pentacles

Weekly Card Comparing the Page of Pentacles

March 5, 2015
150319 Page of Pentacles Revelations
Revelations Tarot

We’ve talked about the qualities of the Page of Pentacles, and we’ve given the Page a chance to encounter some of the other energies in the Tarot deck.   Let’s compare a trio of different Pages this week.

Take a look at the Zach Wong Page of Pentacles from the Revelations Tarot. Be very Page of Pentacles in your assessment: just describe the facts of what you see. Then comb through what you’ve described to see where you’ve assigned meaning, rather than just made a description. See if you can tease out only the Page of Pentacles from the other qualities of Tarot.

150319 Page of Pentacles Zen
Osho Zen Tarot

How about the Page of Rainbows from the Osho Zen Tarot (remember that this deck uses Rainbows, Clouds, Water and Fire instead of Pentacles, Swords, Cups and Wands)? Be factually descriptive: what’s the image? What are the colours involved? Of course, we’ve got our individual responses to the caption, “Adventure”. Can you be as factual and practical as possible in describing an adventure?

150319 Page of Pentacles Gilded
Gilded Tarot

What about the image from Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot? How are the colours different from the other two representations? What’s the same and what’s different to the Revelations and Zen images?

Now let’s find meaning in the elements of the images. Rather than assigning meaning based on the symbolism of the cards, look to your own experience. Is there anything you’re reminded of in your own life by what you’ve seen here? What specifically is it on the cards that’s reminded you of whatever memories or situations came to mind? How can you understand various facets of that experience by examining it in connection with one card at a time?

And, there you go . . . . a Page of Pentacles experience of learning about the world around you by examining its elements.

Head out on your own learning adventure this week!




Learning tarot is definitely an adventure! Begin – or continue – your learning adventure through the BCACE classes on 20th March and 1st May. For private consultations or lessons, you can find me here.

Weekly Card Growing the 9 of Pentacles

January 22, 2015
150205 9 of Pentacles Crystal
Crystal Tarot

Last time we looked at 9 of Pentacles, we looked at the sense of wealth and luxury that go with this card.

This time, let’s go to course basics and examine the specific elements of the vivid Crystal Tarot image.

Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think has 9 as integration and security in the realm of Pentacles: the material world, your health, and your finances. From Tarot 2, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, you see that 9 is a whole lot of the Earth element. If we’ve got a specific project going, we’re just a step away from completion.

So what do we see here? We’ve got our 9 discs. These are arranged as a growing plant, a wonderful connection to the natural world of the Pentacles. The discs are golden, with various petal and star images on each. Am I the only one who sees the sun up there in the top disc, keeping the whole plant warm and growing? Did you notice that the central stalk is a thick, solid brown, not a slender green? This is a plant with some age and solidity, reflecting the qualities of 9.

The horizon line is halfway up (or down) the card. We’ve got a lot of earth showing, again, appropriate for Pentacles. We’ve also got blue sky with the bright green of the plant creating patterns across the sky. We have various elements working together, a wonderful expression of the 9’s integration.

What do you make of all the colours? Remember, you can use chakra associations. You can use the traditional tarot associations of mental yellow for Swords, growing green for Pentacles, flowing blue for Cups, and fiery red for Wands. Don’t forget your own personal associations.

Let’s look back to a couple of cards from earlier this month to build story-telling skills. What happens if you’ve got 2 of Cups next to 9 of Pentacles? What story would you tell if 7 of Pentacles led into 9 of Pentacles? What if you’ve got 2 of Cups to 7 of Pentacles to 9 of Pentacles? Remember, just start the story with a few elements and see where it goes.

From T2WNIKA, you have associations to deepen the story. Earthy Pentacles and Watery Cups have a neutral relationship, so neither will strengthen or weaken the other. But what about those quantities? 7s and 9s indicate a lot of the earth element. Will that dam up the small amount of water or provide a solid bed for it to start a trickling river? Is there enough emotional Cup energy to move the practical Pentacles? Our 2 and 9 “get along”, both being concerned with community. But the 2 wants to get personal, while the 9 demands big picture thinking for the greater good. How about the 7 and the 9 or the 7 and the 2? Not always an easy relationship. If we stay connected to the sacred, using our skills in service to the community, the 7 and 9 combination smooths out. How about the solitary-minded 7 with the relationship-minded 2? How can you use the 9 to help them get along?

Coming back to your own life, what are your figurative blooming plants? Unlike the transient blossoms, expect these elements to last. Make them a part of your very self.

