Quantity (abundance); profit; greed; something
you value; job
About the meaning:
While I include the traditional meaning of the Fish as "finances" or "financial profit" in my own interpretation I use it but rarely - and only for helping with questions about how to emotionally and mentally deal with a financial situation.
I never use the Fish for advice on financial issues themselves. I feel that that would be irresponsible. There is one part of some traditional interpretations I exclude completely: I do not interpret the Fish as having something to do with spirituality. For one thing, I can't find even the smallest connection between spirituality and the rest of the meanings. And on the other hand, I believe spirituality is already well-represented by the Stars.
Here are the interpretations I have found useful:
(High)Quantity/Abundance/Profit & Accumulation/Greed & Closefistedness: First and foremost, the Fish stand for high quantity and abundance (maybe wealth). The Fish might say "there is enough of x" or "lots of x" in a good way, but the Fish is also the card that might say "too much / too many". The Fish represent gainings of any kind, profit, and accumulations. They can represent a mindset in which quantity, or profiting, is all we look for. I think it is important to note at this point that "quantity" or "profit" does not necessarily mean monetary or even material. The Fish could for example also mean that you emotionally profit from a situation, or that the "quantity" you're looking for is in "as many sensual experiences a person can have". High quantity, accumulations, or profiting, can be good - but the Fish can also be seen as a warning not to develop a greedy disposition; a mindset in which we only appreciate that which is costly, or a mindset in which we are unable to give anything away, in which we are unable to share.
Something that is of worth or value to you: As I mentioned above I only rarely interpret the Fish as wealth or financial gain. Put in a different way, I don't interpret the Fish only as those things which are objectively valuable, expensive. I have found it much more helpful to read them more generally as "something of worth to the querent" or "something has value to the querent". This something that has value can be money, but it could also be an object or even an activity, or a certain type of behaviour - anything which is subjectively valuable. And the reason why it is valuable is in my view not dictated by the Fish. For example, the Fish could stand for an heirloom that is valuable to you. Now, it could be valuable to you because it is worth a lot of money, and you value money. But it could also be valuable to you because it is beautiful, and you appreciate beautiful things. Or, it could be valuable to you because it reminds you of its previous owner whom you loved very much.
Quantity over Quality / Inability to Appreciate what you have: Sometimes I interpret the Fish as a reminder not to put quantity over quality. The Fish remind us that when we are too busy accumulating more and more of the same, we become unable to appreciate both the process and the very thing we are trying to make our own; we lose the sense of why it is precious to begin with. Putting quantity first might also lead to ending up with a lot of something we never really needed, while we let truly precious things slip through our fingers because we were to busy trying to hold on to everything.
On a related note, the Fish can suggest that we are so fearful of losing something or of having not enough of something that we are unable to enjoy what we do have.
Livelihood/Job/Business/to work for something: The Fish may also represent anything that has to do with your livelihood, with earning your living. If you have questions regarding your job, your business, look at the Fish and their surrounding cards. The Fish can represent a businesswoman or -man. They might also mean that it is necessary to put in more work, to work for something, or that it is time to finally get a job done. They can be a warning that you need to pay more attention to the work-related side of your life, or, depending on the context, they might mean that you are a workaholic. The Fish might indicate that you are so concentrated on earning your living, on finances, on profit, that you are neglecting your emotional wellbeing, or your health, or your family and friends etc.
About the Image:
Because the Fish very prominently represent abundance, quantity, gainings and profit, I decided against painting just the few (often four) free swimming fish you see in many other Lenormand Fish cards. Instead, I painted a full net of sardines. Sardines are small fish, but they travel in huge schools. Thus, a catch of sardines represents not just "high quantity" but also a mindset of "quantity over quality" very aptly. Also, I made four of them golden. I did this partly as a recognition of the traditional four fish. But note also that two of the golden fish are escaping. This visualises that we need to be careful to not let something truly valuable slip through our fingers; or, that sometimes we take too much of something we never really wanted or needed because we have lost a feeling for what is truly important. I was in conflict for a while if I should include a fisherman in my illustration or not. Then I finally decided in favour of one. Yes he was unnecessary to get across the "quantity/abundance" part of the card's meaning. But "profit", "something which has value to you personally" , and "livelihood, business, job", I felt would be much clearer with a fisherman at least partly visible, hauling up his catch.
