My struggles with the 3 of Pentacles

[Anna Supertramp]

Hello,

One of the cards I seem to be struggling with is the 3 of Pentacles. I know it can mean to make an effort, and be a card of team spirit, and completing a task, but it often appears in readings about love and relationship matters, and I am always a bit lost with this card. The meanings of this cards mostly seem to represent something positive, but to me, it is such a dark card, and it has really become one of the scariest cards for me to show up. I don't know, I just always get a sense of doom when I see it and I can't ever seem to 'feel' the positivity about it, even in an overall positive reading.

Can anyone help me better understand this card?

Also, has anyone ever drawn this card in relation to a miscarriage or complications with a baby or something like that? Can it also mean childbirth?

Thanks,
XO

 

[Carla]

Hello,

One of the cards I seem to be struggling with is the 3 of Pentacles. I know it can mean to make an effort, and be a card of team spirit, and completing a task, but it often appears in readings about love and relationship matters, and I am always a bit lost with this card. The meanings of this cards mostly seem to represent something positive, but to me, it is such a dark card, and it has really become one of the scariest cards for me to show up. I don't know, I just always get a sense of doom when I see it and I can't ever seem to 'feel' the positivity about it, even in an overall positive reading.

Can anyone help me better understand this card?

Also, has anyone ever drawn this card in relation to a miscarriage or complications with a baby or something like that? Can it also mean childbirth?

Thanks,
XO

To me, the 3 of Coins can also represent feeling of accomplishment at a task well done, or even receiving some praise or attention for good work. If it came up in relationship readings, I would wonder if the person in question is feeling unappreciated.

I've never seen it in relation to childbirth yet.

 

[Grizabella]

I've never seen it related to childbirth or a baby. I think that might be quite a stretch.

But the guy on the card is a "laborer". Maybe a birth of triplets? LOL

 

[PAMUYA]

I was taught early on in my card reading training not to think in terms of positive or negative meanings of a card, just let the meaning flow. Positive/Negative can mean very different things to different people and cultures. Besides if you are looking for the positive/negative you may overlook a very important message that the cards bring to you.

All that said, the 3 of Pentacles is a very interesting card. In love and relationships off the top of my head I see following/making the rules of relationship, able to work with partner on problems that arise, building your furture together. This is a card to help build a strong foundation in the material sense, ease off money problems (big issue in marriages), it also is about building a strong spiritual connection (you can count on me to do my part to ease the burden). This is a "let's work together" card.

To ADD: I too have never had this involve childbirth(never say never, will keep in mind ). Never seen this a "doom", but you read the cards as you see them, I always follow my intuition.

Adding again: what decks do you use?

 

[Richard]

On the surface, the Three of Pentacles is an artisan at work, possibly consulting with the architect of the building project. However, it may indeed portend darker days to come. Here is the background of the image, in a nutshell. Make of it what you will. (My apologies to anyone who considers historical background material to be irrelevant.)

The circular mallet wielded by the guy standing on the bench is that of a stonemason. A stonemason is a skilled artisan. He could be shaping a stone or carving a design in a stone wall. The Freemasons, of which A. E. Waite was a member, originated as a stonemason's guild, and the original operative symbolism of stonemasonry was retained by the later speculative organization. According to Mary K. Greer, the legend of Hiram Abiff, the Master Mason for the construction of Solomon's Temple, is told pictorially in the Minor Arcana. It is indeed a rather dark tale, the climax of which is the murder of Hiram, the result of which could be depicted in the Ten of Swords.

 

[Carla]

The circular mallet wielded by the guy standing on the bench is that of a stonemason. A stonemason is a skilled artisan. He could be shaping a stone or carving a design in a stone wall. The Freemasons, of which A. E. Waite was a member, originated as a stonemason's guild, and the original operative symbolism of stonemasonry was retained by the later speculative organization. According to Mary K. Greer, the legend of Hiram Abiff, the Master Mason for the construction of Solomon's Temple, is told pictorially in the Minor Arcana. It is indeed a rather dark tale, the climax of which is the murder of Hiram, the result of which could be depicted in the Ten of Swords.

Where can I read an explanation of how this story is traced through the minor arcana?

 

[Thirteen]

According to Mary K. Greer, the legend of Hiram Abiff, the Master Mason for the construction of Solomon's Temple, is told pictorially in the Minor Arcana. It is indeed a rather dark tale, the climax of which is the murder of Hiram, the result of which could be depicted in the Ten of Swords.

