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The Tarot Workhorse – The Knight of Pentacles (a look at a years worth of Daily Draws)

Being the person I am, not only did I pull a card every day during 2016, but I also recorded my draws and made a set of graphs to compare all my cards (I know, I’m a geek 🤓). It was interesting to note, and also quite affirming, that my year was incredibly heavy in Pentacles. Now thinking logically, if we were to completely remove any magic from the Tarot then over the year there should be a rather even amount of each Minor suit drawn and a higher majority of Majors drawn simply because the suits are equal in number and there are more Major’s in the deck! Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe this, as I believe that each card comes to you for a reason and hence the draws are not going to be evenly spread between the suits, but I just wanted to put it out there for those of you who still feel a bit skeptical about the Tarot’s power. Now as I said before, my year was heavy on Pentacles, between 25-38 more Pentacles than the other three Minor suits, and only 15 less Pentacles than Majors!

Crazy right!! No, not really, because looking back at 2016, most of my time and energy was spent at work, and thinking about my life with regards to my job and my future. Now don’t get me wrong, my year wasn’t only the drudgery of day to day working life! I met my partner Phillip ❤️, which changed my world completely, we went on lots of adventures together 😊, and he brought love back into my life 😊. I also got back into acting and performed in a full time play while also working full time! So 2016 was a blessed year as well, but with regards to my daily draws, the fact that my working life had changed, and was now impacting my work/life balance was clearly evident! And what card, more than any other card in the deck, came up most often you ask? Was it The Empress you say?  Oh you cheeky bugger, no my Tarot Stalker from way back when only came up 4 times out of a possible 365!!! So who was it then? Why it was the Knight of Pentacles of all cards. The Tarot’s famous workhorse.

Knight of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles – Shadowscapes Tarot

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Appraising the Results of your Efforts – The Seven of Pentacles

Late last night I received an email from HR with regards to the takeover of the company I work for. As you know, the last month or so has been quite stressful as a result of this takeover and the potential of my store no longer being in business. In the email it said that all transferring employees would recieve a new contract by email on Monday the 25th and that any staff not transferring to the new entity due to a closure would be told personally on Monday. Freaking frightening right?! So now the state of limbo has been intensified over the first full weekend off I’ve had in a long time. Not fair I say! But I guess at least now I know the date on which I find out my fate. Anyways, as I was shuffling my cards this morning obviously this was playing on my mind, and when I turned over the card for today I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised, for it was the Seven of Pentacles.

To me the Seven of Pentacles represents a time where we are appraising the results of our efforts. It’s a time-out card where, after a rush of activity, we have time to sit back and assess the fruits of our labours, quite often also suggesting a reward coming our way! So assessment is a key to this card. When we are busy, working hard towards a goal, we can sometimes get so caught up that we actually forget why and what we are working towards. The Seven may appear when it is required for us to stop and ask “am I still on track?” “Is this what I really want?” In this the Seven also represents being at a crossroads, for it is so very easy to continue with our routines, even if they are not overly fulfilling. The Seven may appear when it is time to consider a direction change, it may be asking us to start questioning our choices and ponder the alternatives.

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Seven of Pentacles – Radiant Rider Waite Tarot

To the left we see the RWS representation of the Seven of Pentacles. Here we see a young man resting on his hoe, appraising the results of his harvest. His work has resulted in lush greenery and the Pentacles are blossoming :). He has put in the effort required and is about to recieve reward for his hard work. He stands back, appraising his efforts and admiring his handiwork. That satisfying feeling that comes with success. But if you look closely, that look of appraisal could be construed as a realisation that what he worked so hard for is in fact not what he wanted. If this is the case then the Seven suggests a direction change, presenting the fact that you are never committed to a certain path and change is always possible.

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Seven of Pentacles – Shadowscapes Tarot

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Weekly Reading Number Three – Courtroom Drama

Today I decided not to pull a Daily Card in favour of doing a reading. And as I am working my way through the The Alternative Tarot Course, created by the beautiful Beth from Little Read Tarot, I decided that I would do my third weekly reading :). Chapter 3 of the course was all about getting in touch with the Major Arcana! The Majors represent the larger aspects of our lives, the big changes that send us on a tailspin, those moments when we feel we are trapped in a situation, but also the times where we come to terms with our inner truth and learn that we in fact have everything we need to achieve what it is we want. It’s been a really good week and I may post a bit about some of the exercises at some point, but today is all about the reading for this chapter, entitled “Courtroom Drama”. This is a Majors only spread originally created by the French Tarotist Oswald Wirth in the 1920s. In this spread we imagine we are in a Courtroom and our situation is being discussed and judged by the ‘Majors’. It is a five position spread, where the fifth position is deciphered using numerology, an addition which I really liked :). You lay the first four cards out first, which are representative of:

Position 1: “In your favour” – What is ‘for’ your situation. A person, energy or influence that may be of help. Your key strength.

Position 2: “Against” – The negatives. Things working against you in your situation and hindering your progress.

Position 3: “The Judge” – This is the card that looks through the evidence presented by cards 1 and 2 and try’s to clarify where you stand, giving advice as to how to proceed.

Position 4: “Decision/Sentence” – The outcome. The lesson to be learned.

Once these are laid you add up the numbers on cards 1-4 and then if they are over 22 reduce them by adding the two numbers together. For example, in my reading the total was 36 – 3+6=9. So my centre card was The Hermit. The centre card is Position 5 in the spread but it is read first. This is because this card is what everything else depends upon and hence is the most important part of the reading! Now this spread can obviously be used for many different questions but in this instance Beth asked us to ask the cards a specific question, “How can I become a truly brilliant tarot reader?”

So now that you know the basic outline, here is my Courtroom Drama 🙂

Alternative Tarot Course Weekly Reading Number Two - Courtroom Drama
Alternative Tarot Course Weekly Reading Number Two – Courtroom Drama

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Subdue the Lion Within – Strength

I was quite pleased to see Strength yesterday as my daily draw! When I did my birthday reading, Strength was one of the two cards that came up in position of the energies I should focus on during the year ahead. Having it come up yesterday was a good opportunity to spend some more time contemplating it’s meaning :).

Strength - Shadowscapes Tarot
Strength – Shadowscapes Tarot

What I love most about this depiction of Strength, that you may have gathered from my birthday reading, is that there are so many examples of different types of strength. There is the more obvious example of beastial strength of body in the Lion, but there is also the Bamboo’s hidden strength through flexibility. There is the strength of cunning and strategy of the Cats, one of which seems to be tempting those birds below it closer with a bell on a string, and the other has one paw upon one of the Lion’s, possibly suggesting the strength of cooperation or of combining different forms of strength. Then there is the Bridge itself which is beginning to crack, possibly representative of the mortal quality of this man made strength, at some point it will erode and turn to dust, and below it the Acorn, representative of the steady strength of something so small that will one day grow to be gigantic. And then there is the inner strength called forth when protecting those you love, represented by the Swan. The Swan also represents the transformative power of the Woman’s form of strength. The ability to use calm control to soothe a difficult situation, turning something potentially ugly into something more pleasant. And that to me is what this card epitomises, using persuasion and patience to calm the rougher, harder animal instincts that we can sometimes fall prey to. The demonstration of the power of love and compassion, showing that aggression and anger will not solve everything. This is true inner strength, perserverance and composure, the ability to endure any of life’s obstacles with an unparalleled inner calm!

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