April 11, 2010 - Eight of Pentacles

The Eight of Pentacles, again.  This card reflects hard work, intelligence successfully utilized on the practical level, mastery, skillful organization, capability, and productivity.  It's the card of the craftsman.  So what is it trying to tell me?

It may be that I've achieved a level of mastery in one are or in many.  It may be that I'm the unseen hand that effects many valuable projects and possibilities to succeed.  It may also be time to move on to a higher level.  I may have accomplished as much as I can in one area and am ready to take things to the next level.

I know right now I'm focused on my writing and my collages.  I have come to a place where I truly love short stories.  I want to master them while staying true to myself and my voice.  I want to dedicate myself to my art.  I want the rest too, but this is me, this is what  want, what I do, who I am, and the rest will have to accept this, accept me.  Maybe it is time for me to be a craftsman, to focus all my energy on my work.  Maybe that's why the Eight of Pentacles keeps coming up in readings.  I'll keep you posted.

March 21, 2010 - Eight of Pentacles

The Eight of Pentacles - the hard work and diligence card. I've been getting this card a lot. It seems to show up in every realm -- work, love, health. I guess there's no escaping the hard work of life, the attention to detail, the requirement to apply yourself totally and plug away. Maybe for some people, the easy route. For me, work, work, work.

Which doesn't mean it isn't beloved work. To be able to lose ourselves completely to it, in it, requires a full dedication. And as anyone can tell you when you're in the flow, you feel energized, blessed. I think life deserves this kind of focus and attention. It asks us to be involved completely. It's not like it's a dress rehearsal, that we have another chance to do it right. What happens after this life, we don't know, so it's best to give it our all. I do tend to hold myself back, to think I have plenty of time, less so now after the last year, but still.

There is one aspect of my life I am not fully immersed in. I wait, like Sleeping Beauty, for someone to come and save me. Still.

In the Jane Austen Tarot, the Eight of Coins depicts all the skills Anne Elliot has mastered. The card suggests that who ever draws it possesses this same level of mastery. It also could mean that you are the unseen hand behind many projects that make them successful but that you do not get credit for it. This rings a bit true but is also changing. I'm asking for more recognition and letting go of things that no longer serve.

Another aspect of the card is that it may be time to move on to higher plane, that I've reached as far as I can go in one area. This gave me pause for I have a circumstance in my life that I linger in, and maybe I shouldn't. Maybe it's time to be done. Maybe it's gone as far as it can.

The card is particularly relevant to creativity -- writing, art, music. So perhaps, even though I didn't ask about this, the cards are directing me to channel my energy into my writing and collages. That's what I'm doing. I don't know what else to do.

As for how it goes, I'll keep you posted.