By Sarah Taylor
We are obviously doing a lot of processing. I cannot think of another card that rivals the Seven of Wands in terms of number of appearances in The Weekend Tarot Reading. Its regular visits feel like a journey of review, an opening to something new emerging, a cleansing; review, opening, cleansing.
By way of a reminder, the Seven of Wands is about something coming up from below — and I see this as a pushing up of the unconscious into consciousness and the fight of the ego to keep it hidden. The reason I see it this way is because of the suit (Wands representing energy and movement of consciousness) and the fact that there is only one figure in the card while the remaining six wands are being held and thrust upwards by an invisible source: the unconscious is nothing if not invisible to us. And what often happens with the unconscious is that we project it.
The unconscious, unknowable as it is, feels dark to the ego. Its mystery feels chaotic to the organising powers of our conscious mind. And so our conscious mind resists it — and it has developed sophisticated mechanisms to do just this. There is no blame here; it is how and who we are. For the most part, and as hard as this is to admit sometimes, we don’t like change and we are programmed to avoid it.
As I mentioned in last Wednesday’s introduction to James Wanless’s article on projections in tarot, the acknowledgement and withdrawal of projections — of taking them back when you finally see them for what they are — is ceaseless, the work of a lifetime. Whenever we feel an emotional ‘pull’ or ‘hooking in’: that’s a sign that a projection might well be at work. When we feel so invested in something about another person or situation that we fixate on it: that’s the time to look inside to see if, in actuality, it has its origin in us.
We hate the way someone seems so needy? We can look for our own neediness. We feel jealousy toward someone who is given something we think we ought to receive? We can admit how we deprive ourselves of that very thing. We are in awe of someone’s ability to light up a room? We’ve yet to recognise that the same ability lies in us. Making someone else responsible for our joy and pain no longer cuts it. The world is asking us to grow up; we are being asked to become whole.
So when the Seven of Wands appears in a reading, perhaps in this moment we are being asked to strive for wholeness by taking an honest look at where we battle against our own best interests — what it is that we hold off from experiencing in a way that could very well be counterproductive. It also suggests that we be compassionate with ourselves for the resistances and the delays. Blaming ourselves is not the point. Taking ourselves in our arms is. Being willing to give ourselves due care and attention — perhaps for the first time — might be what is called for.
What we come away with is a gift: the Knight of Pentacles. The Knight of Pentacles is a much-maligned Knight in some of the interpretations I’ve read. I don’t read him that way here. Here he seems to symbolise a steadiness and dedication. His horse might seem to plod a little too slowly; he might seem to verge on being a stick-in-the-mud (he is but one step away from the bare earth in front of him, after all). But he is coming away from the Seven of Wands with something palpable, something usable in our world. That counts for a lot. That single thing may be hard won. It might have required a certain doggedness, an unfailing dedication to cause, and a steadiness that is not seen in the Knight of Wands, for example — hot-headed and hot-footed as he is.
Wands energy at its purest is the energy of the unconscious. It is libido, unfettered. In order to ‘fetter’ it — to bring it down to Earth — we need a quality that is more grounded. That quality is the domain of the Knight of Pentacles. He is the most fitting carrier of potential into the earthly realm. He gives it immediate shape and form. And in so doing we can put it to use in our lives.
Thus the artisan in the Eight of Pentacles takes what the Knight gives him and works with it. He takes the raw material and crafts it, putting it to one side where it can be drawn from at will. This is the honing of an inner skill — one derived from what was unconscious and what we refused to own.
Now we own it, we can use it. We have earned it. How can it now work for us?
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
Thanks for your comment, Sarah. Very intuitive. Yes. It has been a long descent, and I heartily thank you for the good reading as I was going down and have hopefully started up for real now. You had mentioned The Descent of the Goddess on this blog several months ago. I ordered it and inhaled it. It spoke so clearly to me and my experiences as a woman and has added another piece to weave together meaning as I look for motif in my life.
I was given in this past week The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner. Another book written in the 80’s (brilliant, riveting work was pouring out of women to women during that decade and I am just now finding this body of work by Anne Wilson Schaef, Charlotte Kasl, Sylvia Brinton Perera, Linda Schierse Leonard and others)…..The intro to The Creation of Patriarchy is riveting to me. It explains her process of studying the “history of women” in the context of all history focusing solely on powerful men. And also the complicity of women with this set-up of being fully marginalized (men in the minority are also addressed). I am still reading the introduction-and am sensing more cracks in the walls of my prison of confusion and semi-darkness. Thanks for your hand in this journey of mine. Multi-layered thanks.
Hello all!
Thank you so much for your comments, which I have read and loved. Assignment week here for my studies, so my time has been take up elsewhere too. But I wanted to acknowledge everyone’s contributions.
granma – I would say that he is, indeed, Taurean in manner.
Burning River – I am so happy that your descent is starting to take shape and bring meaning. It is a horrible experience at times – it never feels comfortable dropping into the abyss. But when you start to see what emerges from the shadows, it can be life-changing.