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that. I have to say, however, that I kinda think that if the story continues to an unhappy ending in a different suit (10/swords) then the unhappy ending should be related to that suit (swords) not to the the suit that starts the story but ends rather happily (10/Pents).

My point being, the suits all have their own stories, Ace to Ten, and I'm not sure how well it serves a reader to take a card in a suit out of contest of that story, anticipating a different suit's end. After all, if Waite intended on us seeing the moral of the stonemason's story in the 3/Pents, wouldn't it have continued on through the pents rather than jumping over to the Swords? And where does the swords story go if the pents story has appropriated it's ending?

 

[Richard]

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that. I have to say, however, that I kinda think that if the story continues to an unhappy ending in a different suit (10/swords) then the unhappy ending should be related to that suit (swords) not to the the suit that starts the story but ends rather happily (10/Pents).......

The Masonic legend of Hiram as well as the legend of the Holy Grail are woven through more than a single suit. For example, each of the suit symbols (Pentacles, Swords, Cups, Wands) are also Grail Hallows (in which context they are called Dish, Sword, Cup, Lance). The story of Hiram begins on a relatively happy note (the building of the Temple, which eventually is completed, but that's not part of our story), and gradually becomes more sinister as Hiram is approached by the ruffians who want to learn the secrets of the Master Mason. The stories were not designed to fit the Tarot, rather the opposite: Waite's Minors were designed to fit the stories, consistent with their placement on the corresponding Sephiroth, which, among other things, requires that the Pentacles become more positive from 1 to 10, and the Swords more negative. However, consideration of that is too far afield for this thread.

 

[Richard]

Where can I read an explanation of how this story is traced through the minor arcana?

It is mentioned here and perhaps elsewhere. The details revealed so far are rather sketchy, but I think that Greer/Teheuti will reveal them in due time. She has hinted that there is a book in the offing dealing extensively with the Rider-Waite deck.

ETA. In Post #39 of the thread referenced above, Teheuti states that Swords portray the story of Hiram as enacted in the Third (and final) Degree ritual of Freemasonry. (Pentacles pertain more to the setting of the story.)

 

[Thirteen]

Success too early and too easy.

The meanings of this cards mostly seem to represent something positive, but to me, it is such a dark card, and it has really become one of the scariest cards for me to show up. I don't know, I just always get a sense of doom when I see it and I can't ever seem to 'feel' the positivity about it, even in an overall positive reading.

The 3/Pents often confuses readers as it represents a craftsman getting a commission, yet it comes before the apprentice card (learning the craft) in 8/Pents. We logically feel that the person should learn the craft then get the commission, but the story is more layered than that. It is also, in our day and age, a very familiar story: someone comes up with something that gets them a commission before they're ready or able to execute it properly.

So, someone writes up their first story, posts it on the internet, it gets a crazy following and they're offered a five-book publishing contract. A singer who never sang in public before goes on a talent show, wins and is offered a recording contract. Fame and fortune is vast and instant. We see this as a fairytale come true, but the way the story usually plays out makes it otherwise. The writer's novel is being read by more than internet fans and is brutally criticized; their second book doesn't sell as their inexperience shows, and they don't know how to finish book three, let alone start on book four or five. Meanwhile, the singer is mobbed by fans, sees herself on the cover of tabloids--and finds herself forgotten as a new contest winner gets all the attention. Unused to managing so much money, neither one can hold onto it, and by 5/Pents, they've crashed and burned.

This is not the end of the story, however. They re-gain some balance (6/Pents), work hard, start to learn all they ought to have known about their art (8/Pents) in the first place, and finally, as true craftsmen rather than lucky amateurs, rightfully earn money and a solid reputation for their work (10/Pents).

As said, Tarot cards are not light or dark. They are points in a story, lessons to learn. This one offers us a dream-come-true moment: that dream commission. But it warns us not to take it for granted, not to be smug or cocky. We don't know what demands will be made on us by those who commissioned the work, what compromises we'll have to make, or what we'll be asked to do that we don't properly know how to do. If we are humble and cautious about it, if we're willing to work and learn, we may continue to gain from from this lucky happenstance. If we're careless or thoughtless, we'll lose it all. Putting it another way, don't boast about your pregnancy too early, as at that stage, miscarriages are still possible. Real work has to be done in order to maintain a career, a relationship, or a child.