FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES

In the time since my first and rather brief post about the KNIGHT OF PENTACLES (KnP) I've collected a good many more thoughts and meanings. But first I want to share some more unusual versions of this card. The first KnP (Knight of Coins in this deck) below is from the surreal and stimulating Karma Tarot, which frequently takes me back to my hippie years when viewing its art:

Next is from the beautiful fine art paintings of The Stone Tarot. In this deck the Knights of the feminine suits of earth (pentacles) and water (cups) are Amazons:

And here's the Knight of Coins (Pentacles) in The Giants' Tarot. The figure here is a Norse giantess (another female knight):

And for COMPARISON, here's the KnP in the well-known Rider/Waite/Smith deck:

THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES: The KnP has been like a hovering angel in my life for many months now (replacing the Queen of Swords as my advisor), whispering in my ear "slow and steady ... slow and steady." This whenever I get frantic about time -- which is all too frequently. As I had done with the Queen of Swords before it, I xeroxed four very different versions of the Knp and taped them to my wall to remind me to breathe and slow down. Especially internally. When I heed this angel on horseback, one upshot has been a more thorough awareness and appreciation of each moment along the way. Not to mention that I'm more able to do what I have before me. (At least until I speed up again.)

MEANINGS/INSIGHTS/READINGS FOR THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES, SOME LESS COMMON OR EVEN QUIRKY -- Please note: The below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick Google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with it. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.):

-- Knights in general: have to do with being in or getting in to motion. The Knight of Pentacles is the slowest; The Knight of Cups a bit faster; The Knight of Swords faster yet; and The Knight of Wands the fastest. This aspect may help when dealing with timing issues in a reading.

-- An oppositional person. No matter which way you want to go, he or she will want to go the other. No matter what you say, he or she will have a smart aleck response.

-- This feeling of being stuck or held back is a red herring. You are basically avoiding moving on because of the sustained effort you know going ahead will require.

-- Someone who's slow to refocus when a situation demands it. That look of theirs is one of puzzlement, not annoyance.

-- There are both forward and backward looking aspects to your feelings/thoughts about this. All need to be heard and considered respectfully. This may slow things down quite a bit. But it's much better than being tossed from the saddle altogether should you dismiss or not see something crucial.

-- Someone who takes their sweet time to respond to almost anything as they hear any request or question or problem as a demand.

-- Take your time on this. There's no rush, and going too fast could cause problems.

-- Slow down internally. Try not to react before a bit of time has passed. Let the world respond to you, instead of trying to wrest control from others by rapid reaction. Time often has a different story to tell than your immediate reaction might have led you to believe.

-- Clinging, or being clung to. Time to free up the situation, to loosen it up.

-- Don't let others pressure you into rushing on this. Take the time you need, or that the situation requires. Their pressure speaks more of their insecurities or lack of knowledge and experience, than of you and/or your skills.

-- They're not disinterested, just pre-occupied with something major having nothing to do with you. Give them time to refocus on your interaction.

-- What the situation requires and what you have to offer will eventually match up. Be patient.

-- Recovery from this all too familiar problem will take longer than it has in the past. Don't give up or lose heart.

-- That this is going so slowly is as if it were saying "forewarned is forearmed." Rethink the situation.

-- Someone who's not very quick on the uptake, but once on board is thorough and reliable.

-- Late or slow bloomer.

-- Enjoy what's going on around you. I.e., don't just focus on your goal. "Take time to smell the roses."

-- True home is where you are at any given moment. All the yearning for and fear that you won't find home is like chaff in the wind. Another way to put it: Wherever you go, there you are.

-- Maintain a sense of curiosity; take the time to be open.

-- There's a heartful spiritual striving here. And given we are always a work-in-progress spiritually, the journey can sometimes feel very slow and very long indeed. Exactly the length of a life time.

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N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to find and change all of those links that are "dead." If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I've found that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS) (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only.