Seven of Pentacles

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Bluemanticore	13 Dec 2003
I've read a book where the Seven of Pentacles was a major clue. The book was "Harm None" by M. R. Sellars by the way. It was a really good mystery, too. Anyway, I was just wondering if the meaning the author and character in the story gave this card is correct, is it one that matches with what others might read? If not, what do you see when you see the 7 of Pentacles? The reading the book gives is "hard work and patience brings growth." It is also supposed to having something to do with money. Is there more to this card or is that pretty much it? Thanks. Blessed be, BlueManticore

MattDouglas	13 Dec 2003
I haven't reead the book, but I''ll say this. Hard work and patience does bring growth, it doesn't necessarily bring money.

ros	13 Dec 2003
I found also -not a time to force movement -change manifesting -you'll know what to do when the time is right.

Thirteen	13 Dec 2003
Ros' post is pretty much on the nose for me. 7/Pentacles can indicate patience in waiting for any reward for hard work--including money, but other things as well. Good fortune, health from working out hard for months in a gym, heightened skill in something you've been struggling to master. Have patience, the results will appear in time. There is also a warning in this card about fearing failure. The image there of the man looking up at a bush or tree of seven pentacles can indicate someone afraid of the results--fearing the results might be a failure or even fearing they might be a success. In this time of waiting, of not knowing how those pentacles will come out (how your hard work will turn out in the end) you can be gripped by a good many fears.

Star Spirit	13 Dec 2003
I think those are good insights as well, but there is really no limit to the meanings of a card. I don't think there's ever a case where "that's it".

Rusty Neon	14 Dec 2003
The 7 of Pentacles is a RWS card whose popular meaning (hard work and patience brings growth) is difficult to reconcile with the corresponding card of the Thoth deck. In the Thoth deck, the card is subtitled "Failure". As noted in Crowley's _Book of Thoth_, the background of the Thoth card "represents vegetation and cultivation". "Everything is spoiled." The Golden Dawn divinatory meanings provide a good linkage between the RWS image of the card with the Thoth card and keyword. GD: Promises of success unfulfilled. Hopes deceived and crushed. Disappointment. A cultivator of land, and yet is loser thereby. Sometimes it denotes slight and isolated gains with no fruits resulting therefrom. Little gain from much labour. In fact, the concept of "hard work and patience brings growth" is better illustrated by the 8 of Pentacles of the RWS and Thoth.

MattDouglas	14 Dec 2003
I've often seem the "failure" in the card as the failure to appreicate what you do get out of the work, or the failure to find the satisfaction you had expected the work would bring you. I think the version that shows this thme best is in the Parrott tarot. The person is bent towards the ground weeping for not having what they thought they'd get, and this prevents them from seeing the hand of God coming down to give their life such color. Love, understanding, and compassion, Matt

WalesWoman	14 Dec 2003
I've thought of the 7 of Pentacles as when you have done just about all you can and now you have to wait for things to happen on their own. I think of an analogy of gardening, you've prepared the ground, planted seeds, watered it, kept it weeded and removed the pests, done everything you can, and now all you can really do is let nature do its thing, let it grow and be patient. You know there is still work ahead, the harvest is yet to be, but you can't force it to go any faster. It's something you have no more control over. I also think of this card as a time to reflect on your efforts or what it is you have put your efforts into, is it strong and worth continued care or does it need to be uprooted and tossed out, concentrating your efforts and attention on something more worthwhile.

casia	22 Dec 2003
In my version of the Medieval Scapini Tarot the seven of coins is a winner. He is playing with all four pages a card game and he is rejoicing at all the money he´s won. It clearly shows a man who has been thinking out his game well, he has been patient, he has been waiting for the right time to bet, I´m sure he took some losses too to reach his goal, and now he is winning. He can lose everything in one hand too so he must be careful (Failure?). I´m sure he was lucky too, he took advantage of his oportunities, didn´t he?

Imagemaker	22 Dec 2003
I was taught that when you work with tarot, with repeated use of one deck you gradually negotiate the meanings of the cards WITH the cards. Like the 7 of pentacles comes to mean FOR YOU, say, patience at letting things grow, or disappointment at how they grew. Once you're in communcation with your deck, when you ask a question, the tarot knows how best to signal an answer in ways you'll understand. You can use different decks like Thoth vs RWS, but you have to realize that the Thoth vocabulary is different than the RWS vocabulary. Jumping back and forth works if you're bi-lingual in the two systems. Does this make any sense?

Nevada	23 Dec 2003
Quote: Originally posted by WalesWoman I've thought of the 7 of Pentacles as when you have done just about all you can and now you have to wait for things to happen on their own. I think of an analogy of gardening, you've prepared the ground, planted seeds, watered it, kept it weeded and removed the pests, done everything you can, and now all you can really do is let nature do its thing, let it grow and be patient. You know there is still work ahead, the harvest is yet to be, but you can't force it to go any faster. It's something you have no more control over. I also think of this card as a time to reflect on your efforts or what it is you have put your efforts into, is it strong and worth continued care or does it need to be uprooted and tossed out, concentrating your efforts and attention on something more worthwhile. Agree with this interpretation, and would add that the "failure" comes in because in spite of all you've done and how far your project has advanced, there's still at this point (of drawing the card) a possibility of failure, or of things not turning out as expected. It's a card about fear of failure and faith in a positive outcome, of not counting your chickens before they hatch, of not working yourself up into expection of either failure or success. BTW this is one of my least favorite cards in Thoth, because it really only explores one possibility. But then it does force you to examine your fears. Nevada

Nevada	23 Dec 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Imagemaker Does this make any sense? Yes! This makes loads of sense to me. I've had this experience. Just when I've developed a personal meaning for a particular card it will come up and show me such a clear picture, and that usually turns out to be "spot on". I've also found that this sometimes tends to be deck-specific, and in other cases true for whatever deck I'm using. As I've said elsewhere, Tarot is a language. Perhaps different decks provide different dialects? Nevada

The Seven of Pentacles thread was originally posted on 13 Dec 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.