this long-standing paradigm. Instead of images trapped on paper, he offered three-dimensional metal artifacts, each carrying weight, texture, resonance, and symbolic presence.
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Why coins? Why metal? Why shift from the familiar form of cards to solid objects that stand in the hand like miniature talismans?
This article explores a multidimensional answer — one rooted in embodiment, sacred geometry, metaphysics, and even metaphors drawn from string theory and modern physics. Frater Setnakh’s choice can be understood not simply as aesthetic, but as a philosophical and experiential transformation: a Tarot that becomes real, tactile, and materially alive.
1. From Two Dimensions to Three: The Revelation of Depth
Traditional Tarot cards are flat. They exist in the realm of surface — images, colors, ink. Their universe is symbolic but fundamentally visual. Coins, in contrast, bring something that cards cannot: physical depth.
A coin is not just seen; it is touched, rotated, weighed, traced with fingertips. Its edges define boundaries, its thickness locates it in space. A symbol on a coin is not printed; it is carved, raised, or engraved — emerging from the material itself. This creates an entirely different experience:
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A card represents a symbol.
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A coin embodies a symbol.
Frater Setnakh’s Tarot thus moves from representation to manifestation. The archetype is no longer passive; it rises from metal as a sculptural object. The shift from the plane to the solid is a shift from mental imagery to ontological presence — the symbol exists as matter, not only as meaning.
2. Symbols Emerging from Space: The Aesthetics of Tangible Archetypes
On a traditional card, the image lies flat within its borders. It does not interact with the surrounding space — the frame defines its beginning and end. But on a coin, the symbol emerges from the surface. It has relief, texture, volume. It casts shadows. Light behaves differently on a coin, making the symbol change appearance as it moves.
This creates an illusion of emergence, as if the archetype were rising from a deeper dimension into the visible world.
Frater Setnakh’s work captures this dynamic beautifully: the symbols seem to push outward, crossing the boundary between the conceptual and the physical. The viewer does not simply look at them — they feel them. The symbol becomes a portal, not a picture.
It is an act of metaphysical architecture: symbols no longer lie within the image; they inhabit the object.
3. The Tactile Mystery: Coins as Objects of Power
Touch is one of the oldest magical senses. Talismans, amulets, seals, sigils — all rely on the primal experience of holding something that carries intention. Cards, though beautiful, are fragile and ephemeral. A deck can be damaged by water, torn, bent, or worn away by use.
Coins, however, have weight. They have permanence. They survive centuries.
In magical traditions across cultures, coins were:
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charms of prosperity,
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tokens of passage to the underworld,
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offerings for spirits,
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symbols of agreement or vow,
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portable embodiments of meaning.
By choosing coins, Frater Setnakh restores Tarot to its physical, talismanic roots. A coin can be placed on an altar, carried in a pocket, hidden under a pillow, or used in ritual as a tactile anchor of intention. Holding a coin-Arcanum engages the body, not just the mind. The symbol is not only interpreted — it is grasped, almost possessed.
This tactile depth makes the Tarot visceral, not abstract.
4. Circles, Mandalas, and Sacred Geometry
Why a circle instead of a rectangle? The circular form of a coin has profound symbolic significance.
The circle is the shape of:
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unity and infinity,
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cosmic cycles,
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mandalas and yantras,
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planetary orbits,
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zodiacal wheels,
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alchemical seals,
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magical sigils.
Rectangles, by contrast, are man-made, rational, architectural. They divide space. Circles unite it. A Tarot card captures a scene inside a rigid frame; a Tarot coin embodies the wholeness of the archetype inside the geometry of the cosmos.
This difference is not trivial. It redefines how the symbol communicates. A circular coin finds resonance with ancient traditions in which knowledge is not linear but cyclic, not narrative but rotational. It is the geometry of completeness.
In choosing coins, Frater Setnakh aligns Tarot with sacred cosmology, not merely esoteric illustration.
5. A Metaphor from String Theory: Vibrating Matter as Symbol
Though not literal, metaphors from modern physics can illuminate the philosophy behind Setnakh’s choice. String theory proposes that the fundamental nature of the universe consists not of particles, but of tiny vibrating strings — patterns of resonance in multidimensional space.
Using this metaphor, a card represents a static depiction of an archetype — an image frozen in time.
A coin, however, is matter, vibrating, resonant, substantial. The symbol does not float on the surface; it exists within the structure of atoms and metal.
In this metaphoric model:
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a Tarot card is a picture about meaning,
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a Tarot coin is meaning solidified in the micro-vibration of matter.
When you hold a coin, you hold billions of molecular oscillations — a symbolic “string” humming with the archetype carved upon it. Frater Setnakh’s Tarot becomes a bridge between symbol and substance, a resonance point where metaphysics meets physicality.
This does not claim scientific truth; it expresses a philosophical intuition: symbols carved in matter vibrate differently in the psyche.
6. From Interpretation to Artefact: The Tarot Coin as a Living Object
Cards are tools of interpretation. Coins are artifacts of presence.
This difference is central to understanding Setnakh’s innovation. The Tarot coin behaves more like:
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an amulet,
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a ritual object,
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a devotional token,
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a magical seal,
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a fragment of metaphysical architecture.
It is not simply consulted but kept, carried, worn, displayed, or consecrated.
The coin transforms the Arcanum from an idea into a portable sacred object. The Tarot, in this form, becomes a personal companion rather than an oracle. It is something the practitioner interacts with physically, daily, intimately.
The shift is profound: from symbolic reading to symbolic inhabiting.
7. Archetypes in Metal: Permanence, Weight, Immortality
Psychologically, weight communicates significance. Something heavy feels important. Something metallic feels eternal.
This is why sacred objects in many cultures were cast in gold, silver, bronze — never in paper. Paper burns. Metal endures.
By carving archetypes into metal, Frater Setnakh creates a Tarot that resonates with the qualities of the symbols themselves:
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The Fool becomes a wandering coin.
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The Tower becomes an object of destruction forged in the fire of creation.
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The Sun shines in bronze or brass, radiant and warm.
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Death becomes a cold metallic presence, unyielding and timeless.
The Tarot coins do not merely show the archetypes — they incarnate them.
Conclusion: A New Dimension of Tarot
Frater Setnakh’s choice to create a Tarot of Coins instead of cards represents a philosophical leap. It transforms Tarot from a visual system into a three-dimensional, tactile, resonant, geometric experience. It takes symbols out of the realm of illustration and brings them into the realm of matter. It aligns esoteric tradition with both ancient talismanic magic and modern metaphors of multidimensional physics.
A Tarot card is seen.
A Tarot coin is held, felt, weighed, turned, lived with.
In this transformation, the archetype leaves the world of images and steps into the world of objects — becoming something one can touch, protect, carry, and inhabit. It is Tarot as artifact, Tarot as presence, Tarot as matter infused with meaning.
A Tarot not for the eyes, but for the hands.
A Tarot not only symbolic, but incarnated.
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