Card of the Day: Three of Stones

Today’s card of the day is the Three of Stones from the Wildwood Tarot

With this deck I both like and don’t like the fact that they have keywords printed on the minor arcana cards.  I like the intuitive cue that a word can have when working with this as a new deck, but I also don’t like having that word overwrite what comes to me intuitively.

Stones represent the suit of Pentacles in the Wildwood Tarot and I love that choice.  It’s so perfectly earthy and grounded and I like the idea of stones instead of coins which I’ve often seen done instead of pentacles.

 The figure on this card reads two different ways to me.  I see her growing out of the earth in one reading.  Blossoming out of the brown earth and unfurling her leaves.  She’s rising from the earth as we watch her.  And it’s kind of neat to see the seasons reflected in her.  We can see the brown earth that means winter, that light green over her legs that shows the first tendrils of spring, the green leaves over her chest make me think of summer, and then the turning color of leaves read fall to me.

The other way that I see this is I can see her unfurling from the center of her body, putting down roots and just expanding to fill this card.

And I like both of these readings for creativity.  I feel like it embodies all different kinds of creativity.  It’s a creative thing to garden and raise plants and it’s a creative thing to create art with paint and ink on a canvas.  This card is showing that spark that ignites those creative passions inside us that drive us to make and to keep exploring and expanding.

Daily Draw: Seven of Pentacles

Does this card look familiar to you?  That’s because it is!  I just pulled this as a daily draw on 10/25.  So I guess I still have some work to do with the seven of Pentacles.  Maybe it’s a hint to do some more work at our house.  We’re sort of in the middle of a re configuring of the master bedroom, but it’s stalled a little.

I can take a hint.  Get back to it! I’ll definitely appreciate the fruits of my labors if I tackle the giant mountain of laundry.

Where in your life can you appreciate the fruits of your labors?  Where in your life do you need to focus more effort in order to reap positive results?

Daily Draw: Seven of Pentacles

Today’s pull was the Seven of Pentacles.  It traditionally means appreciating your hard work and maybe harvesting what you planted.  It can also indicate an evaluation of what you’re growing.  I had tarot.com pull a daily card for me today since I wasn’t in a position to be able to do a physical pull for myself today.  The pulled a card from the Paulina Tarot which is not a deck that I own, but it is one I like.  I’ve got her Joie de Vivre tarot deck.

This weekend was a combination of work and rest for my wife and I.  We took on our messy kitchen and cleaned out the fridge, which is a big project since we don’t do either often enough.  I am in the midst of reconfiguring our bedroom furniture as well to give us a more sanctuary like feeling.  The room had been fairly chaotic with our laundry everywhere and now, with the help of a room divider we already had, we have a comfy partitioned off sleeping area that is very cozy and restful.

This all makes good sense with this card.  I can really appreciate the fruits of my labors.  A clean workable kitchen and a restful sleeping place.  I also like how she looks evaluative here.  There are things I could change about the bedroom, so maybe I should give it a few days and then make adjustments.

Card of the Day: Four of Pentacles

Today’s Card if the Four of Pentacles from the Happy Tarot.

This little guy looks like a little snob, turning up his nose at the world from his throne of pillows.  He has his back turned to the city behind him, seeming to reject the establishment.  The wall between them makes me think that he’s forsaken the city and is trying to pretend that he doesn’t care about those losers because he’s got everything he needs with his shiny golden pentacles.

He is clinging to the past where things were better and stubbornly refusing to accept that things have changed.  The future, represented by the city in the background looks friendly and welcoming.  The sun shines out of the clouds and bathes the whole scene in sunlight.  It’s the cheery environment of the card that tells us that the figure holding the pentacles is being ridiculous.

The four of Pentacles can also indicate someone being money grubbing or only caring for physical things.  Perhaps someone is neglecting creative or spiritual pursuits, which sometimes you have to do to get your bills paid, but this card is a reminder that money isn’t everything.  I’m speaking from a place of privilege here.  I can afford to spend some time on myself and still pay my bills.  I only have to work one job.  I want to acknowledge that, but at the same time to encourage everyone to try to find some time to nurture themselves outside of the money making grind.

When you see this card it’s an indication that you need to take a look at what you’re doing.  Is some new change upsetting you and you’re refusing to acknowledge it?  Things might not be as bad as you think, open your eyes back up and give the city another chance.  Take some time to play with that puppy or snuggle the kitten right in front of you.  All change causes stress, but it’s not always bad.  Release that which does not serve you so that you can make room for good things to come in.

Card of the Day: Eight of Pentacles

Today’s card is the Eight of Pentacles from the Linestrider Tarot

My first thought at looking at this card is a kind of guarding or treasured feeling because of the way that the girl has gathered the pentacles and is holding one over her heart.  There’s also a cat in the background with white eyes that makes me think of a supernatural guardian creature.  The message of Eight of Pentacles is “practice makes perfect”.  You can see the pile of pentacles by her knees, the seven that she created before the one that she’s holding.

Pentacles are the suit of earth and they talk about the physical tangible world.  Some sources say that Pentacles mean money or financial matters, and they can, but I find them often referring to the physical world around us.  When you see this eight it indicates that it’s talking to something you’re physically involved with.  Maybe it’s fitness training for some kind of race, it could be your work on perfecting the perfect cupcake recipe for the bakery you want to open.  This bodes well, it’s an encouraging reminder to keep at it, your persistence will be rewarded.

If you feel like you’re trapped in a rut doing the same thing over and over again, you’ll probably feeling really frustrated.  So seeing this card show up might not be the message that you want to hear.  But take heart, it means that you’re going to get there, the Eight is just telling you that you’re making progress and asking you to be patient.

