Mining the Seven of Coins for Treasure

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

firemaiden	12 Nov 2004
Seven of Coins I’ve gone and done it now, I’ve promised Solandia I would paint the Seven of Pentacles for the Third Aeclective Community Tarot. I’m a bit worried about what the energy of this card will bring into my life, so I’ve decided to pay a visit to the guy on the Seven of Pentacles: You can come too. Just hide back there, and let me do the talking… ----- Firemaiden: Hey…Wassa matter, buddy? What are you doing hanging over that shovel. Get to work… don’t you see the treasure buried in that heap of dead leaves? Guy on the Seven of Pentacles: (with thick cockney accent à la Monty Python): Oh I do I do…young lady, whoever you are...I’m just not sure it’s worth the trouble to get it out, see. By the time I’ve finished digging, I’ll have cost myself more in labour, psychological damage, expenses for training and garden tools, than whatever treasure’s under there could possibly be worth. FM: Whachu talking, scarecrow? gird thy loins to the sticking place, or whatever that quote says. Here lemme help you. 7P: No, no!! see lady, if I expend my efforts here, I might fail. It says so. FM: It says so where? 7P: It says so on the card, it says I’m the seven of pentacles, I’m the lord of failure. If I try to dig it out, I’ll fail, see. But if I leave it there, at least I can dream about it. FM: Hmm, I see your problem, still… I’m not sure what good its doing you under that compost heap. Here… give me that thing… Crikey, this implement’s for the birds. Let me go fetch a leaf blower… 7P : Wait, lady, wait, come back, you don’t understand. It’s written on the card, can’t you see that caption underneath me? FM: What caption? 7P: It says “failure”. FM: “it says nothing of the sort” 7P: “Yes it does, look on the Thoth Seven of Disks” FM: Fine. But you are not the Thoth card. Plus, I am sure Uncle Al planted those keywords so people will think the deck is cool cause it’s some wicked black magic voodoo devil invocation evil spirit charm thing, see? Its kind of like my friend dressing up all in torn black tee-shirts and calling himself a “revisionist” when he was 25, just to scare his mom. Now look at him, he is a happy family man with three kids who drinks too much. 7P: (sighing) alright… listen, I am the personification of the seven of coins/deniers/pentacles/disks, and as such, I embody all versions of the cards and all their captions. FM: You’re just saying that to make this story complicated,. 7P: No I’m not… I’m a failure. Uncle Al says I’m a failure, and Uncle Art says I am the lord of “unfulfilled success” which is the same thing. FM: “No it’s not” 7P: “Yes it is” FM: “No it isn’t” 7P: “Tis” FM: “Tisn’t’ 7P: “sure it is” FM: “no it’s not. Failure means you made a gamble and lost. Unfulfilled success means, well, you’re wasting time resting on your scarecrow’s rake or shovel, or hoe, or whatever that thing is… dreaming about success and failure instead of digging out the treasure buried …” 7P: “Wait stop! You don’t know what’s under there! It could be nuclear waste, it could be unexploded mines from world war one! It could be letters from people’s dead relatives revealing explosive secrets, it could lead to paternity suits, and suicides, and… don’t… don’t … DON’T… FM: Oh, I see, it’s not a leaf pile, it’s a dump… still you never know what treasure might be found in such a mound. Now you have me really intrigued! Secrets you say? Unexploded weapons? No wonder you look so worried. HAHAH. You know, I don’t think you are scared of failure at all, Handsome. I think you are an under cover secret agent paid to guard this mound until the authorities can get here and do it right. Now who would those be? Who are you working for? Scotland yard? Bletchley Park? The Brittish institute of Field Archaeologists? 7P: (blank look) FM: Oh wait HAHAHAH. I know what you are guarding. Sly fellow you… you are incubating a nest of WORMS. You are a um… er.. a WORMOLOGIST, growing some top secret illegal species of Burmese worms, right here in this compost heap! Hahah!! You can’t fool me! I had a uncle who studied worms! Uncle Gordon yessirre!! My uncle Gordon was “The Babe Ruth of modern oligochaetology” (that’s the study of worms, see I knew I’d find the word) He’s famous for showing that terrestrial worms reproduce asexually. He had ran into some trouble, boy, during the war --He was teaching in Burma when the Japanese destroyed his precious worm collection –it had taken him 25 years to put together. He escaped to the US, and began a new collection of renegade illegal worms sent to him sent to him for inspection by U.S. Customs agents). You see, now THAT’S real treasure! [source [url= http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200303/worms.asp] Sierra Club article[/url] 7P: Sorry, miss, um… miss… FM: You can call me Firemaiden. 7P: Listen, er.. Firemaiden, I don’t get your point. If its worms you want, be my guest… Meanwhile, I need to get back to thinking about my impending failure… FM: Oy… --- Well???

Moonbow*	12 Nov 2004
Well I think this bloke needs to be taken out for a drink and a good time. He needs to loosen up a bit. But he may have to get a move on with those pentacle trees first because 7 pentacles won't cover a round of Stella here. I like the antlered figure in the Greenwood who is pouring energy into Mother Earth trying to heal her. So she is taking things into her own hands a little more than your 7P chappy. The meaning here is that after immense effort, or physical or emotional sickness it is time to heal to become whole again. Another example I like it the 7 of Vesicas in the Glastonbury which show a happy, smiling woman who has just gathered the harvest. Once the harvest is gathered its time to relax and celebrate because of the hard work and achievement that has gone into it. She is happy because she is off down the pub now, she's not staring at a mound of dead leaves or a nest of worms!

lark	12 Nov 2004
I know this guy! I am this guy, a gardener... He's not about failure he's about perfect timing* and that leads to the stress of feeling like you might fail if you don't time* it just right. Do I pick the tomato today or tommorrow or next week. If I pick it today it might be hard and flavorless If I pick it tommorrow it might be just right but if I wait untill next week it might be mush. He feels he has a great burden of on his shoulders to time it just right. He's responsible not for bringing in the harvest but for giving the go ahead to pick it. His bad judgement could mean failure for everyone concerned. Loss of income...even starvation. No wonder he looks depressed and is leaning on his hoe pondering the whole situation before he acts. All the villagers will string him up to the nearest tree if he makes the wrong decision. He should have listened to his mother...... and become a doctor.