Luxuriate in the wealth that surrounds you!





If you’d like to use the beautiful images of the tarot to help you find and make use of the wealth in your life, you know where to find me.  You can also get in touch for individual and group lessons.

The next Berkeley County Adult Ed classes are on 20th March and 1st May.  Call 304-267-3585 for info and to sign up.

Weekly Card Contemplating the 7 of Pentacles

January 13, 2015
150122 7 of Pentacles Marseilles Cat
Marseille Cat Tarot

Now that’s a comfy cat!

We’re back at the 7 of Pentacles, which we’ve seen before in very different form. You know from Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think that 7s are about imagination and experimentation and Pentacles are in the material world, our health and finances. Tarot Two . . . We’re Not in Kansas Anymore associates Pentacles with Earth, as in “very down to. . . “ and tells us that 7s are far along in whatever process we’re looking at – there’s a whole lot of earth energy.

So why is that cat looking into a crystal ball? Imagination.

This deck, the Marseille Cat Tarot, focuses more on the imagination part than the experimentation. This is the part of the process where we take stock of our possessions or our health or our finances, and see what’s working and what’s not. We can project the impact of our actions into the future. Or we can look to see what we want in our future and track backward to see if we’re on course.

We know we’re almost there by the 7 energy, so there isn’t a whole lot of major changing to be done. It’s about the last push to the goal.

Compare the Marseille Cat image to the Mythic Tarot image in our last 7 of Pentacles post. You can see that each deck has a slightly different spin. The essentials (usually) stay the same, but there are different spices or flavours from deck to deck.

The Tarot de Marseilles is an important lineage in tarot history. It dates from the early to mid-1700s and is often seen as the first “real” tarot deck. There are several versions of the deck, so it is really a style, rather than a singular deck. In traditional Tarot de Marseilles, there are no scenes on the minor cards, only on the majors. So the Marseille Cat Tarot breaks from tradition in more ways than one.

Cat decks have become a sub-species themselves. For those who don’t fancy cats, you can check out now. For those who do, you know that cats have a mysterious between-the-worlds quality that suits tarot well. They can also be a comfort or a giggle in the midst of an otherwise serious reading.

Meanwhile, this week, look at any of your projects that are reaching their last stages. Where is it that you want to end up? What needs to be tweaked to be on course?   Imagine your goal and get practical about the maintenance needed to get there.

Stay on course by seeing your goal!

 

If you’re losing track of the connection between where you are now and where you’d like to be, you know where to find me.

 

Weekly Card 10 of Pentacles Revisited

November 26, 2014

 

141204 10 of Pentacles Dali
Dali Universal Tarot

 

We know from Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think that 10 of Pentacles is about completion or establishment in the material world, in health, or in finances. We’ve talked about the spiritual development behind that attainment in an earlier post.

So what on earth are we to make of this bevy of unclothed beauties at ease in a rich, red environment? And why is Dali’s “signature” taking up so much space on the card?

Let’s talk about the artist’s signature first. When an artist signs a painting, it’s finished, complete. Very 10-ish. Making the signature a big part of the image emphasizes that sense of accomplishment.

Remember that the higher the number of the suit, the more of the general character of the suit is involved. So 10 of Pentacles has LOTS of material stuff, LOTS of health, LOTS of wealth. That red fabric looks very rich, doesn’t it? The whole scene looks very luxurious. From one perspective, this reminds me of the kind of wealth that could keep a harem. From another, the red connects to the traditional colour for the root chakra, the one that corresponds to our material selves.

But what’s with the nudity? Having a sense of comfort gets connected with wealth. And when we’re comfortable in our own skin, which is where the 10 of Pentacles’ spiritual development has brought us to, we don’t need outer artifice. We have the luxury of gathering with others of our community without hiding. Exposure is a good thing. The nudity in the card also puts the body — our personal material world and the scene in which our health is played out – into our awareness.

And then we have the butterfly wings, significators of transformation, covering a good deal of the group scene. I always see a magic carpet, ready to carry the women away. 10s have the connection to the next cycle, the jumping off place for continued growth and development. These women will be carried into the next cycle of experience in the material world by the transformative energies of the 10 of Pentacles.

Find the places this week where you’re at ease with yourself and with your community. Celebrate your shared wealth!

 

 

If you’re looking to learn more about Tarot, I’ll be teaching level 2, Tarot 2 . . . We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, on Friday, 12th December, through the Berkeley County Adult Ed program.  Call 304-267-3585 for more information and to register.