So hang in there, keep doing sit-ups, keep baking cupcakes, practice makes perfect.

Card of the Day: Prince of Pentacles

Today’s card is the Prince of Pentacles from the Manga Tarot.

This Prince (Page) of Pentacles is a fresh faced young man walking in a garden.  My immediate impression is that this is the youngest son of a powerful daimyo (samurai lord) who is taking on some responsibilities for the first time.  He’s wandering in his father’s garden carrying the pentacle that has been entrusted to him.  He doesn’t yet fully understand the ways of the world.

A Page can represent an actual person in your life or it can represent an energy that is moving around/through a situation.  A Page is a youthful/childlike person who is eager to learn.  They’ve got some of the basics, but they still have a ways to go before they attain mastery.

A Page asks you to consider approaching your situation with fresh eyes, maybe advising a change in perspective.  What would the problem look like if you stripped away the more mature or jaded way of thinking.  How would someone unfamiliar with the situation see things.  It might be that they’d see a new solution that you couldn’t see from your position mired in the middle of it.  It might also be encouraging you to feel free to get excited about something like you might when you were a  child.  No one does enthusiasm quite like a little kid.

This Page, Pentacles, is particularly concerned with the tangible physical reality of things.  He encourages you to delight in the physical things.  Eat the good chocolate you’ve been saving, drink that good wine.  Life is too short, eat dessert first and indulge yourself a little bit.  This pages promises an opportunity to experience something and encourages you to take it in fully.  Look for that chance and don’t hesitate to take it.

Card of the Day: Eight of Pentacles

Today’s card is the Eight of Pentacles from the Universal Fantasy deck

 This deck is fascinating.  Like the name says, this is a fantastical deck with an almost a little bit Sci-Fi feel to it.  It brings to mind alien planets far from our own with fantastic beasts and magical technology.  There are some cards that have a very Solarpunk feel to them.  I was flipping through my cards looking for which card called to me and this one just sang.  I love stars and trees and… well this one looks like a star tree!

This card raises a bit of a question.  The man, who reminds me a bit of the Lord of the Rings dwarves, is holding a hammer, and we can see what looks like a saw and some chisels near his feet.  Did he build this tree?  Is he repairing this tree?  Did he start building and the tree shot up around him, spiralling off into the stars?  He looks surprised, maybe even a little bit daunted.  Does he have to harvest the stars on the tree?  There’s a lot that could be happening in this card.

The Eight of Pentacles often has a practice makes perfect kind of message.  A craftsperson sitting on a bench hammering out pentacles is the classic illustration.  There are echoes of that here.  And the message is the same.  Whether or not he’s built the tree or is planning on harvesting the stars from it, the more often he works, the better he’ll be at it.  Also, the more he hones his craft the less concerned he’ll be about the outcome.

The Eight of Pentacles shows us that there is some hard work to be done, but that ultimately, if you put in the time and the practice, you can excel in your chosen pursuit.  Scaling the tree might not be easy, but when you can finally hold those stars in your hands it’ll all be worth it.

Card of the Day: Ten of Pentacles

Today’s card comes from the Wild Unknown Tarot deck by Kim Krans.

I love a rainbow.  I’m that crazy lady with the neon rainbow knit hat, the rainbow socks, the fingernails with the rainbow jamberry decals. I once had a giant rainbow umbrella (it broke, sadly).  My entire knitting group sends me links to rainbow projects and rainbow yarn whenever they see it.  I love the association.  I like all the things they represent; I like that they’re the spectrum of light; I love their symbology around queer folks; I like that they make me think of magic.  And I like this card, the Ten of Pentacles.  It’s such a positive card.  It, like all tens in tarot, represents the culmination of the journey of its suit.  Pentacles are the suit of Earth and they represent the physical material aspects of life.  They can be read as involving money, physical health, issues of housing, food, and other physical or material things.

I particularly like the way this ten reads.  Nine pentacles orbiting around the heart of the card.  The center pentacle has another tiny pentacle right in its center.  It has that beautiful spectrum of color radiating from purples on the outer edges of the card down into a warm deep red at the center.  It feels like a kind of magical hearth, and gives the impression of this slowly focusing energy as you move down your path and start arriving at the heart of the matter.

The Ten of Pentacles is a very stable and secure card.  It speaks to security and comfort.  The struggle all through the pentacles, starting out with few material concerns, through the Five of Pentacles which stands for bad health and being cast out, is brought full circle by the ten.  You have all these pentacles, all this success and wealth.  Maybe your health has been faltering and you’ve been feeling out of sorts–this would be a good card to see, better things are here.  It also speaks to permanence.  This isn’t some easy come, easy go kind of energy.  The ten reflects a lot of hard work that you’ve put in building up to this security.

The more I look at this card the more it feels to me like a heartbeat.  Starting from the outside and moving in.  Breathe In – Care for yourself, Breathe Out – Share that stability with others who aren’t as far along in the path of the suit.  You need to be secure in your foundations before you can support others.  And maybe this exists in a cycle: circle down to your hearth and rest there when you feel unsteady, then circle back outwards to others when you’ve built up your energies.  I really like that the card border is white on this card, because white light is all the other colors of light put together.  When you see those rainbows of light when you bend light through a prism, that’s all the colors separated out, combined the light is white.  And that white light, which is often thought of as healing light or as divine light, surrounds everything, never constricting, only supporting.  May you be held in that white light, feeling the safety and support that is the Ten of Pentacles.