Can be talk about the Three of Pentacles??

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Feb 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kitty	22 Feb 2003
Hi Everyone :) Can we have a discussion about the Three of Pentacles - RW in particular?... Its a card that doesn't "say" alot to me and would like to get to know it better :) I'm looking at it now and this is what I see..... Looks like a couple planning/building a home or maybe a project together, architectural plans in their hands - the beginnings of a project that is going to become larger? What on earth is that lady (well I think its a lady) wearing - her whole head covered?? (I'm a snake in chinese astro - I can't help but notice the clothing - yuck!! ;) ) The lady sort of looks religious, and the man next to her - hmmmm I have also noticed that colours used are only in the people - not the building which is grey, dark and rather bland...but is it going to become a palace one day perhaps? Three people - three pentacles So what does this card say in a reading? There is a part of your life that will - if you keep working - has the potential to become larger? I note from Thirteen's basics - threes relate to creation - the empress - so creation of the tangible? But pentacles are not just about material - they are about a persons values. If the card comes up in relation to a persons work the meaning is more apparent - but what about relationships - what if they don't have any projects on the go? I could go on but will leave it there for the moment, I will do some further reading on the card and look out for your thoughts!! Hope you are all well

Mimers	22 Feb 2003
Quote: What on earth is that lady (well I think its a lady) wearing - her whole head covered?? (I'm a snake in chinese astro - I can't help but notice the clothing - yuck!! ) The lady sort of looks religious, and the man next to her - hmmmm I think the lady with her head covered is a nun and the man is a monk or priest. The man, I believe, is doing some work for a church. As for the grey church, it looks white in the URW deck. I think maybe it is to represent the purity of his efforts? I would be interested to hear other's takes on the colors and what they mean. I don't know much about the color meanings. Here are my first impressions on this card from my journal. "Inspection time. Looks like the guys work is being measured up. You can tell he is very anxious for their approval. He must have put his heart and soul into this." Like a said, these were my first impressions and they go back to when I first started exploring the tarot, so it is purly based on the picture. As far as applying the card in other situations besides work, I think what we need to do is stop thinking of the pentacles strickly as the money suit. Relationships take work. Even the best of them. There is no reason this card could not apply to relationships. I think that Pents would better be described as the earth suit. That always bothered me the the Pentacles were represented by coins. It tends to limit your thinking. I see them as physical growth, weather it be the trees in the forest or your own body. I see them as hard work for necessities of the home. I see them as the bounty of the harvest. I think the guy in 3 of Pents represents anything you put your heart and soul into because it means something to you. Hard work, attention to details, I think he is more interested in approval, rather than the money he will make. I've got some other issues with some Pent cards. I think this is why I love the Vision Quest deck. They dont use coins for the Pentacle suit. It is called Earth. There you go. My thoughts on the 3 of Pents Mimers :)

Silverlotus	22 Feb 2003
I've got a few ideas about this card I'd like to share. :) This is what I've come up with after thinking about both the RWS card and the corresponding Robin Wood card. The Robin Wood card has an older man carving a detail on a large stone wing. He looks to me like he is leaning on an arch over a door way, making adjustments to his beautiful carving work. This card, to me, is sort of like a close up of the third figure of the RWS card, after he's carved a more ornate design above those doors. So, what do I feel about this card? In both decks I see it as hard work towards part of something bigger then yourself or bigger then what you may realize. We only see part of the church or part of the design, there is so much more that we are contributing to. I also see this card as cooperation in order for the creation to work. In the RWS deck, all three figures are working together to make their project a reality. In our lives, it could be two people agreeing to work together to make a relationship work, or write a book together, or what have you. Anything that requires work, and any number of people really. I think also, looking more closely at both cards, it can deal with using plans or instructions for creation. The monk seems to be holding a drawing of the arch, and in the Robin Wood deck there are outlines to complete a complex knot design. So, I certainly see this card as dealing with creation. I see the focus on work, cooperation, and planning. There is also a hint of a patron in both cards, supporting the endeavour. So perhaps, patronship, or support spiritual since both cards could so a church? Oh dear, pardon me for rambling. I think I finally got my point across though. :) I hope I helped a little bit.

Ruby Red Slippers	23 Feb 2003
I'm relatively new to Tarot...have been practicing a year. I've read a lot of books and try to only keep what makes sense. I use the Robin Wood deckfrequently as the colors and "expressions" seem to make more sense to me. The "3' is the result of the "choice" made in the "2's". So the 3 of Pentacles means to me that the balance, the choice of one's work is done for the love of the work, more than the money/renumeration. Something like the saying, "do what you love to do and the rest will take care of itseelf". To me this card means "focused"...be it a person, project, hobbie, work, whatever. The activity is done for the love of it. The Rider Waite deck shows the same "focus", and I think this deck indicates different aspects of the "focus", or maybe a better way to say all aspects of oneself is focused. Let me know if this makes any sense to you. Soemtimes we see all of the stripes instead of the zebra. I think this rings true when learning the "meaning" of the cards. It is a hard thing to "learn" and "let it flow" at the same time.

The Can be talk about the Three of Pentacles?? thread was originally posted on 22 Feb 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.