— S
Addendum: as I am working exhaustively (is that a q word?) (exhaustingly?) on my outward circumstances, I am getting a LOT of feedback from the “underworld” –I am seeing “my part in it” in so many areas, so that as I deal with The Other, I am also able to acknowledge my own legitimate issues (I really believe it is Neptune’s shift that is allowing this unveiling, or arising from the unconscious, to be decipherable to me). Inside and out, I am being churned, and driven, and hammered on. And all the while, my goal and how to attain it is getting clearer and clearer. And I am becoming more and more compassionate for myself and all The Others who are being affected by me. (((sarah))) again +-+
The intensity of the re-working and re-working and re-working (Mars in Virgo, thank you) has been consuming me–the stallion with the Knight is described for me so helpfully. Plodding I have been. Needing to work so many angles to get this truly extreme situation I am in to resolve in a way that will be beneficial to me without hurting, TRULY “HURTING”, (not someone’s hurt feelings am I referring to). . That 7 of Wands is not going to quit until we get this right. I am so glad to have universal support in so many ways, and especially here with you, Sarah, at PW. Cannot write details, at this time. I am in the thick of it, and I am on track. Yes. And it is going to be ok. Hopefully, even Good. xoxo
Hi Sarah – I really enjoy your tarot column and I find that it often speaks to me directly. The cards you get in your readings are often the same ones I’m getting in my personal readings. The way you understand the cards gives me a new window into another way of looking at their meaning. Thank you!
It’s been said here I’m being given a “second chance.”
The past ten months I have been reliving my first youthful experience of buying my home of creativity and expressing (or trying to) my love for my best friend. Exactly the same situations with different players and properties thirty years later.
I thought the second chance was for final happiness with a partner who helped create this fantasy as the carpenter – but it has ended with the same thud of reality as thirty years ago. That previous experience took me almost thirty years to resolve, I buried it so deep, ignored any other because “he” was the one, and played at growing my career. This recent relationship allowed me to revisit the first one with all its haunting similarities.
Now I’m realizing this “second chance” is actually to love myself, love the child within that was raised on tough love, not the people in my world that I obsess over … time to grow up. Projection onto others is absolutely fascinating karma.
Yes. You’ve done it again dear Sarah – hit that nail right on its proverbial head. I’ve started to bring my projections to the light, to turn back and look at myself rather than out at the ‘other’ – to use my reactions to others as a mirror of my own mind. “The world is asking us to grow up; we are being asked to become whole”. So beautifully written, so helpful. Thank you. And I so enjoyed the comments here, too.
yes, for sure, today’s reading felt particularly apt.
“pushing up of the unconscious into consciousness and the fight of the ego to keep it hidden.” sometimes, i’m not even sure which side of that coin i’m actually on.
and boy, did this paragraph ring a few bells:
“We hate the way someone seems so needy? We can look for our own neediness. We feel jealousy toward someone who is given something we think we ought to receive? We can admit how we deprive ourselves of that very thing. We are in awe of someone’s ability to light up a room? We’ve yet to recognise that the same ability lies in us. Making someone else responsible for our joy and pain no longer cuts it. The world is asking us to grow up; we are being asked to become whole.”
maybe if i’d quit kicking and screaming and clinging to the old reactions (but the feel so *strong!* — like power! …but they’re not real power. they actually keep me small and closed-off and too defensive to experience real intimacy), this growing-up thing might not feel so… icky so often.
it all comes down to that fear of standing on my own, when i’m so used to placing my identity in a relationship or partner. man… there have to be more efficient ways to do this, but this seems to be the only one i know right now!
“It also suggests that we be compassionate with ourselves for the resistances and the delays.”
This is and has been my mantra for a month and a bit Sarah as you know. Thanks so much. I want to share my March calendar quote because it’s so relevant:
“Your purpose is to stay in harmony with nature like the sprout hidden beneath the surface of the ground, waiting unhurriedly to emerge and fulfill its destiny. It cannot be rushed, nor can anything in nature. Creation takes place on its own timetable.” – Wayne Dyer
Sarah – thank you. Have come away from this reading with valuable insight. Not sure I can call it “review, opening, cleansing” though.
But, now, let me see… when I try to articulate how and why your reading touched me, I actually find: I’ve been intensely reviewing ancient stuff for the last 24 hours (like, “Oh no. Not this again!”). I was deep in the dumps most of today. Then, something opened up inside of my consciousness – and I could see new possibilities I’d never seen before. I don’t know how all of this will play out; don’t know where I’ll be, this time next year, but some heavy, ponderous, calcified crusty stuff has fallen away.
At first glance, I saw the Knight of Pentacles as dark, immovable, blocking. But I see now that he has come through a long an arduous journey and holds a Pentacle – a ‘nugget of truth’ or ‘a symbol of value’ in his hand. And, yes, he worked hard for this and can now translate it into resources he can share with others.
You say the Knight brings it all down to Earth – is he Taurean? (my Sun)