Pipistrelle	12 Nov 2004
firemaiden wrote: 7P: No I’m not… I’m a failure. Uncle Al says I’m a failure, and Uncle Art says I am the lord of “unfulfilled success” which is the same thing. FM: “No it’s not” 7P: “Yes it is” FM: “No it isn’t” 7P: “Tis” FM: “Tisn’t’ 7P: “sure it is” FM: “no it’s not. Failure means you made a gamble and lost. Unfulfilled success means, well, you’re wasting time resting on your scarecrow’s rake or shovel, or hoe, or whatever that thing is… dreaming about success and failure instead of digging out the treasure buried …" Aidez-moi, aidez-moi (wipes tears from eyes)...yes, it's Monty Python's long lost "Seven of Pentacles" sketch, with Eric Idle as the guy on the card and Graham Chapman in a wig and ugly dress as Firemaiden (sorry Firemaiden, I'm sure GP in a dress isn't a patch on you!) I think you should stop thinking about the Seven of Pentacles immediately and write a hilarious sketch for each and every Tarot card...perhaps turn them into a radio play...or a book, perhaps "The Unofficial Monty Python's Meaning of Tarot"...I'd buy it...honestly, this was soooo funny :D And now for something completely different.... Comedy aside, I've had the 7 of Pents appear several times for readings on the same subject and although I sort of knew what it meant in that context, it was still on the periphery of my understanding (if that makes sense) i.e. I didn't have realy clarity on it - only if I thought about it for a while. But you've just made it perfectly clear for me. Certainly, in my readings, it was about fear of failure - those pentacles are perfectly fine in the ground, why disturb them and bring them out in the bad world where they'll get pointed and jeered at and they won't be as shiny as I thought they were...no, they're nice and snug and I'll just keep raking these dead leaves over them to keep them warm.... "Unfulfilled success" - is probably a more accurate term for what I've just described, as it's not failure, but fear of failure that freezes us. It's "You don't know until you try" (which is what my mum used to say to try to get me to eat liver and sprouts and things like that, but in that situation I was pretty sure even if I tried them, they'd still be yukky). That failure we're so scared of is guaranteed if we don't try, but trying might turn it into success. Also I think lark's comments were spot on - not just failure or fear of failure, but the fear of the potential consequences of failure and the responsibility that entails...wow, heavy card :( Pip P.S. I don't know if I've actually said anything useful but I was just so impressed by your clear understanding of this card that I had to post :)

firemaiden	12 Nov 2004
:D :D :D Pipistrelle... I confess I live for laughs. :D :D (hey Pip... doesn't your name mean "bats" in Italian?) You've ALL said very useful things! Moonbow*, I think I'll take your advice and take this bloke out to the local pub. Lark, interesting! it's about t-t-t-timing!! Maybe it is also about perception - as in - one person's priceless treasure is another person's trash - its sort of what you make of it. What appears to be failure in one light, might very well be fantastic success viewed another way.

WalesWoman	12 Nov 2004
Unfulfilled success and 7 Pents- that doesn't sound so much like fear of failure, but the patience required to allow the thing to happen, that no matter how much you do, there is still that element of having to accept somethings are out of your hands and all you can do is watch and wait and hope for the best. A bit of the Hanged Man. I always think of the gardener when I see this card, maybe because that's one of my favorite ways to enjoy life...I can't call it relaxing in any sense, but it does relax me and make me feel really good, and tired because there is so much physical energy involved, so much of yourself that you put into this effort. So much preparation and planning and upkeep too. but you can't pull the plants to make them grow any faster. You may have to sit back and let "nature take it's course", but you still have to weed it and protect it, nurture it so the success has a better chance of happening. It's still a gamble, something may come along and ruin it, but it's worth the risk. So it's sort of a faith and hope too, that all your efforts are going to pay off. Ok, that's my 2 cents worth of 7 pents.

ros	12 Nov 2004
I use the 7 of Coins as " having to get it together " I don't know how I came to this meaning but it's like the challenge of getting your crap together for self rewards. Knowing you will have to fix your issues up yourself. However you look after yourself or your issue will be your reward in the future. It's like looking for a job for example. They don't just call you up one day and ask you if you are looking for work. You have to be prepared, send out resumes, do your networking and wait with patience. They don't come looking for you. The garden. Plant your garden, do the weeding and watering and then wait with patience to see what you get. The plants don't come to you to be planted, you have to get your stuff together and do the work.

Pipistrelle	13 Nov 2004
firemaiden wrote: :D :D :D Pipistrelle... I confess I live for laughs. :D :D (hey Pip... doesn't your name mean "bats" in Italian?) Uh...maybe....I dunno :) But I know that it is the name of a species of bat here in England. Bats are funny - they're out there, but you never really see them... Enjoying the thread! Pip

The Mining the Seven of Coins for Treasure thread was originally posted on 12 Nov 2004 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.