By Sarah Taylor
With a terrible fixing, Inanna is nailed down. The potential of her ‘myriad offices’ and capacities is grounded; and this actualization seems to be part of what fertilizes a new spirit within her, just as limitation can evoke creativity.
— Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess
I had a strange feeling of wanting, and not wanting, to do a reading today, and had to spend a little time unpicking that before it became clear — it is often the case that insight takes a while to catch up with intuition. The realisation that presented itself is this:
For those who found last weekend’s reading meaningful, the cards seem to be asking for us to hold them in consciousness a while longer; they are needing room in which to work. Two major arcana cards (The High Priestess and The Hermit) surrounding a minor arcana card that can provoke a lot of feeling (Three of Swords) has the ability to unearth quite a bit that requires processing if it is to be integrated in a way that feels meaningful. That is the part that was calling for me to give it space, to give it time. So be it.
However, having got that part of the message, there still felt like a need for a new reading today. So where does this leave us? Here’s the thing: Weekly readings tend not to be as boundaried as we might think that they are. Like the Daily Astrology reports, which flow into each other, the Weekend Tarot Readings often have an influence that lasts longer than a week. It’s just that a new idea takes over as the one in the spotlight with the arrival of a new reading.
This week seems to be subtly different. This isn’t an overlapping of readings and a changing of the guard of influences as much as two parallel ideas that are playing out in two separate areas of our lives. They might intersect at some point; they might continue to feel discrete. However, they are working together in the same way that we work when we are preparing a meal — two pots on the stove, and while the one has been our focus and is now on the back-burner while we tend to the other one, both are still very much on the boil.
And so on to this week’s reading, which feels to be about work of some kind — however we choose to define that, and I would go as broad as you feel is right for you. This is about something going on in the physical world, whatever it is. It is palpable, and something you can actively work with, rather than simply feeling into it.
The Three of Pentacles is the card of apprenticeship. There is an acknowledgement here that there is a situation where someone may not have all the skills they need, but there is a definite working towards mastery of some kind. We have the ability to draw on resources, ideas and direction from something or someone that can help us to hone our craft. This support is two-fold: both practical and spiritual, seen in the figures of the architect and the monk. We have mentors here in our physical worlds, and support in our connection to something larger than us. Both are working together to assist us in becoming what it is that we have the potential to be.
What becomes available to us is the potential of the Ace of Pentacles. Remember: The Ace is non-incarnate. It represents the purest notion of its suit, unbounded and not subject to the restrictions of our worldly lives. That potential is coming from our preparedness to be apprentices. When we acknowledge our limitations in a particular field, but step up to the task of working with those who are both more experienced and whom we can learn from, it opens us up to the energy of the Ace of Pentacles. Our desire to be enthusiastic and attentive students expands the idea of what is possible. The Ace is a gift, given freely. What we have to do is to work towards finding the doorway, opening it — through our application — and then harnessing it in the way that we have been equipped to do so. It is a powerful card. It won’t be easy to miss when it presents itself to us. The hard work is in aligning ourselves with it so that we can make as much use of it as we can. The Three of Pentacles is that act of alignment.
What comes from this is the idea of liberation in the form of the Ten of Swords — and yes, I do mean liberation. Often it is hard to see this idea when confronted with the visual of a figure being impaled by ten blades, but it is there, and it feels like the primary force of the card in this reading. This is the dark night before the clearing of the skies, where we can feel utterly helpless and pinned down by circumstances that make movement almost impossible. Almost, but not quite. And it is in that almost that we find our liberation.
We needed to be held down, for a reason that will be specific to our circumstances. It might be that a feeling of being blocked kept us there, that we were not worthy, not up to the task, not clear about what it was that we wanted or what options were open to us. It might be that our unconscious held us there, asking for surrender while forces worked behind the scenes to bring something into awareness. It might be that external factors brought us low, demanded a time of self-sacrifice, made us wait, frustrated and agonized, as the night deepened around us.
Not any more. The yellow of the Ace of Pentacles shows up in the clearing sky towards which the figure is facing. And, in spite of it all, there is a part of the figure — whether he is aware of it or not — that is remarkably zen about it all. That is the part that knows to look to the clearing sky. There is opportunity ahead. There was a reason for all of this. Surrender left us with little choice apart from the choice to fight it (which only causes the swords to sting more deeply) or to let go and wait.
The Ace of Pentacles heralds the dawning of a new day. Sometimes the work that we put into something requires waiting periods and times of downright frustration and pain that can feel interminable. Then we get the go-ahead to move. And then we can get up, humbled, wiser for the experience, and carry on with something new under our belts and available to us. Move steadily and gently when this happens — the wounds are still fresh. But don’t believe that you are still being held down. You have much more freedom than you might think.
