8 of Pents & Love

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

ncefafn	20 Jan 2005
At first I thought it was just me, but when I look at other people's readings, I see the Eight of Pentacles show up again and again in questions about love and relationships. My first response to this is that all relationships are like those pentacles on the workman's bench, works-in-progress that must be assiduously attended to lest a flaw creep into the design which could ruin the whole process. But I also see a fair amount of other pentacles show up, leading me to muse that all relationships, despite the lovely mooniness of first romance, eventually get down to the nitty-gritty of daily life. The necessity of earning a living does not go away just because you've fallen in love, or your heart is broken. A marriage is not a happy ending, but the beginning of a partnership on every level, most notably at the practical level. "A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?" The couple must find a home. They must save for down payments, attend to their credit ratings in order to buy a home, budget to afford children and health insurance for their children, deal with the daily grind of jobs and housework and paying bills and still manage to maintain a growing and healthy relationship. Maybe pentacles show up more often than the traditional romantic cards -- cups and wands -- because cups and wands are just the ephemerality of lust masquerading as romance. Eventually, the honeymoon is over, and we must deal with the hard work of a committed relationship. As a consequence of these experiences, I'm often more heartened by a prevalence of pentacles in a love reading than a bunch of flowery cups and wands. In another thread, someone wondered what the Four of Wands meant in the position of what the significant others sees in the querent. To me, he sees a suitable mate, an eligible and healthy breeder. But wands are fire, and fire eventually burns out. Earth lasts forever, longer than our race ever will. Lust is wands, romance is cups, but commitment is pentacles. And like all pentacles, commitment always comes with a price tag. What are you willing to sell or barter to get what you want?

Phoenix Rising	20 Jan 2005
Hi Kim yes I totally agree with what you've said. Whenever people get in a relationship, they always go through the "honeymoon" phase so to speak. But water flows and eventually we get out of the firey stage, and reality sinks in, we can't live on love alone. Love of another cannot sustain the physical body, and doesn't pay the bills. So your observation in this matter makes good sense. I've come to realise that financial security is very important to me, I can love myself!!!

firemaiden	20 Jan 2005
Hi Kim, thanks for posting this. Yes, I always see the Eight of Pentacles pop up in my relationship readings. I always thought it was the Tarot saying "Quit wasting your time with romance, and go practice!" I like your interpretation better!

feticeira	21 Jan 2005
I agree with everything said, nice thread. [quote=ncefafn Lust is wands, romance is cups, but commitment is pentacles. [/QUOTE] And what are the swords?

gypsy_morrigan	21 Jan 2005
I think of swords as the intellectual connection, and the witty words we use to woo. Definitely an important part of relationships for me!

TemperanceAngel	21 Jan 2005
Hello, I use RWS and think the Eight of Pents is very much a relationship card as all relationships take work, need worked on, working very hard at it, learning new things and even perhaps trying to save some money together... If relationship readings were all Cups, how would they be grounded? Just my 20 cents worth :D

WalesWoman	21 Jan 2005
Commitment...it's been staring me in the face all this time! Thanks for saying that! I think of reliability, of persistance and patience, the work, of the mundane, of finances, of possessions, of health and physical attributes, the sensualness, of earth,of the magic, but the solidity of commitment never once has crossed my mind. oh Duh... Not to change this from 8 Pentacles, but 4 Wands was mentioned and that is usually seen as a marriage card, the foundation to build on. But no one ever thinks of 4 Pents as committment, as a foundation of material growth really, it seems like it's viewed as the greedy old miser card, holding on to what you have...as if that is a bad thing. I just love it when someone gives me something new to think about. Thanks again.

The 8 of Pents & Love thread was originally posted on 20 Jan 2005 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.