And you know where to find me for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling.

 

Weekly Card 3 of Pentacles Repeat

July 24, 2014
131219 Osho Zen 3 of Rainbows
Osho Zen Tarot

Welcome to the world of meaningful work!

131219 RWS 3 of Pentacles
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

3 of Pentacles, as a 3, is expansion and expression; as a Pentacle, those exes are happening in the material world, the world of health, and the world of finances.  (Not to bring to mind those you’ve left behind.)

Or maybe we do want to . . . .

When 3 of Pentacles appears, we know we’re on the road to perfecting whatever it is that we’re up to.  We’re looking to improve our status.  And that means we’ll be changing our relationship to anything that holds us back.

On the positive side, we can be so focused on our aspirations that we take the steps needed to attain those heights.   We’re dedicated to what we want to achieve: it comes from within, from our inner guide.  We gather a team that shares our vision and brings what we need to the table.  We understand how to work from a plan and how to learn new skills when we need to.

And the implication of 3 of Pentacles is that there’ll be a reward for quality work that’s faithful to the vision.

On the negative side, we can be so focused on the idea of “the best” that we use others to climb to the top.   Not a pretty picture, and not necessary to achieve our goals.

Osho Zen is one of the tarot decks that uses alternatives to Pentacles, Cups, Swords and Wands.  Here, we have Rainbows corresponding to Pentacles, Water to Cups, Clouds to Swords, and Fire to Wands.

To strengthen your understanding of 3 of Pentacles, imagine it in response to questions about home improvement, about a health or diet plan, and about investments.  How can you apply the concepts above to those arenas?

Then imagine the story you’d tell if 3 of Pentacles is paired with 10 of Swords.  And what’s the very different story that might result if it appears with Ace of Pentacles?

Now’s your chance to follow your inner guide to a better world!

 

I’m on holiday this week, so this repeat post is filling in for a live one.  Yes, you can still schedule a personal reading or lesson with me here.

Weekly Card 7 of Pentacles

January 13, 2015
140626 7 of Pentacles Mythic
Mythic Tarot

 

Welcome to almost every day of your life.  (Your very own soap opera:  The Days of Your Life . . . . )

7 of Pentacles is all about the decisions we make every day.   It’s about the boring stuff we have to do to maintain our lives.

And, if we’re wise, it’s about the moments we take to stop and assess what’s going on.

All along the way, in any of our projects, we need to make myriad decisions about the next step to take.

140626 7 of Pentacles RWS
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

If we’ve sown our garden, we need to check in regularly to see what needs attention.  To water or not?  Pests to be handled?  Is what we’ve done so far working?  What do we do next?

And some of those decisions are difficult choices; we choose one direction and it closes off others.  Daedalus’ difficult decision between the desires of the gods and the desires of his patron is illustrated in the Mythic Tarot 7 of Pentacles.

Again, we do it every day.  Something at work needs our attention, which means we’ve got less time with our kids.  Our child needs surgery, which means we can’t take on the project we were looking forward to at work.  And our lifes’ paths take shape.

The promise of 7 of Pentacles is that, if we attend to the small decisions along the way, we’ll reach our goals.  And in much less time than we might think.

Pause, assess, take action, and trust your choices!

 

 

If you’re looking for personal help with your tarot learning or for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling, here‘s where to find me.

We’ve had another look at the 7 of Pentacles here.

 

Weekly Card Princess of Pentacles

March 30, 2014
140421 Tarot Illuminati Princess Pentacles
Tarot Illuminati

Since we’ve looked at this level of Pentacles before, let’s use the Princess of Pentacles for a bit of card combining.

Wait a minute!  We’ve seen her before?  Remember, there are decks that use Princess instead of Page in the court cards.  Tarot Illuminati is one of those decks.  So you’ll encounter Princess, Prince, Queen and King in the court of Tarot Illuminati suits, instead of Page, Knight, Queen and King.  Same elemental energies, just a different title.

How would our earthy Princess respond when she meets II High Priestess?  Perhaps she would understand intuitive mysteries as connected to the mysteries of the natural world.

How about if we put her through a 7 of Swords experience?  Is she likely to be comfortable or not with the deception and mental flux associated with that card?

How is she at negotiating 2 of Pentacles?  Really imagine her in her robes and with her long, wild hair at the rocky shores, keeping her balance.

Does she appreciate a visit with V The Heirophant?  Does she care about the meaning within structures and traditions?

