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.

ACE OF CUPS, STRENGTH & KNIGHT OF COINS REDUX in a Review of The Masonic Symbolic Tarot

I've had the Masonic Symbolic Tarot for probably 20 years and this might be only the third time I've sat with it for any length of time. But I wanted to share cards from a deck in my collection I'd not yet shared from and this deck fits that bill. I first went through all the cards and pulled those that immediately grabbed my attention. As the pips (the Ace through Ten of the Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins [Pentacles]) are non-illustrated I found them unintriguing. Except, and in a big way, the Ace of Cups:



Phew! What an intense and, at least to me, wee bit scary Ace of Cups. By the way, I actually like the snakes (snake?), it's that almost demonic hand that disturbs me. (It also resonates with a very recent dream of mine. Here's the dreamku I wrote on it: dispersed by power/radiating from my palms/demonic twister. Hm...) In a way, my response feels like the sort of fear felt at the beginning of a brand new journey we intuit will be an extremely important one. That comment might explain why I was drawn to this card, as I'm starting on a new path that will make some tremendous changes in my life if I continue along it. The intriguing thing about this deck's cups suit: both the Two of Cups and Three of Cups also have these odd hands on them, with the rest of the suit just plain suit symbols. None of the other three minor suits have anything comparable, i.e. all of the Ace through Ten of wands, swords and coins are basically plain suit symbols. I'm tempted to suggest its because the suit of cups represents intuition and it is via intuition that we grasp the deepest, highest, and most awesome awareness.

Here's the Ace of Cups in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck for comparison:

[To read my previous post on The Ace of Cups, click here.}

The deck is based on Freemasonry so that Masonic symbolism abounds in all of the cards, but especially the Majors. The Major Arcana are much more interesting than the Minors. Some being rather striking and powerful. For instance, here's The Strength card, followed by the Rider/Waite/Smith version for comparison (Click here for my previous post on Strength):





The Court cards are rather unexceptional, like the pips. Here's the Knight of Coins (Pentacles), followed by the Rider/Waite/Smith version for comparison (Click here for my previous post on the Knight of Pentacles):





BTW, as I drafted this post I realized the three cards I chose to use here can act as a three card reading: Ace of Cups = past; Strength = present; and Knight of Pentacles = future. I know what I got from this as a reading, what do you think? I'd be delighted to hear.

The accompanying booklet is not a typical Little White Book ("LWB"), as it has illustrations for the Majors, does attempt to teach a bit about Freemasony, and is somewhat larger than the ordinary LWB. But, it has very little information on the Minors and Courts, and then only in a general way. I.e., they are only addressed as categories (e.g. what water and cups are about in general but no specific information on each cup card itself). The deck is colorful with some gilding on the cards, is a good size (tall and slim), and of good card stock.

The upshot is I personally do not relate well to this deck, though as its structure is that of a traditional Tarot deck I could read with it. However, I can most definitely imagine it being "just the ticket" for a Free Mason, or someone versed in Freemasonry symbolism or interested in learning about it. It's art might also simply resonate better for others than it has for me.

I could not locate publication information for the deck in the LWB or on googling other than that it was published by Grimaud in 1987. The cover of the LWB says it is by Jean Beauchard, translated by Leon Shoolingin.

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Resource: The Masonic Symbolic Tarot on Acelectic.net.

‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[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: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry and Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka).****

THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES

TODAY'S CARD is the Knight of Pentacles. This card is by Major Tom and is part of the First Aeclectic Community Tarot Project:



Here's the Knight of Pentacles in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck for comparison:



THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES: In reviewing my posts I note I've not done a Court card or a Pentacle, therefore today's card. This knight has been a long-time favorite of mine as one reading for him can be: slow but steady travel along the spiritual path.

DIFFERENT TAKES ON THE KNIGHT OF PENTACLES:

Knights in general: something getting into motion; if so, Knight of Pentacles usually slowly, Knight of Cups a bit more quickly, Knight of Swords more quickly yet, and Knight of Wands which might say "Do it now before the energy is gone, catch the wave."

Dragging one's heels; hedging one's bets; protesting too much.

Making haste slowly.

"Dumb like a fox;" one who tends to "forget" conveniently.

It can't be rushed. It has to go at its own pace.

A need for patience.

An oppositional personality.

Go slowy, there may be other issues to be dealt with before proceeding.

May appear "slow-witted" but is usually just cautious and thorough, or highly intuitive (which way of obtaining information can take longer as it uses a different brain pathway than "ordinary" thinking).

RESOURCE: TarotTools.com, a very resourceful site, that offers a good email newsletter.

Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.

‘til next time, keep taking the time you need, and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[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: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****