Sarah! Between my own chaotic life and the site change over I missed the last two readings both of which are so moving and apt. for me the effect of the swords has been gradually building. I was half expecting/hoping to feel liberated with the Neptune to Pisces switch and all the other groovy planetary activity. I’ve felt pinned down for so long and so tired of it all and so anxious for a change and a chance to open up and feel light again, but the final sword was a cold that had been brewing for weeks finally turning into bronchitis (first time in my life!) and completely knocking me out. So I didn’t so much swim triumphantly onto the shore of the new age as lay there in bed gasping (drowning?) for breath! There’s a million things I want to get on with but I’ve taken the hint and taken some time off – clearly it isn’t time to move. Thanks for the wonderful insights.
Thank you, all, for your comments. With love.
I had an uncanny Ten of Swords experience this week, which tapped me on the shoulder unexpectedly — perhaps this is what made me take notice more than anything else: It seemed both mundane and unreal. Several weeks ago, I drew the Nine of Swords in a personal reading in the “near future” card. I couldn’t help but brace myself for what was coming, and, sure enough, it came – in the form of depression, which knocked me into my own underworld. It has felt like a necessary and inevitable experience, and, although a part of me went down kicking and screaming, another part welcomed the transition as something alchemical.
And so, then, the Ten of Swords. Bottomed out, angry, in pain, at a point of grudging surrender, I went to a yoga class. At the end of the class, I found myself on a mat, sweating, heart pounding, feeling an unbearable chaotic surge of energy going through me … then realised I was lying on my front, my head turned to my left, arms by my side. Flattened, really. And started smiling, as I put the fingers of my right arm into a mudra — the one that means “one experiences happiness”. Okay, at that moment, I wasn’t feeling happy, but I think I saw the horizon, and it was lighter than the darkness gathered around me.
Dear Sarah – only managed to see your wonderful blog today – somehow lost sight of it during the site (!) change – though I looked for it. Much has happened to me, inside and out, since you first published it – and it’s just so amazingly on the nail. You talk about the sword’s sting – a couple of nights ago I dreamed I was being pursued by a mansized hornet, which I ended up killing! That must be a lifetime of wounds/stings. Thank you dear.
yes — thank you sarah!
i need to read this again when i have more energy & focus to let it sink in fully. but i can already see and feel resonance.
heck, even this morning when i woke up, it occurred to me that as much as i loathe being sick with this cold, i feel like my yesterday was one of the first days in forever that was truly a day of rest, doing nothing but what i actually felt like doing as i felt the desire or need to do it (didn’t *want* to go outside to buy more tissues, but the fresh air felt really good once i was there…); right down to curling up in bed to watch the old 80s movie “annie” on youtube in bed. what a luxury… which only occurred because i’d been knocked down by a virus. ha. a little surrender, like it or not…
the bigger message, the bigger resonance though… that’s what feels a bit more fragile or tender; like i need to guard it, take a little more time with it, learn to actually see what i need to see and move with measured steps till i trust it — all while letting more in and being clearer about what i keep out.
Thank you, Sarah! These readings always contain some resonance for me, but this one takes the cake. It perfectly describes a situation that has lasted some years already for me. The feeling of being stuck and being completely unable to find a way out has at times felt overwhelming (like banging my head against a wall), and yet at the same time, I am completely convinced that the being “held down” part is serving a larger purpose. As someone who usually knows what I want to do at any given juncture, my natural instinct has been to resist the limitations that have circumscribed my life and to try to find some kind of resolution. It has taken a lot for me to bow down a bit and surrender to the universe instead of trying to impose my will all over it!!
Yes, Sarah, I had noticed the layering and soft boundaries among the weekly spreads. Just like life and surrenders and letting gos.
Seeing the 10 of Swords there on the tail of the 3 of Pentacles and the Ace of Pentacles!!! —well, only you in your amazing and adroit way can walk me into understanding again as I see my old friend there in the line-up.
Maybe I’ll keep seeing the 10 of Swords as long as I look at that hand with the mudra and think of how you cross your fingers when you are swearing to an oath so that means you don’t mean it and will not keep it. :>)
I am afraid I might be incorrigible when it comes to my continuing to try to find a way out.
But I am coming to know that this being pinned down (good idea, alps–to name each of those swords!) is a really good thing. In fact, a rest, of sorts.
Always deeply felt respect and appreciation for your sharing with us here.
amazing Sarah. When I saw the 10, I wondered how on earth it related. You are so cool. 😉
HS
Thank you, Sarah. I have a label for every one of those swords and when this card appeared for me recently I felt both relief and a deep laugh rising. Down for the count, can’t get any worse and there’s light on the horizon — sure to be hole-y when I get up! And yet, this inner Hermit/High Preistess work is enlightenment possible through the space created from the wounds that preceded it. So much raw possibility. I am feeling like all this waiting might actually be meaningful beyond the hits of frustration, not knowing. It wasn’t until you pointed out that the fallen one is looking toward the light that I realized part of what this card is saying is how profound is a simple turn of the head (perspective). AND I do need my mentors. Thanks for being on board for that!