A wonderful game to play with any of your court cards is to have them take a stroll amoungst a variety of the cards from your deck.  Pull out some of the minors, a few majors and another court card or two.  Arrange them as you’d like and move your subject court card from card to card.  What’s the story that would result from each encounter?  You’ll find you have a richer appreciation of who each of the courts are when you’ve seen them in many situations and with many people.

Be a student of the world this week!

Weekly Card 2 of Pentacles

April 13, 2014
140410 Tarot Illuminati 2 of Pentacles
Tarot Illuminati

 How are you doing with all those balls you’re keeping up in the air?

2 of Pentacles acknowledges that we sometimes have our hands full dealing with change.  And those stormy seas reflect the emotional state we can get into while trying to adapt and stay flexible.

Every life has its ups and downs.  We’re just more adapted to some of the up and down patterns than others.  The hard truth that 2 of Pentacles tells us is “things will never settle down”.

140410 RWS 2 of Pentacles
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

Its wisdom is that, if we put the elements of our lives in service to our purpose (see that infinity sign that connects the pentacles in our juggler’s hands?), we will be able to harmonize those elements successfully.  I’m sure you’ve found the zen of organization at least once or twice in your life.  2 of Pentacles can bring you to that state.  You know, the one where you’re making the best use of the resources you have.  The one where you’re interacting with life, not acting on – or acting out! – or reacting to.

This is where the meaning “skillful piloting leads to far-reaching success” comes from.

So what are the elements of your life that you’re trying to balance?  2 of Pentacles promises that you’ll find a way to keep them spinning!

Weekly Card 3 of Pentacles

March 5, 2015
131219 Osho Zen 3 of Rainbows
Osho Zen Tarot

Welcome to the world of meaningful work!

131219 RWS 3 of Pentacles
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

3 of Pentacles, as a 3, is expansion and expression; as a Pentacle, those exes are happening in the material world, the world of health, and the world of finances.  (Not to bring to mind those you’ve left behind.)

Or maybe we do want to . . . .

When 3 of Pentacles appears, we know we’re on the road to perfecting whatever it is that we’re up to.  We’re looking to improve our status.  And that means we’ll be changing our relationship to anything that holds us back.

On the positive side, we can be so focused on our aspirations that we take the steps needed to attain those heights.   We’re dedicated to what we want to achieve: it comes from within, from our inner guide.  We gather a team that shares our vision and brings what we need to the table.  We understand how to work from a plan and how to learn new skills when we need to.

And the implication of 3 of Pentacles is that there’ll be a reward for quality work that’s faithful to the vision.

On the negative side, we can be so focused on the idea of “the best” that we use others to climb to the top.   Not a pretty picture, and not necessary to achieve our goals.

Osho Zen is one of the tarot decks that uses alternatives to Pentacles, Cups, Swords and Wands.  Here, we have Rainbows corresponding to Pentacles, Water to Cups, Clouds to Swords, and Fire to Wands.

To strengthen your understanding of 3 of Pentacles, imagine it in response to questions about home improvement, about a health or diet plan, and about investments.  How can you apply the concepts above to those arenas?

Then imagine the story you’d tell if 3 of Pentacles is paired with 10 of Swords.  And what’s the very different story that might result if it appears with Ace of Pentacles?

Now’s your chance to follow your inner guide to a better world!

 




I’m delighted to help you find your guide through tarot.  Get in touch whenever you need.

Weekly Card Ace of Pentacles

September 5, 2013
130919 Housewives Ace of Pentacles
Housewives Tarot

More seeds!

You’d think we were gardening this month!

130919 ace_of_pentacles
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

So what are we planting this week?  Pentacles, remember, are associated with the physical world.  The seeds might be metaphorical, pertaining to our income or other finances, to our house and property, or to our health and physical body.  Of course, we might also actually be planting seeds, real seeds in the real garden.

If we’re being metaphorical, what are the seeds for physical creation?

Might there be a clue in the gloved hand holding the dinner plate?  How about, “If you’re hosting a dinner party, make sure the dishes are clean”?

There are details to attend to for every creation.  We could just jump in and hope for the best, but that’s not the Pentacle way.  Pentacles plan and prepare and make sure the details are taken care of.  Pentacles aren’t afraid of work to make a fresh start.

So, what might the Ace of Pentacles be up to if it’s connected to the 3 of Wands?  How would the 8 of Swords help or hinder?  And what if it’s operating in the sphere of XIX Sun ?

And what fresh start might you be up to this week that the Ace of Pentacles can contribute to?

Choose your seeds and soil with care this week!

 

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